Justin Katz

Lipstick Talk

By Justin Katz | September 11, 2008 |

Monique took the Anchor Rising slot with Matt Allen on 630AM/99.7FM WPRO last night to talk about painted pigs. Stream by clicking here, or download it.

BDS to Become PDS

By Justin Katz | September 10, 2008 |

Here’s a theory — attractive more for the likely reaction than the likelihood that it’s correct: America’s liberals are preparing themselves for the possibility that McCain will win the presidency. That would explain why they’re salvaging the emotionally satisfying, if self destructive, Bush Derangement Syndrome (BDS) that they’ve enjoyed for at least the past four…

The Difference Is in What We Love

By Justin Katz | September 10, 2008 |

Most workday mornings (especially if everybody in the house slept through the night), my drive over the Sakonnet River Bridge brings a wave of gratitude for the sights that fill my days. Similarly, the breeze off the water, whether warm or cool, as I cross the parking lot to church come a Sunday morning makes…

Circling the Bowl

By Justin Katz | September 9, 2008 |

It may be that my estimate of the midyear budget review yielding a $150 million deficit was too optimistic. We’re apparently starting with a baseline gap that’s already one-fifth of that: The state ended its last budget year awash in red ink, according to a newly-released Aug. 29 report by state Controller Marc A. Leonetti.…

A Difference of Unification

By Justin Katz | September 9, 2008 |

We’ve been having this conversation hereabouts, and Jonathan Zimmerman puts it well: Beneath all of this talk, of course, lies the fallacy of race itself. Although America is a richly diverse place, we’re told, people in any given race are the same — or should be. That’s why you still hear whispers in the African-American…

A Study in Contrasting Responses

By Justin Katz | September 7, 2008 |

Put aside, for a moment, the very interesting fact that the article is one of an increasing number that place Obama in parallel with Palin and compare and contrast the pair’s responses to the question of government takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Obama: “These entities are so big and they are so tied…

Ignoring Human Nature Once Again

By Justin Katz | September 7, 2008 |

Tom Sgouros’s message must be mellifluous to public-sector ears. Everything’s cause and effect (no poor decisions on officials’ part), and vaguely unseemly of the citizens who initiated the latter. The story, in summary, is that all was demographically golden in the world back in the ’50s, until people started moving from Rhode Island’s cities to…

Social Security: The Scam That Keeps on Taking

By Justin Katz | September 5, 2008 |

Alex Epstein rightly decries the fraudulent premises of Social Security: Social Security is commonly portrayed as benefiting most, if not all, Americans by providing them “risk-free” financial security in old age. This is a fraud. Under Social Security, lower- and middle-class individuals are forced to pay a significant portion of their gross income — approximately…

There Is a Right Path

By Justin Katz | September 5, 2008 |

Just a pause to affirm that one doesn’t have to push the boundaries of ethics to extend the boundaries of medical science: The cell identity switch turned ordinary pancreas cells into the rarer type that churns out insulin, essential for preventing diabetes. But its implications go beyond diabetes to a host of possibilities, scientists said.…

How Unlike a Normal Young Man Is David Segal?

By Justin Katz | September 4, 2008 |

Oh to have the financial liberty that David Segal makes evident through his priorities (emphasis added): I can think of nothing that would attract young people to Rhode Island, and keep them around, at a higher rate than expanded transit, and expanded health care — two services that have suffered the most, under the austerity…