 |
Friday, February 29, 2008
From his campaign:
PROVIDENCE, RI – The Obama campaign in Rhode Island today announced that Rhode Islanders who knock on doors Saturday morning in advance of Senator Obama’s “Stand for Change” rally will gain access to a VIP area reserved for canvassers to see Senator Obama speak.
Volunteers will meet at 9:00 AM Saturday morning at various staging locations throughout the state to receive a doorknocking route. Upon completion of their assigned canvass, Rhode Island volunteers will receive a special pass that will provide access to a section reserved for Rhode Island canvassers at the rally.
Those interested in knocking on doors on Saturday morning to receive a special pass should sign up at RI.BarackObama.com or call 401-277-2008.
The “Stand for Change” rally with Barack Obama will be held on Saturday March 1st at Rhode Island College in the Recreation Center. Doors open at 12 Noon.
As part of the continuing clash this week between Channel 6 and the City Hall of Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline, WLNE-TV plans to do a story today at 4 and 6, reporting on the letter sent by chief of staff Deb Brayton in response to Jim Hummel's questioning of crime stats compiled by the Providence police.
I talked to Hummel, and he declined to comment on the controversy.
Cicilline, during a taping this morning of Newsmakers, was asked by Steve Aveson whether there should be a review of the PPD's crime data. The mayor responded by repeating many of the points argued in Brayton's letter.
Cicilline had been scheduled to be on Newsmakers a few weeks back, but he rescheduled due to a conflict. He is also slated to appear this weekend on WJAR-TV's 10 News Conference.
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.
The Providence Newpaper Guild's annual Follies, the most Rhode Island-related fun that someone can have while eating and drinking in Massachusetts, takes place tonight, as always, at the Venus de Milo in not-too-distant Swansea. By statutory requirement, the event can not take place in the Ocean State. (It's sold out, if you don't already have tix.)
The Follies is a satirical send-up of the year in Rhode Island news, performed by Journal employees and co-conspirators, accompanied by a rich high-cholesterol buffet and a thronged cocktail hour featuring lively chatter among pols, reporters, and more than 1000 assorted movers and shakers. The whole thing began in the early-mid '70s as a way of healing the wounds of a brief but bitter strike at the ProJo. And in terms of creative fodder, not for nothing, but Vo Dilun is the gift that keeps giving, as we inkie wretches like to say.
One highlight of the night is the reveal of a Mystery Guest from the world of politics. Last year, Lieutenant Governor Elizabeth Roberts did a bravura turn, playing against her friendly, down-to-earth manner as a secretly hyper-controlling Machiavellian of the first order. A very young lad portrayed Paul Tencher, her 20-something chief of staff.
Other Mystery Guests in recent years include Bill Murphy + Joe Montalbano, David Cicilline, Linc Chafee, and Patrick Kennedy.
As always, we expect a great show. And since Chelsea Clinton is in town to campaign for her mother, as part of Rhode Island's hard-fought March 4 primary, could she be the One? Ted Kennedy is another possibility.
Hey, what could be better than the both of them?
Stay tuned.
At any rate, Guild members can be thankful about the ProJo's relatively frugal style of management, and how the paper, unlike the New York Times-owned Boston Globe and Worcester T+G, isn't seeing sharp staffing cuts.
In related news, Guild administrator Tim Schick, a shameless ham during his annual on-stage moments, is a busy guy these days. Not only has he been rehearsing and overseeing the distribution of Follies' tickets, Schick is managing the top of one of the two slates facing off during a national Guild convention at the Providence Westin (rank and file will vote in an Apri electionl). About 180 Guild folk from across the states, Canada, and Puerto Rico are in town.
In what Schick calls the first contested races in 12 years, he is co-managing A Stonger Guild, topped by Bernie Lunzer, currently secretary-treasurer of the organization. Lunzer is challenging incumbent Linda Foley of Team Guild. Regarding the convention, which began yesterday, Schick says, "I'm sure there will be lots of fireworks."
With the newspaper industry in a continued state of change and high anxiety, Schick says, "A lot of the concerns deal with how the Guild as an organization is approaching these issues, and what sort of influence we can have on the employers to listen to us."
Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline has remained a loyal soldier for Hillary Clinton. He stuck with her when he had to give up his chairmanship of her Rhode Island campaign. And although he was upset and reconsidered his support when he was told not to attend her Providence fundraiser last weekend, Cicilline was successfully cajoled to come back into the fold. It's enough to make one wonder whether Cicilline would vote for someone else in the privacy of the voting booth on Tuesday.
I asked the mayor about this when he took part in a taping of Newsmakers, which will be broadcast Sunday, at 5:30 am on WPRI and at 10 am on Fox 64. (Obama's brother-in-law, Craig Robinson, makes a separate appearance).
Cicilline told me that he intends to vote for Clinton.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
UPDATE II: TEDDY IN TOWN TOMORROW:
PROVIDENCE, RI – The Obama campaign announced today that Senator Edward M. Kennedy will travel to Rhode Island to campaign for Barack Obama tomorrow, Friday February 29th. Congressman Patrick Kennedy and Attorney General Lynch will join Senator Kennedy as he makes stops around Rhode Island to discuss why he believes Senator Obama has the judgment and character to bring about change we can believe in.
Senator Kennedy and his son Congressman Patrick Kennedy will visit with seniors at the Woonsocket Senior Center, and share Senator Obama’s plans to protect Social Security, strengthen retirement savings, and his universal health care plan.
Later in the afternoon, Senator Ted Kennedy, Congressman Patrick Kennedy and Attorney General Patrick Lynch will hold a “Get Out the Vote” rally at the University of Rhode Island’s Feinstein Providence Campus. At the rally, Senator Kennedy, Congressman Kennedy, and Attorney General Lynch will encourage supporters to work hard to “get out the vote” for Barack Obama during the final days before the March 4th primary.
UPDATE: CLINTON UNVEILS HISPANIC LEADERSHIP COUNCIL.
The Clinton team, by releasing this lengthy list, is trying to enhance its appeal to the coveted Latino vote:
“With Hillary Clinton as president, Latinos know we will have a leader who understands our community and our needs,” said Andy Andujar. “Latinos are concerned about the availability of jobs, access to funding for our businesses and a plan for comprehensive immigration reform. Hillary Clinton has the experience and foresight to make significant changes in America and we will work tirelessly to ensure she is our next president.”
The list of Rhode Island Latinos endorsing Senator Hillary Clinton follows.
Rosi Alejo, Cranston
Maria Alvarado, Providence
Margarita Amparo, Providence
Nelson Amparo, Providence
Andy Andujar, Providence
Pastor Antonio Aquino, Providence
Julio Cesar Aragon, Providence
Bernardo Ardaya, Johnston
Ingrid C Ardaya, Johnston
Ingrid G Ardaya, Johnston
Kennedy Arias, Cranston
Julio "Julito" Aza, Providence
Arys Baptista, Providence
Dr. Antonio Barajas, Central Falls
Carolina Bernal, Johnston
Oddan Brito, Providence
Melida Brito, Providence
Marisol Camilo, Cranston
Jorge Cardenas, Providence
Doris Carvajal, Providence
Doris De Los Santos, Providence
Melba Depena, Providence
Councilwoman Eunice Delahoz, Central Falls
Rep. Grace Diaz, Providence
Nolda Estevez, Providence
Emilio Estevez, Providence
Nelson Garcia, Providence
Ward 9 Vice Chairperson Bienvenido Garcia, Providence
Marisol Garcia, Central Falls
Liza Gordon, Providence
Gloria Hincapie, Pawtucket
Sandra Lake, Providence
Ysa Luna, Providence
Josefina Luna, Providence
Belkiss Luna-Suazo, Providence
Yana Marcelino, Providence
Ramon "Chamo" Marte, Providence
Carlos Martinez, Providence
Gabriel Martinez, Providence
Patricia Martinez, Providence
Marta Martinez, Warwick
Sabina Matos, Providence
Sandra Mazo, Pawtucket
Milagros Medina, Providence
Alexis Mendez, Providence
Tony Mendez de Poder 1110, Providence
Carmen Mirabal, Central Falls
Eloy Andres Mora, Providence
Freddy Nunez, Providence
Jaime Peguero, Providence
Ramon Pegueso, Providence
Ramon Peralta Sr., Providence
Reynaldo Perez, Central Falls
Judith Perez, Cranston
Carolina Pichardo, Providence
Sen. Juan Pichardo, Providence
Juan Pinales, Providence
Vivian Ponte, Johnston
Maria Reyes, Providence
Freddy Rosario de Poder 1110, Providence
Maria Salavarrieta, Central Falls
Esmerelda San Andres, Cranston
Luca Sano, Providence
Franklin Solano, Central Falls
Antonio Suero "Papito Prenda", Providence
Councilman Luis Leon Tejada, Providence
Acelia Terrero, Cranston
Jesus Titin, Providence
Papo Toribio, Providence
Sara Vazquez, Providence
Fior Vina, Providence
In Rhode Island, we're seeing ongoing appeals to key blocs -- women, the elderly, Latinos, working class voters -- as Clinton and Obama vie for a win here on March 4.
The Hillary campaign today unveiled a new TV commercial, portraying her as a tough fighter for the middle class. You can view it here. The big guy is in town, too.
The Obama campaign today has Linc Chafee, Charles Fogarty, and Patrick Lynch doing a statewide tour of senior centers and meeting with local legislators. Latino supporters are also hosting a GOTV meeting on Providence's South Side. Earlier this week, the campaign passed a milestone, having attacted donations from more than one million people.
Yesterday, the Clinton team staged a "Women for Hillary" event, featuring former Maryland LG Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, LG Elizabeth Roberts, Teresa Paiva Weed, former Senate GOP leader Lila Sapinsley, and Suzanne Magaziner of Bristol. "Women for Obama" hosted a phonebank in Cranston, also yesterday. Team O has also released details on some additional house parties:
Thursday, February 28th
4:00 PM 119 West St, Woonsocket
7:00 PM 121 Washington St., Newport
Friday, February 29th
4:00 PM 23 Fort Ave, Cranston
6:00 PM Riverfront Lofts #301, Pawtucket
7:00 PM 188 President Ave, Providence
Saturday, March 1st
3:00 PM 35 Orchard Ave, Providence
4:00 PM 7 Henry Dr., Barrington
5:00 PM 18 Prospect Street, East Greenwich
5:30 PM 88 Columbia Ave, Cranston
6:30 PM 250 Westminster St, Providence
Sunday, March 2nd
4:00 PM 11 William Reynolds Farm Rd, Richmond
4:00 PM 82 East Killingly Road, Scituate
4:30 PM 8 Tamarack Dr., East Greenwich
6:00 PM 135 Abbott St., Providence
You don't have to be a political scientist to know that polling -- thanks in part to the ubiquity of cell phones -- is a lot less reliable in the past. Scott MacKay and Mark Arsenault take a look at the trend in today's ProJo:
Pollsters say this race is a perfect storm of uncertainty, with a volatile electorate, well-financed campaigns, and record voter turnout that makes predicting who will show up to vote more difficult.
In New Hampshire, the major polls put Obama ahead by an average of about 8 points in the days before the vote, according to the poll-tracking Web site RealClearPolitics.com. Clinton narrowly won the state, and the political junkies who devour polls were left to wonder what happened.
Many more recent polls have vastly underestimated the margins of Obama’s big victories in his streak of 11 consecutive primary and caucus wins.
“Polling a primary is far more difficult than polling a general election,” says national pollster Scott Rasmussen. “You’ve never seen anything like this on the Democratic side.”
Democrats this year are generally pleased with both of their candidates. “They’re having a hard time deciding, and they’re deciding late,” he said. “One of the things we’ve been pointing out on our polls recently is that many of these voters are saying they still might change their mind before voting. It’s typically 25 or 30 percent. That just automatically makes it fluid and very difficult to poll.”
I'm more partial to his son, Christopher, but it's hard to deny Buckley's influence. From the NYT:
William Buckley, with his winningly capricious personality, his use of ten-dollar words and a darting tongue writers loved to compare to an anteater’s, was the popular host of one of television’s longest-running programs, “Firing Line,” and founded and shepherded the influential conservative magazine National Review.
He also found time to write more than 50 books, varying from sailing odysseys to spy novels to dissertations on harpsichord fingering to celebrations of his own dashing daily life. He edited at least five more.
In 2007, he published a history of the magazine called “Cancel Your Own Goddam Subscription” and a political novel, “The Rake.” His personal memoir of Senator Barry M. Goldwater is scheduled to be published this spring, and he was working on a similar volume on President Ronald Reagan at his death.
The more than 4.5 million words of his 5,600 newspaper columns, titled “On the Right,” would fill 45 more medium-size books. His collected papers, which were donated to Yale, weigh seven tons.
Mr. Buckley’s greatest achievement was making conservatism — not just electoral Republicanism, but conservatism as a system of ideas — respectable in liberal postwar America. He mobilized the young enthusiasts who helped nominate Mr. Goldwater in 1964 and saw his dreams fulfilled when Mr. Reagan and the Bushes captured the Oval Office.
President Bush said Wednesday that Mr. Buckley “brought conservative thought into the political mainstream, and helped lay the intellectual foundation for America’s victory in the Cold War.”
To Mr. Buckley’s enormous delight, Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., the historian, termed him “the scourge of liberalism.”
Like Jim Langevin, Bob Weygand is one of those quintessential Rhode Island political types -- a pro-life Democrat, so this endorsement could help Obama a bit with the more socially conservative parts of Hillary's local base:
PROVIDENCE, RI – The Obama campaign today announced that former U.S. Congressman Robert Weygand and his wife Fran Weygand have endorsed Barack Obama for President. Citing Obama’s unique ability reach across party lines, the Weygands believe Barack Obama is the strongest candidate to win the White House in November.
“Today more than ever, the American people need to support the one candidate who will reach across party lines to build the kind of broad coalition that can bring about a coalition for change,” said former Congressman Weygand. “Not only will Barack Obama be our strongest general election candidate, but also when he’s president, he’ll move us past the partisan fights that have blocked so much progress and actually bring about the kind of change we can believe in.”
Robert Weygand is a former U.S. Congressman, Lieutenant Governor, and State Representative serving Rhode Isand. He currently serves as Vice President for Administration at the University of Rhode Island.
Here's the text of a letter sent by City Hall in response to Jim Hummel's Tuesday night report on crime stats in Providence:
February 28, 2008
Regent Ducas
News Director
ABC6 WLNE
10 Orms St.
Providence, RI 02904
Dear Mr. Ducas,
I am writing with regard to your February 26, 2008 story about Providence crime statistics as reported by Jim Hummel. I believe it displayed a serious breach of journalistic standards for broadcast news. Very serious accusations were made that undermine the integrity of the men and women of the Providence Police Department. Below are the assertions made in the story, and the reasons why they did not meet the standard.
1. Assertion that Providence’s drop in crime is exaggerated
Mr. Hummel claims to “cast doubt” that crime is down 30% since 2002 in Providence, but never presented evidence to the contrary. The reporting did not dispute that there were 4,218 fewer incidents of Part I crime in 2007 than in 2002. It only addressed the classification of crime.
Mr. Hummel knew, but deliberately chose to leave out, statistics that show a steep drop in crime where a change in classification is impossible – the murder rate and the victim of gunshot rate. From 2002 to 2007, murders dropped 39%. Gunshot victims dropped 45%.
2. Assertion that the Providence Police “downgrade” crimes
The Providence Police are devoted to total accuracy in crime reporting and welcome any fair and thoughtful review. Accurate crime data is one of the chief reasons behind the success of the Providence Police. It determines crime prevention strategies. It is critical to knowing exactly where, when, and what kinds of crime have taken place.
Mr. Hummel made an insinuation about a department-wide conspiracy based on three incidents (there were roughly 9,821 Part I crime incidents last year). The allegations came from anonymous sources and one former union president, who had made discredited claims against Department leadership in the past.
Mr. Hummel knew, but deliberately chose to leave out of the story, the system for reviewing crime classification. Command staff and Lieutenants review classifications in a setting that includes community partners and law enforcement partners.
Regularly present at these meetings are the U.S. Attorney, members of the Office of the Attorney General, and FBI officers. Instead Mr. Hummel reported a second-hand rumor about a meeting, and did not report that the PPD contradicts the account.
Mr. Hummel knew, but deliberately chose to leave out, dozens of crimes that were “upgraded” in the process of review, including specific cases to which he was given access.
Mr. Hummel knew, but deliberately chose to leave out of the story, that after a similar allegation made by two members of the Providence City Council, the PPD asked for a review by the State Police. The State Police review found the data to be accurate.
Mr. Hummel knew, but deliberately chose to leave out, the broader context of the three incident reports used in his story.
• One incident involved two well-acquainted individuals who were known drug users and were arguing over $5 worth of crack cocaine. One had a closed pocket knife but was not holding it in a threatening manner. When the officer broke up the altercation, both asked the officer not to press charges. The officer decided to make an arrest under disorderly conduct charges. Mr. Hummel claims that this should have been classified as assault with a dangerous weapon.
• Another incident involved an individual who offered six different versions of a story about a phone being stolen from his vehicle. It was ultimately classified as “person annoyed.” Mr. Hummel believed it should have been differently classified.
• The third incident involved two victims of an attack, who, when questioned, asked that no charges be brought. The officer pushed for a charge. It was ultimately classified as a simple assault.
Mr. Hummel knew, but deliberately chose to leave out, that the same sources of many of these allegations also told Mr. Hummel that they “knew about parking ticket fixing” by the Chief of Police. The Chief presented Mr. Hummel with evidence to completely discredit the source’s allegations. Mr. Hummel still based his story on their other allegations.
Mr. Hummel knew, but deliberately chose to leave out, that his single on-the-record source, Robert Paniccia is the former head of the Fraternal Order of Police Union. Mr. Hummel deliberately chose to leave out that Paniccia had a highly adversarial relationship with the Department over many issues.
Mr. Hummel deliberately chose to leave out that Mr. Paniccia had falsely claimed that PPD leadership planted a surveillance device in a patrol office in the highly publicized “blinky light” incident.
I think you will agree that this story falls far short of the journalistic standards that this community expects. The subject of crime affects everyone in our community: residents, business owners, tourists and prospective investors. I hope you will take appropriate action, including a sincere, on-air apology to the men and women of the Providence Police Department.
Sincerely,
Deborah Brayton
Chief of Staff
Office of Mayor David N. Cicilline
Cc: Stephen Doerr, Vice President & General Manager, ABC6
Kevin O’Brien, Owner, Global Broadcasting, LLC
Robinson Ewert, Owner, Global Broadcasting, LLC
Last night, Channel 6 featured the second installment of Jim Hummel's look at the Providence Police Department, focusing this time of the salary and benefits of Police Chief Dean Esserman. Co-anchor Allison Alexander, in introducing the piece, said she thought a lot of people would be surprised by the information, but, as Matt pointed out yesterday, much of this was reported more than four years ago by Amanda Milkovits in the ProJo:
After a three-hour meeting with Esserman, Cicilline decided he'd found his next chief. He was going to use all he had to get Esserman here.
Cicilline arranged meetings with the state's top law enforcement players. He assured Esserman City Hall wouldn't interfere with the Police Department. He offered a four-year contract, starting at $138,000 (about $50,000 more than previous chiefs made) with $5,000 annual raises. Plus, inclusion in the city pension, which takes 10 years to be fully vested, and a portable pension.
The city would pay travel and living expenses for the first six months. Esserman bought a half-million dollar home on the East Side, and was reimbursed for $5,300 travel and moving expenses and $3,700 closing and house- inspection costs. He was also permitted to bill the city for his outside expenses as chief.
Cicilline also got Esserman a spot as senior law enforcement executive in residence at the Roger Williams University Justice System Training and Research Institute for $30,000 a year. The position in the university's School of Justice Studies is funded by a private grant.
Personally, I think the important question is not so much one of Esserman's pay and benefits, but whether hiring him was a smart decision, and whether he has succeed edin significantly improving what had been a very troubled police department. The answer to those two questions, IMHO, is "Yes."
For a sense of where things were in 2001, consider this:
Attorney General Sheldon Whitehouse is among those who have pressured [Buddy] Cianci to consider outside candidates for the permanent chief's job. "Somebody who is inside the department, as long as they bring an outsider's independence and judgment, can do a good job and will have the additional advantage of knowing the personal and administrative terrain," Whitehouse says. But that's clearly a pretty difficult standard to meet, and, as the prosecutor says, "I think it will get worse before it gets better as the Justice Department inquiry, Plunder Dome, and all those things go forward."
In looking at the best and worst of David Cicilline in 2006, I wrote:
Not that long ago, the Providence Police Department was caught in a dysfunctional cycle that ill-served residents, particularly in poor parts of town, and reflected badly on the department itself. Cicilline moved quickly to make a firm break with the past by choosing Dean Esserman, the kind of outsider needed to bring long-overdue change, as the department’s new chief.
Activists credit Esserman and his emphasis on community policing with dramatically improving how the city and the police are perceived on Providence’s South Side. There remains room for improvement in getting more officers to embrace the spirit of community policing. But one observer goes so far as to say that Esserman’s lack of tolerance for abuse, as well as a number of retirements within the department, have transformed what had been one of the bigger scars in the city into a badge of honor.
Esserman can be short-tempered with the media, a trait that has not endeared him to some. Some cops might not like him because of his untraditional background, or because he changed the status quo. Such things are less important than his achievements in Providence.
Bob Walsh has an acute political sense, so I think he knows about what he speaks, in making this response on Matt's blog yesterday.
Referendum
If the next election for Mayor of Providence turns into a referendum on the police chief, the candidate who vows to keep Chief Esserman in place wins. It really is as simple as that.
Brown's Center for Environmental Studies is presenting a program tonight on Fair Trade coffee and the power of consumers:
|
|
Thursday, February 28
7:00 pm in MacMillan Hall 117
Dean Cycon of Dean's Beans will present Justice in the Coffeelands: The Social, Economic & Environmental Impact of Fair/Unfair Trade in the Coffee Communities of Africa, Asia and Latin America. Free and open to the public.
Fair trade coffee and java drops will be served prior to the lecture (6:30pm). |
Here's part of a previous story I wrote on the subject:
CAN A CUP of coffee change the world?
For embattled small-scale farmers like 28-year-old Carlos Reynoso, whose colleagues cultivate coffee beans in the western highlands of Guatemala, the daily choices of US consumers have a big impact. When most people in the US buy a $3 latte, a cup of java on the go, or a bag of beans at the supermarket, they unsuspectingly support a status quo in which poor growers in Latin America, Asia, and Africa receive as little as 20 or 25 cents for a pound of high-grade coffee. But when consumers buy Fair Trade coffee — which guarantees farmers a minimum price of $1.26 per pound — their spending fosters a variety of positive effects, not the least of which is the ability of these growers to sustain their livelihoods.
As one of six employees of Manos Campesinas, a collective that coordinates coffee exports for more than a thousand small growers, Reynoso has personally seen the impact. Since global coffee prices began plummeting a few years ago, many farmers have been unable to earn enough to support themselves, causing them to abandon the land and search elsewhere for work. Since Manos Campesinas became Fair Trade–certified in 1999, however, the heightened revenue stream has raised the income of farmers, he says, enabling their families to enjoy a better diet and their children to remain in school.
Speaking through a translator during a telephone interview arranged by the nonprofit development agency Oxfam America, Reynoso notes that Fair Trade isn’t a panacea for poverty. It does, however, offer some substantial big-picture benefits in a country fair like Guatemala, which suffered from decades of violence and anti-union activity after a US-backed coup in 1954. "Now people are realizing there are benefits to organization, and that if they can work together, they can achieve greater things," Reynoso says. There’s still not sufficient demand to sell all of the collective’s coffee through Fair Trade channels, he adds, "[But] the more that consumers get to know what Fair Trade means, the more possibilities we will have."
The Boston Phoenix endorsed Obama prior to the Massachusetts primary, and the Providence Phoenix carries the endorsement in this week's paper. Here's an excerpt:
Obama’s candidacy is not only about hope, not only about change. Most important of all, it is about the future.
Almost four years ago in Boston, Obama, then an Illinois state senator, electrified and inspired the Democratic convention as no national newcomer had done since 1948, when Hubert Humphrey championed the cause of civil rights.
Obama’s clarion call has been to reject the politics of confrontation and division as practiced by Bush, right-wingers, and talk-radio motor mouths.
His vision is of comity and common purpose. Eloquence is his calling card. It is penetrating, transcending verbal facility — the hallmark of someone at peace with himself, someone who is comfortable inside his own skin, someone who is confident rather than cocksure. Obama is also a maverick. There is no doubt that his promise outstrips his experience. That was also true of Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and Woodrow Wilson. Vision was their strength; rhetoric was their means to an end.
Lincoln, Roosevelt, and Wilson so successfully captured the spirit of their times — synthesizing the best, marginalizing the worst — that history remembers them as representative leaders: presidents who made a difference. The Phoenix believes that Obama has the capacity to do so, too, in a way that Clinton — for all that is admirable about her — does not.
Matt offers a look at the delegate process in RI, and how it might impact the primary on Tuesday:
Here’s how the system works: 4050 delegates at the Democratic Convention in Denver will select a nominee for president. Of these, 3250 are elected delegates who are chosen through the state-by-state primaries or caucuses. In addition, 800 superdelegates have a vote at the convention.
Superdelegates are quintessential Democratic insiders: governors, senators, representatives, and party officials. Thus, after 37 contests, while Obama currently holds a 1180–1026 elected delegate lead over Clinton, according to The Associated Press, Clinton retains a 239-176 superdelegate lead over Obama.
The power of superdelegates to “anoint” a nominee has raised the ire of party activists. The advocacy group MoveOn.org recently published a full-page ad in USA Today, urging the superdelegates to postpone their endorsements and to allow the elected delegates to determine the winner. More dramatically, Donna Brazile, Al Gore’s former campaign manager, has threatened to resign from the Democratic National Committee if the superdelegates contradict the choice of the elected delegates.
How does this process play out in Rhode Island? A 50-page delegate selection plan available at the RI Democratic Party Web site provides a road-map.
Rhode Island will send 33 delegates to the Democratic Convention: 21 elected delegates, 11 superdelegates, and one delegate chosen at the June state convention. Rhode Island voters will select 13 of the 21 elected delegates in Tuesday’s presidential primary. Six will be elected from Congressional District 1 and seven from Congressional District 2.
These delegates will be proportionately allocated, depending on the popular vote in each district, to Obama or Clinton. For example, if a candidate gets 60 percent of the vote in District 1, that candidate gets four of the six delegates (meaning, the top four vote-getting delegates for that candidate in that district). ....
Of the 11 superdelegates, Clinton currently has eight, and Obama two, and there remains one uncommitted vote.
Here is a list of the superdelegates, their titles, and who they currently support: Bill Lynch, RI Democratic Party Chair (Clinton); State Representative Grace Diaz, RI Democratic Party Vice-Chair (Clinton); Frank Montanaro, RI Democratic National Committeeman (Clinton); Edna O’Neill Mattson, RI Democratic National Committeewoman (Clinton); Mark Weiner, DNC Member, (Clinton); US Senator Jack Reed (Uncommitted); US Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (Clinton); US Representative Patrick Kennedy (Obama); US Representative Jim Langevin (Clinton); Attorney General Patrick Lynch, Democratic AG Association (Obama); Providence Mayor David Cicilline, Democratic Mayors Association (Clinton).
Thus, due to Clinton’s strong support among Rhode Island superdelegates, even if Obama wins an upset victory in Rhode Island on Tuesday, a greater number of Rhode Island delegates will be committed to Clinton.
The Rhode Island primary continues to heat up, with plans by the past and present rock stars of the Democratic Party to visit here, respectively, today and Saturday.
I take a look at the race in this week's Phoenix:
If Barack Obama proves unstoppable in his pursuit of the Democratic presidential nomination, Hillary Clinton could remember her Rhode Island College rally last Sunday as one of those instances of what might have been. Surrounded by a bevy of local Democratic officials, Clinton bathed in the intense affection of an adoring crowd, her every statement punctuated by wild applause, chants, and a rising sea of blue signs touting her campaign.
As it stands, she might still win Rhode Island’s primary on Tuesday, but don’t count on it. Obama’s cash-swelled campaign is making an aggressive push here, mixing an energetic grassroots effort on the ground with a three-to-one spending advantage on radio and television advertising. Building on a higher national youth vote in 2004, surging local voter enrollment can also be expected to benefit the Illinois senator.
On Monday, the Clinton campaign got some good news when a Rasmussen Reports survey conducted two days earlier, of more than 1000 Rhode Island Democratic primary voters, showed Clinton with a 15-point lead over Obama, 53 percent to 38 percent, with almost 10 percent undecided. An earlier poll in February by Brown University’s Darrell West showed Clinton with 36 percent, Obama with 28 percent, 27 percent uncommitted, and nine percent undecided.
Naturally, Obama campaign manager David Plouffe, during a conference call with reporters on Monday, downplayed the Rasmussen results, expressing his belief that the Rhode Island race is closer and tightening. This wouldn’t be surprising, considering how Obama has wiped out big deficits in other states and captivated a broad swath of Rhode Islanders with his initial opposition to the war in Iraq and his charismatic message of change.
That Clinton spent most of the day here last Sunday — with Bill Clinton due to visit Bryant University in Smithfield on Thursday, February 28 — shows just how much things have changed in a place where, as US Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Clinton’s local campaign co-chair, said during the RIC rally, the Clintons should be considered honorary Rhode Islanders.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Obama's RI campaign says that the candidate will be in Rhode Island on Saturday. Details are TBA.
BRISTOL, R.I., Feb. 27, 2008 – Daniel Ayalon, former Israeli ambassador to the United States, will visit Roger Williams University tonight in a presentation titled “Prospects for Peace in the Middle East.”
During his time as ambassador from 2002 to 2006, Mr. Ayalon played a lead role in deepening strategic, political and economic ties between Israel and the U.S. His extensive experience in foreign relations administration at the highest levels has helped foster a unique perspective on the variety of challenges affecting the Middle East.
Obama's RI campaign has set a 3 pm news conference at the Providence office to reveal a "major announcement."
Stay tuned.
In singling out Senators Reed and Whitehouse as among the best on issues affecting children, the Children's Defense Fund also has this to say:
WASHINGTON, DC – The Children’s Defense Fund Action Council (CDFAC) today released its 2007 Nonpartisan Congressional Scorecard, naming Rhode Island’s Congressional Delegation as one of the nation’s best for children. Rhode Island’s Members of Congress collectively voted to protect the well-being of children 100 percent of the time in 2007, ranking first among all 50 states. The Scorecard overall showed some important legislative successes but noted some missed key opportunities to improve the lives of children in 2007.
“The Children's Defense Fund Action Council applauds Members of Rhode Island’s Congressional Delegation who voted to make the health and well-being of children in Rhode Island a priority,” said CDFAC President Marian Wright Edelman. “With 9.4 million uninsured children in America and nearly 13 million living in poverty, it is critical that Congress be committed to helping children. Members of Congress from Rhode Island are dedicated advocates for children and together they have truly earned the distinction of being among the best Congressional delegations for children.”
The average scores for Members of Congress in both the House of Representatives and the Senate improved from the previous three years with more Members scoring 100 percent than in 2004, 2005 or 2006. However, Congress failed to provide health coverage for even one-third of the children currently uninsured in America. The Scorecard, which grades every Member of the House and Senate based on ten key votes affecting children, calls on voters to hold their legislators accountable for their votes.
The Scorecard highlights Congress’s failure to override President Bush’s veto of legislation to extend health coverage to 3.1 million more uninsured children. But it also credits Members from the state of Rhode Island for helping make important progress for children and families in 2007 by passing:
• The first increase in the minimum wage in a decade, bringing it from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour by 2009, which is expected to benefit the parents of approximately 6.4 million children under 18.
• Access and quality improvements in Head Start to help more young children start school ready to succeed.
• Additional funds for student loans to help many more youth attend college.
It has become an article of faith for critics of Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline that the Providence Police Department is artificially lowering its crime statistics. Some city councilors have groused about this issue, and WLNE-TV's Jim Hummel last night took a crack at the story. You can find a link to view his report here.
As Hummel notes, Cicilline and Police Chief Dean Esserman have steadily touted declines in crime in recent years, in contrast to trends in other cities. Could this news be too good to be true? It's possible. Viewers of The Wire, created by David Simon, an ace former cop reporter at the Baltimore Sun, are familiar with the machinations used by departmental brass in that show to juice crime stats.
Hummel, who says in his report that he looked "at dozens of incidents," describes three cases that appear to have been undercharged, including the three-year-old assault in downtown Providence on then-Cariceri chief of staff Jeff Grybowski and Jeff Britt. He cites "disturbing trends in crime reporting." Robert Paniccia, the retired head of the FOP, is the only on-the-record source who backs the underreporting theory, although Hummel asserts that in talking to people in the AG's office and the state police, "The word is the same: Providence is not being straight with the numbers."
Cicilline and Esserman, in interviews with Hummel, basically stand by their existing positions.
In my view, the Channel 6 newsman's report amounts to a case of he said/he said. In introducing the spot, Hummel acknowledges that the answer to the question of whether Providence is playing with its crime stats "depends on who you ask."
Bottom line: It would require a more extensive investigation -- which would be incredibly time-consuming -- to offer a definitive answer to the provocative question raised in his report.
Let's acknowledge a few points:
-- Esserman, because of his volatile personality (which is not that unusual for a police chief), can be his own worst enemy. Yet he has also succeed in significantly improving what had been a highly dysfunctional and behind-the-times police department. It's no surprise that Buddy Cianci is embracing Hummel's report. But let's remember that in 1999, when community policing had become a widely accepted practice in American police departments, integrating it in Providence remained an odd struggle.
-- Police union officials might indeed have legitimate gripes, but a current or retired FOP official speaking critically of a police chief is about as natural as a dog chasing a cat.
-- Hummel's story, while not exactly the "explosive" report described this morning on WPRO-AM by Cianci, has succeeded in creating some buzz, both within the police department and for Channel 6.
Writing in this week's New Yorker, Paul Kramer reveals how, long before the waterboarding controversy, American forces in the Phillippines used a similar form of water torture, more than 100 years ago, to pry information from insurgents:
Many Americans were puzzled by the news, in 1902, that United States soldiers were torturing Filipinos with water. The United States, throughout its emergence as a world power, had spoken the language of liberation, rescue, and freedom. This was the language that, when coupled with expanding military and commercial ambitions, had helped launch two very different wars. The first had been in 1898, against Spain, whose remaining empire was crumbling in the face of popular revolts in two of its colonies, Cuba and the Philippines. The brief campaign was pitched to the American public in terms of freedom and national honor (the U.S.S. Maine had blown up mysteriously in Havana Harbor), rather than of sugar and naval bases, and resulted in a formally independent Cuba.
The Americans were not done liberating. Rising trade in East Asia suggested to imperialists that the Philippines, Spain’s largest colony, might serve as an effective “stepping stone” to China’s markets. U.S. naval plans included provisions for an attack on the Spanish Navy in the event of war, and led to a decisive victory against the Spanish fleet at Manila Bay in May, 1898. Shortly afterward, Commodore George Dewey returned the exiled Filipino revolutionary Emilio Aguinaldo to the islands. Aguinaldo defeated Spanish forces on land, declared the Philippines independent in June, and organized a government led by the Philippine élite.
During the next half year, it became clear that American and Filipino visions for the islands’ future were at odds. U.S. forces seized Manila from Spain—keeping the army of their ostensible ally Aguinaldo from entering the city—and President William McKinley refused to recognize Filipino claims to independence, pushing his negotiators to demand that Spain cede sovereignty over the islands to the United States, while talking about Filipinos’ need for “benevolent assimilation.” Aguinaldo and some of his advisers, who had been inspired by the United States as a model republic and had greeted its soldiers as liberators, became increasingly suspicious of American motivations. When, after a period of mounting tensions, a U.S. sentry fired on Filipino soldiers outside Manila in February, 1899, the second war erupted, just days before the Senate ratified a treaty with Spain securing American sovereignty over the islands in exchange for twenty million dollars. In the next three years, U.S. troops waged a war to “free” the islands’ population from the regime that Aguinaldo had established. The conflict cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of Filipinos and about four thousand U.S. soldiers.
Within the first year of the war, news of atrocities by U.S. forces—the torching of villages, the killing of prisoners—began to appear in American newspapers. Although the U.S. military censored outgoing cables, stories crossed the Pacific through the mail, which wasn’t censored. Soldiers, in their letters home, wrote about extreme violence against Filipinos, alongside complaints about the weather, the food, and their officers; and some of these letters were published in home-town newspapers. A letter by A. F. Miller, of the 32nd Volunteer Infantry Regiment, published in the Omaha World-Herald in May, 1900, told of how Miller’s unit uncovered hidden weapons by subjecting a prisoner to what he and others called the “water cure.” “Now, this is the way we give them the water cure,” he explained. “Lay them on their backs, a man standing on each hand and each foot, then put a round stick in the mouth and pour a pail of water in the mouth and nose, and if they don’t give up pour in another pail. They swell up like toads. I’ll tell you it is a terrible torture.”
To me, it basically seemed a draw, which benfits Obama.
Halperin rates Obama's performance a bit better. Here are excerpts from his analysis.
B+ for Obama:
Avoided lofty rhetoric and focused on presenting himself as cool, deliberative and substantive. Well prepared and focused, he was also clearly bolstered by well-stoked confidence and what he sees as his looming, shiny victory. More than survived — even thrived at times — in what could be his final debate with Hillary Clinton.
Substance: Drilled down with simple, calm authority on Clinton's | |