Pem Schaeffer

Pem Schaeffer is a retired engineer who progressed to a position in business development leadership in defense electronics. He lives and writes in Brunswick, Maine, and blogs at: http://othersideofbrunswick.blogspot.com/ He can be reached at pemster4062@yahoo.com or you can always buy him lunch at a Maine Policy Institute luncheon. He's easy that way, and he'll still respect you if you do.
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Commentary
What if discretion is our recourse?
(If you read my column “Have We No Recourse?”, this column is intended...
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Commentary
Have we no recourse?
Can we do anything lawful and legitimate to “protect, defend, and preserve” America...
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Commentary
The torches are being lit, the battle is being joined and the truth is being pursued. It’s time to join up
Abraham Lincoln once famously said, “The philosophy of the school room in one...
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Energy & Environment
Whose hand will be on the global climate crisis thermostat?
“The Invisible Hand” is a notion coined by Adam Smith in the context...
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Commentary
What we learn from the rhetorical disputes over SCOTUS nominations
It’s Supreme Court nomination time again, and the result is predictable. The usual...
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Election Center
Why is the left promoting electoral dysfunction?
Every citizen who meets statutory qualifications has the right to vote, and to...
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Commentary
The new left rejects a self-governing republic
I’m an engineer by aptitude, education, and vocation. Those of you who are also...
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Commentary
What’s going on in our cities?
I counted to 10, but it didn’t work. I don’t know about you,...
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Commentary
‘No one is above the law’ – except members of Congress
We’ve been watching the judicial gyrations over the fate of retired Lt. Gen....
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Commentary
Look both ways – twice – before disbanding the police
We grow up being told to “look both ways before you cross the...
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Daily Catch
Defeating COVID-19: Lessons from the business of complex warfare systems
The Coronavirus pandemic has us engaged in “warfare” whether we wanted it or...
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Commentary
Law, oaths and the truth
In today’s partisan, impeachment-centric political climate, the following have become figurative lapel pins...
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Daily Catch
Passenger rail authority fleeces taxpayers to the tune of $10 million
In April last year, the Press Herald ran my Maine Voices submission; it...
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Commentary
It’s time for Maine’s private colleges to step up
Bowdoin College, in Brunswick, is surely among the wealthiest institutions in Maine. Its...
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Commentary
Free college, Medicare for All and other insanities of the extreme left
Clichéd as it may be, conservatives live in “a target rich environment” for...
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Citizens' Initiative
Ask your doctor if Referendax is right for you
Matt Gagnon did a superb job of “fisking” Edgar Allen Beem‘s recent Forecaster...
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Commentary
Rail authority demonstrates two degrees of fraud, waste and abuse
This article first appeared in the Portland Press Herald. “Nobody spends somebody else’s...
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In Depth
Alexa, what are you doing in my room?
How much would you pay someone to invade the privacy of your home? ...
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Commentary
A quick and brief tour of leftist crazy-land
Herewith a few quick examples of the cognitive cacophony of those on the...
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Commentary
Is there a cure for spinal frailty in Republicans?
Pundits and commoners often repeat Michael Savage’s thesis that “liberalism is a mental...
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Commentary
Progressives facing existential PR damage from Charlottesville
Moral superiority is the lily-white garb donned by progressive true believers to shore...
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Education
Teacher Pay? It’s Time to Reform the Underlying Structure and Driving Factors
I agree with Governor LePage. Teachers should be paid what they are worth....
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Commentary
Tea and Crumpets in the Senate Cloakroom, Anyone?
“Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And moderation in the...
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Commentary
A Nation of Laws? Nay, We Are a Nation of Kingdoms and Kings
Recently I attended the MHPC luncheon at which Tom Fitton, Head of Judicial...
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Commentary
How to Bring Accountability to Public Schools
“When school children start paying union dues, that’s when I’ll start representing the...
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National
Part III: Federal Employee Compensation Reform
In 1959 I began my pursuit of a BS degree in Electrical Engineering....
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Commentary
Part II: Suggesting the Obvious – Starting at the Beginning, and the Top
Sometimes, seemingly intractable problems need to be addressed with ‘brute force.’ That is,...
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Commentary
Deficits, Debts, and Drug Addiction
A three part series on chronic abuse of other peoples’ money Part I: The...
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Commentary
Schaeffer: Updating the Filibuster Conundrum
More than three years ago, The Maine Wire ran a brief item of...
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Commentary
Something’s Gotta Give: O’Sullivan’s First Law and Political Gravitational Pull
I’ve often generalized about Republican’s and Democrats by saying that the former almost...
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2014 Gubernatorial Campaign
Unto Everything There Is A Season
Who was it that said election time is ‘silly season?’ For years I’ve...