HIV positive attitude

A story on page A3 -Nov 29 : "HIV -free man sues after test says he's ill " - shows how litigious and petty people can be. For two months James Gaunt had been " agonizing over his fate ". Then he found out that the SmithKline Beecham lab had made a mistake.

Yes, it was like getting off death row. Now Gaunt wants to sue the lab for causing him " permanent emotional injuries ".

It is true that he is going to die some day . Our lives are like drops of water going over Niagara Falls. The voyage is only as meaningful as we make it.

The experience should have made James Gaunt more thoughtful, more grateful for LIFE . Any lab can make a mistake. I believe his " permanent emotional injuries " call for nothing less than a sincere apology from SmithKline Beecham .

Our pity should be reserved for those suffering the living hell of full blown AIDS. A rational national health care plan will also accomplish this : it would end frivolous malpractice suits.

Medical professionals will not need to have very expensive insurance coverage .

How many lawyers will support " socialized medicine " ?

Unequal care for kidney patients

A little dense perhaps - The New York Times article:" Report discovers unequal care for kidney patients " ( By Denise Grady , Nov.25). " Blacks and those cared for by for profit centers less likely to receive the best treatment: a transplant operation ". (Projo, front page ) .

Let the alert reader ask this question: Is being BLACK hazardous to your health - or is it being POOR ? Almost any quack in business will think a black man's money is as good as a white man's money . Capitalism is not prejudiced against affluent GREEN !

Would a poor white on Medicare be equally endangered if he or she had a serious kidney disease ? If so , the New York Times article makes a false RACE issue here. The real issue is poverty and there are millions of poor whites too .

ALL human beings are entitled to quality medical care. We just cannot escape the necessity for a national health care plan - even if the mean-spirited Republicans call it Socialized Medicine.

CLASS - not RACE - is the fundamental issue .

Nice to see a new guy here !

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Well, you made your point, even with a minimum of verbiage. I support the Vatican here. And I think that right now the Catholic Church is the most progressive institution on earth in its social and economic philosophy. Unlike world capitalism, it never did forget the poor, or its ancient roots as a religion of the poor and the oppressed.

If the area in dispute between the Arabs and the Jews were not "Holy Land " to both sides, these peoples could get along just fine .

The fact is that the Palestinians could find a new home ANYWHERE in those vast Arab lands. The Jews are confined to very little space. If God gave them that wretched land, He was not being over-generous to His Chosen People.

If I were a Jew, I would make New York City my "Holy Land ". A whole lot safer there !

Peace will come to Israel when their prime minister is half-Jew and half-Arab , preferably with an Arab father and a Jewish mother.

Nazis accused the Jews of being greedy lovers of gold. But then why were so many of them rebels,radicals, and communists - my Chosen People ? And it does not even matter if THEY own everything. Three Jews in a room will hardly
agree on ANYTHING - not even WHO is a Jew!

Shalom !

No hate here !

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I believe that I can comprehend simple English. I fail to find any HATRED in this man's heart. He has a moral right to believe as he does about homosexuality. I have a more "liberal " position on gay Boy Scouts: Don't ask, don't tell! And find other matters to occupy your young minds besides sex. It really is a very interesting Universe that God has made!

Your sexual orientation is only important if you see the Boy Scouts as a happy hunting ground for homosexual seduction. Note the story about the pervert right across from the Bakst column today.

Charles Bakst is a complete phony -and an insufferable little snob. Forward him your post -and see his wretched "character " come through in any response. I've been there !

Charles Bakst - a rude little man! The only gays he likes are most likely from the privileged upper middle class -hardly OPPRESSED HOMOSEXUALS!

And he is quite the sycophant ! Always sucking up to the high and mighty in Rhode Island.

Scarlett O'Hara Inspires the Homeless

If I were hungry and homeless,I would hope that pure GUMPTION might solve my problem. Headline in today's Projo: " Beds scarce for homeless ". How long have we been reading about the HUNGRY and the HOMELESS ? And what has really
been done about this appalling misery in the midst of plenty ?

The capitalist press has turned it into a depressing BUSINESS. At least there is money to be made writing about it. The middle class readers can then thank God for their own comfort. THEY must be His Chosen People!

Recall that famous scene in " Gone with the Wind " where the heroine, Scarlett O'Hara, swears to God that she will never be hungry again :

" As God is my witness...I'm going to live through this, and when it's all over,I'll never be hungry again -no , nor any of my folks!

" If I have to LIE , CHEAT , or KILL ! As God is my witness, I'll never be hungry again ". "

Great words, Scarlett ! Replace hungry with HOMELESS and we have a practical program for dealing with these enduring evils ?

For a more philosophical treatment of this topic - oppression and the class basis of morality - read Leon Trotsky's " Their Morals and Ours ".

I can almost agree with this exiled Russian revolutionary -assassinated by Stalin in Mexico in 1940 .

Congratulate China in space

Only a lunatic would want us to have an antagonistic relationship with China. Two billion people and now : China in Space ! " The spacecraft Shenzhou was launched yesterday " . Perhaps touching outer space will make " communist " China a more " spiritual "nation. China's civilization is so old that one day its 20th century history might seem just a nightmare aberration. The Old China must still be there -and the old Chinese Wisdom .

I enjoyed reading Lin Yutang's book " The Importance of Living " - definitely pre-revolutionary Chinese thinking. No tolerance for life loving " scamps " in China today. Lin's book is just gathering dust in American public libraries today. Are any contemporary Chinese scholars familiar with this

Chino-American scholar? I recall an old illustrated children's book : " The Five Chinese Brothers " . One of them "swallowed the sea" ! A metaphor for China's future appetite ?

Kid smoker: " I'll die anyway "

Tom Fisher is " famous" this morning ( front page, Nov. 20) for a sad reason - a memorable quote: " I'll die anyway ", the 17 year old said in defense of his cigarette addiction. " I might as well die doing what I love doing " . I'm amazed - the pleasure is that great !

With that kind of courage , he might be worthy of a more meaningful death - perhaps dying for his country in the next " good war " .

Here we see hedonism rising above the instinct to live . Not only to live but to live a life that mattered .

A kid with no sense of REALITY does not really KNOW that he is going to die the way a middle aged guy KNOWS for sure that he'll die - and soon enough : just be PATIENT you inveterate readers of obituaries !

I blame Hollywood movies for inspiring kids to smoke. Just last night I observed that every kid in the popular movie " Stand by me " based on a Stephen King story smoked . A multi-million dollar advertisement for the tobacco industry.

I thank the old " Reader's Digest " for warning me about the evils of smoking . When I was Tom Fisher's age I read " I am Joe's Lungs ". How many kids are addicted to READING ?

School Reform Hoax

Headline in Projo: " A sweeping plan for school reform " (Nov. 18) . What it all amounts to is this: " standards-based education ". Our school system must be nothing less than world class.

Kids in Denmark " in the vocational track " are still expected to know so much more than our fast track losers : algebra , foreign language, biology, chemistry ,physics , geometry , statistics and probability .

Of course we can get those " underprivileged " kids - or just challenge challenged - the kids at Central High in Providence - to meet the tough new standards - even though they can hardly meet the present standards in ANY subject.

All we needed all along was a no -nonsense bureaucrat cracking the whip: There will be pain , School Supt. Diana Lam promises. The pain will be felt by those poor kids already born with three strikes against them. Working class kids will learn that their own stupidity -not the SYSTEM - keeps them in their place.

An economic system with a bottom line demands a BOTTOM class. Twenty years from now the " sweeping plan " headline will be read with a sardonic smile - so much the rubbish of the day.

What the educational system needs -indeed what our farcical political system needs - is the RADICAL criticism of the 60s, full of passion for REAL change, REAL justice, REAL equality.

You cannot BEGIN to reform the educational system while pretending that CAPITALISM and the blind forces of the world market have given us the best of all possible worlds.

It is heartless, ruthless CAPITALISM that will make most kids multi-cultural losers - no matter how fine their education. And don't pretend that the educational system really encourages kids to THINK . Thinking is way too dangerous to be left to the non-elite , the future victims of capitalism .

Radical criticism has nothing in common with obnoxious and phony political correctness - an elite invention which serves the elite.

Men and women of all races , atheists and believers, gays and straights, the able and the handicapped , the young and the old are welcome to join the New Rebellion .

And the most subversive force in America today is still the TRUTH !

Let us NOT pray ?

Why do liberal Jewish lawyers -who vow loyalty to the Jewish State of Israel - have convulsions over school pray in the United States ?

They think that individuals here - if only a few - must " not be made to feel like outsiders in their own community because of their religious views " ?

Since when must the Constitution protect our FEELINGS ? Your economic status in this capitalist society can make you FEEL like a pariah more quickly and effectively than your religious views. How many affluent, anti-school prayer lawyers are socialist at heart - feeling guilty ,not proud, about living in exclusive neighborhoods ? What about the feelings of the homeless downtown ?

It was only a few decades ago that school prayer was outlawed. I guess guys like George Washington, who established Thanksgiving, did not have a clue about the implied wisdom of their Constitution on this matter of the separation of Church and State.

I personally FEEL that those prayers before a high school football game -invoking the favor of the Almighty (who was absent during the Holocaust ) - are sub-idiotic. But I can live with this religious fervor -just as I live with fatuous capitalist advertising.

Allowing school prayer is a long way from establishing a theocracy or from persecuting citizens for religious non-conformity.

Minority rights must be protected-not their FEELINGS. Does a contemptuous anti-religious minority have a constitutional right to muzzle the religious majority ?

Bad Dunkin Donuts coffee - Cream Spoiled!

For breakfast I have a coffee to go with the Projo on the side.But the newspaper is a better deal for the money-always FRESH !

Not so the coffee. I order coffee with cream at the Dunkin Donuts -and get TOO OFTEN stale coffee with vomit ( spoiled cream ).

Does this happen to YOU ? A cup of Dunkin Donuts coffee is almost as expensive as a gallon of gasoline. The company should show more respect for us coffee
addicts.

How can the worthy help not notice bad cream ? How listless and inconsiderate can you be ?

Should this be an election year issue ? Kids should be taught that not paying attention to your job- no matter how humble or poorly paid- is frequently
unethical.

We whine and whine about our precious rights. But more and more people think that they really owe nothing to the " stranger " - not even ,and now uncommon,
common courtesy, a moment of attention.

Perhaps we are just getting the world that we deserve !


- - - - - - -  -
comments:

Ron - I was married once, and I had better coffee in the morning to be
        sure. But marriage didn't save much moneh! - Dave

       
Ronald Ruggieri wrote:

       Dave, I loathe the standardized Dunkin Donuts building. Late

at night that awful fluorescent lighting actually repels me from

the place. Always a nightmare out of the surrealistic movie " Midnight

Cowboy ".

        WGBH in Boston has just reminded me - with " Fidelio " in the

background - that today is the great Beethoven 's birthday. How

greatful I am for the little culture that is out there.  I can't

picture myself listening to "  " in a Dunkin Donuts joint.

        And by the way they are often careless about little

things like FRESH CREAM . If you're paying attention, bad cream looks

like an infant vomited in your coffee !

          Save that $ 3600 . Make your own coffee. Or get married -

that will save big bucks - I'm sure !

                         Have a perking nice  day  - Ron

Democrats pandering to gays

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Read the story in the Boston Globe this morning:" Bradley,Gore step up pursuit of gay voters. " By pure hypocrisy-not commitment- Bill Bradley has surpassed Al Gore in this unprincipled business of pandering to gay agenda fanatics.

I'm convinced that most gay activists have a passion for self-indulgence and special treatment -not EQUALITY-which is just a human right. They want to make non-approval of homosexuality-which is not the same thing as mean-spirited contempt for decent,civil gays-a THOUGHT CRIME punished by the State.

It is INSANE to revise the 1964 Civil Rights Act to accommodate daffy gay activists. And read the headlines in newspapers. What a horrible place the world is becoming ! Catastrophe, tyranny, insanity, and preventable misery
everywhere !

Middle class gay activists see their cause as the center of their warped universe. What are they really after? Unrestrained sexual freedom ? Okay, that is THEIR
business. Have fun, guys ! But don't pretend that your hedonistic cause is as important as CLASS issues -like poverty, and the obscene mal-distribution of wealth in this country.

The Left has been completely corrupted by its fawning attention to arrogant-and very MIDDLE-CLASS- pampered minorities.Let political nitwits obsess forever on the issues of RACE and SEX.

Most of us will continue to worry about the rent and those nasty medical bills.

Do you hear US , Pat Buchanan ?

Math panic in girls

I just read J. Steiny's interesting column on the innovative math program at Burrillville High ( Lois Short, department chairwoman, Kristi Craig,instructor) .

I wish there were a similar program at Scituate High where my "good in English " niece ,Tara, is floundering and near panic in her traditional, mind numbing Algebra course.

I'll bet that a sensitive -female- instructor -even more than an Interactive Mathematics Program -would do more for her confidence in her own brain . A teacher who would "turn the light on " . I reminded Tara of a scene in the movie " Peggy Sue Got Married ": 42 year old Peggy Sue ( Kathy Turner ) finds herself traveling back in time. She is back in her high school Algebra class -and unprepared for a test." And what is the meaning of this, Peggy Sue ? " asks her grouchy male teacher, a guy that crushes the confidence of the math phobic.

"Believe me ", she says impudently, " I will not be needing this crap in the future. And I speak from experience ! "

Still girls like Tara should not give up on "higher " math -like elementary Algebra. They might want to know how to maximize a candy store's profits someday. So best wishes to Burrillville High's IMP .

There is a helpful book written by a woman, S. Tobias : " Math Anxiety ". A little dated but still relevant : " Why Johnny Can't Add " by Morris Kline.

Yes, female math students deserve more attention and respect. Those traditional methods of math instruction are deadly dull to them.

Health care -issue that UNITES

I applaud your editorial calling for - horror of Right Wing horrors - a national health care plan : " Time to cover everyone " ( Oct.31 ) .

Here is an issue that should UNITE the nation . We must see health care - REASONABLE health care - as a basic human right.

Nobody - not black citizens or white citizens , latino or Asian citizens - American Indians - gays that are HIV positive - should panic or suffer humiliation because of the costs of health care .

Right now half the nation has pariah status from the health industry's point of view . And let me also point out that that even those dreadful illegal aliens have a HUMAN right to medical care -at least to emergency services and to benefit from the innate kindness of the American people.

Yes, the money must come from somewhere , from somebody , perhaps from EVERYBODY . Let intelligent leaders figure all this out : A national health care plan that does not RUIN any social group.

True enough individuals can take a little more responsibity for their own health. Stop smoking, drinking to excess, over-eating junk food , exercise routinely.

Stop thinking that your car is more important than your health. Everybody knows the guy who can always come up with an extra hundred bucks every other month for his damm car. But $50 for a dental cleaning twice a year ? But I'm not covered for this !

We can do better in this matter of health care.