Jayson T. Blairs and newspaper letter writers

        I won't say that Jayson T. Blair of New York Times was stretching

    DIVERSITY  enthusiasm, but it does look like that whatever the editors

    of ALL THE NEWS THAT'S FIT TO PRINT  say about the scandal.

            One way to avoid these newspaper fraud scandals is - I suspect -

    to pay more attention to  your rather obscure and undistinguished letter

    writers , the literary hoi polloi who love to sniff out baloney just

    for the sport of it.  Were there such letter writers that at least

    TRIED to bring Blair's fictions to the attention of honest but

    supercilious editors - not to be distracted by humble letter writers?

            " We welcome mail " . Yes, like you welcome in laws on holidays !


             If the New York Times wants to publish a shocking best seller :

    Publish a book of just 1000 letters NOT FIT TO PRINT !  Unlike other

    major newspapers , the VOICE OF AMERICA is hard to hear on prestigious

    Commentary Page of the New York Times - where we find all the opinions

    of the respectable Country Club - where even an honest Jayson T. Blair

    would be liberally snubbed .

Empathy for over the edge cop

Story: a woman with empathy for doomed pit bulls infuriates

    an East Providence Police captain . He is caught seemingly threatening

    the woman with the crudest talk. Over and over again, we hear on TV :

    " I'm going to put it up her *** ! "   Horror mixed with vulgar

    entertainment for the TV audience - always on the side of virtue.

               A little irony here: many cops do indeed have pitbull

    personalities themselves. Can this woman empathize with THEM ?

               I guess at times it is nice to have a pit bull on

    YOUR side. Don't put this cop away. He needs a little more

    UNDERSTANDING. The stress of the job got to him. And you can

    hear ordinary drunken macho men talk like this to their wives

    or girl-friends all the time. For them some broads just need a

    smack , others more penetrating punishment. Soon they sober up

    and offer groveling apologies to THEIR woman.

                  This East Providence cop - I think - just needs a

    long  paid vacation.  And that pit bull lover woman a written

    apology - from this pit-bull like cop.

                   We must give our cops a rather long leash - in

    the interest of law and order. Tough job - being a cop !

" Cradle of Civilization " and THE EXORCIST

      For a baby boomer letter writer in the Boston Globe today the magic

    phrase " cradle of civilization " takes him back to an old school building

    in 1959. Yes, they did teach Ancient History back then and what pupil

    -even half awake in the dingy old school room - can forget the significance

    of " the land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers -now modern  Iraq " ?

    I can almost SMELL the old textbook : " History of Western Civilization ".

    A copy of it is probably still around  gathering dust in some obscure

    section of the public library.

              There was nothing smug about that discredited course. In the

    spirit of the Greek Historian Herodotus it was lively, interesting,

    sympathetic and cosmopolitan -giving credit where it is due, finding

    VIRTUE even in the barbarian. A contagious thought : " Isn't the world

    an interesting place ? "

              But " modern Iraq " I also associate with the Peter Blatty

    horror story " The Exorcist " .The movie begins at an archaeological dig

    in Iraq. Father Merrin has just found a small , gargoyle-like statuette.

     " Suddenly an eerie wind begins to blow, and dogs begin fighting among

    themselves... a demonic force has been loosed upon the world "

            Once again " ancient evil manifests itself ". ( Magill's

    Survey of Cinema  )

              I'll bet that hideous gargoyle was recently stolen from

    the Museum of Iraq. Its new possessor - the next Saddam ?

                  What was the name of the ancient god of Darkness ? I'll

    check the old textbook on " Ancient History ".

Cicilline's own dirty tricks dept. ?

In some ways the " reform " mayor of Providence, David Cicilline,

    despite his many good qualities - is already beginning to show ethical

    narrow mindedness and even CLASS prejudice on certain issues. Being openly

    gay does not make you immune to the prevailing snobbery of your social

    background. When asked on Talk Radio ( WHJJ ) about the nearly impossible

    rental rates in Providence ( the caller was a struggling young artist) ,

    Cicilline did not even suggest the possibility of RENT CONTROL . Now THAT

    is a taboo idea for New Democrats everywhere - enough to make any two bit

    slum lord apoplectic !

              Also the new REFORM mayor wants to raise money for Providence

    by old fashioned dirty tricks -worthy of any creepy bureaucrat in the

    Rhode Island Registry of Motor Vehicles. Beware the not so hidden cameras

    at confusing intersections ! The cops will catch poor foolish violators of

    the law -not for the sake of public safety so much as for the purpose of

    balancing the city budget.

         And are we to believe that a traffic fine of one hundred dollars is

    EQUAL PUNISHMENT for all offenders, whatever their economic class ? Too

    often the logic of the law affronts common sense and common decency.

            The new REFORM mayor, David Cicilline, lacks the common touch.

    No surprise here. " Buddy " Cianci  could at least fake it - with the help

    of booze, cigarettes, and cuss words.

              Can't " Buddy "  host a talk show from jail ? Fill the void

    left by " Providence " ?

Atkins -sure sign of a charlatan

In 1972 the GREAT REBELLION was waning and I might have

    despaired thinking that the only real revolution in town was the

    Atkins Diet Revolution.  Science as a human institution with a well

    established SCIENTIFIC METHOD for finding relative -if not absolute

    TRUTH -will be the final judge of the Atkins diet. But just look

    around you at FAT America. Clearly ALL diet revolutions can claim

    as much obvious success as the WAR ON POVERTY.

               When I read that Dr. Atkins  said that God wanted HIM to

    eradicate obesity - with all due respect for the dear departed - I

    smelled a charlatan.  And the very circumstances of his death - falling

    on ice - suggest that God Himself is helpless to fight gravity.

              The American life style -not metabolic mutation - has given

    us this epidemic of obesity. The other day I could not fail to notice

    an obese man - whom I love as a person - voraciously wipe his dinner

    plate of all visible gravy. I wanted to yell at him : " Please leave

    just a little of that precious gravy for the GERMS ! "

              Outside  an Asian-American - they are usually thin when

    they arrive here - with a middle aged gut was drinking  a coke.

                 Pop psychologists  write that for many people food is

    LOVE. And we are loving ourselves to death !

               Another Great Depression will cure obesity faster than any

    Atkins Diet Revolution. Isn't a high protein diet elitist to begin

    with ?  Of course rice is cheaper than roast beef or lobster.

                 What does the good doctor tell fat poor people ? " Let

    them eat cake !  "

Omar Bradley's politics

Watching the war news on TV, I often caught references to

    the Bradley Tank - a formidable " smart " weapon , I understand . Time

    will tell just how wise  was this pre-emptive attack on Iraq - led by

    the bloody megalomaniac, Saddam Hussein. I do " support the troops " -

    but with great reservations. Patriotism is a poor excuse for brainlessness.

                 That  Bradley Tank had to be named after the famous mild

    mannered and thoughtful World War II American general, Omar Bradley .

    In his biography " A General's Life " he hints at his politics  which I

    do find refreshingly AMERICAN in the best sense : " I was in sympathy

    with most New Deal measures because, like my father,I always pulled for

    the little man, worker and farmer . "

                 Such a general today - assigned to rebuild Iraq  - might

    truly win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people. Imagine an

    American general establishing a workers and farmers government in Baghdad

    -and saying " Nuts ! " to  Big Oil - like Exxon  ?

                    At least a good idea for a Hollywood movie -starring Martin

    Sheen and Jane Fonda -with music by the Dixie-chicks .

Macy's Air Head Parade

Can there be a better symbol for American capitalist values

    than Macy's department stores ?  In " The Making of the President 1960 ",

    exhausted -and not a little crazy from the campaign - we read about Richard

    Nixon standing outside Macy's in New York City .... " You know, you can buy

    anything in Macy's ... " and that's what makes this country great...blah,

    blah ".

             Perhaps if Nixon only LOOKED better on TV - had Kennedy's dazzling

    Hollywood smile - HE would have won the election. After all, radio listeners

    perceived him as the winner of the " great debate ".

                  On page G12 of The Providence Journal today ( April 16 ) we

    read an article titled " We really want a set of pearly white teeth that

    dazzle ".   And there is no excuse for not having that great smile :" Teeth

    whitening has become so cheap and easy that the only excuse these days for

    dingy gums is apathy or deliberate contrariness " .   The writer here does

    not give a fleeting thought to health and dental insurance - which logically

    should not even be separate  - the human body being an organic WHOLE .

               On the editorial page Froma Harrop writes about one middle

    aged Macy's employee, Elsa Yanowitz, who loses her job because she

    refuses to fire  an un-pretty woman doing a good job selling cosmetics.

                Capitalist society corrupts the soul in every which way, does

    it not ?  Have  pearly white teeth that dazzle - all the better to swindle

    people !  Arthur Miller's character, Willie Loman,  got it right : " It's

    a jungle out there !  " .

                A revised play might be titled : " Death of a Sales-woman "

             Everywhere in the advertising world : SMILING FACES, LYING FACES !

Seedless watermelon politics and FREE SPEECH

              Edward Achorn's  serious column this morning on the unexpected

    but inevitable consequences of " free speech " in America and Mark

    Patinkin's humorous question on " seedless watermelons "  - how do they

    propagate ?  - reminded me of the Green Party candidate for governor of

    California - one legendary 60s radical named Peter Camejo, now ironically

    a quite prosperous but  socially responsible investor. Peter -who did get

    a respectable 5 per cent of the vote -   jokingly called himself " a

    watermelon -green on the outside, red on the inside ".

             Back in the late 60s Camejo's " passionate oratory "  got him

    expelled from the UC Berkeley  - " just two quarters shy of graduating

    with a bachelor's degree in history "

                 His crime ?  " using an unauthorized microphone at a rally "

    ( see story October 22, 2002 by Louise Chu, Associated Press )

                  Like seedless watermelons left -wing politicos have a

    fertility problem in the land of the free. But they can at least SURVIVE !

                  With all due respect to Edward Achorn of Pulitzer Prize

    caliber, I prefer Gore Vidal's definition of FREE SPEECH in America : you

    are free to sing in tune with the ruling class .

                  Anyway, can't Peter Camejo FINALLY be awarded his bachelor

    degree in history ?  Now that this millionaire " socialist " can buy it ?

                 Senator Ted Kennedy -I am sure - has fond memories of Peter

    who once challenged him for his Senate seat .

                 But forget Ronald Reagan's condemnation of the 60s Camejo :

    " one of the most dangerous people in California ".

                   When Camejo ran for president in 1976 ( Socialist Workers

    Party ) , I was a presidential elector for him here in Rhode Island .

               Would anybody think I was  one of the most dangerous people

    in Rhode Island - besides my own brother who does " advertising "   ?

                 Yes indeed, that " left-wing faggot " - Gore Vidal - knows

    the heart of America.

Cianci's letters from prison

I am not a fan or a defender of the now imprisoned ex-mayor

    of Providence, Vincent " Buddy " Cianci . But I did not want him to

    languish in prison. What happens to any man's soul in prison is always

    of great human interest.  I'll bet many of your readers might enjoy a

    monthly LETTER FROM BUDDY .

              " Know thyself " , advises the ancient Greek philosopher,
    Socrates.

             What has " Buddy " discovered in prison about the REAL "
    Buddy " ?

             Any spiritual growth here ? What does he think about late at
    night

    all alone in very un-regal surroundings ?  What does he read ?

                 I do miss his COLOR and flamboyance. But how quickly
    prison

    can break a man. A penny for your thoughts, " Buddy "  !

Awful commercials mar Channel 10 NEWS

            Watching TV for more than 10 hours a week can be hazardous

    to your health, regular viewers were warned last week. But I suspect

    that the boob tube rots your mind even faster than it ruins your

    body by insidiously transforming you into a couch potato.

              Most sensitive and intelligent people must find those

    relentless TV commercials even more tasteless than the regular

    programming. Channel 10 NEWS - I think - wins the prize for overwhelming

    its paltry, senselessly repetitive " news " with truly sub-idiotic

    commercials. If this advertising really pays off for the sponsors,

    what does that say about the general caliber of the TV audience ?

                  MUST capitalist " democracy " be also a tyranny of

    vulgarity ?  What type of " artist " makes those commercials ?

     I can't imagine this type of commercial prostitute being familiar

    with great art, music , and literature . If they have encountered

    TRUTH & BEAUTY  somewhere in life - how can they not hate themselves ?

               What a challenge for those TV news celebrities to always

    be CUTE -even when presenting the blackest news. SMILING FACES -

    LYING FACES !

                A coffee cup salute to the first one who vomits on

    camera. And not from mere indigestion !

                 Is QUALITY NEWS just asking for too much ? How I

    miss old Walter Cronkite !

Looting in Baghdad and the French anarchist

If the vulgar looting were in New York City, you could be sure

    the New York Post would be calling for martial law - not LIBERTY -

    and backing a " strong-man " to run the city. Not long ago, I recall,

    all it took was LIGHTS OUT - a major electric power problem - to

    bring out the best in human nature in the Big Apple.

         My favorite thinker on the subject of property rights is the

    Frenchman, Pierre Joseph Proudhon. His move famous quote: PROPERTY

    IS THEFT ! 

            And my favorite people for re-organizing the OLD REGIME are

    the French of 1789 - inspired -not a little - by our own glorious

    revolution.

           A Pentagon spokesman -quite sincerely I am sure - declares

    on TV that the wealth of Iraq belongs to the people of Iraq.

          I can only imagine Ralph Nader saying the same about the

    wealth of America belonging to the American people. The creep !

           While fighting to liberate other people from tyranny, we

    no longer have a  " social contract " here. The real producers of

    wealth- doing daily physical and mental work -are owed NOTHING

    by big business or the government of big business in Washington, D.C.

                You want a national health care plan ? What shameless,

    peon impudence !  But keep  reproducing the race, you all -American

    peons. For LIFE IS SACRED !

         I deplore looting and thievery and would not myself - a bleeding

    heart liberal - steal a fine napkin from the mansion of one John D.

    Rockefeller, turn of the century robber baron.  The Baghdad looters

    are indeed thieves themselves and must not be tolerated. The wealth

    of Iraq belongs to the people of Iraq - not to individual looters,

    and also not to Fort EXXON !

A Doom & Bloom war ?

                  It's was nonsense to say that NBC reporter Bloom's

    death of a cardiac embolism was not combat related. How many American

    soldiers over there in Baghdad in cramped vehicles in 100 degree

    heat - forgetting to drink enough fresh ,cold water -and very, every,

    STRESSED OUT - are also in great danger of this kind of sudden death

    -coming like a thief in the night ? How many poor Iraqi civilians

    are doomed to  NON-COMBAT deaths that really have everything to do

    with SIEGE WARFARE ?

               I am neither a flag waver nor a peacnik in this conflict.

    I hope the United Nations can get a handle on the coming human

    catastrophe over there. To be sure, the world won't miss Saddam

    Hussein. But history also plays cruel jokes on the victors.

                I note that Mr. Bloom was born in 1963 - the year JFK

    - who symbolized youth and energy - and HOPE -if only the illusion

    of it - was assassinated. 

                   Perhaps Bloom was no more a candidate for sainthood

    - a fierce competitor, they say - than JFK. But still he was too

    wonderfully young and alive to die.

                  Somebody said that real business of  America is

    show business.  Dying young was what made James Dean an immortal

    legend. A friend of mine once said that God was  ENERGY. Like

    JFK , Bloom had it in abundance - the LIFE_FORCE .

               THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES ! 

            But truly our young gods are ONLY HUMAN !

Democracy failing in America ?

          The NEWS media is just rotting the American mind. Clearly

    most Americans - for whatever reasons besides brainwashing - support

    the war against Iraq - with very little evidence that the Sadamm Hussein

    regime -tyranny that it is - had any connection with September 11, or

    that his " weapons of mass destruction " are a greater threat to our

    national security than China's . His military is clearly organized to

    perpetuate his tyranny, not to conquer the infidel for the greater

    glory of Allah. And since when did we find two-bit dictators so

    insufferable ? Look at our record closer to home in Latin America !

     The Left here would have applauded a military action against Chile's

    Pinochet , just as one example.

          What if the United Nations judged our " weapons of mass destruction "

    UNACCEPTABLE ? We  arrogantly ask the whole world : " Are you for us

    or against us ? " What if THEY - armed with nuclear power in the future-

    are against us ?

                President Bush and his White House gang babble about God

    as much as those sickening Islamic fanatics. Where is FREE SPEECH

    in an atmosphere attuned to reactionary TALK RADIO ?

              In a country controlled by the Spanish Inquisition even the

    poor,lonely Jew will kiss the cross !

           I respect the peace movement and deplore the censorship of its

    opinions and insights. But I would like to think that those PEACENIKS

    are not just the mirror image of the TALK RADIO RIGHT .

                 The Left for more than a generation on college campuses

    has shown little respect for FREE SPEECH. It made POLITICAL CORRECTNESS

    a sort of screwball tyranny. And now - I guess - is payback time !

               But American democracy is rapidly fading into a pretentious

    illusion. Brainless people search their souls and find... a slogan !

                   Newspapers are almost as bad as TALK RADIO - but

    still a lot more literate. You can always find some unpleasant TRUTH

    between the lines .

                Also pathetic are Arab nationalists who find a hero in

    Saddam Hussein. They have the mind of a mule !

             Hopefully , at least CIVILIZATION - preferably WESTERN

    CIVILIZATION - will survive the coming Dark Age.

              To fix America we need a lot more than a regime change.

    How cocky will we be a year from now ?

How to sell more newspapers

     I got on a West Warwick bound bus yesterday morning with three

    newspapers - Providence Journal, Boston Globe, Boston Herald. A

    young white man sitting next to me with a ragged middle aged male

    for a companion was impressed with my appetite for newspapers.

    Reading, said the author of " The Summing Up " , was at least a

    harmless addiction. I offered the kid the Boston Herald but then-

    what a shock ! - he said with a hint of shame that he just could

    not read very well, that reading BOOKS was impossible. I encouraged

    him to open up on this serious illiteracy problem which I said-

    with some compassion - could make him a " joke " when he applied

    for a job. He said that the ragged guy next to him - who suddenly

    began to whine like a baby - was his job. He was his " caretaker ".

    The kid dropped out of high school, he said, where he was daily

    humiliated as a retard. He said that if he could just get a GED,

    he would like to be as drug counselor. He did have a gentle, caring

    manner which to some " macho " guy might be perceived as effeminate.

             Just then the bus was passing Dorcas Place on Elmwood Ave.

    I pointed it out to him, saying he could get help there with his

    reading problem. In fact the kid was 24 years old but looked even

    younger. I wrote on a piece of newspaper : " Dorcas Place - Elmwood

    Ave. ".

              Actor Robert DiNero played an illiterate rescued by

    Jane Fonda in  a Hollywood movie. This kid also needs to be rescued.

    What can be worse than the pathetic helplessness of illiteracy ?

               Don't newspapers like the Providence Journal, the Boston

    Globe, the Boston Herald have a vested interest in common literacy ?

             How do so many hardly stupid kids fall through the cracks ?

         A long time ago I read the famous classic " Why Johnny Can't

    Read "  . Is it true that the alphabet is an esoteric secret for

    modern reading teaching ?

                Expose the scandal -and double your newspaper sales !

Corporate patriotism of Honeywell

This story of corporate patriotism is familiar : " Honeywell

    to lay off 374 in Pawtucket " ( Providence Journal, front page, April 3)

             Better opportunities in France ? Nope - the jobs will be moved

    to China or Mexico. Hopefully executives who are American citizens will

    even get a big tax break - a gift from our patriotic president. Nice to

    love your country without having to give it anything, without really

    OWING it anything.

                Meanwhile a toxic emotion -militant nationalism - is aroused

    in the much abused, exploited working class. Nothing morally wrong

    with GLOBAL perspective of the capitalist ruling class. But let a

    worker THINK globally - WORKERS OF THE WORLD UNITE - and let him

    express this idea at work. How fast do you think he will get promoted?

    How fast will he be escorted out of the building -  a dangerous

    trouble-maker  ?

                  Many corporate executives love America as much as they

    love unions.If a blue-collar American moved to France - a country which

    I love as much as my own - because the minimum wage was higher over

    there, he would be judged a defective, soul-less  human being.

               And  if the blue collar worker also questioned our war

    against Iraq, he will be lucky not to be FRENCH-FRIED at work .

                I guess the real purpose of the Statue of Liberty in New

    York City - a gift of France - is to make a mockery of American capitalist

    hypocrisy.

                 God bless Honeywell !

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 !

Billionaire metabolism = average drudge

 Headline today : Billionaires wealth wanes; Oprah joins the club

       Working class people are advised  early in life that they simply

    must WORK for a living -and only despicable parasites refuse to make

    socially useful efforts. But the average drudge supporting a family

    can expect only a very modest life style no matter how hard he WORKS.

           Something strange and even a little unjust about this business

    of work. Too bad so few blue collar workers studied elementary physics

    in high school. Science has finally demystified  WORK and can even measure

    it - in foot pounds or calories. Even our brain can be studied at work,

    literally lighting up a medical imagining screen as one area of the brain

    burns up calories at a faster or slower rate than another area of the

    brain.

                Looking at this screen alone, the good doctor can not tell

    if the patient is Bill Gates, Oprah or just John or Jane Doe.

              Mechanical work is measured in JOULES which -and this was a

    great 19th century discovery - has an equivalent in calories.

                     1 joule = .239 calories

           In consuming calories our brains are comparable to a household

    lightbulb. Since our economy is based on the principle of exchange,

    and if we  equate calories consumed -thinking or DOING - to units

    of money - a scientific soul can only wonder why Oprah or Bill Gates

    earns more than the average drudge !

            ...... A song says it better... " Sixteen tons and what do you

    get ?   Another day's pay and deeper in debt "

            Or  even better : " F--- this job !  "

                 Groucho Marx is my mentor.

HONESTY demand insults BIG LABOR

Sometimes Hollywood gets it right. If you want a true picture

    of BIG LABOR even today, view that all time great film " On the

    Water Front " . Not for nothing a CORRUPT labor union like the

     Teamsters has a cozy relationship with the Republican White House.

     Normally the ONLY union leaders a self-respecting capitalist can

    stand are dead ones. But the likes of James P. Hoffa - son of a

    legendary  CORRUPT  Teamsters president - " Jimmy " - can find

    himself invited into the first lady's box during a Bush  State of

    the Union address. As long as the labor leader is more like Johnny

    Friendly ( played brilliantly by Lee J. Cobb ), the ruling class

    will HONOR him. To be honored for betraying the rank and file of

    your union,  betraying the working class in general !

               But  I read today that the Secretary of Labor, Elaine

    L. Chao has insulted and infuriated big labor leaders like Hoffa .

    The reason ? " Stricter financial disclosure rules for labor

    unions ". ( NY Times story, Feb. 27 )  .

              There is no such thing as  DEMOCRACY in most labor unions

    today. Not even the rank and file is entitled to know about where

    union funds are going. A good guess -around election time - is

    into the pockets of some Democrats - all tested " friends of Labor ".

                Here Hoffa is a bit of a maverick - finding a friend in

    George W. Bush, FREE ENTERPRISE Republican.

               Organized labor has forgotten its roots. Do you know

    that the Teamsters  union was founded by radicals in the 30s , not

    just radicals but Trotskyists ?

                 If organized labor can recover some of that old militant

    spirit - " ORGANIZE THE UN-ORGANIZED ! " - it might begin to grow

    again. And blue collar America might be able to hope again.

Two questions doom Bush re-election

In less than two years his country will be as fed up with

    this foolish cowboy president as the rest of the civilized world.

             Two questions will prove fatal to the re-election of  George

    W. Bush :

                 1    Are you better off economically than you -the voter -

    were four years ago ?

                 2    Are we -the citizens of the United States - safer

     from terrorism than we were four years ago ?

                  Now both Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden are world

    class rats.   And what a feat for George W - a  decent man - to  be

    even less popular than THEY on the world stage !

             All the sympathy this nation had after September 11 , HE

    blew it ! Something called " the arrogance of power " .  A book by

    that name -written by a fine Southern senator - convinced me of

    the righteousness of the mass movement against our war in Vietnam

    in that decade of wonderful rebellion - the 60s .

                And now we have  MILLIONS of people protesting against

    a war with Iraq - before it  REALLY begins. CAUTION : IGNORING THE

    COURT OF WORLD OPINION CAN BE HAZARDOUS TO YOUR POLITICAL FORTUNES !

              Making the world a  little kinder and little more just

    MIGHT undermine the terrorist cause. Bombing Baghdad back to the

    Stone Age most certainly will not .

                Multiply that little holocaust in West Warwick , Rhode

    Island, by a 1000 and then wonder how THAT can cure the world of

    the terrorist scourge !

                  Better to confine " pyrotechnics " to  dried out old

    nightclubs like " The Station ". Wasn't that the word  a TV reporter

    used to describe  the SHOW over Baghdad on one night of Operation

    Desert Storm ?

                  PEACE !

West Warwick fire = TRAGEDY

             Being a fan of horror fiction, I was reminded of the ghastly

    prom night apocalypse scene in " Carrie " , the Stephen King movie,

    when  I watched the on the scene news coverage of  the West Warwick

    nightclub holocaust. My nephew, Ricky, lives right across from the

    " The Station "  .  After making a few anxious calls, I learned that

    none of my extended family -  the younger ones are most likely to

    frequent seedy or classy  nightclubs - were unlucky enough to be

    there. To die a horrible death  because you just love a decadent

    heavy metal band. Likely last thoughts of a victim in the burning,

    screaming , stinking darkness : visions of Hell , last agonies fading

    to black nothingness or eternal peace..... Father !  Mother ! Oh God,

    oh God ! .... I was living.... now  I am dead !

                   But " Carrie " was about revenge. And every good horror

    story has something to say about GOOD and EVIL.

                 We look for villains here in  " The Station " . But even

    the owner wipes bitter tears. Governor Carcieri got it right : the

    fire that has taken nearly 100 lives was a TRAGEDY that should not

    have happened. Our litigious society has forgotten the very meaning

    of TRAGEDY. It prefers to obsess foolishly on  CRIME and PUNISHMENT.

                  No laws or punishment will cure the human race of pure

    stupidity. And  numerous bad judgments  culminate in an out of control

    event - like an earthquake or volcano.

                No moralizing judge will ever be able to put the Absurd

    on trial. Forget about those ridiculous grief counselors. Just BE

    THERE for people who  grieve.

                 West Warwick is an old mill town, still haunted by

    the ghosts of the New England Industrial Revolution. Now and then

    a friend of mine  - often  in late October - visit one of our favorite

    West Warwick pubs : " Ronnie's Last Chance Saloon " .

               Until the fire at " The Station " the only hot topic in

    blue collar West Warwick was whether or not to build a casino.

                  A new casino should greet its visitors with a statue

    of the Greek goddess  - Chance . A real bitch !

Cranston's bond rating for boxer Paz

I would just like the whole country to know that MY city-

    Cranston, Rhode Island - has the worst bond rating in the country

    or had until just recently when a " financial genius " became the

    new mayor. Cranston's gift to the sport's world is the aging boxing

    legend, Vinny Paz. I was thinking that Vinny could get a public

    relations job with Cranston, promoting a new image of financial

    integrity here. But alas today's front page headline in " The Providence

    Journal " : " Boxer Vinny Paz arrested on Nevada bad-check charge ".

              Bad credit has alarming consequences for a city. For

    example, vicious dogs run loose in the street. And if you fall on

    busy Reservoir Ave. while being chased by a  crazy Rottweiler -

    and break  a bone , don't expect the police to be soon on the scene

    to investigate the incident and have some friendly advice for the

    dog's owner. An ambulance MIGHT come to your rescue.

               This morning I noticed that those garbage cans on our

    street - a house with a PAZIENZA sign around the corner - have

    STILL not been emptied. It is only Friday !

                 Like Vinny, Cranston is going to the dogs ! Don't

    buy a house here -if you are smart.

Yesterday,Feb. 20, just after noontime, the passengers of the

Cranston St. bus ( 9203 ) -including myself - literally got

a whiff of terror on the packed bus. Up front a young, disturbed

looking, white male was told by a middle aged black lady seated

opposite him to " please stop staring ". A gentleman would have

just apologized , perhaps thinking that the female was oversensitive.

    But then the horror show began : " Shut up bitch ! " And

then -as if the poor lady were just a cockroach - sprayed her

in the face with  some noxious chemical.

       Good thing there was no panic or stampede on the bus !

 A shocked bus driver finally called the police and opened the

the passenger doors.  I myself tried to console the poor black

lady : " You'll be OK.  An ambulance will arrive soon. THAT

was so mean and nasty... "  . The young man was restrained.

I gave my name, address, and phone number to the bus driver

as a witness to the assault. So did other passengers.

       Somebody said the guy looked like the " Cool Moose "

candidate. That is just pure description, of course.

       I studied him while he was being detained: " American

Gothic ". Later when the bus continued up Cranston St. , I

noticed some of his belongings left on the seat. I gave them

to the bus driver before getting off myself.

        I read out loud from the outside of a white envelope,

among the things the cops should have taken with them :

        " DISCHARGED - RETURN TO SENDER "

      Was this another example of our mental health care

system at work ?

         It seemed the police took their time in responding

to the bus driver's emergency call. The ambulance got there

before they did.

         I hope that poor black lady will recover from her

eye injury. There was also a woman with asthma and a baby

on the bus.

        Good thing the incident did not become racial. It

may have if it all happened when school was  getting out.

The young and the restless would have taught the mentally

ill young man a LESSON.

      But society has learned no lessons about neglecting the

mentally ill !

WHJJ HATE RADIO -starring " The Independent Man "

The old 60s radical in me says WHJJ's  TALK RADIO jerk and

    hate monger, John DiPetro - the " Independent Man " , John DiPetro -

    has a profitable relationship with the CIA or FBI - All-American

    institutions which guard freedom by viewing with suspicion any individual

    or group infected with humanist notions - like pacifism, international

    working class solidarity, and -even more odious - FREE SPEECH !

                The extreme  Right seems to own Talk Radio.   I heard Mr.

    DiPetro say on his program that he just hates Arabs - because they are such

    animals.  And learning about a peace demonstration in New York this

    week-end, expressed a wish that a terrorist bomb will land right in the

    middle of it .

                    Keep listening to the " Independent Man " if you want

    to  learn what Americanism is all about.

                  And Arlene Violet -once our Attorney General - degrades

    herself by staying with WHJJ. After doing one more stupid " Good Feet "

    commercial, she should walk out of the place and take a vow of silence

    for at least a year.

                  The Providence Journal should INVESTIGATE  John DiPetro.

Saddam tyranny inseparable from HIS bureaucracy

History teaches that dictators like Saddam Hussein of Iraq

sooner or later provoke wars. It is nice to believe that democracy

triumphs everywhere in the end.  But what an arrogant headline in

USA TODAY on February 13 : " U.S. General would run Iraq ".

        I read somewhere that Saddam -as a TYRANT - patterns

himself after one of the most evil tyrants in human history :

Joseph Stalin .  But that did not stop the Russian people from

fighting so ferociously at Stalingrad.

        The USA TODAY article says : "  a post -Saddam Hussein

Iraq would be run by a U.S. general USING MANY OF THE BUREAUCRATS

WHO ADMINISTER THE COUNTRY NOW " ( my emphasis ).

        Just a few years after the Russian Revolution one of its

most brilliant leaders , Leon Trotsky, explained in his classic

" The Revolution Betrayed "   the relationship between the

corrupt " socialist " bureaucracy and its leader Stalin.

        The privileged bureaucracy needed Stalin as much as

Stalin needed the bureaucracy.  Trotsky  opposed terrorism

as a political strategy.  He believed  that if Stalin were

assassinated, the corrupt Soviet bureaucracy would have created

a NEW Stalin  .

        To  remove Saddam Hussein of Iraq and keep HIS bureaucracy

intact would be to betray any possibility of even minimal

democracy in that miserable country.

          The American Caesar would find himself working with

corrupt Saddam henchmen to suppress a real democratic political

revolution in Iraq.

         Clearly DEMOCRACY is not the goal of a U.S. war against

Iraq. Imagine those poor people being ruled by some Texas cowboy

general !  AS an old 60s song warns : " Meet the new boss- same

as the old boss !  "

         I support OLD Europe on this matter of war against

Iraq.  The French are not cowards.  I wonder what their

Noble Prize winning author Albert Camus would think about our

cowboy president, George W. Bush . Camus was the courageous

editor of the anti-Nazi newspaper " Combat " when Germany

occupied France. His book " The Rebel " is still relevant

to world politics today.

        And I myself expect THE ABSURD to triumph once again

in human affairs. The Plague has never really disappeared !