Marc Comtois
A relevant thought for the day from Claremont’s Richard Reeb: Entitlements ought to be understood only as goods or honors that we have earned, not something we think that we, or someone else, ought to have. That necessarily and unavoidably entails taking from one person or group and giving to another. The impolite word for…
No, not a statewide version of that Phoenix, but a state that rises from the ashes, born anew. That’s essentially what the ProJo has editorialized about this morning. Rhode Island can use this crisis to reinvent itself, operating more efficiently and more realistically in a competitive world, making changes that would benefit its citizens for…
Well hi-diddly-doo! The UN has admitted to over-estimating the AIDS epidemic. First, the reassessment: The United Nations’ top AIDS scientists plan to acknowledge this week that they have long overestimated both the size and the course of the epidemic, which they now believe has been slowing for nearly a decade, according to U.N. documents prepared…
The Warwick City Council unanimously rejected a couple contract options for the city’s crossing guards last night. I guess it’s sinking in. Calling it a bad deal for taxpayers, the City Council last night unanimously rejected not one but two proposed contracts with the municipal crossing guards union, leaving the future of the city-run program…
Last week, in light of our half-a-billion dollar budget deficit, I linked to a piece by William Voegeli in which he explained that conservatives, while they can accept the necessity of a welfare state, must continue to try to apply the throttle to the always-growing amount of money we spend on government social welfare programs.…
In preparation for Thanksgiving (I’m in training right now…), here is some reassurance for those of you (well, me) who tend to over-indulge: Eat as much as you want: Katherine Flegal and colleagues from the Centers for Disease Control and the National Cancer Institute…used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, which is…
The overall state budget has grown from $4.65 billion in 2001 to $6.98 billion in 2008, which is a 50% increase over 7 years. As we’ve all figured out, that’s just too much. In an effort to identify those areas that saw the largest growth, here are those departments that had operating budgets over $1…
Here is the list of state job cuts (PDF). Looks like MHRH took the biggest hit, with nurses and nurse’s aides, cooks and cooks helpers, janitors and administrative staff taking the biggest hits. According to the press release: One hundred and fifty three state employees received layoff notices Thursday (the position titles for which are…