Justin Katz
On gut impulse, I attended the Republican Party’s convention last night. Given how busy I am, it turned out to be a huge mistake. I’ll put it this way: the Rhode Island Republican Party is so dull that it can suck the excitement right out of Steve Laffey. When members of the party are inclined…
Over on Dust in the Light: “A Life Begins” offers some explanation for my relative lack of literary activity in recent months.
Attaching a typo-rife position paper, Megan Boben — apparently the press secretary for Republican candidate for governor Dennis Michaud — emailed me to point out Charles Bakst’s “great job accurately representing Michaud’s positions.” I’m sure more time with that piece would reveal a wealth of interesting quirks, but this one jumps out at me: VOTER…
PROEM: I wrote the following piece for publication in the closing months of 2004. As these things happen, it was never published, but never actually rejected. In the intervening months, I’ve periodically looked for it online — as if I’d posted it somewhere — so it seemed prudent to go ahead and do so now.…
Well, after extensive efforts since the company devoured Fleet, Bank of America has finally succeeded in persuading me to take my business elsewhere. From several varieties of inconvenience to an extremely unpleasant job fair to the fees (my God, the fees!), the behemoth has finally overcome the natural inertia against changing banks. The company’s corporate…
The Providence Journal (which, to build an incidental point on Andrew’s previous post, Matt Jerzyk believes to be too conservative) continues its support for same-sex marriage: Time, however, may be on his side. Despite various state drives to ban same-sex marriage during the 2004 elections, it appears that the idea of such unions is gaining…
Perhaps I take rhetoric such as Bernie Beaudreau’s in the Providence Journal a bit too personally: Low-income Rhode Islanders register little in the present tax debate, except for the false promise that there is a connection between tax breaks for the rich and more bread for the poor. “The flat tax will reduce poverty,” we’re…
I’m sure I’m not alone among Anchor Rising writers in feeling a glimmer of hope when such letters as Melbourne Fisher’s appear in the paying press: Columnists Bob Kerr and Charlie Bakst get plenty of ink, and the “loyal opposition” gets an occasional letter to the editor. Keep Bob and Charlie; just get another writer…
I love this part of Marc’s post: … Michaud also revealed that he was paid $80,000 by Beacon as a consultant and that he was unaware that he should have announced as such when he testified in front of the General Assembly as an expert witness earlier this year. It brings to mind the movie…