WASHINGTON — The ghost of Smoot-Hawley seems to haunt President Trump. You will recall that Smoot-Hawley was the sweeping tariff legislation that Congress passed and President Hoover signed in mid-1930. Most economists have exonerated the legislation as a major cause of the Great Depression, but it certainly didn’t help. It contributed to the deep economic […]
opinion
Posted inLetters, sj-web
Congress keeps failing to act
Congress is wrong this time, just as it was wrong before 9/11. That attack wasn’t successful because the terrorists were determined. It happened because Congress (Republican majority) refused to act when the CIA, FBI and FAA recommended increased airline security in 1996. (These recommendations came after the capture of 9/11 mastermind Ramzi Yusef.) Congress balked […]
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Posted inLetters, sj-web
We don't want these towers in Maine
Greenwood residents should make an effort to attend the wind tower hearing on July 9, at 6 p.m. at the Legion hall. They should also turn out to vote on the issue on a date soon afterward. Greenwood has several mountains and ponds that attract tourists to Vacationland. What a pity it would be to […]
Posted inLetters, sj-web
Drivers, be aware of pets
There is a farm on my road that had a very sweet dog. He lived outside with the animals and kept an eye on them. Whenever we walked by, he would run out to greet us with a little happy dance and woof. I would give him dog biscuits and pat him on the head. […]
Posted inLetters, sj-web
Jared Golden will bring us together
As a veteran, a mother and factory worker, I’m really angry at the record of my congressman, Bruce Poliquin. This year, he’s voted to give tax breaks to millionaires and giant corporations, while supporting cuts to critical safety programs like SNAP that our seniors, kids and veterans depend on. I worked so hard to pass […]
Posted inOp-Eds, sj-web
What Trump gets
In the 1950s, the great neo-conservative intellectual Irving Kristol acknowledged Joe McCarthy’s stark failings, but famously refused to take the side of his critics. “For there is one thing,” he wrote, “that the American people know about Senator McCarthy: He, like them, is unequivocally anti-Communist. About the spokesman for American liberalism, they feel they know […]
Posted inOp-Eds, sj-web
Yemen's seaport battle for food and the future
In fractious Yemen’s swirl of tribal, sectarian and proxy wars, two conflicts stand out: America’s drone and special operations war on al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula bases and personnel; and the much larger ethnic-sectarian war pitting Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia’s coalition against Shia Iran’s Houthis rebel proxy army. The Houthis belong to the Zaidi sect […]
Posted inLetters, sj-web
Where is farm bill's logic?
On June 22 you reported Rep. Poliquin’s support for the farm bill, based on “boosting the fortunes of Maine’s blueberry growers” by funding the purchase of frozen blueberries for snacks for school children. As a blueberry grower myself (certified organic), I fail to see the logic in yet another program to throw federal tax […]
Posted inLetters, sj-web
Veterans could lose Medicaid coverage
I had the honor of serving in the U.S. Army on active duty for four years. When I got out, I was fortunate enough to be healthy, but that meant I, like most other veterans, did not qualify for VA health benefits. As many as 3,000 such veterans will benefit from MaineCare expansion when the […]
Posted inOp-Eds, sj-web
Funny, we don't worry about mad romaine disease
Come July Fourth, millions of Americans will toss burgers on the grill without a second thought. It was different 14 years ago. Remember “mad cow disease” — the health crisis that never happened? Shortly before Independence Day 2004, the U.S. Agriculture Department announced — James Comey-like — the discovery of two “inconclusive” cases of mad […]