In my American history survey course that covers roughly 1877 till the present, I recently discussed Social Darwinism. That was the deliberate misreading of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution to apply to human societies, particularly to public policy. Darwin never intended for his scientific observations and in turn sophisticated theories to be applied to 19th-century […]

Amidst the ongoing controversy over Governor LePage’s refusal to nominate a permanent Commissioner of Education, lest the illustrious William Beardsley be rejected by leftist legislators who don’t appreciate his superb qualifications, let the Governor do what President Ronald Reagan tried to do: simply abolish the entire department. Alas, Reagan wasn’t able to accomplish this and […]

I take no credit for this embarrassing discovery. A letter in today’s Sunday Maine Telegram by someone I don’t know who lives in Southern Maine pointed this out. “One University Initiative” was touted most recently in announcing the appointment of a new Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs charged with implementing this vision (and I use […]

I am no fan of Donald Trump and utterly reject his comments about the Indiana judge of Mexican ancestry. They are simply outrageous. But where does the saintly Vice President come in to criticize Trump for racism when Biden was instrumental in getting Clarence Thomas approved by the Senate for the Supreme Court a quarter […]

In my view, the most telling point about any possible merger of UME-Machias’ campus with U.Maine will be whether or not the System and the Trustees appoint a “permanent” president once the status of the System’s smallest campus—in terms of faculty, staff, and students—is determined. The other day the System appointed an interim President, someone […]

Every fall a college puts out a list  of once important people and of once major events that incoming undergraduate students may never have heard of because those individuals and events took place before they were born or in their first years of life. The principal purpose of the list is to alert faculty not […]

Reviews of the upcoming HBO program “Confirmation” remind some of us and enlighten others too young to have been around in 1991, of the crucial role played by now Vice President Joe Biden in the narrow Senate vote in favor of appointing Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court. When the Court’s first African American justice, […]

I sincerely regret that I unintentionally provided incorrect incorrect information about Senator Collins even as I was generally touting her as the ideal running mate for Donald Trump, should Trump indeed become the Republican Presidential nominee. First, Senator Collins DID campaign for Jeb Bush for the Republican Presidential nominee, where I indicated that she did […]

Assuming that Donald Trump becomes the Republican Party’s nominee for President, he will surely be under enormous pressure from various sides to select a running mate to complement and enhance his candidacy.  Senator Susan Collins would make an ideal Vice Presidential nominee. Back in 1984 Democratic Presidential candidate Walter Mondale chose New York Congresswomen Geraldine […]

Current lamentations by the so-called Republican Party establishment that the Grand Old Party is fading away with the likely presidential nomination of Donald Trump are misplaced. Those alleged experts who are ignorant of American history apparently don’t understand the party’s origins in the1850’s and 1860’s as the party of Abraham Lincoln and other advocates of […]