Justin Katz

A Note on the Interview

By Justin Katz | January 20, 2005 | Comments Off on A Note on the Interview

Email conversation with Sheila Lennon has persuaded me that my statement that “the news department of the Providence Journal is practically campaigning for a change in the law” should, instead, have read “the news department of the Providence Journal has practically advocated for same-sex marriage.” Lennon may not find that language any more accurate, from…

Jeff Jacoby: An American Conservative in New England

By Justin Katz | January 20, 2005 |

Sitting around a pub’s chest-high table with new acquaintances, a blue-state conservative will look for signs of ideological sympathy. In New England, should the Boston Globe arise in conversation, the canny conservative need only drop one name, before sipping his beer to disguise the true import: Jeff Jacoby. The Globe‘s bio gives an inkling as…

Inaugural Schadenfreude

By Justin Katz | January 20, 2005 | Comments Off on Inaugural Schadenfreude

What can one do but marvel that Providence Journal page B.01 columnist Bob Kerr would commit this to print: It’s a day to be silly. We’re not just inaugurating a president; we’re inaugurating a whole new way of life in which the entire country becomes its own reality show. People watch us from other places,…

Memo to the President

By Justin Katz | January 19, 2005 |

“Lukewarm” support for the FMA is just fine, Mr. President. See my piece today on NRO for details.

The Power of a Podium

By Justin Katz | January 18, 2005 | Comments Off on The Power of a Podium

A 230-word piece in the Providence Journal nicely captures the good that disputatious writers like Edward Achorn and (to a much lesser extent… for now) us here at Anchor Rising can do: [RI House Speaker William] Murphy had said he would seek an advisory opinion from the state Supreme Court, but said today that he…

No Gods Before the Lord Your God

By Justin Katz | January 17, 2005 |

Matthew Jerzyk of Providence has a particularly restrictive view of the appropriate content of public monuments: We have hundreds of places in our city for monuments of the Ten Commandments; they are called churches. Our public spaces, however, should be reserved to memorialize our common faith in government. For example, if any city official wants…

Small Ethics Issues vs. Big Ethics Issues

By Justin Katz | January 16, 2005 | Comments Off on Small Ethics Issues vs. Big Ethics Issues

William Harris of Barrington proves that I’m not alone in seeing a bit of nitpicking in the ethics charges against Governor Carcieri: A more cynical analysis might conclude that it is an example of a state body hounding the governor to accomplish partisan objectives. While I support the goals of ethics reform, I believe it…

Finding the Same-Sex Marriage Story

By Justin Katz | January 15, 2005 | Comments Off on Finding the Same-Sex Marriage Story

This story appeared almost two weeks ago, but I wanted to do a little research and give the matter some thought: The School Committee requested clarification from the courts after Cheryl McCullough, who worked as a health teacher and guidance counselor at Tiverton High School for 27 years, applied for health insurance for Joyce Boivin,…

A General Cloud of Suspicion

By Justin Katz | January 14, 2005 | Comments Off on A General Cloud of Suspicion

Dan Yorke railed against this possibility on Wednesday: Under pressure from law-enforcement officials who want to use the roadblocks again, Governor Carcieri is deciding whether to ask the state Supreme Court to reconsider a 1989 decision that sobriety checkpoints violate the state Constitution. If Carcieri goes along with Attorney General Patrick Lynch, who wants him…

Cutting the Safety-Net Industry

By Justin Katz | January 14, 2005 | Comments Off on Cutting the Safety-Net Industry

The latest salvo in the long-running local discussion of the relationship between social workers and socialism comes from Richard Hill of Narragansett: Schools of social work offer little to no education on how to run a business. Thus, some social workers have no concept of how to succeed without getting a check from the government.…