Recuse this

Do our federal judges think that arrogance and disrespect for the public come as part of the package with their robes? P&J are speaking of how Ronald Lagueux and Mary Lisi recused themselves from the Plunder Dome trial with absolutely no explanation, giving Vo Dilunduhs even more reasons to question the quality of the learned jurists who populate the bench in Rhode Island. Sure, it's not hard to figure that Lagueux made the move because of his critical comments last year about Plunder Dome's prize target. We don't know Judges Lagueux or Lisi, so we can only speculate, as can anyone else. For all we know, Lagueux and Lisi are taking the high road because of some past minor incident that might in some way taint the perception of justice. But wouldn't it be a great deal more forthcoming, and inherently honest, to publicly reveal why they stepped down from the case, rather than to open the matter to speculation? Let's clear the air, please, your honors (honk!), it's getting a bit rank in here.

Bush league

The French call them les mots de l'escaliers. These are the stinging ripostes that one comes up while descending the stairs after a verbal confrontation -- when it's too late to put the other person in their rightful place. So it was with Dubya Bush, who after kissing the butts of his father's old communist friends to free the 24 detained American military personnel, was full of piss and vinegar. A week late and a dollar short, sonny.

Not only does Junior have no testicles, but he's also revealed himself to be a flat-out liar who has no intention of living up to his campaign pledges. After promising to include in his budget "a minimum of $100 million" to conserve tropical forests, Bushie's budget wound up with just $13 million -- a discrepancy that even this little dope could recognize. And in a "truth is stranger than fiction" move, Dubya actually appointed a Monsanto vice president as his number two at the Environmental Protection Agency. After he already stripped his EPA chief, Christine Whitewoman, of all dignity and credibility, few imagined that he could top that stunt.

P&J have a good idea. How about Greenpeace or some like-minded group pouring a few hundred gallons of crude oil into the water off the Bush enclave in Kennebunkport this summer? Might as well bring those chickens home to roost before Dubya the Dumb does the same thing to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Care for some cherrystones, Poppy and Barb?

Culture club

Congratulations to Attorney General John Ashcroft, professional religious right-racist loony, for promoting the introduction of even more violence and death into American society through the closed-circuit telecast of Timothy McVeigh's execution. As the New York Times rightly pointed out, this moves our culture backward, even as lives grow cheaper by the second. We can imagine this will certainly put a damper on those school shootings, with a kid knowing he might get his 15 minutes of fame on a prison gurney with people watching.

The Need to Harass Women Act

Your superior correspondents have been watching slowly, and with horror, the progress of Senate bill 0200, the so-called "Women's Right to Know Act." More properly, it should be called the Need to Harass Women Act. Introduced by Senate anti-abortion extremists (Graziano, Alves, Polisena, DaPonte, Montalbano), this bill, in the guise of providing more information to women seeking abortions, forces them to wait an extra day and take home piles of redundant information. The view is that women who have decided to have an abortion do so without giving it much thought. How arrogant of state legislators to make such an assumption.

Even more heinous is another element of the bill, which would make public the name of the doctor slated to perform the abortion. Gee, let's see if we can, just for purely ideological reasons, endanger the lives of abortion-providing physicians even more - because this is exactly the point of this exercise. And, by the way, the state Department of Health estimates that the pamphlets, Web site, and other materials mandated by this bill will cost the state in the neighborhood of $500,000.

Here's a first-hand account from Michaela Murphy, who, as a representative of Planned Parenthood, has seen the handling of this bill in Senator Catherine Graziano's Senate HEW Committee:

"I went to the hearing . . . with an idyllic image of all the senators on the committee -- there are 16 -- listening to the pros and sons of the bill and then deciding its merits or flaws. I was sadly mistaken. Of those senators who did make an appearance at the hearing, half left before an hour had passed. There were five senators left at the hearing's close. Five out of 16. As if that wasn't bad enough, when I returned weeks later to see the Senate HEW committee vote, I found the room full to capacity. None of the apathy of last week: 15 members of the committee plus Senator Irons and Senator Algiere -- who had come down from their leadership posts especially to make sure this bill was passed. An agenda was laid out and followed; this fiasco had nothing to do with `women's right to know' and everything to do with politics and curtailing abortion services . . .

"This hearing and vote were a perfect example of bias and politics governing public policy, of `the system' in all its glory. Even if I did agree with the bill's attempt to impose a waiting period on abortion services, there are other components of the bill that make it dangerous and faulty -- most notably the requirement that providing physicians give their names over the phone. Have we all forgotten the horrors that happened not 50 miles from here, when a man killed two receptionists and wounded five others at [two clinics in Brookline, Massachusetts]? How about when a physician was shot and killed in his home in New York [state] because he was providing a safe and legal medical service?"

It's interesting to note that Majority Leader "Big Bill" Irons, merely an ex officio member of HEW, would go so far out of his way for this noxious piece of legislation. In the past he has claimed to be "pro-choice." Has he ever gone to this length for a pro-choice piece of legislation? We think that Bill should stop calling himself pro-choice, and, considering his position on issues affecting the working poor and middle class, cease calling himself a Democrat as well.

The bill is yet to come up in front of the full Senate and the House. Let's hope a grassroots effort against this offensive concept and/or a coming-to-senses of our elected representatives puts an end to this dangerous and sick legislation.

The nime chow-llenge

Here's an event for a worthy organization that sounds fun, delicious and, yet, magically, not too fattening. New Urban Arts, a four-year-old nonprofit program that provides arts and social change programs for teenagers in Providence, is hosting a "Nime Chow-llenge," on Thursday, April 26 at White Electric Coffee, a café located at 150 Broadway in Providence, from 6 to 8 p.m. It's $25 for nime chow -- raw spring rolls -- created by a variety of local chefs, and hands-on nime chow demonstrations. There'll also be specialty coffee drinks for sale and a cash bar.

Sad times

It's been a sad week indeed at Casa Diablo. Most tragically, we lost our friend Keith Duhamel, whose kindness and generosity of spirit will always be remembered by his many friends. He was, quite simply, a true gentle man with not a negative bone in his body. We will miss him dearly.

On Tuesday morning we heard that Kenny "K.O." O'Brien, the legendary and flamboyant veteran band agent, also passed away. There are thousands of "K.O." stories in local rock 'n' roll lore. The crazier the story, the more likely it is to be true.

And a final "Gabba Gabba Hey" for Joey Ramone. Your superior correspondents knew Joey back in the '70s. He was a nice guy who actually did like pizza. Though now permanently sedated, he's not to be forgotten.

Fact of the week

This from a press release from the Roomful of Blues home office announcing a gig at the Call on Friday, April 20, with Porky Cohen and Roomful: "[Porky] is the only musician, either alive or dead, to have played with both W.C. Handy and Stevie Ray Vaughan."

Kudos and congrats . . .

. . . to ace photographer Rachel Ritchie of the Other Paper for being runner-up for the Pulitzer Prize in the breaking news photography category, for her shot of an armed man marching through the crowd after shooting four people at last year's Puerto Rican street fair in South Providence. It was a remarkable display of courage as well as talent, and besides the Pulitzer mention, it also resulted in a Providence cop manhandling Rachel while trying to commandeer her film near the Urinal's Fountain Street lobby.

The ace photographer, who sat with P&J at a recent fund-raiser, predicted the prize would go to the photo of a federal agent pointing a rifle in the face of Elian Gonzalez. Had P&J been voting, Rachel would have the trophy on her mantle right now. Although as she pointed out in making her prediction, the lovely and sophisticated graduate of Atlanta's Westminster School and Wellesley College opined, "It didn't get me laid or any free drinks, so who needs it?" That said, we'll be having someone else starting our car for the next few months.

. . . to BeloJo reporter Mike Stanton for his excellent background piece on Richard Rose, lead Plunder Dome prosecutor, and a good buddy and Casa Diablo regular. It came just as Mayor Buddy "Call me V. Biddy now" Cianci and his mouthpiece, Richard Egbert, began trashing Richard for his (admittedly boneheaded) slip of letting his sister and old pals Casby and Mary Sylvia Harrison see 10 minutes of videotape of Frank Corrente allegedly pocketing a bribe. Stanton exposed the fascinating and moving story behind Richard, showing a self-made man of principle and decency, as we know him to be. In a side note, P&J figure that when they started taking processing photos of Vincent A., Corrente, and their Plunder Dome pals, the booking office in US District Court must have looked like Cher's wig wardrobe.

Send inside dope, scuttlebutt, and Pulitzer-worthy tips to p&j[a]phx.com.

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