What is a Constitution?

A constitution is a set of rules that govern the behavior of a state. The word “ought” expresses a duty or obligation but is not the same as a rule.  The US Constitution does not have one occurrence of the word “ought” in it. 

But the word “ought” appears six times in the Rhode Island Constitution, Article 1. eg;

• “the burdens of the state ought to be fairly distributed among its citizens”  
• “Every person ought to obtain right and justice freely”. 
• “punishments ought to be proportioned to the offense”.

Our constitution should follow the US Constitution and state the rules clearly and positively with no ambiguity.

• “the burdens of the state shall be fairly distributed among its citizens”  
• “Every person shall obtain right and justice freely”. 
• “punishments shall to be proportioned to the offense”.

would be language befitting our constitution.

Maybe it's just me.

Who votes against good bills?

When reporting on the votes on Bills to the General Assembly I would urge the reporter to list the names of those who voted for and against.  Perhaps if legislators knew that the public would see in print who voted against popular bills such as Ethics Legislation they might think twice.  We might get better legislation too.

American Exceptionalism

There was a letter to the editor in the Providence Journal on Friday, Apr 3, "Students right to defend their pride in America ", which said in part: "Moreover, if the fools to whom we entrust our posterity’s education can’t let go of their screwball ideological positions long enough to actually teach our kids the truth about who we are and what we stand for as a nation, then maybe it’s time to get some new teachers!".

It reminded me of an incident which happened many decades ago when my children were small.  My middle daughter came home crying because she told us that our next door neighbor's son fought with her and beat her up.

I called the neighbor and told her that her boy beat up on my daughter and came home in tears.  Her response was that she would always support her son, no matter what, right or wrong.

Sounds like the letter writer believes the same thing about our country. The great truth about our country is that when we find something wrong we are willing to fix it. I don't believe that's a "screwball ideological position".

In some respects the property tax is the best tax.  When a town sets a budget it knows exactly how much it will need from the citizens (the tax levy) and no other tax method can produce a specified amount as this can.  But is the property tax fair to all property owners every year?

By valuing all property, a rate can be set to produce the tax levy. 

Until 1998, revaluations were required once every 10 years.  Back then some towns revalued even less  often and some tax assessors were actually unable to tell me the date of their last revaluation.  But towns still collected the required tax levy every year.

During those early years property values remained fairly stable and most people saw their taxes change in step with the changes in the budget. But things changed dramatically in early 2000 and property values escalated.  People were buying property at increasing values and being taxed on older assessments.  Property owners rightly felt this was unfair.

The solution was to require triennial revaluations. New owners would now pay taxes based on fair market values.

But what was the impact on the rest of the property owners? Were their property tax increases used for the tax levy or for something else?

Let's imagine that one year, say 2007 which was a revaluation year, North Kingstown did not increase its tax levy.  NO tax increase.  The taxes would have looked like this:

For residential properties up to $100K the average tax would have increased 64.5%

For residential properties from $100K to $200K the average tax would have increased 13.6%

For residential properties from $200K to $500K the average tax would have decreased -0.4%

For residential properties from $500K to $1M the average tax would have decreased -5.4%

For residential properties from $1M to $5M the average tax would have decreased -11.6%

In 2007 owners of the lower priced properties would have received large tax increases which did not go to the town but merely lowered the taxes of other tax payers, in this case the owners of more valuable properties.

How can anyone call this fair?  We can have a system that taxes both new and existing owners fairly every year.  There is a solution. 

For more see R.I.G.H.T.

In the  Washington Post, November 26, 2014 Joann Weiner writes “The evidence is overwhelming. Diversity – gender, racial, ethnic, whatever – is good. Companies that put a priority on innovation are worth more when women hold top leadership positions. These companies are $44 million more valuable, on average, according to a multiyear academic study of Standard and Poor’s top 1,500 firms.”  But is diversity the real reason?

I believe when women get those leadership positions they must be more aggressive, more talented and more qualified than the men who had held those positions. This is still a man’s domain and I suggest that these women are just better in their jobs and that diversity alone has little to do with the success of those companies. They have better managers.

Global warming, real or fake?

There has been so much in the news about global warming and whether it is real or a hoax.  My opinion won't change any minds but I'd like to suggest the following to help us make a sensible and beneficial choice.

The argument swirls around which side is right, the climate deniers or the climate scientists. I suggest that we instead use a different approach: the consequences one side or the other being wrong.

If the believers get their way but are wrong, we will have spent multiple billions of dollars on non-polluting renewable energy sources at the cost of huge financial burdens on current energy suppliers. But we will have a higher quality of air and water and thus will our overall quality of life benefit. Oil imports will plummet reducing or eliminating the influence of mid east oil on our economy and foreign policies.

On the other hand, if the deniers prevail but are wrong, we will have saved billions of dollars, but rising waters will devastate shorelines throughout the world, temperature extremes and severe weather will continue to increase, ocean temperatures will rise, marine and animal life will be significantly affected with major extinctions likely. Agriculture will be severely altered increasing the likelihood of mass starvations worldwide.

Perhaps this simple thought exercise might help some to decide which is the better choice.

Exactly what's the problem?

Here on the beach we have a wonderful facility for our citizens.

To keep things clean we have a sign posted:


This morning I was walking along the beach and came across this lovely sight.

It wasn't dogs. Should we modify the sign?

How are we doing?

In an article about Rep. Gordon Fox's resignation in the Providence Journal, March 24, Rep. Nicholas Mattiello was quoted as saying that his "biggest concern is uniting and unifying the House".  Is that necessarily a worthy goal? In 2013 one party held 93% of the House seats and it's been this way for too many years.

I'm an independent voter and it seems to me that such a dominance of one party over the other makes for a greater chance for poor government not better government, regardless of party.

I'm reminded of Ed Koch, ex Mayor of NYC, who used to ask "How am I doing?"  I too have to ask, "How are we doing"?

Must be hard to be a lawyer.

In the Journal today (March 14, 2014) was an article, "Mother of molested teen urges change  in assault law". It seems there was a "loophole" that allowed her son's attacker to get off because there apparently was no "surprise" when he reached into the boy's shorts and touched his genitals as the boy was taking pictures on the East Bay Bike Path.

The new law might now enable conviction if the state can prove one "engaged in a sexual act against a person's wishes through force or coercion or through surprise for the purpose of sexual gratification".

Please forgive me for being so radical but isn't engaging in sex against a person's wishes enough? The perpetrator has to surprise the victim and be gratified too?  Are we crazy?

Pesky facts

Facts can be funny things.

“Minimum-wage hike = minimum sense”, Jay Ambrose’s  Providence Journal on December 6, 2013, got me thinking about how we react to what we are told are “facts”.  Some “facts” in the article:

   FACT: ”... under 3% of the workforce get the minimum wage”. 

This implies that it really wouldn’t wouldn’t be such a big deal. I think it would be a pretty big deal to those 4.6 million people.

   FACT:... “Hike the minimum wage and some people do get more, but others get fired or get fewer hours a week.”  

Maybe a fact but can’t we do better? Perhaps we could lower the exorbitant executive salary increases somewhat instead of firing the low end workers and moving business offshore.

   FACT:   “In the end, the minimum wage is a charade that interferes with rights of employers and employees to enter into contracts of their own choosing.”

This implies that both employers (Walmart) and employees (minimum-wage workers) can bargain on an equal footing. Does anyone really believe that?

   FACT:  “During the same half century since the March on Washington, more than a score of major studies have verified that basic economic theory is right: The more businesses are forced to pay, the less likely they are to have as many jobs as they used to have.”

Indeed. But they do manage to see that top executives’ pay has never been higher, and even if a CEO is fired he or she often leaves with astronomical benefits packages. Ah, that basic economic theory.

Facts can be funny things.