Archive for ‘Opinion’

  • Small World: Lessons, Socratic and Self-Taught

      By Henry Precht BN Columnist We’re off and running — for reelection or defeat in 2020. Charges and counter charges abound. The country is depicted as dystrophic or, “come on, not all that bad.” But, let’s not be downcast. Surely, there’s a lesson or two to be learned in the moments of reflection that […]

  • Small World: Unsettled by settlements

    By Henry Precht BN Columnist Today let’s discuss the UN Security Council (UNSC) Resolution condemning Israeli settlements that so agitated Prime Minister Netanyahu. Fourteen UNSC member states voted for it; the United States, which previously has protected Israel with a veto, abstained so that the resolution passed. The Resolution: reaffirmed that Israeli settlements in the […]

  • Earth Notes: What if the climate skeptics are right?

    By Frank Daggett It isn’t reasonable to deny obvious facts. There’s the rub — the facts about climate change aren’t obvious. Rather, climate change has become a matter of belief. If one believes that the earth is warming, then the recent trend of warmer and warmer annual global average temperatures, as well as every mild […]

  • Small World: Dial ‘P’ for personal policies

      By Henry Precht BN Columnist Scene: The State Department Operations Center which sends and receives official calls from abroad. The Center’s Chief is reporting to his boss on calls made by the president-elect. Chief: He said he wanted to go down the country list, starting with “A” and talk to sovereigns. We dialed Albania […]

  • Thoughts about Tilla

    A unique voice went silent last week. Virginia (Tilla) Durr, who spent a lifetime as a champion of civil rights and fought to protect the less fortunate, died on Thursday of a massive heart attack. She was 77. Advocacy was Tilla’s life. Raised in Alabama, her parents were closely connected to Dr. Martin Luther King, […]

  • Small World: Putting yourself on the line

      By Henry Precht BN Columnist A fading head cold, a persistent chest cold (or worse) and no doctors available for consultation over the long Thanksgiving weekend; an article for The Bridgton News to be written with no subject yet taken hold in an otherwise preoccupied mind. “Don’t write about Trump,” instructs my wife. That […]

  • Guest column: A wake-up call

      I learned something today that I must tell our community because I think many of you will want to know. I am the director of Birthwise Midwifery School on South High Street in Bridgton, and today one of our first-year African-American students contacted us to tell us she would be withdrawing from our program […]

  • Viewpoint: Get out and vote!

    This Tuesday, Nov. 8, Mainers and all Americans will be going to the polls to elect a new national president and others to represent our towns, states, and country. In Maine, we also have a number of referendums to be decided. The campaigns on all sides, at all levels, during this 2016 election cycle have […]

  • Uppermost House: Girl with a grey sweatshirt

        By S. Peter Lewis BN Columnist On a recent autumn day, as I worked to get the last few outdoor chores done before we were plunged into another Maine winter, I was scraping old dry caulk from the window frame in the door that leads to the back yard when my 23-year-old daughter, […]

  • Earth Notes: The earth and its people searching for peace

      By Sally Chappell Let’s think about the effects of military spending on the environment. Even as the presidential and congressional candidates from our two major political parties avoid the issue, we all know that the United States has the most powerful military in the world and spends more on defense than the next seven […]