Come on, now. Why would Rhode Island care that it can get wind energy at half the price that its hand-picked supplier is seeking?
One-fifth of Rhode Islanders receive some sort of Social Security benefit. That's how constituencies are bought.
By way of a follow-up, the U. of Illinois religion professor fired for teaching his subject as if it might be true has been offered his job back, albeit with a dark lining.
Amidst personal preoccupations, I noticed that the economy isn't doing as well as "expected," and that potential government culpability for the Gulf oil spill is conveniently appearing at the same time as media reports downplaying its effect.
I'm not optimistic that the promise of the Race to the Top education program will outmatch its danger.
Marc Comtois took the air with Matt Allen to discuss immigration and education.
Somehow the dollar amounts make a difference when considering the guy giving the job of receiver for Central Falls.
Controlling tax rates versus controlling tax levies is a question several steps removed from the interest of most folks, but it's one of those subtle areas that, in aggregate, make a huge difference when it comes to the size and scope of our government.
A Catholic professor fired for teaching Catholic thought as if it might be accurate provides a teachable moment... that emotion trumps intellect and "inclusivity" trumps interaction.
The state's constitutionally questionable step of taking over the government of Central Falls points to the evil of debt.
The individual mandate imposed by ObamaCare looks not only like a dubious claim of Constitutional power, but also like the nose of the authoritarian camel in the tent.
Apparent improvements in RI's tax structure are not what they seem.
Call it "creeping sharia." Somehow it's become an open question whether American laws apply to everyone.
Today's Old Testament reading, during Mass, makes me think that we're living in Sodom and are therefore called to be those few innocents on whose behalf the city will be spared.
Same-sex marriage advocates rally at the State House; no problem. Traditional marriage advocates do the same? The side of the supposed "victims" strives to intimidate and silence them.
The financial overhaul legislation that President Obama just signed into law steps right into a frightening tangle of consequences.
Federal standards for education. Another insidious avenue for authoritarian government.
Jonah Golberg and Nick Schulz have a worthwhile proposal for helping parents filter the Internet by creating a .kids domain.
Providence Journal columnist Mark Patinkin has written a Democrat version of his lampoon of Republicans, and there are some interesting differences.
Hate speech is just a tool by which Evil protects itself while distorting Good.
A charity event has been effectively muffled in Tiverton, RI, not by tax-hawk right-wingers (like me), but by those who operate the local high-taxing, business-killing fiefdom. That shouldn't be a surprise.
Andrew Morse took the air on Wednesday night's Matt Allen Show to discuss Anchor Rising's plans to offer a running 101 course on Rhode Island governance.
In Central Falls, an appointed government official, unaccountable to the community, has stripped the elected mayor of his power. Even if the outcome is just, the process is frightening.
Can small changes in electoral laws save the state? I'm not optimistic.
Stephen Spruiell expresses the views of many conservatives with respect to the government and the economy, I think.
It's not crazy to think that divorced mothers will turn to same-sex marriage.
Thousands of blogs being shut down at a word from the federal government is a development that requires a very close eye from every citizen.
Reporter Neil Downing took a look at unemployment and somehow missed the effect of a "transformative" government on the confidence of economic actors.
Jay Nordlinger's profile of Norway's Progress party is apt to give a conservative hope that all is never lost.
Public pension debt is a cold, hard reason that people are beginning to feel that they owe nothing to their supposed representatives or the promises that they've made.
The intriguing story of an Iranian nuclear scientist returning to Iran from the United States doesn't prove that the former has a nuclear weapons program, but it certainly indicates that there's more going on than meets the eye.
Are men a fading gender? Folks are talking as if we are, and it isn't difficult to see same-sex marriage as a facilitator.
Folks on the political right have different views of President Obama's current positioning. I'm of the opinion that we're all focusing a bit too closely on him as a key figure.
A visit to the Battle of Rhode Island monument in Portsmouth, leaves me pondering the overlap of modern life and local history.
Not surprisingly, the Democrats' recent debate in the primary race for Congress District 1 leaves me thinking politicians can be trusted to do anything but tell the whole truth.
It might reasonably be suggested that the economic crisis was caused by the blend of Republican and Democrat policies, more than it was the result of either one.
I've broken down, by state, Newsweek's list of high schools that emphasize advanced tests. It's interesting to note which do and which don't.
Something just doesn't seem right about a lobbyist's sitting on a judicial nomination committee.
Philanthropist Alan Shawn Feinstein (world famous in Rhode Island) has been the target of an accusatory letter to the editor. My opinion sort of splits the difference.
Massachusetts voters look likely to have the opportunity — in the midst of the Great Recession — to cut their sales taxes in half. The usual suspects are threatening to harm the dependencies of residents, but I wonder what the effect will be on Rhode Island. Probably not good.
Some media sources are touting an improvement in Rhode Island's unemployment rate, but if you consider the nearly 3,000 people who dropped out of the job market, the news isn't so bright.
It's two stories in one: Senator Al Franken (D, MN) looks likely to have been put over the top by illegally voting felons, and the mainstream media is disinclined to report on it.
I've come across an old column of mine indicating that universal healthcare will lead inexorably balances of one life against another.
Obama's Recovery Summer may seem gloomier than the era of his presidential predecessor, but gloom is all about perspective... or spin.
No taxpayer dollars for abortion? Nobody really believed that, did they?
A bomb scare in a cemetery in Tiverton suggests that common sense may be dying.
Some comments from the co-chairmen of the president's debt and deficit commission lead some to think that we're being set up for massive tax increases. That possibility raises questions of a nation-defining sort.
Doesn't it seem as if those most eager to proclaim a particular breakthrough as definitive proof that religious believers are wrong already behave as if it's already been proven?
When a reporter overlooks the most interesting questions, as often happens in stories about welfare and other social programs, it's reasonable to infer that there's an ulterior motive.
Calling in to the Matt Allen Show, last night, I noted that federal dollars don't mean economic growth for a state.
Local columnist Joe Baker has a badly flawed understanding of government, but at least he provides a good jumping off point for correcting common conceptual problems.
Moderate Islam does exist, but within individuals, and is susceptible to radicalization.
The debate continues about Judge Tauro's same-sex marriage rulings in Massachusetts.
In acting in a way that other nations may see as crazy, Iran is actually behaving rationally, given the U.S. response.
Somehow, a public-campaign-money program (meant to level the playing field) in Rhode Island tends to give hundreds of thousands more to candidates whom one would expect to be leading, anyway. Odd.
Tiverton Citizens for Change President David Nelson is the target of an apparent act of political intimidation through a baseless defamation lawsuit.
Over on Anchor Rising, I've posted mention of my site redesign of justinkatz.com. Feedback is welcome.
The actual insurance against harm isn't the only, and arguably not the most important, benefit of private insurance practices. When the insurance transitions to government control, however, other benefits are lost and thereby threaten the insurance itself.
Providence Journal columnist Mark Patinkin recently published a bizarrely cliché profile of a generic Republican. I challenge him to hang out with some actual members of the local GOP.
It seems to me that right-leaning Rhode Island reformers have to begin explaining why they think the state worth saving.
While I'm not sure that Arthur Laffer is arguing against any real opponents, when it comes to whether unemployment benefits reduce unemployment, I like his idea of stimulating the economy by lifting all federal taxes for a year and a half.
Debate continues, on Anchor Rising, about the recent same-sex marriage rulings.
Rumors are that the Democrats are saving a liberal wish list for imposition between this year's elections and next year's new Congress. They should be made to realize that consequences can follow them beyond their de-elections.
Jeffrey Friedman thinks everybody has been wrong in assessing the financial breakdown; I think it's closer to the truth to say that everybody has been right.
Another judge's innovative ruling in favor of same-sex marriage, and another tangle of questions about how he got from the previously understood reality A to the judicially imposed reality B.
Turkey's Islamification could be a dire warning sign that the West must reinvigorate its own principles and confidence.
Rhode Island spends more public money on prisons than colleges. I'd present that as a symptom, not a cause.
As if guaranteed profits and "ram it through" legislation pushing a corrupt wind energy deal on the people of Rhode Island weren't bad enough, the second-try proposal from Deepwater Wind and National Grid is barely a superficial compromise.
Yup, Rhode Island's still in an economic hole. Perhaps we'll have an indication, in November, of whether Rhode Islanders are looking to change that.
My conversation with Matt Allen, this week, focused on his interview with Victor Moffitt and (of course) Anchor Rising stuff.
State and federal governments have their eyes on charitable organizations, both for taxation and for regulation... although the two are arguably fronts in the same power grab.
Rhode Island gubernatorial candidate Victor Moffitt seems to understand that the General Assembly is the problem, but he doesn't seem to get that the reality makes it peculiar for a reformer to intend to "work with" legislators.
Christian groups on college campuses are no longer free to prevent their own subversion while receiving official recognition. In theory, the Supreme Court ruling is ideologically neutral, but in practical effect, well, we'll see.
Providence Journal columnist Julia Steiny seems inclined to look to schools to fill in the work and community experience that young adults aren't receiving, any longer. I'd prefer to look to employers and communities for that.
The stability of Treasury bonds might not be evidence of economic stability, given government subsidization thereof. Looking to gold suggests folks might not trust our paper money.
More encouraging signs that reform-minded folks have correctly identified the General Assembly as key to changing Rhode Island... and are willing to run for seats therein.
We've been seeing an odd concoction, among Rhode Island Republican candidates, in an attempt to be pro-choice but self-identify as pro-life. I think it's a monstrous construct.
Mark Steyn suggests that radical Muslims are the greatest beneficiaries of Western Holocaust guilt. In the United States, they're a huge beneficiary of slavery guilt.
Dr. Alieta Eck uses experience and anecdotes to justify her conclusion that the incentives that Obamacare creates will raise prices beyond a feasible threshold. That's what many of us have been saying since before there was a law to repeal.
So Cash for Clunkers seems to have increased the value of used cars for the purpose of taxation. It's sort of like a small example of government-derived stimulus writ large.
The government looks likely to exempt itself from restrictions on debit card fees for cards that it issues. Not an untypical move.
Suppose for a moment that money — or at least financial equality — doesn't actually buy happiness. If earning money and having the opportunity to do so are key to happiness, then government redistribution can only make people less happy.
Politically correct excisions from education affect more than just Western self confidence.
Former Republican Governor Lincoln Almond has written a love-op-ed for health insurance mammoth Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Rhode Island. Curious.
My proposition: An intellectually curious population is a politically engaged population.
Do folks having to make hard choices after losing their extended unemployment benefit realize that the problem is the federal government's refusal to make hard choices?
Manipulation of the political process to hand Deepwater Wind guaranteed revenue for an experimental offshore wind farm, and the horrible budget that probably constituted a political trade, marked the end of Governor Carcieri's time in office, as far as I'm concerned.
James Bennett suggests that American Exceptionalism shouldn't be a statement of pride so much as a practical description, and one that indicates what policies do and don't suit our nation.
URI Economics Professor Len Lardaro touts his Current Conditions Index each month, typically with an optimistic spin. But the best one can say about the latest results is that Rhode Island is only as badly off as it was during the dark, dark year of 2009.
The stable interest of Treasury bonds isn't necessarily a sign of fiscal health.
An interesting idea for Republicans: claim the "finding cures" ground in the healthcare debate.
Here's a table of contents of my coverage of the Portsmouth Institute's 2010 conference, on Cardinal John Henry Newman.
The Rhode Island Statewide Coalition has been raising big bucks for its Business Network (by Rhode Island reform standards) and has enlisted the help of Arlene Violet to orchestrate the effort of spending it (to be crass about it).
Moderate Party candidate for lieutenant governor, Jean Ann Guliano has switched to a General Assembly candidacy. She's not alone, and reform-minded Rhode Islanders should be encouraged.
Just how much debt and financial liability does the United States have? It's difficult to imagine.
Congrats to the Ocean State Policy Research Institute for reaching the point at which its work is relevant to the U.S. Congress.
More argument that the focus of public education isn't on students and parents, but on federal dollars and union benefits.
General Assembly Candidate Dawson Hodges agrees with me that cities and towns ought to be more directly represented in the legislature (although it seems to have been disallowed by the Supreme Court).
Gubernatorial Candidate Frank Caprio is attempting to rebrand the Democrats as the state's reform party. Let's just call it an exercise in cynicism.
So those waves of cash to states from the federal government can actually harm the private economy.
French transportation strikes over two extra years before retirement (to 62) are beyond my capacity for empathy.
I'm unpersuaded that the folks who direct public education have a full understanding of the problem.
As much as I'd like to agree with Ramesh Ponnuru's argument on behalf of federal anti-discrimination legislation, I just can't get past its inexorable tendency to expand.
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ||||||
| 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
| 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 |
| 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 |
| 30 |