Marc Comtois

ProJo: RI’s “secretary-of-state wannabes”

By Marc Comtois | March 19, 2007 |

A week and a half later, the ProJo concurs with us: …the problems of Rhode Island are many, deep and largely unaddressed….state legislators lack both the time and the expertise to seriously consider the complexities of Iraq. Any resolution they might pass would be entirely predictable and totally ineffective: Does Rhode Island need a foreign…

Al Gore, Working in A Zinc Mine and Going Down Down

By Marc Comtois | March 17, 2007 |

Al Gore = fish in barrel (via Glenn Reynolds): Al Gore Jr. received more than $500,000 in royalties from the owners of zinc mines who held mineral leases on his farm near Carthage, Tenn. Now the mines have a new owner and are scheduled to reopen later this year. Before the mines closed in 2003,…

“Wilson, Plame and all that.”

By Marc Comtois | March 17, 2007 |

Over at the OSB, I’ve put up a post putting yesterday’s testimony by Valerie Plame in context. Included is an informative reminder that, at first–while attempting to protect their own journalists against charges of publishing sensitive national security information–many mainstream media outlets tried to convince the Justice Department that Plame’s identity was well known. (Guess…

The Attorneys: How a “Scandal” Can Become a Scandal

By Marc Comtois | March 17, 2007 |

I’ve already asked, “How is Firing Government Attorneys a ‘Scandal’?” Well, it ain’t. I agree with Andrew McCarthy: The politicians on Capitol Hill theatrically castigate the politicians in the administration for making political decisions about political appointees based on political considerations. The politicians in the administration reply, “That would never happen,” before conceding that it…

Immigration Debate To Heat up Locally

By Marc Comtois | March 17, 2007 |

Ian Donnis at N4N: It should make for riveting television when WPRO-AM talk-show host Dan Yorke and blogger-political activist Matt Jerzyk square off on immigration on 10 News Conference at 6:30 AM this Sunday. (A few disclosures: I’m a weekly guest on Yorke’s show, and Jerzyk is an occasional Phoenix contributor.) Jerzyk and Yorke have…

Was anyone “shocked” to hear that …

By Marc Comtois | March 16, 2007 |

…our own Rep. Patrick Kennedy was hooked on OxyContin? (Video Here) Probably not. Wonder which doctor he had? Or was there more than one? Could he have been doctor shopping? {Oh yes, this link is intended to be “ironic”}. Will the media care? Or are we just supposed to feel bad for poor Patrick and…

How is Firing Government Attorneys a “Scandal”?

By Marc Comtois | March 16, 2007 |

So the Bush Administration fires 8 lawyers and somehow this “scandal“is the next Watergate? Please. I agree with Mike Gallagher on this one: [T]o read today’s papers, all the political controversies in our nation’s history combined don’t add up to the earthquake of a scandal that is rocking our world: the Bush Administration was involved…

Expanding the Echo Chamber

By Marc Comtois | March 16, 2007 |

The NY Times has decided that the choir shouldn’t be charged for their sermons (via Instapundit): The New York Times is opening up access permanently to TimesSelect to all students and faculty who have .edu e-mail addresses beginning on March 13. “It’s part of our journalistic mission to get people talking on campuses,” says Vivian…

RI GOP Elects New Leadership

By Marc Comtois | March 16, 2007 |

Out with the old, in with the new. By a unanimous voice vote, Republicans at their state convention last night elected 36-year-old Barrington lawyer Giovanni Cicione as party chairman, replacing Patricia Morgan. “I will work to make our party, once again, the party of unity,” Cicione said in a statement handed out to the media….“I…

Brien’s Bill A No-Brainer

By Marc Comtois | March 15, 2007 |

Woonsocket Rep. Jon Brien’s bill (which AR took note of here) requiring Rhode Island businesses to utilize the Feds “Basic Pilot Program” to determine if an employee can work in the U.S. legally is a good idea. In a hearing on it yesterday, Brien explained: Brien said he is trying to reflect his constituents’ wishes…