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 an MHPC luncheon. He's easy that way, and he'll still respect you if you do.
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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...