DOUGEFRESH

Actually, the question was whether or not I wanted to even write about this topic.  Everyone is so sick of the wet weather, I don't think they want to be reminded about it.  The thing is, this stretch of unstable weather stretches back to last year.  Don't forget that we got more snow last winter than we got in a long time.  I don't remember exactly how much. but I measure it by how many times I broke out my snowblower.  It was an awful lot of times.  Now here we are in July and I haven't even thought about putting in my air conditioner.  It's like one or two days of decent weather, than we get four days of cool, cloudy, and damp weather.  The thing is, as soon as we get a week without rain, when the temps get up to the 90's, you'll hear one of the area's local weather people say, "We could really use some rain!".  That will probably make me want to jump off the Braga Bridge. 

The other thing is, can we get some decent weather people on the local news stations?  I mean what's up with some of these people?  That guy Pete Mangione has got to be the biggest goof to ever report the local weather, he recently took over the #1 spot from fellow Ch 12 weather reporter TJ Del Santo.  By the way, is it required to be Italian to report the weather on Ch 12?  Tony Petraca, Pete Mangione, TJ Del Santo, and Michele Muscatello.  I've said it before and I'll say it again right now, the best weather reporter in the Providence market is Jim Corbin. 

Posted by Racepicks at 07:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I read this story today by Terry Nau in The Pawtucket Times about sports talk radio.  Nau talks about how, although these shows are entertaining, they sometimes throw out some untrue statements.  He thinks that the printed media, and even television media, have someone to edit the information and ensure that the writer's facts are substantiated.  If they are not true, an editor will print a correction.  As far as television, they employ an ombudsman who will investigate claims of nonfactual reporting.  This all made me think about talk radio in general.  How many times am I listening to a talk radio program and the host makes, what I think is, an outrageous statement.  Maybe it's not outrageous, maybe it's a statement that I vehemently disagree with.  How angry I get, almost enough to call in and tell the host how much I disagree with him.  Then I realize that this is what it's all about, controversial!  Why are conservative talk show hosts so popular around this area?  Because the majority of listeners are liberal.  Conservative talk show hosts are more likely to hold an opinion far different than their listeners.  This drives two types of callers.  The first are the people who call to strongly disagree with the host's viewpoint on a particular issue.  The second type of caller are the ones who agree with the host, no matter what his viewpoint happens to be.  I guess my whole point is this.  Talk radio programs are fueled by advertising.  The more people who listen to a show drives the price a sponsor will pay the radio station to advertise on a particular shows time frame.  All this means that the more rude, obnoxious, and condescending the host happens to be, the more money the radio station makes. 

Posted by Racepicks at 10:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Nothing has invoked more passion in me, as of late, as the General Assembly's decision to ask Rhode Island voters to decide whether they want to change the states official name from "The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations" to just plain Rhode Island.  Don't get me wrong, I applaud the fact that the majority of citizens will have their say on the issue, instead of politicians just passing things in the cover of darkness.  I just don't understand why this issue is important.  I don't want to sound like I'm insensitive to the feelings of African Americans, I just don't think that changing the official name of the state is going to correct injustices that were inflicted 100 years ago.  When the state was given it's name, the term Providence Plantations referred to the areas of the state that were settled, like the Plymouth Plantations.  This happened 316 years ago, before slavery in the United States even existed.  It has nothing to do with slavery.  But Rep. Joe Almeida claims that the "word" plantation referenced an offensive reminder of slavery.  So my question is, what's next?  Remove the word cotton from the dictionary?  No, how about removing the direction south from the compass because it references where slavery endured?  Give me a break!  Who finds the word offensive?  Is it the young kids in the African-American communities who use the "N" word with no regard for the negative connotation the word conjures up?  Are the white people in the state, who will no doubt vote against this referendum, racist or prejudice even after they overwhelmingly voted for the first African-American President of the United States?  Or maybe the state politicians are just concentrating all their efforts on meaningless legislation instead of trying to dig the state out of the worst financial mess since the great depression.  You be the judge!      

Posted by Racepicks at 11:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I saw on the news recently that the Mass State Police were going to step up their enforcement of Rt. 195, concentrating on aggressive driving.  I was happy to hear this news.  According to the report, serious accidents have increased on the stretch of highway between Fairhaven and Seekonk.  Since I drive this road often, I can attest to the fact that people drive like nuts on this highway.  I'm not just talking about speeding, I mean people driving 20 to 25 miles over the speed limit and weaving in and out of traffic like crazy.  Since I live in Rhode Island, I'm sorry to say that most of these idiots are driving vehicles registered in Rhode Island.  Not all mind you, but many are from RI.  The days immediately following the report, I witnessed a few vehicles stopped by State Police officers.  Over the last few weeks, the sightings are rare.  What happened?  You can't tell me it's a result of budget cuts.  This enforcement should pay for itself, and then some.  I'm willing to bet that if the State Police concentrated on stopping aggressive drivers, in a weeks time they would surely cite 100 people.  At $150.00 a pop, that would be $15,000.00 a week.  I'm not talking about pulling over the people who are going 5 to 10 miles over the speed limit either, I'm talking about issuing citations to 100 dangerous drivers a week.  I'm telling you, it would be like shooting fish in a barrel.

Posted by Racepicks at 01:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)