Archive for ‘Opinion’
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The Line Item Veto
By Bill Diamond Under the Maine Constitution, a governor has the power to alter individual dollar amounts in a spending bill. This is called a line-item veto, and it is a very limited authority. They can only change dollar amounts, and they cannot do it in a way that would result in a deficit to [...]
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A study in grief
By Dawn De Busk I buried my dog two years ago in March. I cannot believe she has been gone that long. I am happy that she died so peacefully, and is free of the pain a long dog life can bring. But, oh boy, I miss having that dog in the physical world. It [...]
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Is This Spring?
Is this spring? The sun is shining and the air is warm, but the mountains are still white, and two days ago, a few miles north of here in the hills, we found hidden patches of snow and ice lurking in cool dark corners. Sandals and snow boots are lined up inside our front door, [...]
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A Good Compromise on Spending
By Bill Diamond Last week, before we broke for a few weeks, we passed another Supplemental Budget. This was the result of weeks of work by the Appropriations Committee that produced a very good compromise. As opposed to the last budget, which was concerned with funding issues at the Department of Health and Human Services, [...]
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Ticked off
By Alice Rose Like many children of my era, a popular summer activity was catching all manner of bugs, keeping them in canning jars in our bedroom. Despite the smallness of the holes in the lids, our buggy roommates always managed to mysteriously disappear. I suspect that my mother liberated them to their natural habitat, [...]
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Chaos theory from a five year-old
One of my dearest friends went through a spell of self-inflicted chaos recently. It was the good kind of chaos, the kind sparked by a dream and the need for newness and growth, and where opportunities waited eagerly behind each possibility — the greater of several goods, if you will — but it was never [...]
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Making Young Drivers Safer
By Bill Diamond It is very late in the session for a new piece of legislation to be introduced, so I was skeptical when I was approached by the Secretary of State with a request to submit an after-deadline bill. After seeing the data, I was convinced that something had to be done this year [...]
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Mystery Bird
Most of us love a good mystery, and in books and movies if we can’t figure out the solution ourselves the secret is revealed to us at the end. Mysteries in real life, though, are not always resolved so neatly. This morning, I was standing at the kitchen sink rinsing breakfast dishes, when a shadow [...]
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Lessons from the Young on Distracted Driving
By Bill Diamond Being in the legislature brings a lot of unexpected opportunities. Over the last few weeks, I have been enjoying one of these. In January, I was contacted by Zac Stearn and Matthew Ingalls, two seniors at Hall-Dale High School in Farmingdale, and asked to help them out with their “Capstone” project by [...]
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Keep the Home Fires Burning?
By Price Hutchins I am always a step behind the innovation curve. I purchased my first precision slide rule the same day my roommate purchased the first calculator I had ever seen. In the 70s, I was all about wood stoves and heating with wood. The very first oil recession had passed. Jimmy Carter wore [...]
