1. In late June, the Bangor Symphony played with Noel Paul Stookey, a member of the folk trio Peter Paul and Mary.
The day after that concert, they recorded some music together.
The cd is slated to be released on August 22, but you can hear a preview of some of the album’s songs and can buy those songs now.
Two of the recordings done with the BSO can be heard now — “America the Beautiful” and “Cue the Moon.” Enjoy!
2. Maine GOP Chair Charlie Webster has hit the big time, cartoon-wise, with his inclusion in “Doonesbury,” which appears in 1400 newspapers. Cartoonist Trudeau quotes Webster on Democrats purportedly stealing elections.
You can see the cartoon at this link.
As reporter Steve Mistler notes:
On Trudeau’s page on Slate.com, the strip appears along with a quote from a Brennan Center of Justice report that said “an individual is more likely to be struck by lightning than that he will impersonate another voter in the polls.”
While the comic is obviously critical of Webster, the GOP chairman laughed it off. When asked if he read Doonesbury, Webster said he didn’t know who that was. “I don’t even read the newspapers,” he joked.
A reporter read the comic to Webster. “I’m still right about it (voter fraud),” Webster responded.
The strip appears to confuse the failed attempt to repeal Election Day voter registration with a voter ID law. Some Republican lawmakers, along with Secretary of State Charlie Summers, who ran point on the Election Day voter registration repeal effort, tried to advance a voter ID law in 2011. However, that effort stalled and the bill was transformed into a study commission designed to evaluate ballot security issues.
Indeed, there is some confusion. Last summer and fall, Webster and Summers (along with Lance Dutson, now Summers’ Senate campaign director) were front and center in defending the law that ended same-day voter registration. The law never went into effect because of the People’s Veto campaign. In November 2011, Mainers voted by 60-40% for election-day registration.
However, Trudeau is correct about the rate of voter impersonation fraud.
