Things We Read Today This Weekend, 6

First, scroll down and read Monique's postings on Rep. Spencer Dickinson. Then...

The topics of hope and hopelessness pervaded this weekend's readings, from absurd labor rules in schools, to the likely outcome of Make It Happen, to Spencer Dickinson's insider view, and then to Sandra Fluke.

When I Grow Up, I Wanna Be a Crony

I can't confirm if this was filmed in Rhode Island or not (h/t):

"I'm gonna fight for MY piece of the taxpayer pie."

"What's a crony?"

"It's like having a best friend who gives you other people's stuff."

"We take care of our friends."

"We get to spend taxpayer money any way we want."

"Why be a taxpayer when I can be a tax spender?"

Yup, it had to be filmed here, right?

Headlines

From Erika Niedowski of the Associated Press: "38 Studios lays off entire staff".

From a staff report from the Valley Breeze: "Woonsocket tax bill killed by full House".

Mental Illness: Rhode Island Ranks Highest

Must. Resist. Wisecracks. And. Speculative. Correlations.

( Via the Sacramento Bee.)

A new report providing state-by-state analyses of the prevalence of any mental illness including serious mental illness (SMI) reveals significant variation across the country. For example, among adults aged 18 or older, the rate of serious mental illness in the past year ranged from 3.5 percent in Hawaii and South Dakota to 7.2 percent in Rhode Island.

Rhode Island Once Again Makes the Wrong End of a National Ranking. But This Time, Who Can Blame Us?

Between the bad roads and the bad politics, no wonder:

The study says about 30 million Americans admit to driving drunk every year, according to a new federal study, and 10 million say they drove while impaired by illicit drugs.

Remarkably, those numbers are down from about five years ago. Rhode Island was found to have the highest percentage of people driving under the influence of drugs in the nation.

Johnny Wraps is Rhode Island

THIS really is Rhode Island, isn't it? Dirty lawyer brother of medium city mayor makes contacts in prison thanks to his past links with organized crime.

A friend from the camp gave him the names of two inmates who would take care of him: Rex Cunningham and Blind Eddie.

Cunningham, a tough-guy from Springfield, Mass., is a longtime associate of the New York-based Genovese crime family who has specialized in loansharking, racketeering and collecting debts from deadbeat gamblers. Blind Eddie is a Boston mobster.

The first day, Cicilline wandered over to the prison track to look for his new contacts. One of the guys walking the track was Bobby Joost, a mob associate and career criminal from Providence, serving a 26-year sentence for plotting an armored car robbery.

"Hey, John," yelled Joost. He hustled over and gave him a big hug.

"He took care of everything," Cicilline said. "Bobby looked out for me."

The prison was loaded with wise guys from Boston, New York and New Jersey. Most of them knew Cicilline's father, John F. "Jack" Cicilline, the longtime lawyer for the Patriarca crime family, otherwise known as the New England Mob.

Cicilline's new friends were Theodore "Teddy" Persico, brother of Carmine "The Snake" Persico, the one-time boss of the Colombo crime family in New York. He said that Persico, 72, was like a "grandfather" to him during his 18-month prison stay. He also grew close to Giovanni "John" Riggi, the 85-year-old boss of the DeCavalcante crime family in New Jersey.

And they set him up and helped him out. Come to find out, that Johhny C. made a pretty freakin' good wrap, ya know? So he got some of his buddies to traffic in contraband so he could " hone his culinary skills" as the ProJo put it. And when he gets out? He sets up a new sandwich shop, complete with a free feature ad courtesy of the ProJo. And I think this is a case of the "paper of record" giving their readers a story they'd like. Hey, not for nuthin'...but I think they know their market.