Add it all together and it seems like conventional wisdom predicts a big day for progressives. Congressman David Cicilline will prevail over Anthony Gemma and in State House contests progressives are likely to pick up at least a few seats.

Another important aspect to today’s primary: “This will be the biggest test yet of voter ID,” Chris Barnett of the Secretary of State’s office told the Associated Press.

Big time congrats to Chris Young and Kara Russo … nothing better than when two people find their soul mates in each other. I have to guess this is the case with these two!

The Chicago teachers’ strike, as reviewed by the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post.

There is no industry more important to Rhode Island’s overall economy than commercial fishing, and it’s quickly going the way of the yellowtail flounder, which is to say extinct.

Pay attention to this trial … it just might get politically interesting.

On this day in 2001, we learned just how vulnerable Americans are in a world that is increasingly moving away from the traditional ground rules of geopolitics. It’s the unfortunate and inevitable result of the United States’ global dominance. But that doesn’t mean the 9-11 attacks were inevitable.

The ProJo reports that Chris Young, who obtained more signatures on his nomination papers than Anthony Gemma  and is best known for flipping tables and moonlighting as a singer, has been a victim of voter fraud and is also part of an ongoing investigation with the FBI:

Young, who has run unsuccessfully for several offices, says he has complained repeatedly about voter fraud.

“Gemma did not have to hire an investigator; he could have just gone to my website and read my press releases over the past 12 years on voting fraud that are part of an ongoing investigation with the FBI that I have filed,” Young said in a news release Wednesday. “The only reason I can think of why he didn’t do this is because I was the one who told him the elections are fixed.”

Here’s my favorite quote from the ProJo story:

mp775

4:53 PM on 8/23/2012

If Chris Young got more than two votes, I’d say it’s pretty compelling evidence of voter fraud.

Despite Anthony Gemma’s hundreds of thousands of fake Facebook fans from India and Pakistan, he was only able to muster 700 signatures on his nomination papers. Not exactly a groundswell of support for Gemma. Perhaps after spending so much money buying fake Facebook  fans (and fake Twitter followers), Gemma couldn’t afford to pay more than 700 people to sign his nomination papers?

Meanwhile, perennial nutcase Chris Young, who loves to sing and is best known for flipping tables, submitted 846 signatures!

Consider why Rev. Jay Stirnemann of the Christ Temple United Pentecostal Church in Tiverton doesn’t think gay couples should have the same rights as everyone else:

This might be what Senate President Teresa Paiva-Weed and Rep. Doc Corvese, both Democrats who have fought against marriage equality, believe but it doesn’t seem to hold water with me. So I asked Rev. Stirnemann, if god created marriage, why animals don’t wed. Here’s what he told me:

Miraculously, his was not the most outlandish reason offered at a State House hearing last night on why legislators should reject marriage equality. That distinction goes to Chris Young, who said gay marriage is a secret plot by communists in the United States to end procreation. He even offered a picture that he said showed Russian troops training inside the United States to prove his point.

Of course, most sane people know this isn’t true. Even probably most legislators realize this too. The reason they won’t support marriage equality is not because they fear the wrath of god or communists, but rather they fear the wrath of voters who fear the wrath of god or communists.

It’s almost equally sad and bizarre that anyone who can get elected to the General Assembly doesn’t realize that this very vocal minority in no way, shape or form is at all indicative of Rhode Island in general. And even if they were, I certainly wouldn’t want my legislative legacy to include standing with Chris Young and Rev. Jay Stirnemann.

Rhode Island politicians should instead stand for reason and equal protection under the law and pass same sex marriage.