Voters May Be Flooded

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

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Here and There Around the Internet

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Transferring Public Responsibility to Public Charity

I'm concerned that finding alternate funding for budget-crunched public schools will prevent necessary reform of their priorities.

Obama in Aggregate

My post tracing the aggregate impression that Obama's record now gives.

The Constitutionality Proof Is Worse than the Pudding

Wherein I note (and object) that Congress apparently has Constitutional authority to do just about anything.

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.