Opinion Archives - Page 39 of 52

Rhode Islanders Killed Serving in Afghanistan and Iraq

May 25, 2015/by Carroll Andrew Morse

Sgt. Gregory A. Belanger
Sgt. Charles T. Caldwell
Staff Sgt. Joseph Camara
Spc. Michael Andrade
CW5 Sharon T. Swartworth
Capt. Matthew J. August
Sgt. 1st Class Curtis Mancini
Master Sgt. Richard L. Ferguson
Lance Cpl. Matthew K. Serio
Lance Cpl. John J. Van Gyzen IV
Sgt. Christopher S. Potts
Lance Cpl. Holly A. Charette
2nd Lt. Matthew S. Coutu
Cpl. Brian R. St. Germain
Staff Sgt. Dale J. Kelly
Sgt. Moises Jazmin
Lance Cpl. Eric P. Valdepenas
Sgt. Michael R. Weidemann
Spc. Agent Nathan J. Schuldheiss
Sgt. Kyle J. Harrington
Lt. j.g. Francis L. Toner IV
Pfc. Kyle J. Coutu
Staff Sgt. Thomas H. Oakley
Sgt. Michael F. Paranzino
Spc. Dennis C. Poulin
Spc. Dennis P. Weichel Jr.
Lance Cpl. Abraham Tarwoe
Staff Sgt. Timothy R. McGill
Master Sgt. David L. Poirier

Remember

May 25, 2015/by Carroll Andrew Morse

Rolfe Square; Cranston, Rhode Island; May 23, 2015

James Cournoyer: Please Allow Municipalities to Have the Flexibility of a Three Platoon Firefighting System

May 21, 2015/by Engaged Citizen

[James Cournoyer sent the following e-mail to members of the General Assembly. It is published here with permission. Additional background on this subject is available here.]

Dear members of the General Assembly,

Please reject House Bill H-5473 and Senate Bill S-0533, which seeks to make fire-fighter Platoon Structures / Shift Schedules subject to Collective Bargaining, and therefore potentially subject to the decisions of unelected and unaccountable arbitrators.

These bills serve only to further erode essential Management Rights and the ability of municipalities to exercise home rule.

Employees are already afforded an abundance of work-place and employment protections via the myriad of state and federal labor laws and regulations that currently exist.

Sheehan’s Taxation Without Representation and Woulda, Coulda, Never Did on All-Day K

May 21, 2015/by Justin Katz

Commentary from state senator and history teacher James Sheehan points to a skewed understanding of representation and the government’s tendency to siphon money away from the public good.

A Note on How We Sink

May 8, 2015/by Justin Katz

From bedtime stories, to same-sex marriage, to sketches of Muhammad, evidence abounds to show how a society can lose its balance and fall into tyranny.

Reading Between the Trees of the Sustainable Argument

May 5, 2015/by Justin Katz

Environmental regulation and “sustainable development” may not cause income inequality, but they sure do correlate well with it.

Art Norwalk: The Lure of Shiny Objects in Providence and Rhode Island

April 29, 2015/by Engaged Citizen

Two capital projects dominating city and state discussions might be unproductive distractions from the necessary work that Rhode Island needs to do to rebuild its economist.

Labor Union Hotel Boycotting Sure Doesn’t Seem to Be Cooperative

April 27, 2015/by Justin Katz

A union boycott letter being sent to Providence Hilton customers raises puts into question what an “unfair labor practice” actually is.

Development in Tiverton

April 22, 2015/by Justin Katz

Debate about economic development in Tiverton can’t simply be an exercise in hyperbole and NIMBYism.

Terry Gorman: Sympathetic Providence Journal Article Encourages Illegal Immigration to Rhode Island

April 21, 2015/by Engaged Citizen

[Terry Gorman of RIILE sent the following e-mail to Providence Journal reporter Karen Lee Ziner in response to her front page article of Saturday. It has been lightly edited for style.]

Regarding your April 18 article in the Providence Journal, “Fight over Obama’s orders“, so much for “HIDING IN THE SHADOWS“. Two women here Illegally delivering 5 children that by current law are U S Citizens. Free pre-natal care, childbirth, post-partum care and long term family planning for two years (evidently not working) all at the expense of taxpayers. Just how much does this group cost US taxpayers and how is it justified in these lean times?

I think this article will only serve to ENCOURAGE many more pregnant illegal alien women to flock to Rhode Island. Why wouldn’t they come if they can arrive Illegally, have as many children as they wish, work Illegally or just not work, receive workers compensation, get free care for a child’s autism, receive subsidies for the new U S citizen children in the form of welfare, SNAP etc., now that it’s been basically ADVERTISED on the front page of a major newspaper? Thanks.

Clarity in the Obama Era (How Reasonable People Let It Happen)

April 21, 2015/by Justin Katz

Increasing evidence that the federal government is using its powers to further political and ideological ends illustrates how a reasonable, civilized society sinks into totalitarianism.

Talking About Persuasion After They’ve Shoved You in a Box

April 12, 2015/by Justin Katz

Baptist university professor David Gushee misses the core argument in the budding fascism of the same-sex marriage movement against his fellow Christians.

Halsey Herreshoff: Don’t Let the State and Its RhodeMap Move In on Municipalities

April 9, 2015/by Engaged Citizen

The “Taylor Swift tax” is in keeping with the RhodeMap RI scheme of moving power and money away from local authority.

Killing Mutual Accommodation and Pluralism in an Unreasonable Society

April 4, 2015/by Justin Katz

Events on the cultural front, in the past week or so, force the truly frightening conclusion that we’ve reached a new era of unreasonableness, in which mutual accommodation and pluralism will be impossible.

The Intolerant Are Going After Religion, Especially Christianity

April 3, 2015/by Justin Katz

The hysteria surrounding Indiana’s attempt to provide the merest of protections for religious individuals betrays the underlying objective of destroying the West’s greatest guarantor of freedom.

Education Proposals Show Progressive Belief in Class Division

April 1, 2015/by Justin Katz

General Assembly progressives want to make admission to Mayoral Academies pure chance, while Governor Raimondo wants to take away small transportation and book concessions granted to families that use private schools.

Governor Raimondo’s “Blank Check”

March 21, 2015/by Justin Katz

How could a proposed new statewide property tax that’s been given a nickname homage to a part-time-resident pop star not have a parody song?

Edwards Dances Around the Fact That I’m Right

December 22, 2014/by Justin Katz

Rep. Edwards does the politician’s trick of talking all around the fact that a critic is telling the truth.

Monday’s Community Outreach Forum on Policing, Part 1

December 16, 2014/by Carroll Andrew Morse

My two biggest takeaways from Monday night’s forum on policing, at the South Providence Recreation Center, with Chiefs Hugh Clements (Providence Police Department) and Steven O’Donnell (Rhode Island State Police):

1. If good policing is built on strong communities, while the pathway to strong communities is cleared by good policing, there is a real chicken-or-egg issue with finding a solution.

2. A basic concept that our government and society seems to be losing needs a restoration, the idea that the top elected official of a city, town or state police force is the leader of the police force, not just ceremonially, but in a true operational sense.

The Racist, Oppressive Progressives

December 16, 2014/by Justin Katz

Progressivism is a recipe for a new aristocracy, relying on distractions about racism and abstract bogeymen in order to herd us all into boxes.

Politicians, Look to Your Own “Horrendous Impact” on Energy Prices

December 9, 2014/by Justin Katz

When the energy market forces National Grid to increase its rates, politicians condemn the company, but expensive energy is a problem to which they’ve happily contributed.

Friday Night Beer: Troegs Troegenator

December 5, 2014/by Justin Katz

The Troegenator Doublebock blends alcohol and flavor for an experience of sweet associations.

Learning from the Tragedy of Eric Garner

December 4, 2014/by Justin Katz

The focus on race issues distracts from the lessons that Americans should be learning from high-profile incidents involving the police.

Was the Greenhouse Compact Right?

November 27, 2014/by Justin Katz

Aaron Renn’s belief that “the Greenhouse Compact was right” shows the missing piece in progressive analysis, and in Rhode Island governance.

Gary Morse: Affordable Housing on Steroids?

November 21, 2014/by Engaged Citizen

RhodeMap RI gives social equity advocates easy access to federal mandates in order to thwart local control without regard to property values or residents’ concerns.

Clarke Ryder: RhodeMap RI: Déjà Vu All Over Again

November 19, 2014/by Engaged Citizen

The planner’s dream of a Greenhouse Compact went down in flames in 1984, but RhodeMap RI proves that government central planners take seriously Yogi Berra’s suggestion that when you come to a fork in the road, you should take it.

RhodeMap RI: Bipartisan Group of Legislators Calls for Delay; Cite Its “near-total lack of an economic development focus”

November 18, 2014/by Monique Chartier

The following statement was received via e-mail this afternoon. Attached was a letter addressed to Kevin Flynn, Associate Director of the R.I. Division of Planning.

State Planning Division Faulted For Pursuing “Predetermined Result” With Little Economic Development Focus

Senators, Representatives To File Legislation To Correct Imbalance

State House, Nov 18 – A group of five Republican, Democrat and Independent legislators today called for a delay in approval of the hotly-criticized RhodeMap RI.

The legislators want to correct an imbalance that seems to exclude meaningful action to improve Rhode Island’s poor economic performance, something the State Planning Division has continually tried to characterize as the goal of the effort.

Friday Night Beer: Troegs Hop Knife Harvest Ale

November 14, 2014/by Justin Katz

Troegs’s Hop Knife Harvest Ale accomplishes what a “harvest ale” ought to accomplish: it brings to mind an agricultural past and a sense of heritage.

Gary Morse: RhodeMap RI Is a Road Map to Disaster

November 12, 2014/by Engaged Citizen

Evidence of the consequences of adopting the RhodeMap RI plan (spurred by the federal Dept. of Housing and Urban Development) is easy to find, and Rhode Islanders should make up for Governor Chafee’s failure to look.

Prepare for Four Years of #HealeyDidThat

November 11, 2014/by Justin Katz

The last-minute candidacy of Moderate Moose Bob Healey gave Rhode Islanders an excuse not to take their gubernatorial votes seriously.

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