The Chafeedom
On the last weekday of 2011, David Klepper of the Associated Press writes what could be the least surprising news story of the year (h/t WPRO News)…As he prepares for his second year in office, Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee is looking for ways to spur the state’s frail economy, rescue its struggling cities and…
If Christmas Is One of the Holidays Being Celebrated, What Is It That’s Wrong with a Christmas Tree?
Just in case the point hasn’t been made yet: Governor Lincoln Chafee’s decision that he’d like the word Christmas hidden from public view to the degree he can control, for reasons of “inclusiveness”, at a statehouse “holiday” celebration that has something to do with this time of year, is not coherent. If the holidays being…
In his pro-football column for ESPN, Gregg Easterbrook (who has written about the subject Christmas decorations for years, mostly on the subject of how they come out much too early for his tastes) offers various thoughts on the RI “Holiday Tree” controversy, including…It is yet another sign of the low state of political discourse that…
The annual battle over Christmas terminology isn’t a sport for which I have much enthusiasm, the lines having been drawn and a general consensus reached. As a matter of governance, I think that local governments ought to be able to reflect the makeup of their communities, if that’s what the folks who live there want,…
… at which he displays a candelabra rather than a menorah? In view of his renaming of this event, Governor Chafee is facing criticism from State Representatives for calling the annual tree lighting in the state house a “holiday” tree lighting instead of a Christmas tree lighting. the Governor should clarify how far he believes…
Honestly, something about Governor Chafee’s fact-finding missions makes me very nervous. Consider this, from his latest trip, to Pittsburgh. It focuses on the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), which is attracting all sorts of federal money and expanding the prominence of the University’s medical program: Dr. Edward Wing, now dean of medicine and biological…
It’s been a few weeks since he made it, but I didn’t want to let Governor Chafee’s statement on in-state tuition for illegal immigrants go without comment: “I have long been a supporter of efforts to encourage college attendance among students who, through no fault of their own, do not have full residency status,” Chafee…
As news consumers across the nation and the globe are aware, on Monday, September 26, the Rhode Island Board of Governors for Higher Education approved a policy granting in-state tuition rates to illegal immigrants who attended local high schools. As recently as this spring, the General Assembly explicitly declined to join the twelve other states…
Determining whether it was a legitimate exercise of authority for the Rhode Island Board of Governors for Higher Education to make certain illegal immigrants eligible for in-state tuition at RI public colleges and universities takes us into a murky borderland in the civic landscape occupied by “public corporations” and “quasi-public entities” that have been created…
Last night, with the approval of RI’s chief executive, Lincoln Chafee, the Board of Governors of Higher Education decided to act in lieu of the General Assembly and implement a policy of offering illegal immigrants in-state tuition rates for the state’s public universities. That makes Rhode Island just the fourteenth state to be so generous,…
