March 31, 2010

Voters May Be Flooded

Statewide floods notwithstanding, I'm liveblogging from tonight's Rhode Island Voter Coalition Meet the Candidates event.

Posted by Justin Katz at 7:25 PM
Anchor Rising

The Process of Forcing Popular Will on the People

Over the course of multiple issues' march into federal law the progressives' strategy for implementing their social agenda via judicial fiat has come to light. Americans need to assert their right to govern themselves.

Posted by Justin Katz at 2:00 PM
Anchor Rising

Tiverton Town Council and School Committee Budget Talk Video

I've posted video of the Tiverton Town Council's special meeting with the School Committee.

Posted by Justin Katz at 12:26 PM
TivertonCC.com

Stimulating Everybody in Rhode Island

Legislation submitted to the Rhode Island General Assembly to offer tax breaks in order to stimulate the local construction industry are fine, but why be so discriminating in stimulus?

Posted by Justin Katz at 10:00 AM
Anchor Rising

Pulling Back from the Entitlement Cliff

Government entitlements ought to be restructured to turn them into inheritable, individually managed accounts accessible to the charity of others.

Posted by Justin Katz at 5:45 AM
Anchor Rising

March 30, 2010

RISC's Open Eye Catches More Economy-Killing Taxes

The Rhode Island Statewide Coalition has noticed new taxes, proposed by Sen. Charles Levesque, to fund the infrastructure maintenance that ought to be the first thing taken out of the taxes that we already pay.

Posted by Justin Katz at 7:09 PM
Anchor Rising

Media Message: Healthcare Simply Rosy

Curiously, the mainstream media hasn't been too interested in the hoopla about major businesses seeing billions of dollars in negative effects on their bottom lines of the healthcare "reform." I think that's too bad, because folks ought to have as much time to prepare for the coming decrease in their quality of life.

Posted by Justin Katz at 2:00 PM
Anchor Rising

Putting Power in the Air

I share with concerns that "smart grids" and wireless technology are opening Americans up to a whole new range of vulnerabilities.

Posted by Justin Katz at 10:00 AM
Anchor Rising

Clarifying My View on Cuts to Tiverton Schools

Since the word apparently hasn't gotten out, I thought it might be helpful to explain why I changed my position with regard to level funding Tiverton schools.

Posted by Justin Katz at 6:03 AM
Anchor Rising

Two Letters in the Sakonnet

Two letters currently on the Sakonnet Times Web site bring me back into town budget discussions, the first because I wrote it, the second because it attempts to enlist me for the other side.

Posted by Justin Katz at 6:01 AM
TivertonCC.com

March 29, 2010

Tiverton Budget: Numbers tell sad story

I've got a letter in the Sakonnet Times going over the basic budget picture that the Tiverton Budget Committee faces.

Posted by Justin Katz at 10:21 PM
Letters & Op-Eds

Council-Committee Budget Talks and More Cap Debate

I'm liveblogging from a Tiverton Town Council special meeting with the School Committee. Also on the agenda is discussion of exceeding the tax cap.

Posted by Justin Katz at 7:28 PM
TivertonCC.com

Balancing Public Sector Pay From the Town to the Nation

An interesting finding: If public sector pay equaled private sector pay, government deficits across the nation would evaporate.

Posted by Justin Katz at 6:00 PM
Anchor Rising

Marriage and Parenthood for Minorities

It's interesting to note that an article about efforts to strengthen the marital culture in the black community highlights the broken link between parenthood and marriage as a problem. I think that's a very good reason to resist the push for same-sex marriage, which would cement the broken link into the law.

Posted by Justin Katz at 2:00 PM
Anchor Rising

Special Interests Strike Again

A report that mandating master plumbers to change water meters is driving up the costs of a project in Newport strikes me as indicative of Rhode Island's economic/political habits. The silver lining is that jettisoning such mandates could let our stagnant economy explode.

Posted by Justin Katz at 10:05 AM
Anchor Rising

Here and There Around the Internet

Some notes related to tracking the writings of me and of Anchor Rising.

Posted by Justin Katz at 5:43 AM
Anchor Rising

March 28, 2010

What's Ailin' the Moderns

I think David Lewis Stokes and Philip Rieff are correct that the modern project is to perpetually redefine conceptual errors as merely turns in the maze. Eventually, though, society will hit a fatal dead end.

Posted by Justin Katz at 2:34 PM
Anchor Rising

Violent Sexists Support Legalized Prostitution?

Ed Achorn's focus is on despicable online behavior, but the larger point, in my view, is that we shouldn't be surprised that people who advocate for legalizing prostitution would threaten and belittle women who oppose them.

Posted by Justin Katz at 12:39 PM
Anchor Rising

No Raises, Yet Pay Goes Up

I've taken a look at some of the salary line items that are going up in the Tiverton Town Administrator's proposed budget for the next fiscal year. The increases are certainly not exorbitant, but times are extraordinarily difficult.

Posted by Justin Katz at 8:21 AM
TivertonCC.com

Commissioner Gist's Non–Rhode Island Perspective

Whatever else one might think of her, Education Commissioner Deborah Gist has a refreshing habit of neglecting to accept the hidden meaning of Rhode Island's political lingo.

Posted by Justin Katz at 7:24 AM
Anchor Rising

March 27, 2010

Welcoming the Young Artist to the Frustrations of Adulthood

What wonders can an artist make
when despot days drag him around?
Just live each day for its own sake.

You ask, as if to undertake
a change of fate with asking's sound,
what wonders can an artist make?

Though doubtful it's advice you'll take:
Make petty agonies profound;
just live each day for its own sake.

In artists' hands the rattlesnake
and wolf are metaphors spellbound.
What wonders can an artist make!

Long labor's stretch from first daybreak
is trial on which to expound.
Just live each day for its own sake.

Breathe in until, with fullness, ache
exhales itself as peace unwound.
What wonders can an artist make?
Just live each day for its own sake.

Posted by Justin Katz at 4:30 PM
Life

Bringing the Town Under the Cap

My blog post on the Tiverton Budget Committee's vote to cut the municipal budget to the state levy cap.

Posted by Justin Katz at 4:04 PM
TivertonCC.com