Rhode Island Political Bits

Immigrant-bashing, again...Tax the rich (redux)...Play as if it's your money....Faggedabouddit why doncha?...Things don't go better with Koch
By Will Collette

Round up the usual suspects. Tea Party state representative Doreen Costa (R-NO Kingstown) loves to “round up the usual suspects.” One of the General Assembly’s most ineffectual legislators, she spends most of her energies attacking the scapegoats of her hard-right core of supporters – immigrants and welfare recipients. Oh, and people who use non-denominational terms like “Happy Holidays!” All of these issues are, of course, the prime reasons for this country’s and this state’s problems. So, in typical Doreen Costa fashion, one of Costa’s first pieces of legislation would override the decision of the State Board of Governors for Higher Education to allow the children of undocumented immigrants to receive the in-state tuition rate at state colleges. Heaven forbid these children should get an education and, along with attaining citizenship, also become productive members of our community. 

Tax the Rich. By sharp contrast with Costa, one of Charlestown’s two progressive state representatives, Rep. Larry Valencia, is reintroducing a bill he submitted last year to levy a 4.1% income tax surcharge on Rhode Islanders with annual incomes of $200,000 (single person) and $250,000 for couples. The 4.1% figure was chosen to recover the amount of revenue that the state lost due to the tax cuts for the rich enacted during the Bush Administration. If you look at the upper right of Progressive Charlestown’s home page, you’ll see a running meter that shows how much the Bush tax cuts for the 1% cost the country. I understand there will be a champagne party over at Shelter Harbor when the meter hits one trillion dollars. These one-percenters are supposed to be the “job creators,” but if you look around, we did not get our money’s worth. They got their tax cuts, so where are the jobs. Larry proposes that after ten years of unfulfilled promises, it’s time to get our money back. 

The most expensive video game of all time. Wanna see what $75 million of your tax dollars bought you? Well, Curt Schilling’s 38 Studios now has a demonstration version of their first-ever game available to play on-line. Since Rhode Island taxpayers financed this game by paying Curt Schilling $75 million to move his company from Massachusetts to Providence, I think we should all have unlimited playing privileges. Perks of ownership. The deal for Schilling was worked out by Governor Donald Carcieri in the waning days of his last term. This game will be the first product Schilling’s company has ever sold and a lot is riding on it – like whether or not it will succeed, or his company will go belly-up or whether he’ll ever pay back the $75 million we lent him. 


However, apparently the new demo doesn't work very well. Schilling just posted a letter to gamers through one of their larger networks that begins with an apology about the demo: "Let me start by apologizing. The demo? Ya, it is way way WAYYYYY more buggy than anything ANYONE should ever release, much less a demo." I calculated that he will probably need to sell 2.5 million copies of this game to pay us back, and this "buggy" problem is not a good start.

What're YOU lookin' at?

Providence tells Travel+Leisure – “Bite Me!” Providence made it onto this year’s exclusive list of Twenty Rudest Cities in the US, according to Travel+Leisure magazine. Providence is ranked at #18, the same rank it had last year. Despite the rudeness, however, Providence rated #2 as a great spot to start day trips and #3 for theater. The highest honor was the #1 ranking awarded to Providence for its burgers.

The Koch Brothers and ExxonMobil don’t like us much. In its annual ranking of the states for “Business Tax Climate,” the Washington-based Tax Foundation ranked Rhode Island at #48, topping only Vermont, New York, New Jersey and California. The top-ranked states are Wyoming, South Dakota, Nevada, Alaska and Florida.The Tax Foundation is funded almost entirely by the petrochemical industry and its leading donors are the Koch Brothers and ExxonMobil. Koch and ExxonMobil also hold seats on the Foundation’s board.