The Senescent Man

Hillary Clinton could be seeing some stiff opposition from the Left according to a recent Zogby poll.

According to Zogby, an anti-Iraq War opponent could cause headaches for the one-term incumbent. "If Sen. Hillary Clinton were to face a challenge from an anti-war candidate in the fall election, she could find herself in a real battle for re-election."

"As Clinton prepares for tomorrow's speech to Democratic party leaders at their convention in Buffalo - a speech that will mark the official start of her re-election campaign - she seems a lock to win her party's nomination for re-election to a second term in the U.S. Senate," the Zogby poll shows.

"Asked if the election were held between Hillary Clinton and a challenger who opposed the war in Iraq, 38% said they would support Clinton, while 32% said they would back the unnamed anti-war candidate. Another 31% said they would support someone else or were not sure."

What a revolting development this is!

The Italian Embassy in Washington DC put on the Ritz for wounded Iraq war veterans from Walter Reed Army Medical Center. God bless my paizanos.

The rats have come out to divvy up the cheese. With the vote in the House last night and probable passage by the Senate, the insiders are making their deals to fleece the residents of this sorry State again. Even if you are not foolish enough to gamble, you have to be an idiot to believe that this will be an advantage to the local economy. A big fraction of the profits go OUT OF STATE into Harrah's coffers. And when Massachusetts finally goes down this same road, revenues will be mostly coming from RI. Anyone who expects property taxes to go down because of this is an naive as they come. Bait and switch is the game. Even if its written into the Constitution, just look for them to change the State Aid to Education formula to make up for it. It will be a CRAZY SUMMER of lies and promotions to bamboozle the voters.

The DaVinci Code is about to be released. For a non-catholic but nonetheless vigorous opposition to the false premises of this movie, check this out.

We're late in covering Patrick Kennedy's series of auto accidents and his "surprising" admission for his need of rehab. One must respect someone who witnesses his or her own flaws and then seeks help and corrective action. But consider that the man is a Congressman, and sitting on the mighty Appropriations Committee. Also consider that his facts don't exactly add up. Was he or was he not drunk as well as in a drug induced stupor? Did the Capital Police cover anything up? If he were Jerry Falwell, would the MSM have treated him any differently?

In a recent Weekly Standard, the Scrapbook took note of the "Patrick Watch" going on at the Boston Herald. And they make fun of the RI electorate for "mysteriously" returning Patrick to office election year after election year:

Who--besides the Rhode Island electorate that mysteriously returns him to office--could forget Patrick trashing his chartered yacht, or announcing that "I am on a lot of different medications, for among other things, depression," [sic] or shoving a female airport security guard when she tried to make him check his bag.

Fresh off of a career high-point earlier this month, in which Patrick was hit in the mouth with a hammer while watching a demonstration of Impact Gel shock-absorbing material at a trade show (he got six stitches and didn't even cry!), Kennedy has again handed his bête noire Howie Carr, a Boston Herald columnist and radio host, fresh material. [His April 15 auto accident in Portsmouth -- and now this.]

This article in today's Providence Journal probably means that the top legislators are tired of paying high taxes on their own incomes. From redistricting to special expenditures in their districts, these guys have a history of doing only those things that directly benefit them. Be suspicious of this sudden economic enlightment; it's really doubtful they care two cents about the business climate unless one of those pennies is going their way.

I very much enjoyed Wall $treet Week with Louis Rukeyser every Friday on Public Television until he was booted off. He made me money, and he made me laugh, and he possessed a rapier wit.

Rukeyser died today at 73 after a battle with cancer. Appropriately, and a little ironically, I learned of his death on NPR as I awoke this morning. Many will miss his simple and straight forward explanations for complicated financial matters; but most importantly he was a rare one on the public airwaves who had a true respect for the free market.

Michelle Malkin has a very fine tribute to him.

Andrew Morse and Mark Comtois have swiftly posted on the Laffey tax plan which ought to receive a fair hearing in the press, but I'm betting that it won't.

In a word, Laffey's plan is elegant. Just enough, not too much, and devoid of all the clap trap that the Congress has larded the system with over many years. This plan demonstrates Laffey's astute financial acumen.

Chafee has responded with obfuscation and clanking noises about Laffey having to raise taxes in Cranston, which, by now, most Repubicans in RI understand how Laffey rescued Cranston from the brink. Though no one likes their taxes raised -- I don't and I reside in Cranston -- the root of the problem preceded him, and, in fact, reached back to the liberal Repulican reign of Mike Traficante -- a personable guy by the way, but one who unfortunately set the stage for his Democratic successor, John O'Leary, who really tied the city into a knot.

BTW, I hear the state is facing a similarly serious pension liability problem, and that comes from a former Republican legislator from Cranston. Oh and also BTW, Laffey's Democratic foes in Cranston agree that Laffey had taken the right steps to save the city from default. So just what is Chafee (or his sophomoric handlers) trying to say?

Chafee is starting to come across like Jackie Gleason: "Humina humina humina..."

Anyway, some good discussion over at Rising. Check it out

I make it a point to keep local politics to a minimum. In my cantankerous old age, I've become more of a 30,000 foot kind of observer, and prefer the very interesting dynamics of the national arena, and, of course, related matters such as the US Senate race in RI, which we will continue to watch. But my blood is beginning to boil over an issue right here in River City, that is Cranston, RI.

The Park Cinema in the center of town has been under construction for what seems like an eternity. As the neighbors of this old relic wait patiently for the transformation and regeneration of this old landmark that never seems to come, it justs seems to hang there in suspended animation and in complete and utter disarray.

It's like watching paint dry, only in a junk yard.

It's time to put an end to its misery.

I say knock it down and turn it into a municipal parking lot - or a perhaps a park. After all, it is adjacent to the one on Rolfe Square. A grassy plat would make a nice pair to its neighbor. Asphalt would be fine by me too.

Yes, it would be nice to have a fine restaurant there. Yes, it would be grand to have some type of artsy activty within the walls of that old auditorium. But I am convinced it is not to be. The painstakingly slow activity there, I'm coming to believe, is merely a test of the local residents. How long can they stay in suspense?

I've had enough. The City Council has been at least overly generous, and at most gulible to the owner's plans, which he brings before them on a routine basis deceiving them into believng he intends to make more progress -- some day.

Pull the plug, I say. Flatten it. It's time.

Don Roach at Anchor Rising: "Do I agree with the President's guest worker visa program? Yes. Do I favor allowing more immigrants into this country? Again, yes. I believe we're all 'immigrants unless we're Native American,...However, proponents of today's 'strike,' as it were, fail to realize that illegal is illegal."

I couldn't agree more. Hey, my grandparents on both sides of my family were either immigrants or first generation Americans, so I can empathize with wanting to get into this country for opportunity. But to do so by jumping ahead in line over those doing it legally, and to be insinuating that it is an inalienable right of some sort, well, that's simply off the mark.