Cigarette Butt Bums -2

The stupid looking man at the bus stop was yelled at by the disgusted

RIPTA driver : " Don't blow your smoke into my bus ! "

      While the traffic light was still red, the nicotine nitwit puffed

away on the precious remains of his cigarette - for him a basic necessity

of life.

     I suspect that the brain of the heavy cigarette smoker -under

microscopic examination- will look as repulsively rotten as his lung

tissue.

    The Tobacco Road cretin tossed the drool covered butt onto the

sidewalk before boarding the Pawtucket bound bus - the original

inspiration for H.P. Lovecraft's " Horror at Red Hook ".

     There is a story  in the Providence Journal this morning that

will alarm environmentalists : " DEM's inaction endangering Rhode

Islanders "  ( Dec. 30 ) .

        It is about time we include those highly toxic cigarette

butts among the hazardous environmental wastes. Why is the cigarette

slob's habit of of carelessly discarding them EVERYWHERE not challenged ?

      Think of the millions of people who smoke a pack or two a day

and of the impact all those poisonous butts have on the eco-system!

    This nicotine addiction is as insidious as heroin addiction.

Cigarette companies survive on the LIE of advertising, associating

the filthy habit with the pleasant life.

      Tobacco company scientists MUST  routinely LIE UNDER OATH .And

so must their bought and sold lawyers - like Clinton persecutor, Ken Starr !

      But even on December 30, SPRINGTIME IS JUST A PUFF AWAY. Just

thought I should end this rather bilious letter on a cheerful note .

How to prevent hospital strikes

            Hopefully the present tragic strike at Women and Infants

    Hospital will end with a sane and just compromise. Militant unionism

    here - if it never forgets the needs of the patients -and if it avoids

    Teamster Union frenzy - can accomplish its modest goals.

           But militant unionism is no solution to the really big problems

    of the American health care system. Sooner or later working people

    will see the wisdom of nationalizing the entire health care industry

    as a concommittant to a National Health Care Plan.

            All strikes will simply be prohibited by law at our nationalized

    hospitals. There will be no more FOR PROFIT health care in this

    country. And health care will be a universal human right.

Helen Gurley Brown - a joke !

Leon Trotsky wrote somewhere in his " Diary in Exile "  :

    " Old age is hideous ! " . Those words of the eternal revolutionary

    hit me hard again when I saw the 76 year old " Cosmopolitan " editor,

    Helen Gurley Brown , being interviewed on TV. This woman who vows to

    fight old age until THE END, is the worst advertisement for FACE LIFTS

    on this absurd planet.  She should marry Eddie Fisher - who has

    also challenged ETERNITY - in vain - with a horrid face lift.

            What a mockery of youth - the remade face of Helen Gurley

    Brown . Instead of looking 30 years younger, she looks about a

    1000 years older.  Gazing at that horror, I was reminded of the

    pathetic countenance of an unwrapped Egyptian mummy. If the

    mummy could talk , it would express its complete shock that

    life beyond the grave is only a mockery of life , just as

    " youth " in old age is only a mockery of youth .

            If I were God, I would punish Helen Gurley Brown and

    Eddie Fisher for their vanity : They would have to spend an

    eternity staring into each other' s facelift face !

             Now I must go out and buy another large bottle of

    vitamin pills with ester- C .

Latin School debate

I read with great interest Paul R. Murphy's letter in the Boston

    Globe this morning : " Don't penalize white-working class kids at Latin "

    (Dec. 29 ) .

         A number of cogent editorials in our Providence Journal , I believe,

    lean toward Mr. Murphy's position : " It was only admission into Latin

    School that gave me a chance at a decent secondary education ". It is

    noteworthy that Mr. Murphy " as an Air Force pilot in Desert Storm "

    never felt the fear he did as working class kid in Boston's disastrous

    busing experiment. The elitist-Left just ignored the plain truth that

    white-working class kids also " struggle for excellence ".

           I must admit that I joined pro-busing demonstrations at the

    time. I did indeed observe the most vile hatred for blacks on the

    part of South Boston whites. Even the American Nazi party joined the

    the Boston bussing circus !

          But for a long time now I have believed that the political Left

    - despite much honest good will - played an opportunist role in the

    school desegregation controversy. And they often showed complete

    contempt for the white working class - " infected with racism ".

          If you study left-wing publications today like " The People's

    Weekly World " and " The Militant " you will find along with the

    healthy dissenting points of view  on big social questions, a little

    too much pandering to RACE .

           You would think that even Karl Marx was no friend of the

    " privileged " white working class.

        Was not the socialist position  on education for years simply

    that it was a universal human right - not something for working

    people of different races to fight over - like hungry dogs over

    the same puny bone  ?

             Lies can never serve the working class !

" Under oath " unconstitutional ?

A lot of good citizens of the United States  think that

    somehow lying " under oath " is  always as serious a matter as the

    violation of law being investigated.

          If Bill Clinton lied under oath about leaving the toilet seat

    down in the Oval Office , it would be an impeachable offense ?

           If we think about this " under oath " business , we might

    conclude that it is in itself a quasi-religious act : one swears only

    to the Almighty ! What if you don't believe in Him ?

            And it is rather ludicrous to swear on THE BOOK whose every

    page is filled with historical or scientific untruth .

          This making statements " under oath " is in itself an unconstitutional

    violation of Church and State.

          The practice should be abolished. One must simply be asked to

    stake his personal HONOR - a secular concept -  on truth telling.

         Then lying under oath becomes a matter of destroying your good

    reputation - which is punishment enough for one utterly dependent on

    public approval .

            I swear the Republicans are hypocrites !

Amos'House Revisited (fiction)

Mr. Amos Rustigan, a sour, wasted, middle aged bachelor, had a 20

    year old nostalgia for his old family home on Hawthorne Street in

    Old Pawtuxet Village , near Providence, Rhode Island .

        A bit of a miser , Amos now had enough money in the local bank to

    buy that old - decayed aristocracy - " mansion " back... if only the

    low lifes who now occupied it would ever vacate it .

          And the dream wish happened late in October of 1999. Amos

    quickly contacted his old friend Silas at Pawtuxet Village Real

    Estate.

          Late on the night of October 31 , Amos gazed at a the

    old skeleton key, coruscating in the bluish light of the seedy

    Gaspee Lounge.

         It was now about 3 o'clock in the morning , that most ungodly

    hour. Amos found himself at the very door of the family mansion.

       " That beautiful, solid door has not changed at all ", he reflected.

    A bizarre image of  his long dead grandfather - an immigrant from the

    old country ( and a suicide by drowning ) -  mysteriously appeared

    on the heavy bronze knocker.

        " That hideous vinyl siding will have to go ", Amos resolved. How

    he hated all unnatural things!

        But  immediately Amos was a aware of a human presence in the sacred

    childhood home. An eerie blue light blinked on and off in the kitchen.

           Amos beheld a whole family - numbering 13 - a strange and unattractive

    bunch, but not really sinister looking , seated around the old oak family

    table. They just stared at him with the fish eye stare.

        " I must call the police right now ! "  Amos yelled. " You

    people have no business here ".

          Then the father of the clan got up threateningly from his chair. The

    table had been oddly set for a formal dinner, but the 13 were munching

    uncouthly on Silver Lake Pizza.

         When the father reached for Amos' throat, he grabbed the antique

    phone still hanging on the kitchen wall. He tried to call 911 but

    could hear nothing but static.

        Amos struck the strange man on the face with the receiver. But

    the man was made of SILLY PUTTY or something ! His face was hellishly

    distorted into a hideous, amorphous sight.

          Instantly the ghastly stuff of the invader's face stuck to Amos'

    hand. And soon the right hand of Amos was a throbbing, bloody, red pulp.

    Amos felt it to be on fire .

        Then the whole brood of aliens got up at once with those expensive

    family steak knives in their hands. Amos knew that he was to be sacrificed

    for their angry god. He screamed all the louder.

        Suddenly Amos woke up in that filthy, squalid room he rented above

    the lonely waterfront bar. " No more CHEAP BEER for me ", he resolved.

         The skeleton key  was still in his hand .

Nixon quotes unfair to Nixon ?

A headline in the Providence Journal, " On tape, Nixon sounds off

    about women, minorities " ( Dec. 27, A6 ) no doubt attracted Nixon

    haters. But as registered Democrat I wonder if Nixon's own quotes on

    matters of race and gender in fact misrepresented him . The man had a

    very long life in politics . The isolated quotes of ANY politician rarely

    do him  justice. Isolated quotes of Hitler might suggest a frustrated

    humanitarian !

          A few quotes of John F. Kennedy would make him seem an incorrigible

    and vulgar sexist. Would such a mam have attracted a classy woman like

    Jackie ?

          Did Nixon as President do anything to make life more miserable for

    blacks or women ? Did he make hateful speeches  about anybody but

    faceless " communists " ?

          A man should be judged by his whole life, not quotes taken out of

    context. Can anybody's reputation survive an omnipresent tape recorder ?

        I'm not - heaven forbid - SOFT ON NIXON .  I just don't think he

    was a malicious racist . If he loved anybody in the world, he loved his

    wife and daughters. Is that characteristic of a vile sexist?

        Perhaps Dick Nixon was just a little old fashioned ?

Merry Christmas Larry Flynt !

Merry Christmas to all the Providence Journal on both sides

    of the current Civil War. If all the blushing were bleeding , it would

    be horrendous indeed. The bottom line for citizens like me is simply

    that Bill Clinton should not be impeached. Good and decent citizens

    are entitled to their opinion that he is a lower form of life.

           Your editorial " Scorched Earth " rightly suggests that there

    has to be some end to this " sexual McCarthyism " ( scorched earth ? ).

    But the editor himself is caught  playing with matches here ! Is

    Bill Clinton responsible for Larry Flynt ?  Does the fact that Larry

    Flynt admires him damm him all the more in your eyes. The polls suggest

    that the vast majority of the country admires Bill Clinton - either

    personally or for his performance in office.

           I doubt if Bill Clinton can call off Larry Flint. James Carville,

    mentioned in your " Scorched Earth " editorial , is another matter. I

    recently heard one of Carville's audio books and I must say that I am

    tremendously with the spirit of the man, his OLD FASHIONED liberalism.

                 ( impressed )  . He is a man after my own heart.

        However I am no sappy idealist and I recognize the rogue in my very

    own. I will not be surprised if before leaving office in 2001 , a

    vindicated President William Jefferson Clinton presents the honorable

    Larry Flynt with the Presidential Medal of Freedom " for his patriotic

    services to the country.

            " With malice toward none  .... "

" Chinagorom Chidiebere " - really ?

I felt some qualms over a letter I sent out yesterday . The

    gist of the letter was that multiple births -beyond triplets - were

    downright obscene. I titled the letter : " Multiple births and Mu                 

    Multiculturalism ". I was not ecstatic over the Nigerian woman, Nkem

    Chukwu, who gave birth to eight living " gifts of god " in the Texas

    Children's Hospital.

           But this morning when I read about the proud father of the brood,

    Iyke Louis Udobi, being charged with assaulting his mother -in- law , I

    felt better about that letter. What a way to begin a super family -to

    attack the Grandma of all Grandma !

          But I can only find forgiveness in my heart for the poor, overwhelmed

    Udobi, becoming overnight the father of eight at 41 .

          Had not God Himself commanded us humans to be fruitful and multiply ?

        The last child out of Nkem's womb, a girl, was named " Chinagorum

    Chidiebere, meaning " God is merciful ".

             I'll damm myself to hell - I know - by laughing about God's

    mysterious ways on Christmas Eve. But I must ask a sacrilegious question :

         What is MERCIFUL about octuplets ?  There is a picture of Udobi on

    page A3 ( Providence Journal, Dec. 24 ) . I have seen that look on many

    mental patients. If he spends his first year in jail for assaulting the

    Mother of All Mother in Laws, who will be supporting the kids ?

       Do welfare agencies think kids are " cheaper by the dozen "  ?

            " Be fruitful and multiply ! " Then be as nutty as a fruitcake !

Multiple births and Multi-culturalism

You might say that I'm a true believer in the Welfare State -

    up to a point. All human beings have the same basic needs; they

    are absolutely entitled to the minimum of community support sufficient

    to protect their human dignity. But I understand the dangers of a

    sense of entitlement and the proliferation of " welfare queens ".

          For years now I have been telling my friends that one of the

    greatest evils in life in the reckless reproduction of it - bringing

    more children into the world than you can really provide for.

           Twins and triplets are always cute, as long as they are

    rare phenomena. But multiple births beyond  2 or 3 strike me as

    downright OBSCENE. Nature would have given a woman a half a dozen

    teats if it anticipated multiple births in human females.

        Headline in this morning's Providence Journal : " Donors deluge

    Texas couple with offers of gifts for octuplets ". The mother -and

    her husband certainly - had religious scruples about terminating

    any of the embryos . They were both born in Nigeria but are now

    American citizens.

           Publicity minded corporations - food chains, diaper

    companies,  makers of educational toys , of baby car seats -

    are all joining this multiple birth circus.  The Chukwus have

    even been offered a lifetime supply of tires and oil changes !

           I would not deprive the children of Nkem Chukwu of any

    of this. But I must ask this question : Is not the mother of

    one " illegitimate " child also ENTITLED to at least a fraction

    of the assistance given the Chukwu octuplets ?

          Does mere celebrity call forth our generosity and  well

    wishes . Do we hear -and listen - to the lyrics of the Elvis

    Presley song about that poor ,solitary kid crying " in the

    ghetto ".  That everyday kid does not count ?

Robbing H. Carle - exemplary Republican !

I note with sardonic glee this news item in today's paper: " Clerk of

    House out of a job ". The House Oversight Committee  discovered that

    Robin H. Carle - Republican appointee - has been a robbin US.

        It seems that for Republicans in office nowadays their weird

    compulsion to preach morality in government -especially PERSONAL

    morality - is inversely proportional to their much weaker impulse

    to ACT morally.

         How many Republicans will succumb to what our literary genius

    Poe described as the " imp of the perverse " : to do wicked things

    just because they ARE wicked. ? 

           I believe that the great Russian writer Dostoevsky was

    working with essentially the same idea in his novel " Crime and

    Punishment ".

           Why would a man like Livingston - who knew himself to be

    an adulterer - be so eager to  almost literally cast the first stone

    at President Bill Clinton ?

              Now these  House Republicans - as self-righteous as they

    are self-destructive - who voted against the  democratic wisdom

    of the majority - are the most odious and loathed people in the

    country. 

           Have they wrecked the GOP ?

Killed in House - " compassionate conservatism "

Providence Journal columnist Froma Harrop pointed out in

    her last column that the Republican controlled Congress defied the clear

    mandate for restraint on the impeachment issue - the message of the boss, THE

    PEOPLE - in the November election.

            The House Republicans also ignored the winds of change in the

    party : Texas governor Bush's talk about a new COMPASSIONATE CONSERVATISM.

    They killed that idea when they voted to impeach the president of the

    United States , Bill Clinton - still very popular and more so after that

    viciously partisan and vengeful vote.

           We will not hear anymore about " compassionate conservatism " in

    the next presidential campaign. Now it sounds to much like " communism

    with a human face " written on the Berlin Wall. An iron curtain separates

    the Republican soul from ordinary humanity.

           The impeachment vote can be seen as the Last Hurrah of the failed

    " Gingrich  Revolution ".

Free calls for homeless

 I read in this morning's Providence Journal ( Dec. 21, page B1 )

    that the Travelers Aid Society and Cellular One will offer free telephone

    service - anywhere in the continental United States, Canada, or Caribbean

    islands today ,from 1 to 5 p.m.

           I have a suggestion for giving the homeless a permanent ADDRESS

    if not yet a home.  And it would be a rather prestigious address for

    these unlucky down and outs. My idea is inspired by the movie " You've

    Got Mail ".  

              The Travelers Aid Society might consider acquiring a number

    of personal computers  available to homeless for the all important

    purpose of communicating with numerous people anywhere in the world

    who might know them or be able to help them .

         It is a simple matter to register an E-Mail name and address on

    Excite for example or the Ocean State Free Net ( application may take

    a week or two for OSFN )  .

           Even if the homeless is illiterate ,all he will need for E-Mail

    purposes is a kindly helper .

          When the homeless person comes in from the cold one winter

    morning and sees " You've Got Mail " on a computer screen, he might

    begin to feel like a PERSON again ! Even if the E-Mail is not from

    Meg Ryan or Tom Hanks ! He or she will know that  SOMEBODY in the

    not so heartless world actually cares about their desperation.

             But then even the IRS might care too !

Lasalette 's commercial religion

 " All those lights ! " is a rather childish reason for visiting

    the LaSalette shrine in nearby Attleboro. But around Christmas time

    those hundreds of gaudy lit trees attract crowds. The faithful ? The

    true believers in The Apparition of Mary ?

          Walking around the displays , sipping hot apple cider on a cold clear

    night, the visible stars above seemed to radiate more " spiritually "

      I thought . Does any still devout Catholic share my revulsion of this

    phony religious circus - the Lasalette shrine ?

            The " vibes " I get from the faithful here are about as spiritual

    as the " vibes " I get at the Warwick Mall.

        Is LaSalette a miniature version of Lourdes ? Jesus on sale here !

    Mary - A Coming Attraction ! Bring your plastic blue glow-in -the - dark -

    rosary beads to hail Her !

           For a reasonable fee here alcoholic Catholics and divorced Catholics

    and about to crack up Catholics can get spiritual counseling .

           But not much help for religious junkies !

        Quite honestly Lasalette makes me long for the old time religion of

    the Dark Age . Now that was the real thing !

Pugnacious pacifists !

 Rhode Island's perennial pacifists - many of them - have

    rather pugnacious personalities. Yesterday this CLUB reacted to

    President Clinton 's decision -backed by the United Nations- to

    bomb Iraq: " Hey Clinton, what do you say ? How many kids did

    you kill today ? "

           Is this the same LEFT that does not want him impeached ?

    Nothing like Left-over Patriotism ?

          The 20th century has taught us this lesson : We cannot

    live at peace with dictators. Sooner or later we fight them or

    we SUBMIT to them. We have only this bloody choice .

           Saddam Hussein is responsible for the misery of his own

    people. When he is finally out of the picture, we must do everything

    to help them .

           I do get a kick out of pacifists who in fact hate kids

    and have avoided ever having any themselves shouting : " How

    many kids did you kill today ? "

           Next month he or she may show up at an URGENT meeting

    on the Population Explosion !

         These pacifists always look like they will punch YOU in

    the face when you disagree with them .

            PEACE !  

Great editorial: " Today's college president "

I must applaud your editorial this morning, " Today's college

    president ". This " diversity " as a self-evident virtue is the intellectual

    equivalent of the car called " The Edsel " : it is a sure flop !

          There are many black people and Hispanic people that I honestly

    LOVE. But I do not love them for their black or Hispanic background. I

    can see their INDIVIDUAL souls  -what is most precious about them :

           " I'm the only ME, there will ever be ! "  Get it ?

        It was this maligned Western Civilization that discovered the

    " individual " and laid the basis for Democracy . Group tyranny is

    hostile to our way of life.

An unholy alliance

The wisdom of Solomon : " Never underestimate a desperate president ".

    Clinton 's Satanic cunning - bomb Iraq to get IMPEACHMENT off the front

    page and " maybe even postponed..."  .

          Says Saddam Hussein to his subjugated people : " Fight the enemies

    of God ... "  

           Saddam and our Republican anti- Clinton fanatics have this much in

    common : They believe Bill Clinton is an ENEMY OF GOD !

          And that unmatrimonial sex in the White House is as heinous to the

    Almighty as planned genocide and mass murder . And lying under oath

    about the affair is damming your soul to the Prince of Lies .

          Welcome to the world of the next century . Welcome to the New Dark

    Age , to the Age of Holy War .

          Down with SANITY everywhere !

Newspaper " fame "

As I approached the bus shelter near the fire station on Roger

    Williams Ave. , I noticed a big tin garbage can that had not been there

    before. I instantly attributed it to the thoughtfulness of Senator Bob

    Kells, who lives in the neighborhood.  My family remembers him as a good

    neighbor ( even for a politician ) .

            With eyes on the garbage can, the old bum in me asked : " What's in

    it for me ? "  On the very top of the heap was a whole copy of the Providence

    Journal. I reflected on the etymology of the word EPHEMERAL . The headline

    about Clinton's impeachment would one day be as stale a memory as  " Watergate "

    - whatever FATE or DEMOCRACY OR CONSPIRACY decides .

          But I had just enough time at the bus stop to read a letter of mine

    that appeared that Monday (Dec.14 ) . In the letter I argued rather 

    facetiously that I was entitled to  half of Mo Vaughn's $ 87.5 million

    as " compensation " for abused and exploited ancestors.

            How comical are we humans : with hands in the trash can, we can still

    dream about reaching the stars. For most of us every day is DREAMTIME .

         That letter of mine was titled :" What's in it for me? "

ADULTERY ? - Not Livingston I presume ?

 I have not read the story about Mr. Livingston -yet another

    Republican bigshot - feeling compelled to admit to acts of adultery .

    And what is adultery ? A mockery of his marital vows !

            The radio report says that he was given a standing ovation by

    the GOP Clinton lynchers ! Why this bizarre group behavior ? Dr. Freud

    would have a field day with this, if the famous psychiatrist were alive

    and practicing today .

             Do these BIZARRE and loathsome hypocrites think the American

    people are complete idiots ? They agree with Saddam that Bill Clinton

    is the enemy of God. What humbugs !

FIGHT MR.PRESIDENT -AND YOU'LL WIN !

to President@whitehouse.gov

 " RESIGN FOR THE GOOD OF THE COUNTRY ", SAYS A REPUBLICAN GOON.

    MY FAMILY SAYS : " FIGHT MR. PRESIDENT- AND YOU'LL WIN ! "

         MR.PRESIDENT YOU ARE NOT FIGHTING A SELFISH FIGHT . YOU ARE

    FIGHTING FOR OUR DEMOCRACY !

        WE STILL LOVE BILL CLINTON !

Multi-cultural CLASS prejudice

 I deeply believe that hateful bigotry is an enemy of ALL humanity.

    And so I was struck by this sentence in a front page article about the

    latest URI race incident  ( Dec. 13 , by Marion Davis )  :" They ( blacks)

    don't get the same service as whites... "  ... are " sometimes presumed

    to be JANITORS or WELFARE QUEENS, or THUGS . "

           Is Marion Davis completely oblivious of her CLASS smear here ? Is

    an honest, hard working JANITOR  on the same pariah level as THUGS and

    WELFARE QUEENS ?

           Back , white, yellow,  hispanic , or American Indian  - the poor

    oppressed JANITOR just not count, does not have any claim to our hearts !

          I have believed for many years now that CLASS SNOBBERY has been

    ignored even by the traditional Left -Wing. And that is why the LEFT is

    in such a world wide rut .

         I just saw the play " Les Miserables " on video. I was very moved by

    hearing all the actors  who played Jean Val Jean - so many different

    nationalities and races - sing all together at the end of the  musical :

           " Do you hear the people sing ... ?  "

      Well JANITORS are people too!

Republicans seeking the iceberg !

There is a character in a horror story - an obviously mad

    scientist - who tells skeptical colleagues : "  Crazy am I ? I'll show

    YOU who's CRAZY ! "  And he does .

           Most of the Republicans on the Judiciary Committee - eager to

    impeach the President of the United States - with frivolous charges -

    are acting just like that movie madman . They are determined to tell

    the vast majority of Americans -opposed to impeachment : " We will show

    YOU who's CRAZY ! "  And so they WILL stir the ship of state -FULL SPEED

    AHEAD - toward that impudent and uncontrite iceberg . And so we may end

    up swimming in very cold waters in mid -winter.

           Early this morning in the twilight of consciousness , I heard a

    Republican genius say on the radio : " There is no such thing as a non-

    serious lie ". But this was the perfect example of it !

           How many Republicans get elected by never telling lies ?

      " Read my lips ! "

Applause for A.H. Liddle letter

Somewhat to my surprise , I found myself in complete agreement

    with A.H. Liddle 's honest and perceptive letter in today's Warwick

    Beacon : " Multiculturalism is a failure ".

           Mr. Liddle lost the election for the city counsel, but he remains

    a worthy candidate for any public office.

         Reading the publication " English Journal " - a professional

    magazine for high school English teachers - I was amazed how many

    of the contributors seem to worship at the shrine of Multi- Culturalism.

    ( And with frequent references to Oprah Winfrey ! )

       Yes, Mr. Liddle , multi-culturalism is indeed a fraud; it is

    menacing madness. Who ever thought that Western Civilization could be

    so " controversial " ! I say : Thank God for it !

         Republican or Democrat, we can ALL stand up for 2500 years of

    a great civilization . Without it, there is no FREEDOM and no JUSTICE,

    and little chance for improvement in the life of the majority - black,

    white, or hispanic .

         I also applaud the courage of Warwick Beacon reporter Patrick Luce,

    an editor of URI's besieged newspaper , " The Good 5 -Cent Cigar" .

         You can apologize for a widespread MISUNDERSTANDING of a cartoon.But

    there is no ethical obligation to apologize for ANY well thought out

    opinion . Would the paper have to apologize for an anti -affirmative

    action editorial or column ?

           Free speech will harm no cause worthy of free minds !