Monique Chartier

Washington’s Unfortunate Bipartisanship on Human Rights

By Monique Chartier | May 17, 2009 |

… and not so much a pure, reach-across-the-aisle spirit is the basis for President Obama’s selection of our next ambassador to China, The Corner’s Jay Nordlinger has concluded. I have had a line for some years now: Just as China is a one-party state, America is a one-party state, where China policy is concerned. There…

Oops – Cancel that Projected $2 Trillion in Health Care Savings

By Monique Chartier | May 17, 2009 |

Remember that big announcement by President Obama earlier this week that got a ton of coverage? Barack Obama praised the health care industry’s promise to cut $2 trillion in costs over 10 years Monday, taking a sharply different course than President Bill Clinton did 16 years ago in an opening bid to overhaul the U.S.…

A Major Truther is Missing from Senator Whitehouse’s Truth Commission

By Monique Chartier | May 16, 2009 |

For the record, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse’s subcommittee hearing on the use of torture and harsh interrogation techniques following the 2001 terror attacks has been chugging along this week. This is necessary to note because one of its potential star witnesses has sucked much of the p.r. oxygen out of the hearing room with her energetic…

I’m Sorry, You Don’t Get to Create a Problem

By Monique Chartier | May 15, 2009 |

… and then sternly point to it like you’re an uninvolved third party. President Barack Obama, calling current deficit spending “unsustainable,” warned of skyrocketing interest rates for consumers if the U.S. continues to finance government by borrowing from other countries. “We can’t keep on just borrowing from China,” Obama said at a town-hall meeting in…

E-Verify in the Senate Judiciary Committee (and Some Blog-Lobbying on It)

By Monique Chartier | May 14, 2009 |

The Senate Judiciary will hear Senator Cote’s e-verify bill this afternoon at the Rise of the Senate in Room 313. Employment is the biggest draw to the United States. Legal immigration is a wonderful thing. But illegal employment encourages illegal immigration. A simple, highly accurate tool, E-Verify discourages illegal employment. E-Verify passed the RI House…

Campaign Contributions: Bready to Cicilline

By Monique Chartier | May 12, 2009 |

Under Marc’s post concerning the lawsuit filed by former Providence Tax Collector Robert Ceprano against Mayor David Cicilline et al, commenter Damien Baldino observes I don’t know if Richard Bready is a generous contributor to the City, but he is a generous contributor to Mayor Cicilline. Indeed. Richard and Cheryl Bready have made the following…

Obama Admin to Brits: Only We Can Rat Ourselves Out

By Monique Chartier | May 12, 2009 |

This is a little confusing. The Obama administration says it may curtail Anglo-American intelligence sharing if the British High Court discloses new details of the treatment of a former Guantanamo detainee. A court filing from the British Foreign Office released recently includes a letter from the U.S. government, identified as the “Obama administration’s communication.” Other…

Providence Housing Offenders and One of Their Neighbors.

By Monique Chartier | May 12, 2009 |

Further to Justin’s post, the homeless shelter on Prairie Avenue in Providence, one of two in the state required to accept predators, is next to (that would be next to) Edmund W. Flynn Elementary School‎. As the host city of the other homeless shelter required to accept predators, Cranston is understandably up in arms because…

Speed Reading License Plates

By Monique Chartier | May 11, 2009 |

Matt Allen asked a good question this evening: would this be acceptable if it does, in fact, focus solely on cars involved in real crimes? The Police Department is going to try out a new gizmo installed on its cruisers to automatically read motor-vehicle license plates and give officers a quick read-out of whether a…

Comprehensive Immigration Reform Stalling – Advocates in Neutral

By Monique Chartier | May 10, 2009 |

It looks as though President Obama is holding off on comprehensive immigration reform. Even if it would be more corect to append a “for now” to that sentence, the president is to be applauded for doing so. What caught my eye was this. “I’m just surprised at how muted the reaction has been to Obama’s…