Mainstream Media
Thanks to Patrick for mentioning and Max Diesel for finding the Providence Journal editorial board’s endorsement of David Cicilline for Congress. Give it a read if you need a morning laugh: Mr. Cicilline has been an honest, energetic and often innovative mayor of Rhode Island’s largest city. He has cleansed city government of much of…
One can infer that a politician is on the ropes when he insists that his constituents look to the future rather than the job that he held until six months ago (and for which he can credit his subsequent political advancement): “This poll reflects some disagreement about some of the decisions I made in Providence,…
An interesting feature in Monday’s Providence Journal came as four short reports about new legislators in the General Assembly: Rep. Dan Reilly (R, Portsmouth), Rep. Doreen Costa (R, North Kingstown), Sen. Nick Kettle (R, Coventry), and Rep. Chris Blazejewski (D, Providence). The way they’re framed from the beginning tells readers a great deal about the…
A weekend PolitiFact giving Colleen Conley “half true” for a statement regarding the generosity of Rhode Island’s welfare system illustrates the flaw in the media enterprise’s entire methodology: Do welfare recipients really have it that good in Rhode Island? We decided to check. The simple answer: When it comes to how folks commonly define welfare…
Did you hear that this year’s middle-of-the-workday Tea Party rally last Friday attracted fewer people than in past years? According to the Providence Journal‘s historically low estimate, about 400 people made it, and the article on the rally concentrated on that point: The tea party rally at the State House Friday brought out a lower…
I’m behind on all of my reading, so it was just last night that I made it to Mark Steyn’s return column in the March 21 National Review and was humored to see that he devoted a large section thereof to characters from the Rhode Island scene. Noting Providence Teachers’ Union President Steve Smith’s hyperbole…
The Providence Journal editorial board is right, of course, to speak out against Governor Chafee’s proposed expansion of sales taxes: This is not a matter of greed; for many businesses, it is a question of survival. Small businesses are the job engines of any economy, and when they are wiped out, jobs disappear. Rhode Island’s…
This morning, I listened as the new WPRO Morning News team of Tara Granahan and Andrew Gobeil went after Education Commissioner Deborah Gist for her proposal to hire up to 50 retired educators (teachers, principals, etc.) as 90 day consultants to help implement the programs funded via Race to the Top. Earlier, Granahan and Gobeil–apparently…
The thing about bias is that 1) we’re all biased; 2) we often have a hard time identifying when those of similar bias are being biased; 3) we can identify bias, but probably overstate it because of our own bias! Thus, when NPR’s Steve Inskeep defends the unbiasness of NPR, well, my own bias leads…
Contrary to what many think, most conservatives actually don’t approve of “corporate welfare” (see: GM, Big Agriculture, etc.) and think it’s ridiculous when a company receives government subsidies when it pays salaries like this: • Four vice presidents and producers pulled in more than $300,000 — and another 10 took home more than $200,000 —…