Thursday, May 28, 2009

right time for tax cuts

rappers

cutting corporate taxes

Rhode Island’s Governor Don Carcieri is trying to make the state more attractive for businesses, and buseiness people.  He has proposed a phasing out of the corporate tax, and a reduction of the personal income tax.  Social service advocates say now’s not the time to cut taxes, when everything else is tight.  Here’s what rappers think.
You betcha it’s time. The services that might get cut are mostly being given to ILLEGALS anyway, the truly needy are shunted off. So, cut the taxes so us hard working LEGAL RI residents can receive a break for a change!!
Bil from Warwick

Cut the taxes.  We need real jobs in this state.  not the restaurant jobs that pay minimum wage.  We drove off all the manufacturing jobs and now are paying the price.
Sailor

Sooooooo, you wonder why everyone is leaving (or trying) to leave RI….... the housing market is horrible, and that’s why some are STUCK here.  The taxes are through the ROOF…...other than you CAN’T sell your home…..... what other reason is there to Stay Here???
Carol m

I am so sick and tired of corporate America getting all the breaks! Yeah, lower our state income taxes but… eliminate the corporate tax all together. Please tell me why the people in charge squander all our money away and then we have to make it up! Yeah, that’s fair! Then they cut the programs for the aged, handicapped and poor instead of getting rid of state provided cars ( I believe that would save eleven million dollars alone)! state provided cell phones, get rid of the assistant’s assistant’s assistant and so on and so forth! It is so sad that they keep taking from the poor and giving to the rich! But hey, we live in the crookedest little state in the union. All I know is if they give us, Joe public a buck, that means they are filling the fat cats pockets to the hilt!  As far as more jobs, remember Regan’s trickle down theory? Yeah, right!
R.S., W.Greenwich

Why pay taxes to a State that pays themselves a salary to tell you they have managed and administrated a condition of out of money. fool me once fool me twice.
Zuke

I know it is counter-intuitive, but the last thing we should do is lower any taxes. What we need to do is fire the bums that got us into this financial mess, but Rhode Islanders don’t have the guts for that. As long as we keep re-electing the same incompetent boobs to our state and local governments, we will continue having the same problems. If we lowered the tax rate to zero, we would become Somalia. We need to get rid of the fools we keep electing and try to find someone that wants to fix RI instead of lining his own pockets.
Bill G, Cranston

Yes but I need to be convinced that a reduction should be enacted at this time; I can, however, be convinced of the immediate need for action now.  I think an incremental tax cut should be considered.  I’d suggest leaving taxes as they are, during this fiscal year: then, incrementally, over three years, until the desired level of taxation is reached.  As incentive to not waste three years, I would suggest businesses locating here, during this fiscal year and the next, be given an additional of a percentage (possibly 5 or 10 percent) of their third year tax reduction, to be applied to their tax bill in each of the ensuing 5 or 10 years.  This is a little more pragmatic approach to the problem.
Joe T, East Providence

They only way out of our financial mess it to cut taxes and draw business into our state rather than watching them run screaming for a better business advantage elsewhere.  Our elected officials love to spend the taxpayer money and hand out contracts that are unsustainable.  It is time for them to go or to curb their spending like the rest of us have had to do. I am not sure why they don’t get it, as they are supposed to be intelligent individuals. Maybe it is time to make all in government stand in the same lines their constituents do. Too many perks have made them think money grows on trees.
It is time to let the Governor govern and stop fighting him based on political party. He has the right idea.  The Dems in RI are the party of NO.  Save our state, don’t sink it.
Lee, Woonsocket

Friday, May 22, 2009

Torture

rappers

Should the Senate drop the investigation?

The ongoing investigation into who authorized enhanced interrogation techniques has stirred up a debate…it’s either ‘whatever it takes, they have no rights’, or ‘we can’t lower ourselves to inhuman tactics, and must obey OUR laws.‘  read on for the rants and heartfelt opinions of the best viewers in television…you, the rappers.

It occurs to me that there a lot more pressing matters(the economy,employment,banking industry and automotive industry, for a couple of examples) than our treatment of those who, not only plot against us, but who actively take part in that mission and who go around killing our citizens.  It is my consideration that we should use the exact methods they use to extract information.  Therefore, there is no doubt, in my mind, that further investigation must be halted. 
Side note:  this is nothing more than an transparent attempt by our junior senator (his title does not rate a capital s) to advance his pathetic career.
Joe T,  East Providence

Any suspected violation of the Constitution must be investigated. There is also a long legal history stretching from the removal from duty of Major Glenn in the Spanish-American War to the 1983 conviction and sentencing of Sheriff Parker in Texas that makes waterboarding both torture and illegal under US law. This is a slam dunk. As an aside, the Constitution can be a suicide pact. Its purpose is best reflected by the state motto of New Hampshire. If you don’t have the guts to live by the Constitution, you should either shut up or investigate living arrangements in places that pretend to be free, like Britain or Israel.
Bill G, Cranston

Those that seek to control and
dictate a Free Society; through torture, and believe confessions begotten by such methods are valid; will never know Freedom.
Only Madness disguised
as an exemplary protection of
a sane and civilized world.
Zuke

I believe the united states was justified in there means of interrogating the terrorists that have or have been a part of killing hundreds of American citizens.They are no different than murderers and should be treated as such.
Ron, Coventry

I think that we must accept the fact that it is a daunting task to keep our nation safe and that dealing with terrorists may involve advanced interrogation that we may find appalling but in fact play a pivotal role in keeping our nation safe.
With so many other issues right now, I feel this is clearly a diversion from a failed stimulus package, a flip-flop on Guantanamo Bay, and a spiraling National debt.  However, I expect this issue will be put to rest very soon as Nancy Pelosi seems to be caught in some"misstatements” about the “briefing” that she really wasn’t “briefed on”.
Mary Beth, Swansea

Of course the Senate should continue to investigate the illegal activities of the previous administration. They have to. Those acts were ILLEGAL. Duh! They violate US LAW. They violation the GENEVA CONVENTION. Not to mention being highly immoral. If it had been your kid that was waterboarded you wouldn’t be asking such a ridiculous question.
Kalula

If Shelly Whitehouse wants to make a name for himself with his Senate hearings on torture,  that name should be Jane Fonder; both he and she give aid and comfort to the enemy.
If he had a relative who had his head sawn off, would he still be willing to give wanton murderers who have no respect for human life all the comforts of a Club Fed? A terrorist will no longer fear being tortured by having ladies panties covering his head or having a cricket set loose in his cell if Shelly has his way.
The world is listening, and because of the Senate hearings, America’s enemy’s will perceived us as a weak, effeminate nation. An intelligent Alcaide or Taliban fighter knows that he has nothing to fear from America if captured; he will no longer live in a feces ridden cave, but in a clean cell with clean clothes and a full belly.
Remember 1950s McCarthyism and the Red baiting House Un-American Activities Committee, and the way he and his committee tore away freedom of association in America? Well, welcome to Whitehouseism, the new search to scourge patriots at the Senate hearings whipping post.
DRDIX, Bristol

Bill,Bill,Bill…..If investigating President Clinton about his affair during his presidency seemed necessary; don’t you think a president approving illegal torture tactics should be looked at also?  Or, have we as a society totally warped our morals into thinking our tax money should be spent on questional affairs instead of what the real and more important issues are in this world.
Go Figure?!?!
Nothing surprises me anymore!!
Gail,  Riverside

I think that the people responsible for ok ing the torture should be held accountable and that includes the bald headed, hidden for 8 yrs VP.  and his puppet, the president.
Judith, Coventry

This sets a dangerous precedent.  If it’s done to one administration, it then opens the door to investigate any others in the future.  We have been at war before, and we will no doubt be at war again.  Who will want to serve in the military or make the difficult decisions in any administration if there is the possibility of prosecution for protecting the citizens of this country.  Who makes the decision as to what constitutes torture in those gray areas?  These people put their lives on the line to keep us safe, and this is the thanks they get? their reputations destroyed or prison?  There will always be the few who will cross the line—that is a separate issue.  I am by no means in favor of real torture, but this whole idea of investigating our own frightens me into thinking that our country has gone weak and spineless.
Julie, West Warwick

No, this is a of the senate’s time and the taxpayers money, by an effete senator who has no concept of what is important to his constituents and the country
he serves.
Joe T, East Providence

Friday, May 15, 2009

Overblown Coverage?

rappers

Enough or Too much?

rappers pretty much as a person felt the Swine Flu threat was way overblown.  Of course, their opinions might be different if it had swept the nation and killed a bunch of people.  But then, if my mother had wheels, she’d be a trolley car.  Every American who got sick, recovered…thankfully.  and the total number of cases remained relatively small…much smaller than the seasonal flu we deal with every year.  so, here’s the line from rappers responding to the question..was swine flu coverage too much?

As a news junkie I watched as the media hyped this minor issue into a Pandemic over a weekend.
Flu is around us all the time.  We live with it year in and year out.
As the hysteria built it just got to the point where I just tuned it all out.  Guess what????  It’s NO big deal.  A few folks died a few more got sick.
And a bunch of talking heads justified their huge salaries.
I understand the NEED to make people aware but, this media fed hysteria is just over the top.
Further, instead of closing schools because ONE student MIGHT have the bug is terrible and unneccessary.
IF they think the student MIGHT be sick make that student stay home.
IF folks were not so anal about bacteria, they might not get sick all the time.  You do need to live with germs and dirt to be healthy.
Judith, Coventry

The only reason there is so much coverage of the swine flu
is because there hasn’t been another disaster to cover lately.
The news is about selling advertising and newspapers.
Price of gas is down, now we have a real President, ...boring.
Stuckinri

It’s the flu people, the flu.  Take precautions you would normally take to avoid catching any virus.  This strain does not cause you to sprout pig ears & a tail!
Cathy,  Cranston

We have been inundated with the “terrible” Swine Flu Pandemic news. From what I have read this flu is no more dangerous than the flu virus that hit this past winter. I think it’s just a way for the news media to sound off and to try to convince us that they are necessary, justifying their existence as it were. Certainly we needed to hear about it, but the media lead every newscast with this story, and as sure as we needed to be informed we didn’t need to be terrified. I wasn’t.
Al, Johnston

Absolutely!  There has been excessive coverage regarding the flu pandemic that so far doesn’t exist.  We not even close to an epidemic!  Time for the state to spend their resources on something else.
Deb, East Greenwich

Here’s what my research has gotten me:
With approximately 6,575,298,222 people on earth, and there being *so far* 331 confirmed cases of swine flu, your chances of having caught it so far are approximately 5.03399221 × 10^-6… that’s .000005%. That mean’s you’re more likely (far more likely) to be struck and killed by lightning, than you are to have contracted this media-sensationalized sickness. Not to mention what we’re hearing about those who are contracting it… “...likely to make a speedy recovery…“? Wait, what? I thought this was the next black plague!
Kevin S, Rhode Island College

there was too much hype that generated public panic, but not enough fact.
Richard, Bristol

On its death bed, the media now blows everything out of proportion these days. Whether it’s the swine flu, the blizzard of the century that never comes or the latest car wreck hoping for the ultimate blood and guts scene, the media preys on people’s worst fears.
Sergio, Narragansett

I come at this issue with a very different perspective. I am a Pastor, and several years ago, while waiting with the funeral cortege in the very north end of the North Burial Ground in Providence, I saw something that to this day sends chills down my back. In that section alone there are perhaps a hundred or even more grave stone, all with the same death year, 1918. Go take a look at it, with a photographer - I think it might give you pause as you consider the coverage of this flu outbreak. They were victims of the “Spanish Flu” which it is estimated killed anywhere from 50 to 100 million people worldwide, or the approximate equivalent of one third of the population of Europe. An estimated one third of the world (500 million people) became infected. It was caused by an unusually virulent and deadly Influenza A virus strain of subtype H1N1. Sound Familiar?
Also, here is a link to a Washington Post article by David Brown, entitled “Age of Flu Victims Has Big Implications” which gives reference to scientists who say that the relative youth of ill people is evidence of pandemic potential
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/16/AR2009051601850.html?wpisrc=newsletter
Has there been too much swine flu coverage? We probably won’t know for a while. From my perspective, with the memory of seeing nearly a hundred grave stones in North Burial Ground, all with the same death date of 1918, I’d rather have enough information to take appropriate precautions, if necessary, than have another generation look sadly at another cluster of grave stones form the early 21st century.
Sincerely,
Rev. F. Richard G, North Kingstown

I haven’t actually seen that much of news coverage of the swine flu scare, but it depends on the person watching and what they watch and how much they watch; so, if they are watching several news media channels and/or reading the local papers, then they might be saying there’s too much coverage.  On the flip side, if one doesn’t watch enough news or read their newspapers, then they say there’s not enough.  If people want to be scared out of their wits about some pandemic the medias are drudging up, then they’ll watch and listen and read.  However, accounts of the flu bug rising does not necessarily mean there’s widespread pandemic either; it depends on the people reporting it, receiving proper health care for it, and taking care of themselves from it.  The more “scares” we get from you guys, the more the public is apt to get frustrated and actually act out the scare themselves, hence, adding to the unofficial numbers the government wants to get to feed to the general public itself.  If we all will be just more aware of ourselves, keeping clean, washing hands (I do it all the time where I work….but don’t see too many others doing it), covering mouths when coughing/sneezing, we’ll eliminate the germ ourselves.  We don’t need the government to step in to “scare” us into their pandemic outcries.
C-Ann-C
Coventry

Friday, May 01, 2009

morning after

rappers

teens can get anti-pregnancy pill

Yes, I called it an anti-pregnancy pill.  I know some call it an abortion pill. I’m not totally clear on which it is.  If it prevents the fertilzed eggs from implanting in the uterus…which is it?  If it prevents an egg from being fertilized, it’s more like a condom than it is an abortion.  Wait…I’ll google it.  It turns out it does both…prevent egg from being fertilized..but if egg is fertilized, it prevents implantation.  So I’m trying to stay neutral with the anti-pregnancy tag…though it may be just avoiding the issue.  Interestingly, most of you based your opinions on the teenage pregnancy angle, pretty much along the lines of the split between pro-abortionists, and those who say abortion is murder.  Here we go:

The liberals have gotten their way again. They pushed for parents to not be able to spank their kids, then they all but stopped the parents from disciplining the kids, they and the TV Networks push sex, first heterosexual, now homosexual into our living rooms. Now the kids are experimenting and they want the kids to get an abortion pill without the parents knowing. If that’s not helping to screw up this country I don’t know what is.
Al from Johnston

If teen agers do not know about prevention they have no business having sex. I agree with the morning after pill only in the case of rape. I believe that if you are old enough to do the deed, you should know how to prevent.
Lee L. Woonsocket

All teenagers (and adults for that matter) should be taught that the fastest way to poverty, is to have a child you cannot afford.
No one on this earth has a right to produce a child that is not wanted, and that you cannot afford to raise.
To do otherwise, is irresponsible and more importantly, immoral.
Sophia, North Kingstown

I think teens should be able to purchase the morning after pill. It would reduce the amounts of unwanted teen pregnancy. People worry that giving kids condoms and such will lead to more promiscuity but isn’t it better for them to be safe first rather than worry about what would happen otherwise?
SLK

I see no problem with 17-yr olds acting responsibly, instead of adding another unwed mother to welfare.
Bill, Portsmouth

As Goldwater and Buckley would have told you, one of the pillars of true conservatism is knowing when to mind your own business. This is one of those times. The choice belongs to the the young woman and should be the concern of no one else except her parents. I’ve never known anyone worthy of throwing the first stone.
Bill G, Cranston

Why not. It is a proven fact that we cannot control the raging hormones of teenagers. Even adults get out of control at times. By the same token, more intense education on the matter should accompany the pill.
Lee L, Woonsocket

Friday, April 24, 2009

Secession

rappers

Time for Rhode Island to go it Alone?

Rappers responded to a question about secession; as in, should rhode island secede from the country?  The question was prompted by the emotion at last week’s ‘tea parties’.  In Texas, there were calls for secession, and even Governor Rick Perry claimed it might be warranted because the federal government has abandoned the country’s founding principles of limited government. He said the federal government is strangling Americans with taxation, spending and debt.  So how abouit little Rhody?  Here are your responses.

Bill, please make a positive questions. Seceding was settled in 1865.
WM

If RI were to leave the Union we would be in some serious trouble, I mean more than now a lot more than now.
This state can not make it on the BILLIONS the feds already send us and if we were to go away that money would also and then where would donnie and the fools on the hill be?
Of course, we the people might tell them all to take a hike, pull out our guns and have us a little cleaning house party. Just kidding here.
Anyway, seriously no, we can not afford to pull out of the Union, we would probably become the toxic waste dump for all the states who stayed in the union, I mean worse than we all ready are.
Judith Coventry

With their hands in our pockets and a system that rewards the undeserving rich, passing the risk on to our kids; it is not enough to stop paying taxes we must all take advantage of bankruptcy management and walk away from our obligations.
We don’t know what the economy will look like in the future; We do know the past is gone, the wealthy increased their share of national wealth, and taxpayers are left to pay for it.
A system of just compensation for labor and services has been destroyed and replaced by excessive financial speculation with no liability; compensated and assisted to gamble wildly, creating artificially high asset prices leaving main street to shoulder any future downside risk while they privatize the gain in asset protection. The US Congress taking orders from Wall Street and having votes bought by lobbyists, banks and Financial institutions; created a speculative bubble in the housing market, private equity futures, hedge funds, and derivatives. 
They got a guy who can’t figure out his own taxes; entrusted to fix the economy and figure out what to do with our money. Creating a program that is designed to keep asset prices artificially high while transferring the bulk of the losses to the taxpayer. It represents a massive shift of risk away from Wall Street and onto the back of the American taxpayer. 
This crisis was caused by a purposeful and massive expansion of credit, which cannot be overcome with more credit. The one month rally “the worst is behind us” that’s been going on for the past two years; while vacancy rates, job losses, and credit card delinquency are on the rise looks like “glimmers of hope” speculation to postpone the crash and buy time to spread the risk on to everybody.
Government does not have any money of its own. It only has what it takes from the rest of us. If individuals meet their obligations and try to save for retirement, but their government takes on additional debt, we are all simply running up an avalanche. 

Our Leaders have insured the commitment of our children in the Long War to “Birth the New Middle East”. They did not secure our borders and have devalued our savings and rewarded fraudulent fiscal policies. They do not represent main street as the polls show, they work for the New World Order keeping the ruled in the dark so why pay them.
Zuke

Rhode Island has had over 400 years to get it’s act together and it is
still a wanna-be state. It should be made part of Massachusetts or Connecticut.
Do nothing Governors, super high taxes, potholes, bridges falling apart,
plenty of illegals, no jobs, let’s all toast to RI with a coffee milk.
Oh yeah, it’s a great state!
stuckinri

Friday, April 17, 2009

bump bumping

rappers

merit over longevity

rappers on the board with comments about the move by the new school superintendent in Providence, to assign school teachers based on merit…not the union way of seniority.  here’s an earful.

I agree with the superintendent. It has been a pet peeve of mine for many years. I would not have a plumber try to teach auto mechanics. A teacher’s expertise should be the deciding factor. Do you think this is the reason why test scores are not what they should be?
Lee L. Woonsocket

That is great news!!  It will be nice to see that MERIT will be better valued than LONGEVITY!  YAY for the superintendent, and a big BOO for the entrenched teacher’s union fighting for change that would actually benefit the system.  Common sense again….
Elaine, Glocester

Let’s see how long the School Superintendent lasts this time.
Silly people. Teachers work 180 days per year for a full years pay.
Vacations almost every other week. Summers off. $50,000 annual pay.
And you think they will give up the gravy train?
I don’t think so. Oh and start looking for a baby sitter for when they strike again.
Stuckinri

Avoiding seniority by the strictest letter of the law is a good turn of events for any organization. It brings merit to the selection of candidates for positions. The selection process has to be transparent and quantified by a remote authority.
steve, westerly

Seniority is the fairest way to determine who should get a job up for bid.  Without it we will be going back to appointments based on who we know and not how long we have served or how much experience we have earned during our tenure teaching.
Stateworka

This is yet another knife in the back for labor.  When the credibility of a contract is ignored or destroyed by such an egregious act as it is in this matter then all contracts will be devalued and rendered irrelevant over time.  When this happens everyone will suffer the consequences. 
Dennis g.

Teachers’ assignments should be based on their qualifications.  Can you imagine a physical education teacher with 20 years seniority bumping a physics teacher with less seniority?  With the current system in place, that could actually happen!  How about we do what’s best for the students for a change and not the union driven teachers!
Maria D, Cranston

We had a similar situation in Cumberland, years ago, wherein a teacher with seniority, and a dual certification, but totally incompetent in that 2nd-certification, could bump the top teacher in the system, for that subject, if she (he) wanted to teach it…. and if that teacher were of less seniority!
We finally got it out of the contract as it was just one more example of the Teacher’s Unions having their heads, and their values, ‘You Know Where’ - and concerned more their own… then the best interest of the students!
Tom L, Cumberland

Friday, March 20, 2009

Cramer vs. Stewart

rappers

the comedian takes on the money man

when jon stewart ripped into jim cramer for not alerting America to the impending fiscal crash…it set off an interesting debate about the role of the television programs that pass themselves off as news.  as usual, the crowd of rappers have a lot to say.

Jon Stewart should stick to his own forte.  He is not a stock analyst. You know there are people out there like Jim Cramer who know what’s going on from experience.  Too bad they couldn’t be elected.  The money people run the country .  We have not, nor likely will elect anyone who will keep them in check.  Shame on us.  Where is Teddy Roosevelt when you need him.
K Wrath

CNBC used the good name of NBC News to gain instant credibility.  That credibility brought with it the responsibility to report the news, not make the news and definitely not to let the news be manipulated by thieves and crooks while reporting the news.
Cramer on NBC Nightly News being interviewed by Brian Williams also drives home the point of CNBC being a “news organization” not an “entertainment organization”
CNBC lost it’s focus and the network should be replaced by a real news channel reporting on business and investing.
If you took the time to watch the unedited version of the Stewart/Cramer interview from start to finish you can only reach one conclusion.  CNBC should go.
Everyone in America should watch the clip, if they did, they would be mad as hell, just like me and everyone in my office who watched it.
The best was that Cramer was done in by Cramer.  His own words were used against him, because after all, he is just an entertainer, not an investment expert.  Low picking fruit for John Stewart if you ask me.
I just hope our local NBC affiliate uses this as a reminder to stick to the news and nothing but the news and leave the entertaining for other programs.
Ed Y,  Slatersville

For sound financial advice you hire someone. The talking heads don’t know a thing about what is really going on.
But Cramer deserves the blame in this one.
Tony p

How ridiculous!  TV is not the cause of this meltdown, people are! If we would all just go back to doing what we would normally do, spending would increase and the economy would again begin to flourish. Those of us who are out of work might then be able to find another job. It is a big cycle of events and not the TV that controls the Market swings.
Larry S. Cumberland

My Dear Bill, We have had the biggest meltdown in your life time and mine and all of the network pundits didn’t do a thing for the little guy with his 401k retirement plan. I remember when the talk was no more retirement plans everyone has to have a 401 and invest it themselves. The Big Media jumped on it but didn’t look at the Bernie Madoffs and Sir Stanford in the Caribbean and their Ponzi schemes.
Bill you get paid from advertising money and if Madoff or Stanford had paid it WJAR would have taken it. The Market has always been a stacked deck and it will be in the future. If Networks put on programs that push the market then the networks should take the heat.
You should be more like your brother and stick to the facts and interpret them objectively.
Your Truly, Bill M,  West Kingston

Television programs themselves may not exactly be to blame for crashes in the current stock market. The commercials that bring the programs on are, all they focus on is how much medication someone needs, when most do not need any at all. There are way too many ads about things that are wrong and how you can’t get through these so called “tough” economic times. If these ads would return to commonly used products and services, fast food restaurants, snack food, even what is new in music or movies. This is how we got into this horrid situation to begin with. Focusing on what is wrong too much. We have been in tough economic times before, no one has even attempted to look at what was right when the ecomony was kicking in the nineteen nineties. Return to commercials that don’t tell me to use things just for my health, but more for enjoyment.
Timothy D

If Jim Kramer was such a sharp investor he would be relaxing on a tropical beach sipping margaritas,not ranting and raving on a nightly cable show. Monday morning quarterbacks are a dime a dozen.
Bob B

Stewart was totally unfair in his attach of (Cramer?).  The broker guy is simply an entertainer (if you have a brain). Where was Stewart when Barney Frank in August said that Fannie and Freddie were sound??? Stewart is a political satirist - so where was he on Barney.  Nowhere - they are both dems and “thou shall not slander a dem”  (Just like RI)
Joyce S

The media’s non reporting on credible intelligence while promulgating faulty intelligence to lead a nation into war is a war crime. Further it is a matter of National security to investigate and reveal how this was done, not a matter of National security to cover it up. The same goes with the economy. It is of a matter of National security to open the books and see who profited from what and how the reckless, self-serving criminal behavior of financial institutional gangs and their policy makers protected by the courts and stock holding judges, destroyed the credibility of the banking system and the market; not a matter of National security to cover it up.
When the American Darthvader goes unchallenged on how a country experiencing a civil war without sufficient water or electricity, riddled with Depleted Uranium is better off now than the dictatorship we installed; begs explanation. Why did they not militarize the borders? The Media should be informing people, asking How the anti Labour policies of Contract with America is conducive to a productive American Work force. If Labour is stifled are we planning on moving to the shuffling paper sitting in houses watch it grow money debt manipulation economy? Are the strong fundamentals of give to the rich to strengthen the poor working? If the government has no money how can they insure the banks? If the Insurance companies had money tied up in the markets how can they meet their obligations? The corporate Media has power as Wall street well knows but its credibility is dwindling, its non reporting is to blame.
Zuke

The blame in this mess is not from talking about the economy, its about NAFTA , AIG , Citibank , Countrywide , Merrill Lynch , BoA and most important Alan Greenspan ! Mr.Greenspan could have raised the prime to slow the housing bubble , Pres. Clinton should have listened to R.Perot ( the big sucking sound , NAFTA not Monica ) and lastly the “ PIGS” on wall street horded huge profits for years are now crying poverty ! I for one believe Jim Cramer was looking out for the little guy.
Lets all stop paying taxes and get nominated to Pres.Obama’s cabinet
B.Mac Cumberland

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

10News Breakfast

Bill Rappleye

welcome to our taping

good moooorrrning!  that’s what we say to the heavyhitters who come by our studios for 10 News Coference,  I try to put them a little off kilter…I mean at ease…by charging at them with a camera and quizzing them about their breakfast habits.  This week’s victim, our first, was a good natured Governor Carcieri.  On the way into the studio he told me he had a muffin and peanut butter for breakfast…an Englishmuffin, I hope not a blueberry.  He noticed we’re down a few workers at the dime…enjoy this impromptu tour.

Friday, March 13, 2009

3rd party dreaming

rappers

closing the gates

Rhode Island’s dominant political parties…if it’s fair to call Republicans dominant in this state…have a lcok on ballot placement.  For a new party to achieve recognition and a place on the voting ballot, it has to get signatures equal to 5% of the turnout in the last presidential election…and it has to do it in the calendar year of the election the new party wants to run in.  so the Moderate Party is suing…syaing it’s onerous to require 23-thousand signatures…in five months…a time period they say reflects the likely schedule…start in January…get enough to qualify, and then mount an election and fundraising campaign for November.  It’s not easy.  It’s a lot easier in other states.  Here’s what you think about loosening the restrictions some…

no changing the laws just for them if it says you have to start in jan. to collect 23,000 signatures then follow the rules like every other party had too.
William H

Just what we need, more politicians finding more ways to spend taxpayers money. I think we need to get rid of some politicians not create more of them.
Roger G, Providence
. By definition, political parties are private corporations and associations. The government has no business inhibiting or regulating their formation and existence. Political parties exist by their mere incorporation and self-declaration. There should be a clear separation of political party and state. And like the separation of church and state, government shall make no laws that inhibit or promote political parties.
John C
(Plaintiff in Gill vs. the State of RI, a case that challenged the constitutionality of 155 RI Election Laws in Federal Court)

No
And I am in favor of a new party
Howie, North Providence

Should the rules be changed? Maybe. Will the rules be changed? I doubt it. Both existing parties are not in favor of sharing votes with a third party. It is a fact that a third party takes votes away from the existing parties. The less choices we the voters have,  the better the politicians chances of getting elected.
Lee L,  Woonsocket

At the very center of our economic near-depression is a credit bubble, a housing collapse a systemic failure of the entire banking system. improvident loans, corrupted bond-ratings agencies, insufficient regulation of exotic debt instruments, easy money policy, irresponsible bankers pushing (and then unloading in packaged loan instruments) highly dubious mortgages, greedy house-flippers pricing houses out of the market. A pattern of reward for fiscal delinquency.
The list of causes of the collapse of the financial system does not include the absence of universal health care, let alone of computerized medical records. Nor the lack of college graduates.
Obtaining financing is not the reason people are not buying cars. People are not buying cars because they are worried about having a job to enable them to pay back the loan or they are already maxed out as prices rise. It’s the same reason people aren’t buying houses.
Any one running on a Tar and Feather ticket should easily get 23,000 signatures
Its time for all individuals to become corporate citizen entities allocating privatized gain into asset protection and socialize their cost of living.
Zuke

I don’t understand why there is a narrow time requirement to collect the signatures. I say let them on the ballot. If the people don’t want them, they won’t vote for them.
Bill, Portsmouth

Oh yeah, this state really needs another political party.
Then it will really be a shell game.
They should call it the Pothole Party and fix the roads.
And I’m tired of hearing about how the Democrats run the state,
when the people elect Republican governors.
As far as 23,000 signatures, that’s easy.
The hard part is finding enough “legal” citizens in this state.
Stuckinri

Of course Rhode Island should lower the requirements for new parties! It’s called democracy! The two parties we have now are useless and they know it, they’re afraid of decent competition. If we had some fresh new ideas in this state, maybe something would get done.
Bill G, Cranston

Friday, March 06, 2009

Troops out When?

rappers

Obama’s Promise

When President Obama revealed there’d be 50-thousand american troops in Iraq until at least the end of 2011, many noted it was a different result than what he’d promised during the campaign about getting out of Iraq…but a lot of Rappers believe he’s still holding to his pledge.  Here we go…
That sounds like a lot of boots still on the ground but the President knows what he’s doing and probably needs to keep some there for a while longer. I’d like to see half that amount. At least the trillion dollars being spent on rebuilding Iraq will now be spent in the U.S.A.!
Mike, Warwick

He is doing what he said in his campaign, but he did not know what was left for him at that time. They only told him just what they told us! Not Much! I do believe that we will come out of this better and stronger as a country! President Obama is trying very hard to make sure that he keeps his promises but they (Republicans) all need to cut him some slack and just keep their mouth shut!! Republicans just need to let the man do the job we hired him to do!
Donna S

Anybody who looks at the history of failed states in the last forty years, and what it has cost us, and then complains about Obama’s withdrawal plan is an idiot. Pulling out too fast, without covering our backsides, is as moronic as going in in the first place. Obama inherited this mess, he’s far more intelligent than most of us and he has a lot of things on his plate. Let’s give him a chance and try to remember that half a loaf is better than none.
Bill G, Cranston

When Obama campaigned he led us to believe that troops would be withdrawn soon after his election. I never believed that it could be done as soon as he claimed it could, because like the president that sort of action would have been irresponsible. We helped wreck the country and now we have to help with some of rebuild.
Steve, Westerly

I don’t think he’s going back on his word. During the campaign he said he was going to get troops out in 2010 & that is what he just gave the order to do. Part of the plan was to have a small force in a neighboring country such as Kuwait anyway which is where the 50,000 contingency force will more than likely end up in 2011 when all troops must be out of Iraq. No matter what anyone does Iraq will always be the 800 lb gorilla in the room until we as a nation first admit then find out why the Bush/Cheney Regime intentionally used faulty intelligance to make their case to invade Iraq in the first place.
Hound Dog,  Bristol

“The individual is handicapped by coming face-to-face with a conspiracy so monstrous he cannot believe it exists.“ J. Edgar Hoover

Those that took secret bloody oaths behind closed doors worshiping Jahbulon and Abaddon keeping the ruled in the dark and weaving a web of deceit; know that the false-flag party that continues The illegal Pakistan drone war and the escalation in Afghanistan mixed with the blood of Iraqi, Syrian, and Palestinian civilians, is provoking a backlash in which religion combines with nationalism to oppose foreign intervention. It is this that has been the real strength of movements like Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, the Mehdi Army in Iraq and the Taliban in Afghanistan which Americans want to eradicate but what Bush wants to be vindicated.The Obama Public Service Academy and civilian national security force are gearing up to turn the Public works recovery program to a war servicing industry. Much like President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the National Industrial Recovery Act. Repeating history - World depopulation and getting rid of the disgruntled unemployed by the Plutocracy.
The United States of America and its citizenry has been assessed, plotted against, and sold out by Policy makers, business, and the banking industry. Its workforce has been decimated its savings Weimar-ized. How Can the U.S. Economy Recover Without Manufacturing Capacity? None of the Traitors will be charged in, the biggest incident of financial fraud in American history.
The hypocrisy – of claiming that this plan “leaves Iraq to its people and responsibly ends this war,” is a farce with an escape clauses allowing the puppet Iraqi government to “request” a continued American military presence by being helplessly dependent on American guns and money to maintain its power in this this key oil nation.
A con man succeeds by gaining the confidence of the victim.The only change is that this President is capable of speech but talk is cheap.
Zuke

Well, gee…..how many Presidents in office who campaigned on promises fulfilled that promise in the first month of their presidency?  The expletive in your question is “campaign promises” – which is a dirty word with any politician these days; no politician should ever “promise” to do anything because it just doesn’t work!  So maybe those of you who were so caught up with the flowery rhetoric of Mr. Obama and were so elated of his election are just now finding out that he can’t fulfill his campaign promises?  How absurd and I don’t sympathize with you.  I only expected him to NOT fulfill any campaign promises as he spewed to his adorned followers, so it doesn’t come as any surprise to me what his agenda is all about.  In fact, he’s so full of (you know what) he’s not even telling his public what he is actually doing compared to what he “promised” – his agenda of closing of Guantanamo Bay’s military jail facility (where they housed those terrorists caught by our boys in uniform from Iraq and Afghanistan) is just one big disaster of a mistake and will threaten this United States and our men/women in uniform all over again!  How DARE he even think of letting those extreme terrorists go free after all the months it took for them to be captured and interrogated astounds me to the intelligence of this man you think is doing such a great job as President!  But you go ahead and praise him for whatever he’s doing and not be informed of what he’s really doing and what he made a mockery of our military, our United States (as he plunged us into socialism that he so dearly loves) and lied to the people of the United States of America!
C-Ann-C, Coventry

Yes, Obama is going back on his promise, but that isn’t unusual for a politician. At least it is a start in the right direction.
Bill, Portsmouth

  PLAIN AND SIMPLE, IT CANNOT BE DONE OVERNIGHT AND HE IS TRYING TO IMPROVE ON THE ALREADY CRUCIAL SITUATION THAT IS BEFORE HIM.  SO YOU HAVE TO SUPPORT HIM IN HIS EFFORTS UNTIL HE STARTS RENEGGING, ON PROMISES.IF ANYBODY THOGHT THAT HE COULD DO IT OVERNIGHT, THEY NEED THEIR HEAD EXAMINED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
AS USUAL THANX FOR LISTENING
A LOYAL RAPPER
LARRY, SMITHFIELD

Friday, February 13, 2009

spending the stimulus

rappers

where the money should go

my oh my…rappers are not in favor of how the federal stimuls package seems to be directed.  in fact, they object, for the most part, suggesting it should be returned to the taxpayers, not the corporations and banks that led us into this mess to start with…here we go.

I have heard plenty from our new President Obama about creating new jobs—what I havent heard is how? Go to any Target, Walmart or big retailer and if you can find 5% of products made in America, I would be surprised!
Ditto for other products- be it the auto industry, or whatever.. Almost nothing is made here anymore due to the one advantage that overseas imports offer- PRICE!- The only way to get jobs back in the USA is to offer a rebate to the companies that are buying such huge amount of imports if they buy American products.  The manufacturers cannot afford to cut their pricing any lower.  Until we get jobs back in this country, nothing will change—a bailout will only put a bandaid on this situation—
barbi d, Portsmouth

Great question Bill. I agree this is a very tough time for us as a nation. but it’s a necessary transition. this is a call to action for the government and the private sector to work together and develop new green technology, a time for us to work in harmony as caretakers of the planet not cancers destroying the planet. years from now if were smart this will be a time noted in history as a paradigm shift, I’m suffering as bad as anyone, but I’m also very excited about the future. 
Rww

This incredible financial disaster of mega proportions is actually so daunting it’s hard to fully comprehend.
The rules of business are simple, work hard and become successful or close your door. Under no circumstances should we bail out any private company, bank, etc.  The government should have stepped in last September and purchased all the “bad” mortgages, renegotiated new loans, left people in their homes with a mortgage that they could afford.  If any company went out of business because of it then that is how business works.  This is not socialism, it is good business.  You build your company, invest and reinvest to become successful.  You do not rape your company for all you can, plus, and then expect any one else to bail you out. 
The millions of small businessmen and women in this country have been the backbone of our financial stability for hundreds of years and will continue to be. It is a very simply solution to our so-called leaders; stop spending money you do not have, tighten your belt, budget (now there’s a thought) and go forward.  The strong, well managed companies will survive and grow.  The other companies do not deserve to.
Diane, Bristol
Give $100,000 dollars to each family!  We could then buy a new car, buy a new house, or pay the payments on our current home to save it from foreclosure. That would stimulate the economy!! People that are behind on payments could catch up which would help the lenders that are not receiving their payments. Our spending would help all aspects of the economy. Let’s start at the bottom of the ladder this time. Give it to the people that are hurting first, not last. Let all the CEO’S wait to see how we spend our money. Businesses could take back laid off employees or at least there would be jobs out there to find. I think it would stimulate a lot faster from the bottom up !!
Kathy N, Seekonk, MA

The recession will work its way thru as it always has.  We need the media to STOP screaming “RECESSION ALMOST DEPRESSION” at the top of it’s collective voices and scaring the pants off everyone.  When folks stop being frightened, they will resume hiring, and working and spending.  A lot of people are suffering, but the vast majority of us are OK. Stop scaring us, and we’ll regain confidence and get back to our lives. 
Bill

I can’t see how giving money to big corporations like the big three are going to help those of us who have lost our better paying jobs and now have to live on jobs that barely pay over minimum wage. If the money is going to go to big corporations, that is not going to help me in any way at all. I still won’t be able to buy any big ticket items like automobiles as I still will have a very hard time keeping up with my bills. If Washington wants to help the economy give the money to us so that we can reduce our debts.  That way the banks get their money but from the people who owe them money. Now the banks are not giving our loans or lowering our interest due rates but hoarding the money that the government has already given them.  It is about time that corporate America learns how it feels to worry where their next meal will come from.
Neal,  Providence

I hear all this talk of cutting pensions and bennys for all kinds of workers but what are they doing to their own bennys and pays you do hear what they are doing to help? I mean here our new president taking a 30 minute ride In air force one for a meeting. Why couldn,t he drive? I,ve always thought that if you ask for workers to give such bennys up you should be willing to give up them yourself first> My thoughts would be set the example from the top and show what your willing to give up and then ask your people to follow your example. As for the new presidents package it will most likely work If it is watchdogged and put where it needs to go and not paying off some ceo. I mean if the auto people need money they should be go to the banks not to the government. where the money could be watched esaier coming and going from one source instead of many where tracing it becomes more diffcult.
Roger m

I have an idea for a potential component of the impending bail-out of the Big Three that I hope you will at least look at.  As we all know, GM, Chrysler, and Ford have tremendous unsold inventories. Consumers are wisely holding off on large purchases due to the economy and fear of job losses. These American-made cars and trucks are sitting on lots nationwide as auto dealers pay inventory taxes on them and lay off employees due to lack of demand for these vehicles, many of which are not exactly fuel-efficient. States are not collecting sales taxes on these unsold vehicles and that is affecting state budgets which are in dire straits. What is the fate of these vehicles? If they continue to sit on the lots, will they eventually be crushed? Maybe their parts will be recycled.
The Senate is now contemplating a bail-out plan for the Big Three. They will be given billions of dollars. In return, you will stipulate that they begin to produce more fuel efficient vehicles and jobs will be saved, at least in the short term. These are necessary and positive results of a bail-out, but the bottom line is this: We will be bailing out the Big Three with billions of dollars and with the exception of saving jobs for now and a promise to build better vehicles in the future, we receive nothing in return for the money.
And all of those vehicles continue to sit on their lots while hundreds of thousands of Americans wish that they could buy them, but do not have the means to do so.
My Potentially Crazy Idea
Instead of just handing over billions of dollars to the Big Three, give every tax-paying American a voucher of up to $25,000 towards the purchase of ONE vehicle from The Big Three’s current inventory.
Here’s how it would work:
I receive my voucher for $25,000 in the mail. I take my voucher to the local US auto dealership and redeem it for maybe a $22,000 Ford F-150 truck. I give the voucher to the dealer, He submits it to the U.S. government and he receives the $22,000 for the truck. I am responsible for paying all applicable state and/or federal taxes on the truck. We, the people, are now actually receiving something for the $22,000 we have given them. We are receiving vehicles that they couldn’t sell anyway! This would take place on a first come, first served basis until all current inventories are depleted.
What does this accomplish?
1. As I have already stated, the American public actually receives something in return for the bail-out money,
2. State budgets benefit from the sales taxes being paid on all of the new vehicles,
3. Employees at all American car dealerships keep their jobs as the influx of new business requires their continued service in the showrooms, service areas, and finance departments (to complete the government paperwork for this program, bill of sale, etc.).
4. All of the businesses related to the auto industry begin to thrive again as the citizens who have acquired these vehicles buy accessories, insure them and register them. This includes increased business at auto insurance companies and state Departments of Motor Vehicles which are now shutting down as states try to streamline their budgets.
NOBODY loses in this scenario. 
IMPORTANT: It must be stipulated to the Big Three that as these vehicles are leaving the lots with reimbursement from the government, they be replaced by more fuel-efficient models.
A variation of this idea would be to stipulate that anyone using the voucher must trade in a vehicle that gets worse gas mileage than the one they are buying. This takes hundreds of thousands of gas-guzzlers out of circulation.
Well, there you have it…..my crazy idea.
Scott Y, Barrington

I surmised over a year ago that the gas prices (inflating) were not caused by the arabs but by out greedy stock market (future speculators). the stock market tumbled as oil is tied to everything. gas prices went down. the government bailed out the stock market (with our money) and now the price of gas is going up at 10 times the rate that it went down again. time for the gov’t to take the money from the big guys. we (CAN’T) afford to buy ANYTHING when the price of gas is ridiculously high.
Dougg

Why do we have this gigantic stimulus?
Why doesn’t the new government of Barack Obama help the ailing small businesses so they could reopen and rehire their workers instead of giving this stimulus to the rich bankers, CEOs and rich executives and why don’t we take back the jobs abroad that were supposed to be American jobs and hire the local American people especially the jobless. This will boost our economy. Motivate the rich to create jobs for the poor and give them incentives to go on. Use every resource we can to bring up our country back to where we should be.
If we have jobs we can buy our own products thereby balancing the economy.
And for those who do not like the minimum salary they can find jobs somewhere else. It is time to wake up and live with what we can afford. And when we have our jobs back try to work harder instead of being lazy and less productive ( I have seen a lot of us who are wasting so much time talking and socializing instead of doing the work).
Also, we the citizens have wasted so much money paying the high and agonizing interests on our credits cards and loans. We need help from the government. Lenders should stop bringing the interests up. Bring the interests at their lowest levels especially at this period of difficulties. We need to live too. Give the stimulus to us who paid these high interests. I think that this is the better way distribute the stimulus.
RR, Lincoln

What should the government do to end this recession?
Find the elements that caused it and get rid of them.
First we should stop listening to those who said we were in good shape and those who oversaw this mess but didn’t see it coming. Prosecute the Kleptocracy that was instrumental in creating it.
They rigged the casino of debt manipulation. We pay them for their profits as they pass the bad risks on to us.
The staggering odious enrichment accumulated at the top was built up on hedge funds, the leveraging of debt and other forms of financial speculation and manipulation while privatizing the gain and socializing the loss.
These are the people that dismantled regulation, engineered a fraudulent housing and debt bubble, creating debt instruments faster than an economy can create real wealth and conjured up the phantom boom economy. The same incestuous group that handed tax credits to corporations that sent US jobs offshore while suppressing and interfering with American labour, production and savings.
The problem is not freeing up credit but ending the practice of selling bad credit and spreading the toxic assets on to the next sucker and sticking it to the taxpayer when there are no suckers left.
They get the upside but do not share in the liability which gets passed on to the honest hard working labor they strangle. They don’t want to do the work or the research nor be held accountable for the bad loan to a college graduate with no experience for a startup company that looks good on paper but fails because of fraud or some other factor they overlooked.

Regulation is not enough
we need to prosecute.
Hold them liable
for the bad loans
they make.
Zuke

I think the economy would be helped by giving money right to the citizens of this country.  You could give at least $ 50, 000.00 to every person over 21 who is a legal
resident of this country, and, it would not come to nearly half of what they want to spend( or have already spent).  This money could be used to get caught up on mortgage
payments which would put money back into the banks, etc.  It could be used to pay off over due credit cards, or other bills.  It could also be used to buy a car, a down
payment on a new home. etc.  The possibilities’ are endless and all of the money would help the economy, not just the board of directors of some of these large companies.
Betty P

First off, you can’t correct eight years of Bush incompetance overnight.
This country started going downhill when manufacturing went overseas.
There should be new manufacturing jobs created in the energy field,
such as wind turbines, geothermal, solar, even using the electro-magnetic
field around the Earth. At the same time get off the dependence on oil.
However, as long as there is easy money to be made by staying with oil.
It will remain the same.
Stuck in ri

Congress had no problem approving 700 billion dollars to bail out the fat cats on Wall Street with at least 18 billion already gone for obscene bonuses and perks to CEOs for doing a bad job.
Now the GOP (Gross Obstructionist Party) is blocking President Obama’s stimulus plan which will help the middle and working classes.  Where were these conservative clowns the past 8 years when George W. Bush was sowing the seeds of our present recession?
Tony D, Coventry

ITS NO SECRET THAT NO ONE THING WILL GET US OUT OF TROUBLE, SO I DO BELIEVE THAT THE PRESIDENT IS GOING ABOUT THIS THING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION, DIVIDE AND CONQUER EQUALLY, DON’T FOCUS ON ALL ONE THING AND FORGET SOMETHING ELSE. ITS JUST TRYING TO REGULATE EVERYTHING THAT LOOKS TO BE SO TRYING. WHATEVER HE IS GOING TO DO, I AM BEHIND HIM. IF NOT ANYTHING ELSE HE DOES DESERVE TOTAL SUPPORT, FOR TRYING.
A LOYAL RAPPER
LARRY, SMITHFIELD

I’m not sure that anything that the government will, or can do, will bring this country out of this recession.  Don’t forget, this is a global recession!  Although, roughly three-quarters of our economy is based on consumer spending, we also need to export our goods.  If no one else is buying them, there’s no need to make them.  And if we do make them, we’ll probably buy theirs instead of ours, because theirs are cheaper. Did the last stimulus package work?  Of course not!  The only people who spent their portion of it (on material goods or services), were the people who don’t have jobs.  The rest of us used it toward gasoline, so that we could get to work.  This new package is the greatest rip off of taxpayers of all time.  All it’s doing is expanding social services.
Denis, Fall River, MA

Friday, February 06, 2009

change pensions

rappers

new rules in middle of the game

a lot of sympathy for workers for the state or school districts who are having their benefits changed before they are ready to retire…here are the rappers.

As a State of Rhode Island worker for the past 27 years, I don’t think it is right or fair to start to change the rules of our pension plan for employees who have “faithfully” worked for the State for over 20 years.  I have received three certificates that thank me for serving the State of Rhode Island as a faithful employee. 
As employees of the State of Rhode Island have been faithful to the State in our work ethics, I believe that the State should be faithful to us.  We gave up employment opportunities through out the years to take the smaller paychecks in return for the end result.  That end result is our pension.  We put in 9 ½ percent of every paycheck so that the State can invest “our” monies.  If the Governor wants to change the rules at the end, maybe he should return my money with interest for the last 27 years and I can invest it myself.  As employees, we don’t have an option to invest the money or have a say if we want to be a union member.  That has already been decided for us.
So, no I don’t think that employees who have 20 or more years should have the rules of the pension changed.
Laurie, Exeter

When will state workers realize that we’re running out of money.  Everyone else has taken cuts.  I have not had a raise in 5 years.  My company doesn’t even offer me any benefits.
Annette

Absolutely not!  The workers who are already vested were promised by contract the current retirement conditions when they were hired.  If the Governor would like to make a change, he should begin with the “new” hires and not penalize the current workers who have vested their time and pension contributions in good faith. 
BLF - East Greenwich

Yes everyone involved must be changed or adjusted. Show an example on paper with an averaged salaried average vested person would be receiving and for how long. Then ask the questions again. It truly comes down to dollars.
Gayle

The State of R.I. should not touch the pensions of the people who are retired or vested. We paid our share when the State did not and like everything else in R.I. the average honest citizen is and will be robbed of what is due them.
Gus, Cranston

When I signed on to be a teacher in a public school system in RI, one of the benefits was to have a pension which I contribute to ( at one of the highest rates in the country).  I teach in a community which does not contribute to social security so my future is as secure as my pension is.  I have given my entire career to educate the children of one of the poorest districts in RI and have loved every minute of it.  I have 2 degrees and countless hours of professional development in my background which informs my teaching.  After 28 years of giving my life and breath to a career that I love, I can’t believe that it has come down to groveling for my pension.
Debbie

No, state workers should not have their pension benefits changed.  Some state employees have been a public servant to the State for 15, 20, 25,or 30 years and are making plans for retirement in their near future —but now they are in jeopardy of having their retirement $ altered. You tell me—is that fair?  I don’t think there is a person alive that can honestly say this is fair.
Cheryl, Cumberland
The state should not change the pension system for vested employees. The state especially should not change the pension system for an employee who has completed and contributed for 28 years or more into the pension system. These people put their contribution in, worked at a job for most of their lives where they accepted lower salaries for promised benefits. To take away promised benefits for a long term employee, especially one who has completed 28 or more years in service, should result in a major lawsuit against the state.
Connie M

Sure why should we pay any attention to contracts? If we negate this aren’t we saying to anyone who does business with the State we really don’t intent to uphold our our end. Or have we already done that?
Robert R

As a teacher in the city of Warwick, I would like to contribute to the discussion regarding pensions.  In addition to my firm belief that no change should be made to the pension of vested employees, I also believe that no changes should be made to even the least senior of employees.  This is my ninth year as a teacher.  When I decided to use my Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry to teach, I knew I would never be rich.  I realized I was making a choice that would preclude me from much more lucrative positions in, for example, pharmacy or biotechnology.  But there were other benefits to teaching that I found appealing—one being a pension.  When I decided to become a teacher, I did so trusting the promise by the State of a secure retirement.  (One to which I have been contributing 9% of my income—the highest contribution among state employees.)  To change the rules mid-game is not only unfair, but immoral.  The answer to me seems to be to establish a new pension system, “Plan C” if you will, for newly hired teachers.  While I am concerned that a reduction in this type of benefit would discourage the best and brightest from a career in education, at least those who do choose teaching will do so with a clear picture of her/his future. 
Thank you for the opportunity to voice my opinion,
Michele L, Warwick

Bait and switch, fraud and subterfuge, the criminal enterprises and legislators that planned your economic ruin in order to spread the risk and socialize their losses will do anything to sustain their vampiric appetite. What else do you expect from the Kleptocracy that plunders labour. Too big to fail, too big to jail; if they are made to meet their end of the bargain, they’ll loot your pensions by destroying its value. They’ll take your dollar squeeze it for what its worth and get paid to give it back to you when its worth a dime.
This is the America, 8 years of Tax cuts for the rich left us. Derivatives, futures, options and swaps developed to allow investors ability to hedge risks in financial markets and pass the losses on to the working poor. These complex financial time bomb instruments created phantom wealth, artificial asset values and destroyed buyers, sellers, and the whole economic system. Yes the doom gloom economy Rush Limbaugh and the “Truth Ministry” ridiculed is quickly turning from gloom to doom.

incapable of meeting obligations, they have no credibility. Instead of being given marching orders these executives still get paid; and people don’t think that the courts favor the rich.

When you go down the path of changing your obligations when you can’t meet them it renders to others your incompetency.
Zuke

AS NOT BEING PART OF THAT SYSTEM, MY OPINION IS THAT WE SHOULD LEAVE ANYTHING LIKE THAT ALONE,
        THESE DEDICATED PEOPLE DID THEIR TIME, AND SHOULD GET THE JUST DESERVED BENEFITS THAT THEY WERE
        PROMISED FOR THEIR SERVICE. THE NEW TIMES WARRANT NEW BENEFITS, AND AS SUCH ARE SUBJECT TO
        NEGOTIATIONS, AS IS EVERYTHING THESE DAYS. WHAT WE NEED IS UP TO DATE BENEFITS THAT FIT THE TIMES,
        AND THE PERSONNEL TO ACCEPT THE CHANGES, AND NOT EXPECT SOMETHING FROM 20-25 YEARS AGO….
        AS ALWAYS
        A LOYAL RAPPER
        LARRY
        SMITHFIELD

Tuesday, February 03, 2009

stranded

bill rappleye

can’t get home

Gary Sasse, the new director of administration for the state of Rhode Island, is stuck in Germany.  He was supposed to return from a short holiday in time for the release of a report tomorrow on the state’s tax structure…but, I’m told, his plane made an emergency landing at Heathrow, in London, after the pilot’s cockpit window blew out!  No injury, but he couldn’t get from england to the US, so went back to Germany..but now is hindered by snow at Logan.  The relevance?  We may not get the tax reform report we were waiting for tomorrow.
So after a quick look at Wikipedia, prompted by my excellent research assistant Ava, it turns out Hollywood has exaggerated the dangers of being sucked out of a plane due to depressurizing cabins…it’s more likely that the thin air will cause disorientation from lack of oxygen, than the pressure difference will cause you to fly out of the plane, a la the bad guy in the James Bond pics. 

Friday, January 30, 2009

state owned racino?

rappers

should rhode island buy twin river

there’s not much respect for the politicians’ ability to handle money, and jobsw…which is exactly why citizens shot down the casino initiative when it was put to a vote.  here’s what you had to say about the idea of lthe state buying the lincoln racino…

The state should buy twin river…...we can only benefit from it!
Steve, Providence

Ohmigosh NOOOOO!  We cannot afford to pay for basic services and now the World-Class Idiot Murphy wants to fatten his pocket by buying the casino? And yes, he’s going to get a cut.  He’s the main reason this State is corrupt!
Bill, Cranston
Are you serious????  This is just another way for the crooked politician in the General Assembly to employee their friends.  Who will they hire to run it….Steve Alves?  Oh wait…his father already works there!
Pete the WIzard
The State should not buy Twin River as there will be no bona fide benefit to the taxpayers. This administration is plagued with mismanagement and the desire to target public employee unions for concessions. With unemployment at a 30 year high and the economy continuing to worsen we should focus on actual money savings plans. The goal should be to streamline our local government and eliminate graft; not spending millions in attempt to purchase a quick fix or wage war on the working people of this State.
Kenneth. M, Coventry

We should take over the “casino” ???
Not that it means anything to our elected officials, but how many people think this is a good idea???
Are these people at the state house challenged?
Or are the people that voted for them again all lacking?
john,  narragansett
p.s. with few exceptions I voted AGAINST every incumbent.

The state buy Twin River slot parlor?  Hmmmm.  First I can say from experience during the 06 campaign that the last thing the public wanted was the state of Rhode Island to buy/run any gaming facility.  The big concern was that all the general assembly members could not be trusted and would hire all their friends and relatives. Second, the state would become liable if the facility were to close due to acts of God such as a category 5 hurricane or some other unknown reason.  Insurance does not cover everything especially when it comes to gambling, such as paying outstanding bills or payroll.  These are just a couple of reasons why there is not a state in the country that owns or operates a casino/slot parlor, it’s considered too risky for the tax payer.  Yes the state could hire a management company to run such a facility but at the end of the day it is still the tax payer who will be holding the bag.  If the facility is in financial difficulty, which some of us knew would occur because of the inadequacy to compete with Conn. casinos.  Then do one of two things,  put the facility and license out to bid change the state’s constitution and create a commission of various entities that would over see all aspects of the facility.  This process would call for hearings, an assembly vote, then a state wide public vote, and a simultaneous vote would have to pass in the chosen community.  This process could take 4 to 6 years.  Or secondly, reverse the Chafee amendment and work with the Narragansett Indian Tribe, I know that’s asking a lot, but that way the Tribe has its rights re-stored, the state would not have to, in Joe Larisa’s words ‘change our most sacred document for gaming’ and it would be run according to federal over sight and law known as the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, (IGRA).  This way the state and Tribe compact and compete effectively with our neighbors across the state lines while under federal law easing the concern of the those worried about to much state involvement.  As far as time frames, Chafee did his rider removing the Tribe from IGRA in one night.  So to reverse should not be that hard.  Just my two cents.
Matt T, Charlestown

What is wrong with our legislators?????  Last I heard the state didn’t have any money——-  but we have money to buy a slot parlor???? —-  and we can’t afford to keep bus monitors to protect the safety of our children?  ————and I wonder how many people know that we “OWN” all the slot machines at Twin River!!  Tonight on the news was the first time I heard of it!  I like to gamble but I don’t like the idea of using our money to support a slot parlor. 
CPT

Yo Rappster,
No, No, No. The state can’t afford money for cities and towns but it can afford to buy Twin Rivers? This place is just going to become a rat hole of Smith Hill patronage. Some legislators brother will run the gaming operation. Another legislator’s cousin will get the waste hauling contract, Yet another legislator’s relative will shake down the food vendors. The next thing we know, the place will start costing the state money and not making money. Then sleezeballs on Smith Hill will throw up their hands and say “We can’t sell it, we’ll never get our money back.“
GFW, Lincoln

Absolutely not. It would only give the less than honest politician more to skim off the top. Lord knows they do enough of that already. I strongly believe that state government should not get involved in gambling.
Lee,  Woonsocket

The concept is good but the timing is bad. The State can not afford to buy Twin Rivers right now. If they did the entire population would be up in arms!
Gagnet
Ye gods, all we need is the State owning a casino surely to be run by politico’s friends and relatives expecting a big fat pension when they retire. If that place isn’t corrupt now, it will be once the State takes it over.
Considering the Narragansetts got screwed over in their bid for a casino, I think the State ought to offer it to them for purchase and let them run it.
Susan, North Providence

You give your money to unemployment so that when times get hard it will be there for you. You give your money to social security so when you get old, it will be there for you; only to find those that took your money payed themselves a salary and didn’t factor in the future that one day that contract would need to be redeemed. Futures, derivatives, banking models designed to enrich insiders at the top of the enterprise while they pass the risk on to savers and taxpayers to absorb all the hits as legislators favor the house. I’m tired of gambling.

Well the Policy makers certainly know how to work the Stockholm syndrome. (a psychological response sometimes seen in abducted hostages, in which the hostage shows signs of loyalty to the hostage-taker.)They got a game they need to continue.
Will the Casino have an “aggregator Bad bank” slot to pour our bad bets into that get bought by the salary we pay our Policy makers?

Can we privatize our gain and pass our losses on to those who stifled Labour and protected corporate privileges? Can we Play like the Wall street Corporate financial giants that planned the systematic dismantling of regulation and gamed the little people on main street; to reward their mismanagement and corruption. Dare we gamble that more credit, more spending, more borrowing with no increase in productivity is sustainable?
Zuke

Here is the State again talking like a big spender with money,
when they don’t even send out tax return forms to save money.
Mr. “Big Business” governor likes to talk big with nothing to show for the last six years.
First he says Twin River is no good and it’s their own fault.
So he lets it go down the drain, then wants to buy it cheap.
Meanwhile URI builds another 50 million masterpiece. With another bond.
Even if people graduate from URI they don’t stay around here, there’s no jobs.
Here’s Carcieri’s record:
Old Stone Bank - dead
Cookson Company - dead
Rhode Island - almost dead
Stuckinri

WELL BILL
        THEY ARE THINKING IT’S A WAY TO HELP BALANCE THE BUDGET, BY GETTING MORE MONEY IN THE STATE COFFERS.
        I SEE IT AS BECOMING A LIABILITY TO THE TAXPAYERS WHEN SOMETHING HAPPENS AND THE MONEY MYSTERIOUSLY
        STARTS VANISHING…OOPS,MONEY STARTS GETTING TIGHT….LETS LEAVE WELL ENOUGH ALONE…YOU MEAN TO TELL ME
        WE OR THEY CANNOT FIND A LEGITIMATE ENTERPRISE TO RUN A GAMBLING ESTABLISHMENT AND MAKE MONEY?????
        WHAT KIND OF STATE ARE WE??????? GENTLEMEN LETS STICK TO TRYING TO RUN STATE GOVERNMENT, AND NOT LOOK TO
        TRYING TO LINE OUR POCKETS WITH MORE, ESPECIALLY WITH THE EMPLOYMENT PICTURE THE WAY IT IS.
        GEE BILL THAT FELT GOOD TO GET OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
        AS ALWAYS
        A LOYAL RAPPER
        LARRY
        SMITHFIELD

The legislature is infamously famous for not being able to manage the assets the state already has not to mention its reputation for sticky fingers; it’s a disaster looming on the horizon! if not a cloud already above us. Perhaps they should spend more time trying to create a tax code, etc. that would make our great state more competitive with the other 49 and entice businesses and citizens to stay and/or settle here. But, then, there is the old adage, Citizens deserve the people they elect! Doesn’t speak much for us, does it?
Bobby Bee, Providence

The state can not afford to let Twin River “go down the river”.
The state must do every thing possible to prevent any lose of revenue from Twin River.
The problem that I have with a state take over of Twin River is the state running Twin River themselves.
Where in the past has the state demonstrated that they could run Twin River—just look at the sad state of affairs that Rhode Island in is now. You can only wonder how many investigations the Feds would be doing to see who stole money , how much they stole or whose friends stole the money.
Joe f.

Friday, January 23, 2009

Cold Day

rappers

cancel school?

when school was cancelled in most of rhode Island’s largest school districts last week…some wondered whether it was neccessary…here are the comments from the rapp session.
In some cases it schools should close. In the cases we’ve had recently in RI, I’d have to say no! Cold is not enough to close schools. Icy, snowy, slippery conditions, now that’s another story.

Jae
I think it is ridiculous to cancel school because of the cold!  We live in New England where we have snow, ice and COLD!
Shaunette
I think this is absolutely absurd.  We live in New England!  Just because it’s cold outside, it does not neccessitate school cancellations.  If this trend continues, when will these kids get out of the classroom?  I don’t understand the logic behind it all.

Keri A.
Fall River, MA.
I don’t think that they are only closing schools because of the cold.  They are closing schools because the buses can’t start, because of the diesel fuel.  Diesel fuel turns to sludge and prevents vehicles from starting in extreme cold weather.  I don’t think school districts ever really want to close.
A Rhode Island teacher

As a teacher I wasn’t happy that Providence Schools were closed, but I do understand the rationale. Our high school students must use RIPTA, there is no “free” yellow bus like in the suburbs. So, if they are lucky enough to afford it, or live more than three miles from school and qualify for a free bus pass, they ride RIPTA. However, MANY of my students walk, because they cannot afford the fare. Of these walkers, most do not have warm clothes and shoes that would protect them against the frigid temperatures we’ve had. Also, many families do not have cars, and there is no carpool. I am sure the decision to close was not made lightly, and these special circumstances of “our” students were part of that decision. PS… As I’ve been home these last two days, I have been WORKING on IEP’s and curriculum. Imagine that!
Sharon
No they should not have closed the schools yesterday and yet today they went to school. They wouldn’t close schools in June or July if the temperatures were over 80 degrees and a lot of the schools do nothave air conditioning.  I think they need to stop panicking everytime snow is mentioned and get back to reality WE LIVE IN NEW ENGLAND PEOPLE GET REAL.
Jo-ann
Closing the schools due to cold weather is just foolish.I walked to school every day in all sorts of weather.Kids today are just too spoiled.Stop coddling your children.Teach them to dress for warmth, not style, and send them on their way.
Janice
Cranston
WHEN I WAS IN ANY GRADE OF SCHOOL, WE NEVER SAW THESE KIND OF CANCELLATIONS. GRANTED, I AM 51 YEARS OLD, BUT THINGS HAVE CHANGED SO VERY MUCH, WITH ALL THE SPRINGS, WINTER VACATIONS.
WE NEVER HAD IT SOO GOOD.
MY SISTER AND I WALKED UP TO 2+ MILES EVERY DAY TO GO TO SCHOOL, AND IN THOSE DAYS WE COULD NOT AFFORD SCHOOL LUNCHES.
THESE KIDS HAVE TO PAY FOR IT IN JULY, SO WHAT? JUST LIKE YOU SAID,: BACK IN THE DAY” , THEY WILL NEVER KNOW WHAT WE WENT THROUGH.
SUCK IT UP….......... THAT’S LIFE AND IT ONLY GETS HARDER THE OLDER YOU GET.
LINDA D, CRANSTON

I believe the urban districts should cancel school due to the extreme cold because many young children that walk or wait for a bus and are exposed to the bitter wind chill while doing so are not dressed appropriately for such weather.  I have taught in an urban district for 15 years and have witnessed so many children coming to school in frigid weather with simply a t-shirt—-which at six years old is no fault of their own.  I actually opened a clothing bank after seeing a first grader get dismissed on a day of a snowstorm having only a short-sleeved t-shirt to walk home in.  (Ofcourse, the school gave him a coat to walk home in that day).  I also witnessed a child wearing skates to school—with the blade removed—- and no socks.  The skate boots had holes—it was awful!  Maybe, if all children are given the appropriate clothing in which to stay safe and warm in this type of weather, schools would not have to cancel.  But, we all know, basic needs need to be met before learning can happen.
Beth D, Pawtucket

While I think the safety of our children is foremost on everyone’s mind, closing schools due to cold weather is ridicules.  We were only expected to get 2 inches of snow yesterday as well.  I never remember schools closing for the cold when I was younger, and we all got to school just fine.  I think it teaches our children to be crybabies.  Many people I know had to take the day out of work due to this, and loose a days pay, (in tough economic times such as these, that can be devastating to a family).  Sometimes I don’t think these school officials think.  The schools did not need to be closed.
Carol C, Warwick

Well all I can say is I’m 71 years old and besides going to school in the cold, we had to walk.  The children are probably happy now, but they won’t be to happy going to school in the hot weather.
Carol, Cranston
I thought it was pathetic when administrators canceled school, usually a day ahead of the “storm”, and the storms never materialized.  That was nothing compared to canceling school “due to the cold”!!!  I’m glad the Town I work for didn’t panic and follow suit.  Summers go fast enough for the children without having to make up senseless days at the end of June.  What are they teaching our children . . .
JoAnn, Warwick

It is chaos and/or costs money.  Not convenient to say the least.  Can understand if we have a blizzard or if it is dangerous, but silly because its cold.  What are we teaching our kids?  Can’t go to school/work because its cold?  Dress in layers!  90% of the kids are not waiting out in the cold anyways…they are in a car from what I can see. 
I thought I was the only one who that it was ridiculous…thanks for touching on it!
Shaunette

NO!! I went to school in colder temps than these, plus I was a ‘walker’! My children all went to school in cold temps! What is it with these Teacher’s Unions, they are getting lazier and lazier every year, and don’t tell me it was the school departments that ordered these closings, you can get better odds it was the union that was concerned that the teachers might get frostbite in their Gucci loafers (apt description for them, the teachers, not the shoes), walking from the parking lot to the building. I saw plenty of Warwick school kids outside walking around during the day on Thursday and Friday, many in shirtsleeves and no coats on. So who are school departments fooling??
Bill in Warwick

Yes, it certainly is cold.
Maybe my advanced years are showing here but I don’t remember ever having school close due to cold weather.
I grew up in rural western mass and had to walk down a country road about 6 tenths of a mile to a state road to wait for the bus.  Rarely was school closed due to weather.
Even today in that part of mass school is mostly in session.
Of course I can’t believe that school buses stop at EVERY drive way on a street cause the kids can;t manage to get across the yard to the neighbors yard to wait for the bus.
But, hey, this is RI.  And, then the bus has to wait for the little darlings to wander out of the house there by backing traffic up in both directions even more.
Judith, Coventry

The officials who started this silly trend are nothing but wimps. What do they do in Alaska? They send the kids to school. This only creates big problems for parents who may have to lose time at work and look for sitters. What a big fiasco.
Al, North Smithfield

War is peace, debt is wealth.
Freedom is Servitude
of main street to Wall street.
Ignorance is Strength.
Going into debt and devaluing
the dollar is good for
the health of our country.
Don’t learn to work
with the elements.
Zuke

I do not believe in cold days. First of all kids will probably be more warmer at school. There is NO outside recess. At home kids might have the opportunity to go out doors. Second, if we get cold days, does that mean in June if by some chance we get a heat wave, will the schools close for a hot day? Very unlikely.  There should not have been cold days.
M, Narragansett

What do we expect?  Heads rolled after the December snow storm last year and school district administrators don’t want to leave anything to chance, so of course schools will be closed for the cold.
Perhaps heat will be a factor as well - the first time a student comes down with heatstroke and some over-zealous parents want to make an issue of it and blame someone.
It’s a sign of the times, in my opinion.  It’s always someone else’s fault.
MB, Swansea, MA

The difficult part of making those decisions to cancel school is the weather is still unpredictable. On Sunday the forecast was for 1-3” and we’re getting buried! I’d like to see more 2 hr delays and early ****dismissal so the kids don’t have to make up the time.  Winters have been mild these past 3 decades as a result folks are less hardy.
Mike L, Warwick

Thursday, January 15 was not a “cold” cancellation day. The schools called it off in Central and Northern RI due to the snow forecast/ but when the morning forecast changed to a coastal snow event, all of a sudden the newscasters announced it was due to the cold. Well, how bout Friday, Jan 16?
Colder than the previous day, and everyone had school.
They were covering tails because the weather forecast changed.
Grandpa walked to school on sidewalks. Nowadays, we have speeding traffic, and wreckless drivers, who don’t abide by snow safety rules of the road.
Perhaps this is why school cancellations are common. Looke what happened Dec. 13 2007? Add to that the price of heating the schools with oil, instead of woodstoves. We had school both days.
Claire J, Little Compton

You know it, I know it as well as everybody else… the bottom line is they (RI government leaders) do not want another
December “Debacle” on their hands… it’s that simple!
Dick from Warwick

WHEN I WAS GOING TO SCHOOL, UNLESS AN APPENDAGE WAS FALLING OFF OR THERE WAS MORE THAN 1 FT OF SNOW AS OF THE TIME YOU GOT UP FOR SCHOOL, YOU WERE THERE… I DON’T SEE ANY LOGICAL REASON FOR THAT MOVE. BUT THEN AGAIN THAT’S OUR BEAUTIFUL STATE, COULD IT BE POLITICS AT WORK, FOR WHATEVER REASON ,YOU TELL ME BILL…………………………………….
AS ALWAYS
A LOYAL RAPPER
LARRY, SMITHFIELD  
 
Why!  I walked one mile to reach a corner that a jittey took me three miles to a bus, and traveled another six miles to school.  No matter what the weather.
Parents do not allow their children to walk - expect a bus to pick them up at home (taxes pay for this).
A snow day - forget it.  Cold weather - walk - or miss the bus.
Margaret W

Hey grandpa, I’m with you! I’m sure that Maine and New Hampshire got a good giggle out of it. If the school department wants to close schools because of cold weather (perhaps to save on heating costs), perhaps they should institute a two-month break(or more) in the middle of winter. The school year would consist of two stretches during the most temperate seasons, keeping kids home during both the heat of summer and the cold of winter.
Bill in Portsmouth