Justin Katz
As a subjective guide to Don’s previous post, laying out facts and considerations in the case of Terri Schiavo, I offer the following anecdote from Fr. Rob Johansen, which I found via Lane Core: In the course of our conversation, [a well-respected neurologist] made reference to the standard use of MRI and PET scans to…
Seeing that I’m among the younger set that supports President Bush’s Social Security plan, I take umbrage at Froma Harrop’s condescention: The folks are going to stop the kids from doing something stupid. Many have known world war and a great depression. They saw the pitiful old people that Social Security lifted from the gutter.…
Perhaps its cause is an irrepressible idealism on my part, but I still find myself stunned and disheartened by the stooped-to depths of political dishonesty. In this one sentence, Rep. Patrick Kennedy appeals to a completely alternate reality to score political points among people whom he assumes to be uninformed and/or stupid: Since the president…
After his speech for a gathering of (mostly) Portsmouth Republicans, Mayor Laffey took a sweeping path to not answering a question about whether he’ll challenge Lincoln Chafee for a seat in the U.S. Senate. It didn’t take much listening between the words to hear a “yes” — albeit an indeterminate one. Considering that the sweeping…
Joseph Buffardi, of Cranston, believes that introducing the concept of merit to teachers’ career advancement is a utopian idea: In a perfect world, one could make a case for instituting merit pay for teachers. But this is not a perfect world. As a public-school faculty member for over 30 years, I will grant that not…
As I’ve suggested before, this case may not have been a big deal if decided in court, and it will probably be even less so since the judiciary didn’t get involved at all: The [Tiverton] School Committee still has to work out some legal details, but it decided to extend the health-care benefits of retired…
This aspect of the article to which Don links in the previous post particularly caught my eye: Ban anyone, other than a “recognized employee of a news organization,” from videotaping or taking photographs of House sessions and House committee meetings “without the express permissions of the speaker.” I’m aware of the tendency of the blogosphere…
You raise some interesting points, Marc, and you’ve sparked a wacky idea — just an out-of-the-box consideration, really, but… Assuming that we don’t manage to change the political culture in Rhode Island to begin unseating incumbents, and given current political trends, what are the chances that a Langevin in the tenth or fifteenth year of…
Ramesh Ponnuru raises a sore point for Rhode Island conservatives: If Langevin wins the Democratic primary, I’d be open to the idea that conservatives should support him over Chafee. Langevin at least votes pro-life most of the time. I’ll admit that I don’t get out there and network as much as I should, but my…