New York Times Calls Foul On ‘Flight Of Earls’ Myth
Can we finally put to rest the false idea that the rich will leave Rhode Island if the state raises taxes? The Earls aren’t fleeing the Ocean State, they flock here. We’ve got the best beaches and we treat our rich like they are royalty. And even if we only had the best beaches, the [...]
NY Times Confirms It Doesn’t Use ‘Right to Work’
Earlier today I noted that the New York Times doesn’t use the biased and misleading moniker of “right to work” when it does journalism on the kind of anti-organized labor laws that Michigan passed yesterday. I thought this was interesting, so I gave them a call to see if, in fact, the Old Gray Lady [...]
Progress Report: Elastic Rhode Island; Mark Schwager, Typical Candidate; More Binder v. Fox; Kerr on Grinding
Rhode Island, says New York Times number-crunching blog FiveThirtyEight, is the most politically elastic state, meaning that “a large swatch of its electorate are persuadable voters unaligned with either political party.”In a separate piece on political elasticity Nate Silver describes elastic states as “those which have a lot of swing voters — that is, voters [...]
Local Co. Links Romney, Bain to Outsourcing, China
A Bain Capital-created company based in Attleboro will be ground zero today for shining a light on two things Mitt Romney doesn’t want America to know about him: his tough talk last night on China doesn’t match his free market actions, and the company he once ran is bad for America’s working class. Employees from [...]
Progress Report: David Cicilline Predicts Dems Can Capture House; Dan Yorke, Bill Fischer on Polls vs. Push Polls
It’s well established that things are looking pretty good for David Cicilline, and now Cicilline is predicting good things for Democrats prospects of retaking control of the House of Representatives. The incumbent congressman told RIPR’s Ian Donnis, “The reality is we need 24 seats to take control away from the Republican Tea Party caucus that [...]
Progress Report: Hard Times for the Homeless in RI; Food Stamp Increase, Obama and Letterman Talk 47 Percent
So bad have things gotten in Rhode Island that the state’s largest homeless shelter has failed a building inspection. Jim Ryczek, executive director of the Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless, told the Providence Journal, “It was pretty much a foregone conclusion that the shelter would not pass inspection. Harrington Hall is clearly not an [...]
Progress Report: Central Falls Plan Protects Investors Over Locals; Poverty Plagues Public Education; Obama’s Speech
Central Falls is again making national news. And unlike last year, both the city and the state are winning praise from the press for their ability to quickly bandage the struggling city’s fiscal woes in bankruptcy court. But the national media is focusing on an aspect of Central Falls’ restructuring that local reporters here in [...]
Forget Model Bills, It’s About the ALEC Mindset
It’s great to have the conversation turned toward the conservative forces at play in Woonsocket, but it’s unfortunate that the concern seems to be getting lost in a search for something that doesn’t exist: secret ALEC model legislation that tells its members what to do when their city has a choice between bankruptcy and raising [...]
NY Times Links ALEC to Woonsocket Fiscal Crisis
Sometimes it takes a view from 20,000 feet rather than in the trenches to see the big picture. Such may be the case with today’s New York Times, which makes the connection between the budget crisis in Woonsocket and Rep. Jon Brien’s involvement with the American Legislative Exchange Council. ALEC, reports Times columnist and native [...]
RI Progress Report: Legislative Leadership and 38 Studios
With regard to 38 Studios, the media has pointed its finger at Curt schilling, Keith Stokes, (Thanks) Don Carcieri, Linc Chafee and Gina Raimondo … but Dan McGowan is the first reporter to point towards legislative leadership. I asked Chafee about this yesterday: if the he wants all the EDC board members who supported the [...]
RI Progress Report: Education Disparity, Homeless Bill of Rights, Brendan Doherty, Citizens United, the Ocean Mist
What you’ll notice when you look at GoLocal’s annual list of best high schools is the ones at the top of the list are in affluent towns and the ones near the bottom are in poorer urban areas. It’s that simple: we have a tiered education system in this state. Rich kids, and those lucky [...]
RI Progress Report: Chafee and Political Principles, Paying for Public Education, Gemma on Marriage Equality
In a surprising move that really shouldn’t surprise anyone who knows him, Gov Chafee has decided to take the Jason Pleau case all the way to the US Supreme Court, if they will hear it. While talk radio, and even the Pleau family, may not agree with this decision, taking a case to the SCOTUS [...]
Who Should Be ‘Crashing the System?’
The recent article by Michelle Alexander appearing in the New York Times, “Crash the System,” has stirred up a great deal of interest among the activist community. Most of the people I have heard from, however, have been those who never faced imprisonment- including many lawyers and law students… i.e., people who actually read the New York Times or [...]
Libertarian Fairy Dust: AKA Its Only Class War When Workers Fight Back
Two interesting things of note. First, this gragh from the AFL-CIO: Then this story from the NYTIMES by Steven Greenhouse: Labor’s Decline and Wage Inequality By STEVEN GREENHOUSE The decline in organized labor’s power and membership has played a larger role in fostering increased wage inequality in the United States than is generally thought, according [...]
New Comments