Spring comes and I think of Maine.
April 2003

Just because I've never seen a more beautiful place in the United States when the change of seasons appears. Unspoiled lakes, mountains and trees that fairly explode with color when the deep snow thaws and cool, rather than cold, winds blow. Or in fall -- when the snows are on the way.

To see a deep blue lake in autumn, fed by rolling rocky streams, deep-red, yellow and orange leaves floating in the calm waters and in the hillside trees; to see a mountain on the horizon and the reverse-mirror image of the mountain, upside down as reflected on the deep-blue lake is to see nature as one imagines God intended. 

New Hampshire, Vermont, both are equally beautiful this time of year and in the fall, but Maine has the quaint harbored splendor of Portland, the quirky beauty of Bar Harbor (where they have a sturdy sense of humor, high prices and a hotel called the Bluenose Inn) and sleepy, friendly Bangor -- about as far north in the United States as you can get and still enjoy Americana. 

And if you really enjoy lobster, Maine is heaven on earth.

Of course, New England is sometimes impossible with the snowdrifts of winter. But there's always spring, summer -- and especially fall. 

Three out of four ain't bad.

TRIVIA: What's the proper term for the flat little plastic boxes compact discs come in?

In the age of terrorism, it sets one incredulous hearing the remarks made by Senate Democrats who have dismissed President Bush's latest nominee for appeals court judge. 

Senator Patrick Leahy admitted on the Senate floor that he and his colleagues are turning away Mr. Pickering because -- no matter his qualifications for judge -- the then-Republican-controlled Senate turned away so many of ex-President Clinton's nominees in the waning days of the Clinton years.

With America at war, hope that the Democrat-led Senate can properly stay clear (for a while) of naked partisan bickering was dashed Thursday when  senators nakedly admitted that President Bush will have trouble getting his candidates confirmed for anything because there is leftover anger about the politics played during the Clinton years. And Mr. Clinton still heads the party, as many realize.

One Senator claimed the nomination of the conservative but likeable Pickering was a "divisive" move by Bush; but Senators could find no substantive reason to turn away that nomination. 

It's all politics. As one Democratic senator said, If the president wants us to confirm his nominees, "he needs to nominate a moderate." 

Well, there are a lot of people who work with Mr. Pickering in his home state who will attest to the fact that he is a moderate. 

His record seems good. Unless it's your intention to divide the nation along party lines. 

Then obfuscate.

TRIVIA ANSWER: They're properly called Jewel Cases. Which falsely raises the stakes for the artistic merit of pop singer Jewel.

-- Mike Shiloh