Archive for the 'Politics' Category

Thinking about voting for Cicilline?

Published on August 15, 2010 in Politics and Providence. 1 Comment

Think twice. He’s a liar. And this is not related to his problems with the fire department.

While I don’t see eye-to-eye with him on many issues, I’m going to be voting for David Segal in the democratic primary for Patrick Kennedy’s former seat in Congress. We need more people who are less of the same. Cicilline is just more of the same. David Segal is not. I will be happy once Cicilline is out of city hall. I’ll be even happier to see him lose this election. He has not done the work of the people. He has done the work of his friends and people who write checks. We do not need more of that in Washington.

Yet Another Reason to Boycott Wal-Mart

Published on December 31, 2009 in Equal Rights and Politics. 1 Comment

Low prices come at a cost to someone, somewhere. In the case of a gay couple from Michigan, it was the well-being of their twin sons.

Wal-Mart Bans Gay Couple for NOT Shoplifting

This is yet another reason why I have been boycotting Wal-Mart and have not stepped foot in one in several years, the one exception being my trip out west because I was 1 of 7 in an RV trying to save costs (if I had it my way, we would’ve gone elsewhere). This story puts me over the edge though. I will now never step foot in one again. They don’t deserve my business, nor do they deserve anyone else’s, as far as I’m concerned (that is, of course, unless you’re a gay-hating, homophobic redneck).

Of course, another big FUCK YOU should go to the Niles, MI police department who sided with Wal-Mart on the issue. Those officers should lose their badges, and if I were that couple, I’d be in court suing the town.

So join me in my boycott. Vote with your wallets. Boycott Wal-Mart.

Why I will vote against my current state rep

Published on October 28, 2009 in Politics. 6 Comments

My current state representative, Joanne Giannini, has helped out our neighborhood greatly. She works with a neighborhood group with which I work (and also run their website). However, she has recently gone crazy with the fight against indoor prostitution. She has sponsored a bill to band indoor prostitution in Rhode Island, where it is currently legal only through a loophole. She wants the police to be able to arrest prostitutes and throw them in jail.

I don’t support prostitution. I don’t see a reason why anyone would want to pay for sex. However, I do support the right for people to pay for sex and for people to sell their bodies for sex. I understand that some people are forced into the business, some even brought here from overseas for the sole purpose of being used as prostitutes. I don’t support that. I don’t see a problem with people who are willingly doing this to continue to do so.

What the RI General Assembly should be doing is legitimizing the sex industry. Regulate where brothels are allowed through zoning laws. This will prevent them from opening in residential neighborhoods. Regulate the business with random visits by social workers and health inspectors. This will keep the business clean and allow the employees to come forward to someone other than a cop if they are being forced into prostitution.

Most of the prostitutes in Rhode Island are doing it because they need the money. They are supporting their families. In a state with one of the highest rates of unemployment in the country, it is horrifying to think that the General Assembly is so heartless to force hundreds more people into unemployment. And not only will they be forcing them into unemployment, they will be forcing them into a life of crime. Putting these people in jail will cost our state and communities more than leaving the law as it stands. However, if we regulate and tax the sex industry, we will be putting money in the state’s coffers… money that the state desperately needs.

Shame on your Rep Giannini. Shame on all the members of our General Assembly who are buying the garbage spewed by the likes of Donna Hughes, the URI Women’s Studies professor who has made the sex industry her #1 enemy. I will be voting against Rep Giannini (and possibly Senator Maryellen Goodwin, if she also votes in favor of this) in the next election, not because she has been a horrible representative, but because she is putting her own personal moral beliefs before the needs of the state, including the needs of my community.

Why You Should Boycott Monster Energy Drink

Published on October 14, 2009 in Beer and Politics. 3 Comments

It’s rare that I call for an outright boycott of a product or company, but this is one of those cases where it is most definitely called for.

You see, up in the very small town of Morrisville, Vermont, there stands a very small brewery, producing only about 3,000-3,500 barrels of beer per year. This brewery started in the owners’ basement and grew to this small industrial building. It employs only 7 people besides the husband and wife team that owns it. This brewery is called Rock Art. They produce some awesome beers, some of which are very creative. They sell their beers at a very reasonable price (less than what they could get for them if you ask me, but I’m definitely not complaining). On their 10th anniversary, they made a 10% version of their flagship beer, Ridge Runner. They named this new barleywine The Vermonster

In another part of the country stands this giant beverage corporation. They are in the soda, juice, tea, and energy drink business. They do not make beer, but they are large and have a lot of money. This company is called Hansens Beverage Company. They own the popular Monster line of energy drinks.

Recently, Rock Art filed for a trademark for The Vermonster name nationally (it was already trademarked in Vermont since its creation). Shortly after the filing, they received an impersonal cease and desist order from the lawyers representing Hansens. The order told them that they must stop using the name as it infringes on their trademark of “Monster Energy Drink”. Now, the term “monster” is by no means trademarkable. The way trademark law works is that you have to protect your trademark or you lose it. Once confusion exists, the trademark is nullified. Examples of this are Kleenex tissues or Bayer’s trademark of the term Aspirin. Those words became so commonplace for any tissues or for any headache medicine that the trademark was dilluted. While I understand Hansens right to protect their trademark from becoming dilluted, they have lost all PR points in their methods.

The reasoning Hansens gives for the trademark infringement is incredibly weak. They claim that there is major overlap between the energy drink market and the beer market. Perhaps that is true if you consider beer as being only Bud, Miller, and Coors. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. Rock Art’s market does not overlap with the energy drink market. They also claim a type of synergy between the beer market and the energy drink market. Again, this is all marketing lingo and completely false. There is absolutely no mistaking a beer which comes only in a 22 ounce brown bottle for an energy drink that comes in a large can. There is no mistaking the different labels. Finally, there is no mistaking the term “Vermonster”, a play on the name of a state, for the term “Monster”.

This whole thing reeks of Monster Cables and their frivilous lawsuits against anyone and anything they can go after. They have lost many of these because the justice system decided they were too ridiculous in their claims, but they knew they were the big guys in the case and could probably bully the little guy around. That is exactly what Hansens is doing here. Rock Art is a small brewery. It takes a lot of time and overhead to run a brewery. Rock Art only distributes to a couple of states with the vast majority of their distribution being in Vermont. They don’t have the reach that Hansens has.

So, because of all this and because Rock Art is such a great brewery owned by some great people, I urge you to boycott Monster Energy Drink. In fact, I would extend that boycott to all of Hansens’ products. This is purely corporate bullying and greed. Rock Art has a case, but doesn’t have the wallet to defend their case. In a country founded on justice for all, they should get what’s theirs and not have to fight a long expensive legal battle.

How can you help?

  1. Buy Rock Art beer if it’s sold in your state or nearby (this is the most important).
  2.  If you’re on Twitter, tell @MonsterEnergy how shameful this is.
  3. Tell @RockArtBrewery how great they are and show them some support.
  4. Use the hash tags #monsterboycott and #ISupportRockArt in your tweets.
  5. Join the Facebook group Vermonters and Craft Beer Drinkers Against Monster.
  6. Contact Hansens and tell them what you think.
  7. Contact Monster Energy Drink and tell them what you think.

Since you’re probably looking for more information on this debacle other than my simple blog post, here are a few links to various news outlets reporting on the story.

Associated Press

Burlington Free Press

Rutland Herald

Finally, here’s a great video of Matt Nadeau, the owner of Rock Art, explaining the situation.

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End Seniority Hiring and Bumping in Providence Public Schools

Published on September 24, 2009 in Politics and Providence. Closed

I came across this great petition to show support for putting an end to seniority-based teacher assignment and hiring as well as “bumping” in Providence Public Schools. If you’re not familiar with bumping, it’s basically that if an employee (in this case a teacher) gets laid off and they have a certain number of years under their belt (regardless of their qualifications or the quality of their teaching), they can bump a junior employee (again, in this case a teacher) from the position, transferring the lay off to that teacher. Again, this does not take performance, qualifications, or the quality of their work into consideration. It is purely seniority based. The unions love this, the residents don’t. Seniority, especially in the case of teachers, does not coincide in the least bit with quality. In fact, in many cases, seniority means dead weight and getting paid a whole lot more. Should we be paying extra for lower quality teachers simply because they have been teaching the longest? Experience only goes so far. Twenty years experience teaching is not twice as good as 10 years if you’ve been teaching the same subject.

If you live in Providence, you should support this petition. The Rhode Island Education Commissioner signed an order to put an end to this practice and force school districts to hire and promote based on interviews and actual performance rather than seniority. The Providence Teachers Union, disgustingly, filed a lawsuit to overturn this order.

Petition to end seniority hiring and bumping in Providence Public Schools

Fueling the Flames: Unions

Published on September 7, 2009 in Politics. Closed

I hate politics, mainly because my political views don’t fall into a single category. I tend to side with the Democratic party as my views lean towards the liberal. In fact, many of my views are socialist. However, I also tend to have many libertarian views. This creates a bit of a political paradox, which confuses some of the people I meet. I post some things in the comments of certain local blogs (yes, I’m talking about RI Future, which I am glad is no longer in the hands of Pat Crowley as Brian Hull is a much better writer, not as biased towards unions, generally more balanced in his views, and has promised a much needed redesign for a site that has some of the poorest web design I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen bad web design). I get flamed because I’m not “progressive” enough and should “join the Republican party”. Those flames come because I tend to be anti-union. Now, this does not mean that I don’t believe in the right of workers to collectively bargain. Workers should have that right in any position. However, I don’t believe that workers should be forced to collectively bargain. After all, if the so-called progressives believe in Free Choice Act, shouldn’t that extend to giving people the choice to not join a union?

Here’s what I mean… let’s take public school teachers as an example. If you apply to become a public school teacher, union dues are automatically deducted from your paycheck and sent over to the NEA. This means that you don’t have a choice. Your salary and benefits are all pre-set based on what the NEA has bargained for you with the school district. You didn’t have to do any work to get better pay, more vacation time, etc. However, there comes a time when a school district can’t afford the NEA’s demands. The NEA gets pissed off and threatens to strike. Eventually, they’re left with no choice, the teachers go on strike. This leaves the children without school. It does nothing but harms the children. As a teacher, you now have a choice, you can either cross the picket lines and go into work while being called pretty nasty things by your co-workers, or you can join them on the picket lines. This is the only choice you have.

My issue with unions is two-fold. The first part of it is that they tend to only reward based on longevity and not based on performance (I won’t even go into how to rate performance of a teacher, that’s for the experts, and I’m not specifically talking about the teachers’ union). This means that your pay raise is based on years of experience, but not experience outside of the school district. It only rewards you based on your experienced within the school district (though I’m sure a public school teacher could switch districts in the same state and still get the same salary). If you had previously taught for 5 years in a private school, you’re not going to start in the public school district at level 5, you start at the bottom. Yup, you’re at the same level as a new teacher. Now because of the seniority-based pay increases, you’re rewarded for hanging around. And the longer you hang around, the more you’re protected. After a certain period of time, the most senior of employees can bump the junior employees, even if the junior employee is more qualified for the position. The effect of this is that it protects the lazy employee that has been there the longest, solely because union leaders believe that seniority and longevity should be rewarded over performance.

This leads into the second part of the two-fold issue I have with unions. Unions hold back strong performers while protecting the lazy. Because of the way collective bargaining works, a strong performer is not encouraged to continue to perform beyond the minimum. In fact, that’s frowned upon. Because of the union and the fact that you’re only going to get a pay increase based on the length of time you’ve been an employee, you have no reason to go above and beyond the call of duty for your position. This creates a lazy atmosphere.

So I say to all of you union-loving “progressives” out there… how is it progressive to push for free choice, when free choice only goes one way?

The best example of why unions don’t work is the state of RI. The state employees get the nice cushy job and don’t leave because they don’t have to lift a finger. After all, there’s no reason to work hard and the longer they stay, the more money they make for doing no more than the bare minimum. There are many reasons our state is in such financial troubles, but one of the causes is the waste in the state government. The governor (of whom I am not a fan) wants to get rid of some of the union employees. The “progressives” want to protect them (I don’t blame them completely, after all, layoffs suck for everyone involved). But until the waste is cleaned up in the state government, we will continue to have financial issues, even as the rest of the country pulls out of this recession.

Why hasn’t RI legalized gay marriage?

Published on April 30, 2009 in Politics. Closed

Massachusetts was the first state in the country to legalize gay marriage through a lawsuit in which the judges ruled that it was unconstitutional for gays not to marry. Connecticut, a very Puritanical state, was the second state in New England to legalize gay marriage through a similar lawsuit. Vermont just recently became the first state in the country to legalize gay marriage through the legislature, meaning the people cannot complain that unelected officials made the decision. New Hampshire is about to legalize gay marriage through the same means. That leaves only two states in New England, one of the most progressive regions of the country, where same sex couples cannot be legally married – Maine and the more progressive Rhode Island.

Come to find out, after reading an article on New Hampshire’s recent decisions, Maine’s legislature is considering a bill that would legalize gay marriage. That leaves Rhode Island, the smallest state in the country, the bluest state in the country, the most urban state in the country, as the only state in New England not currently considering allowing gay marriage.

How can this be? In a state where the general assembly and the governor never see eye-to-eye, why is it that the general assembly doesn’t just write up a bill legalizing gay marriage and pass it? It would be passed with a veto-proof margin, similar to the medical marijuana bill. The governor will veto it, and the next day, the general assembly will override the veto.

Could it be because the general assembly is too busy working on pet projects? Could it be because Rhode Island is also the most Catholic state in the country? Could it be because the bishop of Providence makes all the social decision for the governor?

Whatever the case may be, if Maine legalizes gay marriage before Rhode Island, you can rest assured the Rhode Island is also the most backwards state in the country. This one is a no brainer. They tried to teach me in my pre-Cana class that gay marriage is bad for marriage. The bishop regularly makes statements against it. The governor has come out against it. However, the people just wouldn’t care. The people of Rhode Island are just as backwards as the government. They complain at every little thing. They complain about things that deserve praise, such as when an investigative journalist digs up a story on wasteful and deceitful practices in the Providence Parks Department. But that shouldn’t matter. The general assembly doesn’t listen to the people anyway.

So I ask all of you Rhode Island legislators… Why are you dragging your feet on this issue? It’s a no-brainer. Legalize gay marriage and be done with it!

All you people out there, support Marriage Equality RI. Help get gay marriage legalized in Rhode Island. Help make New England, all of New England, the most gay-friendly region of the country.

Phish, Scalpers, and Ticket Brokers

Published on January 26, 2009 in Music, Phish and Politics. 17 Comments

I got word yesterday that my ticket request was accepted for 2 tickets to the Phish show on June 6 at the Comcast Center (aka Tweeter Center, aka Great Woods) in Mansfield, MA.  About the same time, many others were notified that they were shut out of tickets, either for all the shows they requested or a good portion of them.  Shortly after, tickets were being posted to TicketsNow.com, a site owned by Ticketmaster, the ticket giant that controls tickets for all the major players in concert, sports, and theatre venues.  Some would call Ticketmaster a monopoly.  Some would call the fact that they own a ticket brokerage/auction site unethical.  Many would say that Ticketmaster insiders, big scalpers, people who give money to Ticketmaster for quick and early access to popular tickets, have a quick shot at getting tickets and use TicketsNow to sell those highly sought after tickets for a premium, sometimes a good 500-700% of the face value.

I ran into one such scumbag today at work.  As I’m finishing up a student comes in and starts asking about our IP addresses.  He starts to describe his operation.  It’s small time, I’m sure, when compared to people who make a living off of scalping tickets through these legal, yet ethically questionable, means.  He starts saying how he wants to get a couple computers up with a couple friends and browsers and get on Ticketmaster to buy as many tickets as possible right at 10:00am when they go on sale.  I catch onto his game and totally catch him off guard by saying “So you’re one of those scumbags who buys up the Phish tickets just to turn around and sell them on TicketsNow, aren’t you?”  He actually has the balls to reply “And Stubhub and…”  You get the point as he lists other ticket auction sites.  I catch him even more off guard when I tell him that I already got my Phish tickets.  His response… “How’d you do that?”  Guess he’s not as quick as most of these scumbags who put their names in for the Phish lottery and got tickets.  He goes and asks if I have any extras.  I tell him that if I did, I’d sell them to friends or strangers for not a penny over face value.  He responds, as he walks out the door, “You jerk.”  Wait a minute here… who’s the real jerk?  The fan who buys his tickets from the source and isn’t trying to make money out from under the band of the scumbag trying to beat the system and get tickets to sell to fans for a premium.  I hate to say it, buddy, but you’re not just the jerk, not just a scumbag, but a real asshole.

Anyway, there was a lot of discussion on the Phish boards about the whole TicketsNow thing shortly after the Hampton shows went on sale.  There will likely be more after Saturday when a large portion of the summer tour goes on sale.  I’m sure there’ll be even more discussion after the rest of the summer tour goes on sale.  My advice to the fans… put pressure on Ticketmaster.  Call your senators and representatives in Congress.  For tickets to be on TicketsNow within minutes of them going on sale at Ticketmaster, someone is using a means other than the Ticketmaster website to get their tickets.  Ticketmaster knows this.  Do they care?  Probably not, at least now they can get a portion of that sales when people use TicketsNow to buy their tickets.  Hell, they can even suggest to the poor fans that get shutout to check TicketsNow.

For the rest of you who weren’t shutout… I’ll be at the Comcast Tweeter Center in the Great Woods of Mansfield, MA on June 6.  Look for me.  I’ll be the guy wearing the concert t-shirt (or if you really want to meet up, check with me ahead of time, and maybe we can plan something).  Oh yeah, don’t promote the scalping of tickets. Whatever you do, no matter how much you want to see Phish, DO NOT BUY TICKETS FROM SCALPERS.  That includes TicketsNow, StubHub, and whatever other sites exist selling tickets for more than $50 plus the service fees (which should be no more than $20 per ticket).

Propsition 8 – The Musical

Published on December 4, 2008 in Equal Rights and Politics. Closed

This is hilarious, and oh so true.  I hate when people start spewing verses from the bible as reason for gays being sinners and all sorts of other crazy things, when the bible spews a whole lot of hate and other crazy things.

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

Big Win for Democracy, for America, for Equality

Published on November 5, 2008 in Equal Rights and Politics. 1 Comment

Last night was a huge win for the people of the United States.  As I am sure you have heard by now, Barack Obama won the presidential election by an unquestionable margin.  He will be the first non-white president this country has seen.  States that haven’t voted democratic in a long time voted in favor of Obama.  It can truly be said that this was a nationwide election and he was elected by a good cross section of our country.

Many republicans are asking themselves what went wrong, what could McCain have done better, what mistakes they should fix in 4 years.  The truth is, they did nothing wrong.  Sure, there were some gaffes, but those were not limited to McCain’s campaign.  Sure, Sarah Palin was an easy target, but she was not the main reason for their loss either.  The reason Barack Obama won is simply because the American people are not happy with the direction the country is headed.  If McCain made any mistake, it was that he is associated with George W. Bush’s failed policies.  Obama energized the people.  He gave them hope, something not seen in a presidential candidate in a very long time.  He brought people together.  His campaign was truly a grassroots effort.  People who had never before been involved with politics were involved in his campaign.  People who had always felt left out were excited that they actually had a voice.  He reached out to everyone.  His campaign was for everyone and involved everyone.  It didn’t matter who you were.  This campaign was for you.  This is not just a victory for Obama and the democratic party.  This is a victory for the American people, for everyone.  Nothing John McCain could have done would have stopped this.  It’s almost as if GOP supporters feel that presidential campaigns are like some kind of game or sport.  It’s as if there are strategies and ways to win, and moves McCain and the GOP could have made that would have pushed him ahead.  The truth is, however, that it is not a game.  It is not a sport.  They sent out the dogs to try to bring down Obama.  They pulled every last trick in the book.  They told lies and half-truths about him to bring him down.  The American people proved that they are sick of dirty politics.  Obama ran a clean campaign.  He didn’t use any low blows.  He didn’t try to attack the character of his opponent.  He ran a campaign on the issues.  And in taking the high road, he came out on top.

While Obama’s victory was truly a great victory for the United States, there were a few other local issues that were not so great.  The states of California, Florida, and Arizona all voted to ban same sex marriage.  The state of Arkansas voted to ban same sex couples from adopting.  These truly hateful measures show just how far we still need to go to become a country based on true equality.

Other measures that can be applauded are Massachusetts’ measure to decriminalize marijuana, Michigan’s initiatives to allow medical marijuana and stem cell research, Washington’s initiative to allow doctor-assisted suicide, Colorado’s voting against a measure to define human life at the time of conception, and South Dakota’s voting against limiting abortion to cases where the mother’s life is in danger or rape/incest.

All in all, last night was a great night for America and for equality.  However, with the ballot measures that passed in various states, it seemed like a “2 steps forward, 1 step back” kind of deal.  One can only hope for the future.  Barack Obama’s victory last night offers just that… hope.