What I have found most surprising over these last day and weeks is the palpable anger coming from born and bred Rhode Islanders. It almost seems like the wool has been pulled away from their eyes for the first time.

It's interestingly refreshing and I wonder how long it will last and if it will grow and blossom into something that actually catalyzes change.

"It is simply not possible that a reasonable person acting out of a desire for mutual, productive dialog could attempt to paint an extremely recent executive order pertaining to illegal immigration from a relatively powerless governor as a contributing factor in our current economic crisis."

Tommy can you hear me?

I don't think the "progressives" believe half of what they say in most cases-that doesn't include the younger ones who get misled by cynical manipulators-"progressives" are most interested in seeing that everyone stays on the correct page on every issue-when faced with an incontrovertible fact that annoys them,they change the subject or try to bring up something they think is equivalent to deflect from the subject at hand-they are frequently intellectually dishonest

Intellectual honesty has never been their strong point. I love this. Blame anyone and everyone but those actually in charge of spending all the money -- the legislature!

If the Governor was Fogarty and the economic conditions were similar how would this blog express its intellectual honesty?

Phil,

If the Gov was Charlie, he'd still have no real power.

Phil-intellectual honesty means not adhering to a "party line"whether from the left or right-I frequently am outspoken about immigration issues,but I never use the term "anchor baby" because I think it is demeaning to people who are US citizens like myself-I don't think anyone born here should have an asterisk-this may put me at odds with some people on my side of the issue,but I don't worry about that-my attitude is that good border control would moot the entire question-when I start subordinating my actual beliefs to sound "correct"I will be the same as the "progressives"-not gonna happen.

You hit the nail right on the head again Joe. Although there are some "true belivers" even amongst the oldsters.

Mike-you're right-there are-I think Old Time Lefty probably is and rhody may be,but it's hard to tell what era rhody is from-OTL makes references that are indicative of a particular period of timer

If Fogarty were pushing back against the GA, we'd probably be tentatively applauding him. If he were pushing along with the GA, we'd be painting him with that brush, too.

But this really isn't about politics and partisanship for us; it's about improving Rhode Island — for which goal we happen to have specific ideas as to method.

Fogarty was a GA politician all his career-how could he butt heads with them?We always need a non-GA person as Governor for balance.Carcieri was a non-politician altogether,even better.

Greg I agree with you that the same obstacles would be in place for whoever were Gov.. I voted for Fogarty because I thought him less rigid than Carcieri and hence able to govern with reasonable people in the GA.

joebernstein I have found your posts on this blog concerning immigration to be informative and insightful. We may disagree about specifics but it would be stupid on my part not to recognize the unique perpective you bring as a former professional working for the country.

Justin It is about politics. I don't believe anyone who tells me that their motivation in politics (or blogs)is completely on the behave of others.