Recent Columns
by Jean Hay Bright
Unless otherwise designated, the
columns listed below have appeared in the Bangor Broadside, a bi-monthly
newspaper published from July 2002 to March 2003
It’s a Mad, Mad,
Mad, Mad World
It’s a mere two years
later, and the analogies are now between George Bush and Adolf Hitler. Even
Molly Ivins has gotten a bit testy.
----February 2003
Helmsley attitude
now at the helm
Leona Helmsley's snide remark that “Only the little people pay taxes" has become
public policy in the Bush administration.
The
Case for Left-Wing Radio
Right-wing hate radio has taken it on the chin lately, and it’s
about time.
---- December
2002 Maine Media Women 2003 First Place
Award, regular column (one column of three that won the award)
Medical
treatment and health care are not the same thing
My dad had an
astonishing amount of medical treatment the last two weeks of his life. But he
did not get enough health care to suit me.
---- November 2002
Maine Media Women 2003 First Place
Award, Personal Column
Crossing the
Credibility Line
Irrationality is not a good personality trait for a defense secretary.
---- September 2002
Maine Media Women 2003 First Place
Award, regular column (one column of three that won the award)
Troubling Down to
the Core
The United States
of America that I knew has been disappearing before my eyes
---- August 2002
Maine Media Women 2003 First Place
Award, regular column (one column of three that won the award)
Fix the Pledge and Move On
Let's fix both problems with
the Pledge of Allegiance, and then move on
---- July 2002
No so Recent (but still relevant) Columns
by Jean Hay aka Jean Hay Bright
Unless otherwise designated, the columns listed below have appeared in the Aroostook Democrat, a monthly newsletter of the Aroostook Democratic County Committee in Maine's northern-most county.
Health Care from the Ground Up
A Totally New Approach to Paying for Health Care
----October 2000
Thoughts While Weeding
How DARE the drug companies threaten to pull out of Maine when we insist they play fair!
Also, could fake sugar be the reason for the skyrocketing rise in diabetes?
And, do chemical companies really think we're too dumb to understand labeling on genetically-engineered foods -- as they have testified at hearings in Augusta?
----September 2000
Methadone Bruhaha
The U.S. District Attorney's arguments against adding methadone to the options for addiction treatment at Acadia Hospital in Bangor just don't add up. What is really going on?
----August 2000
We're Not Number One
From infant mortality to land mines, Memorial Day thoughts on how our country's leadership has plummeted since World War Two
----June 2000
Getting It
To Republicans, family values don't apply to Cuban families. And only THEIR version of religion and moral values should be taught in schools, but don't look at the anti-racketeering court suit behind the curtain. Plus, a political dirty trickster laments the big money in politics -- when the other guy's team outspends him, out-tricks him, and wins.
----May 2000
Alan Greenspan Is Not Your Friend
If you are a working stiff, the Federal Reserve Board is not on your side.
----March 2000
Feel the Paradigm Shifting
Despite the crass commercialism in Times Square celebrations, I feel a sense of optimism for the coming year. We are starting to pay attention to serious problems like violence and the threat of genetically-engineered foods
----January 2000
Libel, the Untold Story
What the Bangor Daily News didn't want you to know about the political libel case it
settled out of court.
----November/December 1999
Whose Body Is It, Anyway?
Judging by the outrage over HMO clerks denying health coverage, pushes to legalize the medical use of marijuana, death with dignity bills and Maine's bogus "partial birth" abortion referendum on November 2, people are starting to ask the right question -- who has the right to make life and death decisions for you?
----October 1999
Waco Revisited
How hot does an ordinary tear gas canister get when shot out of a grenade launcher? Hot enough to ignite a dry bale of hay inside the Branch Davidian Compound?
----September 1999
Soybeans and Frankenfood Have American farmers bought into financial disaster with genetically engineered food?
---August 1999
What's On the Menu?
Why, in God's name, are restaurant workers allowed to be paid HALF the already pitifully low minimum wage?
---April 1999
Flynt, and Still
How Hustler Magazine's Larry Flynt could very well change the balance of power in Congress,
and why technicalities in the Presidential impeachment process should not be ignored.
----January 1999
Will the Fourth Estate Take the Fifth?
For those of us interested in the relationship between politics and the media, two recent staff-generated opinions in the Bangor Daily News, along with a fresh libel suit against that paper over its coverage of the 1996 US Senate race, were nothing short of remarkable.
----October 1998
The Media's Sexual Obsession
Did the media's obsession with President Clinton's sex life tell terrorists on the other side of the world that the time was right to bomb our embassies?
----September 1998
Do-It-Yourself Tax Code
We have a once-in-a-lifetime chance to simplify the IRS tax code -- but we have to be smart, act quickly -- and elect the right people.
----July 1998
The New Political Morality
If the morality of the political strategists as portrayed in two recent presidential movies is in any way accurate--and after recent events in Maine I have reason to believe it is--then God help us all.
---April
1998
Criminal Assets
How law enforcement officials around the world are turning their attention to the assets of designated criminals -- down to their body parts.
----March 1998 Aroostook (Maine) Democrat
----August 1998 Progressive Populist, published in Storm Lake, Iowa
Corporations Are People, Too
The U.S. Supreme Court says corporations are "persons" in the eyes of the law.
Does the IRS know about this?
----This column appeared in the March 11, 1998 Bangor (Maine)Daily News. A slightly different version ran in the February 1998 Aroostook (Maine)Democrat
and in the March 1998 Progressive Populist, published in Storm Lake, Iowa.
Maine's Upcoming Referendum
On the Sexual Fantasies of Business People
The religious right in Maine would have you believe that the February 10 referendum vote is about the sexual behavior of gays and lesbians. It’s not...The new law’s target is business people. Specifically, the law is targeted at those business people who use their own sexual fantasies as the basis for business decisions in the areas of employment, housing, credit and public accommodations. ----
January 1998
On February 10, 1998, 51.5% of the people who went to the polls
(31% of all registered voters) voted to repeal Maine's gay rights law. |
He-Mail, She-Mail, and the Taiwan Two-Step
The Taiwanese connection -- or --
Who paid for the trip to Taiwan by political party officials from several states?
And is that OK with you? ---- November 1997
Apologize for Hypocrisy
An apology is long overdue from our government for the hypocrisy embodied in the institution of slavery as it was once legally practiced in the United States of America. ----
July 1997
The BIW deal: economic blackmail or outright extortion?
Maine's Governor Angus King is calling it an investment. Others say it's corporate welfare. Some of us use stronger words.
-- May 1997
Stars and Stripes No More?
If the flag-burning amendment to the Constitution passes, I'm going to miss all those red, white and blue ties, shirts, hats, beach towels and bikinis that now liven up parades, political rallies, backyards and beaches. --
June 1997 Aroostook Democrat, and July 1998 Progressive Populist
The following columns and editorials have appeared in
The Enterprise
Bucksport, Maine's weekly community newspaper.
Clinton's Senate trial
----January 7, 1999
In Search of Census Concensus
----December 3, 1998
Secret Turnpike Tolls
----November 25, 1998
The Starr Report--Everyone, please grow up!
----September 17, 1998
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