Progressive News, Opinion, and Analysis
Not all sports aficionados appreciate the commercials that ultimately pay the athletes salaries. This week Jared Paul talks about the fans who love their teams but HATE capitalism.
Previous Jared Paul Podcast episodes:
This week on the Jared Paul Show … Capitalism vs the blizzard, Why Warren shouldn’t run and why we need a multiparty system.
Radical perspectives on weekly news, local and national, with touring artist and activist, Jared Paul. This week’s episode focuses on (1) Protesters Run Over By Motorists (2) MLK Being Viewed As An Enemy Of The State By The FBI (3) Continued Perspectives On Pervasive Subconscious Racism In America.
Wednesday Jan 29
North Kingstown, RI – Good morning Futurists. This is Bob Plain, editor and publisher of the RI Future blog podcasting to you from The Hideaway on the banks of the Mattatuxet River behind the Shady Lea Mill in North Kingstown, Rhode Island.
We’ve got a special post State of the Union podcast for you today, complete with extended conversations with most of our congressional delegation about President Obama’s speech last night. Unfortunately we weren’t able to catch up with Senator Whitehouse, but we did speak with Senator Reed and Congressmen Langevin and Cicilline.
Monday Jan 27, 2013
North Kingstown, RI – Happy Monday morning, Ocean State Futurists. This is Bob Plain, editor and publisher of the RI Future blog podcasting to you from The Hideaway on the banks of the Mattatuxet River behind the Shady Lea Mill in North Kingstown, Rhode Island.
Our show today is brought to you by Largess Forestry. Seriously folks … winter is the best time of year to care for trees – so if you’ve got some projects you’ve been putting off, give Matt Largess a call at 849-9191, or friend them on Facebook.
This morning we speak with Jim Vincent executive director of the Providence branch of the NAACP about a press conference his group is hosting today to call attention to the growing sense of fear and frustration in the inner cities. The NAACP and some 12 other community groups will be meeting outside the Garrahy Judicial Complex in Providence today at 4:30 to announce an effort at working together to call attention to these issues….
We’ll also catch up with probably-soon-to-be Woonsocket state Rep. Mike Morin. Morin just won the Democratic primary to fill Lisa Baldelli-Hunt’s old seat in the State House. Assuming he wins the general election Feb 25 – and I think this is a safe assumption given he’s the only name on the ballot – that will mean the Woonsocket House delegation will be 2/3 fire fighters!
It is Thursday, January 24 and before we hear from Jim Vincent and Mike Morin, let’s see what else is going on in the Ocean State…
“Providence, Rhode Island, is the coolest city in New England. I would even put it on the shortlist of coolest small cities in the United States,” writes Pamela Petro in Travel Magazine.
Elizabeth Harrison of RIPR wrote this about cheating on high stakes tests in Rhode Island public schools: “I have heard whispers about changed answers on tests in Rhode Island, but my efforts to get the booklets in question ran into a roadblock. Education officials cited the state’s open records law, saying it does not require test booklets to be made available to the public.”
The New York Times editorial board wrote this about school evaluation systems: “Historically, the rankings compared a school’s test scores with those of the district as a whole. But under that system, demographics ruled the day; wealthy schools invariably were ranked at the top and poor schools at the bottom.”
This was on the front page of the ProJo this morning but Sam Howard also tweeted about it last night: 1 out of 7 Americans use food stamps, the majority of them are of working age and the cost of the program has doubled in the last five years. How’s rampant income inequality working out for you again, America? Because for at least 14 percent of the country it sucks, and everyone else is paying for it.
A former Hasbro employee is suing the company saying she was discriminated against because she is a lesbian. According to the Providence Journal, she was fired for making “a sexually inappropriate comment.” The Department of Labor and Training awarded her full unemployment benefits … and they don’t usually do that if you’ve been fired….
And this just in: Speaker Gordon Fox could buy my house in East Greenwich and probably still have enough money left in his campaign account to run for and win reelection. Large amounts of money in politics, I am coming to believe, is the biggest danger to our democracy. RI Future would like to see the ProJo op/ed page and Ken Block devote the same veracity to this issue that they teamed up for on the master lever. Common Cause RI and Demand Progress are both working on this issue this year too….
Friday Jan 24, 2013
North Kingstown, RI – Good morning, Ocean State Futurists. This is Bob Plain, editor and publisher of the RI Future blog podcasting to you from The Hideaway on the banks of the Mattatuxet River behind the Shady Lea Mill in North Kingstown, Rhode Island.
Later on in the show, we’ll be checking in with we’ll be checking in with Steve Brown of the ACLU on Waivergate, the latest fiasco with the NECAP graduation requirement. We’ll also here from Rep. Dennis Canario, a legislator who represents Sakonnet and parts of Portsmouth, on why he is pushing a bill this session to label genetically modified foods.
Our show today is brought to you by Largess Forestry. Preservationists and licensed arborists, no one will care for your trees better than Matt Largess and his crew. If you’ve got a tree or a woodlot in need of some sprucing up, call Matt today for a free consultation at 849-9191 … or friend them on Facebook.
It is Thursday, January 24 and the unemployment rate is up, but so is our population. And, if you ask me, so is our collective psyche. I can just kinda feel it everywhere I go that Rhode Islanders are feeling better about the biggest little state in the union … And I give major credit to Linc Chafee, the Rhode Island Foundation and all the other folks who work tirelessly to focus on what’s great about Rhode Island and pick us up by our bootstraps. Seriously, if we can break the inferiority complex that the Ocean State has long suffered from, we’ll have done something a lot more important than simply created some wealth and maybe a couple jobs…
There were 400 more unemployed people in Rhode Island in December than the previous month bringing the total number to an almost eerily even 49,900, reports the Providence Journal this morning. This has become our monthly box score and reporters, politicians and pundits comb through these monthly numbers the way I poured over NBA agit in the ProJo when I was a kid…
Monday Jan 23, 2013
North Kingstown, RI – Good morning, Ocean State Futurists. This is Bob Plain, editor and publisher of the RI Future blog podcasting to you from The Hideaway on the banks of the Mattatuxet River behind the Shady Lea Mill in North Kingstown, Rhode Island.
Today is Thursday, January 23 and our show today is brought to you by Largess Forestry. Woodland preservationists and licensed arborists, no one will care for your trees better than Matt Largess and his crew. If you’ve got a tree or a woodlot in need of some sprucing up, call Matt today for a free consultation at 849-9191. That’s 849-9191 … or friend them on Facebook
A little later on, we’ll be talking to Neil Steinberg, executive director of the Rhode Island Foundation about the next step fort the Make It Happen RI movement … today the group will release a report on how to resurrect Rhode Island’s economy called Economic Intersections of Rhode Island: a private sector generated action agenda.
But first, the news…
Providence Journal columnist Ed Fitzpatrick helps Common Cause bring the gubernatorial candidates to the table to sign a meaningful People’s Pledge that would limit undisclosed, out-of-state money in the campaign. RI Future blogger Sam Howard has been all over this issue too, and he posted his third piece on it yesterday.
Also on RI Future this week, Steve Ahlquist has been running a series on reproductive justice … you should check out the videos he’s been posting as they show this is a broad-based issue that is more about freedom and economic prosperity for women than anything else.
And the AP’s David Klepper reports states all over the country – including Rhode Island – are considering legislation to label GMO foods. We’ve written a lot on this one Futurists, so let’s keep the pressure on … so far, only Maine and Connecticut have passed laws to label genetically modified ingredients.
Rep. Dennis Canario, from Portsmouth, Tiverton, Little Compton, is sponsoring the bill in the House. In a press release he said, “Knowledge is power and people need to know what they are putting into their bodies.” And added, ““I am not interested in launching a fight for an outright ban on genetically engineered products, but I am interested in educated consumers.“
West Warwick — This post-industrial exurb on the Pawtuxet River may no longer be a manufacturing or retail mecca, and it’s tax base could certainly use a few extra dollars, but West Warwick still seems flush with at least one resource necessary for municipal success: a very strong sense of community and people who love the town.
On Sunday, the RIF podcast team (Mark Gray and I) went to Boneheads on Washington Street in the heart of Arctic to talk about the town with three local political leaders – Senator Adam Satchell, Town Councilor David Kenahan and Town Manager Fred Presley. (Disclosure: Gray is Satchell’s campaign manager)
We touched upon how West Warwick went from being one of the biggest manufacturing locales in the world and one of Rhode Island’s premiere shopping districts to being on the verge of bankruptcy, and whether it was exorbitant pensions or steep state cuts that put it there. We also dive deep into the tremendous sense of community that exists among the locals, and some ideas for West Warwick to move forward into the 21st century economy.
Monday Jan 13, 2013
North Kingstown, RI – Good morning, Ocean State. This is Bob Plain, editor and publisher of the RI Future blog podcasting to you from The Hideaway on the banks of the Mattatuxet River behind the Shady Lea Mill in North Kingstown, Rhode Island.
Today is Tuesday, January 14 and our show today is brought to you by Largess Forestry, our first podcast sponsor. Forest preservationists and licensed arborists, no one will care for your trees better than Matt Largess and his crew. If you’ve got a tree or a woodlot in need of some sprucing up, call Matt today for a free consultation at 849-9191.
Rhode Islanders can expect rain and warm weather today, with temperatures getting close to 50 degrees. In other words, it will be easy even for the simple-minded to recognize the planet is warming today. Thanks God, for making it a little harder for the right-wing spin machine to spread lies about the health of our planet…
And speaking of conditions that question our assumptions about the world … General Treasurer Gina Raimondo, it seems, will be running for governor as a progressive. Her campaign logo even looks like RI Future’s!! For royalties, we only request that you pay us a visit here at the Shady Lea Mill and be our guest on the podcast.
Monday Jan 13, 2013
North Kingstown, RI – Good morning, Ocean State. This is Bob Plain, editor and publisher of the RI Future blog podcasting to you from The Hideaway on the banks of the Mattatuxet River behind the Shady Lea Mill in North Kingstown, Rhode Island.
It’s Monday, January 13 … and while last week we wondered if Rhode Island was the only state in the nation to have a governor who surfs, this week we’ll be wondering if we’re the only state to have a gubernatorial hopeful responsible for a traffic fatality.
The Providence Journal reports this morning that in 1989, a 19-year-old Allan Fung, now mayor of Cranston who is running for governor, was arrested for the death of a man after a car accident he caused on Interstate 95. The charges were later dropped. Fung was coming home from college for the weekend and he allegedly lost consciousness, or maybe he fell asleep at the wheel, crossed three lanes of traffic and hit and killed a man who was changing a tire in the breakdown lane.
Wow … what a life-changing event for Mayor Fung. A lot of folks wouldn’t have the courage to enter public service after such an experience. I applaud him for telling this story, and more so for being able to move on from it.
That said, Sam Howard penned an important piece about both Republican candidates for governor late last week … both Fung and Barrington millionaire Ken Block agreed to boycott John DePetro and/or WPRO, but quickly abandoned their commitment as soon as the hateful shock jock’s month in exile was over.
On NBC 10 News Conference this weekend, we debated the merits of legalizing marijuana. Justin Katz, the ostensibly small government libertarian-leaning conservative, said he’s afraid it will lead to a government monopoly over drugs and prostitution. Ironically enough his opposition to marijuana smacks of paranoia.
I can’t believe I actually have opportunity to say this, but the ProJo editorial page has a more nuanced and reasonable reason for opposing legalization this morning. They write the legalization could increase use among kids. Experts don’t necessarily agree.
In December, East Greenwich school drug counselor Bob Houghtaling joined Jared Moffat and Rebecca McGoldrick of Regulate RI here in the RI Future newsroom to talk about just this topic. Houghtaling thinks it will be easier to teach kids how to make healthy choices about pot if we take a less punative approach.
In other news about potentially progressive legislation this year from the State House … Senate President Teresa Paiva Weed said last week that her chamber will focus on addressing poverty this session as a means to fixing Rhode Island’s ailing economy.
And in New Hampshire this week, the talk is about campaign finance reform. Harvard professor and Rootstriker Lawrence Lessig organized, with Demand Progress and Rhode Island’s own David Segal, a two week march through the Granite State to get residents to demand presidential candidates take a stand against money dominating politics.
Friend of RI Future Mike McCarthy is there for the entire two weeks and we hope he’ll be checking in with us on occassion. In the meantime, here’s my interview with McCarthy from Friday … he stopped by the Hideaway to borrow my sleeping bag for his trip. Listen to our conversation about his adventure here.
Tuesday Jan 7, 2014
North Kingstown, RI – Good morning, Ocean State. This is Bob Plain, editor and publisher of the RI Future blog podcasting to you from The Hideaway on the banks of the Mattatuxet River behind the Shady Lea Mill in North Kingstown, Rhode Island.
It’s Tuesday, January 7th … And, no, that’s not the opening bell for the first day of work for the General Assembly, that’s Pink Floyd with the world’s greatest ode to education deform. But today is, in fact, the first day of the 2014 legislative session and tonight lawmakers will begin the long slow process of waiting until the very end of the session to decide on how to address the biggest issues facing the state: our struggling economy and our thriving inequality and injustice.
Here’s what ProJo columnist Ed Fitzpatrick writes on Opening Day for the General Assembly: “The White House and the Vatican have placed renewed emphasis on inequality and poverty.”
Will Rhode Island lawmakers join with the president and the pope to place a renewed emphasis on inequality and poverty? Or will we spend another year whistling into the trickle down winds?
Scott MacKay wrote an excellent legislative session preview that shows how as the Ocean State tacked right, our economy got weaker, and while Connecticut and Massachusetts invested in education and and employees, theirs grew stronger. So, you do the math…
McKay said believing tax cuts for the wealthy will spur growth is to believe in baseless mythology, and last week Fitzpatrick, in a separate column, actually mentioned rolling back the Carcieri-era income tax cuts as a viable policy proposal … so maybe this is the year for a more progressive tax code.
Podcast fan Dan McGowan of WPRI reports the Providence City Council is looking into more than 100 personalized tax breaks to local businesses. I guess the Providence Place Mall threatened to move to North Carolina if we didn’t give it a sweetheart deal? Or because Olneyville nightclubs are such a positive force in our community?
James Kennedy of the Transport Providence blog writes a really cool in-depth post about how building more roads to make commuting easier is a bit too much like relying on unlimited growth to drive our economy. I’m a big fan of anything that can tie together Rhode Island, Keynesian economics and Jack Kerouac.
And Sam Howard pens a typically awesome look at how Rhode Island keeps trying to attract more businesses without doing much to create potential customers for said enterprises.
As Bruce Springsteen suggests it’s Monday, the first day of the first full week of 2014 … and talk about climate change! It’s already 50 degrees warmer than it was last week. A 50 degree swing! Last week pipes were freezing all over Rhode Island. Today, we might have a thunder storm.
The big news out of Washington DC this week centers around Rhode Island’s senior Senator Jack Reed, who is working with Republican Dean Heller of Nevada to extend federal unemployment benefits. Listen to my interview with Sen. Reed from Friday here.
Policy aside, it’s really cool that 2014 inside the beltway politics starts with a bit of bipartisanship that includes a Rhode Islander. Will this be a trend in the new year … will this be the year America re-learns how to work together? Here’s more evidence that perhaps we will: Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, a jew and a socialist, said he’s on the same side as the pope!
To learn more about the Ocean State version of Pope Frank, make sure to check out Ed Fitzpatrick’s column on Sister Ann Keefe … Remember earlier when I wondered what Rhode Island would be like if Anchor Rising or RI Future were in charge? Well imagine if superstar Ann Keefe ran the state? I’d take that.
The : “the $14,947-a-year legislators will be off and running, with public hearings, private horse-trades and almost nightly legislative fundraisers…”
The AP’s David Klepper had a fascinating look at one of the ways Rhode Island has been systematically ignoring our most vulnerable residents.
A Florida judge ruled drug testing welfare recipient is unconstitutional.
For yet another example of how Rhode Island seems to revile the poor and disaffected, see the recent ire from the business community about a potential parole office in downtown Providence. Please make sure to check out Sam Howard’s take on this issue. Needless to say, the ProJo op/ed page thinks reformed offenders don’t belong in downtown Providence.
Tom Sgouros thinks you need to read this press release. If you know why, you passed the spelling test.
Jonathan Jacobs, who works for Brett Smiley’s campaign for Providence mayor, had this to say about Eli Broad’s op/ed about how maybe we are giving the rich a hard time.
And James Kennedy wants you to sign this petition to add more bike lanes to the West End of Providence.
Monday Dec 23, 2013
North Kingstown, RI – Happy Holidays Ocean State and fellow futurists … This is Bob Plain and as always I am podcasting to you from The Hideaway on the banks of the Mattatuxet River behind the Shady Lea Mill in North Kingstown, Rhode Island. But this is a special edition of the RI Future podcast celebrating that solstice time of year – or, as we call it here in America, Christmas.
Because so many of us suffer from seasonal affective disorder, and maybe take a little bit of umbrage at all the wanton consumerism posing as peace on earth and goodwill towards all people, we put together an extended podcast today dedicated to all the Christmas tunes Jesus would want us to spin at his birthday party … none are about how disgustingly sweet our lives can be or religious dogma or getting presents. Instead our playlist – ranging from rap to rock and from punk to funk – are about the real reason for the season: building community between our brothers and sisters during this otherwise dark and depressing time of year.
Footnotes:
John Lennon “Happy Xmass (War Is Over)
The Kinks “Father Christmas”
Stevie Wonder “Someday at Christmas”
Woodie Guthrie “1913 Massacre”
The Mighty, Mighty Bosstones “This Time of Year”
The Flaming Lips “Christmas at the Zoo”
Run DMC “Christmas Is”
The Sonics “Don’t Believe in Christmas”
The Ramones “Merry Christmas, I don’t want to fight tonight”
Robert Earl Keen’s “Merry Christmas from the Family”
Steve Earle “Christmas Time in Washington”
Billy Squier “Christmas Is the Time to Say I Love You”
Simon and Garfunkel “Silent Night”
MXPX “Auld Lang Syne”
He also talked at length about what it means to be a socially responsible investor and how he would advocate for more partnerships between local banks, credit unions and the community to foster a better financial atmosphere for the Rhode Islanders who have been left behind by the current structure.
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Thursday Dec 19, 2013
North Kingstown, RI – Good morning, Ocean State. That was local musician Chris Monti kicking off today’s podcast. You can hear him live and in person tonight at Nick-a-Nees, so I hope you can check him out.
This is Bob Plain, editor and publisher of the RI Future blog podcasting to you from The Hideaway on the banks of the Mattatuxet River behind the Shady Lea Mill in North Kingstown, Rhode Island.
It’s Thursday, December 19 … the first day that Gina Raimondo is officially a candidate for governor. The :
“To her fans and political contributors, the 5-foot-3-inch Raimondo is the scrappy pension-reformer who saved taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars annually. To her relentless critics within organized labor, she is the fist-pumping opportunist who used “pension reform” as a guise to enrich her “Wall Street friends” and possibly herself through blind trust holdings in the venture-capital firm she founded.”
To me, she’s both. A scrappy opportunist who saved taxpayers money by using pension reform to enrich her Wall Street friends.
The only thing the local media enjoys exaggerating more than the need for milk and bread every time it snows is the old saw about the overly-indulgent public sector retiree, most recently evidenced by the mass attention on the ex-fire fighter who was caught lifting weights while collecting a disability pension. Seriously … George Vecchione makes $8 million bucks a year running the local hospitals and good luck finding it in the Providence Journal but a union member makes $40,000 a year and it’s stripped across the top of page A1. Not to begrudge – or defend – either of these economic actors, but which one seems to you to be more responsible for the sorry state of our economy?
Only 74 undocumented students have taken advantage of new state policy that allows them to attend state colleges for in-state tuition so long as they went to a local high school. says WPRI reporter and RI Future alum Dan McGowan.
Hey before you enjoy your next hamburger consider what factory farms feed their cows. According to Mother Jones it’s an unhealthy diet of corn, soy, drugs, sawdust, candy wrappers and chicken shit. God bless the vegans. Yumm … I’m not saying I don’t enjoy the occasional burger, I’m just saying us Americans have gross diets.
The New York Times asks why American schools can’t compete with other first world nations around the world. Of the famous Finnish education model, they write it provides “daily hot meals; health and dental services; psychological counseling; and an array of services for families and children in need. None of the services are means tested.” Here in America, we have high stakes testing which isn’t means tested… See the difference?
Rest in peace, Billy Jack. Tom Laughlin, the man who wrote, directed and starred in the 70’s counterculture classic Bill Jack movies died earlier this week. The New York Times called these indie classics, “a low-budget fusion of counterculture piety and martial-arts violence that struck a chord with audiences and became a prototype for independent filmmaking.”
Wednesday Dec 18, 2013
North Kingstown, RI – Good morning, Ocean State. This is Bob Plain, editor and publisher of the RI Future blog podcasting to you from The Hideaway on the banks of the Mattatuxet River behind the Shady Lea Mill in North Kingstown, Rhode Island.
It’s Wednesday, December 18 … there are less than two weeks left in 2013 and the Capital City is making a late run to beat its 103 shootings last year. Yesterday, it recorded numbers 99 and 100 yesterday when a man and a woman were found with bullet injuries after crashing their car while driving themselves to Rhode Island Hospital. According to the ProJo, the man was shot on the same Elmwood Ave corner last year. Do me a favor and read the Providence Journal story by Greg Smith, and then ask yourself again if taxes are the biggest issue facing the Ocean State.
Rhode Island Catholics are calling on Bishop Tobin to apologize for slamming Nelson Mandela on abortion while the rest of the world was mourning his death. The group plans a news conference today when it will deliver a petition signed by 19,000 people to the dioceses today.
And speaking of influential conservatives who say stupid and hurtful things …. let’s be clear about something else, too: John DePetro indeed does have a First Amendment right to call women whores. And so does WPRO, for that matter … see George Carlin’s famous seven dirty words routine for a list of the words they don’t have a 1st Amendment right to use….
But if you want to make this a First Amendment issue, you better be ready to defend the rights of those who want tell as many people as they can NOT to support businesses that calls women whores. The more relevant question is whose rights will Alex and Ani decide are more important to their bottom line.
…And still on the topic of saying hurtful things, Justin Katz pens a post in which he gives the Humanists of Rhode Island a some nice props. But Katz’s post centers on the Freedom from Religion’s State House decoration which says, “Religion is but a myth & superstition that hardens hearts & enslaves minds.”
In differentiating that banner from the Humanists’, Katz writes, “That message is different in kind, not just content. It’s an overt (indeed, hard-hearted) attack on what others believe and a short-circuit of a sense of community and spirit of public discourse.” And then he has this asterisk: “Note that venue is important; seasonal decorations merit a different standard than policy debates.”
Right, the venue in question – the State House – is for policy debates. That’s the point. This is a policy debate and sometimes people say hard-hearted things in policy debates. In fact, I dare say no one else in Rhode Island politics takes as hard-hearted a view on policy debates as you … no fair going soft on us when it comes to church and state matters…
So here’s a pretty cool look into how Senator Sheldon Whitehouse is working across party lines to make the world safer and Rhode Island’s economy stronger, all in one tiny piece of what could otherwise be called pork. In the Defense Authorization bill, Sehldon worked with Republican Rob Portman to include a rider for what’s called “asset tracking provisions.” In other words, the bill would require fancy bar codes on military guns and ammo. Well it just so happens that there’s a Rhode Island company that makes these fancy bar codes: A2B Tracking is located in Portsmouth and employs about 50 people there. Coincidentally or not, A2B’s website says they are hiring!!
Ronnie Biggs died yesterday … he was the world’s last great train robber. In 1963, he and 14 other guys stole $7 million in bank notes from a train in England. Biggs turned himself in in 2001.
December 18th is a giant day in American history … in 1620, the Mayflower made landing in what would later be named Plymouth Harbor. And on this day in 1865, America would abolish slavery.
In less world-changing historical events, on this day in 1966 Tara Browne, friend of Mick Jagger, was killed in a car wreck … you know her because her accident is the one John Lennon sung about in “A Day in the Life”
…I bet you can guess what our song of the day is!
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Tuesday Dec 17, 2013
North Kingstown, RI – Good morning, Ocean State. This is Bob Plain, editor and publisher of the RI Future blog podcasting to you from The Hideaway on the banks of the Mattatuxet River behind the Shady Lea Mill in North Kingstown, Rhode Island.
It’s Tuesday, December 17 … the day after a federal judge ruled against the NSA’s mass spying program calling it “almost Orwellian.” C’mon your honor, if the NSA isn’t full-blown Orwellian, I don’t know what is…
In a total twist of irony though, Judge Richard Leon, also put a stay on his own ruling to give the government time to appeal because of the national security implications. The gears of Democracy turn much slower than in the espionage industry…
Judge Leon wrote on the NSA randomly spying on as many Americans as it can: “I cannot imagine a more ‘indiscriminate’ and ‘arbitrary’ invasion than this systematic and high-tech collection and retention of personal data on virtually every single citizen for purposes of querying and analyzing it without prior judicial approval.”
There’s a super interesting article in New York Times today that could have local implications. Here’s the lede: “The billions of dollars in tax breaks granted to the nation’s nonprofit hospitals are being challenged by regulators and politicians as cities still reeling from the recession watch cash-rich medical centers expand.”
Cities all over the country are challenging the non-profit status of non-profit hospitals, with some saying they don’t do enough charity to warrant being considered a charity. A lawyer representing the city of Pittsburgh which is suing its local hospital for some property and payroll taxes, said, “Its commitment to charity is dwarfed by its preoccupation with profits.” The Times reports that the average non-profit hospital spends about 7.5 percent of its earnings on charity care and community benefit. Do we know yet what Lifespan spends on these line items?
In any case, the Ocean State does get a shout out – of sorts – in Times’ coverage:
Some patients who are hard pressed to pay today’s high charges found that hospitals can be aggressive in bill collection. When David DiCola, 61, went to Roger Williams Medical Center in Providence, R.I., for treatment of a finger infection, the bill was about $1,500. Uninsured, he offered the hospital $500; it refused his offer and sent it to a collection agency, he said.
The political soothsayers have spoken, specifically on a “A Lively Experiment” this weekend, and they don’t seem so jazzed on the legislation progressives will be pushing at the State House during the upcoming session. Ed Fitzpatrick, Ian Donnis, Ted Nesi and Jim Baron joined Diana Koelsch to talk about Voter ID, payday loans and ending pot prohibition in 2014. Fitz thought legalizing pot has a chance of passing and Voter ID could be repealed. But Donnis had a good point about pot, saying it’s unlikely to happen during an election year.
Because of faulty equipment the Johnston landfill is pumping harmful pollutants in the air, according to a lawsuit filed by the Conservation Law Foundation. The quasi-governmental agency that operates the landfill is ‘failing to adequately capture the gas,’’ Tricia Jedele, of the CFL told the Associated Press. ‘‘We need to be treating this more comprehensively and be managing this as a major source of air pollution, not just as a source of odors that sometimes bother the neighborhoods.’’
Did Cranston police officers write tickets to residents as a way to punish the politicians who represent them? That’s what two Cranston City Councilors said at a meeting last night, according to Greg Smith of the Providence Journal. This is a serious allegation, as such action would be a monumental abuse of power.
Joe Caramadre gets the New York Times treatment today. Caramadre either bilked insurance companies or the terminally ill, depending on whether you believe the prosecution or friends of the defense. A judge sided with the prosecution and Caramadre will be doing six years behind bars.
And NPR reports that environmentalists are split over the need for nuclear power … no we aren’t. But in other news, Kos reports that a former coal company CEO thinks we should better utilize renewables … so I suppose the 1% is split on fossil fuel extraction too…
Marion Simon, one of the early pioneers at Trinity Rep. in Providence, died in New York City yesterday. she was 90 years old. According to obituary in today’s Providence Journal, ”
Great moments in literature … today in 1843, Charles Dickens publishes “A Christmas Carol.” In case you have gone all Scrooge and forgotten the theme of this holiday classic it’s that being a good person is more important than being a good businessperson.
And today in 1944, the American military announced it will no longer be randomly imprisoning Japanese Americans.
And on this day in 1977, Elvis Costello infuriates Lorne Michaels and his record company when, while appearing on Saturday Night Live, he enthusiastically stops his band from playing “Less Than Zero” and instead rips into a now-famous rendition of his anti-mainstream media classic “Radio, Radio. Our song for the day is a terrible recording on the classic moment of corporate defiance on live TV.
Monday Dec 16, 2013
North Kingstown, RI – Good morning, Ocean State. This is Bob Plain, editor and publisher of the RI Future blog podcasting to you from The Hideaway on the banks of the Mattatuxet River behind the Shady Lea Mill in North Kingstown, Rhode Island.
It’s Monday, December 16 and Rhode Islanders have officially survived more than half of the holiday season without having to hear from John DePetro, though GoLocal reports (mindsets?) the notoriously nasty morning shock jock will be back on WPRO tomorrow morning … that’s got to be a dicey proposition for Alex and Ani, which could become the focus on storefront protests if labor decides to take its anti-DePetro protest to the next level…
Twin River is in the news today … the state-sanctioned gambling parlor in Lincoln is . And as news breaks that Twin River is hoping to expand into the Monte Carlo of the Deep South, several state lawmakers are catching flack for playing charity blackjack at Twin River … the big winners included Reps Scott Slater and Lisa Tomaso and Senator Mike McCaffrey.
In any case, I’m really glad Reps Scott Slater and Lisa Tomaso were able to redistribute a couple bucks from Twin River to local food pantries.
If it’s true that the Exeter recall campaign reflected the strong opposition to changing gun laws in Rhode Island, as Rhode Island Public Radio reported the day before the vote, then those who’d like to see stronger gun laws in Rhode Island should have nothing to fear from the NRA. 63 percent of this pretty rural and relatively gun-loving community voted against a recall that was, ostensibly, about the right to bear arms … or at least the right to get a permit to carry a concealed handgun from the local town clerk instead of law enforcement, as the rest of Rhode Island requires…
And kudos to Progressive Charlestown for beating the rest of the state on the Exeter recall story, by the way. This left-leaning blog that covers South County actually consistently has some of the best stuff in the state … for another example read Will Collete’s coverage of the COPAR quarry disaster wreaking havok with area drinnking water. The city of Westerly says COPAR is illegally mining a granite quarry for gravel, and while the issues is stuck in court, COPAR is allowed to go right on mining gravel.
Watch this weekend’s Newsmakers for a great debate on whether Edward Snowden was a hero or a criminal … my thought: the two aren’t mutually exclusive. For example, Nelson Mandela was both a criminal and a hero. So was Robin Hood, for that matter. And for a famous right-wing example of hero/criminal … a bunch of pretty well to-do Boston merchants decided to launch about a million bucks worth of tea into Boston Harbor.
MIT, Harvard and Brown have a new study that shows there’s little to no correlation between high stakes test scores and “the ability to analyze abstract problems and think logically.”
Is economic inequality the “defining issue of our time,” as President Obama said recently? Paul Krugman of the New York Times say so and Ezra Klein of the Washington Post has a more nuanced answer.
The key to this debate isn’t whether it’s fair or not that some of us get to be rich and others have to be poor … it’s the lack of social mobility. Put in Rhode Island terms, if you grew up in Barrington, chances are you are going to make a decent living as an adult. And if you grow up in Central Falls, chances are you’ll struggle financially.
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Thursday Dec 12, 2013
North Kingstown, RI – Good morning, Ocean State. This is Bob Plain, editor and publisher of the RI Future blog podcasting to you from The Hideaway on the banks of the Mattatuxet River behind the Shady Lea Mill in North Kingstown, Rhode Island.
It’s Thursday, December 12 … Day 11, we hope, of the Exile on Wamponaug Trail. Notoriously nasty WPRO misogynist John DePetro has been off the air for all of December so far for calling female labor activists whores on the radio. As I wrote yesterday, Rhode Island couldn’t have asked for a nicer Christmas present from our brothers and sisters in the organized labor movement … so if you’re glad December has been DePetro-free, thank a union member.
The non-profit that owns Rhode Island Hospital and other Rhode Island hospitals is not profitable, reports WPRI. A Tim White/Ted Nesi investigation uncovers that the only thing that kept Lifespan in the black this year was because it purchased a mental health firm with money in the bank. Lifespan, you will remember is the company that paid CEO George Vecchione $8 million. Had Vecchione been able to eak by on just $2 million a year, the hospital management company would have been made money. Can we please all agree we’ve got a real economic malfunction when a hospital non-profit loses millions while the CEO earns millions.
“It’s too fast. It’s too drastic. And it’s not good policy practice.” That’s what Camilo Viveiros said about the state public utilities commission proposal to make it easier to shut off heat and electricity for poor people who are behind on their bills.
A great new analysis by Business Insider shows only five states in the nation are doing better than Rhode Island at getting folks signed up for Obamacare … the six top states, in order, are: Vermont, Connecticut, Kentucky, California, Washington and then the Ocean State.
Another snowy owl has been injured in Rhode Island, this one on Rt. 95.
GoLocalProv reports that the commercial fishing industry in Rhode Island could become extinct.
This from Washington Post education blogger Valerie Strauss: “Education reform policy around the country is increasingly being made in secret or without public input — and with a lot of private philanthropic money.”
Rhode Island taxpayers already pays for text books at private schools … why we do this I have no idea.
“Federal workers have reason to be nervous,” reports National Public Radio. That’s because the new budget deal will effectively cut their pensions by making employees contribute more.
And JP Morgan, the too big too fail bank that put low-income Rhode Islanders personal information at risk, was also complicit with Bernie Madoff’s scam … The New York Times reports that the big bank may have to pay $2 billion for turning a blind eye to Madoff’s ponzi scheme.
Good morning Ocean State. This is Bob Plain, editor and publisher of the RI Future blog podcasting to you from an undisclosed location this morning … but fear not, we will be back at the RI Future newsroom at the Shady Lea Mill in North Kingstown, Rhode Island later this morning. Or maybe this afternoon … we’ll see how the day goes…
It’s day 11 of Rhode Island boasting the lowest sales tax in the nation on art. Just as we were with tax free arts districts in 1996, as of December 1, we’re the first state in the nation to exempt art from sales taxes. If you’re one of those folks who think cutting taxes is good for the economy, then this is good news for you: according to data compiled by Senate President Teresa Paiva Weed, who championed this change, there are close to 10,000 independent artists in Rhode Island, and thousands more who work in the arts industry.
Another benefit to slashing taxes on art is it will benefit the tourism industry … the logic goes that if you’re spending a summer week at the beach you might pick Newport or Westerly over Provincetown or Bar Harbor if you can also save a couple hundred bucks on high end souvenirs…
Fundamentally, I don’t like carve-outs – and it seems so anti-American to see shortchanging the community as a positive move – but give me an artist over a stuffed suit any day of the week. If we’re going to incentive growth, this is the area to do it. Please check out my post on showing Congressman Jim Langevin around our artist colony in North Kingstown this weekend … we both, I think, had a blast…
The Humanists of Rhode Island, and RI Future cleanup hitter Steve Ahlquist, are killing it with their secular holiday banner honoring Roger Williams at the State House. The entire local media is giving them great ink, and the issue has gone viral all over the country. Ahlquist even said John DePetro emailed to congratulate him.
And speaking of DePetro … will today be day 10 in exile? Update: Yes!
The Providence Journal gives the Future blog, and specifically Sam Bell a nice shout out this morning … Bell, both a policy wonk and a numbers whiz, posted last week that he suspects Angel Taveras’ math is wrong on his cost estimates for universal pre-K. It’s pretty cool that the progressive movement is fact-checking itself, but full disclosure: I don’t think you’d be hearing about this story on this podcast if it didn’t come from a ally.
I thought reporter Phil Marcelo put an interesting twist on the often-cozy relationship between this blog and the Taveras administration. He wrote: “That’s what Samuel Bell, state coordinator for the Rhode Island Progressive Democrats, considers in a recent post for RI Future, the liberal-leaning political website founded — but long since sold — by Taveras’ outgoing deputy city solicitor, Matthew Jerzyk.”
Congress ok’ed an imperfect at best budget deal yesterday. Said our own Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of the compromise, “To be sure, this is not the deal any of us had hoped for. Republicans refused to end a single special tax deal or to maintain extended unemployment benefits, and allowed only partial relief from the devastating sequester cuts. That said, this deal will allow Congress to return to regular order and away from Tea Party brinksmanship, and allow appropriators like Jack Reed to pursue sensible priorities within this budget.”
The Washington Post reports this morning that charter schools have increased by 80 percent in five years, but that the average charter doesn’t perform any better than the average public school. Meanwhile, Pasi Sahlberg, the Finnish education expert was at URI last night. Unlike America, Finland has some of the greatest public schools in the world in large part because that country strives to educate every child – the exact opposite of what the charter school movement does – and it trains students to be citizens rather than economic actors.
