An audio file of conservative stalwart Russell Kirk reading one of his ghost stories has stuck with me since I first heard it on a Halloween past.
As usual, Mark Steyn summarises well the problems that we see in civic life at ever level of government.
President Obama received big bucks for his visit to Rhode Island, and the national media received a big controversy, but ordinary Rhode Islanders received the shaft.
It sure does look like Google gets special treatment from the government, notably in proximity to a big-money fundraiser for the president.
Cynthia Needham is at it again: putting her newspaper's PolitiFact feature in the service of naked political ends.
France may have retirement at 60, but Rhode Island offers pensions that underwrite second careers, at least for those who start in the public sector.
I'm leaning toward the independent-times-two candidate for RI lieutenant governor, Bob Venturini.
Social Security is proving that government entitlements will resist the actual application of cost-restraining measures like tying benefits to markers of the cost of living.
Maintaining the link between marriage and childbirth is a critical tool in fighting poverty.
Consolidating Rhode Island's pension system will only consolidate municipal unions' incentive to manipulate the General Assembly.
Democrat gubernatorial candidate Frank Caprio's outburst saying that President Obama can "shove" his endorsement surely wasn't an outburst so much as a calculation.
Now that men are a minority on college campuses, it's suddenly victimization to deny better qualified applicants in the name of diversity.
Projo PolitiFact analyst Cynthia Needham is at it again, abusing the concept of context to assist a Democrat Congressional candidate.
It's no mystery why Rhode Island is treated as politically irrelevant: In a typical election year, everybody knows which way our votes are going to go.
Stephen Hawking recently proclaimed to be moving physics beyond the need for God, but some would argue that he's actually moved physics closer to God — at least the Christian concept of Him.
It seems as if the allocated roles for public officers are becoming more and more difficult to distinguish.
Apparently, NPR commentators aren't allowed to express their natural emotional response to the existence of a global jihad.
Let's stipulate that law enforcement agencies ought to be able to use GPS trackers under certain circumstances. It should still require a warrant.
I'm skeptical that it's possible to divide happiness into categories of causes, from genetics, to circumstances, to personal relationships.
RI Education Commissioner Deborah Gist appears to be playing budgetary politics with the education of our children.
I'm posting some thoughts as I watch last night's Congressional district 1 debate.
In Rhode Island, it apparently isn't considered political corruption to use public office to procure jobs for people who contribute politically to one's family members.
When it comes to globalization, the U.S. government must address that which it has the power to address — mainly, relinquishing its power.
As mayor of Warwick, Lincoln Chafee usurped the authority of the town's school committee to resolve a teacher union dispute. What will he consider his authority to include as governor?
The Central Falls, RI, takeover by the state has cleared its first judicial hurdle. RI municipalities, it seems, are little more than bureaucratic subdivisions of the state.
"Moderate" means "far left", at least in Rhode Island gubernatorial politics.
Not to be deliberately contrarian, but it just isn't true that higher education is the "engine that drives economic development."
Local towns' move to enter the wind farm business is just a means of seeking profit for government operations, with taxpayers fronting the money and shouldering the risk.
I certainly don't mind young adults' having fun and pursuing other ends than material wealth, but it is objectionable for them to use their idle time to advocate for the confiscation of wealth from others.
Surely many union members have reservations about their dues' being used to promote policies and principles with which they disagree, but this is a pretty extreme example.
Let's not forget that one-party rule is a definite risk, to say the least.
Doesn't it seem that Western debates about translating the Bible centuries ago are considered more egregious than current examples of the same thing in Islam ?
Rhode Island likes to stick it to its residence. That's why a six-month extension to pay taxes isn't actually a six-month extension, and no notice was given to clarify.
The irony is that, by the light of President Obama, President Bush had a lot of class.
The problem for those entering higher education as a career is not that talented professors can negotiate for higher salaries, but that established teachers are entrenched.
How exactly is it "liberalization" for the Saudi royal family to take more explicit control over the handling of Islam in their nation?
I called in for Anchor Rising's spot on Matt Allen, last night, to talk about Proud to Be Right and the election season so far.
URI Economist Len Lardaro has been prominent among economists noting the upswing in the local economy. Now he's warning of doom and gloom.
Just a reminder to stock up on incandescent light bulbs, because they won't be around much longer.
Apparently, insider trading isn't so bad when the financial insiders are also government insiders.
As Rhode Island moves toward implementation of teacher evaluation systems, there's reason to be suspicious that it'll be a program designed either to fail or to do little.
In contrast to other reviews, WPRI's Ted Nesi has posted about my contribution to Proud to Be Right.
China should provide Americans with an excuse to change our way of doing things... back to the way we used to do them.
If Rhode Island's institutions of higher education want more resources they need to streamline their operations and help those of us who would reform the operation of the state.
Apparently, to the New England mainstream media, paying for something via premiums is the same as not paying for them.
The public-sector-at-any-cost vote appears to represent about one-fifth of the electorate, and Lincoln Chafee is their man for governor.
It's true: Rhode Island is generous with its unemployment benefits, and it discourages those receiving them from actually finding work.
Not surprisingly, comparing teacher salaries, it doesn't pay for poorer states to pay their teachers disproportionately highly.
The current office of the first black president notwithstanding, Americans think race relations are not improving.
On the Republican versus Democrat issue of Social Security, reporter Cynthia Needham costs her newspaper credibility.
President Obama has recently characterized two things as "inexcusable": Declaring 9/11 conspiracy theories in the heart of Manhattan and not helping Democrats win the upcoming elections.
I've been arguing that people are paying down their debt, even if numbers make the trend look smaller than expected. My case appears to be getting weaker.
People must be taught to appreciate freedom before they can procure and maintain it, politically.
New environmental regulations are causing job-killing uncertainty about regulations, in which we see the problem of large, expansive government wreaking havoc in multiple ways.
Jon Stewart progresses in his willingness to shine a comedic light on President Obama — or his inability not to do so.
Energy prices are set to climb, and for some of the same reasons that America is drifting from its dynamic heritage.
The protestors dressed as clowns to distract from the fact that their goal is to intimidate.
Although he's far out on the right wing, Rev. Phelps's universally offensive displays point to the damage that the left has done to our society.
Andrew Morse gave Matt Allen listeners a preview of his ranking of state legislators based on five important votes.
Even intra-Democrat politics aren't exciting in Rhode Island, this year.
Sometimes, local politicians can best enunciate the reason for running for public office at all. Republican RI House of Representatives candidate Nancy Driggs did just that at a fundraiser on Saturday.
Just to be clear: Lincoln Chafee is the RI gubernatorial candidate of the public sector unions.
Political connections can do wonders when it comes to bending the rules of an all-touching government.
The decline of print media is a loss, in my view, but not because it removes the mainstream news filter.
It's amazing what environmental extremists believe to be light humor.
It's peculiar, in the era of the Tea Party movement, to read a mainstream columnist decrying the disappearance of protesting.
Hate crime legislation, and identity politics, overall, prevent us from developing a broader social empathy.
It appears that Democrats running for U.S. Congress get about a 50% preference in polls no matter what. Let's hope that the undecideds can be inspired to decide well.
In that old entertainment of campaign season, we get to watch as entrenched incumbents leverage regulations meant to ensure clean government as barriers to entry for those who would challenge their rule.
Upon revelation, the "anti-gay threat" at the University of Rhode Island turns out to be pretty mild, not really worth the drama of "hate crime" investigations.
The difficulty that young teachers are experiencing directly relate to all of the other problems that public education experiences, which all flow back to unions.
Effective slavery on fishing vessels raises questions of government structure. Government is needed, to be sure, to regulate, but government is also responsible, no doubt, for the perpetuation of conditions under which people enter into such situations.
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