A
veritable buffet for the mind
By
Will Collette
Another
one of the Tribe’s economic development efforts blocked
The Navy said NO to a request from the Bureau of Indian Affairs that 225 acres from
the long-closed Newport Navy base be transferred to the BIA for the use of the
Narragansett Indian Tribe. The tribe sought the land for economic development
purposes, though it explicitly stated a casino would NOT be part of their
plans. BIA would not agree to accept full responsibility for liabilities that might be attached to the Navy land, such as environmental problems. Old military land is notorious for the presence of hazardous waste – that was an issue when the Charlestown Naval air field was turned over to Charlestown and the US Wild & Wildlife Service.
Charlestown town government puts
considerable effort into blocking tribal aspirations, even when they are
outside of Charlestown, but in this case, there is no evidence that Charlestown
or its hired gun attorney Joe Larisa played any role in blocking the tribe’s bid
for the Newport Navy land. We’ll know for sure when Larisa’s next set of bills
to Charlestown come in.
Frank
Maher replaced as Hodgson campaign manager
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| Here's Maher, trying - and failing - to sell the Exeter recall |
In 2013, Maher went on to spearhead the gun lobby’s effort to recall the Democrats on the Exeter Town Council because they favored common sense gun registration
procedures that took into account Exeter’s lack of a police force. Maher, Rep.
Doreen Costa and the other gun nut recall advocates got their asses kicked at the polls as Exeter voters turned out in record
numbers to support their elected Council members.
Then in 2014, Maher got another chance
when Republican Dawson Hodson announced his campaign to oust incumbent state
Attorney General Peter Kilmartin with Maher as campaign manager. That didn’t work out for Maher, either, as the Hodgson campaign has just announced the appointment of Andrew Gobeil as campaign
manager.
I
received this e-mail message from Hodgson after asking about Maher:
“Frank helped out on a volunteer basis as we got the campaign up and running, although he hasn't worked with on [SIC] a day to day basis since the early spring. I'm proud to say he's a colleague and a friend, and a great supporter.”
Speaking
of Frank Maher….
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| Senator Cathie Cool Rumsey - both Cool and warm. Accept no imitation. |
I usually hate puns, and this is no
exception. It’s pretty childish to poke fun at a person’s name and in Cathie’s
name, “Cool” was the name she was born with and the name generations in her
family have proudly worn.
I can imagine Morgan being pretty warm
after running a clothing press all day, but anyone who meets Cathie Cool Rumsey
will walk away impressed at what a genuinely warm personality she has.
And is it appropriate for the Richmond
Republicans to infringe on the WARM Center’s name to promote their candidate?
But the really important consideration
for voters this is that Sen. Cool Rumsey has had a remarkable record of solid
achievement in her first term while Morgan seems to have almost nothing in her
resume.
Lawrence & Memorial Hospital lost $14.3 million by
being hard-asses toward their workers
L&M Hospital of New
London, the owners of Westerly Hospital, lost a lot of money last year when it
stonewalled its unions and locked out its own workers between Thanksgiving and
Christmas before coming to its senses and negotiating a fair contract.
Fitch Ratings said L&M’s operating margin was a minus 4.7% due to its three-week lockout. It lost lots of patient
revenue and paid a boatload of money to hire scabs to replace locked out
workers.
L&M management says the strike/lockout was a “one-time event” and
I think just about everybody who cares about L&M or Westerly Hospitals
hopes that is true.
Intriguing
job offer
Rhode Island Community Jobs just listed
an opening for an executive director for an unnamed South County non-profit
“with a strong community outreach and mission.” They appear to be conducting
the talent search through a head-hunter. The listing calls for applicants to
hold at least a BA with five years of experience with a human services agency
that includes “staff management, fund-raising, fiscal management and
volunteer/board experience.” Send your letter, resume and salary requirements
not later than September 15 to directorsearch2014@hotmail.com.
I strongly recommend signing up for the daily e-mails sent out by the Brown University Swearer Center if you are
looking for a new job in the non-profit sector. They list hundreds of jobs all
over the area.
Here’s another job – South County
Community Action is looking for a Health Coordinator for their Head Start
program to start in September. Send a cover letter and resume to jsimone@sccainc.org by August 29, 2014
Speaking
of jobs
I’m always happy to see people working
and appreciate how much of a jobs-creation program our submarine fleet has been
for our area. But I am not happy to see more spending on weapons systems that
are not needed as much as so many other things, such as infrastructure.
I have said in the past that General
Dynamics/Electric Boat should be looking ahead to other types of work that
could be performed with their skilled workforce and extensive facilities and
not just rely on building more submarines.
Lone Star Ticks
can make you allergic to meat
We
have Lone Star ticks in our area. I know because I was bitten
by one – it seems to be the only tick whose bite actually hurts while it’s
happening. While they are not known for carrying Lyme Disease, Lone Star ticks can make bite-victims allergic to the sugars contained in red meat.
It’s a complex process and doesn’t affect everyone the same way. But when it
does, the allergic reactions people have to eating meat make many victims
gladly turn vegetarian.
RI
to issue new plates to drivers of hybrid or all-electric cares
One of those unintended consequences of driving green
automobiles, hybrids or all-electric, is the potential of serious shock or electrocution to first responders when
such vehicles get into crashes on the roadways. To warn police, fire and rescue
personnel, Rhode Island has enacted a bill creating new plates that will have
the words “Electric/Hybrid” on the bottom of the license plate where “Ocean
State” currently appears.
Newly registered
electric or hybrid cars can get the plates for free. Owners of existing cars
will have to pay $21.50 for new plates and $31.50 for new plates with the same
number.
In
Rhode Island, a hundred dollars gets you $1.32 change
The conservative Tax Foundation put together a map that shows how much $100 gets you in buying power across the country. Normally, the Tax Foundation ranks Rhode Island poorly in
most of its national comparisons, but not on this one.
They say that
$100 in Rhode Island stretches to $101.32 which is pretty good compared to our
neighbors. In Massachusetts, that same $100 only gets you $93.28 in buying
power and it’s worse in Connecticut at $91.41. The highest cost state in the
union is Hawaii where $100 is worth only $85.32, but bear in mind that Hawaii
has higher average wages and that almost everything on the market in Hawaii
must be imported.
At the other end
of the scale, the place where $100 stretches the furthest is Mississippi at
$115.74. But average wages in Mississippi are among the worst in the country,
what with a Wal-Mart in nearly every small town and all you can buy with your
money is grits.
Important
resource for corrupt public officials
Weird Universe featured the book and noted some of Tayoun’s practical advice for
newly convicted white-collar criminals:
- Bring a good amount of cash if you can.
- Ask the custodial officer for a couple more razors, some more soap, and later for toothpaste. After a while you will learn where it is stored, check the door until you find it open, and help yourself — though never take too much since your lockers do get checked
- See a dentist before serving time
- Be wary of probation officers
- Never snitch on another inmate or guard
- Bring two pairs of eyeglasses, though "nothing fancy schmantzy"
- Get a doctor's note to avoid being assigned a top bunk
- Arrange private transportation to prison to avoid being handcuffed on the trip
The truth about
President Obama’s vacation time
One
of the myths commonly reported in right-wing media is that President Obama is
spending too much time on vacation and plays too much golf.
Politifact took up that question again, having debunked it every time they looked into
it. According to Politifact, as of August 8, Obama has taken 19 vacation trips
totaling 125 days during six years in office. At the same point in his
Presidency, President George W. Bush had taken 65 trips to either his Texas
ranch or his parents’ Kennebunkport estate for a total of 407 days.
Not
included in either Presidents’ totals were trips to Camp David, which were not
counted as vacation. In that category, Obama has taken 33 trips to Camp David,
taking all or part of 84 days. At the same point in his Presidency, Bush had
gone to Camp David 108 times for a total of 341 days.
It’s
true that Obama plays more golf than George Bush did – Bush favored
weed-whacking and falling off his bicycle. But Obama’s love of golf and 186
rounds played while in office, pales when compared to President Eisenhower’s
800 rounds and President Woodrow Wilson’s record 1200 rounds.
Speaking of
Putz…
The
Environmental Defense Fund in Washington plans to spend seven-figures in the 2014 election on Republican candidates. EDF spokesperson Tony Kreindler says:
"There is very little upside for a conservative or someone in the GOP to be a leader on environmental issues because they get attacked from left and right. We are trying to rebuild trust and provide a platform of support for them for when they want to engage,"
There’s
also very little upside to supporting members of a Party that thinks climate
change is a myth, thinks coal is God’s gift and thinks environmentalists –
presumably including any GOP candidate EDF supports – are the enemy. Of the
many national environmental groups I had to deal with during my DC career, EDF’s
business-oriented environmentalism made them one of my least favorite.