Marc Comtois

Viva Rhode Island?

By Marc Comtois | November 18, 2009 |

I’ve traveled all around the world, but one of the places I’d never been was Las Vegas. Until last week, that is. With the current recession, Las Vegas is offering several deals to get bodies into the casinos. With my wife and I looking for an economical getaway to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary, Vegas…

Obama Stimulus Helps RI’s Invisible Districts

By Marc Comtois | November 17, 2009 |

Thanks to President Obama’s stimulus package, RI’s 86th Congressional District has netted $10.2 million in aid and has had 58 jobs created (or saved)! The district, which encompasses the Williams and Franklin households in Ashaway, was given funds based on a proposal to open a low footprint, “green” factory for the manufacture of 100% eco-friendly…

Swing and a Miss

By Marc Comtois | November 6, 2009 |

This morning, the NEA’s Pat Crowley’s lamely attempted to use Alinsky’s Rules #5 (Ridicule) and #11 (” Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, polarize it”) on Education Commissioner Deborah Gist and put up a post that displayed the sort of empathy and prudence we’ve all come to expect. In the post, Crowley vaguely alluded…

Moderates Two-Block Themselves

By Marc Comtois | November 5, 2009 |

I guess we now know why the Moderate Party’s coffers are about as full as the RI GOPs. Ken Block has managed to bait the sharks thanks to his own situational ethics. The Warwick Beacon editorializes: Moderate Party founder Ken Block has tried to get around campaign finance laws by funneling money to his fledgling…

No Salt Water Fishing “Tax” In Ocean State

By Marc Comtois | November 5, 2009 |

Governor Carcieri vetoed the bill imposing a $7 license fee for salt-water fishing. As the ProJo reports, “This is the Ocean State,” Carcieri stated. “It is a place where people have been free, up to now, to cast a line into Narragansett Bay without government intrusion.” He means the federal government, too. Congress mandated the…

Woonsocket’s New GOP Mayor

By Marc Comtois | November 4, 2009 |

Woonsocket City Council President Leo Fontaine, a Republican, was elected over Todd Brien to replace Susan Menard as Mayor yesterday. But, as explained by the ProJo’s John Hill, there is something unique about the structure of Woonsocket politics that probably helped Fontaine: Municipal elections are nonpartisan in Woonsocket; candidates do not run as members of…

Drawing the Wrong Conclusion from Statistics

By Marc Comtois | November 4, 2009 |

Just a minor observation based on the story in ProJo about Tamiflu, which states: A recent check of prescribing data from pharmacies around the state found that 15 percent of Tamiflu prescriptions were filled five days after they were written. That means a lot of wasted Tamiflu, says Health Director David R. Gifford –– because…

As Maine Goes….

By Marc Comtois | November 4, 2009 |

Maine became the 31st state to reaffirm via popular vote (and agree with President Obama) that marriage is between a man and a woman. The contrast was really between the coast and the inland/north. A look at the vote breakdown by county reveals that, in the end, the coastal counties of Cumberland (dominated by Portland…

Grassroots Unrest Spreads to the NFL

By Marc Comtois | November 3, 2009 |

The “political arena” isn’t the only place where the grassroots are ticked off and ready to show it. Fans of both the Cleveland Browns and Washington Redskins are planning on making a public statement about the sorry state of their teams. In Cleveland: Lifelong Browns fan and season-ticket holder Mike Randall, aka “Dawg Pound Mike,”…

Chariho Teachers Approve Contract: Stepping Away from Steps?

By Marc Comtois | November 3, 2009 |

As the ProJo reports, the Chariho teachers have approved a new contract (PDF) that includes nearly the complete eradication of the traditional increases (go “here” to see what I mean by “traditional”) in the hard-coded contract step increases. This is what the Chariho contract looks like: Usually, a step contract would have something like a…