Justin Katz

The State as Bizarro Company

By Justin Katz | February 27, 2008 |

Is it me, or is there just something fundamentally bizarre about this construct: The pressure comes as the authority is already having trouble carrying a large influx of riders. More Rhode Islanders are taking the bus since the spike in gas prices that began after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Public transportation provides a reasonable check…

Negotiating Child Abuse

By Justin Katz | February 27, 2008 |

So what are the odds of this becoming law? Amending state law to clearly prohibit strikes is the task force’s first recommendation. If Carcieri supports the plan as expected, he would have to ask lawmakers to submit the bill to the General Assembly for a vote. Officials at the state Department of Education researched tougher…

Heeding Mark Krikorian: A Job This American Will No Longer Do

By Justin Katz | February 26, 2008 |

Wow. Mark Krikorian whacked his own cause in the head, today, on the back swing of a stupid attack: Another Job Americans Won’t Do? [Mark Krikorian] Maybe this helps explain the RC bishops’ support for open immigration, contrary to the views of those in the pews: Among U.S. adults, about the same percentage — 24…

My American Dream May Be Dying in Tiverton

By Justin Katz | February 26, 2008 |

A bout of cynicism kept me from last night’s town council meeting. Here’s one of the revelations that I missed (emphasis added): Also last night, the council received a warning from its auditor that the town’s rainy day fund is too low. Standing at about $1.2 million for the fiscal year that ended last June,…

Who Wants to Kill Barack?

By Justin Katz | February 26, 2008 |

When speculation becomes front-page news, one gets the impression of legend building. If Barack Obama wins and lives to tell the tale, he’ll be the One Who Lived. The great hope whom they managed to protect (unless the reality disappoints terribly): His wife, Michelle Obama, voiced concerns about his safety before he was elected to…

Outgoing Families

By Justin Katz | February 25, 2008 |

Based on various trends, including taxpayer migration to and from Rhode Island, I’ve suggested a theory that working and middle class families have been selling their homes and leaving the state. While I wouldn’t claim the following real estate data as absolute proof, it certainly does fit the scenario: Across the board, homebuyers in Rhode…

Evolving Corruption

By Justin Katz | February 24, 2008 |

Part 2 of Kenneth Payne’s series on the evolution of political corruption in Rhode Island is worth a read (emphasis added): The forms of government were familiar. For those in control, the system worked. The Yankee establishment held the reins of power. The State House was an expression of that power — political and economic.…

More Derb on Mrs. O

By Justin Katz | February 24, 2008 |

John Derbyshire has done what few non-college professors are willing to do: he’s actually read Michelle Obama’s senior thesis. Overall, he believes (and I agree) that it will and should have minimal effect on the presidential race, but he makes a worthy point: … the slight negative is negative because the thesis reveals a cast…

So What Difference Does Dictatorship Make, Anyway?

By Justin Katz | February 23, 2008 |

Perhaps a new Cuban declaration could assert the right of all people to life, liberty, and the pursuit of par (paragraphs rearranged): Golf had been played on the island since the 1920s. At the time of the 1959 revolution, Havana boasted two award-winning courses, at the Havana Country Club and the Biltmore, which hosted such…

In Case of Emergency, Break Rules

By Justin Katz | February 23, 2008 |

My first reaction to Steve Peoples’ story, yesterday, about legislation to expedite rules changes in light of fiscal emergency was that the day we listen to the Poverty Institute’s Linda Katz on the topic of “the way to run a business” is the day we ought to listen to her on the topic of “the…