There is a science of wealth creation ( Economy news)

  The ECONOMY news in the Providence Journal today ( A10 , June 25 ) reports: " Wealth gap widens amid slow recovery, researchers report ". Why is wealth and wealth creation so mystified by the capitalist news media ?  Why does it make finance capital , the creation of profit- of social surplus value- seem the magical power of wealthy individuals ?  The gods of the  " free market " are not to be questioned in the same way  Isaac Newton questioned the forces of nature ?
        Only in the last two centuries were the mysteries of mass-energy solved. The fundamental law of conservation of energy- oddly enough, discovered during the Industrial Revolution- prohibits the creation of something from nothing. You think this fundamental scientific discovery has no relevance to human wealth creation, to capitalist economics ?  You think our tiny plutocracy makes more EFFORT than the rest of humanity combined ?  But  all EFFORT -even intellectual EFFORT - has only one objective measure known to  biological science : calorie consumption. The brain of our very busy plutocrat  operates at the energy rate of a dull light bulb. Otherwise his active brain would simply have a feverish meltdown.
              This is not a compelling argument for radical egalitarianism. But it does set limits on how much wealth can be rationally permitted to any single individual. A socialist society will not deprive any individual of the fruits of his or her labor. It will simply socialize tangible surplus wealth. And why should a majority of voters not decide in favor of real economic justice ?  Is real democracy so very subversive to our American plutocracy ?
        Can we afford to ignore simple science ?  If any economics scholar at the Providence Journal can make a fool of me here, let him do so . Or let HER : consult your LETTERS favorite, Susan Berge, the oracle of Burrillville  I  very much want to know if I am a fool before I sleep the sleep of the just !

Governor Lincoln Chafee right about Ed Achorn ( his horoscope )

   I think our " unpopular " Governor Lincoln Chafee gets a few things right. He was right about Iraq, about extremists taking over the Republican Party, about  capital punishment being unacceptable in a civilized society, about the fairness of gay marriage.
       And he is absolutely right about Providence Journal editorial page- editor, Ed Achorn, being  vicious and right-wing agenda biased. I know astrologer Myrna Lamb did   Ed's horoscope before she died: she sees Ed being escorted out of 75 Fountain St. by two underpaid security guards. The new owners don't want to deal with an angry Lincoln Chafee.
           Perhaps Ed can find a new job on Fox News. He is rather telegenic. I will forward this letter to Linc.

Parallel war on " modernism " in Catholic Church and your war on architectural modernism

     Dave, I  always appreciated your " war " on modernism in architecture. It's just a gut feeling for beauty, elegance, and grandeur. I cannot always follow your specialized knowledge. For me it oddly resonates with the war on " modernism "  within the Catholic Church. Here it assumes many forms.  Not just the end of certain beautiful rituals-like the Latin Mass( forget about theology here-it's just aesthetics ) .  Only a dead soul will not appreciate the splendor of the old European cathedrals. And yet in the era of Vatican II even the architecture of newly constructed  Catholic churches was hideously corrupted. When I attended my brother Ray's funeral mass at St. Stephen's on Warwick Ave. in Warwick,  I was more than distracted by the profane design of the building- like a college gymnasium or a circus tent. Does it not reflect the spiritual deadness of the architect ?
        Does not all this hideous architectural " modernism " that you protest against so often reflect a whole civilization in an advanced state of decay ?   Is there anything reactionary about pure beauty ?    Keep up the good fight  here ! ( even if politics is hopeless )


   Ron, I refer to such profane ecclesiastical edifi collectively as the Church of St. George Jetson. Without wanting to politicize my discourse, I've written quite a bit about how valid it is to compare modernism with moral erosion, corporate excess, totalitarian rule, etc., etc. There is a lot of that on my blog (now independent of the Journal). For example, a piece called "Is beauty conservative?" and another more recently called "An ecclesiastical mood." If you would like, I will add you to my send list, if you are not already on it.

    Dave

Just a footnote on " Brown Sugar ", Claudia Lennear - Sunday Journal story

  It struck me while reading about " Brown Sugar ", Claudia Lennear, in yesterday 's Providence Sunday Journal "( "  Claudia Lennear's journey among the stars " , June 22, G3 )  that I had the ancient 1964 Hope High  yearbook in my closet. To her Hope High classmates she was known as Claudia Offley. I looked for the name and class picture in the yearbook and found it on page 185.  It read : " Her very frowns are fairer far than the smiles of other maidens are .... "  by Coleridge.  Claudia was living at 102 Somerset St. in Providence.
          Now back to the  Rolling Stones singing " Brown Sugar " on  You Tube.  By the way, the 1964 Hope High  yearbook is a story in itself. This particular yearbook belonged to my dear  " big brother " Rick who passed away in March.

Your horse's ass editorial page, Mr. Achorn

  Can many readers of the one time " progressive "  Providence Journal get any relief from your increasingly bizarre  Susan Berge-Edward Achorn editorial page ? Readers a little to the left of John DePetro - and not grieving fans of the late astrologer Myrna Lamb ? A few liberals and dangerous socialists ?
        Berge's letter today ( June 20 )  makes some sense: forget about Iraq; we have enough problems at home.
  One big problem at home is a bribed, corrupted, reactionary press. I think Bob Kerr agrees with me. I'll check with the others at 75 Fountain St.

Mark, your finest column on " feminism "

     Mark, wondering what all the commotion was about, I just read your column on line, " Don't call me a feminist ".   Being a long time socialist, I am well informed about the roots of the feminist movement.  Forgive me for using my own " ism " terminology. But I suspect that what you are really talking about is the degeneration of classic feminism-represented by  " socialist " women- like Israel's Gold Meir- into present day capitalist-loving bourgeois feminism - which has put fangs into traditional female social climbing ( via the marriage rackett ).  Is it really a great advance for HUMANITY when a female breaks through the " glass ceiling " of corporate America and becomes a vicious enemy of  working class men and women ?   Is Hillary- as Commander-in-Chief of our military- a gift to the women of Iraq or Iran ?

                   In short  " modern feminism " has been completely corrupted by atheist   Ayn Rand's " Virtue of Selfishness " - by the all pervasive values of the capitalist market place. Feminism for the crudely ambitious female.  As an antidote to this disease I recommend Erich Fromm's " Art of Loving ". And also Fromm's classic  " The Sane Society ".   And I am very tired of the tyranny of so called left-wing political correctness- which would sentence you to a life-time of feminist-sensitivity " work-shops ".  Your Orwellian THOUGHT CRIME will not be tolerated in this golden age of feminist ascendency. A herd of independent females will teach you a lesson !

         By the way, that was your finest column. Honesty and Clarity is always a breath of fresh air!

An editorial position on " more mental hospitals, please " ?

I think it is about time the Providence Journal take an editorial position on the tragic failure of 50 years of deinstitutionalization of the severely mentally ill. Too many mental health professionals have been corrupted by FOR PROFIT health care. Or they are too timid to speak out. With all these horrible news stories about the numerous crackups ( " Nope, no problem here ! " said the good doctor. ) you would think that our more competent psychiatrists and mental health therapists would be ashamed of their profession. And bottles of anti-psychotic pills ( self-administered ? ) are no substitute for clearly seeing the troubled human soul.
       As the late Dr, Viktor Frankl-the founder of logotherapy- and a Nazi death camp survivor- author of " Man's Search for Meaning " - taught his disciples : the mentally ill must also be shown that their existence still has meaning, even a transcendental one. The manic-depressive's soul is a lot more than a lithium solution. For-profit psychiatry laughs at the human soul. And look all around you for its fruits !
  Rather than be a jail-house for the mentally ill ( " lock them all up ! " ), a modern mental institution can resemble one of those comfortable , idyllic Roman Catholic " retreats ".  Where recovery is indeed possible. Where now healthy souls do one day just walk out the door.

Cold War Soviet ideology preferable to Mideast religious lunacy ?

   Vladimir Putin - who might yet emerge as the hero in the present Fall- of- Iraq crisis- said a few years back that the collapse of the old Soviet Union was an historic tragedy. Did not the whole world seem less divided and chaotic in Cold War era ?  Everywhere in the under-developed  world (  the Mideast, Africa, Asia, Latin America ) potential young rebels were introduced  to the Marxist ideology of " class struggle " - which- though fanatical in its own way-rejected irrational violence for the POLITICS of mass movement.  An " historical materialist " would never plan or welcome  the diabolical terrorism we see in these regions of endless bloody conflict today.
              No Marxist-even of the Stalinist stripe- would ever have demonized Western Civilization- the cradle of Judeo-Christian morality and the very  source of modern popular democracy and
 modern Science itself.  Now  I see why the late great humanist Carl Sagan wrote " The Demon Haunted World " in which he made some very sympathetic comments about the assassinated Bolshevik, Leon Trotsky . Read Trotsky's " The Revolution Betrayed " for a deeper understanding of the collapse of the Soviet Union.
           In the 1960s the New Left in the United States was convinced that young people should turn to revolutionary POLITICS -not bloody violence- to change the world.
      Even Pope Francis today is showing the world a better way to economic and social justice than the deranged fanatics of Islam.  But is Reason dying, are the lights going out everywhere ? Is there a candle in the dark ? asked-and answered- the late great humanist Carl Sagan.

Pure Gold- fully digitized Providence Journal Archives

Any long time reader of  the Providence Journal -interested in local history or just haunted by spirits of the long-past- would surely appreciate a fully digitized Providence Journal archive. I recall your series on the Lizzie Borden murder-mystery. Did you use tedious microfilm searches for that ?     As a Library of Congress project there are now many digitized American newspapers ( 1836-1923) .  In one of these old digitized newspapers I read a rather sultry story of an adulterous Rhode Island governor and his high society mistress. For the rich and famous perhaps a readily available local newspaper archive might expose too many still smoldering scandals.   When I was  just a kid I recall reading about my Uncle Nick assigned to the propaganda office of the United States Embassy in Rome -  back then  Uncle Nick was a professional anti-communist ( also a former Providence Journal editor ) .  But all this was during the Kennedy Era.
           And just yesterday I viewed an eerie page turning of three old newspapers - and showing their age- on You Tube: the very three days in November 1963 following the Kennedy assassination. The story is very well known. But  Thanksgiving was approaching and there were amusing ads telling the reader the price of a pound of turkey - about 40 cents.
          Does anybody at 75 Fountain St. share my interest in a fully digitized Providence Journal ?

     ( I also believe that H.P. Lovecraft once sent a letter to the Providence Journal advocating for some form of socialism.

        It was a Great Depression Year and the famous horror writer was living on Campbell's Soup .  )

                             

                                                                                                                                  

Humble suggestion for a visitor-friendly Rhode Island

   I can only agree with our state leaders- seeking tourist dollars- who want to make Little Rhody more visitor friendly. But they often forget the basics. A tradition of New England puritanism makes many business owners hostile to human physiology . I see many obnoxious NO PUBLIC RESTROOM signs in my frequent RIPTA bus travels. You would think that the Kennedy Plaza bus station rest- room could be open just as long  as  the buses are running-or even later. Around twilight I find myself  walking in the alley between the Superman Building and the CVS store.  And I am nearly sickened by the overpowering stench of many stale gallons of urine. The homeless or " just drunk " late at night ?  Of course in the light of day we could just arrest and fine ( fine the penniless ! ) them all for " indecent exposure ".  But  we are all too human: is having a full bladder an " abominable and detestable crime against nature ?

          To be sure, we need more USER FRIENDLY public restrooms in Rhode Island.   The late 60s rascal Abbey Hoffman demanded that we " abolish pay-public toilets. But like pay-public phones they are no more to be found.

         Esteemed editors of the Providence Journal : Speak now or forever hold your piss ( sic) !

The stale music of Kennedy Plaza

        I am a RIPTA regular in Kennedy Plaza.  I can only wish RIPTA's management better or more efficient funding. There is no excuse for less than superb bus service in Little Rhody. Indeed a car should be almost superfluous here. But I must  vent a petty complaint: the piped- in- music in Kennedy Plaza has not been changed - I am sure- in 20 years.  Day after day I hear the pleasant but oh- so- stale music I recognize as Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 21 , popularly  known from the 1967 Swedish movie, Elvira Madigan; and Rossin's William Tell Overture, popularly known as  The Lone Ranger theme form the old TV show.

          Standing in the garbage of Kennedy Plaza , counting all those horrid cigarette butts , seeing all those poor alienated souls, thinking about the poor masked man and a tragic female type rope walker,  I wonder if  a statue of St. Jude might be erected in the center of Kennedy Plaza: he is still the patron saint of hopeless cases !

           St. Jude or Edward Achorn hear my prayer: change the music in Kennedy Plaza. Let me hear Buddy Holly's " Things are getting better " or even " The day the music died ".

Yes,please- more mental institutions !

  Thank you, Robert Whitcomb , for your very sane column today on a very urgent issue: the need for more and better mental hospitals  in the United States. How many families have been hurt or ruined by our clearly dysfunctional mental health care system ?  You can find a whole shelf- full of books on the failure of de-institutionalization-written by compassionate and competent mental health professionals- in any public library. Alas, some of these books were published three or four decades ago.

            Deep depression is also a form of " madness ". In his popular book on the subject, " Darkness Visible ", William Styron explains how at a certain stage in his illness nothing was more beneficial to him than a long stay in a decent mental institution.

     Above all, the mentally ill have a right to recovery. And they can best recover far removed from the competitive, capitalist- almost Darwinian- " struggle for existence ".

          No doubt I will soon be reading more stories in the newspapers about tragic crackups who " fell through the cracks " of our otherwise outstanding  mental health care system. So much too for the " right of citizens not to be imperiled by crazy people walking around... "