Justin Katz

Asleep at the Border

By Justin Katz | May 15, 2006 |

I wish I could offer some little bit of insightful commentary on the President’s speech. Unfortunately, I dozed off shortly after his use of the “the vast majority of” construction. On the bright side, the nap left me revivified for the season finale of Prison Break. The frustration: that I had to wait an extra…

Anti–Illegal Immigration Protest

By Justin Katz | May 3, 2006 | Comments Off on Anti–Illegal Immigration Protest

You know how the pro-immigration folks often claim that illegals “do the work that Americans won’t do”? Well, I propose that we pick a day during which everybody who supports tougher immigration controls actually goes to work. I suspect participation would be in the millions.

Softening the Takeover of Failing Schools

By Justin Katz | May 3, 2006 |

I don’t have time to research the ins and outs of Rhode Island’s laws dealing with the quality of public education, but it seems to me that the following addition to the section on “intervention and support for failing schools,” introduced in the Senate (PDF) by Senators Ruggerio, Badeau, Ciccone, Lanzi, and Tassoni, would arguably…

The Marriage Debate Comes to Tiverton

By Justin Katz | May 2, 2006 |

Via the pastor, the same-sex marriage debate has made its way into my Roman Catholic church in Tiverton. How can a socially conservative parishioner do otherwise than respond?

Blogging on the Radio

By Justin Katz | April 17, 2006 | Comments Off on Blogging on the Radio

In case you — like me — missed it, here’s an MP3 file of Addie Goss’s radio piece on Rhode Island blogs for the Brown Student Radio show Off the Beat (which, for some reason, never found its way onto the show’s archive page). (I didn’t realize how halting. my. speech. can. be. when I’m…

A Note on Advertisements

By Justin Katz | April 17, 2006 | Comments Off on A Note on Advertisements

With advertising on Anchor Rising beginning to… well, just beginning, I thought it worthwhile to offer readers some perspective on our advertising practices (such as they will be). Our acceptance of paid advertisements does not imply endorsement of the product, service, or stated position. In general, we will do a little bit of research to…

How We Phrase the Taxation

By Justin Katz | April 15, 2006 |

I have to admit that Froma Harrop’s rhetoric, in the following single instance, does resonate a bit for me: The centerpiece is the lowered tax on investment income, which Republicans are trying to keep at 15 percent. As a result, the idle rich living off their stock portfolios are taxed at 15 percent, while the…

Old-Money Populists and the Working-Class/New-Money Elite

By Justin Katz | April 12, 2006 |

I’ve been meaning to comment on RI Populist’s apparent satisfaction over Sheldon Whitehouse’s receipt of the carpenters union endorsement. As a non-union carpenter whose job site has recently been within sight of Whitehouse’s Newport summer home castle — nestled between, I’m informed, his brother’s mansion and his mother’s chateau and a short drive from his…

Blogging RI

By Justin Katz | April 7, 2006 | Comments Off on Blogging RI

Ben Leubsdorf interviewed me for an article about Rhode Island blogs that appeared in yesterday’s Brown Daily Herald. The resulting piece makes for interesting reading, although I probably didn’t express my idealism about blogs as well as I might have. I did, however, try to stress that Anchor Rising is not mine alone, nor can…

Brown at URI

By Justin Katz | April 7, 2006 | Comments Off on Brown at URI

Not to assume too much, but it seems to me that RI Secretary of State and candidate for U.S. Senate Matt Brown is like his fellow state Democrats in that he hasn’t had to speak to or wrangle with anybody with strongly conflicting views in far too long. I mean, think about this: “I think…