Civil Liberties
So U.S. District Court Judge Ronald R. Lagueux has decreed (PDF) that the 46-year-old, mildly Christian prayer banner at Cranston High School West be removed. Judging from his description of its installation, as an old paper banner practically painted into the wall, the ruling appears tantamount to a decree that the prayer be destroyed. One…
In an illustration of how its methods can serve the politicians that the editors like — covering their fundamental dishonesty with a focus on minutia — PolitiFact Rhode Island has given David Cicilline a “half true” for this: “Earlier this week, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives — with the enthusiastic support of Sarah Palin, Texas…
Like a lot of conservatives, I’m sure, I find the prospect of our nation’s credit begin downgraded, or at least given a negative outlook, as Fitch Ratings just applied to the United States, a somewhat hopeful sign that the game of government taxing, borrowing, and spending cannot go on in perpetuity. But as I watch…
In my wish that more people would pay attention to the “little things” that our government does, I wish they’d see things like this happening and react accordingly. On Friday, the US House Judiciary Committee passed a bill that would require all Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to track all online activity for all of their…
Rhode Island junior Senator Sheldon Whitehouse thinks the First Amendment of the United States Constitution goes too far. He has used his Senate seat, from the state that traces its lineage to early freedom-of-speech advocate Roger Williams, to introduce a Constitutional Amendment that would carve out a First Amendment exception allowing the government to restrict…
It’s funny what different people find to be of interest in political documents. When I read the letter that David Cicilline sent to Monique regarding his vote against an amendment to Congressional legislation intended to ease rules of engagement restrictions for U.S. troops, what struck me were the careful words related to the right to…
The Rupert Murdock media eavesdropping controversy in England illustrates the general risk of giving an organization broad access to information and spy technology… even if that organization is the saintly Big Government: Scotland Yard’s assistant commissioner resigned Monday, a day after his boss also quit, and fresh investigations of possible police wrongdoing were launched in…
Given that the mainstream media has appeared less interested in this story than in such critical events as royal weddings and the accuracy of Republicans’ references to history, Anchor Rising should help in the effort to prevent it from slipping through the cracks: In Fall of 2009, the Obama Administration conceived Operation Fast and Furious,…
Some folks have been astonished that I could be ambivalent about the movement to legalize marijuana. A large item on the negative side of the ledger is my suspicion of the manner in which it’s being approached, particularly the necessary involvement of the government. On that note, and without striking for highfalutin waters on a…
My patch column, this week, joins two topics related to education in Rhode Island: The connection is indirect, to be sure, but the controversy over an old prayer banner in Cranston High School West brings to mind the Chafee administration – and not (only) because Rhode Island’s new governor has me so worried that I…