Freyer article Pollyannish

 I just read and enjoyed Felice Freyer's article " Growing

    Happy " ( Providence Sunday Journal ,Feb. 28 ) . Still it struck me as

    rather Pollyanish : Oh OLD AGE - which a 60 year old Leon Trotsky

    more realistically described as " hideous " at least for the vast

    majority of humanity - can bubble over with joy, and and the ebullience

    of feeling FREE AT LAST, FREE AT LAST, THANK GOD I'm FREE AT LAST !

            If you're an elderly male BLISS is inconceivable unless you're

    LEGALLY MARRIED ! Just forget about any frivolous " fooling around " on

    the brink of the black ABYSS .  Make that date with City Hall right now.

          And at the age of 90 you might find yourself being chased around

    the country by a brutish bounty hunter, hired by LEGAL wife. " Hell

    hath no fury like the woman scorned ! "

            Nature was WISER at the turn of the century when most of us males

    were dropping dead at Bill Clinton's age. Beginning in middle age "life "

    for most males is just a rather disgusting BAD HABIT.

            Very few of human beings get to understand and experience the

    joys of the mind. After the family raising decades , the average DRUDGE,

    hardly knows why he or she is alive.

             Mankind exaggerates its evolutionary distance from the monkeys.

      A bored monkey is a philosopher of his race !

A one star pun ?

 I read in the entertainment section of my newspaper this

    morning this SECRET OF SUCCESS  from Lucy Lawless - " the fierce,vengeful,

    sword brandishing Xena "  of the TV series " Warrior Princess " :

         " You should think high ", she advises. As a girl she was told,

    " you can be whatever you want to be ".

           But is our society ready for a Lawless judge ?

                        ( Boo ! )

A Nobody Cares !

 read your editorials with the attention they deserve. I

    am always prepared to change my mind  on matters involving

    human beings AFTER THE FALL.

           I just read " And nobody cares " dealing with a Juanita

    Broaddrick's  pathetic " Bill Clinton raped me " story. I

    say " pathetic " because it can go nowhere legally after 20

    years. Also Juanita already admits to LYING UNDER OATH ( Bill

    Clinton NEVER sexually assaulted her ) .

          Was it not in the interest of her state -when Clinton

    was its Atty. General no less - to have this revelation against

    his character ? 

             Is it moral to publicly accuse a man of raping you

    with no intention of taking him to court ?

           So far this incident - which you say is all too

    plausible- seems to have all the complexity of " date rape ".

    Didn't you recently defend a Brown University track coach

    against a highly questionable " date rape " accusation ?

            I did catch a glimpse of the sobbing Juanita Broaddrick

    on television. I asked myself : Do women REALLY get that emotional

    over a sexual incident two decades in the past ?

          Could she be bitter about not having been taken more

    seriously by the rising star politician, Bill Clinton ?

         Do you think that a handsome doorman could ever

    have conned his way into her bedroom ?

            You might be right about Clinton's character. In

    a sense his CHARACTER is perfectly impeachable - but his

    presidency simply was not.

            An unkind cut : Juanita on TV reminded me of a loser

    on the old TV show : " Queen for a Day ".

Projo " archive "- a blessing

 I would like the editors of the Providence Journal to know

    what a blessing their  ON-LINE ARCHIVE is for  readers like myself

    - half gossip, half detective, scholar, and busy body.

            Just this week -using the RIC computers - I really got acquainted

    with this invaluable service . And I had no need of my golden credit

    card ( of course I have one ! ) to access the information I was looking

    for. The " key word " search did the trick.

            I always wanted to know who moved into my old family house in

    the Washington Park area of Providence. I found out fast enough by

    just typing in the old address. It turned out that a member was charged

    with assault on a 17 year old girl. I did not need to know the REST OF

    THE STORY.

            And I found out that a close and dear friend of mine was

    questioned about a dead body in a motel. I STILL do  not know the

    REST OF THE STORY.  ALL THAT was ten years ago. I tried to call " Don "

    but his Miami phone had been recently disconnected.

            I did not even know that the Providence Journal had published

    a letter of mine complaining that Roger Williams Park was turning into

    a " Third World pigsty ". Very politically incorrect ! My Grandmother

    Engley ( it practically says England! )  was little on the nasty side

    famous for her " poison pen ".

             I also found out that a fiery parish priest - way back then

    only about 35 - is still around. Father Behan - he looked a little like

    Mickey Mantle - was now preaching at St. Jude's in Lincoln.

            I also learned that my uncle " Nick " had been a city editor

    for the Providence Journal during the Depression era.

             I look forward to many more hours of snooping on your precious

    electronic " Archive " . Someday I might need  that credit card. But

    can deliver newspapers instead ?

Stay Healthy- stay out of Rhode Island !

This is an ALERT bulletin to the whole world: Stay

    healthy, stay out of Rhode Island. The most ignorant and filthy

    people on earth gravitate to the greater Providence area FOOD

    SERVICE INDUSTRY.

         I can relate numerous hygiene horror stories. But here is

    the latest. I went for a coffee break at the Dunkin Donuts across

    from the Cranston Public Library. It was very busy. An Asian

    kid called customers to form a second line. I was about to

    order a medium, regular coffee and a coffee bun. Then I notice

    rather hideous sores ( Herpes ? ) on the kid's hands. I thought

    that he should at least be wearing those  protective gloves. Did

    ANYBODY care or pay attention? Not even the MANAGER ?

            I " politely " said nothing. But rudeness might have

    been a public service here. I have observed numerous common

    sense violations of hygiene in Rhode Island food service

    establishments.

            Just the other night - around 11 o'clock in South

    Providence - I witnessed a Domino Pizza delivery idiot

    nearly run a guy over crossing Public Street. He seemed

    MAD at the poor pedestrian for even daring to get in his

    way.

            In the morning the New  York system cook routinely

    butters my toast with raw egg on his hands. And then after

    making change with literally filthy lucre continues with

    his short order cooking.

            Many, many more food service horror stories. So

    I say to THE USA TODAY - " Stay healthy, stay out of Rhode

    Island ! "

       You can watch the popular soap opera " Providence " on

    TV at a safe distance from this nightmare state.

Empathy for John Martin ( Feb.21 )

I could empathize with your art writer John Martin after reading

    his painfully revealing column today( " Tinky's tale rings true if you've

    ever felt the heat. " )

           No I won't wallow in some TELL ALL mess. But briefly, I was never

    by any standards I accept GAY. When I was at a still asexual age - 11 ? -

    I was conned into a vulgarly familiar sex in the men's room of a Church

    that sponsored THE BOY SCOUTS. The " seducer " was a dirty old man of

    14 named Larry. What was in it for me ? A cheap baseball and bat !

          Anyway Larry could not wait to let the whole town know WHAT I WAS.

       My own brother interrogated me on this ABOMINATION : " Did you ? "

        " No ", I never touched the creep.

        It seemed that for a year or two  - it was not paranoia - I could

    hear whispered taunts on the baseball field.  When I began my true

    adolescence I felt no special attraction to the male sex. But the word

    was already out : I was not just a fag, but a legendary fag .

          Today- not by accident - my best friend IS gay . He is just my FRIEND!

          Just last year I tried to track down Larry on an internet phone

    number service. I am not at all bitter about this today. I was just

    curious to know what had become of him. Two years after our first

    sexual " adventure " he arranged to share the same tent with me at Scout's

    camp in Westerly. By then I was wise to him. Still he was a funny guy -

    always good for a laugh.

         The only Larry that fits his description now resides in Hollywood .

Nothing "amoral" about Froma's generation

All I know about your fine columnist Froma Harrop is what I

    read in the paper.  I suspected she was not a classmate of Seth Brown

    - that's all. But a recent letter writer- he seemed honest and sincere

    enough- deplored the amoralism of HER generation .

             I can only speak for myself on this ethical generation gap, being

    just months younger than THAT MAN in the White House - Bill Clinton.

            I will assert that the Sixties kids were a quintessentially

    ethical generation. What ,after all, was the Great Rebellion all about -

    but a kinder, saner world ?

              I know from my own personal life that sexual immorality can

    have devastating consequences . I have seen close up the agony of

    divorce and ruined families. Yes, indeed The Wages of Sin !

          But I remember " growing up Catholic " that you did not focus

    on the sins of your neighbor.You focused on your own.

            It was immoral to throw rocks at the sinner ! And that is why

    - whatever its legal justification - I was appalled by the Clinton

    impeachment circus. Who were THEY ( Hyde, Gingrich & Co. ) to point

    their self -righteous Republican fingers at an embarrassed and humiliated

    President of the United  States ?

              I will always think of THEM as " The Conspirators " . If only

    that eloquent Cicero were around today ! He would deliver a great

    speech in the Senate : "The Asinine Conspiracy ".

            As for Froma Harrop, nobody can defend her any better than she

    defends herself !

Shocked by your astrology page ! (to RIC.edu)

 I'll defend the right of a college newspaper to wallow in the

    most controversial ideas and opinions. But as a visitor to your campus

    tonight, I was shocked to pick up " The Anchor " and discover a full

    page devoted to horoscopes - to that astrological rubbish, of no

    educational value whatsoever. I would prefer to see hard core porn in

    your college paper than New Age drivel .

           How many college kids take this crap seriously ? May I recommend

    that they acquaint themselves with basic SCIENCE , with the popular

    writings of Isaac Asimov and Carl Sagan -who dedicated their whole lives

    to the god of REASON . Wrote Asimov : " I will never kiss the ugly face

    of ignorance !  "

Morgan@globe.com -a bad day ?

Is MORGAN@globe.com having a bad day ?  I have been communicating

    with the Boston Globe via e-mail for TWO YEARS now. Several of my

    letters have been published ( see Nov,5, 1998 ) . 99% of my letters

    are on matters of general interest to the country.

           I know that most of them will never be published. But I see

    nothing futile about dropping ideas off at a major newspaper.

         Now and then I might puzzle the editor with a seemingly local

    matter. Seemingly !

            Well today MORGAN@globe.com had a fit over this. His first

    letter to me urging me  not to " missend " letters was polite enough.

    And I responded politely. " Sorry about that ! "

         Then he sent out a second letter : " And why did you send ME this

    letter ? "

              Now I was ready to get nasty . I replied :
    "
       " Dear Sir, did the Clinton impeachment fiasco unbalance your mind ? I

    know when I'm dealing with a Republican stinker ! "

       Now MORGAN@globe.com thinks that I'm not even NICE !

           Take your PROZAC and a speed reading course MORGAN@globe.com

Misread headline ?

On page B3 this morning there is the story headlined : " Mediated

    talks between hospital, union to resume ".

           My best wishes, of course, are for the union. But I think

    another strike MIGHT be suicidal.

        Anyway in a fog- without my coffee yet - I misread your

    headline : " Medicated talks between hospital, union to resume ".

         " Medicated talks ? "   Just a friendly suggestion for

    social peace. ( Feb. 17 ) ( Women & Infants Hospital, Prov. R.I )

" The rich people still like us " ( Rowland )

I got a big kick out GOP " moderate" , Connecticut Gov. John G.

    Rowland's consoling comments in the aftermath of the impeachment

    conspiracy fiasco - at the Desperation Meeting in Miami this past

    weekend ( Feb 13, 14 )  .

            Here is an excerpt from the Song of Rowland :  " I will report

    to you that the good news is that the rich people and the business

    people still like us ".  ( Providence Journal, Feb.15, page A10 )

               But he adds : " Unless they can vote four or five times each,

    we've got some problems.... "

              In a democracy the rich can think that with sufficient funds

    and a fanatical hatred for ANYBODY with a progressive thought in head,

    they can still manage to win the CLASS WAR .

          But beware the aroused beast, the common people who WILL vote

    and know when they are regarded with disdain !

             They know in their hearts that living democracy itself is

    above THE LAW as interpreted by the legal flunkies of our hardly

    invisible class of would be plutocrats.

Save the Roses !

My Mother is not particularly happy to receive flowers as a

    gift on Valentines Day or any other red-letter day. I guess that

    the reason is unconscious : quickly wilting flowers are a sorry sight

    with rather obvious symbolic significance. ( " you look like the last

    rose of summer ! " )

         Anyway that damm WLKW just its listeners some " professional "

    advice on how to keep those roses fresh a lot longer : Cut the stem

    diagonally and immerse them not in water but in the soda beverage " Sprite ".

           This is not nonsense. There is in fact a little higher math

    here. If you ever tip a glass of water you can notice how the surface

    area stretches into an elliptical shape. Proving that the cross section

    of a cylinder is an ellipse is an exercise in a subject that is hardly

    taught anymore - Solid Geometry.

          The area of an ellipse ( forgive the jargon ) is a function of

    semi -axis A and semi- axis B.  When they are equal ( A=B ) we have

    a circle whose area is (pi ) AB . When unequal the area ( if A is greater

    than B ) is a larger ellipse- (pi)AB . Notice that the area of a circle

    is the more familiar (pi)r(squared ( A=r)

           We learn the area of a circle in grade school. But the PROOF is

    only encountered in Calculus - with the more general case of the

    ellipse.

           The sugar and I guess the salts and nutrients in Sprite preserve

    the roses.

          But what does  higher mathematics and botany have to do with LOVE

    and VALENTINES Day. " A Rose is a Rose is a Rose ".

            " Love " is a factor in the population explosion. With you

    like to know more about " geometric progression " - exponential growth ?

    ( would you ? )

Marc A. Genest ( A for ASS )

URI political science professor Marc A. Genest seems unhappy

    with yesterday's Senate verdict on President Clinton - NOT GUILTY !

    His remarks in your paper ( Feb 13 - " Political System has been hurt, local

    pundits say" )  were less than sophomoric even for a professor. So

    Clinton is just a glib, amoral politician who - with the help of an

    equally amoral public - got away with something indeed grievous. By

    the standards of the Republican Right, I guess . By Henry Hyde's , Ken

    Starr's standards ?

           And oh my WHAT WILL WE TELL THE CHILDREN ? I would tell the kids

    of Rhode Island : " Look how easy it is for a complete JACKASS like

    Genest to become a URI professor !  "

          And to the editor of the Journal let me say that true enough,

    CHARACTER IS FATE , but if the Senate verdict had pleased you, then you

    would very soon find out what a Pyrrhic Victory looks like .

          But as JFK said: " Let's get this country moving again ! "

      Republicans are WELCOME in this .

Republican stinker to the end

          You want to know why the Republicans lost big time on the Clinton

    impeachment affair ?  Because all most everyone of them comes across

    as a STINKER to the average American !

           I just heard a GOP Senator ( from Utah ? ) say on the radio that

    Bill Clinton is the most accomplished LIAR of all time . The average

    American knows that Republican politicians in general are no more

    honest than Democratic ones.

           Can we HONESTLY believe that THEY just can't stand a liar ?

        I am reminded of the stereotyped black criminal in the movies ; He

    is a robber, a killer, yes even a pathological liar himself . But

    don't you dare say anything bad about his MOTHER !

            The Republican has a similar reaction to LYING UNDER OATH .

Arrogant New York Times Editorial

An arrogant New York Times editorial said today ( Feb. 11 )

    that the Senate should have the opportunity to condemn President

    Clinton's conduct  even while it ALLOWS him to stay in office.

          It is is no secret that the " respectability " of the New

    York Times is really based on its being the traditional mouthpiece

    of America's now effete WASP RULING CLASS .

       So they imagine it is by THEIR grace that Bill Clinton remains

    in office ? The democratic will of the majority of voters is

    only incidental ?

          I guess delusions of grandeur die hard. The America I

    know and respect is still worthy of its founding fathers -

    who had no problem with " this vision thing " .

Nurses worth more, Bob ! (to Bob Kerr@Projo.com)

Good morning, Bob . Your pro-labor, pinko column today concluded

    with a sentence that suggests a basic axiom of socialized medicine :

    Those pompous and LYING executives are not worth more than the " help " !

         Do you think guys like Paris are registered Democrats ? I'll bet

    that type is apoplectic about Bill Clinton's " high crime and misdemeanor"

    - LYING UNDER OATH  .

              Have a nice day   -  ron

Bless the IRS !

Last week I sent an E-mail message to my friend Bill :" Tax

    form time ! "  He has always prepared my state and federal forms  in

    the past. But this year I  just wanted a quick estimate from him on the

    amount of refund I can expect. And I got it, about $ 900.00 .

           Instead of letting good old Bill do that tedious arithmetic ( he

    is a URI math teacher ) , I went right down to the Internal Revenue

    Office in downtown Providence. I had read about THEM now being more

    user friendly, willing to do  all that dreadful figuring themselves .

    And the information is stored immediately in their own computer

    system. This makes possible a quicker refund .

           To my complete surprise  I did not spend more than a half hour in

    IRS office with a courteous and humorous ( " You want to make a ' Monica '

    deduction for presidential campaigns ? " ) young man .

            I thought myself rather bold walking right into the lion's den.

    But I reasoned that I had nothing to hide from Uncle Sam . " They can

    probably sense when they 're dealing with thief ."



            A little later , at the State Division of Taxation where the

    young man had sent me, I pulled a yellow pen out of my coat pocket

    and looked at it with rush of PANIC : I had STOLEN the young man's

    pen !  I had a paranoid vision of him getting even with me big time .

        I recalled a similar scene from Arthur Miller's play " Death of a

    Salesman ".Biff had stolen a company executive's pen in the course of

    a job interview . Was that not a quick revelation of his untrustworthy

    character?

            Could I be ARRESTED for theft of government property and then

    found guilty of LYING UNDER OATH about it ? (  It was just absent

    mindedness, please believe me !  )

             I hurried back to the IRS office in a state of suspicious

    nervousness. I had to go through the line again as my reading glasses

    set off the metal detector .

             Inside the IRS office, I returned the " stolen " pen to the

    young man . " I'm VERY SORRY about this !  "  I said .

             I guess confession IS good for the soul .

Tyrants behind closed doors

Those arrogant Republican senators who even IMAGINE that

    they have a divine right to remove from office an elected and

    still popular president ... should be begging for forgiveness

    when their outrageous impeachment circus ends this week -and

    ends with a humiliating failure.

            Imagine thug Henry Hyde telling them to defy popular

    opinion and do the " courageous " - the tyrannical thing : remove

    President Clinton from office. The names of the Republican congressmen

    who voted to impeach him will live in infamy. If there is ever built

    an American Hall of Shame , their names should decorate its accursed

    walls !

            So Clinton is responsible for giving " honorable " men

    like Henry Hyde a bad reputation ? He is responsible for an

    atmosphere of cynicism toward those oh so respectable and

    ethical Republican creeps ?

            Mr. Hyde, all of DEMOCRATIC America is laughing at you

    and will continue to laugh at you until your dying day !

Your paper a credit to Democracy ! (to The People's weekly World)

Hopefully by the next time "The People's Weekly World " comes

    out  the shameful impeachment crisis will be history . And the common

    people of this country - of whom your newspaper is a voice, blacks,

    whites, hispanics - the American working class - will have won a

    major political victory.

            Though I am a registered Democrat, I have no illusions about

    the party as a whole. Many Democrats waited to see which way the

    political winds were blowing before speaking out against a FASCIST

    conspiracy  to undermine the modest democracy that is still a reality

    in the United States.

           Who are scoundrels like Henry Hyde and Newt Gingrich ( good

    riddance Newt ) but conscious enemies of the working class ?

            I read somewhere that Hyde resented  his Republican goons

    being treated " like blue collar workers " by the aristocratic Senate .

          And just how does Henry Hyde think  that blue collar workers

    should be treated ? Like blacks in the Old South ?

           Working class America and papers like the " People's Weekly

    World - and elder statesmen of the Class Struggle like  Gus Hall -

    smelled a rat !

            Let the reactionary remnants of the ruling class tremble !

A " Contact " dream

Last night I had an unusual dream - vivid, pleasant, and

    lucid. It may have been inspired by a rather sad newspaper story

    about the " last farm in Rhode Island " or images of my brother

    Steve' recent visit to sunny Italy or the Carl Sagan movie " Contact "

    where space traveler Jodie Foster  finds herself in an alien

    " golden country " controlled by semi-divine beings .

             In my dream I found myself back on an old New England

    farm at harvest time, in late August or early September. I was

    ecstatic by the abundance and variety  and the beauty of the

    farm produce all around me - a scene right out of the Roman

    poet Virgil's " Georgics ".

           I remember thinking this thought : there must have

    been a time  in the history of humanity - the agricultural

    revolution ? - when seeing what the good earth - " the mother

    of all things " could grow , with the creative help of mankind

    - stimulated the human mind and heart just as much as any

    gadgets we have around the house today. But here you had

    the glory of living things !

             That world is now dead to ninety percent of

    humanity. Yet unconsciously we long to again make

    " contact " with it , the living land - the closest

    we can ever get to the divine !


           One recalled incident in my dream : A fat, friendly

    pig comes through a wooden fence gate - right up to me.

     He is so intelligent and eager for my attention . I learn

    that this pig is the farm family's pet - not to be

    slaughtered . Then I woke up in less than idyllic Warwick,

    Rhode Island .

Footnote to Excellent Letter

Good morning, dear staff of Providence Journal . I would just

    like to add a footnote to Kirk T. Feather's excellent and perceptive

    letter this morning . ( thank you for publishing it as it was rather long )

           In his Feb. 5 letter - " Owens doesn't like America's changes " -

    Kirk writes : ... " no rational person will now defend the chief executive's

    personal behavior ".

         True, true , no rational person . But YOU KNOW it does get a quite

    lonely in that American museum house late at night, with the weight of

    the world on your shoulder and very eager and charming young lady just

    dying to comfort you !

Good news for drunks

 It seems every few months now there is yet another health news

    revelation  about the wonderful effects of one glass of red wine. Just

    ONE glass. But who do I find to be the most receptive to this " news "

    - which now reeks like stale wine ? Incorrigible winos - that's who !

            They who invariably show the effects of ONE glass too many - or

    out and out inebriates - see themselves as just solicitous for that

    healthy heart beat.

             Then unconsciously the fatuous logic : If one drink of fine red

    wine is so good for you , then surely a whole bottle is the very elixer

    of life !

             Next thing we will learn :  One cigarette a day actually

    PREVENTS lung cancer !

            Soon that glass of cheap red wine will cost as much as a pack

    of cigarettes AND a small bottle of generic aspirin .

            But our health is priceless !

Paltry vs.real miracles

           Two items in your " Stuff " section today ( Feb.5 ) - " Beware

    psychic promises " and " Miracle for sale " - should remind the

    thinking minority - that superstitious nonsense is alive and well

    as we end the millennium .

             Too bad for the drug dealer who faces at least 10 years in

    jail for heeding a psychic's advice ( " You'll never  be convicted " )

             Now this from the Holy Land : soon tourist at the Sea of

    Galilee can stand on a submerged bridge at the site of the famous

    Gospel " miracle " and appear to be walking on water themselves .

            From this hidden bridge you can also be on the lookout for

    that sinister  male Jew  who , Jerry Falwell tells us , must be

    the anti- Christ.

             Kids should be taught in grade school that there is

    no evidence that laws of nature have ever been suspended for an

    instant.

            And what a paltry miracle is this walking on water. It

    is far more " miraculous " that the human mind could grasp the

    PRINCIPLE of buoyancy : a submerged object is buoyed up by the

    weight of the water it displaces. Christ could no more walk on

    water than the Titanic could not sink.

         The Christ of Gospels seems to be above playing cheap tricks

    on ignorant. The one genuine miracle of his life was his gift

    of faith and leaving the world a slightly kinder place : We no

    longer  publicly crucify our criminals. But then the electric

    chair at least hints at the torments of hell fire - to the

    delight of the vindictive amongst us .

Ralph Nader to Dave (to Dave Brussat @Projo.com)

Good morning ,Dave. Just read your column and then had

a vision of an angelic Ralph Nader descending down upon a shining,

heavenly cloud into your very office. Smiling benevolently, he says :

" Do the right thing Dave ! "

Providence will bless you !

have a nice day - ron
- - - - - - - -

comment from Dave Brussat:DBRUSSAT@ProJo.COM
To: ar803@osfn.rhilinet.gov
Subject: Re: Ralph Nader to Dave
Date: Thu, 04 Feb


I don't know, Ron. Sending in Ralph to impersonate an angel may not be the most persuasive tactic! He's not my favorite person. Nevertheless, I am, I
think, leaning toward dumping the car. But I really, really haven't made up my mind yet. It is genuinely a difficult decision, with good arguments on both
sides, as in the Monica imbroglio. Maybe someone will send me, instead of
Ralph Nader, a tip on where to go for a cheap space, not to distant!
Thanks for the note.
- Dave

Some thoughts on the homeless

With the year 2000 approaching you would think there would

    be more bold and FRESH thinking about old social problems.

           As Patrick Kennedy points out in his column this morning ( " In

    defense of America's homeless ", Providence Journal, Feb. 3 ) government

    programs -conceived by liberals but crushed by callous conservatives-

    might have helped a lot. It seems to me that HOMELESS PEOPLE began to

    spring up like mushrooms - everywhere - in the Reagan era .

            Homeless shelters do little to take the stress out of homelessness.

      If the homeless person is not mentally ill at the very beginning of

    his or her ordeal, that person soon will be. We cannot expect the

    average  homeless victim to be viewed positively in a job interview. His

    stressed situation - suggesting lack of stability - is all too obvious.

          Every person needs privacy in order to sleep well. And he needs

    to have access to a hot bath and shower facility - and also a convenient

    laundry service.  A phone too is hardly a luxury for a working person .

          A tired, stinking, ragged person is not prepared to enter any

    workplace !

             In 1970 in the Providence area it was possible for a single

    male or female to find a perfectly decent room -complete with cooking

    facilities - for as little as $13.00 per week . And I believe welfare

    checks for single people were about $ 40.00 weekly. Today this almost

    sounds like the good life !

             Where are all those single rooms for rent today ? And what do

    they cost now relative to a weekly welfare check - supposedly the minimum

    which a human being can actually live on in a city like Providence ?

            Would not a draconian rent control program get a lot of homeless

    people off the street ?

          I also think a 21st century revolution in architecture might

    finally solve the homeless problem for good.

           Why can't we try to find cheap new ways to shelter everybody

    and provide the amenities of civilization ? I once heard a married man

    say : " If it weren't for the wife and kids, I could live in a cave ".

          Cave ? A modern cave ? Now there's an idea !

Ron Santa vs. feminists

 If you take Ron Santa's letter today seriously ( Legal sex changes

    in Clinton era, Providence Journal ,Feb.2 ) you would think that Henry

    Hyde & Co. - not Bill and Hillary Clinton - are the best bet for today's

    challenged feminists. Doe Santa think that feminists are just like the

    stereotyped " dumb blond " - good for one thing only, not capable of

    making a single rational decision ? You can't be Mother Teresa ( an anti-

    feminist ! ) and play political hard ball .

            It is not OK to harass women in the Clinton era !  And it was

    never OK for Clinton himself. Did not a female federal judge dismiss

    the Paula Jones sexual harassment lawsuit ?

          Is Mr. Santa a champion of feminist ideals himself ? Does he support

    unlimited opportunity for able women ? Does he support abortion rights ?

    Would he have supported the Equal Rights Amendment ?

         If not he -like Henry Hyde - is just a serpentine " friend " of

    feminism .

A squirrel in a Ratti's attic ?

I just had my first lesson in Management 101 from - I guess -

    a professional, Nicholas Ratti Jr. ( see " Clinton benefits from

    hatemongering " , Providence Journal letter, Jan.31 ) .

         So  Bill Clinton -like a cute squirrel in Ratti's attic - must be

    removed from " High Office " to protect the company ?

        But what if the majority of stockholders in the company wanted to

    indulge the cute squirrel rather than throw him to the Ratti ?

         What if the majority loved the sound of the cute squirrel cracking

    all those nuts in the attic ?

         What if the majority of stockholders should prefer the presence of

    the cute squirrel in high office to that of the stinker- the ugly skunk -

    who is " in " with the Ratti ?

            Enough of Mr. Ratti's Management 101 for me ! I'm going to

    find  more nuts for that squirrel. Perhaps he will scare the rats

    away ?

        And it will not even cost the company $ 50,000,000 .00 !