Lots of stuff to worry about

Circle the Wagons! Over the next several weeks, watch the Charlestown Citizens Alliance and RISC go berserk over a vote by the US Senate Indian Affairs Committee to allow a "Carcieri Fix" bill to go to the Senate floor. This bill would reverse the effect of the Supreme Court's decision in Feb 2009 in Carcieri v. Salazar. Without going into all the nuances, that 8-1 decision effectively blocked the Narragansett Tribe from being able to put land outside the jurisdiction of state and local law. The effect: anything the tribe wants to do in Charlestown has to get past Ruth Platner and her anti-everything commission. The new action in the Senate revives that primordial fear that somehow the Narragansetts will build a Foxwoods-sized casino, nuclear power plant, toxic waste dump or mammoth-sized McDonalds franchise in town. Well, before you start panicking, a Senate committee vote is just that. This Congress can't agree on anything, never mind enact a bill like this. Plus, can we not have a little more respect and trust in our tribal neighbors?

Speaking of South County Nukes, in the wake of Japan's post-earthquake nuclear crisis, a lot more attention is being given to the 2-megawatt nuclear power plant on URI's Bay Campus in Narragansett. Former state rep. Ray Rickman has asked Gov. Chafee to decommission the plant to protect us from a nuclear disaster and to save money.


NO Kingstown might take away NIMBY bragging rights. I predicted that NO Kingstown and C-Town were going to get into a competition to see who will be the state NIMBY champ. Both towns are whipped up into a froth over wind turbines that, as we all know, cause cancer. C-Town took the lead over NO Kingstown on March 14th with its stealth ban on all wind turbines. But NO Kingstown is on the move to out-blow C-Town when it comes to anti-wind fervor. Perhaps their new move will be to make it illegal to even think about wind power.

Scary elderly people who own cats. Ruth Platner may have been on to something, She fought against affordable housing for ages 55+ because elderly people are more likely to own cats and that will lead to trouble. I read this example of what can happen when you allow old people with cats into the community.

Rhode Island has more millionaires than school teachers. Yes, I know, class war again. But while cities and towns in RI have been laying off teachers by the hundreds or forcing them to retire, our millionaire population - no matter what RISC says - has been growing. New data shows that we now have 20,873 millionaires in Rhode Island, up from 19,272 in 2009. According to the state's largest teachers union, there are fewer than 15,000 school teachers. What are the odds that we can get our millionaires to volunteer in our schools?

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We're all gonna die, part II. Don't make any Thanksgiving plans. In fact, don't make any plans for anything after November 9th.

Would you like fries with your economic recovery? It's really pathetic that we now consider it good news that McDonalds plans to show off on April 19 by hiring 50,000 new restaurant workers in one day. I'm sure that's great for those 50,000, but is this where our country is heading?

Author: Will Collette