Seeding the Grass Roots
It’s not so much taxes as what creates the necessity to tax. (And look, once again, Rhode Island earns a national mention for a dubious achievement.) The mainstream media will report on the tea parties as if they’re just a bunch of whack-job Republicans who only care about taxes on the rich (like New York’s…
The RI Tea Party organizers have released speakers list: 3:00: Helen Glover (WHJJ) 3:10: Colleen Conley (RI Tea Party) 3:25: Bill Felkner (Ocean State Policy Research Institute) 3:40: John DePetro (WPRO) 3:55: Walter Muzzy (descendant of Battle of Lexington fatality) 4:00: Father Giacomo Capoverdi (Priest & OSPRI fellow) 4:05: Jason Matera (Young Americans Foundation) 4:20:…
Anybody who can make it into Providence for the tea party at any point and for any duration should do so. I’ll be liveblogging the whole event and will be taking the microphone for a speech just after 4:00. Like Dan Yorke, I’m not sure what to expect, either as a participant or a speaker,…
If you’re available on the morning of Saturday the 25th, you might consider joining me in North Kingstown, as a member of the the audience of Operation Clean Government’s spring public affairs forum, which is intended to probe “the RI fiscal train wreck.” There’s a breakfast beforehand, at 8:45 a.m., with the main event being…
Pondering something not at all self-referential, I got to wondering who might rank on a top 10 list of conservative Rhode Islanders. (Given the competition, let’s define “conservative” as “right-of-center.”) Some names and placements are obvious, but what would the breakdown be? I suppose one would first have to settle on criteria. There are folks…
Further to the complaints pointed remarks of commenter TaxPayer and myself under Justin’s post, the Ocean State Republican blog reports that, in fact, There will be two Rhode Island “Tea Parties” on Tax Day, April 15th. The different times should allow anyone who wants to participate, to fit at least one of the parties into…
It’s becoming a frequently asked question of me, when I’m going about my business, when Rhode Island will host its own tea party. Well, I just received word that Ocean State Policy Research Institute has put up a Web site to promote just such an event on April 15th (tax day) 12:00 to 3:00 p.m.…
Missing a town meeting or two reminds the active citizen how nice it is to have nights at home. Ah, well. If we’re going to have a democracy… When I walked in (yes, a few minutes late) RI Rep. John Loughlin (R., Tiverton, Little Compton, Portsmouth) was giving the council the newly regular update of…
Governor Don Carcieri was the final speaker at the Rhode Island Statewide Coalition’s Winter Meeting (stream entire speech): RISC Chairman Harry Staley’s introduction: stream, download Opening remarks — coverage of the budget proposal has been “incomprehensible”; “politics is a contact sport”; “I am mad as hell”: stream, download The need for RISC and citizen action…
The second speech at the Rhode Island Statewide Coalition’s Winter Meeting came from the East Providence Taxpayers Association’s William Murphy, who focused on local-level movement building (stream entire speech): RISC Chairman Harry Staley’s introduction: stream, download Murphy’s opening remarks: stream, download We must focus on our effectiveness as citizens: stream, download Step 1 is to…
