Click here to find out about this new menace.
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Help South County Habitat for Humanity on April 6
Walkathon for affordable housing
The 3-kilometer walk begins at 2 p.m., and all
proceeds will support Habitat’s Old North Village on the edge of the URI
Kingston campus.
No country does a better job integrating and benefiting from immigrants than the U.S.
Economic Benefits of
Commonsense Immigration Reform
Commonsense immigration reform -- that
brings undocumented workers out of the shadows and provides a path to earned
citizenship, that keeps families together, that provides green cards to math
and science graduates, and that secures our borders and makes it easier for
employers to verify job applicants’ immigration status -- would be good for the
economy and good for the country.
By Alan B. Krueger Chairman,
Council of Economic Advisers
No country does a better job
integrating and benefiting from immigrants than the U.S. Immigration
rejuvenates our workforce and entrepreneurs. It keeps our country on the
technological frontier. And it has helped us build the greatest economic engine
the world has ever seen. President Obama has said it best: Our Nation’s
strength is “our youth and our dynamism, and our history for attracting talent
from all around the globe.”
Don't forget clam cakes!
Sometimes, a state legislator has an idea that brings a smile to
my face. And sometimes, that idea is ruthlessly mocked. So I think it’s high
time I said something about H5654;
better known as the “Calamari Bill” which makes Rhode Island-style calamari
(the kind with pickled hot peppers) our state appetizer (as well as
acknowledging that squid fishing is a major part of our economy).
First, let’s be clear about my biases:
- I love Rhode Island.
- Rhode Island-style calamari is delicious.
Recycling and your Easter junk
Most Easter trash cannot be recycled - a guide to what can and can't be recycled
As Rhode Islanders make plans to celebrate the Easter holiday,
the Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation is reminding residents that many
of the prized, colorful favors that go hand-in-hand with the holiday are not
recyclable.
In an effort to streamline operations at RIRRC’s Materials
Recycling Facility, the agency has outlined a handful of helpful recycling
tips.
“In the days surrounding the Easter holiday, our Materials
Recycling Facility receives an influx of materials that simply cannot be
recycled,” said Sarah Kite, Director of Recycling Services for RIRRC. “From
Easter baskets to artificial grass and candy wrappers, many residents are
unaware that these materials cannot be recycled. We ask Rhode Islanders to keep
the following tips in mind and recycle right during the holiday.”
Be sure to reference these helpful recycling tips during the
Easter holiday:
Saturday, March 30, 2013
Tea Party take note
Reuse Your Tea Bags!
From
ENN.com, Kelly Vaghenas for Green Prophet reports on 13 surprising green ways
to reuse tea bags.
As
an avid tea drinker, I was intrigued when I stumbled upon a variety of sources
that promoted the eco-friendly use of tea bags, outside the teacup. Arthur W. Pinero, an
Englishman, of course, said, “Where there’s tea, there’s hope.” That’s
definitely true. Brewed tea bags can provide a pick-me-up in ways you’d
least expect. Here are 13 of them. You can use tea…
Government spying decision may hamper environmental advocacy
Recent Supreme Court Decision May Affect
Environmental Standing
A recent decision by the
United States Supreme Court has raised questions about the scope of plaintiffs'
standing to bring suit in federal court, a critical issue for environmental
litigants.
Federal courts have long
recognized that certain types of environmental harms can form the basis of
standing under Article III of the United States Constitution, which requires
plaintiffs to establish an "actual or imminent" injury that is "fairly
traceable" to the challenged conduct and "likely to be
redressed" by a favorable decision.
Organic farming can feed the world
Achieving a Sustainable Food System with
Organic Farming
From: Editor, Worldwatch
Institute, More from this Affiliate and from ENN.com
Despite a slight decline
between 2009 and 2010, since 1999 the global land area farmed organically has
expanded more than threefold to 37 million hectares, according to new research
conducted by the Worldwatch Institute for its Vital Signs Online service
(www.worldwatch.org).
Regions with the largest certified organic agricultural
land in 2010 were Oceania, including Australia, New Zealand, and Pacific Island
nations (12.1 million hectares); Europe (10 million hectares); and Latin
America (8.4 million hectares), write report authors Catherine Ward and Laura
Reynolds.
An expensive mess
The state of Rhode Island’s
infrastructure
New annual
data from the American Society of Civil Engineers paints a
grim picture of bad roads, crumbling bridges, degraded transportation,
dangerous dams, over dependence on fossil fuels, and underfunded school and
park facilities from one end of the state to the other.
The ASCE
report highlights the huge gap between the staffing and funding needed to
address our problems and what we actual commit.
One way or
the other, we pay, either when systems fail or are overwhelmed by natural
disasters or through the daily toll in wasted time and damaged vehicles.
This has
been going on for a long time. When Cathy and I lived our 25 year exile in
Washington, I used to crack that DC’s motto should be changed to “Welcome to
Washington: 500 miles of bad road.”
Turns out
my wisecrack was pretty accurate, since that’s almost exactly how many of DC’s
1000 miles of street were substandard. You don’t see this level of decay in
many other world capitals such as London or Paris. Maybe Rome, but they have
age as an excuse.
Friday, March 29, 2013
OMG PD
Unlucky on St.
Paddy's, Caught Red-Handed
(Un)lucky Number 84
The luck of the Irish was not with the 84 people arrested at this year’s St. Patrick’s Day celebration in
Newport. Plot twist: most of
those arrests were alcohol-related charges. According to Newport police, 37
people were cited with possession of alcohol in public while 31 minors were
charged with possession of alcohol.
Fourteen more were charged with disorderly
conduct with eight arrested on assault charges. Last, but not least, only two
people were charged with urinating in public.
Guess it's not an urgent issue...
PROVIDENCE
— The state's climate change study commission was supposed to issue an annual
update by March 1. Instead, the Rhode Island Climate Commission is poised for
an overhaul.
Last
week, Sen. Joshua Miller, D-Cranston, introduced a bill (pdf) to recreate the state climate
commission, which he co-chairs, so that it answers to the state Office of
Statewide Planning.
The Military-Industrial Threat to the Nation’s Well-Being
It's time for some serious spring
cleaning at the Pentagon.
These
days, the news cycle rotates between the deficit, bouts of extreme weather,
horrific crimes, taxation, immigration, gun control (or the lack thereof), and
a few other regularly reported crises. Lost in this shuffle is any heated
discussion of the biggest threat to America’s well-being: the
military-industrial complex.
A
generation into the nation’s lonely status as the world’s sole superpower, and
a decade after the start of the tragic and pointless Iraq War, the Pentagon
continues to be several times the size we need for security’s sake. But there
seems little we can do about the more than $500 billion a year our government
spends on “defense.”
If you’re internet connection has been slow lately, it may not be your computer’s fault
Global internet slow-down caused by commercial
cyberwar
My internet connections
to many of my favorite sites – including Progressive Charlestown – has been
slow as molasses in the past few days. So bad, that in some instances, sites
simply won’t load.
Apparently, this is collateral
damage from a European feud between one company in the business of
curbing global spam and another company (and its friends) in the spam business.
It’s being called “the
biggest cyberattack ever” and involves an attack by a self-described “internet
activist” based in Barcelona called Sven Olaf Kampuis.
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Astronomy Picture of the Day
Light Echoes from V838
Mon
From NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
What caused this
outburst of V838 Mon? For reasons unknown,
star V838 Mon's
outer surface suddenly greatly expanded with the result that it became the
brightest star in the entire Milky Way Galaxy in
January 2002.
Then, just as suddenly,
it faded. A stellar flash like
this had never been seen before -- supernovas and novas expel
matter out into space.
Although the V838 Mon flash
appears to expel material into space, what is seen in the above
image from the Hubble
Space Telescope is actually an outwardly moving light echo of the
bright flash.
In a light echo, light
from the flash is reflected by successively more distant rings in
the complex array of ambient interstellar dust that
already surrounded the star.
V838
Mon lies about 20,000 light years away
toward the constellation of
the unicorn (Monoceros),
while the light echo above
spans about six light
years in diameter.
The Plan to Turn Medicare into ‘WeDon’tCare’
Paul Ryan is still stuck in the same
old rabbit hole.
Apparently,
Rep. Paul Ryan missed the outcome of last November’s presidential election. Oh,
wait — wasn’t he on the ballot in that election as Mitt Romney’s running mate?
Well,
yes, but less than five months later, the Wisconsin Republican seems to have
forgotten that he and the Mittster were soundly rejected.
One Nation, Without a Clue
If our generations had been around
in the 1930s, we'd still be in the Great Depression with prominent lawmakers
telling each other we need a smaller government.
There
was a time when we had a Greatest Generation. That would be my parents’
generation. If you’re a mere stripling of 40 or 50 or so, it probably was your
grandparents’ generation.
You
know the rap: They survived the Great Depression, won World War II, stood up to
the Russians, blah, blah, blah.
I’ll
grant you all of that. But if they were so great, how come they were such were
lousy parents?
That
may sound harsh. But as noble as they were, they fell down on the job of
passing on their virtues to their children. That generation of Americans has
now reached middle age and beyond. It includes my generation and my own kids’
generation.
Instead
of being uncomplaining and self-sacrificing as our parents or grandparents
were, we’re a cohort of greedy whiners, quick to blame others for our failings.
And when the available evidence fails to support our convictions, we simply
deny reality and make up a kinder version.
Who is Lulu Schlesinger, and why should you care?
It's Women's History Month
There's a special feature on the Charlestown Democratic website with lots of things you didn't know about women in politics in Rhode Island and Charlestown.
Click here to find out more.
There's a special feature on the Charlestown Democratic website with lots of things you didn't know about women in politics in Rhode Island and Charlestown.
Click here to find out more.
Living with Copar
Playing “bait and switch” with our lives
By Christina Holden Shea
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Lets mix this with a Zoning Committee Chairman who
abruptly recused himself from the long awaited hearing with a less than
detailed conflict of interest excuse and then another Zoning official (responsible
for issuing the Cease and Desist Order) who up and disappears when the long
awaited hearing has finally begun (seven months later), thus, resulting in a
subpoena being filed for her return to testify at the zoning hearing. All eyes need to shift to the south west
corner of the state to the town of Westerly.
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Astronomy Picture of the Day
M42: Inside the Orion
Nebula
From NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
The Great Nebula in Orion, an immense, nearby starbirth region,
is probably the most famous of all astronomical nebulas.
Here, glowing gas surrounds hot young stars at the edge of
an immense interstellar molecular cloud only 1500 light-years away.
In the deep image below in assigned colors highlighted by emission in oxygen and hydrogen, wisps and sheets of dust and gas are particularly evident.
The Great Nebula in Orion can be found with the unaided eye near
the easily identifiable belt of three stars in the popular constellation Orion.
In addition to housing a
bright open cluster of stars known as theTrapezium, the Orion Nebula contains many stellar nurseries. These nurseries contain much hydrogen gas, hot young stars, proplyds, and stellar jets spewing material at high speeds.
Also known as M42, the Orion Nebula spans about 40 light years and is located in the same spiral arm of our Galaxy as the Sun.
Better than baby chicken embryos?
By JOANNA DETZ/eco.org RI News staff
Finally,
Chrissy Teck, marketing manager at Fertile Underground
Grocery, who had already eaten one earlier, popped another in her mouth
with a smile. In one bite, the toasted cricket was gone. Down the hatch.
On a
recent Tuesday evening, a small group was forming at the sample tables at
Fertile Underground during the store’s “Alternative Protein Night.” Behind one
table, fielding questions from curious shoppers, sat David Gracer, owner
of Small Stock Foods and
longtime proponent of entomophagy, or insect consumption.
The
toasted crickets heaped in the plastic container in front of Gracer weren’t
exactly going quickly. People seemed more interested in trying samples of the
store-made vegan sausage at the next table.
Eat Your Weeds
The humble dandelion turns out to be
a superfood and stinging nettles make a premium pizza topping.
 |
| Dandelion tart |
You
might not be a master gardener, but odds are you grow one of the world’s
healthiest vegetables in your yard every year. It’s a superfood
that packs more calcium, iron, magnesium, and Vitamins C, B6, E, and K than an
equal amount (by weight) of spinach. And, if you notice this amazing vegetable at all, you probably
get annoyed by its uninvited presence in your lawn.
I’m
talking about the humble dandelion.
Standing Up to a Theoretical Threat
It's good to know the Senate isn't
squandering its time on banal issues like health care and immigration.
By Donald Kaul
Strange
things are happening in Washington.
In
the Senate, Rand Paul, the son of presidential candidate Ron Paul, recently
proved himself a chip off the old blockhead by conducting a one-man filibuster.
I’m
not talking about the namby-pamby sign-a-piece-of-paper-and-forget-about-it
filibuster in the modern style. I mean a real, old-fashioned, “Mr. Smith goes
to Washington” Jimmy Stewart filibuster — the kind where a senator takes the
floor and talks for hour upon hour to block a bill until he or she collapses or
has to go to the bathroom, whichever comes first.
Mania on the Moraine
Areglado presses the panic button on Whalerock wind proposal
 |
| Ron Areglado is very upset...but it's nothing that money won't cure |
By Will Collette
There was an interesting op-ed in the Westerly Sun written by Ron Areglado who ran an unsuccessful campaign for Charlestown Town Council on the Charlestown Citizens Alliance (CCA Party) ticket.
Areglado wrote, with considerable
distress, about what he seems to believe is the impending court victory by
developer Larry LeBlanc in the almost three-year long battle over LeBlanc’s
proposed industrial wind farm which would be sited right on the Charlestown
moraine.
Areglado thinks this would be terrible. In fact, so do I, but Areglado and I differ greatly both on the reasons for coming to that conclusion and on what to do about it.
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Astronomy Picture of the Day
NGC 6751: The Glowing
Eye Nebula
From NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
Planetary nebulae can look simple, round, and planet-like in small telescopes. But
images from the orbiting Hubble Space
Telescope have become well
known for showing these fluorescent gas shrouds of dying Sun-like stars to possess a staggering variety of detailed symmetries and shapes.
This composite color
Hubble image of NGC 6751, the Glowing Eye Nebula, is a beautiful example
of a classic planetary nebula with complex features.
It was selected in April
of 2000 to commemorate the tenth anniversary of Hubble in orbit, but was reprocessed
recently by an amateur as part of the Hubble Legacy program.
Winds and radiation from
the intensely hot central star (140,000 degrees Celsius) have apparently created the nebula's streamer-like features.
The nebula's actual diameter is approximately 0.8
light-years or about 600 times the size of our Solar System. NGC 6751 is 6,500 light-years distant in the high-flying
constellation of the Eagle (Aquila).
Solar power now makes financial sense
Solar Power close to Cost Parity with
other Energy Sources
They said it couldn’t be
done. They tried to tell us that renewable energy could only survive if it were
propped up with government subsidies.
Never mind that our whole system of
economic development, beginning with the patent office, is predicated on the
idea that fledgling, underfunded industries need special protection for a
limited time until they are strong enough to go it alone.
Never mind that the
fossil fuel industry, which can hardly be considered fledgling or underfunded,
is still receiving billions in taxpayer subsidies.
UPDATED: The Donald hates wind turbines
UPDATE: The Donald can't always get what he wants
By Will Collette
This article ran in July 2011 as Charlestown was diving off the deep end of anti-wind energy NIMBYism. Donald Trump was a kindred spirit to our local Ill Winders.
But, according to the British media, the Donald didn't get his way. The Scottish Government has given its approval to an off-shore wind farm that Trump opposed, claiming it would ruin the view from his new billion-dollar golf resort.
Trump said he plans to sue. Naturally.
Continue on to read my original article.
By Will Collette
This article ran in July 2011 as Charlestown was diving off the deep end of anti-wind energy NIMBYism. Donald Trump was a kindred spirit to our local Ill Winders.
But, according to the British media, the Donald didn't get his way. The Scottish Government has given its approval to an off-shore wind farm that Trump opposed, claiming it would ruin the view from his new billion-dollar golf resort.
Trump said he plans to sue. Naturally.
Continue on to read my original article.
Inequality and the Social Security Debate
In the richest country in the world,
it's downright insane to even consider cutting back on benefits necessary to
provide a dignified retirement for hard-working Americans.
Rhonda
Straw is one of millions of Americans who do important work every day but still
have a hard time saving for retirement. As a home health aide, Straw administers
medication, changes bandages, and performs other vital services to the elderly
and disabled. With an hourly wage of only $9, Straw, 51, expects to rely almost
entirely on Social Security when she retires.
Unfortunately,
workers like Straw aren’t big players in the Social Security debate. The
Business Roundtable, the club for America’s most powerful corporate CEOs, is
using its muscle to push for an increase in the retirement age to 70 and to
recalculate inflation in a way that would further reduce benefits. Fix the Debt
is another CEO-driven outfit that’s throwing around tens of millions of dollars
in a campaign to cut Social Security and Medicare.
Compared
to ordinary workers like Rhonda Straw, these CEOs have virtually no skin in the
Social Security debate. To illustrate the disparity, we compared her situation
to that of two health industry CEOs who are active with both the Business
Roundtable and Fix the Debt.
Was there voter fraud at the RIGOP Convention?
Did Charlestown
GOP votes make the difference?
By
Will Collette
The successor to State
Republican Chair Mark Zaccaria was supposed to have been picked at the GOP State
Convention on March 21st, but Zaccaria declared the convention
vote was nullified.
It
seems that Mark Smiley beat Zaccaria’s hand-picked successor Dan Harrop by one
vote.
However,
when all the votes were counted, according
to ABC6 and WPRO, there were 187 votes cast, but only 186 delegates who were
registered to vote. WRNI reports
the vote was a 94 to 93 vote, also in favor of Smiley over Harrop, and says the
whole scene was “chaos.”
Based
on the closeness of the count and this disparity, Zaccaria said that the
parliamentarian recommended voiding the vote.
Compounding the chaos - and the bad media coverage that came from it - apparently Zaccaria decided to switch gears over the weekend. On Sunday afternoon, he announced in an e-mail that upon further "investigation," Smiley was the winner after all.
 |
| Smiley declared winner after "investigation" |
Compounding the chaos - and the bad media coverage that came from it - apparently Zaccaria decided to switch gears over the weekend. On Sunday afternoon, he announced in an e-mail that upon further "investigation," Smiley was the winner after all.
This
closely fought battle to become the next captain of the RIGOP Titanic is
rumored to be one of the reasons why Mark Zaccaria stuck his beak into
Charlestown’s Republican politics. As I reported, Zaccaria
recruited defeated state Representative candidate Tina Jackson to “re-organize”
the town Republican Committee without consulting with the duly
elected members of that Committee to find out if they wanted to be re-organized.