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 !