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.