A friendlier " Friendly's " ?

The Friendly's Restaurant right near the Warwick Beacon office

    would be a lot friendlier to MOST customers if it banned SMOKING

    completely inside the establishment. This nonsense of offering the

    non-smoker a Non- Smoking section is an utterly phony compromise on

    a deadly serious health matter. Any gaseous substance will DIFFUSE

    until it is concentrated equally throughout the breathing air space.

       A non-smoking section is just as TOXIC the next day as the smoking

    section - just a little less obnoxious for the non-smoker.

          People who continue to smoke in public places - whatever the

    regulations - are enemies of the human race. And I can't fail to

    notice that the smoker is almost always more hideous and " low-life "

    in appearance than he or she  has to be. Despite the advertising

    campaign most young female smokers are definite losers in the looks

    department. I rarely see a really pretty girl defile her face with a

    cigarette. Smoking as a rule seems to advertise BOTH your low IQ and

    low social status.

           The coin laundry near Friendly's is also a public offender in

    this vile smoking matter. That rancid smoke ALSO stinks up your

    freshly cleaned clothes.

          I wanted to tell an old creep there this morning -who was puffing

    brainlessly on a cancer stick : " Look , I don't care if you have

    five minutes left to live, buddy. You're not going to spend it blowing

    that poisonous rot in MY face ! "

          Alas I am way too polite and NICE !

         The government should NATIONALIZE the cigarette companies with no

    compensation to the owners OR the stockholders.

           Smokers should have to pay dearly for their addiction:

        $20.00 a pack ! Profits go the Democratic National Committee !

Beaudreau's Marshall Plan

            I mostly agree with Bernard Beaudreau's insights on " hunger

    in Rhode Island ". But a  " Marshall Plan " suggests a  far graver

    problem than really exists. " Hungry " kids from low income families

    -almost anywhere in the United States - are not comparable to the

    truly STARVING kids we see often in Africa or  other third world

    regions.  How can you forget those bloated bellies with flies buzzing

    around them and the blank expressions on lethargic children. No,

    you can just forget about teaching THEM any alphabet. Cruel Mother

    Nature has made them old before their time.

         Here in Rhode Island a political iron fist will work wonders.

    Above all we need draconian rent controls in the poorer neighborhoods.

    Why should the working class poor pay more than half their income in

    rent ? Most of the so called " landlords " in the Providence area

    are just world class CROOKS. And Buddy Cianci knows it !

          It should be a lot easier to apply for food stamps. The

    agency should not question the integrity of anyone applying for

    food stamps . Let a number of months pass before a client is

    questions. The poor as a class are at least as honest as the

    self-respecting rich.  

Hemingway and Joe DiMaggio

From Magill: " For eighty four days, old Santiago had not

caught a single fish .. " The boy , Manolin, loved the old

fisherman and pitied him. "

" Each evening he came in empty handed. They would talk

about the fish they had taken in luckier times or about American

baseball and THE GREAT DIMAGGIO .. "

At night Santiago dreamed of the lions...

Ernest Hemingway - " The Old Man and the Sea "


RIP - Joe DiMaggio

Applause for Crowe letter

I applaud Sandy Crowe's letter in today's Sunday Journal (March 7 )

    but I question its heading: " I've had enough of moral outrage ". To

    be sure there is not enough MORAL OUTRAGE in this country over the

    greater evils ( dear to the hearts of liberals, I guess ) .

            It is important for ordinary ,decent conservative types to

    recognize the dangers of futile obsession to their own mental health.

        The editorial " Upgrade Providence Schools " suggests the STRONG

    point of many ardent Republicans - education. On this issue they are

    frequently more in touch with reality than Democrats.

          Could anybody accuse the Republicans of being for ignorance and

    a miserable public education system ? I won't !

          I am convinced myself that just throwing money at the education

    bureaucrats will not improve our school.

             If the Republicans can just lock those Creationist babblers

    in the closet , they will be perceived by the Amoral Public as quite

    astute on matters of public education .

A morning chuckle -Kerr

Hi Bob! You made me chuckle heartily this morning with

your inspired contempt for Barbara Wawa. You have HER number!

You MAY have Bill Clinton's too. But let history judge that

now.

For me TV is EVIL mind rot. I refuse to watch it

except by accident. From newspapers at least I MIGHT

learn something.

People like me will guarantee columnists like you at

least a living wage !

Best wishes - ron


- - - - - - - -

response from: Bob Kerr

ron: thanks for the comments. and i truly hope you're correct about my
future employment.
bob kerr

Not quite " narcissism " (to Dave Brussat@Projo.com)

I think Dave in the column Tony refers to was really just

expressing the Average Male's anxiety about being perceived as a

less productive member of society without that powerful status

symbol - MY CAR .

Tony's letter was for me good reading. But I have concluded that

people who write routinely for the public better have huge reserves

of HUMILITY.

I do not own a car myself. But I am no St. Francis in my

inner mental world.

Anyway - was that Brussat I spotted at the bus stop in Kennedy

Plaza ? Narcissism conquered !

Ron

- - - - - -- - -

response from Dave Brussat:

Ron - First off, it is, after all, the devil who's telling me that I'll
be a worm, a nobody, that I might as well live at Travelers Aid. It surely
isn't MY opinion that giving up one's car implies all that, but I have to deal
with the fact that many in society feel that way. Second, by the end of the
column it's clear I'm leaning toward "wormhood," which I obviously wouldn't be doing if I believed that!
Of course, Tony takes umbrage at the idea that, whoever might be saying
it, worms and Travelers Aid clients belong in the same sentence together, or
that they are in any way parallel. In this he is both right and wrong. No,
people aren't worms, even if they are destitute; but yes, I do and he must
realize that destitute people are at the low end of the social pecking order.
(I'm sure I don't need to describe to you why such a social pecking order is
necessary, and even inevitable, and that the poorest among us are, other
things being equal, likely to be near the bottom.
Though he makes a good rhetorical point and drives his truck through the
opening I left for him to do so, he errs in supposing that I believe that the
situation I am in, and the difficulty of the decision I must make, in any way
compare to the problems of the people he describes who, I would presume, often end up at Travelers Aid. But, as a columnist, I address the issues I address
in my own way. Fact is, I don't address questions of how the nation should
solve the problem of poverty. That's not my bailiwick. I have strongly held
(and, I narcissistically suppose, strong) ideas on the subject, but I don't
belabor my readers with them. But, naturally, I think the problems I face are
worthy of addressing, even if they are not the most difficult or important
problems in the world. I don't write about the world. I write about
Providence, and indeed only a slice of Providence and its concerns. Somebody's gotta do it.
Anyway, there you have it. But an entertaining, well-written letter. One
always must resist the inclination to append an editor's note to correct the
letter-writer's errors, but in this case it would have taken too long, and I
was able to resist.
- Dave