Category Archives: Rhode Island News

Staying Unmotivated

Posted on by ninjanurse

Last fall there were billboards in Providence with smiling faces of celebrities like Colin Powell and Bill Cosby, stars of the ‘Get Motivated’ seminar at the Civic Center  — excuse me, The Dunk.

A gargantuan photo of Rudy Giuliani didn’t motivate me to anything, because I don’t own a paintball shooter, but I still wonder how anyone made money off that event. I didn’t know that the shadowy presence of evil gnome  televangelist Pat Robertson, hovered in the background. Pat can fly to the poverty-wracked Congo and come back with pockets full of diamonds. The man is a money-making genius. He has his own interpretation of the 8th Commandment, ‘Thou Shalt Not Steal’.

The 11th Commandment is, ‘Don’t Get Caught’.

Tamara Lowe, a frequent guest on “The 700 Club” and author of the book Get Motivated, and her husband Peter are in the midst of an acrimonious divorce that just got uglier: in court documents, Peter accused Tamara and her new boyfriend of stealing his porn.

According to south Florida website Gossip Extra, the Christian motivation speaker and her spouse are on the verge of closing their marriage of 24 years.

Lowe and her associates rented the Dunk, put up billboards and all but gave away tickets to this event. How did they pay the bills?

The ‘faith-based’ may be more susceptible to cons than the ‘reality-based’. Probably not by much, because we all have our weak points.

It’s not nice to mock someone’s divorce, but it’s the good folks at the 700 Club who claim to be saving marriage from people who want to get married. A more interesting question is– really–where did the money come from, where did it go?

Video added by Kiersten — in case you want to see Tamara Lowe motivating the masses in all her glory.

Mainstream Media Picks up Oswald Krell Post on Tax Inequality in Rhode Island

Posted on by Kiersten Marek

If you listen to most politicians in Rhode Island, they will try to tell you that we can’t tax the rich because “they might leave us!” Well, if we had national legislation to tax the rich such as Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse is proposing, they wouldn’t have anywhere to go. And furthermore, it’s just not true that our neighboring states are tax havens compared to us. From RI FUTURE (still one of the only sources for independent political thought in the state!):

The median state is Mississippi. The poorest 20% pay about 10.8% of their total income in taxes. The top 1%, OTOH, only pay 5.5% of their income.

In other words, the effective tax rate of the bottom 20% is about twice as high as the tax rate for the top%–despite paying no fed taxes.

And how does RI stack up? We’re worse.

Here, the bottom 20% pays about 11.9%, while the top 1% pays 5.5%.

In other words, the bottom 20% pays a rate that is more than twice the rate paid by the top 1%.

And Mass is two spots worse, CT is one spot better, so spare me the “Oh, I could just move to Mass and save all this money” lie. And founder of a certain ‘alternative’ party, I’m looking at you.

This story was picked up by Ted Nesi at WPRI Eyewitness news. You know the local mainstream media isn’t running the way it used to (yes, Projo, I’m looking at you) when we are getting some of our better news analysis from nom de plume bloggers.

Some Historical Context on the Prayer Banner Controversy

Posted on by Kiersten Marek

My overall analysis is that the real problem we have right now in Rhode Island is not that the Cranston Schools had a banner hanging in an auditorium that had a prayer on it. The real problem is that our economy is sagging big time, and we need to figure out how to turn that around. But the prayer banner controversy does define an important distinction about what government can and cannot do. The thoughts of Oswald Krell also serve to give more historical context to the discussion:

[...]To begin: any sentence that contains “the founding fathers believed/thought/said/wanted/intended/were, etc is necessarily wrong.

Yes. wrong.

The founding fathers were not a monolithic bunch. Exactly the opposite. They were a group of men, many of whom had long years of experience in politics in some form. As such, as a group and for the most part, they understood the necessity of compromise. Not all of them; there were some doctrinaire ideologues, especially in the earlier days, but they were weeded out as time passed.

A great example of this is Sam Adams–whose father was a brewer, by the way. He played a major role in the early days of the protests that led up to the outbreak of fighting, but he did not have the political chops to play any role in congress during the war.

Reading My Tea Leaves About Achievement First

Posted on by Kiersten Marek

If I had to call it, my call at this point would be that the Board of Regents will vote to approve one, and only one, Achievement First School to start up in Providence.  I have followed this issue closely for the past year, though I am by no means an insider to the process.  I am merely a concerned parent and a somewhat obsessive follower of the corporate-influenced education reform movement and its critics, of which I am one.

But it appears, with the Providence Mayor, the (Providence-Mayor-appointed) School Board, and many Providence legislators on board, this Achievement First thing is headed for a ram-through.  It’s not going to be a big ram-through, and for this I am grateful.  It’s just going to be the first foot onto the slippery slope of the corporate-influenced divvying up of the education money pie.  There will still be one foot on firm ground, so if we want to pull back and cancel this whole thing in a few years with only one Achievement First school opened and closed, that will still be possible.

In the meantime, if you still want to try to influence the vote on this matter by beseeching our Governor to intercede (not sure he could actually do that, other than by trying to influence individual Board of Regents members), you can sign the petition at Change.org.  

Letter to Treasurer Raimondo

Posted on by Kiersten Marek

A group of civil rights and advocacy organizations in Rhode Island is calling Treasurer Raimondo’s attention to some of the extreme political positions taken by The Manhattan Institute and demanding that she return the award she recently received:

January 11, 2011
Hon. Gina Raimondo, General Treasurer State House, Room 102 Providence, RI 02903

Dear Treasurer Raimondo,

On behalf of a broad range of civil rights and community organizations, we respectfully write to you regarding your recent affiliation with the Manhattan Institute – an extremist right wing group that promotes offensive, ignorant and hurtful positions towards the LGBTQI community, women, minorities and our environment.

Last week you traveled to New York to stand with and be publicly recognized by The Manhattan Institute, where you accepted their “Urban Innovator Award” for your work to alter Rhode Island’s pension system. Your work regarding the pension system has certainly been the subject of significant debate, and our purpose today is not to reexamine the merits of those legislative efforts. Rather, we seek to call your attention to a series of troubling articles and position papers that we sincerely hope do not reflect your own personal or political positions.
· In “Gay Marriage vs American Marriage”, the Manhattan Institute comes alarmingly close to some of the more common anti-equality rants espoused by the so-called National Organization for Marriage (NOM) and the Family Research Council, by claiming that marriage equality (same-gender marriage) is not the same as “American Marriage”. Furthermore, in “Redefining Marriage Away”, the Manhattan Institute claims that the reason to fear marriage equality is that gay and lesbian couples do not value fidelity, that their asserted lack of monogamy is immoral and dangerous. As if these articles aren’t offensive enough, they publish and reference anti-equality articles and books written by former NOM president Maggie Gallagher including “Why Marriage is Good For You”.
· Ms. Hymowitz writes about how “Women Prefer the Mommy Track,” widespread rape on college campuses is a myth, and claims that feminism as a whole is “not so much dead as obsolete.”
· The Manhattan Institute called claims of racial profiling by police “ACLU misinformation,” “promoting racial paranoia,” and “ivory-tower posturing” and compared being charged with racism to being charged as a witch: to be without any conceivable defense.
· The Manhattan Institute rails against President Obama’s green jobs initiative, stands in opposition to wind power, and sees fracking as an alternative energy solution.

Madame Treasurer, the aforementioned articles are just a sample of what is readily available on the Manhattan Institute’s website. We must ask if you or anyone in your office were aware that this organization published such venomous, racially-charged, anti-gay, anti-environment and anti-women positions before you agreed to be honored by them in New York. We are willing to accept that you were not, but that acceptance must accompany a proactive effort by you. Return the Manhattan Institute’s Urban Innovator Award and publicly condemn these harmful writings at your earliest convenience, preferably within the next 48 hours.

We recognize that the purpose of your visit to the Manhattan Institute was to receive an accolade for your pension work and not to discuss the important issues we have brought to your attention. It is simply unacceptable to us as a coalition, or your constituents as a whole, for you to stand with or accept an award from a narrow-minded and hurtful organization. To do so would be seen as nothing less than an implicit condoning of their bigotry.

Thank you for your time and thoughtful consideration, we look forward to hearing from you as soon as possible.

Sincerely, Clean Water Action Rhode Island
Environmental Justice League of Rhode Island
Hope United
Marriage Equality Rhode Island
National Association of Social Workers Rhode Island Chapter
Ocean State Action
Sierra Club Rhode Island Chapter

Steve Stycos Year End Report: Ending Wasteful Spending, Opening Community Gardens, and Opposing Charter Schools

Posted on by Kiersten Marek

Ward 1 Council Member Steve Stycos reports on his excellent contributions to the city:

YEAR END REPORT
December 21, 2011

As 2011 comes to a close, I want to update you on my first year on the Cranston City Council and my goals for 2012.

For the most part, the council works well. Debates are generally polite. Council members listen to each other and many change their views when presented with a solid argument. The inflexibility and nastiness which characterize politics in Washington, D.C. are rarely seen at City Hall. In addition, Mayor Allan Fung’s administration is honest and competent. Unfortunately, city finances remain tight due to years of inadequate funding of city-run police and fire pension funds, cuts in state aid and health insurance costs.

During my first year on the Council, I fought wasteful spending, advocated for our children and schools and worked to improve our neighborhoods.

Fight Wasteful Spending
Amendments I offered to the mayor’s budget cut spending by $289,000.
Included in the cuts was the repaving of two school yards. I argued that asphalt is an unsafe playing surface and repaving is not critical.
Another cut came when I discovered the budget included funds to rebuild two playgrounds at Hope Highlands Elementary School. I noted that every other elementary school survives with one playground and some have no playground. The Council made the cut, saving $70,000.
After I discovered that Board of Elections members were paid $12,000 in the last off election year for meeting a total of 73 minutes, I convinced the Council to eliminate their pay.
Shortly after I took office I discovered that the Board of Tax Assessment Review was meeting without taking minutes. In addition, the board, whose members were paid $50/meeting, was meeting more than 100 times a year, sometimes for just twenty minutes. I objected to this secrecy and the three member board was forced to keep minutes. The council also agreed to my proposal to eliminate their pay, saving $22,000 a year.

Advocate for our children and schools
EDUCATION: I was one of two Council members to testify before the Rhode Island Board of Regents in opposition to the creation of a charter school in Cranston. Charter schools spend public money without controls from elected officials and drain badly needed money from our school system.

LIBRARY: After I succeeded in cutting the mayor’s budget by more than a quarter million dollars, I proposed adding $50,000 to the Cranston library budget. In recent years, the library has reduced its reserve fund to provide excellent services in tough financial times. The Council passed the addition, but the mayor vetoed it. The council failed to override the veto by one vote.

PUBLIC HEALTH: I convinced the Council to increase the city license fee to sell tobacco from $25 a year to $100 a year, raising about $7000 and taking a small step to discourage tobacco sales.

WOMEN ON HEARING BOARD: When a citizen alerted me that the Cranston Juvenile Hearing Board’s members were all men, I moved to add two women. The police department refers teenage petty offenders involved in fights and graffiti to the board instead of the court system. We especially need women members because half the cases involve girls. My proposal passed and two capable women were appointed.

Improve our neighborhoods
COMMUNITY GARDEN: With a lot of volunteer help, I started Cranston’s first community garden at Edgewood Highland Elementary School. The school department contributed part of the school parking lot, the Council appropriated funds for soil and construction materials and volunteers built the garden. Sixteen plots were built in 2011 and another sixteen are planned for 2012.

TREE PLANTING: At no cost to the city, I coordinated planting 28 trees at Edgewood Highland Elementary School, Cranston High School West, Ruggerio Park and Meshanticut State Park.

BUSINESS HOURS: When constituents complained that the council allowed Akid Dairy Mart to expand its hours without notifying neighbors, I proposed that businesses seeking longer hours must notify neighbors within 200 feet. The proposal passed and was used for the first time when Wal-Mart in western Cranston sought to open for 24 hours. The Council denied that request.

TREE TRIMMING: A Narragansett Boulevard resident complained that his street trees were badly pruned by Cox Cable and the city. We devised a proposal to require notice be posted whenever a street tree or a tree on city property is to be removed or trimmed. Citizens then may appeal to the city tree warden. The Council approved the proposal.

FOURTH STREET REPAVING: After a constituent brought to my attention that Fourth Street had only one layer of pavement and was falling apart, I raised the issue. The mayor was unaware of the problem, but after investigating, agreed to repave the street.

Looking toward 2012
In 2012, we need to do more. Our parks should be expanded to provide additional green space for biking, walking and other family activities. More trees should be planted to replace those destroyed by Hurricane Irene and, in a small way, temper the effects of global warming. Zoning reform is needed so that big corporations like Stop & Shop and CVS are not granted unnecessary variances which undermine the quality of life in our neighborhoods. Finally, our schools and libraries must be adequately funded.

I look forward to representing you in 2012.

Happy New Year,

Steve Stycos
Ward One City Councilman

We’re Number One! We’re Number One!

Posted on by Kiersten Marek

Here in Rhode Island, the littlest state in the nation, we don’t get to say we’re number one very often. But here’s our chance: right now it appears that we’re number one in the country for screwing the public sector worker out of long-term financial security. From the Associated Press:

Despite jeers and the threat of a lawsuit from public workers, Rhode Island lawmakers on Thursday night approved one of the most far-reaching overhauls to a public pension system in the nation.

The proposal is intended to save billions of dollars in future years by backing away from promised benefits to state and municipal workers in the state-run pension plan. Lawmakers called Thursday’s vote one of the most wrenching they’ve had to cast, though the fight may not be over if unions follow through with promised lawsuits.

When I look around the street I live on, which is a modest street in its home values, I see a lot of my neighbors who are going to be impacted by this. The cumulative loss of the additional cost-of-living increase might well cost some of these individuals their homes someday. These are teachers, administrative workers, and security workers for the state, just to name a few.

Treasurer Raimondo’s response for why EngageRI, the organization that supports her agenda, does not need to disclose its financial backers is because pension reform “benefits everyone.” This is just a bald-faced lie. A large percentage of our state’s workers just lost a big piece of long-term income security. They are now going to have to clamp down on spending and save more to fund their own retirements. These are people who will not be able to give to nonprofits or support that local band fundraiser or go out to eat but once in a blue moon to save the extra money.

If we want to benefit everyone, we need to take from those who have too much. The “too much” line in my mind gets drawn when we are talking millions and billions in income and assets. When enough people finally realize what is going on and the top 5% start to pay their share again, we might have enough money to rebuild our country. But by then, we may be too far gone.

Blossom S. Kirschenbaum

Posted on by ninjanurse

Blossom passed on November 5, just saw it on Facebook.

She was a writer, scholar, translator from Italian, New York girl, single mother, fierce critic and kind friend.

She had been sick, did not want to talk about it, walked everywhere and whenever I saw her had attitude. She was active in SWAP– ‘Stop Wasting Abandoned Properties’ and there are probably houses standing because of her efforts. She told me which houses on her street were empty during this latest real estate crash.

We were in a writing group together. She could be overwhelming, but she was a fine writer. Her short stories are a snapshot of a time on the cusp of great change, when bright women tried to balance love, work and family and succeeded or failed on a tilted field. I don’t see her fiction on the net, her children might get it into print in a collection that would stand up well with others of her contemporaries, including her friend, Grace Paley.

And, speaking of children, the one Providence School Board meeting I attended was livened by Blossom speaking up for the gifted program. Maybe a gifted girl who grew up in an immigrant/working neighborhood had some life experience to bring.

Blossom told me that once Norman Mailer came to speak and she asked, ‘What about the women?’ which really ticked him off.

For that I thank you Blossom, and for all the love you gave to your city and your friends.

This Could Go On for Awhile

Posted on by ninjanurse

Having seen the wheel go around a few times, I advise we don’t re-invent it. Almost 200 years ago Thomas Dorr and his supporters occupied Providence and despite many failures ultimately achieved their goal of expanding the right to vote.

30 years ago we watched our leaders play nuclear games and wondered if the end of life as we know it was imminent. The threat remains, but we have pulled back from the brink of mutual assured destruction. The worldwide protests over decades included mass occupations…


The women of Greenham Common, in England, occupied the site of a US nuclear weapons base from 1981 to 2000. During those years tens of thousands of women participated in protest and thousands were arrested.

On the 5th September 1981, the Welsh group “Women for Life on Earth” arrived on Greenham Common, Berkshire, England. They marched from Cardiff with the intention of challenging, by debate, the decision to site 96 Cruise nuclear missiles there. On arrival they delivered a letter to the Base Commander which among other things stated ‘We fear for the future of all our children and for the future of the living world which is the basis of all life’.
When their request for a debate was ignored they set up a Peace Camp just outside the fence surrounding RAF Greenham Common Airbase. They took the authorities by surprise and set the tone for a most audacious and lengthy protest that lasted 19years. Within 6 months the camp became known as the Women’s Peace Camp and gained recognition both nationally and internationally by drawing attention to the base with well publicised imaginitive gatherings.This unique initiative threw a spotlight on ‘Cruise’ making it a national and international political issue throughout the 80s and early 90s.

The conduct and integrity of the protest mounted by the Women’s Peace Camp was instrumental in the decision to remove the Cruise Missiles from Greenham Common. Under the Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, the missiles were flown back to the USA along with the USAF personnel in 91/92. The Treaty signed by the USA and the USSR in 1987, is in accord with the stated position held by women, in defence of their actions on arrest, when it states :

“Conscious that nuclear weapons would have devastating consequences for all mankind”

The presence of women living outside an operational nuclear base 24 hours a day, brought a new perspective to the peace movement – giving it leadership and a continuous focus. At a time when the USA and the USSR were competing for nuclear superiority in Europe, the Women’s Peace Camp on Greenham Common was seen as an edifying influence. The commitment to non-violence and non-alignment gave the protest an authority that was difficult to dismiss – journalists from almost every corner of the globe found their way to the camp and reported on the happenings and events taking place there.

The Greenham Common action helped to inspire a women’s occupation in upstate New York, The Seneca Women’s Encampment for a Future of Peace and Justice.

The camp took place mainly during the summer of 1983, from July 4 through Labor Day, concluding with a Labor Day Action honoring workers and highlighting the inflation and job loss that militarism brings. The Encampment continued through till 1994 when it “transitioned” into a “Women’s Peace Land.” Through its entire existence it continued to make the same principled philosophical connections between militarism, high rates of inflation, unemployment and global poverty, personal violence, addiction, abuse in all its forms and global environmental destruction. The Encampment continued as an active political presence in the Finger Lakes area for at least 5 more years, supporting anti-nuclear education and the connections between eco-feminism, non-violence, the need for civil disobedience and the new ideas of…perma-culture, sustainability….etc.

The camp was located in Romulus, in Seneca County, New York, adjacent to the Seneca Army Depot. Thousands of women came to participate and rally against nuclear weapons and the “patriarchal society” that created and used those weapons. The purpose of the Encampment was to stop the scheduled deployment of Cruise and Pershing II missiles before their suspected shipment from the Seneca Army Depot to Europe that fall.

In their words…

Vision Statement (From the Women’s Encampment for a Future of Peace & Justice Resource Handbook which was distributed between 1983 and 1986.):

Women have played an important role throughout our history in opposing violence and oppression.

We have been the operators of the Underground Railroad, the spirit of the equal rights movement and the strength of the peace movement. In 1590, the women of the Iroquois Nation met in Seneca to demand an end to war among the tribes. In 1848 the first Women’s Rights Convention met at Seneca Falls giving shape and voice to the 19th century feminist movement.

Once again women are gathering at Seneca–this time to challenge the nuclear threat at its doorstep. The Seneca Army Depot, a Native American homeland once nurtured and protected by the Iroquois, is now the storage site for the neutron bomb and most likely the Pershing II missile and is the departure point for weapons to be deployed in Europe. Women from New York State, from the United States and Canada, from Europe, and, indeed, from all over the world, are committed to nonviolent action to stop the deployment of these weapons.

I was there for this demonstration in NYC…

The biggest demonstration on earth (until the global anti-Iraq war march of Feb 15 2003) took place in New York on June 12, 1982, when one million people gathered in support of the second UN Special Session on Disarmament and to protest nuclear weapons.

Labor unions joined peace groups, other organizations and concerned individuals from across the country in the largest demonstration ever held in the nation’s largest city, in protest against the Reagan administration’s nuclear weapons buildup.

I remember people leaning out of windows cheering us on, and flying banners high on the buildings. I remember it was a beautiful day.

As the Occupiers in Burnside Park face the forces of cold, entropy, human nature and legal action from the City of Providence, they walk in the steps of others who gathered peacefully for a cause. They use group process refined by Quakers and anti-nuclear protesters, feminists and civil rights marchers. They do us all a service by maintaining a center for free speech and keeping the issue of economic inequality visible.

This is not new or even so radical. This is what Democracy looks like.