Fat America

 I just read the Dirk Johnson article , " People are snacking everywhere.. "
( New York Times,July 30 ).
    Fat Americans getting still fatter. What do I see on the bus
while I peruse this article? A plump young lady - who if slimmer could
be prettier - sucking on a green tootsie pop! Nerves? Real hunger ? Oppressed
by sexism ?
    Indeed everywhere I turn at the bus station, I observe the frightfully
fat. Do they even care ? Just declare that FAT IS BEAUTIFUL and forget about
self-restraint.
     With all due respect to our philanthropist, Mr. Feinstein, most of
the worthy poor are FAT ! The union leaders are forever demanding a
greater share of the pie. But working Americans have more than a fair
share of the pie. Just look at them !
    There is an epidemic of obesity in the United States. If all those
fat Americans were forced to work harder for less pay ( for munchies ),
then the country would begin to shape up again.
       I suspect that the grossly fat lost interest in sex about 50
pounds ago.Obesity should be grounds for divorce. Let's legalize
no-fat divorces !
      Oddly enough, the upper middle class person is rarely fat. Here
he or she wisely avoids conspicuous consumption.
       What a horrible life style it is that is centered on junk TV
and junk food. We idolize the athletes with great bodies but treat our
own bodies as disdainfully as we would treat broken down garbage trucks.
     And not even death will end our self-indulgence. According to
the Gallop polls, most Americans believe in Pie-in-the sky !
      I hope the next President is lean and mean- just to set a good
example.

Bob Whitcomb referral service

Good morning, Bob. You need not dignify this suggestion by publishing
the writer's name, but here it is : Why not refer The Rev.Lew Towler-who
thinks letter writer Christopher Machado needs to discuss his anti-Kennedy
opinions with a shrink- to a grief therapist ?
     It is arrogant of a newspaper editor to assume that a very public
event-like funeral services for JFK Jr. -is " open to public debate ".
       You published Mr. Machado's angry letter and deprived " his
therapist " ( we all have one! ) of badly needed lunch money ( $100 ? )
    I have no idea what grief therapists are charging nowadays. I
myself prefer to write all these letters !
            Have a  nice day  -ron

Einstein and Socrates - NOT atheists !

 I said I would do my homework on the question. I must conclude
that our village atheist, David Champagne -whom I can only respect - is
wrong about Einstein and Socrates being " atheists " ( Projo letter, July
28 )
      " I believe in Spinoza's God who reveals himself in the orderly
harmony of what exists, not in a God who concerns himself with the fate
and actions of human beings. " See Ronald W. Clark's " Einstein: The
Life and Times  " , page 502 .
       The 1996 Encyclopedia Americana says this about Socrates :
 " Socrates did claim supernatural guidance from a ' divine sign ' -
a kind of voice ... "  ( see Socrates, page 166 ).
       Today the most militant atheists are the Chinese communists.
  But I still suspect that they believe in the divinity of Central
  Committee of the Chinese Communist Party.

" Uh, who ? Patinkin ? "

    In a July 27 column , Mark Patinkin -after a phone encounter with an
" uh , duh " teenager - suggests that these kids be taught phone manners.
    But I wonder if they have been taught simple English communication
skills. I love the lyrics from " My Fair Lady " :
        " It's Uh and Duh that keep her in her place
         Not her wretched clothes and dirty face."
 ( a variation ) . When I hear teens listening to that savage,senseless,
   and violent rap music, I feel a threat to good, old fashioned CIVILIZATION
in my gut.
   A generation ago a half bright kid read the newspaper. He or she
would not have greeted a popular Providence Journal columnist like
Mark Patinkin with a witless " Uh " .
      Good luck with your own kids, Mark . I myself am a proud non-
parent of the New Age.