For Many, Obama Visit is Start of Healing Journey

From the starting line in Hopkinton to the midway point in Wellesley and the finish line downtown, the community has taken a step toward closure during an extremely trying week.

The two blasts that rocked the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon caused physical damage to Boylston Street and killed or injured hundreds of innocent people. News of the bombing traveled backward along the 26.2-mile course instantaneously, affecting every inch of the annual race. Three days later in a new, high-security Boston, local dignitaries, political officials, families of the three people who were killed in the bombings, hundreds of Boston Athletic Association volunteers, Boston Police, fire and medical personnel and The First Family gathered at the Church of the Holy Cross for an interfaith service in Boston’s South End to pray for the victims and to attempt to close this dark chapter of the marathon’s 117-year history. …

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Letter to the Editor

Letter to the Editor: Obama Should Not Circumvent Congress On Gun Control

Writer Stephen J. DiGianfilippo says such action "threatens our freedoms."

The President again is threatening to take what amounts to legislative action via executive order. As you may recall, right before the 2012 election, Mr. Obama unilaterally cleared the way for certain illegal immigrants to become US citizens; this type of policy change needed to be implemented by Congress. Now Mr. Obama again is threatening to circumvent Congress and unilaterally alter national gun policy. Irrespective of how one feels about the ends the President seeks to attain, we all should be mortified at the unconstitutional manner in which he is pursuing those ends. In the long run, this behavior diminishes the Constitution’s separation of powers and threatens our freedoms. The media has been mostly silent about the President’s …

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Round Three: Who Won The Final Presidential Debate?

Monday night's foreign policy debate in Florida was the last time the two candidates will meet before the election Nov. 6.

It may be remembered as the "bayonets and horses" debate. Or it could be known as the "attacking me is not an agenda" debate. Either way, it was the final debate of the 2012 Presidential election.  So, we ask you one last time: who won? More importantly, did the arguments of either candidate sway you?  And what did you think of moderater Bob Schieffer? 

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RI Dems More Confident After 2nd Presidential Debate, Survey Shows

Here's how Rhode Island Republicans and Democrats reacted after Tuesday night's debate in Long Island between former Governer Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama.

Rhode Island Democrats were more confident this time around in President Obama's debate performance over the first, while state Republicans felt Governor Mitt Romney's debate performance was less encouraging than the first. That's the major finding of the Red and Blue Rhody flash polls sent out to local political influencers immediately after the debate ended Tuesday night. Obama and Romney faced off on Oct. 16 at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., in a town-hall format, with CNN's Candy Crowley moderating a debate that covered both domestic and foreign policy. At the conclusion of the debate, Patch surveyed 52 Republicans and 51 Democrats, asking who they thought won the debate. Among those who responded, 61 percent of the …

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Round Two: Who Do You Think Won The Debate?

Did Obama redeem himself? Was Romney as masterful as in the first debate?

The town-hall-style debate at Hofstra University Tuesday night proved much more combative than the first debate between President Barack Obama and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney.  Obama, who was roundly panned for his performance in Denver Oct. 3, came out much stronger, but Romney was equally forceful.  So, who won? Was it enough for Obama to do better? Or was Romney's ability to stay the course the deciding factor?  Let us know in the comments section below. And share your favorite debate moment.

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Rants and Raves

Walk To School Day ... DAY? Why Not Always?

What to love and hate about living in East Greenwich this week.

RANT: Is it just me, or is National Walk to School Day the most asinine day ever? Even National Tap Dance Day (May 25, in case you have a pair of metal-soled shoes gathering dust in your closet) ranks higher, in my opinion. Seriously, though, has it come to this? We really need a day set aside to encourage kids to actually venture outside and be pedestrians? OK, I know, life today is such that younger kids are no longer allowed to do so much as eat PBJ without an adult present. I promise, I will not drone on about how, waaaay back in my day, before down, Gore-tex and fleece had been invented, we were all walking to school at all ages and in all weather – usually lagging about a half block behind older neighborhood kids to spare them …

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Letter to the Editor

Letter to the Editor: Wake Up, Middle Class!

Stephen J. DiGianfilippo lives in East Greenwich.

The national debt is out-of-control.  In the past 4 years, it has risen by an astounding $6 trillion (i.e. it has risen from $10 to $16 trillion). Worse, President Obama’s proposed policies would continue this debt explosion; he plans in a second term to add about $1.5 trillion per year to this accumulated debt! President Obama lies straight to our faces when he proposes to solve this crises by “raising taxes on millionaires and billionaires.” As a solution, this amounts to throwing sand into the wind. As reported in the Wall Street Journal on October 3, 2012, the income of this group (per the IRS) is about $708 billion per year, meaning the President’s solution will raise about $70 billion per year. (The President’s own Treasury …

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Eight EG Residents Seek Delegate Spots

Four residents are running to be Obama delegates, two residents are running to be Paul delegates, one resident wants to be a Santorum delegate, and one a Romney delegate.

Eight East Greenwich residents got enough signatures to run for delegate to the upcoming presidential political conventions — four Democrats for President Barack Obama and four Republicans, two for Sen. Ron Paul and one each for Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum. The Rhode Island presidential primary takes place Tuesday, April 24. On the Republican side, Elizabeth Smith is running to be a Romney delegate, Pratik Chougule is running to be a Santorum delegate, and Erik Turgeon and Nathaniel Robertson are running to be Paul delegates. Chougule said he cares about this election in particular, but also decided to run because of the topsy-turvy nature of the 2012 GOP presidential race. "Rhode Island's primary could have a significant role on the …

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