Marc Comtois

NY Times Digs and Finds a Hole

By Marc Comtois | April 21, 2008 |

Over the weekend, the ProJo ran a NY Times piece that divulged that (gasp) the Pentagon squired around ex-military types–some even with ties to military contractors–in an attempt to get favorable press about the Iraq War. Stunning, no? Both Max Boot and John Podhoretz have a say, with Podhoretz offering up an inside-baseball reason as…

“Whadya get when an ex-Nun and a liberal Brown Professor get an opportunity to grill a Catholic Priest about the Pope’s visit to America?”

By Marc Comtois | April 20, 2008 |

Channel 12’s (and Fox Providence) Newsmakers program opened with a discussion of Pope Benedict’s visit to America. Host Steve Aveson opened by asking Father Najim about the impact of Pope Benedict’s visit. Father Najim explained that a Papal visit will help with explaining and encouraging Catholics, especially males, to enter the Catholic vocations and that,…

Live by the Biography, Die by the Biography

By Marc Comtois | April 18, 2008 |

Like other conservatives, I’ve been amused by how Saints Bill and Hillary have transmogrified into untrustworthy and selfish snakes-in-the-grass in the eyes of so many of their former water-carriers. Along the way, we’ve learned that those who were once part of the media conspiracy arrayed against them in the ’90s are now taking their side…

Naught-ical Thinking

By Marc Comtois | April 16, 2008 |

So I’ve been wondering when the tripartite alliance of advocates for labor, illegal immigrants and entitlements would start to show cracks in the face of the budget crunch. It would seem only a matter of time, right? Thus far they’ve tried to identify other “revenue sources” such that no program shall be left behind, like…

Immigration Debate is Only Part of It

By Marc Comtois | April 15, 2008 |

There is no doubt that there are illegal immigrants taking advantage of taxpayer dollars here in Rhode Island. How many? We don’t know. But we do know that, if we are to apply the same sort of zero-sum economics favored by our friends on the left, any benefits going to illegal immigrants are not going…

We are the Free Market Change We are Waiting For

By Marc Comtois | April 14, 2008 |

The April 7, 2008 edition of National Review (dead-tree: subscriber only) contains a piece by Stephen Spruiell, “The Buckeye Stops Here,” that focuses on the Ohio economy. Here’s an illuminating excerpt:

Transformation Complete: Yankees Become Red Sox of Old

By Marc Comtois | April 14, 2008 |

OK, so a Sox-loving NYer buries a Big Papi shirt in the new Yankee Stadium concrete and fess’s up. The NY Post’s description of what happened is priceless, especially how new Yanks Boss Hank Steinbrenner “doesn’t care”….. But it was the betrayal of his borough that elicited Bronx cheers from many Yankee fans – including…

The More Things Change

By Marc Comtois | April 14, 2008 |

From Time (h/t): The Middle American’s faith is not merely grounded upon nostalgia and emotion. He believes in a system that did work and in large measure still does; a brilliant, highly adaptable system, heir to the Enlightenment and classic democracy, with innumerable, ingenious, local accretions. But the country has become too complex and the…

Sox Start for Real Tonight

By Marc Comtois | April 1, 2008 |

OK, technically they’ve already played two games that count, going 1-1, over in Japan. But the sorta surreal beginning to the season is over and the usual ebb and flow can now begin tonight in Oakland around 10 PM. Ian has more and the ProJo staff makes their picks. Me? They win the division, but…

Warwick School Closings

By Marc Comtois | March 28, 2008 |

Originally, I had a longish, wonkish, link-heavy post detailing how Warwick got to the place where school closings were deemed necessary. I canned that once I read Warwick School Committee Chairman Christopher Friel’s explanation. Basically, there’s no doubt it was a difficult choice and that the time frame was compressed because of the budget crunch.…