Carl Sagan rescues Dr. Laura

       Dr. Laura is being accused of practicing ideological

    witchcraft in teaching that homosexuality is a MISTAKE

    of nature.  Biologists understand that Mother Nature is

    always making mistakes. Often enough the Great Designer

    seems asleep on the job . Even our many allergies are just

    a cruel mistake, the body mindlessly attacking itself.

           I was amused to read in Carl Sagan's biography

    ( William Poundstone, page 88 ) that he feared that his

    son, Dorion - ironically named in homage to Oscar

    Wilde - might be led astray by a gay companion :

        " A worried Carl sat down and lectured him that

    homosexuality was not the way the species propagates

    itself. "

            Indeed natural selection was a better argument

    for Carl here than quotes from Leviticus.

            Sagan was not at all hostile to gays. He had

    a " long and productive " collaboration with Jim Pollack,

    a fellow scientist who studied the Venus greenhouse effect.

             Obviously homosexuality is not fatal to human

    society because it is an " aberration " . But homosexuals

    as individuals can make great contributions to human

    culture - and indirectly  contribute to the survival

    of the species.

           In our overpopulated world I see them as a

    blessing !

Golden showers instead ?

Good morning, Bob .  I fancy myself above jealousy

    but those golden parachuters reminded me of a Camus

    quote : " The look of success when worn in a certain

    way will infuriate a jackass ".

             What they REALLY deserve is a golden shower, but

    those kinky clubs are being shut down.

          Yes, here is one issue that won't go away : the

    gap between the rich and the poor in Rhode Island AND

    everywhere else in this land of compassionate conservatism.

           Thanks for not losing touch .

                                Ron R.

Ohlemeyer's view not ridiculous

Thanks to a conscious CHOICE  when I was a teenager -

    and honest popular magazine articles ( " I Am Joe's Lungs " -

    Reader's Digest ) , I never became  a cigarette smoker .

            In vain  I urged my own father to quit. Smoking

    was a factor  , I believe, in his mortal illness . True

    enough,  tobacco is highly addictive - just as alcohol.

             Still I find myself oddly in agreement with

    William Ohlemeyer of Philip Morris that the recent

    Florida verdict  against the tobacco industry -

    $145-billion punitive damage award is rather outrageous

    ( USA TODAY ,July 17 ) .

             That sum of money is best invested in a national

    health care plan , not rewarded to  cigarette addicts

    out of sympathy for their plight.

            Imagine becoming almost prosperous as a result

    of life-long bad habits -  habits avoided by the brighter

    half of the nation !

           Also a jury in Florida has no right to redistribute

    the national wealth in a grand way. THAT must be done

    a little more democratically by -YES - BIG GOVERNMENT.

    And done a little more efficiently.

            I myself am addicted to the Welfare State. Loved

    THAT MAN - FDR !

Words NOT the essence of bigotry

 " Crucify her, she's an anti-Semite ! " is what I

    really hear while reading : " Time for Slur-Monger Hillary

    to Withdraw from Senate Race ". ( NewsMax.com , 7/16 )

          WHATEVER Hillary said a long time ago in a fit of

    loser fury does NOT confirm her as an anti -Semite .

         As a  New York  Senator she will serve ALL New Yorkers


     honorably.   How many  business managers could survive

    the DID YOU EVER SAY THAT ? test ?

          Real bigotry is not what anybody says in an emotional

    state. It is what they DO over an extended period of time. It

    involves ACTIVE MALICE , the conscious desire to hurt and

    destroy.

           Nixon once called Henry Kissinger , I read , a Jew Boy.

    Yet Henry was  crying  at the funeral of the Chief .

            Kissinger, the diplomat, knew how to weigh words !

        Do we ?

Jeff Jacoby mess

          I am no conservative and your columnist Jeff Jacoby

    frequently annoys me.  But I wonder if our " permissive "

    society is becoming a bit too punitive. Everyday ones

    reads about nice people losing their jobs for something

    they said - or failed to say .

         To be sure NOBODY has a divine right to be an influential

    newspaper columnist.  Writes a shocked Jacoby : " I

    thought my future at the paper was limitless ".

        Welcome to the REAL world , Jeff. Perhaps you can

    develop more empathy for this society's losers. For

    example the working poor who lack health insurance . Or

    death row prisoners who cannot hire a Dershowitz to

    defend them.

         And Jeff, YOU were spared the " death penalty "

    here. Hope to read your column again in the Boston

    Globe . And I do hope this does not become a Jewish thing !




From: dbrussat@projo.com ("David Brussat")
    To: ar803@osfn.rhilinet.gov
    Subject: Re: [ar803@osfn.rhilinet.gov: Jeff Jacoby mess]
    Date: Mon, 17 Jul 2000 10:14:35 -0400


    Ron - Jacoby's column was one long screed against hatred - the
    hatred expressed by the (usually liberal) elite against people who think
    that disagreeing with them is itself a hate crime. Jacoby was purged
    because he is conservative - his stuff has been vetted for years by a
    couple of homosexual copy editors who hate his guts and have been
    trolling for a sackable crime for years. They finally found it, or at
    least found something twistable into a sacking crime. And yes, Ron, if
    you have a family and are given four months' unpaid suspension, you have
    been sacked. It was done this way only so they can argue that they did
    not sack him (and some people will even believe them!). There was not a
    word in his ouevre that suggests he does not have compassion for the
    people you say he should have compassion for; but he was not liberal,
    and only liberals, in the liberal view, can have genuine compassion.
         - Dave

Albright all right on Rwanda

How can our  Secretary of State, Madeline Albright

    live  with her sane policy of  keeping American troops

    far away from the African heart of darkness ? God bless

    her !


            Can you believe it ?  800,000 African crazies - Hutu and

    Tutsi - kill themselves in an insane civil war and WE

    owe THEM reparations - according to an international

    panel assembled by the Organization of African Unity.

          " African unity " - what a joke. America's public

    conscience is FINISHED with Africa, AIDS et all.

             We say in the spirit of anti-colonialism : Leave

    Africa to the  Africans ! Out of Africa !

           Leave this accursed continent to its fate .

Affirmative action executions

Isn't it rather shabby moralizing to oppose the death

    penalty just because it can be viewed as unfair to blacks ?

           To be sure, this particular injustice can be corrected

    even in Texas. Let the good Governor Bush guarantee " affirmative

    action " for whites convicted of murder. Give THEM an

    equal opportunity to sizzle in the electric chair.

          Does it not make better sense to oppose the death

    penalty for the reasons that the Catholic Church opposes

    it: because it is morally wrong AND barbaric ?

         Also, I can think of a good CONSERVATIVE reason to

    oppose the death penalty : If we distrust State power, do

    we want to give it the  heady power to execute ?

            There is more gravy than GRAVITAS in George W.

    Bush.

            But let me be honest. I will lose no sleep over

    most executions.   My own father supported the death

    penalty - and there was not a mean bone in his body..

            Decent people can disagree here, of course !

Can a dentist save this marriage ?

Thank God for divorce ! A woman complains in an Ann

    Landers column this morning that her husband has not brushed

    his teeth in 20 years ! " He rarely kisses me which is probably

    a good thing ".  Is there any torture quite like forced intimacy

    with people who disgust us ?

         But the woman just wants advice- not a divorce. Ann

    tells her  that his dental hygiene might improve " when

    he gets really sick because of an infection that started in his

    mouth. " 

         The woman said that her insurance does not cover dental

    appointments. Is it not stupid for our medical care system

    to separate dental health from general health ?

         Indeed Wanda Howard this morning quotes the nation's

    surgeon general : " Oral health is integral to a person's

    general health ".

        Please don't tell millions without dental insurance to

    just " brush your teeth and say your prayers ! "

" To Kill a Mockingbird " racist ?

There is no limit to the intellectual vulgarity of our

    PC educators! So now they perceive that wonderful novel

    " To Kill a Mockingbird " represents a " white view of

    racism ". To be sure , it represents a white woman's sensitive

    view of racism in the deep South in the Depression era.

           Such books as Harper Lee's  helped create a

    sympathetic climate for the 60s civil rights revolution.

              If it is simply IMPOSSIBLE for even sensitive,

    intelligent whites to REALLY understand the very real

    problem of blacks, what hope is there for racial harmony

    ever ?

           By the way Malcolm X 's autobiography  TODAY

    - un-annotated - sounds as vile as Hitler's " Mein

    Kampf " . But Malcolm had more of an excuse in 1965 !

            Malcolm seemed to loath Jews and said

    of those alluring white women : " Did you ever SMELL

    one of them ? " A matter on which we are led to

    believe he had intimate knowledge .

              TODAY Malcolm does far more to advance a racist

    agenda than Miss Harper Lee.

One RI vote for Nader

Good morning. I just finished reading your excellent article

    in the Providence Phoenix : " Green Party gets serious "

           Some months ago I told an equally " liberal " friend

    that I was 90 % sure that I would vote for Ralph Nader. He

    too says he is leaning toward Nader. Yes, something electrical,

    magical in the air. I recall  the image of Pope John opening

    a window to let in the fresh air. At times CHANGE is life itself

    happening.

           How utterly stale mainstream politics has become. And

    the old LIBERAL, CONSERVATIVE, RADICAL categories seem so

    inane and stupefying.

               I do note that the Providence Phoenix is itself

    in the clutches of BIG TOBACCO -  MANY full page ads for

    cigarettes. The Devil has grip on ALL of us !

             Thanks again for an important piece of political

    reporting .