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WATERVILLE -- The meaning of bipartisanship too often depends on whether one's party is in the majority or the minority, Sen. Susan Collins said during an address Sunday night at Colby College. Collins, a moderate Republican, cast a key vote for President Barack Obama's $787 billion economic recovery bill passed in Congress in February. Currently, she is once again a key negotiator as the Senate and the House of Representatives try to find common ground on a $3.6 trillion budget. "Bipartisanship is a principle and principles do not change according to circumstance," Collins said. "Just as we cannot claim the...

Limited government, individual liberty, personal responsibility, greater economic opportunity, and respect for this nation and its heritage. BY JERRY A. KANE At what point does complacency end and panic set in for the members and leaders of the Republican Party? When will they notice the empty hour glass and recognize wickedness for what it is? The hordes of satiated simpletons shouting in rhythmic cadence, “Oh we love, the O-One … Oh we love, the O-One” is not the Winkie chant of guards entering a castle in a scene from a classic fantasy film. The ill winds of the 2006 and...

Collins Doesn't Support Obama Budget Senator Susan Colllins finally discovers fiscal responsibility http://www.thehopeforamerica.com/play.php?id=630 Date Added: 3/22/09 This video has been viewed 174 times.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senators from two Northeast states urged U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu to commit $400 million from the economic stimulus package to support an advanced wind energy program, especially for offshore wind projects. The lawmakers want money budgeted for the department's energy efficiency and renewable energy activities set aside for developing domestic wind energy technologies so the United States can be compete with foreign wind companies. . . . . . The letter was sent by Maine Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins and Delaware Senators Tom Carper and Ted Kaufman.

Conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh is casting a shadow over the Republican Party's efforts to redefine itself after two losing election cycles. For moderate U.S. Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, who defied the party's national trend by easily winning re-election in Maine in 2006 and 2008, respectively, it's almost too much to bear. "You'd think they might take a page out of our book rather than trying to fight it," Snowe said of the national GOP last week. "They don't want to acknowledge where they've gone wrong."

President Obama lent his voice last night to the push for a mandatory cap on greenhouse gas emissions, using his first speech to a joint session of Congress to lobby for controversial legislation sure to spark a heated debate during tight economic times. Obama campaigned for president last year with climate change and energy issues atop his agenda. And he returned to those themes yesterday, saying that a cap-and-trade bill would help spark economic recovery by giving U.S. companies greater incentive to start producing more wind turbines, solar panels, biofuels and battery-powered automobiles. "To truly transform our economy, to protect...

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How Maine's GOP Senators Are Key to Obama's Agenda Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe Collins: The courtship of Senator Olympia Snowe started in December with a phone call from Joe Biden. The Vice President-elect made sure Snowe had his home telephone number in Delaware so she would know how to reach him on weekends. In the weeks that followed, the two traded memos back and forth about how an economic stimulus package should work. "I had an infinite number of ideas, because they had been stored up," says Snowe, a Maine Republican who never got that kind of treatment when...

I have decided to start a thread focusing on edible weeds. Many of the common plants we see everyday are edible, and while most are not hugely palatable or nutritious, a few are truly very good. If you would like to post a recipe, please post recipes related to these plants only. As always, an extreme amount of caution is advised. It's probably true that 90 percent or so of plants are actually edible, there is a small percentage that if you eat them, you WON'T have to worry about eating again! Oleander comes to mind, it would take less...

The “gang of three” — liberal Republican Sens. Arlen Specter, Olympia Snowe, and Susan Collins — who handed President Obama the stimulus bill he so desperately needed, apparently sacrificed billions in tax cuts during final negotiations over the measure in order to reduce its cost. The compromise bill — which may be ready for President Obama’s signature as early as Monday — also stripped America’s ailing businesses of tax benefits and other incentives. “From auto dealers to the home-building industry, big business appears to be the biggest loser in the final economic stimulus plan . . .” The Wall Street...

The courtship of Senator Olympia Snowe started in December with a phone call from Joe Biden. The Vice President-elect made sure Snowe had his home telephone number in Delaware so she would know how to reach him on weekends. In the weeks that followed, the two traded memos back and forth about how an economic stimulus package should work. "I had an infinite number of ideas, because they had been stored up," says Snowe, a Maine Republican who never got that kind of treatment when her party controlled the White House. "Now somebody was listening." (See who's who in Obama's...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Maine's Susan Collins says time is getting short as House and Senate negotiators reach for a final deal with the White House on economic stimulus legislation. Conferees from the two chambers today agreed to pare the measure to below $800 billion. The $838 billion Senate bill that cleared earlier this week had the backing of only three of 41 Republicans -- but that was enough to give it the 60 votes it needed. Collins and fellow Mainer Olympia Snowe were among those who broke ranks with most Republicans. Collins told reporters today that she hopes other GOP...

BY JERRY HARKAVY PORTLAND, MAINE (AP) — Thousands of lost jobs and a deep streak of independence have thrust Maine into the middle of the debate over President Barack Obama's economic stimulus package. Of the three Republican senators who were the first to break ranks and support the legislation, two are from Maine: moderate Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe. That comes as no surprise to many people in this state, where independents make up the largest voting bloc and pragmatism comes with the turf. "I grew up in Maine. We're all independents — that's the way we are," Snowe...

America’s future in freedom hangs in the balance as three RINO senators on Friday announced they will join Democrats in their scheme to move this country irretrievably down the path to socialism. Senators Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) have indicated they will vote for the $1.3 trillion “stimulus” spending bill that purposes none other than precisely that outcome. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office ruled that less than 20 percent of the bill could in any way be considered stimulative. The vote for cloture in the Senate is scheduled for 5:30 pm today. If cloture is...

Sen. Susan Collins is one of three Republicans who have decided to jump ship and vote with the Democrats on the Obama Stimulus (Porkulus) Bill. Arlen Specter and Olympia Snowe are the other two. Here is video of Collins today defending her decision to vote with the Democrats. Essentially, she says the revised bill will put money in the pockets of Americans through tax cuts, and they cut out $110 Billion. Pressure should be put on Collins and the other two renegade Republicans who say they will vote with the Democrats. Thanks to Gateway Pundit, here are the phone numbers...

With job losses soaring nationwide, Senate Democrats reached agreement with key Republicans Friday night on an economic stimulus measure at the heart of President Barack Obama's plan for reviving the economy. "The American people want us to work together. They don't want to see us dividing along partisan lines on the most serious crisis confronting our country," said Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, one of two GOP senators who signaled support for the bill on the Senate floor. There appeared to be some confusion among senators about the final price tag. Some Democratic officials put the cost at $780 billion...

WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats reached an agreement with Republican moderates on Friday to pare a huge economic recovery measure, clearing the way for approval of [the package]. ... The fine print was not immediately available, and the numbers were shifting. But in essence, the Democratic leadership and two centrist Republicans announced they had struck a deal on about $110 billion in cuts to the roughly $900 billion legislation — a deal expected to provide at least the 60 votes needed to send the bill out of the Senate and into negotiations with the House, which has passed its own version....

The two RINO Republican Senators from Maine, Susan Collins and Olympia Snow, are about to betray the Republican Party and the United States. Their choosing to vote with the Democrats on the Obama Trillion Dollar National Rape bill has to be the most traitorous act since Benedict Arnold. The only recourse we have is to strike out at the people who voted for these two into office. That would be to boycott the products of the State of Maine. A good list of the products of Maine can be found with a Google Search. There is still time for the...

Maine stands to receive more than $1 billion in economic stimulus money from Washington, but trying to nail down exactly how much is proving nearly impossible for the state officials planning how to spend it. Nicole Witherbee, federal budget analyst at the Maine Center for Economic Policy, sees roughly $1.2 billion to $1.5 billion for Maine in the House bill, and possibly a bit more in the Senate version. As a result of Snowe's provision, Maine would receive up to $420 million in additional federal Medicaid assistance. "With states looking at combined budget 'gaps' of $350 billion over the next...