Patrick Laverty
In my usual perusing various news sources for anything interesting, I fell upon this article about a doctor in Oregon. He was someone who campaigned for and helped to get a Death with Dignity law passed in his state. Then last week, he used that law for his own benefit, at the age of 83…
I just got this in my mailbox, which I always find interesting to see how campaigns communicate with those they consider their “friendlys”. Dear Patrick, The same shadowy right-wing group that aired vile and disgusting ads smearing David in 2010 is back and its leaders are promising to do everything they can to try yet…
How’s this sound on the face of it? A bill sponsored by Senators Jabour, Crowley and Pinga would remove the restriction that prevents state employees from running for election for a state seat. So a state employee could run for the General Assembly or any of the other General Officer seats. It sure sounds like…
Andrew has been banging this drum for a while now with a post earlier this year on bills being held for further study as well as his great explanation last year of how our elected leaders could put an end to the practice. Justin has also been live-blogging from some of the hearings and from…
I’m frequently reading articles about how towns are struggling financially because of millions of dollars less being given to the municipalities. The mayors say that they’re struggling because they’re not getting as much money. The Assembly is plugging their own budget holes with that money instead. Providence Mayor Angel Taveras has said that a part…
Have you thought much about your final days, final minutes or even thereafter? I, probably like most other people have already attended more wakes and funerals than I’d ever want to. But as the great philosopher Yogi Berra said, “You should always go to other peoples’ funerals or else they won’t go to yours.” Then…
It’s tax time again and people are sitting with their 1040 and Schedule A and 1099 and W2 and all the other fun hoops the IRS makes you jump through. This year, it took me a minute but I was reminded of a little change to the RI tax code last year that very few…
In case you were unaware or unfamiliar, conservative journalist/blogger Andrew Breitbart passed away today. According to his Wikipedia page, Breitbart was an American publisher, commentator for the Washington Times, author, and occasional guest commentator on various news programs, who served as an editor for the Drudge Report Web site. He was a researcher for Arianna…
Economics for five year olds, by a five year old.
With all due respect to Governor Chafee and to the position of RI Governor, the title of this post is in reference to a 1992 Clinton presidential campaign theme first coined by James Carville. However, I found it surprising, if not laughable that the Governor attributes his low approval ratings to the current economy. Chafee…