Justin Katz

A Chip in Our Shoulders

By Justin Katz | July 25, 2007 |

It probably won’t be HIV that brings the push for microchip injection in the West, but then again, it probably won’t be “right wing” homeland security initiatives, either: Lawmakers in Indonesia’s Papua are mulling the selective use of chip implants in HIV carriers to monitor their behaviour in a bid to keep them from infecting…

A China Shop in Need of a Bull

By Justin Katz | July 24, 2007 |

Katherine Gregg’s piece in the Providence Journal about state contract employees has a bit too much of the editorial page aroma. Her opening line, a construct intended to tell the reader how to feel about the information being conveyed, is in keeping with the execution of her “gotchas.” The employee list appears “in the blink…

Not Requiring Cultural Deflation

By Justin Katz | July 23, 2007 |

I just wanted to take a moment to thank Governor Carcieri for this: Gov. Don Carcieri has vetoed a bill requiring health insurers to cover infertility treatments for unmarried people, saying they shouldn’t be forced to subsidize out-of-wedlock births. The Republican governor, who opposes same-sex marriage and civil unions, warned that eliminating the marriage restriction…

When the U.S. Looks Strong

By Justin Katz | July 22, 2007 |

Some fruits of the surge: The sewage-filled streets of Doura, a Sunni Arab enclave in south Baghdad, provide an ugly setting for what US commanders say is al-Qaeda’s last stronghold in the city. The secretive group, however, appears to be losing its grip as a “surge” of US troops in the neighbourhood — part of…

The Hot Summer of the Hostage Non-Crisis

By Justin Katz | July 22, 2007 |

Mark Steyn’s comments on the Iran hostage non-crisis are, as always, worth reading: How do you feel about the American hostages in Iran? No, not the guys back in the Seventies, the ones being held right now. What? You haven’t heard about them? Odd that, isn’t it? But they’re there. For example, for two months…

In Opposition to the Opposition

By Justin Katz | July 21, 2007 |

Having a respectful and patriotic opposition can be valuable during wartime as much as during peacetime, helping to ensure that ineffective policies are changed and that excesses are not allowed. Still, the constant signals of a willingness to abandon Iraq prematurely — which factions in the United States have been sending around the world for…

For Those Who Say There’s No Good News Coming Out of Iraq

By Justin Katz | July 18, 2007 |

On NBC10, Rocco provides some personal perspective on the good news that nobody’s apparently been hearing. For example: I spent some time in the Green Zone, and when I first got there, three or four times a day, my office would shake, the windows would rattle, and we’d look up at the black clouds from…

Toppling Old Men for a Single Word (It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane!)

By Justin Katz | July 18, 2007 |

From a press statement put out by “Roger Williams University School of Law student organizers Matt Jerzyk, Majessire Smith and Kim Ahern” on the resolution of the Roger Williams University Papitto melodrama: We are proud of every law school student and all of the faculty, alumni and donors who raised their voice against racism at…

Flipping the Bird of Power Dynamics

By Justin Katz | July 17, 2007 |

MRH recites a productive argument 14 comments into my previous post (emphasis his): I understand that no one wants to be called a bigot, but it’s really dancing right on the edge of offensive when a white guy claims that being accused of bigotry is like a black man being called a “nigger” by a…

Surviving a Stroll Through the Dunes

By Justin Katz | July 16, 2007 |

I’m thrilled to report that Rocco DiPippo is back on American soil. It would seem that his time in Iraq has done much to mellow his writing: There is no longer any doubt about it–the Democratic Party is rushing to cause the defeat of the US in Iraq. And why not? Without the complete failure…