As the McWorld Turns

What was once THE WORLD is now being called McWorld by

    keen observers of our consumer culture. The McNews reports the

    big story of the day: McDonald's may soon  be serving its McCustomers

    a different Mcburger. I am reminded of the Classic Coke fiasco.

         Don't mess with success ! Or in this case, don't mess with a

    mess. I'm  one of those soon to be OBSOLETE baby boomers who

    remember what REAL hamburgers tasted like -and smelled like as

    they sizzled on the grill of the friendly, neighborhood Greasy Spoon.

             McWorld is taking EVERY nostalgic memory away from us !

    I can now identify with that character in the Twilight Zone episode:

    " Walking Distance ". Imagine just being able to walk back into

    the saner and safer world( ??? ) of 1959 !

              But the McWorld news can only tell me that the monsters

    are due on Maple Street.

               It seems that McPeople are terribly worried about

    clones - HUMAN clones.  McPeople at least are alike everywhere -

    as alike as McDonald's hamburgers !

Graceless on Christmas Eve ( WHJJ )

              I  make no claim to being a pious soul myself . But

    often enough the VILLAGE ATHEIST type annoys me. Or was he just

    another jerk in the entertainment business ? I am talking about

    the  TALK RADIO fill in for smart,congenial, and popular Arlene

    Violet on Christmas Eve ( WHJJ ).

               Of course the lines went dead. It is one thing to be

    intelligently and politely controversial. It is quite another thing

    to be obnoxious and downright TOXIC.

                 Imagine a guy who finds fault with the humane sentiment:

    " There but for the grace of God go I " !

            A guy who scolds people for not giving a hard earned 20

    dollar bill to a hopeless derelict.

             A guy who seems to believe that every religious person who

    believes in a GOOD God is a dimwit.

              TALK RADIO is an art form , not just a forum for cranks.

    And that guy -who even maliciously mispronounced Arlene Violet's

    name - should be shown the door.

                Believing that EVIL is just  EGO, he was hardly egoless

    himself in thinking the majority of his listeners morons in their

    religious faith.

               As a ratings gimmick in your face PROFUNDITY flunks

    miserably.

               Rudeness and disrespect should not be the norm for

    TALK RADIO !

               Carl Sagan handled the science vs. faith controversy

    with great tact and sensitivity. View the movie " Contact " or

    read the novel.

A Lott of distraction

 If I were a Republican, I would feel free to comment

    on how to punish Trent Lott for his " Gone With The Wind " nostalgia

    for the dead past of the Old South. Clearly those days of accepted

    segregation of black people and respectable racism can NEVER come

    back.

             But ironically the most beloved black militant, Malcolm

    X, for most of his Black Muslim career, preached just this: black

    separatism. And he had a keen nose for sniffing out Jewish " control "

    or influence in the civil rights movement. It escaped him until his

    last days that  liberal and radical Jews were just naturally empathetic

    to the oppressed, to the victims of all forms of discrimination.

               Today phony Democrats will try to make a lot of political

    hay out of Trent Lott 's  party time drivel.It is only human to

    indulge the idiosyncrasies of a 100 year old LOYAL son of the

    South ( also an old SOB ! )

              It takes more political courage to tell the whole country

    on the floor of the Senate or the House that HEALTH CARE is a basic

    human right than to beat the dead horse of an OUTLAWED racism.

                But few Democrats are champions of WORKING CLASS

    America. " Political correctness " is a just a cheap way of

    seeming PROGRESSIVE while millions of working class people -of

    ALL races and ethnic groups - are on the edge of the social abyss !

                 What matters to our more RESPONSIBLE leaders is the

    sacred illusion of democracy. Just replace RACE with CLASS and

    a lot of Malcolm 's more wild rhetoric make great sense.

           Just for the record, I voted for Ralph Nader.

TV NEWS - WHY THE SCREAMING FANS ?

I am not neurotically annoyed by too many things. But

    perhaps middle age has made the sense of disgust -unlike the other

    vital senses -more acute. I hear more things in hell, to be sure.

            I often fantasize  about ridding myself of the damm TV

    forever. But I am too attached to the VCR -which is blessedly free

    of noisy, dumb, and obnoxious commercials.

              I must catch the morning news on Channel 10. What I can't

    stand - and don't understand - is the very beginning of the program

    where the cameras always zoom in on the screaming-hyenas - FANS - of

    Katy and Matt, I guess . How can they be so infantile over a moment

    of media attention ?

                  What a contrast between the nightmare news and the

    demeanor of the celebrity news people - ( they ooze narcissism ) -

    and the bestial FANS in the street.

              The Providence horror writer H.P Lovecraft got it right

    about the future of humanity.  A decayed species will inherit the

    earth. Public education gives most kids a vocabulary of 100 words

    - BASIC ENGLISH. A dismal future for the newspaper business !

Trent Lott and words, words, words !

I am as far removed from Trent Lott politically as an ordinary,

    law-abiding American can be. I voted for Ralph Nader. Presently IT SEEMS

    that Lott is condemned by his own words as a die hard ,incorrigible,

    OLD FASHIONED racist. But put brainless emotions aside, and what do you

    really have here ? A talk a lot politico who -not running out of gas-

    blew it all out the wrong hole.

               Trent Lott is not a little obnoxious for liberal types.

    But words must be judged in their context and in the context of a

    man's whole life. Not a few black activists speak derogatively of

    Jews in " Hymie Town ". But that does not make them Nazis - just the

    jerks of the moment.

           FREE SPEECH must permit all of us to make fools out of ourselves

    now and then without being completely ruined.

                Reactionary ideas must be challenged by rational, humane

    ideas -not by the smothering atmosphere of political correctness.

               The Left -in general - has little to teach the Right about

    free speech and -often enough - common decency !

                 To think that all Southern whites are KKK sympathizers

    is as stupid as thinking all Italian-Americans love the Mafia !

               Don't think the South has not CHANGED profoundly in the

    last 50 years. It most certainly does not send die hard racists to

    the U.S. Senate or to the House.

            But there are too many old generals around on both sides

    always living in the past - in THEIR glory days.

              In his heart Trent Lott may have as much affection for

    blacks as old Joe Kennedy had for Jews. But BUSINESS has a way of

    keeping lunacies in check. And most liberals still don't believe

    in THOUGHT CRIME.

             Why not suspect most of our leaders of being NICE GUYS -

    whatever their political philosophy ?

CRANSTON R.I. HAZARDOUS TO HEALTH

             The whole country now knows that Cranston, R.I. is a big

    mess- with the lowest bond rating in the nation, now even lower after

    our Honest Abe mayor, Stephen Laffey ( I like him ! ) expressed his

    own " depressing assessment "  ( PROJO editorial, Dec.10- " An honest BB ")

             The economic situation here makes even passing through hazardous

    to your health. For example, if you are lying injured on a busy main

    street like Reservoir Ave, don't expect the police or an ambulance to

    come to your rescue. And don't expect them to investigate what happened

    to you. And don't expect them to help you with a gargantuan medical bill.

              And  for the bigger picture here in R.I, I will say that the

    Ocean State has literally gone to the dogs. Vicious dogs own most of

    our urban streets. And they are now beginning to announce their presence

    in once idyllic rural Rhode Island.

             The visitors to the Ocean State are more likely to encounter Cujo

    here than Jaws.

             Perhaps Governor Carcieri will improve the situation. Was not

    THAT his campaign slogan : RHODE ISLAND IS GOING TO THE DOGS ?

            And he won ! Good luck and God bless him.

Humbug in Warwick

Allergic to the very spirit of Christmas, a Warwick Fire

    Dept. dispatcher destroyed a co-worker's decorations - wanting

    " a Christmas free work-place ". A direct descendent of one Ebenezer

    Scrooge - not yet visited by ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and

    Future ? Or did he just forget those little " helper " pills that

    get millions of normally decent people through the JOYOUS season ?

              To be sure, the spirit of consumerism poisons the season

    for the most good natured amongst us. If I were a radio personality,

    I would read  to the kids this poem on the night before Christmas:

    " Howl " by the Jewish beatnik A. Ginsberg. THEN I would offer

    the music of Bach as a sedative.

             Don't be too hard on that cheerless dispatcher: Tis a very

    stressful time of year. Perhaps Santa Claus will give us a brand new

    casino for Christmas. Never lose hope !

Book award like a beauty contest ?

The phony Wizard of Oz is showing up everywhere in our

    culture. A Nobel Prize winner -who did deserve it - writes that

    he learned this simple truth while still a fresh faced graduate

    student : There are no wise old men behind magnificent doors looking

    after us ! The President, the Pope, the King, the Celebrity -all are

    as clueless as we are. But everywhere we are bamboozled by GREAT

    PRETENDERS.

              Now it seems that even THE GREAT AUTHOR may be just

    another humbug. A judge for the National Book Award confesses

    that it was simply impossible for him to read all those books

    he pretended to read.

                 I guess books are judged by their cover. But beauty

    contests are more honest: Nobody pretends that those half naked

    BROADS  can also qualify for MENSA.

             It looks like some kid in the library was assigned: " Profiles

    in Courage ".  Not the scholarly type himself,I suspect . But someday

    -with the help of steroids - he just might win the Super Bowl for

    the New England Patriots.

            That Holden kid in " Catcher in the Rye " got it right about

    all the phonies out there !

                 Now I must buy all those Christmas cards for dear

    friends and relatives. Don't forget the boss !