Teacher: RI biz community is ‘below proficient’
This was one of the more interesting statements made at the teacher rally last night – and not because it shows why Deborah Gist isn’t an effective education leader. Rather, because it shows the inherent hypocrisy in our political debate and how varying interests can employ widely divergent logic depending on the situation and where [...]
On the master lever, I am a hypocrite
On Monday morning, I argued that abolition of the single party option (SPO, better known as the so-called “master lever”) should fail, even though it’s good policy to abolish it. In it, I argue the opposite for what I’d argued about five months before: that regardless of the benefit abolition would accrue for proponents, it [...]
New Treasurer Staffer Looks Like A Campaign Operative
A Smith Hill pol is using the people’s hard-earned money to hire an under-qualified, overpaid staffer. While this might read like the beginning of every single column Ed Achorn writes about the State House, he probably won’t be waxing eloquent on this one. He only spouts off when a union-centric Democrat commits such a transgression. [...]
On Politics and Sports
The NPR program Tell Me More’s section “Barbershop”, after discussing various political issues, switched over to football. Some commentator made the point that football, America’s most popular sport (the NFL ranks above Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer for most attendance among professional leagues), is the biggest thing Americans can agree on. This led me [...]
10 Reasons to Support James Diossa for CF Mayor
I am a big fan of City Councilman James Diossa – 1 of 5 candidates running in the November6th non-partisan primary for Mayor of Central Falls. Here are 10 reasons that you should vote for him, volunteer for him and donate to him between now and Tuesday. 1. Honesty matters. As we have seen with [...]
Dems Say Doherty Fell Short on Pro-Women Bill
In light of congressional candidate Brendan Doherty’s Women for Doherty rally tonight, the Rhode Island Democratic Party today questioned Doherty for not supporting legislation that would expand and reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act. Specifically, the party questions Doherty’s unwillingness to expand and strengthen protections to Native American women, members of the LGBT community and [...]
Mark Binder Takes Campaign to TV
“Are you a credible candidate?” I’ve heard that question again and again and again. What it’s code for is, “How much money have you raised?” (And “Do you own a car?”) I learned during my first campaign that the press and media have a Woodward and Bernstein relationship to money. (Remember the scene from All [...]
I’m not Bruce Bayuk, and Other Tidbits from the Trail
When I started this column, Bob suggested that I stick to “Progressive political issues.” This column is one exception. It’s going to be a collection of political shenanigans, conversations with constituents, notes and anecdotes from the trail so far. The Article that Was/Wasn’t… I’ve been noticing a lot of divergence between the Providence Journal’s paper paper [...]
Occupy Americans Elect
Last week, Americans Elect, the not-a-political-party political party which achieved party status in Rhode Island, announced that it was ending its nomination process for President and Vice President of the United States. American Elect attempted to use an online nominating process to run a third-party ticket for the White House. Unfortunately, beyond its long process [...]
Organize for Equality
UPDATE: This training has been postponed and will be rescheduled for a later date. More information to come… It’s getting close to crunch time in the General Assembly and we’re about to turn up the heat. In order to continue being as effective as we can be, we need your help. And so I’m inviting [...]
VP Candidate Talks Politics, Race, Music at RIC Friday
There is room at every election for new voices – including the ideas of former communists and those of modern-day socialists. That’s my premise and I’m sticking to it. Well actually, I’m doing more than that this Friday at a panel discussion I’m facilitating at RI College called “Race, Politics and Music: A Look at [...]
The Moderate Party Needs An Identity
In 2010, Kenneth Block, Chairman of the Moderate Party took a run at Governor. His decently-publicized (for a third party) campaign achieved 6.5% of the vote (22,146 votes); enough that if only half his voters had shifted to Republican candidate John Robataille, Republican would now be in their fifth term as governor. Considering voter rolls [...]
Why Vote Republican?
Whenever I want to take a break from reality, I go and read a column by RI “Young” Republican Chairman Travis Rowley. Now, if you’ve managed to avoid the writings of this Brown graduate, I applaud you. But to give you the idea of his writing, it’s just the right balance of out-of-touch, denigrating, arrogant, [...]
Reza Rites and RI Future at SXSW in Austin, TX
Heard of South by Southwest, but can’t be in Austin yourself? Pop in daily to “Take 5 with Reza Rites” on RIFuture.org for photos and live updates about her adventures at the annual festival – or follow her on Twitter and Facebook @rezaclif. Besides blogging for RI Future, Reza will be recording interviews and footage [...]
Racial Profiling, Vehicle Checkpoints Bills Heard Today
Last week here on RI Future, I shared a short podcast about Racial Profiling in RI from the perspective of youth and community organizers working with Providence Youth Student Movement. Here is an extended series of excerpts from my conversation on Sonic Watermelons with Sangress Xiong and Yonara Alvarado, and Franny Choi. Xiong, Alvarado, and Choi [...]
Principles are Worth More than Political Awards
You may have heard about our recent letter to General Treasurer Gina Raimondo requesting that she return an award from The Manhattan Institute, an extremist right wing group that promotes offensive, ignorant and hurtful positions towards the LGBTQI community, women, minorities, and our environment. Marriage Equality Rhode Island was among a group of organizations that [...]
Understanding The Intersection of Race, Music and Politics
(RHODE ISLAND, MASSACHUSETTS) – If I were to describe some of the events I have coming up as political, I’m sure someone would ask me, “hey Reza, what is political about an event featuring spoken word poetry and world rhythms?” This is the type of question I love to answer, though, sadly, few seem to [...]
Ron Paul no Friend to the Non-Religious
So last night Ron Paul gave a rousing speech in New Hampshire after he lost the primary there. He went on and on about FREEDOM of course, his supporters apparently unconcerned that Paul’s concept of freedom does not include a woman’s right to choose, many forms of birth control or laws that protect freedom, like [...]
The African American Vote in 2012 and Beyond
Human agency as the right to live, to be free, to self-determine your existence characterized the initial struggle for enslaved Africans in the American empire. The long prelude to becoming “American” played out on a bloody stage. And though less overtly bloody, this insidious political drama continues unabated.
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