Orwellian Newspeak on CASUALTIES

Certain editorial page editors periodically idolize

    the British writer and author of the anti-totalitarian classic

    "1984 " . But then they themselves proceed to DOUBLE-THINK and

    use the idiotic language of NEWSPEAK as conceived by the morbidly

    honest George Orwell.

               They help the government lie about the war. For example

    the Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines " casualty " as : "  a

    military person lost through death, wounds, injury, sickness,

    internment, or capture or through being missing in action ".

                The news media  -it seems - as re-defined " casualty ".

    We hear about DEAD, CAPTURED, MISSING IN ACTION . In any war,of course,

    there are far more WOUNDED among the various casualties.

           But the problem with the wounded is that they can still TALK.

    A wounded British soldier blamed a FRIENDLY FIRE tragedy on a stupid

    American " cowboy " bomber pilot.

            On the weekend of SHOCK & AWE I learned that my nephew,

    Christopher Covill of Coventry, Rhode Island was seriously injured

    in a combat incident. Chris was sent to a military hospital in

    Germany.

              A Providence Journal reporter ( ccrowley@projo.com ) has

    some family provided background information on Chris.

American casualties UNREPORTED !

On the weekend of SHOCK & AWE - a translation from the Prussian ? -

    I learned that my nephew, Christopher Covill of Coventry, Rhode Island,

    was seriously injured in a combat incident in Kuwait or Iraq.  Chris

    is presently in a military hospital in Germany. A Providence Journal

    reporter ( ccrowley@projo.com ) has some  family provided background

    information on Chris. The Marines have nothing to say about the matter.

            I am getting the impression that our Ministry of Truth now

    defines " casualties of war " as soldiers killed or missing in action or

    taken prisoner. In any war, of course, there are far more wounded !

         Could Chris possibly be the FIRST local boy wounded over there ?

         Or as we expected the first casualty of war is the truth ?

            I'll bet my nephew has already had enough SHOCK & AWE for a

    lifetime !

                 TELL THE TRUTH ABOUT THE WAR !

Twice dead in OBITUARIES ( Smith, Constance A. )

        A most odd -if not macabre -error in your OBITUARIES for March 28.

    One Smith, Constance A. appears under the very same Smith, Constance

    A. May " Connie " rest in peace, but she enters whatever afterlife

    with a very earthy chuckle.

             While sipping on my coffee-cup emblazoned with the ominous

    Latin motto " CARPE DIEM " , I noticed the macabre double obituary.

    And reflecting all but a very few people will read my own OBIT with

    benign indifference -or an impish chuckle.

                I guess you can expect a letter like this from a guy

    who CONSOLES himself -in war time ! - reading the horror stories

    of Providence's very own H.P. Lovecraft .

              To a bored American soldier outside Baghdad -just waiting -

    I recommend his " The Rats in the Walls ". Some comic relief from

    REAL horror !

Great column today, Bob !

         Bob, if you are at all like me, then you are definitely not

    above flattery. Great column today ! And risky - Talk Radio's

    Independent Man - and his adoring fans - have all but put a bounty

    on your head. What venom -like British soccer fans !

         Sunday, I learned that my nephew, Chris Covill of Coventry, was

    seriously injured over there ( Iraq, Kuwait ? ) .  Close to home,

    indeed. Chris 's sister, Elizabeth is a graduate in journalism and

    an intern at local TV station ( I think Channel 10 ) .

               Why is the press not giving out the names of the wounded

    in action soldiers after their families have been notified ?

                Perhaps GI Chris was lucky - missing the equivalent of

    the Battle of Stalingrad - central Baghdad.

          A PROJO reporter is interested in his story. But my brother in

    law is very " private " to say the least. He livens up around Super

    Bowl time. But then if I had Chris for a son ......enough gossip for

    now !

Butterflies and war -life and death

             My attention was captured by the little butterfly collage

    design on the front page of today's Boston Globe ( March 25 ) -juxtaposed

    to all the anti-life war news. I am reminded of a scene right out of an

    old anti-war movie, " All Quiet on the Western Front " . A final moment

    in a young German soldier's life: in a stinking fox hole, he sights a

    beautiful butterfly and just as he reaches out for it is killed by an

    enemy sniper .

            A nature lover myself -like that German soldier who in the

    Remarque novel collected specimens in civilian life - I am glad to read

    that the monarch butterfly population here in New England will return

    to normal.

               But will the young soldiers we see and hear in the news media

    ever return to normal ? Will our country ever return to normal ?

                 Perhaps there is Warren G. Harding waiting in the wings -

    who collects butterflies -as well as bribes - for a hobby.

                   Capitalist normalcy !

My nephew Chris injured in war

              In a recent e-mail I mentioned in passing that my nephew

    " Chris " was  presently with the United States Marine Corps somewhere

    in Kuwait. I asked -despite my semi-pacifist view here : " How could I

    not wish Chris and his marine buddies success in ridding the world of

    a tyranny  ? "  ( near quote ) .

              Early yesterday morning, a Sunday of shock and awe indeed,

    my sister, now Rita Covil of Coventry, a nurse at Kent County Hospital

    for many years, told me on the phone right after I said " You must be a

    nervous wreck "  in a seemingly calm voice that her son, Chris, had been

    seriously injured in an explosion over there ( perhaps Iraq ) and was

    now on his way to a hospital in Germany.

               But his injury is not life threatening - possibly permanent

    damage to his inner ear. And a short career in the Marine Corp., I suspect.

               My best wishes to Chris and his injured buddies. But enough of

    this SHOCK & AWE for now. It sounds like a translation from the Prussian.

               Americans should not go berserk with division over THIS war.

    A year from now we will all be wiser and sadder about being NUMERO UNO

    in this crazy world !

On being wiser than President Bush

In voicing LOYAL opposition to the war against Iraq - which

    in no way implies sympathy for tyranny - our Senator Lincoln Chafee

    is a class act. And he is hardly finished as a Rhode Island political

    leader. Perhaps his honorable father -a war hero -taught him something

    memorable about the horrors of war. And he surly recalls the Vietnam

    nightmare.

            Presently vociferous patriots remind me of those rather

    obnoxious -and dangerous - British soccer fans. One tells a reporter:

    How dare THEY- the anti-war crowd - think they are wiser than THE

    PRESIDENT !  Well, EXCUSE ME.... how dare ANYBODY feel intellectually

    superior to George W. Bush ? Like pro-choice Catholics thinking

    they are wiser than THE POPE !

           By the way both  George W. Bush and His Holiness are PRO-

    LIFE. But His Holiness is nervous about this seemingly imperialist

    war to liberate Iraq.

               It seems that the world is right back to where it was

    on August 1914 - up for grabs !  No joy compares to the joy of

    dying for fatuous slogans .

              Ernest Hemingway wrote a short story about a disillusioned

    veteran of the Great War: " Soldier's Home ". Certain words like

    HONOR and GLORY he could no longer stand to hear .

Comic relief on credit cards

Definitely not the big story today. But a bit of comic relief

    before we - or THEY - reap the whirlwind. Headline : " House passes

    tougher bankruptcy legislation " ( Providence Journal, page A3 , March

    20 ) . Last sentence a classic of VICTIM politics even from my commie ,

    pinko, generally UN-AMERICAN point of view : " Democrats blame the

    credit-card industry for much of the rise in personal bankruptcies ".

             KNOWING my assets, I always rip up credit-card offers that

    arrive with annoying frequency in the mail.

             In fact I have never used or owned a credit card, preferring

    to pay CASH for everything that I can afford and REALLY need .

              This is blatantly un-American, I know. And I won't blame

    the FBI if they open a file on me. At least they will be spared a

    tedious credit check.

            Worse still, I believe as did Thoreau, that the individual

    is rich in proportion to everything he can do without.

            The true enemy of capitalism is SIMPLICITY itself !

But do Texans have the biggest BRAINS ?

Yet another Texas jury-whose skulls are disproportionate to

    their feet -have judged brain damage possibly caused by Saddam

    flavored nerve gas no excuse to spare a Gulf War veteran -convicted

    of murder -Texas style - the death penalty.

             Science tells us that we THINK and FEEL with our brain, which

    viewed in a jar in a human anatomy class LOOKS no more miraculous than

    a human heart in another specimen jar. We have no problem understanding

    that a diseased heart will malfunction. Why this MENTAL BLOCK when

    the brain - a physical organ - malfunctions ?

               Does religious belief in the SOUL muddle thinking here ?

         If you accept the discoveries of modern biology, if you accept

    the truth of evolution that humans evolved from apes, you must ask

    how FREE WILL suddenly came into existence .

              Clearly legal ideology is on collision course with Science.

    Scientists do not wear robes, talk pompously, and insist on being

    called YOUR HONOR. But they have a habit of telling the TRUTH.

             Most judges nowadays - not just Texas jackasses - can only

    find inspiration for their pompous and inhumane views in the Dark

    Ages. For inspiration they must look at portraits of the Spanish

    Inquisition. Like THE JUST JUDGES !

          Indeed they are so much more PROOF of the old monkey brain !

Experience: peaceniks stay peaceful !

The present world wide peace movement has right and reason on its

    side. But I can see how it is already beginning to forget the lessons of

    past peace movements. Remember it was DEMOCRACY IN ACTION - PEACEFUL

    protest, not media attracting lunacy in action that FINALLY conquered

    the heart of America in the Vietnam era.

              The LEFT should not become just the mirror image of the TALK RADIO

    RIGHT.How mind numbing it is to hear angry Americans shouting contrary

    slogans to right and left  - all DEAF ! - ears.

              The general state of literacy, sad to admit, all but guarantees

    a slogan shouting match.In general the slogan-brain is the captive of

    the political Right. But at times GIVE PEACE A CHANCE sounds as fatuous

    as GIVE THE TYRANT ONE LAST CHANCE !

                The humanistic Left is not soft on tyranny or terrorism.

    The debate here is one of STRATEGY. The coming months, I believe, will

    show how important it is for our country to respect the " courtroom of

    world opinion " , the United Nations .

                 The Islamic terrorists have NOTHING to offer the world

    but a new Dark Age. Without CIVILIZATION, there can be no hope at all

    for a better world.

              My nephew, Chris, is right now a marine somewhere in Kuwait.

       How can I not wish him and his marine corps buddies success -at least

    in ridding the world of the madman Saddam Hussein and his criminal

    regime ?   But only the United Nations should " rule " Iraq  after

    the inevitable rout.

                  Forget about a Pax Americana !

More comical than Lysistrata

               Refuse to have sex with your soldier boy , refuse to

    have sex at all with any Greek male ?  Anti -war women still find

    inspiration and helpful hints in " Lysistrata " , the ancient Greek

    comedy by the immortal Aristophanes .

             A modern anti-war comedy might try this variation on the

    theme of women against war : Make next Valentine's Day  an international

    Abortion Day for EVERY Pregnant woman ! And bury all the unborn babies

    in Arlington National Cemetery.

                  The right to life in this world has become a right to

    a hell of a life !

                 Consider the etymology of the word " proletariat " . This

    class in the ancient world had only one significant function : to

    produce and feed the soldiers.

                  Global capitalism has created a very similar class

    today- mass producing soldiers for slaughter and ignorant PROLES

    for economic drudgery. What a life !  Women of the world - just say

    NO to procreation !

Crying over spilled wine

                Let me tell you about a woman with a REAL problem, whatever

    those scary headlines. My 81 year old  mother -and I suspect many more

    buyers of fine wine - was deprived of the solace of Zinfandel all because

    of the damm cork !  It seems that uncorking wine bottles is a rare skill.

    Mother -not having a useless corkscrew, tried a pick -like utensil. In

    an agony of frustration she chipped the precious bottle. I tried to come

    to the rescue but ended up also cursing those damm corks.

            I  pushed the cork into the heavenly liquid and made an even more

    deplorable mess of things than dear old Mother. Precious white wine went

    right down the sink. What was left I passed through a strainer . The

    Zinfandel is now in a cheap fruit juice bottle.

               How many lovers of fine wine are cork challenged ? If a guy

    can find a substitute for those impossible corks, he should be honored

    as the new Earl of Cork  !

                Some readers might think that there are more important matters

    to get uncorked over. But misery is misery !

Don't criminalize partial birth abortions !

If organized religion were so sure of its moral authority,

        it would not need the power of the state to prevail on moral issues.

        The Armies of the Night would succeed by preaching alone to persuade

        millions of simple souls to keep the bambinos coming whatever the price

        in human misery.

                      All the melodramatic horror stories about partial birth

        abortion will not persuade more rational types than the Moral Majority

        that it is NOT a private medical matter and a matter of individual

        conscience.

                     The Pro-Life forces find inspiration -ironically - in

        President George W. Bush - a man -we are told - with a Biblical sense

        of right and wrong. Reflecting on state executions in his home state

        of Texas, and his righteous wrath in this complicated matter of war

        on terrorism, George W. is indeed a man of a holy book - the horrible

        Old Testament !

                       Is not Osama bin Laden also a man with a Biblical sense

        of right and wrong - his inspiration being the Holy Koran ?

                    Are not many right wing leaders of Israel men with a

        Biblical sense of right and wrong ?

                    Perhaps if REASON were to replace the authority of all holy

        books THIS world would be less of a hell !

                    I note from today's newspaper that the kidnapper of the

        Smart girl was also inspired by the holy book.

                  Show me a lunatic who found inspiration for his evil deeds

        in the books of Newton, Darwin, Einstein or Freud ?

                     By the way, is not more humane NOT to bring kids into

        this nightmare world ? The right to life is more often than not a

        right to a hell of a life !

Deplorable anti-French hysteria

Nobody who loves and respects Western-Judeo-Christian

    Civilization will tolerate this brainless anti-French hysteria -

    all over a difference in STRATEGY in the war against terrorism -

    now infecting the heart of the nation.  Remember our beloved

    Statue of Liberty greeting the whole world in New York City was

    a gift of the people of France.

           A writer remarked about the statue's surprising GREENNESS.

    Let us keep  a memory still green about our wonderful ally France.

    I watch old 1950s and 60s French films  which often remind me of

    an America that might have been or has just disappeared.

             Nobel Prize winning French writer, Albert Camus, still has

    a lot to teach us about the morality or immorality of war, about

    the PLAGUE  of lurking evil that never really goes away -just waits

    for fresh opportunities.

                In  say we in Rhode Island name FRENCH FRIES as the

    official state snack. And long live France ! ( I say )

              There is now an atmosphere of hate in America as explosive

    as the kind that marked August 1914 . The Great Madness may be just

    weeks away. And know that great civilizations can disappear. Behold

    the ruins of ancient Greece and Rome !

Al Pacino's more manipulative Beverly

                Contrary to the headline in the New York Post today

    ( March 12 ) -" Pacino's ex a smear target ? " - it seems here that

    the kind Al is being smeared by his bitter ex, Beverly D'Angelo :

       " Al Pacino is clearly a manipulative man ".... MESSAGE : THINK

    TWICE BEFORE SEEING HIS FILMS ".

               Hasn't Al suffered enough from insomnia ? He needs THIS !

     Al, of course, should be a better father for his twins. But I am

    fed up with play-mates or ex-wives who feel entitled to a  big chunk

    of a hard working man's money, be he a blue collar drudge or a fine

    Hollywood actor like Al Pacino .

                    A 47 year old actress must be not a little manipulative

    herself to present a 58 year old male with a VANITY GIFT -TWINS !

             Of course Al will only communicate with her through a psychiatrist

    because feels compelled to run away from a nightmare !

            Al Pacino has always been a sort of godfather figure to me, and

    I can only hope that he does finally find true love.

           Most kids in America would not feel deprived and neglected if

    ONLY 2 million  were set aside for them.

                 Can anybody really EARN millions of dollars a year ?

    NO, but ex-wives and playmates absolutely have no claim on THEIR

    man's income !

The glory that was PENICILLIN ?

Penicillin was once the VINNY PAZ of anti-biotics. What a

    difference it made for human life in the 20th century, how

    many wounded soldiers survived World War II because it ? The

    not so accidental discovery of penicillin made the name of

    Alexander Fleming immortal... " as long as this Western culture,

    so dear to us, exists " ( funeral oration of his dear friend,

    Professor Pannett ).

            But now in a new century the first great medical miracle

    is losing its punch.  And our public school science education is

    not what it was  soon after the Sputnik shock.  I suspect that

     not a few despised " inner -city " kids might have both the

    brains - and more important, the MOTIVATION - to attack the

    plagues of mankind with the dedication of an Alexander Fleming.

          " A flower growing in an unexpected way seemed as important

    to him as the most spectacular of phenomena " (  from a biography )

              Perhaps we should recognize some future saviors of

    humanity in a crumbly, dismal ,neglected public school building

    - just ignored, bright kids today - flowers growing in an unexpected

    way.

             Yes, we need affirmative action for NERDS of all races

    and ethnic groups. With a little bit of encouragement, they might

    devote themselves to something more creative than REVENGE .

Help me surrender peacefully !

Bob, I am a WANTED MAN , I guess, and perhaps you can direct

    me to the proper authorities. Or direct US, unknown criminals, even

    to ourselves. I, at least, am prepared to surrender peacefully.

           Today's POLICE REPORT ( Providence Journal Metro, March 10,

    page B-5 ) : NAMELESS " turned himself in on March 5 on a warrant

    charging him with INSUFFICIENT FUNDS " ( my emphasis ).

            THAT was his crime ?  now I myself am not jobless, homeless, or

    even desperate. Not even very uncomfortable yet. But my FUNDS are

    dangerously insufficient for many everyday contingencies.

               I expect to meet many government officials in jail-not

    just paupers and nervous middle class types.

          Hopefully, something will turn up !

Bush as Pericles ?

War  MIGHT be inevitable with the likes of Saddam

    Hussein. Still I can think of a parallel from my ancient history.

    They made us study Western Civilization way back in those days

    ( early 60s ) . Did not one Greek leader -Pericles - secure a

    democratic  approval for a disastrous expedition against the

    tyrant of Syracuse ? What a blow to fascist Sparta ... and

    what a gain for Athenian imperialism !

            If that old trouble maker, Socrates, could come back

    to life from the Golden Age of Greece, what advice would he

    give President George Bush on a war against Iraq ? A warning

    against HUBRIS ?

              If I were of military age , I would just volunteer

    for front line duty - in a hospital.

West Warwick liability

The Station tragedy in West Warwick, Rhode Island - 98 lives

lost,hundreds with serious burn injuries - raises the question of

liability : WHOM To blame, the right target for legal vultures.

      Without completely dismissing the possibility of genuine

criminal negligence - the owners of the night club did not even

carry workers compensation  - I see just everyday, MAKE A BUCK

SAVE A BUCK CAPITALISM,  PROFITS BEFORE PEOPLE  CAPITALISM - as

the only obvious villain in The Station tragedy. Let the lawyers

look for moral monsters in this mini- holocaust.

      Again  the tragedy shows how desperately this country needs

a national health care plan  - where medical care is simply

guaranteed to the sick and the injured - with all the resources

AVAILABLE to the nation - guaranteed because health care is

quite simply a human right.

       West Warwick should not be ruined by The Station

tragedy. The newspaper reports that the old  Rhode Island

mill town - still haunted by the ghosts of the  New England

Industrial Revolution - has only  $4 million in liability

coverage through the Rhode Island Interlocal Trust( Boston

Herald, page 26 , March 6 )

      Before the tragedy the hottest topic in West Warwick

was : to build or not to build a brand new Indian casino.

      Lady Luck is such a bitch !

God Spinners and grief counselors

            We can't get through tragedies anymore without the help

    of God spinners and grief counselors. With " The Station " tragedy

    in West Warwick, R. I . , they are again coming out of the woodwork

    like so many cockroaches.

               What shallow preachers who never think much about the

    nature of EVIL until it is personally experienced. Christ the

    Savior has more credibility, I guess, when life resembles those

    idiotic TV commercials : smiling faces, lying faces !

              Can't  ten thousands years of written history tell our

    cheap, dime store preachers something about the credibility of a

    PERSONAL God,  God as general manager of the universe ?

                 And whatever God exists, does He need the services of

    a PR firm ?  Mostly simple minded Christian preachers who see

    pure HORROR as evidence of HIS profound love.

                Can Jesus as Savior be hazardous to our sanity ? Of

    course it is ridiculous to be angry at an indifferent universe or

    the God of Newton or Einstein .

               As for those secular grief counselors insisting that

    we grieve by the numbers, they are ALL despicable charlatans !

              I prefer Thomas Aquinas or St. Augustine. They at least

    had a Dark Age appreciation of everyday horror.

               The God Spinners are like those propagandists for

    capitalism who tell the poor and oppressed workers that everything

    is for the best in the best of all possible social orders.

                " In God we trust "  indeed !