Bangor Daily News

Tribal Slots Measure Gets House Approval

A tribal racetrack casino in Washington County won initial approval in the Maine House on Tuesday, although it fell just short of the two-thirds support needed to override a possible veto from Gov. John Baldacci. The 94-53 vote came after an hour-long debate in Augusta, where the bill - despite the strong House support - faces an uncertain future, with Maine's Democratic governor indicating Tuesday he was "strongly considering a veto."

Gop Angered by Proposed Cuts to Budget Republicans Accuse State Dems of Crafting 'Disingenuous' List

AUGUSTA - The mere utterance of the word "disingenuous" was about all it took to ignite a 20-minute, partisan firefight on the Legislature's Appropriations Committee where efforts to adopt potential budget cuts remained stalled Tuesday. Minority Republicans on the panel took exception to a list of proposed deep cutbacks offered by state department commissioners and legislative committees of jurisdiction that were requested last week by Democratic leaders.

Expedition Vessel Set to Launch On Penobscot

BREWER - From the outside, and if the sails are down, onlookers easily could think the Wanderbird was a Dutch fishing vessel somehow transported to Maine. That's because the 92-foot watercraft, built in 1963, worked as a fishing trawler in the North Sea, off the coast of Holland, for 27 years before the Miles family of Rockport purchased it and moved it to Vacationland as a touring boat.

Lines to Clear the Rain

Meanwhile, the rain fell with cruel persistence. You felt that the heavens must at last be empty of water, but still it poured down, straight and heavy, with a maddening iteration, on the iron roof. Everything was damp and clammy. There was mildew on the walls and on the boots that stood on the floor. Through the sleepless nights the mosquitoes droned their angry chant. - Somerset Maugham

I'll Get Brac to You

The meeting last week between the congressional delegations of Maine and New Hampshire and the chairman of the base closure commission, Anthony Principi, should have been informative. But it wasn't because the information both the delegation and the commission need to review base closures is being held by the Department of Defense. Meanwhile, the deadline for the decision draws closer. The Defense Department says the information is coming and more hasn't been released because some of it is cl...

Veto Vs. Education

Our local center for university and community college studies offers quality, accessible education in conjunction with adult education. In-state partnerships like this afford Mainers an array of opportunities to learn, earn more competitive wages and create better lives for themselves and their families. The Legislature has made a point to invest $5 million into Maine's community colleges to support this growth and show the importance of making college degrees more attainable.

Maine Logging Issues

On April 26, Professor Andrew Egan wrote an op-ed criticizing the Maine Future Forest Economy project for not addressing issues related to loggers. He is correct that the FFE project does not address logging, but for the specific reason that the issue is being addressed through other efforts. For example, logging interests were represented on Gov. Baldacci's Council on the Sustainability of the Forest Products Industry (a companion effort to the FFE project). This effort led to a coordinated,...

Stop Bolton? Not so Fast

There are strong reasons to reject Lori Gramlich's opinion of John Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations. [, MSW, of Portland, a consultant and organizer for the Stop Bolton Coalition, wrote a May 26 BDN commentary.] I don't recall anything in our Constitution which refers to allowing the ambassadors of foreign nations to subvert the sovereignty of the United States. I would suggest that we need just such an ambassador capable of deflecting the constant bombastic anti- American drivel of...

Of War and Peace

Laura Bush has been swayed by George's propaganda. To quote Laura:

Meaning of Marriage

The debate over gay marriage comes down to a simple question: What is more important in a marriage, love or gender? If it is love, then there is no reason why two people who love each other should be denied the same rights given to other couples. However, not only do we have a law prohibiting people from getting married simply because they are both the same gender, there is now a proposed constitutional amendment to do the same thing.

Bush's Own Advice

"Victory means exit strategy, and it is important for the president of the United States to explain to us what the exit strategy is." This quote was given to President Clinton during the war in Kosovo by the then governor of Texas, George W. Bush. These words were accurate at that time and they are even more significant now with our war in Iraq. By a vote of 300 to 128, the Woolsey amendment, which would have developed plans for a withdrawal, failed in the House of Representatives. But the fa...