Child abuse - an inflated evil ?

           Child abuse IS indeed a heinous crime against nature. And it

    should not go un-noticed and unpunished. But does anybody dare suggest

    that it is NOT the sin against the Holy Ghost, the  last word in human

    depravity ? There  ARE greater evils. Just recall September 11 !

           The mass media has a need to obsess on a topic -like Clinton

    and Monica liaison in White House - until the public gets sick of

    all the breathless, hysterical reporting.

               I myself am getting more than a little cynical : Some

    priest patted  you on the fanny 30 years ago ? And nobody has paid

    much attention to it since ? Of course you deserve MILLIONS for

    your incalculable   torment of soul !

                 I am hardly a devout Catholic,but my protective instincts

    and loathing for hysteria and hypocrisy have been aroused.

               There is not a little Catholic bashing going on !

              GOODNESS  still prevails in this 2000 year old institution.

Swallow chewing gum and die ?

 bought the trident gum this morning in the CVS drug store

    in downtown Providence - along with the Providence Journal and other

    dailies. I thought I'd do my teeth a favor - fight that nasty tartar,

    have  a few teeth left in my mouth before retirement day.

                 THIS never happened before: I suddenly swallowed it ! Having

    been recently hospitalized - with a huge bill - I began to have paranoid

    thoughts. Soon I would experience a full fledged health emergency. The

    ambulance will arrive again. How many guys get admitted to the hospital

    for swallowing chewing gum ? What a loser !

                  But nothing happened YET. I had time to consult the Internet

    at a public library. Thank God for " word search " . I type in

    " swallowing gum " . And instantly an article on just that in " Better

    Homes and Gardens ". Relief !  "  Forget the scary vision of a wad of

    chewing gum bouncing around like a basketball in an empty gymnasium...

    gum passes right on through the intestines. It doesn't stick because it

    is not sticky. "

           Now I won't have to retrieve the rest of the Trident gum from the

    garbage can - for my day in court.

Illegals are HUMAN too !

As a working class person - familiar with such once stirring

    phrases as the " Communist International " - once stirring slogans as

    " workers of the world unite " - I am dismayed to read in my newspaper

    today that the Supreme Court - which appointed plutocrat George W.Bush

    to the Supreme Court - now  rules that  " a plastics company owed nothing

    to a  Mexican man it illegally laid off for union activity, because the

    man had used a friend's identification to get the job ". ( AP story by Gina

    Holland ).

               Since the beginning of the Reagan era, the ruling class has

    been determined to set back the labor movement 100 years, to the Robber

    Barron Age.

               Today the greatest force for EVIL in the world is unregulated,

    unrestrained, greedy and reckless capitalism.

                 The heart of Enron is the heart of Wall Street. Even the top

    brass of the Army salutes this corruption .


                The labor movement must not forget old truths : an injury to

    one brother or sister is an injury to  ALL !

No sympathy for Indian casino here

Only by way of chance and the higher immorality do our Rhode

    Island politicians ever do the right thing. Now I hope they end up

    studying this Indian gambling casino controversy for another 20

    years. Oh those poor Narragansetts - languishing with a longing

    for the big bucks. You would think that gambling was just their native

    culture. It is in their blood - like alcohol !

              Demagogues are corrupting the soul of the working class, telling

    them that gambling is the key to the good life. For thousands of blue

    collar people it is a ticket to hell.

              Just say to NO to gambling fever !

Richard Reid caricature ?

 We are all by now familiar with THAT FACE - terrorist " shoe

    bomber " Richard Reid. It is hard to suppress my sense of the ridiculous

    in in a decidedly unfunny matter : But a good caricature of Reid's

    unprepossessing face would remind many of us of " Joe Camel "- the cigarette

    billboard personality.

               The caption under Reid's mug should read : Caution - terrorists

    are hazardous to your health !

              There is such a thing as a STUPID face ! No racial profiling is

    necessary. Easy work for the  Israeli police.

Racializing poverty is fatuous

Poverty is poverty. To be sure, it is no more FUN to be a

    poor white than to be a poor black. A fatuous newspaper headline last

    week told the reader the BLACKS are falling behind WHITES in the quality

    of their health care. The relevant question is  this : Do low income

    whites have better health care than low income blacks ?

          Does a middle class black person with Blue Cross get less quality

    health care than a working class white without health insurance ?

                 It is fatuous indeed to racialize poverty.  We need a

    national health care plan that covers everybody. Your health care should

    not depend on the vagaries of the job market.

               As any Darwinist will tell you, INSIDE we are all alike.

" Nobody cares " nursing homes proliferate

A hint of nursing home morale nowadays. My sister, a devout Catholic,

    belongs to the Rosary Society that often visits a local nursing home: to

    comfort the aged sick and dying. Recently the group encountered an unusual

    number of patients crying pitifully alone in their rooms. The same complaint

    - " nobody cares ! "  .

           I'll bet there are no discounts on billing day for appalling understaffing
    in these money making rackets. Even when there is no NA to hand them a bedpan or

    help them clean up , or feed themselves, or just get out of bed - the bill is

    the same for these poor souls.

                  Judgment Day is coming !

Almost murdered by rottweiler

 I am pleased to read this morning that the " cold as ice "

    owner of  vicious dogs has been justly found guilty of murder.

                Here in Cranston, R.I. we are  literally going to the dogs.

    Let me quickly relate  my own dog day afternoon : Around noontime on Jan.

    29 - at the intersection of Reservoir  Ave. and Speck Ave. - I was suddenly

    a victim of an out of control and vicious rottweiler. The mad dog chased me

    into busy Reservoir Ave. I tripped and broke my shoulder.  The owner called

    911 and then disappeared. An ambulance arrived and took me to Rhode Island

    Hospital. I needed highly skilled surgery and was there for five days.

                While lying helpless in the street I feared being hit by

    a car. I wonder if I HAD been killed by a car , would the owner of the

    vicious rottweiler be guilty of MURDER ?

                  The woman was also " cold as ice ". No apology for devastating

    my life. No  call of inquiry. I am thinking of sending that $18,000 medical

    to the mayor of Cranston - and add to his junk bond problems !

              Also the Cranston Police did not even arrive at the scene of

    the accident to get a report of the incident.

              Somebody said the woman had an FOP license plate or sticker.

             The brotherhood !

Legions of indecency in Church ?

        Perverts in the Catholic Church are now getting more attention as

    threats to our society than the truly maniacal Islamic terrorists. Major

    newspapers today - in particular the New York Post and the Boston Herald-

    pander to our very human need for the latest " shocking " and lurid gossip.

               There is to be sure a legion of indecency in the Church. But

    let me compare them to the number of Italians in the Mafia. Most Italians

    are not " connected " and there is no " Godfather " to help them get

    JUSTICE.

                 Yet if the public interest is aroused, we can read Italian

    names in the paper every day  if the paper wishes to focus on the Mob.

                Please FIND some good Catholics to write about. The Pope is

    not a bad guy !

Bakst wrong on gay parade

A  gay guy I could vote for, David Cicilline, is right - not

    your Charlie Bakst - on this issue of sending a  Providence Fire truck

    - as a good will gesture ? - to the annual Gay Pride Parade.

               The thinking that justifies  Mayor Cianci's blatant favoritism

    is legally at least very muddled. The government shows its respect for

    religious freedom by not honoring ANY religion.

               Do good American citizens need the cacophony  and flamboyance

    of a fire truck to remind them of the American ideal of tolerance ?

                    Is it un-American to tolerate gay people but object

    to homosexuality ?  And also to these all too frequently OBSCENE public

    circuses that do nothing to advance gay dignity ?

                A police escort will send the message that the RIGHT of

    gays to have their Pride Parade will not go unrecognized. Even the

    KKK deserves a police escort - for their own safety.

             But there are many forms of exhibitionist behavior that belong

    in the closet.

                    Isn't GAY a poor excuse for a HUMAN identity ? Why

    should your sexual proclivities define you in your own mind ?

Reluctant skybridge walker

I am almost a professional pedestrian with a very pedestrian

    point of view. A number of times I have " trespassed " the Westin hotel

    on my way to Providence Place. That's just it : I felt RUDE doing this.

    A blue collar guy might have very radical ideas like egalitarianism. But

    he is still haunted by  Victorian manners.  Passing through elegance in

    my prole garb is just as awkward as it would be for a gentleman to pass

    through a YMCA locker room in a tuxedo. Definitely out of place !

             The problem is that from the very beginning very little attention

    was paid to the needs of pedestrians who wish to use a CITY mall.

               At least station traffic police at that very dangerous intersection

    where downtown people are -hopefully - trying to reach Providence Place.

               In the golden socialist future the owners of the place will be

    dealt with in true Bolshevik fashion. For now we will make concessions to

    middle class politeness.

Prevailing winds doomed Andrea Yates ?

 I read on page 3A of USA TODAY: " Insanity law helped doom Yates'

    Defense ".  A little shocked by the verdict, I am now convinced that

    most Americans- and especially those obtuse Texans - hardly grasp the

    ABCs of mental illness.

               In a way the George W. Bush school of Good vs. Evil played

    a role in the ignorant verdict.

               Since 9-11 we have become a less thoughtful and more vindictive

    nation. We don't want to UNDERSTAND a troubled woman like Andrea Yates anymore

    than we want to understand Islamic terrorists. Revenge is enough.

               Clearly Yates was as influenced by fundamentalist religious

    crap - Satan has my kids ! - as I suppose most of the jury: " The woman

    is EVIL " !

                 The Dark Age has not really faded into the dead past.

            At least spare this poor woman's life !

Rhode Island man on death row in Georgia

         I read in today's news that a former Rhode Island man -Tracy Lee

    Housel - is scheduled to be executed in Georgia today by lethal injection.

            Not a sympathetic character to be sure: he raped and murdered a

    woman -Jean Drew - he met at a Georgia truck stop. Needed a little

    recreation that day ?

             Nevertheless , I applaud those - including a member of the British

    Parliament - who wish to stop his execution.

           A familiar story here: " Housel grew up poor and was frequently


    beaten by his father ... suffered from childhood head injuries ... untreated

    because his father did not believe in doctors." ( Providence Journal, March

    12, B3 ) .

                And may I suggest that when you are POOR, too many doctors

    do not believe in you , in your RIGHT to health care.

            The mental health care system in this society is indeed a disgrace !


                RIP Tracy Lee Housel. Too late does the plastic Jesus of

    unctuous preachers work  His miracles of salvation.

                    Poverty is a crime ?

Improving nursing home staffing

If you are ever a patient in a hospital or a nursing home,

    even the most "common "  nursing assistant ( NA ) will appear to

    you as a guardian angel of kindness and mercy.

             Despite a crisis in staffing, nursing aids too often receive

    pitiful wages  - and even worse, in the institutional pecking order

    they are held in contempt.

               One way to keep quality  nursing assistants is revolutionize

    career opportunities for them. After 2 or more years as an NA , he or she

    should be offered a complete scholarship to study for a more skilled

    job - while continuing to work part time as an NA.

               Nursing Assistant should not mean DEAD END JOB. One way

    to increase the number of " minority " professional nurses is to recognize

    the potential in hundreds of NAs. Our society pays a very big price for

    idiotic snobbery : always seeing people where they are instead of where

    their innate abilities can take them.

            What is true of NAs is also true of  registered nurses: many

    of them would make fine DOCTORS !

What's the use of a newborn baby ?

These are very depressing times for baby boomers still in need

    of inspiration. The oppressed of the world are often as hideous as their

    oppressors. Inspired by Allah himself no doubt, a Palestinian woman tells

    the news media that from the wombs of young Palestinian girls will come

    many more suicide bombers. Well remember the famous scientist responding

    to  a critic with this question : " And what is the use of a newborn baby ? "

               Now we have a New Age answer to  Michael Faraday's question.

           From such perverse hatred nothing will be generated but self-destruction.

            Any new Palestinian state - no matter how just the cause - will start

    out from a foundation of moral chaos.  How can people who know nothing but

    KILL, KILL, KILL, ever create a state worth living in ?

                 Perhaps it might be better to establish a transitional state

    composed of at least a million  Arabs and a million Jews who truly want

    to get along with one another. It will outlaw religious fanaticism from the

    very beginning.

               In the Middle East whole peoples now face the Abyss. Hopele

Bottom line creates plagiarists ?

Being just a very " amateur " writer- mostly addicted to LETTERS -

    I am bemused by all this recent reporting of professional writers - people

    who are very talented and lucky enough to make money at it -getting caught

    cheating, a charge of PLAGIARISM hanging over their heads.

             The root of the evil here may indeed be CHARACTER. But also in our

    capitalist society EVERYTHING becomes a commodity. Everything for sale. Souls

    for sale ! The writing profession has become a winner take all racket.

             Celebrity is worshipped while integrity and intelligence goes

    unrecognized. And that is perhaps why YOU , dear editor, are stuck reading

    my letters instead of being interviewed on TV  flashing your best seller.

                Pro-writers become cheats for the same reason Mr. Marsh would

    not bury his dead : there is a buck to  made here !

A helpful suggestion on clerical sex abuse

              Even very nominal Catholics must read about these pedophilia

    horror stories with some sad nostalgia for the days when the Church in America

    commanded awesome respect. It seems that 40s , 50s, and early 60s were its

    golden age here.

                Was the institution infested with perverts back then ? I do

    think there was a stronger MYSTIQUE to the Church in  pre-Vatican II era.

    Priests and nuns rarely put on the " regular guy " act. Their dignity

    demanded a certain aloofness from the laity.  They knew better than to get

    over-familiar with  members of their parish. Back then I can't imagine

    an ordinary Catholic getting past the lobby of the stately rectory where

    his favorite priest lived.

                So even if there were more than a few priests with wicked proclivity
    * back then, the DIGNITAS of the institution inhibited them.

                 Not pretending to be an ardent Catholic today, I am still turned

    off by priests and nuns whose vulgar manner suggests no VOCATION at all.

               Was the Church corrupted by the so-called sexual revolution ?

              Yesterday I heard a radio talk show host mock a very appealing

    young lady who said she believed in chastity and " saving it " for marriage.

               The Church is not alone in its moral decay.

              You can laugh at that old Baltimore Catechism but at least it hinted

    that the universe had a moral structure along with natural laws.

          How did we ever get so lost ?

Cars more important than people ?

              If I had been involved in a minor car accident on Reservoir

    Ave. in Cranston on Tuesday, Jan.29 , around noontime -even just a fender

    bender - you can be sure that the police would have been on the scene in a

    minute. But I was just a pedestrian - second class citizen ? - who was chased

    into the middle of Reservoir - near Speck Ave. - by a vicious, loose, and out

    of control rottweiler. I tripped and broke my right shoulder. Why

    did the police not show up for an injured man lying in the street ?

              If they had responded to the 911 or followed it up - there should

    be some co-ordination between Rescue and Police - they might have intercepted

    the young lady with the rottweiler. Is it legal to witness your dog cause

    a serious injury and fail to report it ?

              I hope Cranston City Council President DeLorenzo succeeds in getting

    his vicious dog law passed. That rottweiler will cost me at least $18,000 in

    medical bills. DeLorenzo wants vicious dog owners to have at least $25,000 in

    liability insurance.

               If you like to walk in Cranston, be VERY careful ! One more

    sign of creeping BLIGHT !

Bush re-election question

My 80 year old mother always has a kind and sympathetic word for

    President Bush. And she is appalled by all this enduring animosity toward

    Jews. " They were never mean or violent people ", she says.

             With all due respect to Mother, I must say that come election time,

    Bush might ask the American people: " Are you safer from terrorism than you were
    four years ago ? " Are you better off economically ? "

             I myself already miss Bill Clinton who is a better " peace " man than

    George W. Bush. Appoint Bill ambassador to Israel.

            For a fresh insight into anti-Semitism, read Mark Twain's essay " On the

    Jews ". Twain seems to suspect jealousy a factor here.

                  Israel at least represents Western Civilization. How many American
    citizens would like to live in an Islamic country ?

Support DeLorenzo on vicious dogs

      With disappointment, I just read " Pit-bull measure gets growls at

    hearing " ( West Bay, Feb.26 ,page C1 )

          President Joseph Delorenzo is right in wanting vicious dog owners

    to have not less than $25,000 in liability insurance. My own horrible

    experience: Before noontime on Tuesday, Jan. 29 - at or near the corner of

    Speck Ave. and Reservoir Ave. - I was surprised and terrified by a loose

    and out of control rottweiler. And chased into the middle of Reservoir Ave.

    I tripped and broke my shoulder. I was taken by Cranston Rescue to Rhode

    Island Hospital. I needed surgery.

            No apology from the dog's owner, a young woman who I am trying to

    locate. No call of inquiry. I HOPE she has liability insurance !

        If not, should I send the $18,000 medical bill to the Honorable Mayor

    of Cranston ?

               Oddly no police arrived on the scene. Too close to lunch time ?

    Can they at least track down the identity of the 911 caller ?

             Perhaps there is need of a muzzle law too. That dumb dog has

    devastated my life. It could have been ANY pedestrian in this once nice

    city !