Justin Katz
The vicious insinuations that Tiverton Citizens for Change faced for turning in some campaign finance reports late gives me a whole new perspective on this sort of thing: The former Tiverton Town Council violated the state’s Open Meetings Act last summer, an assistant attorney general has ruled, but the matter is moot, because a proposed…
It’s difficult to comprehend why society would create lucrative positions known as “philosophy professors” if the people who fill them (at Ivy League schools, no less) are incapable of reasoning more sharply than this: The article tells alumni that Ruthellen Williams is a remarkable teacher. Her classes are “packed, every term,” and her “career holds…
Rhode Isand commissioner of higher education Jack Warner has an op-ed in today’s Providence Journal “Explaining college retirees’ return.” This is the only new, mitigating factor: The Rhode Island Board of Governors for Higher Education, through its predecessor, the Board of Regents, was given the authority to establish its own retirement plan in 1967 (Rhode…
Kathy Santos, of Riverside, proposes some new taxes to which I find it difficult to object: Perhaps there are some new taxes that should be considered, though, ones that would not be such a burden to businesses and citizens: Incumbent politician tax Legislative grant tax Union dues tax Legislative slush fund fee Campaign donation fee…
Dan Yorke took the opportunity of the seasonal downtime on his radio show to turn back to an op-ed by Tim Giago published in the Providence Journal a couple of weeks ago: About 14 years ago I attended a convention of the National Newspaper Association in New York. The publishers of all of the major…
Some readers may have found cause for a sparkle of hope in the following turnabout, as explained in the NY Times: The number of black children being raised by two parents appears to be edging higher than at any time in a generation, at nearly 40 percent, according to newly released census data. Demographers said…
Michelle Malkin marks an early example of the can’t-make-this-stuff-up media bias that conservatives will no doubt make a regular pastime of spotting over the next few years: Sighed smitten reporter Eli Zaslow, “The sun glinted off chiseled pectorals sculpted during four weightlifting sessions each week, and a body toned by regular treadmill runs and basketball…
I’ve been meaning to make sure y’all are aware of a newly available resource for transparency in state government: For the first time, the commission has posted online the latest financial disclosure statement filed by each of the state’s general officers – the governor, lieutenant governor, state treasurer, secretary of state and attorney general –…
I just came across this bit of economic philosophy from Congressman Barney Frank (D – MA), on 60 Minutes, that contradicts the standard liberal construct (emphasis added): STAHL: But there was never any doubt that Frank himself didn’t want the car companies to go under. What about the idea that, in capitalism, if a company…
Chris Powell’s description of the public sector in Connecticut sounds very familiar: With its law requiring binding arbitration of public employee union contracts, state government has established an elaborate mechanism of disconnecting the compensation of public employees from democracy, the public’s ability to pay, and even any discussion in politics. Since that compensation totals about…