There once was a time when political conventions were vital to conducting American democracy. There also once was a time when horse-drawn carriages were essential to travel long distances.

In violent spasms through the 1990s, the country forged together as Yugoslavia broke apart, its component republics reasserting their independence following vicious ethnic conflicts. Today, another section of the Balkans, the province of Kosovo, emerges out of the chaos of the ’90s as Europe’s newest independent country.

When the Trans-Alaska pipeline was first proposed in 1970 the environmental movement launched an all-out effort to stop it based on claims that the heated oil would destroy the permafrost, earthquakes would rupture the pipeline, massive oil leaks would permanently scar the tundra, contaminate the hundreds of pristine streams and rivers in the path of the pipeline and halt the annual migration of the Porcupine caribou herd.

U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk told workers in Norridgewock that he was committed to saving American manufacturing jobs — but that might not mean their jobs.

If the Republican presidential nominee was looking for a statement to make about the attacks in Cairo and Benghazi, Libya, Monday night, he might have tried this one.

In the heat of battle this presidential election year, accusations are flying from both campaigns of lies, half-truths and contradictions. Yet the candidates no longer show contrition when a statement is unmasked as a distortion or an out-and-out lie. Instead, they accuse the media of spin.

Mainers United for Marriage’s campaign manager, Matt McTighe, struck the right note of caution Monday in what was otherwise an enthusiastic rally in support of this year’s same-sex marriage referendum.

Faced with already high health care costs and steep inflation in health care premiums, Maine Republicans have used their legislative majorities and control of the Blaine House to change course.

If there were a new educational program likely to boost test scores, reduce absenteeism and generally make high school a more productive experience, you’d think school boards would be ready to jump on the wagon.