Front page news: R.I. kids clueless in science

   The average adult newspaper reader in Rhode Island no doubt reads with a yawn the front page news: " NECAP test science scores decline in R.I. ",( Providence Journal, Sept.30). Assuming the validity of the  New England Common Assessment Program tests, I can sense too many kids are just bored and uninspired by the public school science teaching. Odd indeed : " science scores are not used to rank Rhode Island schools as high or low performing ".  This negative report will not discourage state education Commissioner Deborah A. Gist in HER " race to the top ".

       I wish these tests were published on the internet so that science-literate adults can get a better idea of the quality of science education in Rhode Island public schools.

  The late great popular science writer Carl Sagan  said in his " Demon Haunted World " that kids up to age 12  are naturally curious - almost born scientists. Then something happens to smother that wonderful curiosity. I suspect that something is boring, uninspiring science teaching. To be sure, there will always be numerous teachers with the strange gift of breathing boredom on ANY subject. But today when the Internet can make vivid  or fascinating so many topics in science, even limited funds are no great excuse for mass-producing dullards in science.

      When so much of the population fails to achieve basic science literacy ,  Dark Age ignorance and superstition can triumph over Reason and real knowledge of world and universe that we live in. How many young Islamic fanatics never had the equivalent of a good high school biology or physics course ? The same can happen here !

         Curiously,  as Carl Sagan pointed out, daily newspapers do very little to inform and instruct the public in basic science. But there is always an idiotic Horoscope section.

   Did I read somewhere that the Great Imam of Egypt ( a while back ) still insisted that the world was flat ?   Two cheers for Western Civilization . (  Now I will check out " Periodic Videos " on You Tube and watch the daffy looking old professor play like a kid  sprinkling sodium on water. A truly brilliant display .  Any real scientist is just a kid at heart ! )

" Times are hard ! " cries petty thief

     If I were a plutocrat , I would insist that all my very private wealth be guarded by a principled socialist. Socialists themselves may agree with the famous anarchist Proudhon that " property is theft ".  Nevertheless redistributing wealth - all that Marxian " surplus value "- is an extremely complex socio-political problem. It can only be solved at the highest levels of a social democracy.  Therefore any petty thief- who simply transfers legal private property to himself, making it HIS possession, is just as despicable under socialist law as under capitalist law-where PRIVATE PROPERTY is sacrosanct. Social chaos is simply not permissible in a period of transition to a new social order.

            It  won't be necessary to  hound the wealthy class.    It might be very impractical to quickly and ruthlessly deprive them of  their capital.   With the public re-educated about the social nature of wealth, its empowered representatives in the government can present the old ruling class with a revised SOCIAL CONTRACT: Capital in the form of money or means of production MUST be ACTIVE capital - used to employ ALL the working class in socially useful-if not PROFITABLE- production and services.  Presently full employment is made impossible by the irrational FREE MARKET profit system. Good  working class talent and skills can rot for years if some boss cannot make money on it.  The human tragedy of capitalist depression and recession is well documented. We don't need another Great Depression.

            Just a simple rational attitude toward wealth creation has world shaking consequences. For now that gentleman- thief in the Providence Journal story today (  ' Times are hard ' : RI man charged with stealing from Cub Scouts  ,  Sept.30 )  could be helped not by a harsh prison sentence( he only stole $238 from Cub Scout cash box ) but by a GUARANTEED ANNUAL WAGE.  Instead of " times are hard ! " let him yell in a peaceful public demonstration : " We want a guaranteed annual income ! " .  That alone should put an end to pathetic acts of thievery and abject public begging.

Samuel Johnson would smile at Cianci " Plunderdome "

     I have just come across a  Samuel Johnson quote that is pertinent to Providence mayoral candidate Vincent " Buddy " Cianci . I infer from it ( just replace " governour " with " mayor ") that England's  famous sage might just smile at the prospect of another term in office for this " twice-convicted felon ", as the antagonistic editorial pages of the Providence Journal daily reminds its readers:

        " A governour whose power is checked, lets others plunder, that he himself may be allowed to plunder ; but if despotick, he see that the more he lets others plunder, the less there will be for himself, so he restrains them; and though he himself plunders , the country is a gainer, compared to being plundered by numbers. "

           In Providence, the " numbers " include: the teachers union, the police officers union, the fire fighters union. " Plunder Dome " Buddy will protect us all from their collective greed and civic irresponsibility.  And remember that winning early campaign slogan : " He never stopped loving Providence "  ( that clever LaChance Advertising Agency ) .

Cuba: just says NO to " Che " cologne !

Well. I am glad to see the great Cuban Revolution still has teeth or
even fangs. A  short new item in the Providence Sunday Journal today (
section B)  informs  me:   Cuba will punish state employees -corrupted by
global capitalism- who attempted to capitalize on the iconic images of the
legendary revolutionary hero Ernesto " Che " Guevara and also the late
leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Just imagine marketing COLOGNE
named after these two very anti-capitalist popular leaders.
              It is all too easy for youth to be corrupted by  Free Market
glitter. If they are relatively privileged, they might  deeply resent an
egalitarian minded social order where they just can't GET AHEAD. Of course,
the goal of " getting ahead " in America always means getting ahead of
others, your very brothers and sisters, your aunts and uncles, your own
mother and father. If you have that X-something called TALENT , then all
lesser souls should worship you. Indeed your genetic gift is PRICELESS. Of
course, you should belong to the magic ones who CREATE jobs and create
wealth- the wondrous ONE PERCENT. Without THEM the rest of humanity are
just clueless and incompetent idiots
           " Che " , of course, had a very different view of the
intelligence and decency of the oppressed and exploited masses . " Che's
rotting corpse smelled better than the putrescent souls of our ruling
classes. Viva the Cuban Revolution!
     ( note to the Cuban leaders: go easy on those  traitors. Just make
them use up all that cologne in public squares )

But does God weep at overpopulation ?

        Abortion rights is front page news in the Providence Journal today( Sept.26 ).  Bishop Tobin, now a registered Republican, says that Democrat candidate for governor, Gina Raimondo, is not- right- with- God in her open defiance of Church dogma on abortion. It seems that Almighty God is furious over the " unjust death of unborn children " . I wonder just how relevant this stale controversy is in the economic wasteland of Rhode Island.  I understand that the Catholic Church has no theological objections to Darwin's theory of evolution. Even if you believe sincerely that abortion is morally deplorable most of the time, you must wonder if God is majestically indifferent to the exponential proliferation of the human race .   Last month I reread a dusty old paperback book, a bestseller in 1968: " The Population Bomb " by Paul Erlich . It is still a scary book even for those who would still like to believe in the Wisdom of Providence.  It seems perfectly possible that overpopulation can put a precipitous end to our " homo sapiens " species.  Does not reproductive self-restraint show as much decent respect for the RIGHT TO LIFE as any fulminating Pro-Life preacher ?

                 A certain horror confronts the young student of biology when he or she finally understands the cruelty of Darwinian " struggle for existence ". There is simply no " right to life " in the natural world. A thoughtful religious person must ask : How far above Nature are we humans anyway ?

                 And how cruel the capitalist system is to the family- protective instincts of so many good and loving mothers and fathers. When they lose a job, the system is not only indifferent to their fate, it mocks their family's RIGHT TO LIFE .

       Somehow Catholic reproduction morality must be made more consistent with truly progressive Catholic social philosophy. I cannot identify with the nasty " New Atheism "  nor with sanctimonious , blowhard pillars of the Church- like Bishop Thomas Tobin.

        As for Gina Raimondo - a new-Democrat ( clueless about the rotten side of capitalism) , I too have looked into her soul. It is the unwicked but dried up soul of a certified public accountant. But God too has a Pythagorean fascination with NUMBER. To think in the beginning there was just ONE !

Cigarettes- outrageous tax on poor people

      I am very lucky that I never started to smoke. I grew up with those insidiously seductive commercials on TV. I think I puffed on a cigarette just a few times. For me it was not Springtime Again.  A veteran RIPTA bus rider, studying the people in Kennedy Plaza almost every day, I observe that cigarette smoking is mostly a habit of the poorest of the poor.  Obvious derelicts ask you , beg you, for a nicotine fix. Some take  filthy ( diseased? ) butts  right from the gutter. Many poor people must spend a huge chunk of their income on cigarettes. And so needy are they for tobacco, I wonder if they are not at least petty thieves.

        George Orwell pointed out in " Down and Out in Paris and London " that it is only to be expected that poor people will not easily give up the little pleasures in their wretched life. When you consider what  a person on SSI gets per month - just a few hundred dollars- it does seem to be " cruel and unusual punishment " for a cigarette addict to pay so much for his daily fix. I'll bet he or she pays almost as much in public housing rent.

             If we legalized most popular drugs - and modestly taxed them - the smoking poor could get some merciful relief. Or they might discover a less lethal alternative to nicotine.

      The war on drugs is an absurd and costly failure.

Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, sainthood, and godless communism

 As one of those black sheep Catholics ( after all, despite my Marxist
inspired understanding of rotten capitalism, I never officially registered
with the Church of the Big Bang ) , I would like to weigh in on the solemn
question of sainthood for the late Bishop Fulton J. Sheen. He had the right
Hollywood image LOOK of the saint- those piercing eyes that could see right
into the wicked hearts of all those damned souls in his TV audience. He
could be a brilliant Catholic intellectual. When I was just an adolescent I
found wisdom and instruction in many of his published essays.

Bishop Sheen did finally come around to opposing the Vietnam
War -in contrast to that anti-communist pillar of the Cold War, Francis
Cardinal Spelman.  How could Sheen not be opposed to the truly " godless "
communism centered in Moscow ?  But for me the real purpose of the 1950s
anti-communist hysteria was to make the American people hostile even to
democratic socialism. To a degree the radicalization of the 60s youth
challenged  mindless political conformity in America.

But too many Americans still think that the collapse of "
godless communism " in the former Soviet Union in the early 90s was the
final verdict on the very ideal of socialism In a way, Vladimir Putin was
right about the collapse of the Soviet Union being an historical tragedy.
Today  unhappy, rebellious, third world youth have embraced irrational
,dogmatic religious orthodoxies, To be sure, Soviet communism had its
rational roots in Western Civilization and would never have supported any
uprising inspired by Islamic fanaticism. Is not BEHEADING the most telling
form of execution for a brainless social philosophy ?

What would the good Bishop Sheen have said about this new
barbarism ?  But I do not recommend him for sainthood- often too unctuous
and Jesuit brained for that heavenly honor. How about a posthumous Academy
Award  for best evangelical TV theatrics ?   

Why Cianci might win

 The Providence Journal stands accused of hubris in its arrogant campaign to over-vilify the ex-mayor of Providence, Vincent " Buddy "  Cianci . Nobody on the left will suspect Cianci of being a champion of  the " underclass " or an enemy of capitalism. Do the Fountain St. editors view this rogue politician from the heights of moral integrity ?  The McJournal -no more than its old owners-pays any attention to the routine injustice of capitalism. Nor will they take note of the Republican war on science-giving as much space to anti-climate change charlatans as hack diatribes against the " criminal "  Cianci.

            The public does believe in the Judeo-Christian concept of redemption. Perhaps Ayn Rand- of " The Virtue of Selfishness " fame-  would also reject a " Buddy " politician as too independent of our oh- so- moral economic elite ? For them- naturally- the world in which THEY are on top is the best of all possible worlds.

        

          Like a Julius Caesar, " Buddy " Cianci might at least try to please the masses of Providence, R.I. At least a program of Bread & Circuses ?  Better than nothing !

A helpful hint on the obesity epidemic

 Any health professional will tell you that a  walking habit does much to prevent obesity. But  our cities and our suburbs are hardly walker-friendly. Let a stranger take a walk in a modern suburban neighborhood and soon -what a coincidence - a police car will be checking him out.  For " regressive tendencies "? Recall the Ray Bradbury story " The Pedestrian " ?

            I think one factor that greatly discourages the joy of walking in  America is a dearth of public restrooms. Even in the heart of a big city, with visitors everywhere, you read hostile signs : " NO PUBLIC RESTROOM ".

       Perhaps some profound psychiatrist-sociologist- can elaborate an explanation for this strange denial of body functions. But I simply  suspect there is little " make -a-buck " -here. Ashley Montagu commented on this lack of public restrooms  in one of his essays on the American Way of Life .  Can we at least solve THIS problem ?

Wise Scottish vote for unity

I am actually pleased by the result of the dramatic Scottish referendum on remaining united with England. I don't think Western Civilization in general will benefit from one more SOVEREIGN nation in a bitterly divided world. One hundred years after the start of the First World War we still have too much excessive national egotism. It culminates in the horror of Verdun.

            The glory of the old Roman Empire was that it truly united a civilized world for centuries.  Today only a potent United Nations can keep the peace-and preserve civilization - without which there is no JUSTICE.

Abortion and the Sword of Constantine

       It is vain to think any letter writer can add something new to the abortion debate.   But I was greatly relieved when the new Pope Francis said that the Catholic Church had become way too obsessed with abortion, gay marriage, and contraception.  It should be very easy for most American Catholics to accept and appreciate  our wise separation of church and state. The Roman Catholic Church 's own first original sin was to  embrace the Sword of Constantine many centuries ago. What does state power have to do with the collective Mystical Body of Christ ?

                  And as the Pope said, the Church should not put dogma before love. So  I find it rather ridiculous when very public Catholics present their " right to life " votes to the very enemies of social justice on this planet, the very enemies of Life on Earth : the Republican far right.

Blackstone case- what WE can do ? ( the kibbutz in Israel ? )

        Every newspaper reader in the country can learn the details about the Blackstone house of horrors: All those neglected kids and their skeletal brothers/sisters , wretched offspring of 31 year old mother Erika Murray. Could we imagine these " not abnormally callous or detached "  neighbors living right next door to stinking Auschwitz ?  Your editorial September 17, " Blackstone case shows need to help neighbors step in ", concludes by raising the most important question: in general, what can be done to prevent child abuse and neglect ?

           I  certainly don't blame good neighbors for this sordid nightmare.  The evil has deep social roots. Modern capitalism has carried  personal " alienation " to an insane extreme. Did not the late Erich Fromm suggest a solution to the problem of the circumscribed " I " in his now dusty old classic " The Sane Society "  ?

             The modern nuclear family is  way too isolated.  We simply must organize ourselves into larger, more efficient social units ( like the kibbutz in Israel ? ) where our communal instincts are not impaired by sacrosanct privacy and private property rights. When many responsible eyes are on our children, none of the them will end up living doomed, hellish lives  like rats in a plague. Or baking in the back seat of a car while mom goes for a job interview .

                Am I too just a daffy utopian ? Or does Reason have some place in organizing human society ?

Catholic Church right to oppose gambling industry

Roman Catholic leaders in Massachusetts are right in telling voters here that the gambling industry " weakens the moral fabric of society ".  How could a revitalized Catholic social philosophy think otherwise ?  Sudden wealth gained by the pagan god of Chance- without a hint of mental or physical effort- is profoundly corrupting. It seems to me that state lotteries are equally corrupting. Every morning I hear on local radio and TV stations a celebrity voice almost manic in its delirious enthusiasm for pimping for the Rhode Island Lottery. " Have you no shame ? "  I think to myself.

          In general, a vote for gambling is the moral equivalent of a vote for our modern Robber Barron Capitalism. The ONE PERCENT legally walks out the corporate doors with the wealth of nations in their possession.

       Could anything be more " subversive " than a rational view of wealth creation ? Here logic and morality harmonize .

READER MAIL

Comments:    Many  readers of the Providence Journal here will miss columnist Bob Kerr . I find it weird that talk radio demagogue John DePetro, who routinely referred to Bob as " Comrade Kerr ", gloated over his rather unceremonious exit from 75 Fountain St, while playing-and replaying- the Russian National Anthem as it sounded in the Stalin era. Too many younger Americans have forgotten the nightmare McCarthy years.
>   Also very weird: a few weeks ago the Providence Journal published a letter from a former Army colonel who said that their former editorial page editor, Robert Whitcomb, was as far left as an American journalist can be and still be " employable ".  Daffy Tea Party cranks are now to decide which journalists are employable ? Shades of McCarthyism at the new McJournal ?

WANTED : Air Traffic Controllers for Iraq !

 I am just one more confused  American citizen right now on this issue of those dirty rats of ISIS. But if I get it right, some dozens of countries want to contribute air power -but no troops to the region. I see a need for many skilled air traffic controllers to be stationed in Iraq - and fluent in many of the regional dialects and languages. Recall from retirement all those air traffic controllers fired by Reagan in that golden era of right-wing  glory . Hey , we can't be fussy with this air war mess !

Cervone letter : Western Civilization is going to hell

 I  just read John Cervone 's despairing letter: " Halfwits create an American nightmare " ( September 10 ).  To be blunt, he observes that too many Americans are fat and stupid. But " a failed education system " is far from a comprehensive explanation.  Almost every day on the bus I can see in plain view the American obesity epidemic. And the general chatter reminds me of George Orwell's " proles " in his nightmare novel " 1984 ". A society guided by blind market place impulses and values is bound to become a total mess. Does any of that daily advertising show any respect for our brains ?  What role does fast-food advertising play in the obesity epidemic  ? The " hidden persuaders "  also pimp brainless living: drugs, alcohol, junk food, junk entertainment, gambling ,  cigarettes, jackass sports events. Are the common people -in general-any more ridiculous than hundreds of celebrities ?

            An irrational social order needs hordes of mindless people just to continue to exist.  Does political campaign advertising appeal to our more rational selves ?  The public schools fail because the capitalist ruling class needs only trained zombies. And, of course, Western Civilization - which I have always respected - is going to hell .  And without the help of Islamic fundamentalism. Global capitalism did it !

Last minute voice for " Gina " ?

No doubt an individual voter  weighs more on primary day than on general election day.  Despite my extreme political malaise, I did vote today( September 9 ) in the Democratic  primary in Cranston . Just before I took a short walk to the Santa Maria Diprata Society on Walnut Grove Ave., I encountered a friendly neighbor named Al in the parking lot of Randal Manor. I told Al that I was on my way to vote. " I like Gina ", he said  with naïve, common guy sincerity.   I said  , ' Al , you just helped me make up my mind ".

             I had been leaning toward Mr. Fresh Face  Clay Pell. But then he turned me off when he puffed himself up with his dubious CIA and military background credentials. These are not nowadays the favorite American institutions of a near pacifist - reflecting on 13 years of a disastrous " war on terrorism ". And with militarist voices urging our Nobel Peace Prize president to open the temple doors of Moloch Mars, what next ?

             Perhaps Gina Raimondo  has the soul of a certified public accountant. But  I suspect this WOMAN candidate for Rhode Island governor might have a deaf ear for war drums.

Now how can ATHEIST Elorza be ethical- ask Chris Young ?

Perennial candidate Chris Young dropped a stink bomb on my favorite talk radio program this morning ( September 8 ) :  Elorza is an atheist ? And, of course, right-wing John DePetro sucked it all up. In the manner of Joe McCarthy, Chris has a list of closet atheists running for office here in the Rhode Island of Rogers Williams.

       I note your endorsement of Jose Elorza in the Providence Journal  editorial this morning : " Bold, energetic,  ethical " is your favorite candidate.. But how can any atheist be ethical  ? And Elorza is bold and energetic - but all  in the service of Satan ?

              Could this stink bomb help decide the Providence mayoral election ?  Chris -a sure loser- looks like he needs to take more long walks in  God's fresh air and sunshine.

Both Magaziner and Caprio ignore wage protests

If Ralph Nader is right about there not being really significant differences between Republicans and Democrats, how much difference can there be between two liberal Democrats  seeking the office of State Treasurer ?  Have either Frank Caprio or  Seth Magaziner  paid any attention to the story on page A14 of the Providence Journal today:  " Rhode Islanders join wage protest in Connecticut "   ....... " activists across the country push for a $15 hourly minimum wage  " ?
            I do intend to vote in the Democratic primary Tuesday-mindful of Nader's scorn. I  do think the very legitimacy of wealth should be questioned by all politically literate citizens who take some pride in their intellect.  Clearly the contest for state treasurer is little more than a public image circus. And this is indeed the Big Picture of ALL establishment candidates for office.  Do any of them ever question the profit system ?

One thought on Joan Rivers

   All her facelifts could never scare the Grim Reaper away.

" Butler struggles to meet demand.... "

Given our generally dysfunctional mental health system, it is not surprising that " Butler struggles to meet demand, despite recent addition " ( front page  story, September 2 )  Is a seriously mentally ill person likely to keep a job for very long and have the very best health insurance ?

      But I was struck by the last sentence  of Richard Salit's artcle :  "  Patients aren't treated only for psychiatric, but other ailments that they might have due to emotional issues ".   Does the mental health profession need to be reminded that  patients - often wrongly or over-medicated on toxic anti-psychotic drugs- also have bodies AND souls ?  I have witnessed some patients being treated as a mere lithium regulation problem. The good doctors  were oblivious of their spiritual crisis: Job like, these tormented souls wonder about their eternal night. Or the good doctors don't notice a man's swollen jaw from an infected tooth.

       You visit them  after  their nth crackup  in Rhode Island Hospital and observe that their personal hygiene is neglected,  and they are shivering for lack of a warm robe. And then they are discharged with no transportation provided.  Imagine a discharged patient talking to himself and walking back to Cranston on a very hot summer afternoon ? Is all this medical science ?

Best wishes to Bob Kerr

Bob Kerr had a unique quality of empathy for ordinary people . I hope he continues to do what he does best: write about the non-celebrities in their daily struggle to survive. I hope he is not replaced by a vacuous Tea Party fluffer-nutter.  His long career in journalism - his gift of LISTENING- is the stuff of a good book. I nominate him for the Rhode Island Hall of Fame.