October 13, 2008
The Providence Athenaeum is a local jewel, and it's got a great event on tap for tomorrow:
Tues, 10/14, 7pm: Election Day Approaches: What’s Next? In an increasingly global world fraught with conflicts past, present, and promised, what is the future for US foreign policy? As the 2008 presidential campaign (aka The Hundred Years’ War) closes, what is America’s place in the world? What should it be? Come converse with two contrarian witnesses to history, former Senator Lincoln Chafee (now distinguished visiting fellow at Brown’s Watson Institute), a liberal conservative, and Ted Widmer, former foreign policy speechwriter for Bill Clinton, now Director of the John Carter Brown Library, a conservative liberal. Copies of Senator Chafee’s Against the Tide: How a Compliant Congress Empowered a Reckless President and Ted Widmer’s Ark of the Liberties: America and the World will be available for sale and signing, thanks to Borders! Free and open to the public. (Sponsor: Yankee Travel, yankeetravel.com)
October 13, 2008
During my recent Q+A with RISD president John Maeda, I mentioned how some futurists associate apocalyptic scenarios with "the singularity" -- the time when artificial intelligence accelerates past its human counterpart. Here's what Maeda said.
That’s why I came to RISD, actually. I mean, yes, if you look at the future of technology, yes, you’re going to put something in your brain. It’s going to do everything for you. You’re not going to think anymore. That’s what’s going to happen if someone wants it to happen. When it happens, what’s going to happen?
Not too cool, I think. So by coming here, knowing what’s coming in the future, I hope, will prevent what’s coming — which is basically the dehumanization of the entire world, which I don’t like, actually. It’s a bad idea, I think. So here, we will figure out a different role for technology that is understood by humans, for humans’ sake.
With an op-ed in yesterday's New York Times, Richard Dooling said we might already be too far along.
We are living, we have long been told, in the Information Age. Yet now we are faced with the sickening suspicion that technology has run ahead of us. Man is a fire-stealing animal, and we can’t help building machines and machine intelligences, even if, from time to time, we use them not only to outsmart ourselves but to bring us right up to the doorstep of Doom.
We are still fearful, superstitious and all-too-human creatures. At times, we forget the magnitude of the havoc we can wreak by off-loading our minds onto super-intelligent machines, that is, until they run away from us, like mad sorcerers’ apprentices, and drag us up to the precipice for a look down into the abyss.
As the financial experts all over the world use machines to unwind Gordian knots of financial arrangements so complex that only machines can make — “derive” — and trade them, we have to wonder: Are we living in a bad sci-fi movie? Is the Matrix made of credit default swaps?
October 12, 2008
Here's the Cliff Notes' version of today's John Mulligan story about Senator Jack Reed and the big chunk of money he has taken from the fiscal sector, America's favorite new public enemy:
1. Jack Reed, RI's popular senator, accepts special interest money.
The financial sector accounts for more than $1 million of the $4.45 million that Reed has amassed for his campaign for a third six-year term in the Senate, according to compilations by independent watchdog groups.
2. Accepting beaucoup campaign bucks is the norm in the US Senate, where not doing so can be potentially fatal to your political career.
[Jennifer] Duffy, who handicaps Senate races for The Cook Political Report, said her organization automatically puts the tag “vulnerable” on any incumbent senator who has “less than $1 million in the bank” for an upcoming election. To illustrate the phenomenon of the “self-funding” challenger, Duffy and [Darrell] West both pointed to New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine, a former chief executive of the Wall Street firm Goldman Sachs, who spent more than $60 million of his own money to win a New Jersey Senate seat in 2000.
3. Accepting some quantity of special interest money doesn't in itself translate into a quid pro quo or mean that the recipient is in an ethical conflict.
Reed ranks 10th among all 535 members of the House and Senate in his $78,250 fundraising total since 1989 from the campaign arms of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, their employees and family of employees. But Reed pointed to several initiatives that Fannie and Freddie have vigorously opposed. “The ultimate test for conflict of interest is in the voting record,” said West, a former Brown University political scientist. “In Reed’s case there are many cases where he voted in consumers’ interests” and against the interests of contributors.
I covered some of this ground in my look at Senator Reed in August:
In the realm of Rhode Island politics, there’s no doubt that Reed is a high-flier; the senator has spent $1.7 million from his campaign fund since 2003, according to the Center for Responsive Politics (opensecrets.org).While individual contributions represent 57 percent of his fundraising total over the last five years, according to the CRP, his top five contributors by industry over that period are as follow: Lawyers/Law Firms ($428,856); Securities & Investments ($348,038); Real Estate ($206,550); Insurance $189,850); and Commercial Banks ($161,849).
Asked about the influence of campaign contributions, Reed, who sits on the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, says he tries to make good decisions based on the substance of an issue.
Part of the bottom line: money remains the mother's milk of politics, and challengers to Reed, Jim Langevin, Patrick Kennedy and other high-profile Rhode Island Democrats won't have much of a shot until they can acquire the same kind of financial support.
October 10, 2008
-- N4N says Sox beat the Rays in six, although I really have no gut feeling other than anticipating series of close and hard-fought games.
-- Machines with Magnets in Pawtucket has an opening tonight, the Museum of Small Finds, from 7-9.
-- The Dominican American National Roundtable's national conference takes place in Providence this weekend:
The Dominican American National Roundtable (DANR) today announced a free workshop on Jewish and Dominican relations entitled, “Building Alliances: Jewish/Dominican Relations,” will be part of the 11th Annual DANR National Conference taking place in Providence this weekend. The workshop, which will feature testimony from Holocaust survivor Denny Hertzberg, CEO of Vitusa Corp. and the first baby settler to arrive in the Dominican Republic to find refuge during World War II, will take place Saturday from 10:00-11:45 a.m. at the Providence Westin Hotel, the official site of the conference. The workshop, as all workshops offered as part of the conference running October 11-13, is free of charge and open to the public.
In addition to a discussion with Mr. Hertzberg and a panel of experts on Jewish and Dominican relations, “Building Alliances:Jewish/Dominican Relations” will include an original film documentary depicting the arrival of the first Jewish refugees who settled in Sosua during the 1940s. Guests will learn about the large number of refugees who were welcomed into the town by the Dominican Republic after fleeing the Holocaust during World War 1I and will engage in furthering the conversation on the importance of Jewish/Dominican relations.
-- Mark Stahl of the RI Community Coalition for Peace sends word of this demonstration planned for tomorrow:
In an inspiring spirit of cooperation and solidarity, a diverse group of community, religious, political, and student groups has organized a march for October 11 to publicly demand:
1) Bring the Troops Home Now! No Attacks on Iran
2) Protect Our Families: Stop the Deportations Now!
3) Defend Our Civil Liberties and Right to Free Speech.
4) Money For Jobs, Education, Housing, and Healthcare, Not for War.
As these demands reflect, many people are acutely aware of the interconnections between empire, “free” trade, immigration, and poverty. Also, future poverty is assured when families are broken up by draconian immigration policies. With the October 11 public action, all Rhode Islanders are encouraged to increase their awareness, recognize our shared humanity, and become involved in the cause of justice and peace.
Throughout the Americas, October 12 is celebrated as Indigenous People's day, or Dia de la Raza, with marches and other events that promote alternatives to the conquest which began in 1492. Appropriately, October 12 had been chosen this year as a national day of action for immigrant rights. The immigrant rights community in RI, however, has taken a bold step in promoting local unity by joining in a combined October 11 action. People opposed to U.S. wars and occupations realize that on October 11, 2002, the US Senate, following the House of Representatives, passed the Joint Resolution authorizing President Bush to go to war on Iraq. Thus, Saturday, October 11, 2008 marks exactly six years after Congress gave their assent.
Antiwar actions as well as pro-immigration rights actions are also planned on the October 11 weekend in many other cities around the country, including Boston, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Chicago, Minneapolis, Salt Lake City, Seattle, San Antonio, El Paso, Los Angeles, and New York.
Participants in the RI action will begin to assemble at the Dexter-Training Grounds beside the Cranston Armory at 12:30 pm on Saturday October 11, for a rally that will start at 1:00 pm. After a short program of music and speakers, the march will move down Cranston Street, go through Providence, and end at Burnside Park for more music and speakers. Along the way, the march will stop briefly at: Central/Classical High Schools, Crossroads, Beneficent Church(2:30 pm), the US Army National Guard Recruiting office on Weybosset, and Textron’s World Headquarters. People may join the march at any point along the way. The program at Burnside Park should finish around 4:30 pm.
October 10, 2008
Somewhere, Sevellon Brown is weeping. A memo distributed to Journal employees:
October 10, 2008
TO ALL EMPLOYEES:
Today, we published our final regional zone sections (North, Metro, West Bay, East Bay & Massachusetts and South County). Starting Tuesday, October 14th, we will publish one comprehensive newspaper with all the local, state, regional, national and international news.
A notice on the front of today’s zones informed readers of this change. We also will print a reminder on page one next Tuesday. Should you get customerinquiries regarding the change, please refer the calls to a customer service voice mailbox at extension 7364.
As a final note, we will close our South County and East Bay offices and move the employees to Fountain Street.
October 10, 2008
As of this afternoon, the word is that Steve Peoples, rather than going to take the City Hall post vacated by Dan Barbarisi, will be staying at the State House for now.
It's worth noting again that the Journal's State House bureau plays a vital function in Rhode Island, so retaining an experienced hand is a bit of good news on a tough day for the newspaper and its departing employees.
October 10, 2008
US Attorney Robert Clark Corrente scored a win with this week's conviction of Robert Urciuoli. Yet given the relative lack of forward public momentum on Operation Dollar Bill -- which Corrente himself once identified as an active investigation of seven politicians and an equal number of companies -- the probe has thus far failed to meet its expectations.
During a taping this morning of WPRI/WNAC-TV's Newsmakers, Corrente defended the investigation, describing it as something that grew steadily more complex as it progressed and which is onging. My fellow panelist Arlene Violet, a former AG, wondered aloud, though, whether Dollar Bill more closely resembles Operation Nick and Dime.
An Obama victory in November could well spell the end of Corrente's tenure as RI's top federal prosecutor, although he said that possibility is not a factor in the prosecution of Dollar Bill. He said it would be a matter of months before decisions are made on other key players, and that the public will most likely know of these only if they result in indictment(s).
Corrente would not clarify whether Operation Dollar Bill is looking at former senate president William V. Irons, whose name has been mentioned for years on the periphery of the case. (Irons, btw, was at last night's Doris Kearns Goodwin lecture at Roger Williams University.)
Here are some other highlights from today's show, which will be broadcast at 2 pm Saturday on WPRI (Channel 12), and at 5:30 am Sunday on WPRI and on Fox 64:
-- Decisions about whether to return John Celona to the witness stand will be made on what Corrente called a case-by-case basis. The corrupt former state senator's lack of credibility was seen as a major factor in the acquittal earlier this year of two former CVS officials.
-- Asked whether he might run for governor, Corrente said, "The short answer is 'no' " and he indicated a general disinclination to run for another office. With potential judgeships not having materialized, Corrente seems destined one day to return to private practice.
-- Corrente says the US Justice Department, in the wake of the fiscal crisis, has sent guidelines to US attorneys on prosecuting financial crimes.
-- Asked about Frank Corrente receving a partial pension, Corrente said:
It wasn’t my call. I think given what the evidence had showed I was certainly surprised to see what the board did. There was a certainly good reason to deny his pension given the conviction. I know the mayor has introduced a new ordinance to try and deal with that problem. I think one thing it shows the ripple effects to a corruption investigation like that.
October 10, 2008
Governor Carcieri is scheduled to be interviewed on the topic today for a report on ABC World News' "50 States in 50 Days," which is being done as a partnership with USA Today.
In response to an inquiry from N4N, press secretary Amy Kempe writes,
The focus of the segment will be Rhode Island's economy, specifically how the state has felt the impact of the housing market crisis, unemployment, drop in state revenue. In essence, Rhode Island is a microcosm of what the rest of the nation is now starting to see and feel.
The ABC World News correspondent conducting the interview is Dan Harris.
No air date has been set, but mostly likely next week.
Meanwhile, I was contacted this week by a producer for Dan Rather Reports, who expressed interest in doing a story on how the economic downturn is impacting Rhode Island.
October 10, 2008
Today is the implementation day for the ProJo news layoffs -- the first of their kind in the history of Rhode Island's statewide daily.
After a lengthy delay in reporting the news -- something noted by N4N and by trade journal E+P -- the Journal offers a business front story today on the cuts. Neil Downing's piece retraces the sad state of the newspaper industry, although it doesn't suggest the human toll of the cuts, which include a younger staffer whose wife is pregnant, an experienced staffer still recovering from a complicated injury, and many longtime staffers who will be hard-pressed to find new jobs in their chosen profession.
The Journal will continue to have 199 people employed in its news-gathering operation, so it will remain the largest news organization in Rhode Island, [publisher Howard] Sutton said.
“Even with this reduction in our news-gathering and editing ranks, we still have almost 200 people working in our newsrooms, which is a sizeable commitment to provide our readers with news and information,” Sutton said in an interview at the company’s headquarters on Fountain Street in Providence.
True, but the effect of the ProJo's downsizing is abundantly clear to its readers, and the paper's approach in seeking a stronger future leaves a lot of unanswered questions.
The Providence Newspaper Guild lists the employees who are losing their jobs:
Cynthia Benjamin Copy Editor
Thomas Cahir Editorial Asst
Sarah Cooke Photo Editor
Patricia Erickson Copy Editor
Name withheld by request Reporter
Kelli Gomes Editorial Asst
Name withheld by request Pagination Asst
Linda Henderson Librarian
Kathleen Hill Copy Editor
Katherine Imbrie Reporter
Brandie Jefferson Reporter
Daniel Johnsen Copy Editor
Karen Johnson Copy Editor
Willie Jones Editorial Asst
Sara Kaplow Photo Editor
Laura Kirk Reporter
Karen Maguire Regional Editor
Mildred McLean Copy Editor
Name withheld by request Editorial Writer
Ellen Monaghan Office Asst
Frances Ostendorf Copy Editor
Jean Plunkett Regional Editor
Patricia Pothier Editorial Asst
Steve Rawson Pagination Asst
Name withheld by request Copy Editor
David Scharfenberg Reporter
Name withheld by request Editorial Asst
Pamela Thomas Section Editor
Doreen Tracey Editorial Asst
Judith Webber-Lonardo Copy Editor
Meaghan Wims Reporter
The Guild describes the latest ProJo cuts as part of "the most significant downsizing in its history."
The count includes 28 Guild-represented employees and three managers. Two workers, originally slated for layoff were spared. One by the resignation of a more senior reporter, and the other by transferring into an open job in advertising.
In making the cuts, the Journal is eliminating the news department’s entire part-time workforce.
These cuts come on top of the 22 positions eliminated in September through buy-outs, which included 12 from the newsroom.
Meanwhile, most remaining employees await word as to how their assignments and the newspaper itself will change as a result of the cuts.
“The newspaper we have known will disappear October 10,” said Guild President John Hill. “Next week, we will begin work for what is effectively an entirely new company.”
To honor our departing colleagues and their contribution to the newspaper, the Guild will hold a reception Friday October 17, from 5 until 8 p.m. at Blake’s Tavern, located at the Corner of Washington and Matthewson streets in Providence. The reception is open to all Journal workers, regardless of Guild membership or management status.
October 09, 2008
This just in, from CNN:
-- The Dow Jones industrial average lost 679 points, after hitting its lowest point since May 27, 2003 during the session.
From today's NYT:
WASHINGTON — Having tried without success to unlock frozen credit markets, the Treasury Department is considering taking ownership stakes in many United States banks to try to restore confidence in the financial system, the White House said on Thursday.
Acknowledging that such steps would not seem to fit into President Bush’s free-market philosophy, the president’s chief spokeswoman, Dana Perino, said taking partial ownership of banks and other moves associated with the financial rescue plan would not be “part of his natural instincts.” . . . .
Behind the scramble for solutions lies a hard reality: the financial crisis has mutated into a global downturn that economists warn will be painful and protracted, and for which there is no quick cure.
The Boston Globe reports on former fiscal titans seeking therapy:
For years, brokers and hedge fund managers suffered from a condition known among therapists as "sudden wealth syndrome." Some even called it "affluenza."
Not anymore. With the sinking stock market and hordes of rich, angry investors, psychologists have a new diagnosis: sudden loss syndrome. And therapists are increasingly busy trying remedy the predicament.
October 09, 2008
And that's good news for local music fans, says Chris Conti, who also has the scoop on local faves Lightning Bolt and their appearance tonight at the Living Room.
The new and improved Jake’s Bar & Grille on Richmond Street reopens tonight (the 9th) and kicks off a Columbus Day welcome back weekend with three highly diverse shows, something this modest venue has always excelled at, thanks to [Jackie] Nichols and her son Jake. The emphasis on live music may also prove to be a wise choice, with new neighbors Rick’s Roadhouse and Stanley’s Burgers on the block.
“We plan on continuing to host a wide range of artists, now more than ever,” Nichols said. “Jake and I have broad tastes in music, from hip-hop like the CunninLynguists to country-punk and classic rock.” The emphasis on live music this time around is abundantly clear, as Nichols reports that Jake’s will host shows Thursday through Sunday, plus a Wednesday singer/songwriter showcase beginning in November — glorious news for those of us still salty about the loss of the Met Café.
We saw the need for a venue our size and I think we can do a good job with it,” she noted. Some 18-plus shows will be added, and most local shows will remain in the $5-$7 range, with national acts around $10 per head.
“National booking agencies tell us that the bands love playing here because the fans are so enthusiastic, and also because of our hospitality,” she said. “We’ve forged some solid relationships with bookers from LA to NYC.”
Nichols decided to “regroup with some minor repairs and painting,” but the most notable addition will be the subtraction of most of their extensive dinner menu. They will now offer “a limited menu that lends itself more to the venue, like burgers, pizza, and nachos.
October 09, 2008
As Greg Cook reports in this week's Phoenix:
There are the usual ways of spelling out your support for a candidate, and then there’s this weekend’s “Bike Write for Obama.”
Sarah Sandman, 28, is organizing a group “typographic bike ride” across Providence on Sunday to signal support Barack Obama for president and to promote alternative forms of transportation.
The idea is that the eight-mile pedal, which begins at 2 pm outside the Providence Center, at Hope and Cypress streets, and ends at Broad and Saratoga streets, will spell out Obama’s slogan “Yes we can” — so you can see it from the air. Expect some doubling back as riders stay within the lines.
“I’m a grad student in graphic design, so I’m constantly trying to find ways to reinvent typography,” Sandman says. “The idea of a group, to not only have a message, but to also be literally writing it, is really powerful, I think.”
The ride will include three stops along the way to hand out pro-Obama fliers. All are welcome to join in the ride. Sandman is asking participants to wear yellow; she’ll be selling $6 event T-shirts. Additional info can be found at the Steel Yard blog (thesteelyard.blogspot.com).
“I feel like traditional canvassing is so expected,” Sandman says. “When people approach me with a clipboard, it’s like: how many times has this happened? You just turn your attention away.” She hopes Sunday’s ride “shows another level of dedication to the cause.”
October 09, 2008
From the Leadership Institute, which says it has provided a nascent group of RISD conservatives with "start-up materials, recruiting resources, and training opportunities for their club members."
PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island – Conservative philosophy resurfaced in September among students at Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) after nearly 50 years of silence.
RISD Conservatives, with the help of Arlington, Virginia’s Leadership Institute (LI), established a new and growing conservative presence amidst a formidable leftist-dominated faculty and student body. Conservative art students now have a voice on their college campus.
Zach Brown, founder and president of RISD Conservatives and a sophomore illustration major, said, “I became politically involved once I came to college because I was constantly being fed liberal propaganda.”
Brown, who considers Ronald Reagan his personal hero, described Rhode Island School of Design as an “isolated environment which attracts mostly liberal students and faculty. RISD is a haven for extremely left-wing ideology.”
School policy mandates student groups must have a faculty sponsor to become an officially-recognized club. Leaders of the new, student group said there are currently no known conservative faculty members at the school, but the students hope to find a professor who values diversity of thought and will consent to be their sponsor.
“Students and professors at RISD are extremely open-minded, until you disagree with them,” Brown explained. “If you do, you are either wrong or a redneck hillbilly.”
Brown compared being conservative on a modern college campus to being a suspected Communist during the Red Scare: “It seems like a similar situation to the Hollywood blacklisting of the late 1940s and 50s.”
October 09, 2008
PR ace Chris Hunter sends word of OfficeLab Providence:
Flexible collaborative workspace for mobile professionals opens in downtown Providence
WHAT: Join the Providence community in checking out OfficeLAB, a new place for sharing office space and resources with a community of entrepreneurs, freelancers, and mobile professionals. OfficeLAB was created through Urban Sun Investments' "Seed Providence" initiative to support and foster the city's burgeoning knowledge economy.
Bring your laptop, work, relax, network, drink coffee, and enjoy this unique workspace in the heart of Downcity. Try out the 8mbps upload and download speeds by either plugging in directly or tapping high-speed WIFI (Simultaneous Dual N-band). And enjoy OfficeLAB's revolving art gallery featuring select local artists.
WHEN: Thursday, Oct 9th, from 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM
WHO: Entrepreneurs, freelancers, mobile professionals, and OfficeLAB staff
WHERE: 170 Westminster Street, Providence, RI (3rd Floor)
October 09, 2008
Maybe the Floridians are spending too much time in the sun (h/t Dirt Dogs):
The latest style to sweep the west coast, home of the Rays, is a bikini wax. Mohawk style.
Try waving that around at a game!
Michelle Foster of Skin Deep Spatique says she was inspired by her son's Mohawk, reports
Tampa Bay's 10 News.
"I stopped and thought about it a minute, and thought, well now everyone can have one!"
Well, yeah, if you want hot wax slathered around your nether region, then have it ripped off with a piece cloth.
Women wince. They cry. They even scream.
But when it's over, they've got a female Rayhawk.
And maybe it's worth all the pain. For the first time in their 11 seasons, the Rays are in the playoffs.