Justin Katz

A Question of Process

By Justin Katz | January 21, 2008 |

Kenny Cicerone, whom I mentioned last week, has some specific allegations against local politicians in North Providence (with details likely to be found on his Web sites) and a question that Anchor Rising readers might be able to answer: How does an individual or group go about filing ethics complaints against elected officials?

Accidentally Taking the Good with the Bad

By Justin Katz | January 20, 2008 |

By way of a functionality note: We’re in the midst of a particularly voluminous and pernicious wave of comment spam, so if a comment of yours should happen to disappear, it’s more likely to have fallen victim to my speed-weeding than to have been deliberately removed. I’ve already caught one such error, myself, but don’t…

Economic Perspective

By Justin Katz | January 20, 2008 |

With all the talk that you’re sure to hear over the next year about “Bush’s recession” and (usually separately) Rhode Island’s financial troubles, it’ll be crucial to maintain proper perspective: Rhode Island payrolls shrank for the second straight month in December and the unemployment rate climbed to 5.5 percent, its highest level in more than…

A Public Disservice

By Justin Katz | January 20, 2008 |

Let it be noted for the public record that it is patently unfair of the Tiverton Town Council and the Tiverton School Committee to have key budget-related meetings at the same time on Tuesday evening. Should interested citizens (few as we may be) follow the doings of those most directly able to take our tax…

The Voices on Either Side

By Justin Katz | January 20, 2008 |

Tiverton School Committee member Jan Bergandy has an excellent letter (which is unfortunately not online) in the current Sakonnet Times: The bird-flipping spiritual leader of the NEA has not been seen in town recently but I would not be surprised if his teachings inspired the followers. This is what happens when you do not have…

On Gaia’s Good Side

By Justin Katz | January 20, 2008 |

One hopes that most devout Christians — Catholics especially — have a wave of initial suspicion upon hearing such admonitions as “if we only care about heaven, then we’ve lost Jesus’ sense of urgency about loving your neighbor. We’re all kin, so my neighbor is also the polar bear and the bumblebee.” It is wise,…

How Disappointing Is This Administration

By Justin Katz | January 19, 2008 |

As if to demoralize conservative hawks heading into an election year, the Bush administration is falling back to the U.S. political-class default with respect to Palestinian terror: The “road map” for peace, conceived in 2002 by Mr. Bush, had become a hindrance to the peace process, because the first requirement was that the Palestinians stop…

Now There’s an Interesting Idea

By Justin Katz | January 19, 2008 |

Not long after I’d circled the following paragraphs in my copy of today’s paper, I noticed a typical bit of ad ignorantiam over on RI Future: Carcieri’s chief budget officer, Rosemary Booth Gallogly, suggested earlier in the week that the administration may have “another alternative if there were a fiscal crisis.” A provision in Rhode…

Proposals as Defense

By Justin Katz | January 19, 2008 |

In response to my inquiry to RI Senate President Joseph Montalbano as to the reason that “not one of the proposals that came out of last year’s [small-business economic] summit, including revisions to the stringent new fire code, made it into law,” Senate Director of Communications Greg Paré emailed that Senator William Walaska (D, Warwick)…

Well, It’s a Start

By Justin Katz | January 18, 2008 |

Representative Kenneth Carter (D, North Kingstown/Exeter) deserves credit for putting forward one piece of the solution: “… a humane society is concerned about all its members, including those who must pay the bill for the needier,” he said. “We cannot continue to drain others dry so that individuals on public assistance are able to do…