A Fine Whine

So, President Barack Obama dropped in on Rhode Island on Monday, and notably failed to endorse Democratic gubernatorial candidate Frank Caprio. Caprio responded by saying, "He could take his endorsement and really shove it, as far as I'm concerned." WJAR, the local NBC affiliate in Providence, then polled the race, and found that Caprio had dropped from first place to third since a previous poll released on October 12. Specifically, Caprio fell from 37% to 25%, Independent Lincoln Chafee rose from 33% to 35%, Republican John Robitaille rose from 22% to 28%, Moderate Ken Block held steady at 2%, while undecideds rose from 6% to 10%. So Caprio dropped 12%, with 2% going to Chafee, 6% going to Robitaille, and 4% going to undecided.

It looks like "Vote for the Whiner" is not going to be a winning campaign slogan for Caprio.

Bring Back Bob Beaver!

Back on December 10, 2009, the editorial board of the Newport Daily News decided to commemorate the 2009 Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen by inviting Robert A. Beaver, an amusingly-named right-wing conspiracy theorist, to pen a guest editorial explaining to their readers that there was no such thing as global warming, and that the whole thing was a hoax cooked up by a bunch of greedy climate scientists.

Well, you can imagine my astonishment when I opened up today's copy of the Daily Snooze to find an AP article titled "Coast Guard pushes to guard U.S. claims in remote Arctic sea" with the following opening graf:

The ice-choked reaches of the northern Arctic Ocean aren't widely perceived as an international shipping route. But global warming is bringing vast change, and Russia, for one, is making an aggressive push to establish top of the world sea lanes.

The gist of the article is that the Russians are taking advantage of receding Arctic sea ice to send cargo ships straight across the Arctic Ocean, and that the U.S. Coast Guard is gearing up to "secure U.S. claims and prepare for increased human activity." But what I want to know is, where is Bob Beaver?

I think that, in their quest for fairness and balance, and their desire to present all points of view, it is incumbent on the editors of the NDN to invite Bob Beaver back to their editorial page to explain to the paper's readers that, no, the Russians aren't really sending shipping across the Arctic Ocean, the Coast Guard isn't asking for more resources to deal with the increased activity, and that this is all just part of the hoax being perpetrated by those greedy scientists.

Bring back Bob Beaver!

Some Context

As a native of Delaware, I think I'm uniquely qualified to offer my fellow Li'l Rhodians some context on Christine O'Donnell's primary victory over Mike Castle. No, it's not like Lincoln Chafee losing to Steve Laffey. It's like John Chafee losing to a bag lady.

New Blog

You haven't been hearing from me for awhile- and there's a reason for that!  I have relocated and am now using my born name of Rice- major life changes, indeed .
I am now living, at least for awhile, in a beautiful condo on the Susquehanna on the upper Eastern Shore in Maryland.  As I write on my deck on an absolutely gorgeous day with a warm temp & low humidity, I am looking down on the boat docks, watching and listening to the Acela train pass by nosily on the r.r. trestle, and gazing on the town of Harve de Grace.  Oops, another train is coming announced by two quick whistle blasts.
Noisey, yup.  But since my dad, granddad, etc. were r.r. for a few generations (N.Y., N.H., & H and B&O), I am comfortable.  Although, in the evening in bed when suddenly that very small bright light hits me and then the loud, low, slow rumble of the freight train shuffles by- less so.
I lived in Balto. County for many years as a kid & young adult.  I then grew up and lived and worked on the Eastern Shore during and after college.  As I like to tell people here, I did live here more than a few years ago.  I understand the language, but the lingo sometimes trips me up.  LOL!
So please feel to visit me on my new blog.  If u are ever in the area, u have a friend here with a BIG condo and an extra bed!  However, my connections to the Newport area are NOT completely gone.  My house, my dog, my sons, my house are still there!  At least for now.
No, u can't go home again.  But visiting is certainly interesting!!!

Kathleen Parker Demonstrates Her Lack of Shame

Today's Newport Daily News has its weekly column by Washington Post conservative columnist Kathleen "K-Pax" Parker. Today K-Pax chooses to highlight Red China's repressive policy of forcing women to have abortions. K-Pax is very careful to point out that "On this much, both sides of the abortion issue can agree: Forced abortion is not a choice." She is even more careful to avoid stating the obvious corollary: Forced pregnancy is not a choice, either, but she and her fellow conservatives support it.

Is K-Pax honestly concerned about women in China? If she were, she could have simply stated the facts and voiced her opinion. Instead, she goes out of her way to sneer at Planned Parenthood and NARAL for not being as concerned as she is. That's why she wrote this column; not to draw attention to an injustice, but to use that injustice to score political points against liberals. It's cheap political grandstanding cloaked in sanctimony. K-Pax ought to be ashamed, but of course, being a conservative, she's not.

First Beach Cleaup Sept. 19

September 19th is the International Coastal Cleanup, this is run by the Ocean Conservancy Group and hosted in Rhode Island by the Audubon Society and Clean Ocean Access is proud to lead the efforts at Easton’s Beach for the 4th year in a row, it is also the start of the 4th year of Clean Ocean Access, so we look forward to everyone getting involved!

The beach cleanup starts at 9 AM and finishes at 11 AM, parking is in the west-lot.

Wear sturdy shoes and bring your own gloves, we’ll provide the rest.

This is a rain or shine event, unless we have a hurricane!

Please let me know if you can make the event and how many people are attending and also include your t-shirt size (Adult, S, M, L, XL, XXL).

For more information about the Ocean Conservancy International Coastal Cleanup, check out this link:

http://www.oceanconservancy.org/site/PageServer?pagename=icc_home

For more information about Clean Ocean Access, check out this link:

http://members.cox.net/cleanoceanaccess/

Take the Aqidneck Island Transportation Study

This is the web site for the AIPC’s Aquidneck Island transportation corridor study, which is a two-year project funded with approx. $500,000 in state and federal funds. The public kickoff for the project is this morning. Please checkout the site and pass the link along as the web page includes a survey seeking public input on transportation issues as the study gets underway.

http://www.vhb.com/aquidneck

Hiatus

I'm heading South to where the sun shines & it's warm! Visiting Maryland to see friends & places that I haven't viewed in 40 years.

This in from Gail Ciampa's Food Blog at Projo.

"Rhode Island Premier of Food Inc. benefits the Rhode Island Center for Agricultural Promotion and Education (RICAPE), Wednesday, July 22 at the Jane Pickens Theatre in Newport.
The film will screen at 7pm, followed by a panel discussion to discuss agriculture in Rhode Island. At 6 pm light refreshments provided by Whole Foods, Greenvale Vineyards, Newport Vineyards and others will be served.

Tickets are $25 each with a portion of the proceeds to support RICAPE and may be purchased in advance at Jane Pickens.

Learn more about the film at Food Inc."

The movie is now playing through Thursday.

Happy Birthday, Sandra!

Sandra Flowers, of course. 39 today!!!