Justin Katz

“Get On Board Now” — Good Advice, That!

By Justin Katz | February 7, 2005 | Comments Off on “Get On Board Now” — Good Advice, That!

The guys at PRESSblog, a Rhode Island blog for marketers, have reviewed a number of Southern New England blogs “to determine what value they might have to advertisers.” Although I may be, you know, mildly biased, I think they give some great advice when it comes to Anchor Rising: Will Appeal to: Republican candidates for…

Fanaticism, in Essence

By Justin Katz | February 5, 2005 |

People hold religious, social, or any other beliefs in varying degrees. Some treat them as relative, and whimsically; belief is a matter of perspective, so everybody’s beliefs are equally true, including the changing beliefs of an individual over time. Such people are metastatically dangerous, in their way, but the more palpable threat comes from the…

American Crusade for Life Unhallowed

By Justin Katz | February 5, 2005 |

Miguel Guanipa’s voice of reason has been trapped on my To Post list for a while: Wherever there are children who dare recite the Pledge of Allegiance in a public school, judges who think the Ten Commandments should be displayed in the halls of justice, school principals who dare recite a prayer at a commencement…

Airing the Lottery Commission’s “Chaos”

By Justin Katz | February 4, 2005 | Comments Off on Airing the Lottery Commission’s “Chaos”

The Providence Journal is urging “Governor Carcieri, House Speaker William Murphy and Senate President Joseph Montalbano to sit down together and work out some of the kinks in the implementation of separation of powers.” While kinks should surely be worked out as quickly as possible, I’d prefer that these three Rhode Island leaders sit down…

Letting the Executive Be Executive

By Justin Katz | February 3, 2005 | Comments Off on Letting the Executive Be Executive

As a partial follow up to my previous post about the interwoven connections among the (let’s call it) influencing class in Rhode Island, I note that the state’s judiciary has permitted the governor to switch healthcare providers: The state Supreme Court ruled today that the state can award the contract for its employees’ health insurance…

With a Tweak Here and There

By Justin Katz | February 3, 2005 | Comments Off on With a Tweak Here and There

For anybody who’s interested: now that the issue of National Review with my piece on Andrew Sullivan has slipped into the back catalogue, I’ve posted a version of my contribution over on Dust in the Light, with the title “The Foibles of Longing.”

Rusted Trash at Low Tide

By Justin Katz | February 1, 2005 | Comments Off on Rusted Trash at Low Tide

Boy, I’ll bet — rather, I hope — that, after Sunday, Joseleyne Slade of Providence had her fingers crossed that the Providence Journal wouldn’t publish her letter: The world was in mourning for the thousands killed by or suffering from the tsunami. That disaster he did not plan, but the awful desolation that is accompanying…

When Lives Votes Are on the Line

By Justin Katz | February 1, 2005 |

I’ve been pondering Lane Core’s suggestion that Sen. Kennedy’s fire-breathing speech last week was an attempt to set himself up for further histrionics after a calamitous election day in Iraq (emphasis in original): But it occurred to me today — I wish it had done so last week — that Kennedy’s speech was not occasioned…

Finishing the Line

By Justin Katz | January 31, 2005 |

In his commentary in the Providence Journal, which Don mentions in the previous post, Rhode Island College student Bill Felkner does the single most important thing for government reform: Let’s draw a straight line: The school teaches the “perspective”; graduates get jobs at the state Department of Human Services and the Poverty Institute; the DHS…

The Driving Forces in Iraq

By Justin Katz | January 30, 2005 |

PROEM: To mark the historic elections today in Iraq, I republish, here, a column from December 10, 2001, that has been available in full only in my book, Just Thinking: Volume I. A view that was then extreme has proven predictive, and I, for one, do not question that the world is better for it.…