Justin Katz

The State of Literary Capitalism

By Justin Katz | January 2, 2005 |

On Friday, I went to Barnes & Noble in Middletown to see if the store had one or both of the magazines in which my work currently appears. I couldn’t find any copies of Newport Life, and the two copies of National Review on the rack were two-issues old. Well, I just called to ask…

Happy New Year!

By Justin Katz | January 1, 2005 | Comments Off on Happy New Year!

I’ve put my personal thoughts about the coming of the new year over on Dust in the Light. But I wanted to be sure to wish Anchor Rising readers a happy New Year’s Day, as well. We’ve got plans to make 2005 an interesting, successful year for Anchor Rising, and we hope you’ll be playing…

Imports and Price Controls for a Mature Nation

By Justin Katz | December 30, 2004 | Comments Off on Imports and Price Controls for a Mature Nation

The idea, which Marc noted in the previous post, that “Europeans and Canadians are able to get quality drugs at lower prices only because Americans pay free-market prices that fuel research and development” is one that I’ve touched on before. Michelle Malkin had made the point that the price negotiation practices of the Veterans Administration…

Where Humanitarianism Meets Nihilism

By Justin Katz | December 30, 2004 |

Cynthia Weisboro, a member of the South Kingstown Library Board of Trustees, doesn’t apparently believe that self government extends to determination of the principles by which we ought to govern ourselves: [David] O’Connell bases his opposition to such research on the very questionable theological concept of the “soul,” a concept unproven and unprovable. Speculation on…

Projo Schizophrenic on Healthcare & Employment

By Justin Katz | December 28, 2004 |

As I noted at the time on Dust in the Light, the Providence Journal‘s editorial page recently made an astonishingly forward-looking suggestion: The problem of job quality is complex, involving trade, education and other issues. But we hope that political leaders will take an especially close look at the health-care factor. Our employment-based health-insurance system…

A Writer Covered

By Justin Katz | December 23, 2004 |

The author listed in the corner of the latest print edition cover of National Review (writing about Andrew Sullivan) has a familiar name: Skimming the online version, I see the author apparently writes for this blog and Dust in the Light. Interesting development.

Cross in Bennington

By Justin Katz | December 22, 2004 | Comments Off on Cross in Bennington

Given current jurisprudence, this is surely the prudent action: BENNINGTON — Officials at the Vermont Veterans Home were ordered to take down a red, white and blue lighted cross Wednesday after trustees decided it is illegal at a state-owned facility. … Employees had put the large cross, strung with patriotic colored lights, atop a gazebo…

Institutions Under Siege

By Justin Katz | December 20, 2004 |

Having read “Hendricken administrator arrested on indecent solicitation charge” in the Providence Journal, I think I’d have written the headline somewhat differently. This sounds most newsworthy as a success story. The relevant information comes in paragraphs seven through ten of the fourteen-paragraph piece: Sheldon had been placed on paid administrative leave from the school last…

No Longer Looking, No Longer Here

By Justin Katz | December 15, 2004 | Comments Off on No Longer Looking, No Longer Here

Here’s an interesting find from URI economics professor Leonard Lardaro: As our unemployment rate fell from 5.8 percent to 4.5 percent, resident employment, the number of Rhode Islanders who were working, rose by only 423! The decline in our labor force, 7,146, was almost identical to the drop in the number of unemployed, 7,569, which…

Getting to Know Them

By Justin Katz | December 15, 2004 | Comments Off on Getting to Know Them

A caller to Rick Adams’s show (listen here) just suggested to Don that Anchor Rising publish background information — voting records, fund contributors, family employment, union sympathy, and so on — for each of Rhode Island’s legislators. That’s a fantastic idea, and we should certainly give some thought to ways in which to get it…