Flying with one wing: No need to wonder where the Portland Press Herald stands on the issue of whether Congress should authorize the construction of more F-22 Raptor jet fighters. In a July 22 story by staff writer Dennis Hoey, the paper barely bothers to present more than one point of view.

Neither great nor good: The late Walter Cronkite was a skeptical guy.

New interest in conflicts of interest: Will there be any room left in the pages of the Portland Press Herald, Kennebec Journal, and Morning Sentinel once they run a full list of disclosures about the involvement of the two new members of their board of directors in events those newspapers cover?

Sunday follies: If the July 12 edition of the Maine Sunday Telegram is representative of what we can expect from MaineToday Media’s ownership of the paper, the future of the former Blethen news outlets looks grim, indeed.

Take the exercise in editorial confusion that is the front-page story by staff writer Beth Quimby on home foreclosures in the state.

Not buying it: It looked as if the Bangor Daily News had a great front-page story for Independence Day. The July 4 edition carried an article by reporter Diana Bowley on a businessman in Corinth who’d lost out to a Pennsylvania firm in his efforts to supply the state of Maine with American and state flags.

Rich’s poor writing: If evidence is required of the need for a constitutional amendment prohibiting MaineToday Media publisher Richard Connor from ever writing another weekly column, consider the first sentence of his July 5 offering in the Maine Sunday Telegram, Kennebec Journal, and Morning Sentinel:

Unretired debt: The Blethens may be gone from Maine, but the effects from their ailing finances could linger on here for decades. Reporter Bill Richards has a piece on the Crosscut.com Web site in which he notes that last month, when the Seattle-based family sold the Blethen Maine Newspapers to MaineToday Media, headed by Pennsylvania newspaper publisher Richard Connor, the Blethens agreed to assume all liabilities in the company pension system.

It would be unrealistic of me to have expected major changes in the Portland Press Herald, Kennebec Journal or Morning Sentinel in the two weeks since new owner Richard Connor and his MaineToday Media took over the newspapers.

So, call me unrealistic.

Wasser on what’s next: Scott Wasser says he doesn’t really have a title. But the masthead on the editorial page of the June 25 Morning Sentinel lists him as the “Executive Editor,” a position that appears to be second only to editor and publisher Richard Connor in determining the news and opinion content of the MaineToday Media publications.

There’s more vagueness.

Scott Wasser has been named by MaineToday Media publisher Richard Connor as the new executive editor of the Portland Press Herald, Maine Sunday Telegram, Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel, according to sources at the Press Herald. Wasser was introduced to staff at the Portland paper yesterday and today.

Wasser had been the managing editor and vice president for news of Connor’s Pennsylvania daily, the Times Leader in Wilkes-Barre.