Beloved second hand book stores- Cellar Stories, 111 Mathewson St. , Providence , R.I.

Cellar Stories
           The passion for the printed word is not dead in America- I

    gather from a Classical High School student's recent letter to the

    editor. Yes, read, read, read ! That will keep the mind alive, keep

    life interesting indeed.

               In Providence -right near the Providence Journal building-

    I find the Cellar Stories Book Store  at 111 Mathewson St. as alluring

    as some despicable others might find the X-rated movie-book store just

    around the corner.

              A sociologist wrote that we can judge a society by the quality

    of its second hand book stores. I hope I have done a little to keep Cellar

    Stories - one of the best - in business.

            Today I purchased an old life magazine,  August 1, 1969 . The

    cover showing a young Ted Kennedy : " The fateful turn for Ted Kennedy

    -grave questions about his midnight car accident. "

           And I also purchased one of those 1950s  35 cent paper back books

    with the lurid cover: " The Tormented " by Theodore Pratt: " A daring

    subject- masterfully told. " The daring subject " is nymphomania. The

    girl's name is Zona.

                  A cultured guy like me need not visit the X-rated stores.

            Read, read, read !

                                                  

Draft able bodied homeless ?

I read about the increasing numbers of homeless in New York

    City. Is there a more horrible place to be homeless then in the vicinity

    of the Statue of Liberty ? No, don't give me your homeless and destitute !

              What does the Red Cross  have to offer these unfortunate people ?

           I am familiar with quite a few homeless types right here in Providence

    where I work. To be sure, they are not right out of a Dickens' novel - poor

    but lovable. A lot of them are clearly mentally ill. The mentally ill

    should not be free to choose homelessness.  What they need is not a pernicious

    FREEDOM  but a benevolent and protective authoritarianism.  So we must build

    more mental institutions or convert unused government properties for

    housing the mentally ill.

                More " normal " types are homeless for no other reason than that

    they have been abandoned by family and extended family : too inconvenient for

    comfortable people to put up  a poor relative even for a few weeks !

                   The able bodied but chronically homeless might be drafted

    by the military - which might succeed in making clean, self-disciplined,

    and self-respecting individuals out of them - making them useful citizens.

                   And are we not doing  America the Beautiful a favor by

    removing these human scarecrows from our sight - not by neglecting them

    but by caring for them ?

                  Perhaps the homeless do serve a purpose after all in our

    capitalist economy: these human scarecrows remind us of the horrible

    consequences of giving up the daily grind !

Rest in peace ? Cemetery scandal

Macabre headline in this morning's newspaper about " heinous " practices

    at a  Florida cemetery ... owner  of world's largest cemetery company

    " aware of grave desecrations .... loved ones were dug up and dumped in

    the woods , buried in the wrong graves. The bereaved families definitely

    not getting what they paid for !

              When the profit motive goes berserk, one wonders about the future

    of human dignity. I always felt that we should take the profits out of

    the burial business.  Egalitarianism should prevail in the end for  ALL of

    us. One must ask : How much space in a crowded world can be set aside for

    the dear departed anyway ? We should  ALL be buried cheaply with simple

    dignity in bio-degradable coffins ( if not cremated ) .

              Bereaved families should be charged  NOTHING for final resting

    places. Take the profits out of the funeral racket.  And we can ALL rest

    in peace !

                   This hideous story is just capitalism  in its infinite

    ugliness.  God can do wonders with our dust if we are just patient enough.

     Remember from NOTHING came EVERYTHING !

The thousand injuries of Fortunato !

After reading Mark Patinkin's column today, I will paraphrase

    a famous Edgar Allan Poe  story to express the indignant reader's

    opinion on the almost freed convicted - or wrongly convicted - rapist ,

    Carlton Bleau : "  The thousand injuries of  that liberal judge Fortunato

    I had borne as best as I could, but when he went soft-headed on assault,

    I vowed revenge . "

                 But in his defense : " In matters  of fine wines, this Fortunato,

    like his countrymen, was a quack . But in the matter of  THE LAW he was

    sincere.

               I congratulate the good judge on  being furious with a white

    collar criminal - an incompetent and corrupt FBI scientist. It is

    precisely career felons who can so easily be accused for the wrong crimes

    by inept police departments.

                 Was Patinkin also indignant with the cop who terrorized a

    parking lot attendant ? His past was NOT held against him in  the trial.


                   Nice guys like Patinkin can be a little naive.

Astronomy should get right with Allah

For a pleasant diversion from the culture of DIVERSITY , I

    was reading a popular science book on the history of astronomy. I

    was amazed to learn that as recently as 1967  Copernican " theory "

    was declared heretical by the Islamic president of an Egyptian

    university.

                 Darwinian theory - still controversial in some parts of

    the United States - is confirmed by all those simian football fans

    throwing beer bottles on the field in a drunken fury over a referee 's

    call - that went against  The Saints.

                   Osama bin Laden's philosophy of life - it seems from

    that tape - was shaped by  competitive sports, the glories of the soccer

    game.  Perhaps we should be bombarding him with beer bottles . THAT

    will humble him !

                     The Monkey Business will never end.  Human beings

    not capable of great mischief, of every sort of evil, would simply

    NOT be human. Deep down we long for the freedom of the trees !

                     The FIRST traitor was the guy who cultivated a garden.

RIPEC 's " future work force "

The Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council ( RIPEC )  is

    clearly worried about the  quality of our future work force. I suspect

    that it is  BEST represented  by the quality of the work force - mostly

    teen age girls- who are employed at our Dunkin Donuts joints. A few

    minutes a day - at random Dunkin Donuts - will give you a TRUE picture of

    the future workforce : they waste no time impressing the  adult customer

    as vacuous, ignorant, incompetent chattering idiots. And rude !

                 When one of the girls announced that she she just got out of

    the rest room - her dumb prole tone of voice made me wonder if she had

    washed her hands.

               May I recommend a  FUTURE for this work force ? Build more

    Dunkin Donuts !

               Why spend $7,900 per pupil " educating " them  when $7.90

    will deliver the same product ?  Those great teachers could be MANAGING

    Dunkin Donuts which seem  completely lacking in management or supervision.

A little skeptical about Osama tape

My first reaction to the dramatic -" smoking gun " - Osama

    bin Laden tape: a little skeptical, not quite convinced of its authenticity,

    even though I am convinced that there is now more intellectual integrity

    in the CIA than in  politically correct Academia.

            Question : Terrorists can hardly trust themselves in carrying out

    their bloody agenda. How foolish to make  this damning home video. It

    was as indiscreet as a serial killer bragging about his crimes in  a cheap

    neighborhood bar. How can a guy that reckless be the SAME guy who masterminded

    the atrocities in New York City and the Pentagon on Sept. 11 ?

                 And considering the latest headline about the attack on the

    Indian parliament building - and more suicide attacks on Israel - and

    the Jewish Defense League terrorists just arrested in the U.S.A - it

    does seem that terrorists everywhere are NOT getting the message.

                We have NOT succeeded in terrorizing the terrorists. Perhaps-

    just perhaps - the strategy of a WAR against terrorism is just feeding the

    monster.  A UNITED NATIONS POLICE ACTION might have been more effective.

              Are we Americans to live like Jews in Israel for the last 50

    years - just accepting terrorism as an everyday reality ?

                 But no compromises with the  Devil ?   Nothing wrong HERE !

Dear Ann: please read Alfred Hitchcock !

 I enjoy the Ann Landers column - even though she has little to

    offer frustrated old maids. She attaches little importance to right

    to sexual happiness - marriage and family being an absolute value

    in her world. She should read Wilhelm Reich who wrote that happiness

    in life in mainly sexual happiness ( crap ? ) .

          She should also read Alfred Hitchcock.  In today 's column

    a still young married woman longs for an old flame she still encounters

    at a swimming pool. The feeling is still mutual. He tells her about

    " getting together "   ... " if anything were to happen to our spouses. "

               Write Ann : " Tom sounds solid " . Well to me  he sounds

    like a good candidate for an Alfred Hitchcock  detective story.

           I am drawn to Hitchcock lately. A safe way to enjoy evil

    triumphing over good !

Walker - the devil made him do it !

             I don't want to sound like John  Walker's lawyer. But I

    just read the Newsweek story on him. In deciding a serious legal matter

    the DEVIL is in the details. And in the case of John Walker - fellow

    citizens are accusing him of treason - the DEVIL may be in Walker himself.

               It seems that Walker was doing hashish over there in Afghanistan,

    amongst the Taliban thugs and assassins. Definitely a mitigating factor:

    check a good college dictionary - the very word ASSASSIN is derived from

    the Arabic word for hashish user.

                 What future inspirations from hashish ? At some point in

    his strange odyssey  John Walker must have identified with Dorothy in

    the Wizard of Oz : " There is no place like home, no place like home. "

    Time to get back to Kansas !

                Kids, just say NO to drugs !

Walker - the devil made him do it !

 I don't want to sound like John  Walker's lawyer. But I

    just read the Newsweek story on him. In deciding a serious legal matter

    the DEVIL is in the details. And in the case of John Walker - fellow

    citizens are accusing him of treason - the DEVIL may be in Walker himself.

               It seems that Walker was doing hashish over there in Afghanistan,

    amongst the Taliban thugs and assassins. Definitely a mitigating factor:

    check a good college dictionary - the very word ASSASSIN is derived from

    the Arabic word for hashish user.

                 What future inspirations from hashish ? At some point in

    his strange odyssey  John Walker must have identified with Dorothy in

    the Wizard of Oz : " There is no place like home, no place like home. "

    Time to get back to Kansas !

                Kids, just say NO to drugs !

Placing Creationists in cultural war

One Ken Ham thinks that Darwinian evolution is just brainwashing

    - a part of the cultural wars. His answer to Darwin is a crackpot " Creation

    Museum "  - a 14 million dollar project in  northern Kentucky ( a Los Angeles

    Times story, Dec. 12 )

                  Oddly enough one could place Ham - nice Biblical name - in

    the category of academics  described in a  new book out titled " Bonfire

    of the humanities ", written by a frustrated old fashioned classics professor.

                Like the politically correct crowd, Ken Ham rejects that ancient

    Greek concept of  objective knowledge . He rejects the scientic method

    period. Apart from the scientific method - with all its checks and balances

    and scholarly debate WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK of science - how can we learn

    ANYTHING about the real world ?

             There remains only  the Holy Books and a priestly caste to

    interpret them. A sort of American Taliban !

               It seems that Evolution continues to make monkeys out of its

    incorrigible opponents. The Creationists don't want to debate with

    scientists. They want to darken your minds. Visit Disney-land instead of

    this  Creation Museum.

Our Patton fought with Genghis Khan !

How can a red blooded American fight for the Taliban ? Well how

    can a red blooded  American general fight with Genghis Khan -definitely

    not a friend of Western Civilization ?

              I am speaking of our very own " Blood and Guts " General George

    S. Patton of World War 2 fame, a guy we could use today on terrorists

    everywhere.

         According to General  Omar Bradly ( in his biography ) Patton was

    " the strangest duck I have ever known.... imagined -in the spirit of

    reincarnation - that he had fought with ( among others ) Genghis Khan. "

                Might  this  John Walker character just be another Patton

    reincarnation - a punishment for slapping  an ordinary American soldier

    not  quite ready for another day of blood and guts ?

            I like Omar  Bradley - seems like an FDR liberal to me.

Bakst supports homeless on radio

When I turned on my radio this morning, the first thing I heard

    was PROJO 's Charlie Bakst on R.I. public radio putting in a kind word

    for the local homeless, expressing his disappointment in Governor Almond's

    fiscal meanness, denying 5 million bucks allocated for affordable housing.

            Explaining himself on TV " Linc " seemed not so much mean spirited

    as a political clod. Poor people were praying for him with his cancer

    ordeal. You would think a rendezvous with  mortality would make the guy

    a little more sensitive.

                To be sure  CHARISMA is treacherous in politics. But our " Linc "

    has about as much of that as I have stock market wealth.

               Again I applaud Bob Kerr for being on the decent side of the

    homeless issue. (  what cold cold hearts indeed ! )

Needed a new " Port Huron Statement "

Reflecting on headlines of the past three months,  I wonder about

    the state of youth today. What are the best and the brightest thinking

    as they see tired old men like Arafat and Sharon  continue to wage tired

    old wars - indeed the Middle East seems more and more hopeless. Hate  is

    the " gift " that keeps giving. Must the Jews annihilate the Palestinians ?

    Or the Palestinians the Jews ?  HOW can the nightmare end ?

             I  re-read with some bitterness the famous Port Huron Statement

    that founded the  SDS  ( Students for a Democratic Society ) in its

    primal innocence : "  We are the people of this generation, bred in at

    least modest comfort, housed now in universities, looking uncomfortably

    to the world we inherit ".

                Bitterness mixed with nostalgia for an idealism that now

    seems impossible.  Still the torch must be passed to the youth.

              It is about time they got a little rebellious. They might

    have fresh ideas. They might have sanity.

Try this for SMOKING billboard

The faces on the billboard are distinctly low-class , stupid

    and unattractive - the faces not of phony models but of REAL smokers,

    young and unpromising high school kids - definitely losers !

            The caption : " WHO SMOKES ? NOT THE BEST AND THE BRIGHTEST ! "

          Hit them  where they live. Sometimes snobbery works.

Feeling my Leftish-ness ( DeGroot article )

After reading Gerard J. DeGroot's  article " Feeling My American-ness "

    in the Christian Science Monitor, I 'm feeling : "I'm a liberal and the

    British left is perking me up ".

                But he is right about a number of things - like this dulled

    sense of EVIL on the left. They  no longer have the long view of history,

    mindlessly scorn Western Civilization and foolishly idealize the oppressed.

              I wish George Orwell were alive to comment on the present world

    crisis.  Unlike many of my comrades on the left , Orwell had  the gift of

    instantly recognizing HUMBUG . Also too many leftists have become  rather

    pretentious  and humorless in not recognizing the Absurd, the  utter

    indifference of the Universe to the human heart.

                   Let's try to make this a better world - or at least a less

    horrible one. But let us not pretend like old fashioned Marxists that the

    cosmos is on our side.

                  And thank God for left-wing Jews. They are the salt of the

    earth.

Leniency for Walker youth

Hard to believe that a kid  from a middle class Catholic

    background can just degenerate into a Taliban thug. Clearly this

    Walker character was an erratic God-seeker - not a terrorist or a

    traitor to his country. After all, he was over there in  Afghanistan

    before the Sept. 11 atrocities. How could he even express an  HONEST

    opinion of the event  amongst Islamic religious fanatics ? He would

    then be suspected as a CIA spy.

                   So the media should go easy on this confused kid. I

    wonder if was influenced by politically correct  teachers routinely

    bashing Western Civilization - the root of all EVIL , you know.

Commercial glory for Dunk-head family ?

Second thoughts about that Dunk-head Donut family - victims of

    a Black Friday: the night they ran out of Dunkin Donuts. Crown them

    the official Rhode Island Dunk-Head Family at the Dunkin Donuts Center.

                  That will be just the beginning of their commercial windfall.

    Picture them all on the road in a TV commercial desperately looking for

    the right Dunkin Donuts. Yes, it is " time to make the donuts "  !

                 The writer of " the most inane letter ever " ( Nov. 29 )

    deserves  this success.

A hero for Dave Brussat ?

Ayn Rand's name is again causing controversy at the Projo.

    I won't presume to guess Dave Brussat's political orientation. But

    the gentleman columnist may find this  Ann Rand hero at least admirable :

     "  Howard Roark, a brilliantly creative architect, dynamites his own

    building when its design is tampered with by the architectural establishment "

    ( from a Collier's Encyclopedia article on Ayn Rand ).

              I am no fan of Ayn Rand's " virtue of selfishness " political

    philosophy " or her cold hearted godlessness , but it is true that nothing

    great is accomplished without the PASSION of the individual.

                     Could Mr. Brussat identify with this Roark character ?

              I too favor the classical style. That BLUE CROSS building

    downtown is worthy of  Howard Roark's  more impish designs .

Time to make the donuts !

            Too bad for that guy who couldn't get  Donuts at any area

    Dunkin Donuts. His kids were hungry and they wanted DONUTS - the junkier

    the better. I am a single guy by fate and choice. I can just imagine myself

    being bossed around by  chunky kids - and a chunky wife ? Sell yourself

    down the river for the bunch in the capitalist workplace. Just deliver

    the donuts - or what kind of creep daddy are you  ?

                   Dunkin Donuts should be sued ! Hey you screw ups : It IS

    time to make the donuts !

                      And we  all have our problems , don't we ?  How

    does international terrorism compare with running out of donuts ?