Justin Katz
The Projo editorial board’s comments on recent healthcare happenings in the state mention a strategy — perhaps a necessity — with much broader application: We are unmoved by Blue Cross’s complaint that United is “an out-of-state for-profit company.” In all-too-cozy Rhode Island, being out-of-state can be an advantage, avoiding as it does the local cronyism…
A word on where Andrew and I differ most significantly on the Taricani matter: Andrew believes that one problem that conservatives face when attempting to trim the powers of the judiciary is that they “pick a hot-button issue — gay marriage, flag burning, ‘under god’ in the pledge of allegiance — to advance the cause…
Brown professor Anne Fausto-Sterling, recent Massachusetts-made spouse of Brown professor Paula Vogel, skirts the heart of the same-sex marriage debate (coming to a small coastal state near you) in a Providence Journal column today. Interspersed with a description of exactly the sort of ceremony that one would expect from New England radicals, Fausto-Sterling offers points…
Andrew, yes that notion that the judge can usurp executive powers when some among the executive branch might have a conflict of interest is the lynchpin. After I read, last night, Torres’s decision demanding that Taricani name his source (PDF), questions about the procedures and powers involved with forming grand juries and appointing special prosecutors…
Not being adequately informed about the case and the relevant laws, I’ve been waiting to hear Andrew’s argument in full with respect to Jim Taricani and Judge Torres before taking a position. However, Dan Yorke believes Judge Torres is in the right, and he just said something on his radio show that gives reason, at…
I’ve admitted before that I find healthcare to be an eye-glazing issue — especially in Rhode Island. Sometimes it seems reasonable to wonder whether that’s an effect that the industry actively encourages. As William Gamble’s analysis suggests (to my mind, anyway), Blue Cross of Rhode Island could hardly have been better designed for corruption if…
Having been struggling for an interesting way to frame this, I was much relieved to read Marc’s recent post about demographics and Republican states’ receiving more government aid while (ostensibly) voting against Big Government. Blogger Sensible Mom has explored the data in a bit more depth (the bracketed comment is hers): But let’s focus on…
Mackubin Thomas Owens, a professor at the War College in Newport, has done a little preliminary strategic brainstorming in the event that the Blue States try to secede: To begin with, where would the blue-state secessionists get the military force they would need to vindicate their action? After all, to paraphrase Thomas Hobbes, principles, no…
Especially without being in that state, it’d be difficult to guess the political dynamics of a probable proposal in the Connecticut legislature: On Election Day, voters in 11 states approved constitutional bans on gay marriage. But when the Connecticut legislature meets in January, the state may buck the national trend. Democrats hold strong majorities in…
