The South Kingstown Republican Party’s September meeting was supposed to be a rally against the town’s bid for a single trash hauler. Instead, last Thursday’s meeting was a victory celebration. Earlier that week, Town Manager Stephen A. Alfred announced the town would forgo a single-hauler plan, which was being considered as a way to increase low recycling rates.

“It took a great deal of effort,” Coté told the crowd of about 40 party faithful and local haulers. “After all, 100 percent of the elected officials in South Kingstown voted for a monopoly over free choice and individual business.”

Coté said the Town Council voted to pursue a bid, and the local representatives sponsored and voted in favor of the enabling legislation, which was brought to them by representatives John Patrick Shanley (D-Dist. 35), Donna Walsh (D-Dist. 36), David Caprio (D-Dist. 34) and Donald Lally (D-Dist. 33) and Sen. V. Susan Sosnowski (D-Dist. 37).

“This is a gargantuan success for South Kingstown,” said Ret. Lt. Col. James Haldeman, a Marine who ran unsuccessfully against Shanley in 2006. “They were wrong to attack our small businesses. You are the backbone of business in Rhode Island.”…

Read the Rest: The South County Independent

The Rhode Island Republican Party, historically known for its high number of moderate members, has embraced its more conservative wing under chairman Giovanni Cicione’s leadership.

The state party has always advocated a big tent, but, ironically, the party shunned some of its more conservative members in the process.

Since being appointed in January, Cicione has become most well known for his “bomb throwing,” a political term for making outlandish, hyperbolic statements (Cicione said teacher’s union leaders should be prosecuted under RICO statutes and also said Governor Carcieri’s plan to reduce the state workforce by 1,000 workers was a “good start”). But he has also quietly smoothed tensions with the GOP’s more conservative factions and brought them back into the party.

Under his leadership, the party changed its bylaws to include and allow groups like the Rhode Island Republican Assembly (RIRA), a Warwick-based group known for its strict adherence to conservative principles (God, lower taxes, gun rights) to identify themselves under the umbrella of the state party. For years, the group wasn’t allowed to identify itself as Republican due to state law and the party’s bylaws. The change became official at a meeting last week.

Read the Rest of the Story: The Warwick Beacon

Read the rest of this entry »

Rhode Island’s largest and most active conservative organization (and sponsor of this blog), the RHODE ISLAND REPUBLICAN ASSEMBLY, will be holding its next monthly dinner meeting on Thursday, October 11th. Our guest speaker for the meeting will be Terry Gorman, founder of Rhode Islanders for Immigration Law Enforcement. The meeting is scheduled to begin at 6:30 P.M. It will take place in the Banquet Room at Bickford’s Restaurant on Jefferson Blvd. in Warwick (Exit 15, off Rt. 95).

The RIRA is the Rhode Island affiliate of the National Federation of Republican Assemblies, a thoughtful national organization of GOP conservatives working to grow and strengthen the Republican Party in the tradition of President Ronald Reagan. This is a dinner meeting, and if you want to eat, you pay for your own meal. Any like-minded conservative Republican is welcome to attend. There will be a free raffle for GOP prizes at the conclusion of the meeting.

For more information, you may contact RIRA President Ray McKay at president [at] ri-ra [dot] org or (401) 487-2514 or NFRA Northeast Region Vice President Will Ricci at NEVP [at] GOPwing [dot] com or visit their informative web site at http://www.ri-ra.org.

Phase 2 of “The Project” successfully commenced on Thursday, September 13, 2007. At the last monthly meeting of the Rhode Island Republican Assembly (which by pure coincidence happened to be on September 13th), we conducted a live Internet video demonstration of the initial “beta” version of this website (probably closer to a “gamma” version, if there is such a thing!). We demonstrated its many hi-tech capabilities with those who were present and also took constructive feedback.

We’re happy to report that nothing really bad happened! [Of course, if anything bad had happened -- and we're not saying that anything did -- do you really think we would tell you here?] We were able to record and incorporate some of the suggestions which were made; making further improvements and adjustments in the interim.

One area of focus has been to ensure the ”cross-browser” consistency of the look of this site, as well as to reduce the “weight” of it, so that it will load faster . We’ve also been working very hard with the underlying code to keep this site as “standards complaint” as possible (if you don’t know what we mean by that, it’s a subject worth completely ignoring). The result of the feedback we received should be a great end-user experience for you!

Since May — and in the intervening months — we’ve operated this site in “stealth mode,” managing to keep its existence a relatively well-guarded secret (but not for much longer!). The next step, Phase 3 of “The Project” — the semi-public “beta” launch of this site — will occur in mid-October 2007. Once that occurs, we’ll still consider the site to be “in beta” for at least a month or so afterwords, so that we may address any issues which may arise. After that, it’s all smooth sailing and sunshine (please note sunshine up above).

There will be a reception in honor of The College Republicans at Roger Williams University on Thursday, October 18, 2007 from 6:30 pm to 9:00 pm at the home of Bob Hamel at 859 Hope Street, Bristol, RI 02809. The Guest of Honor will be RI GOP Chairman Gio Cicione.

For more information, you may contact Dana Joseph Peloso at (617) 785-1732 or dpeloso291 [at] hawks [dot] rwu [dot] edu.

The Rhode Island Republican Party will be holding a fundraiser, “A Bridge to Rhode Island’s Future,” at the summer home of the Honorable Gov. Donald L. Carcieri & First Lady Suzanne Carcieri on Sunday, September 30th, 2007, from 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM.

Event Cost: Individuals $50, Couples $90, Sponsors $500

Shuttles buses will be provided to and from the event at the governor’s home; leaving from the Park & Ride on Route 1A adjacent to Valuna Restaurant (1814 Boston Neck Rd., Saunderstown).

This fundraiser is to benefit the Rhode Island Republican Party. RSVP and payment can be made online or by calling RIGOP HQ at (401) 732-8282.

Why did Steve Laffey write Primary Mistake: How the Washington Republican Establishment Lost Everything in 2006 (and Sabotaged My Senatorial Campaign)? As he tells NRO’s John J. Miller, “I thought my race was a good metaphor for all that had gone wrong in the leadership of the national Republican party.”

Steve Laffey conducted the following radio interview about his new book, Primary Mistake, for “Between the Covers” on National Review Online.

The Rhode Island Republican Party State Central Committee will be holding its next meeting on Wednesday, September 19th, 2007 in the auditorium at North Kingstown High School, North Kingstown. The agenda will be made available shortly.

Sign-in begins at 6:30pm; meeting begins at 7:00pm. If you are not sure if you are a voting member, or to check your status as a Rhode Island Republican State Central Committee Member, or if you have any questions please call RIGOP HQ at 401-732-8282 or e-mail contact [at] rigop [dot] org. All Rhode Island Republicans are welcome to attend, however only delegates or their assigned alternate may participate.

The main agenda item will be a discussion and votes on three by-laws amendments. To read the proposed amendments click here.

PROVIDENCE — Lincoln D. Chafee, who lost his Senate seat in the wave of anti-Republican sentiment in last November’s election, said yesterday that he has left the [Republican] party.

Chafee said he disaffiliated with the party he had helped lead, and his father had led before him, because the national Republican Party has gone too far away from his stance on too many critical issues, from war to economics to the environment.

“It’s not my party any more,” he said.

Chafee’s departure is another step in the waning of the strain of moderate Republicanism that was once a winning political philosophy from Rhode Island and Connecticut to the Canadian border. For the first time since the Civil War, the six New England states combined now have only one Republican U.S. House member, Connecticut’s Christopher Shays.

Chafee said he disaffiliated from the party “in June or July,” making him an unaffiliated voter. He did so quietly, and until yesterday, he said, “No one’s asked me about it.” He said he made the move because “I want my affiliation to accurately reflect my status.”

Read the Rest of the Story: The Providence Journal

Editors Note: This story was picked up first in the blogosphere on Saturday afternoon by Anchor Rising and RIReport, after “tips” were provided to them from well-placed conservative Republican sources.

From the great folks over at (h/t) Redstate comes a simple, but brilliant parody contemplating the thought: “What if MoveOn existed 65 years ago?”

Of course, this is a parody of the disgusting “General Petraeus / General Betray Us?” full-page ad that MoveOn ran in The New York Times on the day that General Petraeus testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Armed Services Committee.

It’s certainly thought provocative, as well as pretty self-explanatory. So … what if an organization like MoveOn had existed back then, and had exercised commensurate influence with high-ranking politicians and the media? Well, first of all, we’d probably be greeting each other with a hardy “Heil Hitler!”

 Dissent is one thing — and fully expected in a democracy. Cheering for our country’s enemies to defeat us, or to force us to do anything on their terms is another. Treachery by any other name is still treachery.

Our Commitment to You

Everybody who’s anybody is putting up or mailing out a Privacy Policy these days, so we figured we should too or somebody might think we’re nobody. However, we aren’t sure that the title “Privacy Policy” is really appropriate — “Home Invasion Policy” would probably be a better heading.

In the normal course of your visit to this web site, we collect untold reams of information about you, and share it as described below:

Information collected from your Internet browser includes the pages you visited, your IP address, domain name, the type and version number of your browser, and the operating system in use on your computer. In addition, your browser’s “history” is examined in minute detail, in conjunction with your “cache” or “temporary files”, to see how many naughty websites you have recently visited.

But we don’t stop there. We also rifle through the files on your hard disk to see what kind of interesting and potentially valuable personal information we can collect from you. At our sole discretion, we may do any or all of the following: probe your cookie files to pilfer your passwords and credit card numbers; examine your installed programs looking for unlicensed software; read your word processing documents looking for top secret government information, company trade secrets, any interesting gossip and/or anything resembling a unabomber manifesto; collect the e-mail addresses of all of your friends and business associates; peruse your Quicken and Turbo Tax files.

Above and beyond that, a miniature robot is deployed to perform the following invasive tasks: collect DNA samples and fingerprints from the area around your computer; scurry into your bathroom to install a web cam in your shower; spy on you and your family to report such tidbits as your television viewing habits, the magazines to which you subscribe, your favorite junk foods, and any other intimate details about your life.

A telephone bot is then deployed which calls all of your friends, your boss and other business associates, your lover(s), your ex-spouse(s), your relatives, your third grade teacher, your neighborhood busybody, your local police department, your primary care physician, and your therapist to see what kind of interesting dirt we can dig up on you.

Certain of the information which we collect is used to extract blackmail payments from you. Depending on whether and how much you ante up, we may do any or all of the following: report your unlicensed software to the Software Piracy Association; notify the IRS of any unreported income; inform the FBI of your whereabouts if your fingerprints match any on the Ten Most Wanted list; e-mail your company trade secrets to your competitors; auction off your top secret government information to the highest bidder on eBay; sell any particularly juicy stories to Fox News, The Washington Times, The Wall Street Journal, or any of various supermarket tabloids.

We use your e-mail return address to do the following: send everyone in your address book one of those stupid chain letter messages which purports to bring bad luck to the recipient unless it is forwarded to twenty-five friends; send spam to thousands of AOL subscribers with offers for get-rich-quick and earn-millions-at-home schemes, as well as offers for miracle weight loss pills and cellulite-dissolving creams.

Your credit card account number is used just for grins to visit 1800flowers.com and have a dozen roses sent from you to your best friend’s spouse or significant other. It may also be sold on the black market at our discretion.

Any and all of the personal information we collect may be sold to and/or shared with everybody and his brother, variously referred to as “every Tom, Dick and Harry”. By visiting this site, you agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy, which may be changed at the drop of a hat and/or willy nilly, and you also agree to quit smoking and to change your political party affiliation (to Republican, of course).

And if you believe all of the above, we have some lovely ocean-front property in Foster that we would like to sell to you. Really, all of the information that we collect from you is mentioned in the first sentence of paragraph three, and we use it only within our organization for generating web hit reports. Additional (and purely optional) information which you may choose to provide via “The Eye of Providence” contact form may be used to contact you for purposes of providing you with information which you have requested from us, and is not shared with anyone outside our organization.

Someone suggested that perhaps we should mention up front that the above is a joke, but heck, a joke isn’t funny when you have to EXPLAIN it. If someone with no sense of humor should be offended by our creative spoof on privacy policies … come ON, lighten up! Have a nice day!

After a long summer, Phase 1 of “The Project” is almost complete. The OSR is almost fully operational! We hope that you like what you’ve seen here so far, because, as Ronaldus Magnus might say, “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet!”

Phase 2 is scheduled to begin on Thursday, September 13th, where we anticipate the rollout the “beta” version of this website and its numerous hi-tech capabilities with a select group of individuals.

At the next monthly meeting of the Rhode Island Republican Assembly (which coincidentally just happens to be on Thursday, September 13th), we will be conducting a live internet video demonstration of this site for RIRA members. If anything really bad goes wrong, it’s not leaving that room!

We’re not the type of folks to do things halfway — and we’d like to get this “right” on the first try. We’re taking every step possible to make sure that any potential “bugs” that may exist are worked out prior to our public launch. You never get a second chance to make a first impression, right?

If all goes well, Phase 3 of “The Project” — the public launch of this site — will occur in early October 2007.

Rhode Island’s largest and most active conservative organization (and sponsor of this blog), the RHODE ISLAND REPUBLICAN ASSEMBLY, will be holding its next monthly dinner meeting on Thursday, September 13th. The meeting is scheduled to begin at 6:30 P.M. It will take place in the Banquet Room at Bickford’s Restaurant on Jefferson Blvd. in Warwick (Exit 15, off Rt. 95).

The RIRA is the Rhode Island affiliate of the National Federation of Republican Assemblies, a thoughtful national organization of GOP conservatives working to grow and strengthen the Republican Party in the tradition of President Ronald Reagan. This is a dinner meeting, and if you want to eat, you pay for your own meal. Any like-minded conservative Republican is welcome to attend. There will be a free raffle for GOP prizes at the conclusion of the meeting.

For more information, you may contact RIRA President Ray McKay at president [at] ri-ra [dot] org or (401) 487-2514 or NFRA Northeast Region Vice President Will Ricci at NEVP [at] GOPwing [dot] com or visit their informative web site at http://www.ri-ra.org.

At 7:57 p.m. Eastern time Wednesday, while taping “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” for broadcast later in the evening, Fred Thompson finally said: “I’m running for president of the United States.”

The studio audience responded with thunderous applause.

Thompson rejected the notion that he has waited too long to get into the race for the White House.

“People treat politicians sort of like the dentist — they don’t have anything to do with them till they have to,” he said.

“I wasn’t in the room when they made the rules, so I had to kind of follow my own lead,” Thompson said, adding that he doubts voters will say: “That guy would make a very good president, but he didn’t get in soon enough.”…

Read the Rest of the Story: The Politico

Rhode Island Republican Party Chairman Giovanni Cicione says the teacher unions which have authorized strikes in several Rhode Island towns this week are breaking the law, disrupting the start of the school year for tens of thousands of students, and creating chaos for families scrambling for child care arrangements at the last minute.

“Strikes are illegal in Rhode Island, and this is nothing but an organized effort by the unions to break the law and the unions have to be held accountable,” says Cicione.

“The U.S. Attorney should consider a RICO Act investigation against the NEA, Rhode Island, which is authorizing, and has authorized in the past, illegal strikes by teachers unions. The NEA involvement in these local teachers union strikes amounts to extortion, which is an explicit RICO violation,” Cicione continues.

“Both Robert Walsh and Lawrence Purtill, top officials of the NEA-RI should be named in such an inquiry.”

“This state faces a serious fiscal crisis, the unions have got to be told that the days of getting their way on every issue are over and they’re going to have to learn that their demands exceed what communities can afford.”…

Read the Rest of the Story: R.I. Republican Party

WASHINGTON (AP) - Rhode Island Rep. Patrick Kennedy said Tuesday he’s not returning $6,600 in donations he got from Norman Hsu, a prominent Democratic donor whose criminal past was recently revealed.

Several top Democrats, including 2008 presidential candidates Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry and Kennedy’s father, Sen. Edward Kennedy, have said they will return Hsu’s donations or give them to charity.

Rep. Kennedy will keep the money because there is no indication that Hsu’s contributions to him were illegal, according to his chief of staff, Adam Brand.

“We are complying with all applicable (Federal Election Commission) rules and regulations with regards to campaign contributions,” Brand said. “If something changes with respect to those rules, we’ll take appropriate action.”

Hsu was among 16 co-hosts for a fundraising event in honor of Kennedy’s 40th birthday at the New York Yacht Club in June, Brand said…

Read the Rest of the Story: The Associated Press

President George W. Bush made a surprise visit to Iraq on Monday for “war-council” meetings with his top military advisers and Iraqi leaders to see if a US troop buildup is working.

Bush, on his first visit to Iraq since June 2006, was accompanied by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and met up with his Defense Secretary Robert Gates and top military commanders at the desert airbase of Al-Asad in the restive Anbar province west of Baghdad.

“This is the last big gathering of the president’s military advisors and the Iraqi leadership before the president decides on the way forward,” said Geoff Morrell, a Pentagon spokesman travelling with Gates.

“This is very much a decisional meeting. This meeting will put him much closer to a decision if he hasn’t made one yet,” he said.

The conclave comes just days before General David Petraeus, the US commander in Iraq and US Ambassador Ryan Crocker — both of whom he met here — go before a sceptical Congress to report on whether a buildup in US forces has succeeded in setting the conditions for political reconciliation…

Read the Rest of the Story: Breitbart.com

In the long list of Republican regrets about the 2006 elections, there is undoubtedly an entry for Sen. Lincoln Chafee. All told, the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) and other edifices of the national party spent over $1 million to drag Chafee, the most liberal Republican senator, across the finish line in a competitive GOP primary…

Most people have since forgotten about the ingratitude of Rhode Island’s forgettable former senator. But Steve Laffey, the man who tried to unseat him in last year’s Republican primary, still remembers. The two-term Cranston mayor has even written a book, Primary Mistake: How the Washington Republican Establishment Lost Everything in 2006 (and Sabotaged My Senatorial Campaign), to remind everyone else.

The subtitle says it all as far as the book’s thesis is concerned, but it doesn’t begin to describe the color with which Laffey tells his story…

Read the Rest of the Story: The American Spectator