Essay
An article published today states: New documents found in the files of the former East German intelligence services confirm the 1981 assassination attempt against Pope John Paul II was ordered by the Soviet KGB and assigned to Bulgarian agents… The Corriere della Sera said that the documents found by the German government indicated that the…
This posting continues a periodic series on Rhode Island politics and taxation, building on twelve previous postings (I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII). Raymond Brooks of Providence wrote a letter to the editor of the ProJo that highlights how Rhode Island Speaker Murphy’s new House rules violate all sense…
The most recent issue of The National Interest contains an article by Peter Drucker entitled “Trading Places” which discusses international economic trends: The new world economy is fundamentally different from that of the fifty years following World War II. The United States may well remain the political and military leader for decades to come. It…
I wrote a piece last December entitled “Pigs at the Public Trough” which talked about how the ideals of the 1994 Congressional revolution had dissipated into nothing more than power politics as usual. Today’s Wall Street Journal contains an editorial entitled “Smells Like Beltway: The real reason Tom DeLay is in political trouble” that only…
I understand that Jerry Landay, “a former CBS News correspondent,” is part of the mainstream media club, and I continue to think the Providence Journal’s editorial page admirably broad in what it publishes. Still, I’m a bit surprised that the page would publish this rant from Landay: Few of the “hath littles” are aware of…
I guess I’ve always lumped the country-club folks with the managerialists. Whatever the case, I’d be inclined to include libertarians in your breakdown of the factions. And regarding those libertarians, let’s just say I’m not quite as optimistic that the abstract principle that you’ve noted will serve as sufficient glue. My general sense is that…
I’ve thought much the same thing for a while, Andrew, although I emphasize the tentative Republicans’ libertarianism, rather than what you call “managerialism.” It’s unfortunate that Terri Schiavo has become the excuse of the week for libertarians to stomp their feet about the “theocrats” with whom they have to share a coalition. As I see…
Mark Steyn writes the following in a piece that touches on the Terri Schiavo case: You can read similar stories in almost any corner of the developed world, except perhaps the Netherlands, where discretionary euthanasia is so advanced it’s news if the kid makes it out of the maternity ward. As the New York Times…
Congressman James Langevin voted in favor of allowing the federal court system to decide if Terri Schiavo should be allowed to continue receiving “food, fluids, or medical treatment necessary to sustain her life.” Congressman Patrick Kennedy voted against against the measure, in effect voting to deny Ms. Schiavo “food, fluids, or medical treatment necessary to…
It’s called “the Curley effect,” according to an absolutely must-read column by Tom Coyne of RIPolicyAnalysis: The authors note that “in his six mayoral races, between 1913 and 1951, James Curley represented the poorest and most ethnically distinct of Boston’s Irish. The city’s Brahmins always despised him because of his policies, his corruption, and his…