Maine Liberty Journal

Via Bangor Daily News (February 6, 2010):

Despite gallons of newspaper ink, hours of air time and untold clicks in the blogosphere, the effect of the tea party movement in local and national politics remains to be seen.

Even as supporters gathered Friday in Nashville, Tenn., for a National Tea Party Convention, some question whether it’s a movement at all, or rather a collection of isolated protests, just like similar events for any of a million other causes. Tea party organizers in Maine, though, say the influence of the events is not only enduring. It’s building.

“I have seen more people at political functions than have ever been there before,” said Lois Bloomer of Hermon, who ran two tea parties in Maine last year and has organized today’s Penobscot County Republican Caucus.

“There’s something definitely in the wind,” she said on Thursday. “People are stirred up.”

The establishment is trying hard to convince the masses that this “movement” is some fringe element of one far wing of the political spectrum. Certainly the last thing they want is for the “moderates” and the “mainstream” to get the impression that they have good reasons to be angry about the lies and fraud they’ve been getting from the Democans and Republicrats all these years. The harder the corporate media organs try to marginalize the disaffected segment of the population, the more I’m convinced that a genuine revolution might just be taking place.

Tags: National news, State news by Editor
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Some info about the bill is posted here on SAM’s blog, dated 1.20.2010.

Here is an article written by Rep. Jon McKane on the subject.

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According to the folks on AMG, this video clip shows Poliquin answering in the affirmative when asked if he supports mandatory background checks for gun sales in Maine.

Further down the AMG thread, Mr. Poliquin attempts to revise/clarify/extend his previous remarks, suggesting that he supports existing gun laws, but does not favor any new laws.

I posed a question asking if he would support a law similar to those being pushed elsewhere that exempt guns manufactured and sold within a single state from all federal gun laws.

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Via Maine Family Policy Council:

Michaud, whose single-minded mission is to “end child killing,” happened to be at the local Wal-Mart last November. A little girl came running over to him. “She came up to me in the grocery department,” Michaud recalled, “and she said, ‘my mom wants to say something to you.’ The mother said, ‘never stop, because you saved my granddaughter.’

“Now I can never stop. There is no greater joy, there is nothing I can do that can bring greater joy. Nothing, nothing, nothing. I’m going to be an emotional wreck because of that.”

Michaud, 49, spoke from the Blessed Sacrament Chapel, where he had been praying. Beginning on Feb. 14, he will spend four hours a day, five days a week in the chilling morning cold outside Family Planning Association Maine on Gabriel Drive in Augusta, for the “40 Days for Life” campaign that coincides with Lent.

It was there, last autumn, when Michaud made this great encounter. The grandmother he saw later at Wal-Mart and her daughter were there for an abortion. That’s when he and God saved the life of a little girl who is now six months old.

I eagerly await the day when the pro-life movement finds the courage to boldly speak out on behalf of Iraqi and Afghani children whose innocent lives have been aborted by the US military.

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Via WCSH (January 19, 2010):

All-terrain vehicle use on private land is on the agenda in a Maine legislative committee this week.

On Tuesday, the Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Committee takes up a bill that would allow wardens to stop ATVs operated on privately owned property without a reasonable and articulable suspicion to believe a violation of the law has occurred.

That’s a change from the present law, which says a law enforcement officer must have a reasonable suspicion of a violation whether the ATV is on public or private land.

Rep. Ralph Sarty, a Denmark Republican, says he wants to change the law because that extra measure of enforcement is needed to foster good relations between private landowners and ATV users.

Some important information regarding the subject can be found in 2 recent Maine Supreme Court rulings. State v McKeen, and State v Bromiley.

Tags: Law, Police state, State news by Editor
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Via WMTW (January 13, 2010):

I definitely like the idea of less money being dished out from Augusta to fund local schools. Cities and towns can and should decide for themselves what sports and other “extracurricular” activities they value and wish to pay for. Students who are forced to do their own fundraising for these activities learn a valuable lesson that they would not otherwise get about the cost and benefit of their recreation. And hopefully, tight school budgets will be reworked to put the focus back on core educational areas of math, science and language skills.

Maine state budget cuts are trickling down to local school athletic programs.

The programs’ booster club members brainstormed options Tuesday night in an effort to save the programs, but it appears the fate for some teams doesn’t look good.

Cuts to coach’s stipends and expenses means a number of Scarborough sports teams will not be playing this spring.

Tags: Government schools, State news by Editor
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Via WCSH (January 16, 2010):

It’s too bad the issue of casinos comes down to the morality of gambling, the potential change in crime rate or the hypothetical benefit to local employment. Why does it have to be more complicated than simply saying people should be free to open a casino and other people should be free to gamble as they see fit?

As the latest effort to put a casino in Western Maine takes shape, an interesting rivalry is materializing. Two former architects of the campaigns that defeated proposals in Sanford and Biddeford have parted ways and will be managing the message for opposing sides.

Dennis Bailey of Savvy Communications will continue fighting gambling in Maine as the spokesperson for Casinos No! But his former business partner, Mark Robinson, is now working for the proponents.

Robinson says he was persuaded that casinos can bring jobs and economic boosts to Maine… without the downsides he so vigorously warned of when he worked with Bailey. For example, a flyer Robinson designed that used a stock photo of a homeless man.

“I think the Hollywood Slots experience has shown people it hasn’t come true,” says Robinson. “There aren’t homeless people lying all over the streets in Bangor.”

Dennis Bailey remains unconvinced. “There is no evidence that Bangor is any better off than communities in Maine without casinos. They promised jobs and economic development, and said crime would go down. but unemployment is up, businesses have closed, crime has increased more than any other city in Maine.”

Mark Robinson says he will be paid $60,000 from now through the November vote.

Tags: State news by Editor
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Via Bangor Daily News (January 15, 2010):

A task force charged with implementing changes to Maine’s medical marijuana law fine tuned its recommendations to the governor and Legislature on Friday, reaching consensus on several key issues but leaving a handful unanswered.

The task force was formed by Gov. John Baldacci following last November’s vote to expand the state law allowing qualified individuals or their caretakers to grow and possess limited amounts of marijuana for medical treatment.

After five meetings, the group agreed on a recommended process for issuing identification cards to registered users as well a system for licensing and regulating nonprofit dispensaries that would supply medical marijuana to patients.

The majority of members also supported the creation of an advisory board that would review whether to add other debilitating conditions to the list of qualifying conditions for treatment with medical marijuana. A minority of the members had wanted the task force itself to recommend the addition of specific conditions, such as post-traumatic stress disorder.

However, members acknowledged that the Legislature and the Department of Health and Human Services will have to resolve lingering questions about the existing language allowing towns to limit the number and location of dispensaries.

The task force, comprising representatives of state government as well as the medical community and patients, is expected to submit a final report to Baldacci within the next two weeks. That report will then form the basis of legislation that will be considered by lawmakers.

Public hearings on the bill will be held later this winter.

I think this is one hurdle that we have cleared,” said Faith Benedetti, one of several members representing patients’ interests on the group. “I’m really optimistic and hopeful that now the Legislature will do the right thing for patients.”

Tags: Health, State news by Editor
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Via Brunswick Times-Record (January 6, 2010):

On Jan. 21, Keenan Auction Co. will attempt to sell the manufacturing equipment, office chairs, forklifts and real estate associated with Moosehead Furniture in Monson.

Even the shuttered company’s Web site and brand name will be offered to the highest bidder.

It’s the last days for a company that had its start in Maine 60 years ago, and less than three years after state leaders heralded new ownership and renewed opportunity for the manufacturers of Maine-made furniture.

The Moosehead Furniture saga illustrates the perils investors — and state programs that back them — face during Maine’s ongoing economic malaise.

A legislative leader and Maine’s leading business lobbyist teamed up with an out-of-state investor to try to save a floundering manufacturer. They relied heavily upon state programs designed to aid business ventures, but still needed more help. When they sought an infusion of economic development grant funding, rules that limit aid to firms affiliated with legislators thwarted their effort.

Ultimately, their effort to save Maine jobs cost Maine money (perhaps more than $600,000, depending on loan repayments) — and left furniture builders hoping for a new savior. At present, the company’s hopes for rebirth rest with the foreclosure process.

Moosehead Manufacturing — its Monson mills, equipment and designs — was purchased in September 2007 by state Rep. Josh Tardy, R-Newport and House Minority Leader; Dana Connors, the head of the Maine Chamber of Commerce; and Ed Skovron Jr., an investor from Rhode Island. Each became primary investors in the retooled Moosehead Furniture.

Tags: State news by Editor
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Via WMTW (10/22/2009):

A new report from Environment Maine shows the Androscoggin River is one of the most toxic in the country.

The report ranks the river among the top 20 waterways for the most cancer causing toxic discharge for 2007.

The report said 25,502 pounds of toxic discharge, including lead and mercury, were released into the river in 2007.

The report said nationally, toxic chemical were discharged into 1,900 waterways.

The Environment Maine report used data from the U.S. EPAs toxic release inventory.

Tags: Environment, State news by Editor
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Via WCSH (10/21/2009):

Kaile Warren was depressed and homeless when, through “divine intervention,” he got the concept – and brand name – that would make him something of a national celebrity.

Warren says God presented him with the idea for a home-repair franchise and this slogan: “Rent-A-Husband: For those jobs that never get done.” At the time, the former home builder was lying surrounded by rats in an abandoned warehouse – or in a homeless shelter or on a friend’s couch, depending on the version he’s pitching to the media.

The state of Warren’s homelessness in the mid-1990s is only one of the questions swirling around the 10-year CBS Early Show home-repair contributor, author, three-time Oprah Winfrey Show guest and founder of the Rent-A-Husband chain, a USA TODAY investigation has found. Even the number of active franchises and their locations is hard to pin down, and Warren (his first name is pronounced “kale”) won’t comment.

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Via WCSH (10/20/2009):

Maine’s Senate president is introducing legislation to make sure that people who get swine flu or some other illness get time off from work to recover, or to take care of family members who get sick.

Sen. Elizabeth Mitchell is announcing introduction of her bill on Tuesday. The Vassalboro Democrat says the idea of the legislation is to prevent the spread of H1N1.

Mitchell’s bill would give employees of larger businesses six paid sick days a year, and employees of smaller businesses three paid days. It would apply to those receiving preventive care or to use in relation to domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking.

Legislative leaders voted last week to allow Mitchell’s bill to be introduced during the 2010 session.

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No wonder it snowed yesterday.

Via WCSH (10/19/2009):

An international expert on climate change plans to speak in Maine about the upcoming United Nations conference on the subject.

Dr. Ayobami Salami, director of the Institute of Ecology and Environmental Studies in Nigeria, will speak at an invitation-only luncheon Monday on a developing nation’s view of global warming solutions. He is speaking in advance of the U.N.’s December conference in Denmark addressing what countries can do to reduce global warming.

Salami’s lecture will be in Augusta.

Tags: State news by Editor
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Via WMTW (10/14/2009):

The city of Portland may have to call off next week’s flu clinic due to a dosage delay.

The city offered up its third seasonal flu vaccination clinic Wednesday at city hall.

To date, more than 700 adults have received a flu shot.

Clinics for children will be offered at Portland Public Schools later this fall.

Tags: Local news, State news by Editor
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Via WCSH (10/15/2009):

The Bangor Police Department is getting a federal grant that will put more officers on the street. The grant will pay the salaries for four new police officers for the next three years.

On any given day, there are usually five police officers patrolling the streets of Bangor. City Council Chairman Gerry Palmer says that’s not enough.

“We’re not a community of thirty thousand,” Palmer told NEWS CENTER. “We have a hundred thousand people out there, and people are having their accidents, they’re going through stop signs and stop lights, we need the law enforcement that we have to meet the needs and service our community.”

The City Council gave the okay for the police department to receive a federal grant to hire four new officers. Those won’t be patrol positions, but Police Chief Ron Gastia says they will be positions he normally has to take officers off the street to fill.

“What this grant will do is allow us to fill those positions without robbing from the patrol side,” Gastia told NEWS CENTER. “So we will be able to maintain our current level of staffing out there.”

The jobs will be a school resource officer, a community relations officer, and two officers for a special enforcement team that will tackle crimes that are happening in trends.

Tags: State news by Editor
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