Marc Comtois

Happy Thanksgiving

By Marc Comtois | November 25, 2010 |

For many years, the Saturday Evening Post captured the pulse of America, particularly its cover art. In 1943, Norman Rockwell provided one of the iconic images of Thanksgiving with this cover. “Freedom From Want” ~ Norman Rockwell Ironically, the cover appeared in March, not November, and, as its title illustrates, was in reference to one…

Frustrated Populism

By Marc Comtois | November 19, 2010 |

Charles Krauthammer summarizes why touching our junk has become a tipping point: Homeland Security’s newest brainstorm – the upgraded, full-palm, up the groin, all-body pat-down. In a stroke, the young man ascended to myth, or at least the next edition of Bartlett’s, warning the agent not to “touch my junk.” Not quite the 18th-century elegance…

Dog Bites Man, Low-tax states attracting more people

By Marc Comtois | November 17, 2010 |

Americans for Tax Reform (H/t) report: A study by Americans for Tax Reform compared states gaining and losing Congressional seats in the decennial reapportionment process and found that states gaining seats had significantly lower taxes, less government spending, and were more likely to have “Right to Work” laws in place. Because reapportionment is based on…

ProJo’s Politiflackdom is built into the Model

By Marc Comtois | November 17, 2010 |

I promise after this that I won’t hack at the ProJo’s politiflack (for at least today). Remembering that the ProJo’s model for Politifact came from the St. Petersburg Times, I note Mark Hemingway’s reminder that “‘Politifact’ is often more politics than facts“: In 2009, Politifact won a Pulitzer prize, so people put a lot of…

“I campaigned on it…I can’t go back on a campaign pledge.”

By Marc Comtois | November 15, 2010 |

So says our governor-elect when talking about his pledge to revoke the E-verify Executive order. Hey, he’s honest, right? I guess that means we can be sure that a 1% sales tax increase is coming. Yippee.

Scions United

By Marc Comtois | November 15, 2010 |

As has been reported (I saw it tweeted first by Ian Donnis), governor-elect Chafee has tabbed erstwhile liberal Democrat political insider–lobbyist, Chairman of the Board of NARAL—Richard Licht (h/t Ted Nesi for the link to Licht’s bio) to head up the Department of Administration. The liberalness isn’t a surprise, but lest we forget, there is…

Where the Jobs Are

By Marc Comtois | November 12, 2010 |

First, according to USA Today: The number of federal workers earning $150,000 or more a year has soared tenfold in the past five years and doubled since President Obama took office…Federal workers earning $150,000 or more make up 3.9% of the workforce, up from 0.4% in 2005….Since 2000, federal pay and benefits have increased 3%…

Thank You

By Marc Comtois | November 11, 2010 |

Thank you to all our veterans and to all who continue to serve our country. Your sacrifices will not be forgotten. For those who would like to help our local veterans and their families, please visit Operation Homefront New England. Or if you’d just like to say “Thank You”, head on over to the USO.…

New England’s Liberal Conservative Non-Schizophrenia; Or Something

By Marc Comtois | November 10, 2010 |

Robert Whitcomb ruminates over the “psychological” conservatism of New England: New Englanders are in fact more psychologically conservative than most of the rest of the country, whatever the social and economic liberalism ascribed to them by the press. That their rates of divorce, illegitimacy, alcohol and other drug abuse, personal bankruptcy and other signs of…

RI Rides on the Stimulus Gravy Train

By Marc Comtois | November 10, 2010 |

So, the ProJo editors decided to attack “Sarah Palin’s Alaska” for “fiscal hyper-hypocrisy“. Following the NY Times lead, the ProJo cites data from ProPublica showing that “oil-rich Alaska leads in per-capita federal stimulus money — $3,145.” They go on to list the 8 next highest spending/capita states–Montana, Vermont, North Dakota, New Mexico, Wyoming, Idaho, Massachusetts…