Justin Katz

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…

Suspicions of an Ex Post Facto Gotcha

By Justin Katz | March 1, 2006 |

Fred’s sarcasm in the comments to Andrew’s foregoing post regarding my previous complaints that Mayor Laffey hadn’t tied his arrest of Maria Hernandez to the issue of school choice doesn’t really work based on Laffey’s ex post facto announcement. Will’s comments fair a little better, since his previous assertion was of an unseen plan on…

That’s Our Chafee

By Justin Katz | January 30, 2006 |

To be honest, I’ve been a little surprised at the intense interest in Senator Chafee’s vote on Alito. From conservatives’ standpoint, the only intriguing turn of events would have been a “yes” vote on the nomination and the questions that it would have raised about whether Chafee might make further efforts to court us. What…

Notes on the Breakfast Table, Page 3

By Justin Katz | January 17, 2006 |

Representative Bruce Long’s discomfort when the U.S. Senate primary race came up during his East Bay GOP Breakfast introduction of Mayor Steve Laffey spoke volumes. It might go too far to speculate about an underlying fear that a primary will alert Rhode Islanders to the fact that they have erroneously elected a Republican. Whatever the…

Notes on the Breakfast Table, Page 2

By Justin Katz | January 16, 2006 |

Although I smirked at the bit-too-genuine surprise that he expressed regarding the credibility with which Anchor Rising is treated, I left the East Bay GOP Breakfast impressed with Bill Harsch. In constructing his message as he campaigns to become Rhode Island’s attorney general, Harsch has hit upon the core idea that Rhode Islanders need to…

Notes on the Breakfast Table, Page 1

By Justin Katz | January 15, 2006 |

Sometimes I think that writers on social or political matters have an obligation not to participate in the processes or events of which they write. It is much more difficult, for example, to speak ill of a player whom one likes personally, or through whom one wishes to gain advantage. And surely both analysis and…