Matt writes about it in this week's Phoenix:

Eight years after an effort began to remove the word “plantations” from Rhode Island’s official state name, a related bill has not made it out of committee. Yet during a House Fi-nance Committee hearing last week, the current legislation — sponsored by state Representative Joseph Almeida (D-Providence) and state Senator Harold Metts (D-Providence) — generated widespread support in the African-American community and among social justice groups.

Brother Everett Muhammad, of the Ministry of Justice for the Millions More Movement, argues, for example, that the legislation is important to “acknowledge the cruelty of the slave trade and Rhode Island’s involvement in it, as well as how slavery dehumanized millions of people and caused unspeakable crimes against men and women.”

The bill’s detractors argue that “plantations” is an agricultural term that described the farms of Rhode Island, and that linking the term with slavery and the plantations of the South is historically inaccurate.

Keith Stokes, the executive director of the Newport County Chamber of Commerce, is a vocal opponent of removing “plantations” from the state name. While Stokes acknowl-edges that the word brings to mind images of African slavery and oppression, he says it can also empower people of color: “Despite having ancestors who arrived in this country as forced settlers,” he notes, “they led remarkable lives highlighted by perseverance and determination to achieve, not only during slavery, but also over the hundreds of years of racial discrimination and exclusion.”

Stokes argues that “while it is an honorable intention to want to remove what might offend another person, the removal of a word will not remove the pain of racism, nor will it halt the progression of discrimination.” He adds, “Before we change names, why don’t we start by knowing our African-American heritage and investing resources in teaching our children this history.”

David has the scoop on what promises to be a thought-provoking event tonight:

The legendary Scott Molloy will have to figure out how to speak with his indoor voice, as he tells tales of the RI labor movement circa 1838, and the Dorr Rebellion.  Not to be missed.

Fri, 5/16, 5-7pm: SALON – Meanwhile, At That Same Moment… part 7: Historian Scott Molloy on the labor movement, circa 1838.

Rhode Island workers organized themselves into a primitive labor union in 1789, a year before the establishment of Slater’s Mill. By the 1830s the local Mechanics Association was already agitating for a ten-hour workday, better working conditions, and the right to vote for ordinary citizens.

The Union, led by the state’s first notable working class leader, Seth Luther, rallied, petitioned, and lobbied for their demands. By 1838 these skilled workers took the lead in setting the stage for the Dorr Rebellion in 1842 with its host of constitutional changes and democratic initiatives. Although their effort failed to some extent, these tradesmen did manage to enlarge the suffrage and ensure inclusion of their voices in future political debates.

For Athenaeum members and their guests.

Via Halperin:

Courtesy CNN

 

OBAMA PUNCHES BACK– HARD.

In South Dakota, the Senator fires back against Bush and McCain following Bush’s “appeasement” remark.

“That’s exactly the kind of appalling attack that’s divided our country, and that alienates us from the world… So much for civility.”

“They’re trying to fool you. They’re trying to scare you. And they’re not telling you the truth.” Click above for a clip.

Denies suggestion he would negotiate with terrorists.

H its McCain hard on foreign policy– links him to George Bush and calls his Iran policy “naive and irresponsible.”

“I’m running for president to change course, not to continue George Bush’s course.”

EVENT GETS ROADBLOCK CABLE COVERAGE.

Plus: White House adviser Ed Gillespie tells reporters he’s “surprised and curious” Bush’s comment was assumed to reference Obama.

Asked why it was interpreted that way, he pleads ignorance: “I’m not a sociologist.” Read gaggle transcript.

Next up: How will Bush, McCain and his campaign respond later Friday?

Cranston Mayor Michael T. Napolitano seemed a bit surprised during a taping of WPRI/WNAC-TV's Newsmakers this morning when I asked him to evaluate the accomplishments and mistakes of his colorful predecessor, Steve Laffey. Napolitano responded by saying he is correcting some of Laffey's mistakes, but he was reluctant to get into detail.

Laffey's record in Cranston can be expected to get considerable attention during his all-but-announced 2010 gubernatorial campaign.

Closer to home, Napolitano faces a mayoral challenge this year from Republican Allan Fung and possibly a Democrat.

In other news, Napolitano defended the city's $1.9 million buyout of the Cullion concrete plant at a time when Cranston's schools face a $4.9 million shortfall to close the year.

Also appearing on Newsmakers this week are Representative Joe Trillo (R-Warwick) and former lieutenant governor Charles Fogarty, who talked about the state budget, corruption, and the presidential race. The show will be broadcast Sunday at 5:30 am on Channel 12 and at 10 am on Fox 64.

In April 2007, I reported on how Erica Sagrans, a Brown alum and former Phoenix contributor, isn't the only staffer in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office with a Rhode Island connection. The speaker's press secretary is Brendan Daly, the brother of Channel 12 newsman Sean Daly.

Yesterday, Politico reported on how Brendan Daly is among those featured in a new book on some of DC's players:

THE GANG'S ALL HERE: Today marks the publication of the political talker of the year, "Pennsylvania Avenue: Profiles in Background Power," by John Harwood and Gerald F. Seib. Get hungry - a FULL CHAPTERS each on Ken Duberstein, David Rubenstein, Rahm Emanuel, Chris Van Hollen and Tom Cole, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Karl Rove, Hilary Rosen, Lea Berman, Eli Pariser and Kyle McSlarrow, Ed Rogers, Billy Tauzin, Elliot Abrams, Brendan Daly, Jim Jordan and Terry Nelson, Sam Brownback and Pete Wehner, Mara Vanderslice and Jim Webb, Bernadette Budde and Andy Stern, Charlie Rangel and Jim McCrery, and Robert Strauss and Ken Mehlman.

With photos of all of them, including Hilary Rosen whispering to the late Jack Valenti, Lea Berman in the White House, a besweatered Brendan Daly at his computer, Jim Jordan with laptop and Starbucks, Senator Brownback looking like a leaning cardboard cutout as he stands on a tractor, and a smiling Ken Mehlman standing next to a seated Robert Strauss with a big globe behind them.

Jonathan Martin's précis: "The intro on how the Dubai Ports World blow-up came about is great behind-scenes reporting. A cool tick-tock. Also cool reporting on Lea Berman grappling with the China visit. There were some protocol incidents — new details on all the craziness that went down that day and leading up to visit. At one point, she had to literally tell the Chinese translator to get up from chair so the American-preferred translator could sit. Good inside buzz on how Brendan Daly dealt with the Speaker's Syria trip, with juicy details about a private Pelosi heads-up to the President followed by Dana Perino dinging Pelosi publicly and Daly then sending her a what's-up e-mail. Great bookend chapter about Strauss and Mehlman, the old and new guard at the same firm."

Except J-Mart's bitter that Hampden-Sydney is misspelled. (Jordan's alma mater!)

Gordon Johndroe on page 169, on Speaker Pelosi's assertion that "the road to Damascus is a road to peace": "National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe, a veteran of both Bush presidential campaigns and of the First Lady's staff, noted acidly that the road to Damascus is littered with victims of terrorism."

(Aboard Air Force One: "Unfortunately, that road is lined with the victims of Hamas and Hezbollah, and the victims of terrorists.")

Brendan, here's the Amazon link.

Monique, at Anchor (via the Valley Breeze) has RI GOP chair Gio Cicione's insurrectionary clarion call to the local populace:

It is said that every man and every woman - somewhere over the course of their life - must have their moment.

It is a moment of recognition that something larger than the day to day details of our own family life is beckoning and we must answer to it. I would propose to you that such a moment has arrived for Rhode Islanders.

The checklist of unfavorable economic conditions in which our state now exists should be by now frighteningly familiar:

* A structural deficit at more than half a billion dollars and growing.

* Seventh highest property tax burden

* Overall fourth highest tax burden

* Worst business climate - including small business climate - in the nation

* Among most generous states in pay and benefits to state workers

* Eighth most highly paid teachers/school results in bottom fifth of nation

Haven't you had enough? If you have, I ask you to take action.

The Rhode Island Republican Party asks you to make a run for the General Assembly to show you are not going to abandon our state. This is your moment that the citizens take back the state from the special interests.

The Rhode Island Republican Party does not owe anything to the grip of greed of the public employee unions and their contracts - and many who do their bidding in our legislature - which have driven this state to its present condition of bankruptcy.

The Rhode Island Republican Party firmly believes the smallest state in the nation has no business being among the most free spending in the nation to those employees in nearly every measurable benefit, especially for the size of their retirement pensions which we cannot afford.

A bankrupted state cannot adequately finance its schools or public universities. It will leave all of our school age children with inferior educations when compared to other states and diminished prospects for college and beyond.

A bankrupted state does not attract businesses that provide jobs, careers and financial stability to college graduates and young people hoping to start families. It drives your own college-educated son or daughter far away from home to more prosperous states where they take their future earning power with them.

A bankrupted state will not nourish the stable, safe, small business-thriving, friendly communities many of us grew up in. Rhode Island is headed toward deteriorating into a state of rundown, boarded-up, forgotten neighborhoods offering far less prosperity, stability and safety to families here. If this is not the future state you want for your children, it's time to say "Enough."

Come join us. We will help you launch your campaign if you will help us fight back.

It doesn't take lots of money or any sacrifice greater than the ones you would make for your family on any given day. Like all things worth doing in life, it just takes desire and hard work.

When you win, we will together pursue a plan to drastically cut our out of control spending, immediately reduce your property and income taxes, put education dollars back into classrooms not just contracts, protect our environment, and to bring companies and good jobs back to Rhode Island. Oh yes, we can!

Contact our office at 401-732-8282. Contact me personally at 401-289-2380.

Giovanni Cicione

R.I. GOP chairman

Via the NYT:

WASHINGTON — The Republican defeat in a special Congressional contest in Mississippi sent waves of apprehension across an already troubled party Wednesday, with some senior Republicans urging Congressional candidates to distance themselves from President Bush to head off what could be heavy losses in the fall.

The victory by Travis Childers, a conservative Democrat elected in a once-steadfast Republican district on Tuesday, was the third defeat of a Republican in a special Congressional race this year. In addition to foreshadowing more losses for the party in November, the outcome appeared to call into question the belief that Senator Barack Obama of Illinois could be a heavy liability for his party’s down-ticket candidates in conservative regions.

Republicans had sought to link Mr. Childers to Mr. Obama in an advertising campaign there. Republican leaders said they were looking to Senator John McCain of Arizona, the likely Republican nominee, as a model whose independent reputation appears to allow him to rise above party in a year when the Republican label seems tarnished.

But Mr. McCain’s advisers said the Mississippi race underlined his intention to distance himself as much as possible from Congressional Republicans. Mr. McCain has already been openly critical of some of President Bush’s strategies.

The level of distress was evident in remarks by senior party officials throughout the day.

The old Victorian homes that dot Providence and other New England communities convey the beauty and worksmanship of a bygone age. (As James Howard Kunstler has observed, there's no small irony in how when this country was less prosperous before WWII, the homes and public buildings were far more durable and aesthetically pleasing than those made following the boom years.)

Anyway, the emerging subculture of Steampunk weds Victorian ingenuity with contemporary uses while rebelling against streamlined design and the Wal-Martification of American culture. Sharon Steel writes all about it in this week's Phoenix:

The All-in-One Victorian PC is the perfect little black dress of computer modifications. It’s classic and timeless, but has a modern edge that makes it impossible to escape wolf whistles and elevator eyes. Like any good designer, Jake von Slatt knew he had to start with strong raw material. He purchased a 24-inch flat-panel Soyo monitor from OfficeMax for $299, and fabricated a shell to hide the rest of the computer — including a Pentium IV motherboard, disk drives, and a 350-watt PSU — behind and inside of it. Most DIY-ers, even some hardcore tech-geeks, would have stopped there, but von Slatt had barely begun.

He poked around his town dump until he found a knick-knack rack that reminded him of a Victorian-era stage set. Framing the monitor with the rack lent it the air of an antique pixel picture frame. Then, he added aluminum and pop rivets, followed by two long pieces of angle iron as “curtains,” to give the monitor-stage a trump l’oeil effect. Gold-painted flower scrollwork arches across the top like a crown, and tiny brass feet — miniaturized versions of the ones you’d see on a vintage bathtub — prop the utilitarian objet d’art a few centimeters off the table. A tightly coiled wire leads to an elegant, fully functional keyboard, the keys of which have been taken from a 1955 Royal Portable typewriter. The completed PC is a sexy, ebony-lacquered beauty trimmed in high-polished brass accents. Von Slatt, who is wearing a bowling shirt and a formal top hat, watches me admire his work with an affable smile. He looks, for all the world, like a man caught between two centuries. For that matter, so does his computer.

Up close, the PC is a tactile wonder, far more extravagant than the pictures I and thousands of others — it had been featured on Boing Boing, Engadget, and digg.com — had gawked at online. I’m itching to press the typewriter keys and, when von Slatt unleashes the DVD drive with a ping and a flourish, I’m tormented that I don’t have the luxury of loading in a movie, say, The Wizard of Oz, so that I can steer this gothic tech-fantasy to a whole other place. But there’s so much else to stare at in von Slatt’s Littleton, Massachusetts, Steampunk Workshop — itself a big, pleasant jumble of anachronisms — that it becomes difficult to focus on any one thing.

Von Slatt (a pseudonym) recently blogged about his PC on the Web version of his Workshop (steampunkworkshop.com), detailing the process of its construction and the unique modifications he’d included. Given all of this, it’s hardly surprising that he has been lauded as a kind of tinkerer visionary, a man with the mechanical prowess (he’s an IT professional by day) and artistic skills to solder technology with craftsmanship and form a new artisanal DIY movement.

John McCain has gotten so little critical press coverage in recent months that it's easy to forget he's the Republican nominee. Now, as the media turns to the general election contest, my Boston Phoenix colleague Adam Reilly has suggestions for 10 topics worth covering. Here's a taste:

1) It’s the economy, Senator
This past January, the Huffington Post reported that, in a meeting with the Wall Street Journal’s editorial board, McCain said he “doesn’t really understand economics.” McCain denied the report. But as his then-rival Mitt Romney noted in a subsequent press release, McCain actually has a long history of such remarks. (One example, drawn from a December 2007 Boston Globe story: “The issue of economics is not something I’ve understood as well as I should. I’ve got [former Federal Reserve chair Alan] Greenspan’s book.”) How does McCain assess his economic knowledge now? And what concrete steps, beyond a wide array of tax cuts,  would he take to keep America’s economic woes from worsening?

2) His Islam problem
McCain is going to argue that Obama is dangerously inexperienced on foreign affairs. He’s already hammered Obama for his willingness to meet with Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. But there’s reason to question McCain’s foreign-policy aptitude as well, especially regarding things Islamic. In 2006, McCain said he’d deal with ongoing problems in Iraq by sitting down together Sunnis and Shiites and telling them to “stop the bullshit.” This year, he’s confused Sunnis and Shiites on multiple occasions. Understanding Islam and the Middle East is absolutely essential to America’s national security. Does McCain grasp them well enough to be president? And can he demonstrate this understanding while speaking off the cuff?

3) Money and politics as usual?
Vague hints of an extramarital affair notwithstanding, the aforementioned Times story contained a kernel of a valid question: does McCain’s reputation as a reformer dedicated to reducing the influence of money on politics — a reputation McCain assiduously cultivated after he was implicated in the Keating Five scandal — square with his own actions? Consider this passage from David Brock and Paul Waldman’s recent book, Free Ride: John McCain and the Media (Anchor):

For his 1998 Senate run, McCain took $562,000 in contributions from the communications industry. . . . Before his next reelection campaign, he received $900,000 more, lagging only five senators among telecom beneficiaries. Between 1993 and 2000, McCain collected $685,929 from media companies, the most of any sitting member of Congress. What do these companies have in common? They all have interests before the Senate Commerce Committee, which McCain chaired at the time.

So: does McCain’s reputation as a campaign-finance reformer pass muster or not?

4) Taken-on faith
Obama’s lengthy history with Reverend Wright was his biggest weakness in the primary, a role it will probably reprise in the general election. But McCain has pastor problems of his own. During his 2000 presidential run, McCain thrilled liberals by calling Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson “agents of intolerance.” This time around, however, he’s cozied up to assorted figures on the religious right — including the late Falwell (McCain spoke at the commencement ceremonies of Liberty University, which Falwell founded, in 2006), Rod Parsley (an Ohio minister who’s urged the eradication of Islam, and whom McCain called a “spiritual guide” this past February), and John Hagee (a televangelist who, among other things, has called the Catholic Church the “Great Whore”). On the one hand, McCain has said that he doesn’t share all his endorsers’ views. On the other, he hasn’t condemned any of these individuals in the emphatic way that Obama eventually repudiated Wright. What does McCain actually think about the most problematic views of Falwell, Parsley, Hagee, et al.?

My friend Matt gave me a rash of grief yesterday about my generally favorable take on Cliff Wood's proposal to reconstitute the Providence City Council with 10 ward-based seats and five at-large seats. He equates the concept with downsizing democracy and says it would severely advantage deep-pocketed (white) candidates.

He's got a post up today about the subject, as does state Representative David Segal, a former member of the Providence council and someone who has ardently backed measures to increase proportional representation.

Segal:

[While proponents tout broader thinking] this is a BAD idea, unless seats are allocated proportionally.  Ari and I wrote about these issues here. Two quick points about the 10-5 plan:

• It’d mean more representation by rich, white, high-turnout portions of town, and therefore more influence by moneyed interests.

• The city would be setting itself up for a civil rights lawsuit, as Ward 11 — the only seat held by an African American — would be chopped up into majority white and Latino areas.  A city that is 15% African American would likely be left with no African American on the city council.  (Have we really not learned the lessons of the redistricting of 2002, which pitted Sens Pichardo and Walton against one another?)

I’ll write about all of this in more detail later.

Jerzyk:

It is disturbing to see so many "liberals" support the idea of downsizing the Providence City Council from 15 wards to 10 wards and then adding 5 at-large seats.  This effort will reduce the ability of Providence residents to run for office, reduce the minority representation on the Council (from 4 to 2 or 1 or 0) and position the wealthy areas of our city to have a windfall on the Council.  I support the progressive solution: Councilman Seth Yurdin's idea of keeping our 15 wards and adding 2-6 at-large seats to the Council elected on a "proportional representation" system to ensure "one-person, one-vote" throughout the city.  

Let's acknowledge a few things:

-- The tradition of not publicly criticizing things in other councilors' wards does promote an extreme form of parochial thinking. A rare exception came some years back when Luis Aponte spoke critically about a development proposal for Eagle Square, which is outside his ward.

-- There is a Cicilline-esque patina to Wood's effort. Certainly, the mayor, who might run for reelection, as opposed to pursuing a gubernatorial bid, would like to enhance his influence over the council. Back in 2006, I was the first to write in-depth about this subject, when I broke the news of Wood's challenge to longtime incumbent Rita Williams.

So if this is a circle that needs to be squared, how does that happen?

Matt suggested to me that if the 10-5 at-large concept is flawed, it shouldn't be put to the voters. He suggested that the council instead hold publicly accessible hearings, with lots of public input, on all three related proposals -- Wood's, Yurdin's, and one by John Igliozzi. Let me add that my main interest in writing about this subject was to put it out there. And while Matt and David raise some good points, that is not necessarily a reason to maintain the status quo.

This being Providence, Matt and I continued discussing the issue over a post-work drink yesterday, and one of the 10-5 proponents, Steve Durkee, wound up in the same establishment, briefly joining our debate.

Over at Anchor, Don gets the broad strokes right in this post:

As someone who has led corporate turnarounds for nearly 20 years and has read extensively on what it takes to lead successful change initiatives, it is appalling how little progress has been made to effect real change in the face of the current crisis here in RI. It's not like these structural problems are a new development!

One of my favorite authors on leadership and change is Harvard Business School professor John Kotter. He has been writing for years about the topic of leading change and is a world authority on the subject. More on his books can be found here.

For the last decade, Kotter has been writing extensively on what he calls the "Eight Step Process of Successful Change." Here is an excerpt from his "Iceberg" book, a book which uses a fable to describe what it takes to realize successful change. Easily accessible to the layperson, I recommend reading it.

Set the Stage

1. Create a sense of urgency: Help others see the need for change and the importance of acting immediately.

2. Pull together the guiding team: Make sure there is a powerful group guiding the change - one with leadership skills, credibility, communications ability, authority, analytical skills, and a sense of urgency.

Decide What to Do

3. Develop the change vision and strategy: Clarify how the future will be different from the past, and how you can make that future a reality.

Make it Happen

4. Communicate for understanding: Make sure as many others as possible understand and accept the vision and strategy.

5. Empower others to act: Remove as many barriers as possible so that those who want to make the vision a reality can do so.

6. Produce short-term wins: Create some visible, unambiguous successes as soon as possible.

7. Don't let up: Press harder and faster after the first successes. Be relentless with initiating change after change until the vision is a reality.

Make It Stick

8. Create a new culture: Hold on to the new ways of behaving, and make sure they succeed, until they become strong enough to replace old traditions.

As we all reflect on the severe crisis here in RI, one of the most disconcerting conclusions is how RI is currently 0-for-8 in moving in the right direction.

Is it safe?

It's safe.

UPDATE: The gov's office says the appearance is being rescheduled by the program, with no further immediate details.

From the gov's office:

Governor Donald L. Carcieri will be taping a brief interview tomorrow with Bill O’Reilly of Fox network’s O’Reilly Factor, for broadcast later that evening. The topic of the conversation will be the Governor’s Executive Order on illegal immigration, which was issued on March 27, 2008.  The interview is expected to air at 8:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. Thursday night.