June 2014 – Page 2

June 19, 2014June 20, 2014

Rally to support Hunger Strikers at State House last night

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Hunger Strike Rally 005 — Mirjaam Parada

There was a rally at the State House last night for the Hunger Strikers urging Governor Chafee to veto the budget that features an item that would ban cities and towns in Rhode Island from raising the minimum wage, a direct attack on Providence hotel workers seeking to have a vote in November on a proposed $15 minimum wage. Shelby Maldonado, Santa Brito, Mirjaam Parada and Yilenny Ferreras are entering Day Three of their hunger strike this morning, pending a meeting with the Governor.

Last night each of the hunger strikers addressed the crowd of over 110 supporters, except for Santa Brito, who was suffering from a headache brought on by a lack of food. The women were all seated, shaded with umbrellas and hats in the hot sun, and subsisting on water.

Defending democracy is hungry work.

Hunger Strike Rally 004 — Yilenny Ferrares, Santa Brito and Shelby Maldonado

Hunger Strike Rally 008 — Yilenny Ferreras

Hunger Strike Rally 009 — Yilenny Ferreras

Hunger Strike Rally 011 — Mirjaam Parada

Hunger Strike Rally 012 — Mirjaam Parada

June 19, 2014June 20, 2014

FBI or ransomware? You be the judge

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Lost in the aftermath of the budget was this gem (start at around 2:54; for fun, pay attention to Reps. Shekarchi and Morin reactions) from last Friday’s House debate over Budget Article 1. In it, Rep. Karen MacBeth claims that the FBI temporarily seized control of her home computer for reasons unknown.

Now, I’m not a seasoned law enforcement professional, but given a lot of ink has been spilled over the ability of government to monitor Internet activity without much oversight, it seemed suspicious that the FBI would notify someone if they were hacking a computer. It seems to me that if you’re looking for documentation of wrongdoing, you’d get a warrant or request it from a possibly cooperative source like MacBeth. And if you didn’t want MacBeth or anyone to know, you’d get permission to do it secretly.

So I did what I usually do in cases like this, I searched “the FBI has taken over my computer” online. And I found this little piece of malware (more specifically, ransomware) known as “Reveton” or “the Moneypak Virus” from a number of articles from one to two years ago. Basically, it’s something you accidentally download from either a bad website or email and then locks your computer until you pay. The ransomware poses as the FBI, or if you’re in another country, that nation’s police or cybersecurity force. The genuine FBI has been warning people about this virus for a while.

Now, the details of Rep. MacBeth’s encounter with someone claiming to be the FBI hacking her computer doesn’t quite match up with what’s described in the above links, and from her summation of the events, we don’t get a detailed picture of what happened. Perhaps it really was the FBI. Or perhaps, (and in my view, more likely) this was an iteration of the older piece of malware; since it’s shown to be pretty adaptable.

If it’s the latter, I hope the Speaker asks himself why he made her House Oversight Chair. Frankly, I’d look for a healthy level of skepticism on the part of the Oversight Committee Chair.

P.S. A number of articles note that this virus could be stopped by having up-to-date antivirus software. If you’re a cheapskate like me, there are plenty of free alternatives. And yes, Mac users, that means you too! You get viruses as well, so protect yourself before you wreck yourself.

June 18, 2014June 20, 2014

Hotel worker Hunger Strike: Day Two

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There will be a rally today at the State House at 5pm to support these brave women, and also to support the Just Cause bill, which would protect tenants from no-fault evictions. The Senate has passed this measure, but the House has yet to do so. Passing this bill would allow tenants to stay in their homes and pay rent to the bank, after their landlord is foreclosed upon, as long as they pay rent and do not violate their lease.

Come out today and let the General Assembly know that we want legislation that helps everyone, not just the rich and connected.

Santa Brito, Ylleni Ferrares and Mirjaam Parada

Providence City Councillor Davian Sanchez

June 18, 2014June 20, 2014

Ken Block is a Barrington version of Don Carcieri

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“Only an outsider can fix what’s broken here,” said Barrington businessman Ken Block during last night’s first Republican debate for governor.

His opponent, Cranston Mayor Allan Fung, may want to paint Block as a opportunistic flip-flopper, but to me he sounded a lot like the last affluent private sector executive from the suburbs to preach the “outsider” gospel.

And we all know how that turned out.

Don Carcieri was a private sector superstar before turning to politics. He was elected governor twice, in 2002 and 2006, but he’s now widely regarded as the worst chief executive of the state in recent memory. He wasted huge amounts of time opposing economic growth, like a deep water port at Quonset and a casino, both of which came to fruition, albeit late, after he was gone. His economic coupe de grace, of course, was his very publicly courtship of Curt Schilling and 38 Studios. He also ordered state troopers to raid a Narragansett Indian tobacco store when the tribe claimed a tax exemption. Whatever folly one associates with Carcieri, it’s fair to say he’s a third rail for Republicans, a whipping post for Democrats and an embarrassment for everyone else.

And before being elected to office, his political resume looked a lot like Ken Block’s.

Carcieri is from East Greenwich while Block is from Barrington. Carcieri ran a business called Cookson while Block runs one called Sympatico. Both built effective bully pulpits through favorable treatment from right-wing media like WPRO and the Providence Journal editorial page.

They have similar policy prescriptions, too. Both believe very strongly that welfare inefficiencies substantially hinder economic progress. And both suggest shrinking government is a growth strategy. Both believe private sector experience translates into public sector effectiveness, even though the Ocean State has seen scant evidence of such ever since Democrat Bruce Sundlun left office.

The problem for Block is that Carcieri, Rhode Island’s most recent GOP governor, has more-recently exemplified how terribly wrong the CEO-governor model can go. Carcieri’s Big Audit mentality may have succeeded in shrinking the size of government, but that has harmed the overall economy and exacerbated unemployment. What then will be the unintended consequences of Ken Block’s goal of eliminating $1 billion in government programs. A business person can eliminate expenses, but a governor can only redistribute them.

Governments, wrote House GOP leader Brian Newberry in the Valley Breeze last week, “are, in the end, not a business.” His submission was about 38 Studios, the most famous failure of the Carcieri Administration.

June 17, 2014June 20, 2014

Hotel hunger strike begins as Senate quickly passes budget

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In response to the quick passage of the Mattiello budget by the Rhode Island Senate last night, the Providence hotel workers advocating for a $15 minimum wage had to quickly begin their hunger strike protest earlier today. The women participating in the hunger strike were interviewed by a doctor about their medical histories and given advice on how to best deal with the stresses a lack of food was going to inflict on their bodies.

Dr. Nick Tsiongas was not in any way advising that these women go on a hunger strike, but given that they were committed to this course of action, did offer some advice on how to do so in the safest possible way.

Shortly after Dr. Tsiongas talked to the women and to me on camera, word came down from the State House facilities department that the tents being used by the women to keep themselves out of the hot sun had to come down. Unbrellas and folding chairs would be allowed, but the tents, it was said, might cause damage to the marble on the Smith Street side of the State House.

I spoke briefly to hunger striker Mirjaam Parada, the woman who came up with the idea of the hunger strike. She got the idea from history, and the efforts of people in El Salvador to call attention to the terrible conditions there as the Reagan Administration funded the right wing Contra death squads in the 1980s. A raise in the minimum wage will not benefit Parada directly, she already makes more than $15 an hour as a cook. She is involved because she is committed to the idea of democracy and to the rights of workers.

The same is true of the other two women who could begin the hunger strike today. Shelby Maldonado is a Central Falls City Councillor and union organizer. Santa Brito was employed at an area hotel, but was fired shortly after the birth of her son, possibly because of her outspoken labor organizing activities. Neither will directly benefit from a wage in the minimum wage. Instead, they are committed to the right of all workers to a living wage and to the principles of democracy.

Our state legislators could learn a lot from these brave women, if they would only stop and listen.

You can listen to Dr. Nick Tsiongas’ advice to the hunger strikers below.

June 17, 2014June 17, 2014

Hotel activists, CF City Councilor will move forward with hunger strike

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Four Providence hotel workers and a Central Falls city councilor say they will go ahead with their planned hunger strike despite even though the state legislature already acted on their issue and Governor Chafee said he intends to sign the municipal minimum wage mandate into law.

“My neighbors should be able to vote on whether or not the hotel owners should give us a raise,” said Santa Brito in a press release. “I am fighting for the future of my son.”

Brito, a leader of the effort, worked at the Renaissance Hotel. She will be joined by Mirjaam Parada, who works at the Omni Hotel, Yilenny Ferreras, who worked at the Providence Hilton and Central Falls City Councilor Shelby Maldonado.

“As an elected official, I want the power to address issues directly, like the minimum wage, for my constituents,” Maldonado said. “I know that workers in my community, many of whom are hotel workers, need a raise. I want the people of Providence to vote and be heard.”

The hunger strike arose from the Providence hotel workers fight for a $15 an hour minimum wage.

The issue began when city hotel workers petitioned the Providence City Council to institute a $15 minimum wage at hotels with more than 25 rooms. On the same night the City Council put the issue on the November ballot, last Thursday, the state House of Representatives passed a budget amendment that prevents cities and towns from implementing a minimum wage higher than the state rate. The Senate approved the budget bill on Monday and Governor Chafee has since indicated he will sign it into law.

The hunger strike is expected to begin on Thursday.

June 17, 2014

RI House provided argument against home rule

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Of great concern last Thursday night for some members of the Rhode Island House of Representatives was the potential of there being something like 39 different minimum wage laws. Again and again, representatives warned of economic disaster if the City of Providence passed a law mandating $15 an hour for hotel workers; and so in response they took away the ability of all cities and towns to pass minimum wage ordinances. It was as naked a revocation of power as has ever been seen in Rhode Island.

Some argued that there shouldn’t be different wages for different jobs. But the budget contained no action to close the tipped wage loophole in Rhode Island. In the minds of those voting for the article, it’s wrong to raise wages for a select few above the state minimum wage, but it’s perfectly fine to pay people less than the state minimum wage.

More to the point, in their repeated invocations of “39 different…” the state’s representatives continually argued against the very existence of the cities and towns that they supposedly represent. Why have “39 different” permitting processes? Why have “39 different” different zoning systems and approval processes? Why have “39 different” school systems (yes, I know in reality there are less)? The possibility of confusing contradictions between jurisdictions never seemed to bother the House of Representatives at any point prior to this moment. As far as I know, not a single candidate ran against the complex maze of towns and cities we have.

Indeed, why even bother having the charade of “39 different” governments, considering how detrimental that could be to business? That’s quite a lot of officials to lobby and donate to. Rhode Island could be far more competitive if they only had to donate to the leadership of, say, 113 people divided into two chambers. Although it might cause damage to Rhode Island’s lobbyist businesses if there was a sudden reduction in the number of government officials to wine and dine.

Now, in practice, there are a number of economically fine counties about the size of Rhode Island in terms of geography and population that have dozens of governments more than Rhode Island. It ultimately goes to show that it’s not the amount of governments that matter, but rather the quality of them. And the quality of Rhode Island’s state government is so low that should anyone seriously suggest moving to a city-state style of government, with the General Assembly in charge of everything, there’d probably be a mass revolt.

That thought should’ve given pause to lawmakers on Thursday night, and a week before that when Rep. Raymond Gallison added the provision to the budget. While the Assembly cries constantly about not wanting to meddle in the affairs of business, meddling in the affairs of its people appears entirely acceptable.

June 16, 2014June 18, 2014

Rhode Island Graphic Design Challenge: Oops, you forgot Block Island

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In the course of my job, I spend a lot of time with budding graphic designers, marketing students, and the like. Often, they’ve received some Rhode Island-centric assignment that will include a logo. Drawing a logo that represents Rhode Island can be relatively difficult if you’ve given it some thought. The anchor can be too official, given that it appears across State departments and branches. The quahog is indistinguishable from any other clam to the average person. So what does that leave us with? Well, the tried and true method is a silhouette of Rhode Island.

So it’s fair to say I’ve seen a lot of silhouettes of Rhode Island. And my feedback is almost rote now. “Where’s Block Island?”

To be fair to many of those who send the silhouettes to me, Block Island isn’t nestled as close as the other islands. But it’s roughly 75% larger than Prudence Island (and about 12x more populated) and Prudence almost always appears in a Rhode Island silhouette – albeit, often with a new landbridge between it and Patience Island.

But what would this article be without examples? The most glaring examples tend to come from Rhode Island’s political community. Here’s the Rhode Island Democratic Party’s logo (which eliminates not just the typical biggies of Block Island and Prudence, but also Jamestown’s island home of Conanicut):

Here’s the late Anchor Rising logo:

And in case you missed it up at the top of the page, RI Future’s current logo:

Over time, I’ve gotten into an ongoing Twitter back-and-forth with @Blockislandinfo about their missing island, and it’s yielded gems like this one:

@SamGHoward left off another one. pic.twitter.com/YyBZXkhNWj

— Block Island Tourism (@Blockislandinfo) May 23, 2014

That’s from GrowSmart RI’s Power of Place summit, which was all about Rhode Island.

That said, I’ve seen some examples of including Block Island. For all of its faults as a logo, the RI Welcome Back Center‘s logo at least contains Block Island. Foolproof Brewery also uses an RI silhouette that includes Block Island to show where in the state it’s brewed:

And that example shows that you can include Block Island and still make a design that looks good, even if you’re restricted by having to make a circular one. And this is important, because there was once talk of secession on our small southern island. Maps matter, and Rhode Island is small enough already without ignoring bits of it – especially important tourism-generating bits.

P.S. Some other odd configurations of the Rhode Island silhouette I’ve seen: Rhode Island as a single landmass sans B.I., Rhode Island missing all islands (and thus missing the “Rhode Island” part of it), and Rhode Island including Bristol County, MA.

If you see any more examples of odd Rhode Island silhouettes, feel free to tweet me (@SamGHoward) or post them in the comments below.

June 16, 2014

Hotel workers plan week long hunger strike for $15 minimum wage

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The Rhode Island House, under the leadership of Speaker Nicholas Mattiello, moved to strip away the political power of Providence hotel workers by inserting a provision in the state budget that would prevent municipalities from setting their own minimum wage last Thursday night. This week, the Rhode Island Senate takes up discussion of the budget, and though Senate President M. Teresa Paiva-Weed might wish to continue to ignore the demands of underpaid and overworked hotel workers, it will be hard to do so as five women engage in a hunger strike at the State House in protest.

Starting Thursday, five women, including four hotel workers and Central Falls City Councillor Shelby Maldonado, will be camping out 24 hours a day at the State House, refusing any sustenance except water to call attention to the terrible way in which this year’s budget specifically targets low wage workers with the intent of politically silencing their voices. The plan is to strike until Governor Chafee makes his final decision on the budget, which will be a week from Thursday, if past experience is any indicator.

At a press conference Monday afternoon, Unite Here!’s Jenna Karlin talked about how finding volunteers for the hunger strike was not a problem. The problem was settling on only five people to participate, there were so many eager to step up for the cause.

Mirjaam Parada is one of the hunger strikers. Parada works at the Omni Hotel and presently makes a comfortable wage in excess of $15, but she is participating in the strike out of solidarity with the workers at the Renaissance and the Hilton, who make far less than she does, and struggle every day to make ends meet.

Hotel worker Evan McLaughlin, who will not be participating in the hunger strike, wants everyone who walks into the State House over the next week to understand that the women not eating outside the the building are doing so because the General Assembly has decided that they do not have the right to petition their city government or fellow voters for fair wages under the new law.

This change in the law targets the Providence hotel workers, but the effect will be state wide. All 39 town and city councils in the state will lose the ability to determine a key aspect of their economy under the new budget. This is in some ways an end run around democracy itself: The Providence City Council put the measure to give hotel workers $15 an hour on November’s ballot for the voters of Providence to decide. The law championed by Mattiello’s House takes away the power of voters. It seems “big government” is only a problem when it affects a business trying to turn a profit and not when it affects a family trying to eat.

Central Falls Councillor (and union rep) Shelby Maldonado will also be participating in the hunger strike. Maldonado wants to best represent the people who elected her, and she feels she can best do this by championing the democratic process. The rights of the people to determine what is best for their communities is being usurped by a General Assembly that is beholden only to business interests at the expense of low wage workers, and this situation has to stop.

Earlier this year, Senate President M Teresa Paiva-Weed participated in a vigil in the main rotunda of the State House and spoke about this issue of poverty, and her responsibility as a legislator to address this problem.

“The Senate’s focus this session on the economy will be inextricably intertwined with the causes of poverty. We can’t move the economy forward without addressing the very issues that underline poverty.”

She said the vigil and a screening later in the day of [the movie] Inequality For All “will set a tone for the year and the message will be carried with us as we work to meet the significant challenges ahead.”

Even though it seems these words were forgotten by the Senate president moments after leaving her lips, one hopes that Paiva-Weed understands that how we treat our most vulnerable citizens best demonstrates our commitment to our moral responsibilities.

Ironically, just before the hotel workers took to the State House rotunda to talk about their planned hunger strike, there was an event in the Bell Room on the first floor of the State House to celebrate the release of a new cookbook, Extraordinary Recipes from Providence & Rhode Island Chef’s Table by Linda Beaulieu, complete with expertly prepared foods from some of the area’s best chefs. This juxtaposition of fancy food for the entitled political class and a hunger strike by poorly paid workers is a jarring reminder that things are not going right in Rhode Island.

Here’s the press conference video:

June 16, 2014

Budget bill is big on corporate welfare, short on renter protections

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Crying the need to ease the burdens of doing business in Rhode Island, the House of Representatives recently passed a budget that lowers the corporate tax rate, raises the ceiling on the estate tax, pays millions to 38 Studios bond investors, raises the gas tax and the cost of a car inspection. One has to wonder how these easements will truly help businesses in Rhode Island, or lure others here, when the state’s consumers are forced deeper into poverty.

Along with raising the costs of living and depleting our tax revenue, the House, led by new Speaker Nicholas Mattiello, may literally enable the eviction of hundreds of Rhode Island’s renters by shelving important legislation.

Just Cause (H7449 and S2659), is a bill that would prevent the no-fault eviction of tenants whose landlords get foreclosed on by the bank. As housing costs rise, homeownership remains what it has always been – the American “dream,” never reality – unemployment refuses to abate, and banks continue to foreclose on homes, the threat of no-fault eviction looms over many Rhode Island families.

“Just Cause,” the informal title of the bill, refers to the state’s Landlord-Tenant Act, which describes “just causes” for eviction. The list does not include foreclosure. However, throughout the housing crisis banks have used foreclosure as a justification to evict hundreds of families from their apartments. The rationale for this, they allege, is that homes are easier to sell without occupants. One has to wonder at this claim, when a simple drive down through many parts of the state includes the shells of abandoned, vandalized, and near-worthless homes, owned by banks that foreclosed and evicted the residents. These homes are not easy to sell. In fact, the only people who will buy them are out of state investors, slumlords looking to mooch rent from Rhode Island families in exchange for criminal living conditions, and house flippers, who profit from crisis by buying cheap properties.

According to The National Low Income Housing Coalition, housing costs are already out of reach for many Rhode Island renters. In order to afford the fair market rent for a 2-bedroom apartment ($928 a month), a renter making the average wage ($11.92 an hour), would have to work 60 hours a week, 52 weeks a year. There aren’t a lot of people I know making the “average wage,” which must factor in wages lower and much higher than 12 bucks an hour. With the minimum wage at 8.oo dollars an hour, one has to wonder how many working Rhode Islanders pay their rent. Add to this the 1,468 foreclosure deeds filed in 2013 and you have a rental crisis, as tenants evicted because of foreclosure drive up the demand on scarce and unaffordable rentals. In addition, those vacant, foreclosed properties stand empty, occasionally burning down, dragging down surrounding property values and further exacerbating the homeless and housing issues of our state.

No fault evictions due to foreclosure are increasing homelessness, reducing the availability of homes, pushing up rents, and fueling a housing crisis. It’s immoral and bad for the economy to allow banks to put families out, especially when they’ve done nothing wrong and are able to pay rent. Why would Speaker Mattiello, the primary opponent of the legislation, prefer a vacant home, homeless family, and devastated neighborhoods to a property occupied by tenants who pay rent and maintain the building? Even while the Senate leadership, through the efforts Senator Harold Metts, shepherds the bill towards passage, Speaker Mattiello remains adamantly in support of an international banking industry in opposition to the state’s people and economy.

It’s time to question the ideology that subsidies for the rich and corporations produce economic prosperity. It’s time for the state’s government to utilize regulations like Just Cause to bolster a struggling economy (at no cost to the state!), and protect the interests of the majority of the state’s people.

It’s time for Speaker Mattiello to reconsider the cost of shelving this legislation.

June 16, 2014June 16, 2014

E-cigarette bill is a boon for tobacco industry

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The House is set to vote today on an e-cigarette bill that will benefit only the tobacco industry, according to anti-tobacco advocates.

“The voices for the tobacco industry are receiving more attention than the advocates trying to protect our kids,” said Karina Wood, the director of Tobacco Free Rhode Island.

The group lobbied for new state regulations (but no new taxes) for a new tobacco product known as electronic cigarettes, or e-cigarettes – or, if you’re a tobacco industry lobbyist a “vapor product.” Whatever you call them, it heats liquid nicotine from tobacco without burning it; the bi-product is technically not smoke.

The House bill crafted by Tobacco Free Rhode Island and sponsored by Rep. Helio Melo initially labelled these contraptions as tobacco products, because they use nicotine from tobacco. But at a hearing by the House Judiciary Committee, a new version of the bill was adopted that labels e-cigarettes as “vapor product.”

The definition change is significant, Wood said, because it effectively removes any and all punishment from selling e-cigarettes to minors.

“It’s basically saying it’s illegal, but we won’t punish you if you do,” she said. “What am I supposed to think?”

Last year, Governor Chafee vetoed the so-called e-cigarette bill because, as he said in his veto message, it defined them as a “vapor product.”

He wrote, “The sale of electronic cigarettes should be illegal, but it is counter-productive to prohibit sales to minors while simultaneously exempting electronic cigarettes from laws concerning regulation, enforcement, licensing and taxation. As a matter of public policy, electronic cigarettes should mirror tobacco product laws, not circumvent them.”

The House votes on the bill today, and South Kingstown Rep. Teresa Tanzi is urging her colleagues to reject the bill.

“This bill serves to protect big tobacco’s interests over our children’s health,” Tanzi said. “By not classifying e-cigarettes as tobacco products, we will be eliminating decades worth of hard fought protections that we know help prevent addiction, while turning the marketplace into an unregulated wild west. This bill will leave a whole new generation vulnerable to addiction.”

June 16, 2014June 16, 2014

Cicilline promotes National ASK Day to prevent gun violence

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Congressman David Cicilline held a press conference this morning in Lippitt Park in Providence ahead of National ASK Day (June 21), a day organized nationally by the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence and supported locally by the Rhode Island Coalition Agains Gun Violence (RICAGV).

“ASK (Asking Saves Kids) aims to reduce unintentional firearm deaths and injury to children by encouraging parents to ASK, “Is there an unlocked gun in your house?” just as they would other health & safety questions, before their child visits another home. The ASK Campaign was created by the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence in collaboration with the American Academy of Pediatrics. National ASK Day takes place every year on the first day of summer, as summer is a time when children are increasingly likely to be playing in other homes. ASK Day is on June 21st.”

Moving and emotional testimony was given by Karen Reed, a mother who, two years ago, nearly lost her five year old son to a terrible gun accident when her nine year old son found an unsecured pellet gun on Christmas Eve, and shot his brother in the eye, nearly killing him. Not only was one son grievously injured, but the other was forced to deal with the trauma and guilt of having accidentally caused so much harm. Yet who can blame a nine year old boy for such an accident? Isn’t it the responsibility of adults to secure weapons in the household?

Full press conference:

June 16, 2014June 16, 2014

The time was now for marijuana reform

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There is little doubt that that Rhode Island will one day regulate marijuana like alcohol. The political winds are just too strong. The nation supports it. And we are a solid blue state. Even among the few Republicans, Ron Paul scored better here than he did in all but two other primaries. The real question for marijuana reform is not if but when.

Sadly, it looks like the tax and regulate bill will not move this legislative session.

One of the most common arguments I have heard for delaying a move to sensible marijuana regulation is that we need to wait to see how decriminalization gets implemented here in Rhode Island and to see how legalization works out in Washington and Colorado. I find that attitude shortsighted and slightly heartless.

The crises caused by the drug war are very real and very immediate. While decriminalization is a sensible step that eases the pain, it does little to alleviate the damage done by the black market. Under decriminalization, we continue to subsidize the largest organized crime operation on the planet, the Mexican drug cartels. We may not consider the slaughter south of the border to be a major concern, but I assure you, few things matter more to the people of Mexico. And if we ever hope to secure our borders, we cannot continue to subsidize the gangs that make our southern border such a lawless place.

The effects are felt at home as well. Marijuana money fuels gang violence on our streets, too. It still absorbs severely limited police resources. And most importantly, marijuana continues to be used without any regulation whatsoever.

This means there are no controls on purity or additives. I have had many friends who have inadvertently and unwillingly ingested cocaine, tobacco, and other dangerous drugs because they were secretly mixed with marijuana.

This means there is no labeling of potency. Marijuana users have relatively little idea how large the dose they are ingesting is, making safe and responsible use much more difficult.

This means there is no restriction on youth access. Drug dealers do not card their clients.

Most of the many sensible regulations in this bill would be impossible without a legal framework to operate under.

A second reason not to delay moving to a regulated marijuana regime is economic. Many of the jobs in the East Coast marijuana industry will be located in the first state that allows those jobs in. If we are the first adopters, we will maintain an advantage in this industry for decades. And I hardly need to tell you how desperately we need jobs. It does not help to delay them.

Nor do I need to tell you how urgently the revenue in this bill is needed to address the fiscal problems plaguing our state.

We must act now to end the black market. We must act now to create jobs. We must act now to help mend our fiscal mess. For once, Rhode Island should take the lead on something good.

June 15, 2014

Historian laureate misleads on Rhode Island Flag history

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Rhode Island historian laureate Patrick Conley’s June 14th op-ed is written with the purpose of misleading rather than edifying the public about the origins and meanings of Rhode Island’s state flag. Conley is intent on casting the flag as a “prayer banner,” borrowing that term from the not-so-recent court case involving my niece Jessica Ahlquist and an actual prayer affixed to the wall of her Cranston public high school. The use of such a loaded term should be our first hint that Conley is more interested in polemics than history.

Rhode Island’s state flag is not a prayer banner and trying to present it as one is foolish. The flag is inscribed with one word “Hope” which as a prayer seems rather short and inadequate. Conley also makes much of the fact that our flag has an anchor on it, another word found in the Bible. Conley is correct that the words “Hope” and “Anchor” are found in the Bible, along with a slew of other words in common usage, such as love, gold and jackass, which perhaps for space limitations were omitted from the state flag.

That the women and men who founded Rhode Island were religious and Christian is not in dispute. That they named the city they founded “Providence” and adopted mottoes such as “Hope” and symbols such as anchors that can be found in the Bible should not be surprising. (Besides Providence, other place names in Rhode Island derived from the Bible are the islands, such as Prudence, Patience, Hope and Despair.) What is surprising is that these same very religious and committed people were uninterested in forcing others to believe as they did. They were uninterested in forcing violent or oppressive confrontations with those who did not believe as they did, or in establishing a law that respected their views more than others.

Instead, these very pious Christians established a government that separated church and state. Then they chose an anchor for a symbol, not a cross. They chose a motto, “Hope” that anyone, religious or not, could find meaning in. They did not choose the word “Jesus” or “God” or “Prayer.” They chose the word Hope, perhaps because that is how they lived. They hoped that their little experiment in tolerance and acceptance would work, and three hundred and fifty years later, it seems that their hope was realized.

Some people, however, would see the hopes for our state dashed. They would erect actual prayer banners in our public schools, with an eye towards indoctrination of the impious and special treatment for those with the proper beliefs. Even today, some people, like the historian laureate, write lines that seek to divide along religious lines rather than to unite.

In language only slightly elevated from a schoolyard taunt, Conley writes, “I should hope that this revelation (another biblical word) will not incite secularists, humanists, atheists and the irreligious to petition the General Assembly to devise a new and neutered state emblem.”

Of course, to incite is exactly what Conley wants. Conley adventures through history like Nicholas Cage in National Treasure, ferreting out the secrets that our state’s founders embedded as secret codes to modern day Catholics assuring them that despite our pretensions to separation of church and state, in truth, some are more equal than others.

Of course, these fantasies are all beside the point. Our state flag was formally adopted in 1897, not 1663 as Conley implies. The word “Hope” and the anchor symbol were on the Rhode Island state seal and incorporated into the flag over two centuries later. As Howard M. Chapin wrote in “Illustrations of the Seals, Arms and Flags of Rhode Island,” the motto, “Hope” is “likely” inspired by the verse in Hebrews, but there is no definitive evidence to that effect. (Personally I believe it was inspired by the verse, but I would never state it as definitively as Conley does, and he’s the professional historian, not me.)

The only thing Conley’s incomplete and self-serving flag day piece will incite in “secularists, humanists, atheists and the irreligious” is despair: Despair in Rhode Island ever finding a historian laureate more interested in history than his own laurels.

June 13, 2014June 13, 2014

Chafee supports statewide minimum wage

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What works for Seattle doesn’t necessarily work for Providence, said a Chafee spokeswoman when asked if the governor supports legislating a statewide minimum wage.

“Because of our uniqueness and size, sound economic policy for Rhode Island calls for a statewide minimum wage rather than a patchwork of wage thresholds,” said Faye Zuckerman, Governor Chafee’s communications director. “The Governor is cognizant of how different geographically we are from many other states such as Washington.”

Although the issue isn’t the same as in Seattle, which recently enacted a $15 city-wide minimum wage, the governor was responding to a municipal minimum wage issue. A group of hotel workers did an end-run around the traditional minimum wage debate by petitioning the Providence City Council to implement a $15 minimum wage for the hotel industry.

After considerable political jockeying, the City Council voted last night to put the issue on the November ballot. But that happened shortly after the state House of Representatives passed a budget item that prohibits cities and towns from setting a minimum wage higher than the state rate.

The state Senate is poised to act on the budget bill Monday. “I can say there is agreement on the budget,” said Senate spokesman Greg Pare.

Zuckerman offered no hints if the governor will sign the budget, saying he “is still reviewing and evaluating the budget. He will examine the budget as a whole and then make a decision.”

June 13, 2014June 13, 2014

Brett Smiley’s ad: I’m a nerd with a sense of humor

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Progressives have a tough choice when it comes to whom to support for mayor of Providence. Will liberals like Jorge Elorza, the Latino housing court judge who grew up in Providence. Will they break for Lorne Adrain, the former chairman of the former state education board who lives on the East Side? Will they go for the safe bet and support City Councilor Michael Solomon? Or maybe (for some strange reason) they’d even vote for Buddy Cianci.

With his first tv ad, Brett Smiley is hoping they’ll appreciate a technocrat with a sense of humor.

June 13, 2014

PVD City Councillor John Igliozzi: No tax breaks if you pay less than $15

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During his statements preceding the Providence City Council vote to put the measure granting $15 an hour to hotel workers on November’s ballot, Councillor John Igliozzi suggested an idea that should be given real consideration by all city and town councils in the state.

Igliozzi pointed out that if the Rhode Island General Assembly were to deny cities and towns in Rhode Island the right to set minimum wages within their municipalities, then property tax breaks, called “tax stabilization agreements” in Providence, should only be granted to those businesses that agree to pay their employees at least $15 an hour. Igliozzi pointed out that these agreements are contracts between city governments and the businesses, and that any legally enforceable clause can be included.

The General Assembly cannot interfere in such deals through their usual means of legislative end runs.

It’s a great idea and it should be implemented immediately. No further tax stabilization deals should even be considered in Providence without a legally binding guarantee of a $15 minimum wage for all workers, hired or contracted, at the business seeking the tax break. Further, companies with more than one business in Rhode Island, like The Procaccianti Group, which owns three hotels and pays its workers subpar wages, should be denied future tax breaks on future properties until all its businesses start paying a $15 wage.

June 13, 2014

PVD City Council puts $15 hotel worker wage on Nov. ballot

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Shortly after the Rhode Island House decided that working men and women should not have the right to petition their city government for fair wages and instead stripped all municipalities in the state of any power to do so, the Providence City Council in an unanimous decision, passed a measure to put the $15 minimum wage for hotel workers on the ballot for voters in the fall.

The efforts of the Providence City Council may be for naught. If the state Senate approves the budget as is, and if Governor Chafee signs the budget into law, then the citizens of Providence will not have the right to set minimum wages in their city, even if 100% of the city’s residents were to demand it.

This is called democracy, Mattiello style.

However, the measure is not dead yet, and some members of the Providence City Council seem intent on sending a signal to the General Assembly indicating that they are not going to sit back and have their ability to govern so cavalierly severed. Councillors Igliozzi and Aponte were especially vocal in pointing out that several businesses in Providence are requesting tax relief, and suggested that such relief should only be given if the businesses agree to pay their workers a living wage.

June 13, 2014June 13, 2014

RI House to hotel workers and PVD City Council: screw you

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Last night the Rhode Island House passed a measure in the budget that would eliminate the ability of cities and towns in Rhode Island to set their own minimum wage. Though the bill was targeted to stifle a proposal before the Providence City Council, Representative Ray Gallison, chairman of the House Finance Committee, inserted the new state mandate into the budget bill, which effectively cut off any debate or public comment.

In an effort to combat that proposal, Rep. Maria Cimini, a Providence progressive, introduced an amendment that would allow voters in the city to set the minimum wage by ballot initiatives. But in a curious turn of events withdrew her measure after Rep. Michael Chippendale, a Foster Republican, asked if the language as written would allow cities and towns to lower the minimum wage to $2 an hour.

In response, Cimini asked that Gallison’s bill be taken out of the budget and voted on separately. More debate followed, but the conservative, pro-business members of the General Assembly passed Gallison’s measure 57 to 17. This with no real debate and no public comment. Democracy in action.

Along the way jokes were made, several reps pretended to understand economic policy and an exciting night of politics was had by all.

Somehow though, it was forgotten that the entire reason for Gallison’s bill, the entire reason this was being discussed in the General Assembly at all, was because a small group of hotel workers, men and women working long hours for little pay and less respect, dared to believe that their democratically-elected government might work for them, instead of for the powerful forces of money and business.

One can imagine the panic on the faces of the new leadership in the House as they realized that people were rising up and demanding economic policies and laws that benefited the many over the few and the have-nots over the haves. One can further imagine the smug look of satisfaction that passed over their faces as they crafted a plan to take away the tiny amount of political power these working mothers and fathers had access to.

After all, how dare someone who has never had the money to donate to a political campaign believe that the system will work for anyone except the rich, the entitled and the well-connected. With a laugh and a smile and barely concealed contempt for everything these working men and women have attempted, Speaker Nicholas Mattiello and the Rhode Island House of Representatives stomped on the rights and the dreams of good people suffering crippling poverty as if it were the most common and expected thing in the world.

Because, sadly, it is.

DSC_9387 Lima — How many dollars should workers receive?

June 12, 2014June 12, 2014

Final throes of 38 Studios protest, 2014 version

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Occupy Providence and friends about to deliver a no bailout petition at the Rhode Island State House

Yesterday, there was a protest at the State House against the 38 Studios bailout. Let me cite from the announcement over at the Occupy Providence website.

This one of the worst shady deals that politicians have made in Rhode Island. Now, they are trying to stick the People with the bill.

Wall Street has weighed in, trying to pressure the State to use the People’s money to bail out this bad deal for which the People never asked. Should Rhode Island be a place where insider deals get made behind the scenes, while those who hope to profit from these shady deals can be sure of getting paid at the People’s expense?

The Rhode Island will never have a solid economy until it shakes its reputation for paying off these shady deals. Refusing to bail out 38 Studios debt will help put the State on the right track by discouraging other bad deals in the future. The State will be much better off it shows it is willing to resist Wall Streets pressure for a bailout.

38 Studios debt is not the People’s debt; let the insurance company that insured the deal pay!

What else needs to happen

Christopher Currie was at a State House with a handout containing the following article of the Rhode Island State Constitution:

ARTICLE VI (OF THE LEGISLATIVE POWER)

Section 16. Borrowing power of general assembly. — The general assembly shall have no powers, without the express consent of the people, to incur state debts to an amount exceeding fifty thousand dollars, except in time of war, or in case of insurrection or invasion; nor shall it in any case, without such consent, pledge the faith of the state for the payment of the obligations of others. This section shall not be construed to refer to any money that may be deposited with the state by the government of the United States.

Conventional 1% wisdom, equipped with massive amounts of neo-liberalist economic theory and ruling class case law, will solemnly explain that this article does not apply to the 38 Studio situation. As to the economic part of the argument, this summary of Chris Hedges will suffice:

Unfettered capitalism is a revolutionary force that consumes greater and greater numbers of human lives until it finally consumes itself.

Those who are not willfully blind can see this destruction develop in front of their eyes, but there is and alternative (TIA)

This is how we’ll be competitive in a resilient, local economy, while we say farewell to self-destructive neo-liberalism for the few:

Workers will create their cooperative businesses owned by the folks who do the actual work. Nobody wants to be a wage slave in a medieval, 1% fiefdom! The folks who will run these places will take good care of them. They will not threaten to leave the State to get special deals. No, they’ll be good citizens who won’t indulge in the smug blackmail of the self-entitled rich.

Those co-op folks will be our fellow Rhode Islanders and neighbors. They will live here among us with their families and friends. They will cherish our communities and they will heal Mother Earth the ravages the rich have visited upon her.

As we say farewell to the destructive capitalism for and by the Vampire class, and kiss its capital and its “investments” goodbye, we’ll build a local economy with food security, and clean water and fresh air for all. We’ll have a power grid owned and operated locally and cooperatively by the People for the People.

We’ll make an end to a system that creates borders for people and maintains global inequality and racism. We’ll put an end to NAFTA-, TAFTA-, TPP-globalization, which removes those borders to free the United Corporations of the World so they can destroy human solidarity and increase inequality and poverty, which Gandhi saw as the worst kind of violence of all.

As to the State Constitution, it is a living document. Let’s blow new life into it on the People’s terms!

This is what non-violent revolution looks like; cursed be 1% case law be and the predator economy! We need system change; bailouts do nothing but perpetuate the current system.

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