Blue v. Red

Patinkin Back to His Comfort Zone

By Justin Katz | July 23, 2010 |

Having chided Mark Patinkin for his colum lampooning Republicans (poorly), I think it only fair to note that he’s offered an attempt at some fair-play turnabout. It would be fascinating, I think, for a literature class to devote some discussion time to the differences in sentence structure and related attributes as a means of discerning…

Patinkin Should Put a Face on the Cliché

By Justin Katz | July 12, 2010 |

It’s difficult to imagine what Mark Patinkin was thinking as he conceived, wrote, and submitted his recent column mocking Republicans — or rather, why he didn’t think first. Like any group, there’s surely plenty to mock about the GOP and its members, but the sheer absence of cleverness and accuracy, in this piece, suggests that…

Formerly Admirable, Now a Bad Example on the Way to Obviation

By Justin Katz | June 9, 2010 |

Bringing his military eye to the topic, Theodore Gatchel provides an astute summary of the Obama movement in government: Two competing schools of thought have developed. One holds that the government’s role should be one of educating people about the risks so that they can make informed decisions. The other school holds that the issues…

What Is Government For?

By Justin Katz | April 19, 2010 |

At last, a comment from Stuart worth further exploration: …the point is that governments were created to use our – yours and mine – pooled resources to create BETTER things than we could have created by our lonesome selves. In fact, good systems of government like that of the USA are the biggest friend of…

The Center Is Relative, I Suppose

By Justin Katz | April 19, 2010 |

With a few notable exceptions (ahem), Ian Donnis checked in with some right-leaning Rhode Island groups as we move into election season. It’s interesting to note that the two voices for the other side were not people known for their roles as explicit leftists, but as union leaders, with this bold comment: Robert Walsh is…

Jabbing from Old Media to New

By Justin Katz | April 13, 2010 |

Newport Daily News columnist Joe Baker used his space, yesterday, to respond to my post last week about his spreading of sunshine for the Democrats. Actually, he appears to have been more interested in addressing Anchor Rising commenter Tim: “The Newport Daily News did the world a favor when they decided to strictly limit their…

UPDATE: Do You Know This Guy?

By Justin Katz | April 7, 2010 |

Apparently, my hypothesis was incorrect. The owner of the controversial sign checked in to explain that he was not a left-wing saboteur: Justin, the picture is old news, you should pay attention a bit more, as all has been clarified about the sign. However, I do appreciate you keeping the subject alive as to continue…

Do You Know This Guy?

By Justin Katz | April 5, 2010 |

So, I’m testing a hypothesis, here. Given the fact that he had two identical “Langevin’s Vote Cripple$ America” signs, that they were much more cleanly done than the typical homemade Tea Party sign, and that he made a deliberate effort to get the sign behind speakers at the 10th Amendment rally, I’m going with the…

A Newly Aware America Confronting Old Tricks

By Justin Katz | April 3, 2010 |

Andrew Breitbart pulls together some of the threads related to the post-healthcare-vote anti-Tea Party redirection, concluding: Who is calling the shots here? Is it the White House, by way of Chicago? Or is it Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid? The press refused to tell you the truth about this president. It refused to tell you…

The Process of Forcing Popular Will on the People

By Justin Katz | March 31, 2010 |

The March issue of First Things was an anniversary issue reprinting various pieces from past iterations, and a 1994 article by Russell Hittinger reconsidering the state of the political battlefield prior to the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision sheds some light on the process of progressives implementation of policies with which the American people…