Paying to get rejected is wrong

Open gov’t groups blast Kilmartin on public records law

By Steven Brown in Rhode Island’s Future

Calling it “a new low” in the state’s enforcement of the Access to Public Records Act (APRA), five open government groups blasted an opinion issued by the Attorney General’s office which held that public bodies can charge members of the public for the time it takes to compose a letter denying an open records request.

That interpretation of the law was embodied in an AG advisory opinion, Clark v. Department of Public Safety, issued yesterday. It arose in the context of a Rhode Islander who had sought BCI and personnel records for an individual in the State Fire Marshal’s office. When the requester was denied access to the records on the grounds that they were confidential by law, he was charged a $15 fee. He then filed an appeal with the AG, leading to yesterday’s opinion. (The complaint raised a number of other APRA objections, which were also rejected in the opinion.)

Size DOES matter

Size matters when convincing your brain to eat healthier foods

Science Daily

Variety may trump virtue when it comes to the struggle to eat healthy, says a Vanderbilt marketing professor who studies consumer self-control and endorses "vice-virtue bundles" combining nutritious and not-so-nutritious foods.

"We suggest a simple … solution that can help consumers who would otherwise choose vice over virtue to simultaneously increase consumption of healthy foods (virtues) and decrease consumption of unhealthy foods (vices) while still fulfilling taste goals -- 'vice-virtue bundles,'" Kelly L. Haws, associate professor of management at Vanderbilt's Owen Graduate School of Management, said.

The idea is to not give up entirely foods that provide pleasure but aren't nutritious. Instead, the focus should be on lowering the portion of the "vice" foods and correspondingly raising the portion of a healthy food to replace it.

“Articles of faith are not easily uprooted”

U.S. Climate Denial Will Not Die Quietly

By Richard Matthews

Those engaged in efforts to enlighten climate deniers can learn a great deal from the long history of the anti-evolution movement. Almost one hundred years ago this month, a young high school teacher by the name of John Thomas Scopes went on trial for teaching Darwinian evolution. To this day, the science of evolution has been under siege.

Climate denial is like resistance to evolution in that it is an irrational position rooted in faith rather than facts.  Although those who resist evolution and those who deny climate change are often intellectually vacuous, the web of lies they weave is surprisingly pernicious.

It took 44 years to get the highest U.S. court to rule in favor of evolution (in 1968 the U.S. Supreme Court overturned an Arkansas statute outlawing the teaching of evolution). Despite this ruling and the wealth of scientific evidence, resistance to evolution persists.

“Powerlessness is a self-fulfilling prophesy.”

The Disease of American Democracy

By Robert Reich

Americans are sick of politics. Only 13 percent approve of the job Congress is doing, a near record low. The President’s approval ratings are also in the basement.

A large portion of the public doesn’t even bother voting. Only 57.5 percent of eligible voters cast their ballots in the 2012 presidential election. 

Put simply, most Americans feel powerless, and assume the political game is fixed. So why bother? 

A new study scheduled to be published in this fall by Princeton’s Martin Gilens and Northwestern University’s Benjamin Page confirms our worst suspicions.

Buckets of awareness

Fill a bucket with bracelets and ribbons for maximum awareness

By Brian McFadden

Click here for the full bucket list.

Something for all those Harley riders cruising up and down Route One

The motorcycle urinal (new patent)

Gotta get this!

By Martin Gardiner in Improbable Research

If you sometimes make use of a urinal, and yearn for the sound of revving motorbikes whilst doing so, a new US patent might be aimed at you.

Californian inventor Anthony Moley has just received a patent for his “Urinal with operation controlled via a replica of a motorcycle handlebar.” 

The new invention, which provides rearview mirrors, a throttle and a horn is summed up like this:

A practical idea that might reduce tension

Marching in unison may increase risk of use of excessive force in policing protests

Science Daily

In the aftermath of the Aug. 9 shooting of an 18-year-old African American man by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, much of the nation's attention has been focused on how law enforcement's use of military gear might have inflamed tensions.

But what if the simple act of marching in unison -- as riot police routinely do -- increases the likelihood that law enforcement will use excessive force in policing protests?

That's the suggestion of a new study by a pair of UCLA social scientists.

Connecticut could be a model, but it's not

Governor Malloy Should Trust the Best Educators

By Diane Ravitch

Connecticut is a state with many wonderful teachers, administrators, and schools. The state consistently ranks second or third in the nation on NAEP.

The state has some districts with high poverty and low test scores. Governor Dannel Malloy decided to solve their problems by aligning himself with the privatization by charter crowd. 

He hired Stefan Pryor, a co-founder of a charter chain, as his state commissioner and trusted him to enlarge the charters’ market share.

Malloy directed funding to charter chains, and things seemed to go his way until one of his favorite charter chains got in trouble. First it was revealed in the Hartford Courant that Michael Sharpe, CEO of the FUSE Jumoke charter chain, had a criminal record. Then it came out that he did not have a doctorate, even though he called himself “Dr.” For some reason, people in Connecticut seemed more disturbed by the phony credential than by the long-ago felonies.

Then came the case of “Dr.” Terrence Carter, who was in line to be the next superintendent in Néw London. It turned out that he didn’t have a doctorate either. Not to worry, he said, because he was receiving one from Lesley University in Massachusetts on August 25.

Perry Hams It Up

The Texas governor's claims that he was indicted for merely exercising his veto power is a bunch of hokum.

By Jim Hightower

Lawyers will tell you that any good prosecutor could convince a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich.

Well, meet that ham sandwich: Governor Rick Perry. He’s a real ham — only not as smart.

A Texas grand jury indicted Perry, charging the Republican with official abuse of power. Specifically, he’s accused of threatening to veto all state funding for a public integrity unit. Among other things, that office was investigating corrupt favoritism in one of the governor’s pet projects.

Perry was trying to muscle out of office the woman who is the duly elected head of that unit, presumably to halt its inquiry. Leave office, he publicly barked at her, or I’ll take away all your money. She didn’t, and he did.

Not smart, for that’s an illegal quid pro quo, much like linking a campaign donation to an official favor. This led to the selection of a judge, the appointment of a special prosecutor, the establishment of a grand jury and the indictment of the gubernatorial ham sandwich.

If you're on the fence about Secretary of State...

Questions about Nellie Gorbea’s track record

By Will Collette

Nellie Gorbea's former boss, former Puerto Rico Governor 
Pedro Rosselló (R), called the most corrupt governor of the century. 

I’ve met Democratic candidate for Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea on a number of occasions. 

Before I left the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee, I was in on the extensive interview the committee had with her before it decided to endorse Guillaume deRamel instead. She was always charming and friendly. 

I liked her and liked the idea of supporting a Latina, though, on balance, I liked Guillaume deRamel better.

But then I looked closer at her as I have with just about all the candidates running for state office this year. Part of it was professional interest. Even though I am retired, I spent most of my worklife doing political research. But it's also my personal interest as a voter to know more about candidates than  what they are willing to tell us.

I saw two major issues with Nellie Gorbea’s candidacy that raise questions about her qualifications to be the next Secretary of State and about her espoused progressive values.

Public records show that at least five of the non-profit organizations Nellie Gorbea has served (as staff, board member or registered agent) failed to comply with the simple annual reporting requirements set by the Secretary of State.

Ms. Gorbea also has claimed as part of her credentials that she served as an economic advisor to the Governor of Puerto Rico. However, that resume bullet point comes with some troubling history.

To get you in the mood for International Talk Like a Pirate Day, September 19

From Fake Science

Body Count

"He represents hope"

Bill Clinton loves RI, policy-wonking, Seth Magaziner

By Bob Plain in Rhode Island’s Future

Bob's snap - "This is as close as I got to Bill Clinton"

Bill Clinton knows how to play the room. So when the 42nd president of the United States took the podium at the Convention Center in Providence yesterday, he opened with: “I love Rhode Island.”

The former leader of the free world also has a fondness for Seth Magaziner, for whom he was here campaigning.

“He represents hope,” Clinton said, invoking both our state motto and his famous 1991 campaign slogan, when it was he coming from nowhere to best a political insider during an economic downturn.

Magaziner was just eight-years-old then, but he was already a Clinton supporter. 

Twice as strong as expected

Link between vitamin D, dementia risk confirmed

Science Daily

Vitamin D deficiency is associated with a substantially increased risk of dementia and Alzheimer's disease in older people, according to the most robust study of its kind ever conducted.

An international team, led by Dr David Llewellyn at the University of Exeter Medical School, found that study participants who were severely Vitamin D deficient were more than twice as likely to develop dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

The team studied elderly Americans who took part in the Cardiovascular Health Study. They discovered that adults in the study who were moderately deficient in vitamin D had a 53 per cent increased risk of developing dementia of any kind, and the risk increased to 125 per cent in those who were severely deficient.

Why Young Dems endorsed Kathy Fogarty, not Rep. Dickinson

Rep. Dickinson didn’t return YDRI questionnaire

By Mark Gray in Rhode Island’s Future

Dear Representative Dickinson,

Hey, remember that time when you called me up regarding the YDRI PAC endorsement, and we ended up having a real nice chat at that coffee place in West Warwick? “The Daily Grind” it was called, over on Cowesset Ave. I was very late (apologies) but you were gracious and we talked for a good while over pastries and coffee. 

Remember, we hung out until the place closed? We ended up standing on the curb still chatting for ten minutes after they had locked the doors. You were just full of stories of the old days in the General Assembly (I hadn’t realized you had served back then!) and you eagerly shared some of your political wisdom with me.

Remember how multiple times throughout the conversation I said that in order to be considered for the YDRI endorsement, you would have to fill out our questionnaire? I think I said it at least three times, and you told me you had a “policy” of not filling out questionnaires. And remember I said ok, then the best you could hope for was no endorsement in the race, but we couldn’t possibly endorse you without a questionnaire?