Coming your way, at the State House:

From MERI:

On Wednesday, May 7, the Rhode Island Assembly's House Judiciary Committee will hear testimony on several bills addressing marriage equality rights for all Rhode Island couples, regardless of gender or sexual orientation. Supporters of marriage equality, including several members of MERI, are expected to testify.

 

WHAT: Marriage equality legislation, pro and con:

 

Bills under consideration that MERI supports include:

 

• Compassion for All Families Act – Sponsored by Rep. John McCauley of Providence, H. 7711 would give domestic partners the spousal benefits of family medical leave, nursing home visitation and funeral planning.

• Equal Divorce Act – Sponsored by Rep. Gordon Fox of Providence, H. 7939 would allow same-sex couples who married outside of Rhode Island to divorce in Rhode Island.

• Equal Marriage Act – Sponsored by Rep. Arthur Handy of Cranston, H. 7839 would allow all Rhode Island couples the equal freedom to marry.

 

Bills that MERI opposes include:

 

• Divorce legislation – Sponsored by Rep. Al Gemma of Warwick, H. 7081 would codify into law the Rhode Island does not recognize marriages between same-sex couples. Although the legislation would permit same-sex couples to divorce in RI, the bill would likely close the Massachusetts border to Rhode Island same-sex couples who wish to marry there and doesn't' address jurisdiction for same-sex couples married in Canada or overseas.

• A constitutional amendment – Sponsored by Rep. John Brien of Woonsocket, H. 8017 would define marriage as between a man and a woman and would nullify any recognition of marriages, civil unions or domestic partnerships for same-sex couples.

From FairVoteRI:

Youth Voter Pre-registration, H 7106, is out of committee and scheduled for a vote on the House floor this Wednesday. This is a big step towards turning early registration for 16 and 17 year olds into law. The push to get young Rhode Islanders excited about democracy is moving forward— please come to the State House on Wednesday afternoon at 4 PM, and, in the meantime, contact your state representative and ask them to support this common-sense, non-partisan reform.

From the RI Patient Advocacy Coalition:

On Thursday, May 8, 2008, at 4:00pm, the Senate will vote on S2693 in the Senate chamber at the State House. This bill would allow the Department of Health to license a non-profit organization to serve as a Compassion Center, to grow and distribute medical marijuana for registered patients. THIS WILL BE THIS BILL'S FIRST FLOOR VOTE.

5/7/2008 2:53:25 PM by Not For Nothing | Comments [0] |  

Here's an upcoming event worth putting on your calendar:

Malian guitarist Habib Koité and his band Bamada return to North America this spring with an 11-city tour, marking the first opportunity for this legendary African music figure to perform songs from his most recent and critically acclaimed album Afriki. On Wednesday, May 7th Habib Koité and Bamada perform in Providence, RI in a special concert to benefit the GAIA Vaccine Foundation at Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel.  GAIA Vaccine Foundation is a Providence-based 501c3 that is promoting the development of a globally relevant HIV vaccine and global access to HIV care. GAIA supports a state-of the art HIV care program in Bamako, Mali, Habib Koite's home town. All proceeds from this concert will go to stopping AIDS in Africa. See http://www.GAIAVaccine.org

for more information.

 

Afriki was released by Cumbancha last fall and features an alluring set of songs that reflect Habib’s unique and innovative approach to the diverse styles of Malian music. Years in the making and recorded on three continents, Afriki finds Habib exploring some new musical directions. The overarching theme of Afriki, which means “Africa” in the Malian Bambara language, is about the strengths and challenges of the African continent. For example, James Brown veteran Pee Wee Ellis arranged horns on the song “Africa,” which calls upon Africans to take responsibility for their own future and not depend on the outside world.

 

Habib’s artistry draws on styles from the different regions of Mali, rather than solely on the music of his particular area as most Malian musicians do. He has gained a strong fan base by integrating the rock and folk sounds of the Western world, without watering down his cherished Malian roots. Habib descends from a line of griots, traditional troubadors who provide wit, wisdom and entertainment to the pubic. Taking this role to the world at large, his charisma and magnetism translates easily across cultural divides.

4/16/2008 11:32:16 AM by Not For Nothing | Comments [0] |  

Linc Chafee, as we all know, has said goodbye to the Republican Party and embraced the Obama campaign. And in a letter to the editor in today's ProJo, he asserts that his late father, former governor and US senator John Chafee, would not have supported the presidential bid of Hillary Clinton.

I believe that writer Carl Bernstein has it right in his book on Mrs. Clinton, A Woman in Charge.

He writes of the health-care debate in 1993 that “when Republican Sen. John Chafee and Democratic Rep. Jim Cooper introduced their own separate alternative proposals, the Clintons overlooked what may have been their best opportunity to compromise on a health-care plan. Chafee, a liberal Republican with no animus towards the Clintons or their politics, introduced his plan with 20 Republicans already pledged to support it in the Senate. House Republicans pitched a similar bill on the same day. And when Cooper and his principal House co-sponsor, Iowa Republican Fred Grandy, came forth with their bill, they were already endorsed by 46 other Democratic and Republican co-sponsors. Both Chafee’s and Cooper’s proposals would have given huge numbers of Americans adequate health-care coverage for the first time . . . and had enough support to make passage in the House and Senate likely. At such a pivotal juncture, Hillary could have thrown her support behind either bill. Later, Bill Clinton said perhaps he should have intervened.”

As the historic chances for passage of a bipartisan health-care-reform bill evaporated, Bernstein writes, “Hillary had earlier showed some willingness to compromise with Chafee, but when push came to shove, her unwillingness to compromise further undermined any chance of implementing real reform.”

For all her good intentions, Mrs. Clinton was unable to work with veteran friendly legislators and an opportunity was lost. Contrary to Ms. Rubiner’s hypothesis I am confident my father would not have supported Mrs. Clinton’s presidential candidacy.

So, would the elder Chafee have supported McCain? Linc's not saying, at least not in his letter.

In related Chafee news:

-- He's slated to appear on Dan Yorke this afternoon.

-- Fresh from a recent visit to 10 News Conference, Chafee will headline WPRI/WNAC-TV's Newsmakers this Sunday.

-- He's scheduled to do an appearance related to his new book tomorrow today at 6:45 at the Barnes & Noble on Bald Hill Road in Warwick.  

-- The peripatetic Mr. Crowley will be hosting a "book salon", featuring the new Chafee book, on firedoglake this Saturday, starting at 5 pm.

4/3/2008 8:40:55 AM by Not For Nothing | Comments [0] |  

On February 8, N4N reported on how the Planned Parenthood of Rhode Island Action Network had launched a suprisingly sharp attack on progressive Representative David Segal, who has been a strong supporter of women's rights.

The organization has since backtracked, as this statement makes clear:

A statement from Miriam Inocencio, CEO, and Barbara Dickinson, Board Chair, of Planned Parenthood of Rhode Island:

 

Planned Parenthood is the nation’s leading women’s health care provider, educator, and advocate. For more than 90 years, we’ve done more than any other organization in the United States to improve women’s health and safety, prevent unintended pregnancies, and advance the right and ability of individuals and families to make informed and responsible choices.

 

Our Community Affairs Department is the advocacy arm of PPRI. Our purpose is to vigorously protect and promote individual reproductive rights and the freedom of choice for all. Our main goal is to pass public policy initiatives that will keep reproductive healthcare safe, legal and accessible. One of our top policy initiatives is to enact buffer zone legislation to ensure safe access to our center by our patients, staff and volunteers. The enactment of a buffer zone will help prevent violence, intimidation and harassment directed at our patients and staff.

 

Laws protecting abortion providers and patients from violence and intimidation are critical to preserving a woman’s right to choose. Buffer Zone legislation will create a safety zone surrounding entrances and driveways to reproductive health care facilities. Protesters are not allowed in this area. The zone allows people to enter and leave reproductive health care facilities free from harassment, intimidation, and harm. The buffer zone enables women to exercise their right to personal liberty, privacy and access to medical services while simultaneously balancing the First Amendment rights of individuals to express their views near reproductive health care facilities. This is not an abortion issue; this is about law, order, public health and safety, individual liberties and civil behavior.

 

We called on PPRI’s State Representative, David Segal, to sponsor and support this legislation for many reasons. Representative Segal has been a proven friend of the pro-choice movement and the clinic sits in his district. The email alert we sent to our members was intended as an opportunity for Rep. Segal, a Planned Parenthood Votes! Rhode Island endorsed candidate, to hear from his constituents on this very important issue before he made a final decision on the legislation. The alert was not meant to disparage Rep. Segal’s performance as a legislator.

 

Rep. Segal is pro-choice and an advocate of women’s rights.  PPRI depends on his unwavering dedication to protecting women’s health and safety. Please ask him to support this legislation.

2/29/2008 1:52:11 PM by Not For Nothing | Comments [1] |  

During a fiery, populist address before an estimated crowd of more than 2000 at Rhode Island College this afternoon, Hillary Clinton laced into Barack Obama's health-care plan. Describing it as a faulty partial solution, she questioned whether Franklin D. Roosevelt would have gone just part of the way with Social Security, or Lyndon B. Johnson with Medicare. "We're Democrats," she thundered. "We stand for the principle of [universal health-care]." Clinton panned Obama's health-care plan as weaker than John Edwards and Dennis Kucinich's, and a recipe for little change from the status quo.

The implication was that Obama isn't ready for the presidency, a theme that Clinton reiterated at other points in her address. Noting events of the last week -- the election in Pakistan, change in Cuba, independence in Kosovo, and the attack on the US Embassy in Belgrade -- she said experienced leadership is needed in the White House.

Clinton tried to reposition herself as the candidate of change, asserting that there is no contradiction between change and experience. She unloaded on President Bush and vowed to press for a rapid withdrawal of US forces from Iraq. Considering her comments, you'd never have known that she voted in favor of authorizing the war.

The senator from New York succeeding in presenting a raft of policy pronouncements while coming across with a warm personality. Conceding that delivering change in Washington will be very difficult, Clinton said she was under no illusion -- in a dig against her opponent -- that if she wins election, "the sky will open, the light will come down, celestial choirs will be singing." 

While press accounts, like one in today's New York Times, talk about the possible demise of the Clinton campaign, Hillary gave no quarter before this adoring audience, which included unionists like Mike Downey and Scott Duhamel and a cross-section of age groups. Conspicuously absent were black Rhode Islanders.

Introduced by US Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and US Representative Jim Langevin, Clinton bounded onto a stage about 45 minutes after her scheduled start time, backed up on the podium by a chorus of supporters, including state Representative Grace Diaz, state Senator Juan Pichardo, Lieutenant Governor Elizabeth Roberts, Treasurer Frank Caprio, and Secretary of State Ralph Mollis.

Clinton and other speakers sought to capitalize on the notion of a special relationship between Rhode Island the Clintons. "I can't do this without your help," Hillary implored. On March 4, "Rhode Island is right up there with Ohio and Texas in terms of being important."

2/24/2008 3:36:59 PM by Not For Nothing | Comments [0] |  

A report that her campaign is prepared to face the end (knocked down here) and the jumping of her superdelegates to Barack Obama notwithstanding, Hillary Clinton is making a stepped-up effort to win Rhode Island's March 4 primary. Case in point: an additional campaign event tomorrow, in addition to a fundraiser at the home of US Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, and her afternoon speaking appearance at Rhode Island College:

Senator Clinton will discuss with patients, nurses, and doctors their struggles with the health care system and her plan for bringing health care to every Rhode Islander. The roundtable discussion will take place at 5:00 p.m., with doors opening at 3:30 p.m. Due to limited space, this event is not open to the public.

Sunday, February 24

Doors Open: 3:30 p.m. EST
Event Begins: 5:00 p.m. EST
Hillary Clinton Hosts a Health Care Roundtable
El Paisa Restaurant
598 Dexter Street
Central Falls, RI

This event is a three-fer for Clinton: 1) It allows her to be empathetic and to focus on her strong knowledge of health-care issues; 2) Staging the event in predominantly Latino Central Falls, at a Latino restaurant, is a not-so-subtle effort to win Rhode Island's coveted Latino vote; 3) In addition to points 1 and 2, the event is meant to gin up her support among working-class Rhode Islanders, some of whom have a sharp dislike for Obama.

Obviously, if Clinton can win Ohio and Rhode Island on March 4, winning two out of four would be much better than one out of four, and it would allow her to claim a tie coming out of the day. Texas is a dead heat at the moment, Clinton leads in Ohio, and Vermont is leaning for Obama.

While a poll cited on this blog earlier today showed Clinton to be holding an eight-point lead over Obama, there is no guarantee that this will hold up. Obama has broad support in this one-time bastion of Clinton support, so Hillary is wise to leave no stone unturned during her visit tomorrow.

2/23/2008 4:45:03 PM by Not For Nothing | Comments [0] |  

Medical marijuana proponents plan to seek General Assembly support this session to create an establishment, known as the Compassion Center, which, as the theory goes, would have state Department of Health backing to grow and distribute medical marijuana to approved patients.

While the outlook for such a measure remains uncertain -- at minimum, it would likely have to overcome a gubernatorial veto -- it would address the glaring shortcoming in Rhode Island's medical marijuana law.

As Te-Ping Chen wrote in the Phoenix last May,

Ironically, in contrast to the initial concerns cited by opponents, the main challenge facing medical marijuana users in Rhode Island is obtaining access to the drug. ....

Once a patient receives their physician’s approval, the Department of Health processes their application — none have been rejected thus far — and issues an ID card verifying their participant status. From there on, patients are on their own: the 2005 law famously did not specify how patients were to obtain the drug. And that, to both the program’s critics and supporters, remains its greatest problem.
 
As Michael Downs, director of prevention education for AIDS Project Rhode Island, puts it, the law has been a “great resource” for his agency’s clients, but lack of access places them in “something of a quandary.”
 
Major Steven O’Donnell of the Rhode Island State Police puts the matter more bluntly. “Basically, we’re telling patients to go buy drugs on the street,” O’Donnell says. “Even if the law works on behalf of people with medical need,” he says, “we’re asking them to put themselves in harm’s way.”
  
Bobby Ebert, who says he was assaulted in downtown Providence one night while trying to obtain marijuana, knows that this risk is no joke. But having dealt with pain for years, it’s something he takes in stride. “After all,” he says, “I’ve got a disease that could kill me tomorrow.”

Jesse Stout, executive director of the RI Patient Advocacy Coalition, sent me an e-mail earlier today, indicating the following:

The patients we represent have been asking us the same question -- 'Now that I can legally possess medical marijuana, where am I supposed to go get it?' Our friends in the House and Senate will soon be introducing legislation that would allow a nonprofit Compassion Center to be licensed by the Department of Health to grow and distribute marijuana to patients. The bill provides specific rules for how this independent Compassion Center will be regulated by the Department. Here at Rhode Island Patient Advocacy Coalition, we think this bill is a good solution for patients who need safe access to this medicine, but don't want to have to go to the criminal black market, and cannot grow it themselves because they are too sick or too poor.

The way in which a small predominantly Catholic state like Rhode Island backed medical marijuana in the first place is counter-intuitive, so it will be interesting to see how supporters fare with the latest effort.

 

2/11/2008 2:17:48 PM by Not For Nothing | Comments [2] |  

If you missed Sicko, the latest offering from Michael Moore, the Providence Public Library has a screening and discussion planned for Sunday:

Providence Public Library is pleased to present a free screening of Michael Moore’s award-winning documentary SICKO at 1:30 pm on Sunday, January 27 at Central Library (Barnard Room, 3rd Floor), 150 Empire Street, Providence. Filmgoers are invited to stay for a discussion of the health care issues facing Rhode Islanders following the film: 3:30 – 4:30 pm. 

 

Discussion will be lead by Providence resident Lisa Grant and will specifically address H.R. 676: U.S. National Health Insurance Act introduced by John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) on January 24, 2007.

Healthcare will be a top issue in the 2008 national election. Debate is heating up in Rhode Island, where legislation is under way similar to Massachusetts’ recent law mandating health care insurance for all residents. 

 

Seating is limited. To reserve a place or for more details, call: 537-9175.

1/25/2008 3:49:28 PM by Not For Nothing | Comments [0] |  

Pat Crowley has a strong post up at RI's Future, pointing to a state report to indicate how Rhode Island taxpayers are paying more than $5 million (plus about $6M from the feds) to pay for health insurance for workers at some of the state's biggest and more profitable corporations:

As I was driving through Providence today, I heard Our Governor on the Helen Glover “Show” getting the facts wrong again about the State he has run for six years but apparently bears no responsibility for mismanaging (personal responsibility and all).  Helen was guffawing about how silly it is to think that the State should pay people not to work – the much maligned but little understood FIP program.  That got me thinking…. I wonder if she knows, or if the Governor knows, how much we taxpayers give corporations to insure their workers since they are too cheap to do it themselves. ....

$5,127,098 

Where is that money going, you might ask…. 

It is going to Bank of America, and their 382 employees on RIte Care / Rite Share/ or Medicaid.  It is going to the 610 employees of Citizens Bank that are getting our taxes.  It is only 310 folks at CVS (plastic bag, anyone) but 500 Wal Mart employees are piad for by the State.  In total more than 4,000 workers for these corporations get us to pay for the health insurance.  That, my dear reader, is corporate welfare.

You can find the full report at this link.

1/24/2008 6:03:20 PM by Not For Nothing | Comments [7] |  

As Governor Carcieri prepares to give his latest State of the State address tonight, a coalition of health-care professionals plans a State House protest tomorrow, at 3:30 pm, to rap the governor's proposed cuts to RIte Care.

Nick Tsiongas, President of the RI Medical Society commented on the event: "Health care professionals are hosting this action to express our disbelief that this proposal has even seen the light of day.   We plan to highlight the quality of this nationally recognized program.  The fact is, we can not cut our way out of the state's current structural deficit.   There are more responsible alternatives we must look to."

1/22/2008 11:12:57 AM by Not For Nothing | Comments [1] |  

The effort to curb medical malpractice liability in Rhode Island -- a cause backed by Governor Carcieri -- certainly wasn't helped by revelations this week about the latest wrong-site medical error at Rhode Island Hospital. According to our federal government, in fact, medical errors kill more than 40,000 people a year. Dr. David Gifford, director of the state Department of Health, appears on WNAC/WPRI-TV's Newsmakers to discuss the Rhode Island Hospital case and other health issues.

Also joining the show are Lieutenant Michael Morse, firefighter, author, and blogger extraordinaire, and Channel 12 investigative reporter Tim White, who discuss the problem of non-emergency calls to 911. Newsmakers is broadcast Sunday, at 5:30 am on Channel 12 and at 10 am on Fox Providence.

Morse, whose book, Rescuing Providence, recently hit the shelves, also talks about the arson problem posed by the foreclosure crisis. According to White, four Providence firefighters were recently injured while battling suspicous fires at troubled properties on Veazie Street.

Speaking of White, he had a good piece this week about the high-rated football team at St. Raphael's in Pawtucket, the alma mater of Mayor James Doyle and some other local and statwide pols, is getting preference for a public field in the city. A girl's soccer team from a public school has been edged out:

This fight has come up before, and now some public school parents are looking to file a lawsuit against the city of Pawtucket. They are saying putting a private school over the rights of a public school is a violation of basic consitutional rights.

St. Raphael's football team could very well be, the best in the state this year. So far, undefeated they could credit their success to practice. Practice on the city owned Dennis O'Brien field.

Public school parent Maggie Rogers says the girls soccer team at nearby public Jenks Middle School was told by the city they can't play there because St. Rays football practices on the field.

O'Brien field was renovated with tax money and is maintained by the city's Public Works department.

Head of the parks department, William Mulholland, wouldn't go on camera, but says St. Ray's does not pay for the field. But after decades of use, their permit is "grandfathered" in.

11/30/2007 12:17:29 PM by Not For Nothing | Comments [0] |  

Although our federal government continues to spend untold billions on the war in Iraq, it has no problem involving officials from the US Department of Health and Human Services in the White House's political initiative against expanding healthcare for children.

If the White House and Congressional Republicans want to make this argument, fine, but should HHS officials (see the news release below) be taking an active role in this debate?

Media Advisory

 

November 8, 2007                                                                               Contact: Dave Abdoo

                                                                                                                    617-565-1912

                                                                                                                     617-839-6620

 

Given the chance to vote on a plan to raise taxes to put children of middle-income families on a government health insurance program, Oregon’s voters registered a resounding NO.  Right now, Congress is trying to do the same with the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).

 

A Wall Street Journal editorial today takes a closer look.  

 

Schip Wreck

The Wall Street Journal

November 8, 2007; Page A22

 

“Oregon reproduced the current Schip fracas in D.C. on the state level -- and the referendum took a major shellacking, with voters siding three to two against. Oregon's expansion was almost identical to the one backed by Congressional Democrats…

 

“…voters didn't want to pass a state tax increase to finance a health-care expansion that Congress might soon pass, along with buckets of federal dollars. But most likely, voters understood that a tax increase on cigarettes is still a tax increase, and a highly regressive one at that.

 

“There are political lessons here, in case anyone in Washington is paying attention. Voters are rightly concerned about health care and would like everyone to have insurance, but they realize that government programs are very expensive. Americans also don't seem to want to pay for health-care reforms directly through higher taxes. That accounts for the reliance by politicians on the easier sell of tobacco taxes, and it also explains why Congress has disguised the real cost of its Schip contraption with a $30 billion budget gimmick.”

 

To schedule an interview to discuss SCHIP with New England HHS Regional Director Brian Golden, please contact David Abdoo at 617-565-1912 or 617-839-6620.

 

Read the entire editorial online at http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110010835. 

 

###

11/8/2007 4:28:45 PM by Not For Nothing | Comments [0] |  

Lieutenant Governor Elizabeth Roberts says that the state Constitution justifies the provision of interpreters to people seeking state benefits in Rhode Island.

Roberts made the statement during a taping this morning of WPRI/WNAC-TV's Newsmakers. While declining to offer a view when panelist Tim White asked her whether Governor Carcieri should apologize -- as Bill Lynch says he should -- for a related remark, Roberts says the Constitution calls for equal service for all Rhode Islanders.

The LG also talked up the healthcare initiative that she unveiled earlier this week. With Washington proving an unreluctant partner, at least for now, it's up to the states, Roberts says, to seek more efficient approaches for delivering healthcare. Chalie Bakst threw her a bouquet on this front yesterday:

It was a pleasure to see a politician go before an audience — at the University of Rhode Island’s Providence campus — and give a prepared, thematic address about something real, not just mouth slogans and sound bites.

More importantly, it was a pleasure to hear a leader speak in an upbeat way about the potential of government to be a constructive force in people’s lives.

Corruption and rumors of corruption sweeping through Democratic General Assembly halls have heightened voter cynicism.

Republican Governor Carcieri often portrays government as bloated, a threat to taxpayers.

Into this scene strides Democrat Roberts, a former state senator who is a newcomer to high office, striking a tone of intelligent idealism as she called for change that would allow the state to balance its budget and provide health care both the government and individuals could afford.

“I am not saying it will be easy, or that it will happen overnight,” she told an audience of health, business, political and academic figures. “But it can happen if we put aside the rancor, the posturing, the pandering, and the personal agenda and work together — the governor with the legislature … Medicaid with doctors and hospitals; health care providers with insurance companies; insurance companies with small businesses.”

She added, “Where is the vision? Rather than whittling away at our safety net and trimming at the edges of the personnel budget, we should be thinking about the long-term role of government.”

Roberts, 50, declared, “Everyone should have the care they need, when they need it, and in the most effective and low-cost setting.”

She warned, “Doing nothing about health care, standing still, waiting for someone else to lead, waiting for the winds of change to blow us in the right direction, risks the lives and the livelihoods of Rhode Islanders.”

Newmakers is broadcast Sunday at 5:30 am on Channel 12 (CBS), and at 10 am on Fox 64.

10/19/2007 2:20:58 PM by Not For Nothing | Comments [0] |  

-- The ProJo's Lynn Arditi had a good piece yesterday about the breadth and implications of Rhode Island's foreclosure crisis. In our neighbor to the north, Deval Patrick has a bold plan to deal with some of the related issues.

-- Lieutenant Governor Elizabeth Roberts presents her big healthcare for all plan, at noon tomorrow.

-- Culture Vulture Scott Duhamel has a great new Monday night film-noir series at Local 121.

-- Parking advocate Patrick Ward, who gets a mini-profile in last week's Phoenix, reports that the cost of an overnight parking ticket has climbed from $15 to $20.

10/15/2007 3:40:45 PM by Not For Nothing | Comments [0] |  

Ira Magaziner gets some prominent play in an October cover story in the Atlantic about his and Bill Clinton's efforts to combine entrepreneuralism and market forces with philanthropy.

You need a subscription to get more than the very beginning of the online story, but the piece talks about Magaziner's time at Brown and his efforts to revive industry as a youthful idealist in Brockton, Massachusetts, among other local connections.

Nowadays, Clinton and Magaziner have focused a lot of effort on curbing AIDS in Africa and reducing the threat of global warming. (The Clinton camp has also reportedly proven capable of killing some unflattering attention.)

As the Atlantic story points out, one of the most salient parts of the combined Clinton-Magaziner collaboration is how they are creating a corps of young activists who, through their exponential efforts, could have a pretty big impact in the decades to come.

Btw, Magaziner's son, Seth, a 2006 Brown graduate, got involved in local politics during his time in Rhode Island.

These days, besides cheering on the Red Sox, Seth tells N4N that he's in his second year "teaching at a struggling elementary school in rural Louisiana as part of the Teach for America program. It has been an intense experience, but very rewarding, and I am loving it."

10/12/2007 1:12:36 PM by Not For Nothing | Comments [0] |  

Next Tuesday, at URI's Providence campus, Lieutenant Governor Elizabeth Roberts plans to share her concept for expanding health-care in Rhode Island. While Roberts has a long record on health-care, this could be just another early salvo in the 2010 gubernatorial fight:

Lt. Gov. Elizabeth Roberts will kick off the fight universal health care in Rhode Island on Tuesday, October 16 at 12:00 p.m. as part of the University of Rhode Island Feinstein Providence Campus 2007 Distinguished Lecture Series. In her speech "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Health Care: Why You Should Care (If You Don't Already)," Lt. Gov. Roberts will share her vision for the future of health care in Rhode Island and discuss the role business leaders, families and government officials must play to change a health care system that has a profound impact on Rhode Island's economy and the health of every Rhode Islander.

  

When: Tuesday, October 16, 2007

           12:00 p.m.— 1:00 p.m.

 

Where: University of Rhode Island Feinstein Providence Campus

            Paff Auditorium

            80 Washington Street, Providence

10/10/2007 1:35:42 PM by Not For Nothing | Comments [0] |  

Mary Ann Sorrentino says the White House is gouging the reproductive interests of young women in college:

Who would ever finger our federal government as the force responsible for thousands of unintended pregnancies on US campuses?
 
The federal Deficit Reduction Act — which went into effect in January — may do just that. It is forcing up the price of birth control pills for college women — to $30 to $50 a month, instead of $3 to $10 — this academic year through a convoluted formula that allows favored pharmaceutical companies to decide how they will use the act’s mandated state rebates.
 
Pharmaceutical company representatives say that deep campus discounts for contraceptives burden company profits. There’s no word yet on how much thousands of unintended pregnancies resulting from unaffordable birth control will cost the rest of us in perpetuity.
 
Female students traditionally have no health insurance or they may be covered under a parent’s plan, in which case they often pay out-of-pocket to protect their privacy. This means insurance companies will not pick up much of the new cost hike for birth control pills.
 
The popularity of oral contraceptives and their hormonal patch spin-offs is not new. These are the two most effective methods of birth control, second only to sterilization, which — because it is permanent — is not usually an option for young women wishing to have children in the future.
 
When purchasing such effective contraception was affordable for the average student, curbing unwanted pregnancies was achievable. Now, with birth control costs increasing as much as five-fold, the outlook for holding down the numbers of unintended and unwanted pregnancies is bleak.
 
But the current birth control roadblock becomes even more unconscionable in the nation’s current anti-choice climate, in which women who may actually become pregnant by mistake are afforded fewer options for dealing with such an event. As the abortion debate heats up amid presidential campaigns, politicians and red state fanatics coalesce to limit women’s reproductive rights. Even the “morning after pill” was withheld unreasonably for years, until very recently.
 
Already-born children get less federal respect than the “unborn.” This may be because the “unborn” don’t require a line in this nation’s current budget, where maternal and child welfare have been gutted. Uncle Sam will have to face the fact that the already-born eat, get sick, require clothing, education and housing, and that any society is weakened by women who are forced into motherhood and robbed of their dreams.
 
Not surprising, but disquieting, is the gender gap in public reactions to the campus contraception price-gouging.
 
Male “experts” reassure us that the new pill costs will not result in a rash of campus pregnancies. The women biologically vulnerable — patients and observers — describe the increased pregnancy risks as high, mighty, and terrifying.
 
A country where Medicare covers Viagra so that old bucks can remain sexually active long after most women care ought to have the resources to help people in their childbearing years responsibly plan pregnancies.
 
In W’s world, however, unaffordable birth control pills may become the “weapons of mass destruction” that we couldn’t find, until now.

9/21/2007 3:34:44 PM by Not For Nothing | Comments [0] |  

As with fashion, everything old becomes new again in the public policy realm -- and Hillary Clinton is among the presidential candidates currently talking up universal health-care:

From Boston.com:

Hillary Clinton today became the latest Democratic presidential candidate to unveil a plan for universal health care, and in her case that means confronting the demons of her spectacular failure to remake the American health care system while First Lady in 1993 and 1994.

Her plan is far less radical this time, building on existing public and private insurance systems to extend coverage to 47 million uninsured Americans while trying to give those who have coverage more choices on health plans.

Like the landmark Massachusetts health reform, Clinton would require people to obtain insurance, while offering subsidies to those unable to afford it. Her plan would offer tax credits to working families and to small businesses. Clinton would require large businesses to provide insurance for employees or help pay for it and would raise taxes on the wealthy to help cover the cost for those less able to pay for it. She put the government's cost at $110 billion a year.

The plan is similar to proposals offered by other Democrats.

Still, Clinton's plan, even before she unveiled it during a speech in Iowa, came under attack from both Republican and Democratic presidential rivals.

Yesterday, the New York Times' Week in Review had a good analysis of whether these kinds of proposals will make it any further than in the past:

Rarely does a politician, a party or a political system get a chance at a do-over.

Yet when Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton rolls out her comprehensive health plan in Iowa on Monday, it will be just that: Mrs. Clinton, or whoever the next president might be, has a second chance to fix a system that has, in many ways, deteriorated in the 14 years since the Clintons’ last attempt at an overhaul.

But will it turn out any differently this time? Can another big national health plan survive the furious lobbying of the interest groups, the divisions between the parties, the ambivalence of the public?

It is, clearly, a moment of political opportunity: Strong majorities of Americans, once again, tell pollsters they want guaranteed health care for all. Some of the most powerful interest groups — representing business, labor, hospitals and insurers — have tried to set aside their differences to call for action.

The number of uninsured is approaching 50 million, the average cost of family coverage has risen 78 percent in the last six years, and more and more employers say they cannot afford to provide health coverage and still compete in a global marketplace.

The major Democratic presidential candidates have offered plans aimed at expanding coverage and lowering costs — Mrs. Clinton’s is only the latest — and the major Republican candidates acknowledge that there are serious problems in the system.

But it is worth remembering: Health care reform seemed inevitable in the early 1990s, too.

9/17/2007 2:33:19 PM by Not For Nothing | Comments [0] |  

We've heard the tales of woe about the RI economy, and competing claims about how things are going. Here's a bit more of the good news:

Two Rhode Islanders doing cutting-edge work are among those who yesteday received $15 million in grants from the National Human Genome Research Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health. The money will be used to support the development of innovative technologies with the potential of dramatically reducing the cost of DNA sequencing.

From an NIH news release:

DNA sequencing costs have fallen more than 50-fold over the past decade, fueled in large part by tools, technologies and process improvements developed as part of the successful effort to sequence the human genome. However, it still costs as much as $5 million to sequence 3 billion base pairs – the amount of DNA found in the genomes of humans and other mammals.

NHGRI’s near-term goal is to lower the cost of sequencing a mammalian-sized genome to $100,000, allowing researchers to sequence the genomes of hundreds or even thousands of people as part of studies to identify genes that contribute to common, complex diseases. Ultimately, NHGRI’s vision is to cut the cost of whole-genome sequencing to $1,000 or less, which will enable the sequencing of individual genomes as part of routine medical care. The ability to sequence an individual genome cost-effectively could enable health care professionals to tailor diagnosis, treatment and prevention to each person’s unique genetic profile.

Here are the details on the local recepients:

Xinsheng Sean Ling, Ph.D., Brown University, Providence, R.I.

$820,000 (3 years)

Hybridization-Assisted Nanopore DNA Sequencing

Investigating further the potential of nanopore technology, these researchers intend to use solid-state nanopores to detect the location, along a DNA strand, where another short, known DNA sequence attaches by hybridization (base-pairing). By doing this experiment many times with many different short, known sequences, the sequence of long DNA strands would be determined

John S. Oliver, Ph.D., NABsys, Inc., Providence, R.I.

$498,000 (2 years)

Hybridization-Assisted Nanopore Sequencing

This team will work with collaborators at Brown University to develop the biochemical and algorithmic components of a method for sequencing by hybridization. By designing tagged probes and novel reconstruction algorithms, the team expects to get around the resolution limits that have prevented nanopores from being used for sequencing.

8/2/2007 12:19:49 PM by Not For Nothing | Comments [0] |  

Is putting 75 percent of RI's hospital system under the control of one entity a good idea?

Governor Carcieri plays it down the middle:

“While the creation of such a dominant health care network raises a number of important concerns, it also creates the potential for significant positive progress on a number of fronts,” Carcieri continued.  “Done correctly, this merger could actually help drive health care reform in Rhode Island.  In particular, we expect this merger will create opportunities to improve health care quality, reduce health care costs, make the use of health information technology more widespread and effective, and bolster Rhode Island’s primary care system.”

“My administration is committed to using its powers under the Hospital Conversion Act to ensure that this merger will achieve these goals.  We will take every precaution under this law to guarantee that we have thoroughly and completely evaluated the merger proposal and its impact on the state’s health care delivery system,” the Governor said.  “Our primary objective in this process is to protect the interests of the Rhode Island public and to promote access to quality, affordable health care.”

"In the coming weeks and months, my administration will work collaboratively with the Attorney General to ensure that this merger is right for Rhode Island."

7/27/2007 2:14:59 PM by Not For Nothing | Comments [0] |