Lobby Tracker

Want to find out how much lobbyists are getting paid and who's paying them to oppose/promote bills in the General Assembly? Then friend, look no further than the link below. Happy investigating!! RI Lobby Tracker

Governor and AG come together

The Governor and Attorney General apparently see eye to eye on at least one issue. On Tuesday, Nov. 22, they announced joint support of stricter DUI regulations (see here). The Governor stated that he had introduced legislation like this before, but I guess he's trying to bring more political pressure onto Democrats by having the AG sign along with it. I have a couple of things to say about this. This helps Lynch against his race against Bill Harsch, who will be a formidable opponent. How so? Well, the Attorney General can now claim that he has 'gone across the aisle' and worked with a Republican, the state's most prominent Republican by the way. He also doesn't lose anything with Democratic voters because RI is a bastion of DUI offences relative to its size and given recent events in places such as Barrington, this will be universally viewed as the right thing to do for Rhode Island. Thus, when the time comes for Mr. Harsch to start picking apart AG Lynch's record, this will be one less bullet in the gun. But then again 5 bullets in a 6 bullet pistol is still pretty lethal.

Fathers = Irrelevant?

Like her father, who was apt to make inopportune comments in a scathing and harsh manner, Hilary Cosell writes, "The judge, who dissented in Casey v. Planned Parenthood, wants to order women to notify their husbands before getting an abortion." regarding Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito. Liberals have used this particular case as their foundation for attacking judge Alito. In my opinion, this particular 'attack' against Alito is tantamount to saying to fathers across America that you have no worth. Seriously, if your wife was pregnant - don't you have the right to know? In fact, barring anything such as abuse or if we're willing to go so far as to say if the woman commits adultery and the father might not be her husband she may opt to not tell him about it, there is NO reason why a woman should be allowed to not tell her husband that she is pregnant and planning to abort their mutually created embryo. This may ruffle some feathers amongst the liberals...but I hope it does! People accross America are fighting to have same sex couples enjoy the same rights/privileges that heterosexual couples enjoy and I'm almost to the point of asking why? Marriage has become so dilluted that if two people make a child one doesn't even deserve the right to know about the life much less have a decision in the process?? I've got so much angst about this situation for one reason: my son, Sean Colin Roach, was born on November 2, 2005 at 9:06pm. While at the hospital, as the father of a newborn, I felt shunned, ignored, and basically looked upon as a second-class citizen with respect to my role in bringing this child into the world. It bothers me that we, as a society, have reduced the role of father to that of sperm donor. My children are just as much a product of my wife as they are me. In fact, I don't even think in terms of her and me...only of we. Call it idealistic if you must, but the degredation of fatherhood will only negatively impact society at large. Example, 50 Cent on Letterman this past evening mentioned only his mother when talking about life growing up and not his father. Coincidence? I don't think so. Fathers are an afterthought...and according to Cosell they don't even deserve to be informed when they impregnate a woman -- excuse me, impregnate their wives!! For centuries, black fathers have either been absent or emasciated mainstream society. And now, in the 21st century, where we are supposedly more enlightened now than ever people want to take away the rights of fathers to know their wives - whom they have entered into a lifelong partnership - are thinking about having an abortion. I commend this judge and politicians who will defend the rights of fathers like me and enable me to at minimum be an informed non-participant in my lifelong partner's life decision.