Bangor Daily News

Worker Visa Cap Imperils Tourism Businesses Congress Fails to Boost Foreign Labor Limits

Tourism-related businesses in the Northeast could find themselves short of summer help again next year unless Congress agrees to increase the number of work visas allotted for 2005. That does not seem likely, however, according to Vaughn LeBlanc of the Maine Department of Labor, who expects to process H2B visa applications for 110 Maine businesses seeking 3,000 workers this year.

Neighbors Rally for Fire Victims Smalley Family of Drew Plantation Uninsured for Nov. 23 Blaze

DREW PLANTATION - David Smalley is in the fight of his life. His eyes bloodshot with exhaustion and emphysema, his beard and long hair in disarray, Smalley sat in the living room of what was left of his farmhouse Saturday night and considered what lay ahead.

Mbna Reaps Rewards by Hiring Disabled Program Employs 'Cognitively Delayed'

BELFAST - Mike Shriver doesn't get the usual response when he strolls through MBNA's Central Support Services office at the company's sprawling Belfast complex. Typically, when a big boss from the credit card lender's corporate headquarters shows up, employees sit up straighter, work a little faster.

Online Shopping Advice

More people than ever are holiday shopping on the Internet this year. COMBAT recommends that you shop Maine stores because doing so is safer and supports our local economy, but if you shop online, exercise special caution because doing so has greater risks. The Internet is full of shadowy "companies" that are little more than a couple of guys with a fancy Web site and no product. They come and go like thieves in the night, leaving a trail of victims behind. Online transactions are harder to t...

A Helpful Leak

While the U.S. military reports on securing Fallujah, a leaked memo from senior Marine Corps officers on the scene warns against premature withdrawal of American forces. The "brutally honest" seven- page report went to senior Marine Corps and Army officers in Iraq. The New York Times said it learned details of the report from four active-duty or retired military officers in Washington and Iraq who had read or heard about it. U.S. forces in Iraq are stretched thin as they face a growing and in...

Flu Vaccine Failure

Fortunately, there have been no reports of the flu yet in Maine and it looks like this will be a mild season for the illness that kills thousands of people a year. That's good news since the country's supply of flu shots was cut in half when problems arose at a British plant that made the vaccine. It is, however, no excuse for regulators not to step up their oversight of vaccine manufacturers. Documents released this week show that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration dragged its feet when i...

For Nutrition Therapy

Dr. Christopher Ritter gave valid reasons for treating high serum lipids in his letter, "Cholesterol concerns" (BDN, Nov. 13-14). We are grateful for such physicians, as he is, who promote heart health. We would like to add to his advice what we know he advocates strongly, and that is nutrition therapy along with medication.

Alternative Families

Regarding the letter, "Demanding to adopt" (BDN, Nov. 26), the writer speaks from ignorance. Homosexual parents have raised children for many years. Studies have shown that children raised by same-sex parents are as healthy, happy and as well adjusted as peers raised by opposite-sex parents and these children are no more likely to be homosexual. Studies have failed to confirm any differences in parenting styles between heterosexual and lesbian mothers.

Moral Significance?

The op-ed by Kathleen Parker in the Nov 24 edition of the Bangor Daily News was interesting, and I related to her introduction of yet another acronym: PEST, or Post Election Selection Trauma. I seem to have it. There have been several letters published since Nov. 2 cajoling the losers to "deal with it" and to "get on" with their lives. The problem is that no one has stated very clearly how to do that. In aging, as some of us have to do, we lose things all the time.

All Firefighters Are Pros

In response to Kevin Bland's letter, "Man behind the scenes" (BDN, Nov. 9). I myself sat at these meetings with Gov. Baldacci in Augusta.

Lackeys, Not Leaders

I agree almost completely with what Ardis Cameron says in her op- ed, "Nation's Democrats need a bold new story" (BDN, Nov. 13-14). She points out that our Constitution is based on a commitment to "establish Justice, secure domestic Tranquility, provide for the Common Defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our posterity," rather than any specific set of religious values. I commend her op-ed to all Democrats and especially the Democratic Nati...

Erroneous Facts Used

Professor Lucinda Cole's op-ed, "Ivory tower and other myths" (BDN, Nov. 23), offers the kind of well-written, carefully reasoned argument that one would expect from an English teacher. Unfortunately, in making her case she depends on demonstrably erroneous facts. Cole states that public institutions are forced to look for alternative funding sources because of "falling federal and state appropriations for public education..."

Preferring Illegality

Columnist Molly Ivins and the Democrats are outraged about the proposal by Republicans to change the law to allow access to IRS returns by the chairman of the Appropriations Committee. Apparently she prefers the method used by the Clintons in information gathering: illegality. It was they who gathered 900 FBI files of their political opponents to be conveniently perused in the comfort their White House digs.