Harrop gives "kiss of death" to Elorza!

Fictional Italian-American mobster Tony Soprano tries to balance 

the conflicting requirements of his home life and his criminal organization, 

during his many therapy sessions with psychiatrist Dr. Jennifer Melfi.

To: Gene630@wpro.com
Gene, I will vote early, but as a Cranston resident cannot vote for Cianci. Elorza just comes across as a DEAD FISH candidate-no electrifying charm here.

I wonder if BOREDOM is just as insufferable as CORRUPTION? Here in Knightsville– fine Italian restaurants like Antonio's right around the corner- EVERYBODY is a Cianci fan!

Dr. Dan just announced HE will vote for Elorza (a kiss of death?) Dr. Daniel Harrop disgraces a profession ( psychiatry ) which has already disgraced itself by making peace with the social status quo and passing off PERSONAL ADJUSTMENT for true mental health.

Again, I commend you for your personal campaign against anti-Italian Soprano-ism. But I suspect Tony Soprano would RECOMMEND convicted felon "Buddy" Cianci to Providence voters. "He never stopped loving Providence!" (a LaChance Advertising inspiration )

What if Tony Soprano had Dr. Dan Harrop as his personal psychiatrist? Dr. Harrop would, no doubt, tell Tony to think positively about the FAMILY BUSINESS and pay his therapy bills in cash only.

Ciao !

– Ron from Cranston

Give me Mother Teresa, please!

After it is all over, this Rhode Island election day circus, could I get most Rhode Islanders to agree with me that Gina Raimondo has the same LIBERAL position on abortion as most other Rhode Island Catholic politicians? And Jorge Elorza -despite some ambiguous remarks- is not eager for any VILLAGE ATHEIST role, not eager to banish God from the public schools–as if he could! Fanatical anti-Catholicism is not what they are about.

That being said, I am seriously considering Bishop Tobin's suggestion that we vote for Mother Teresa as an alternative in most important races. For me- a socialist- Mother Teresa – now conveniently dead– has the virtue (beside sainthood) of best reflecting my CLASS interests.

I cannot ignore ex-Trotskyist Christopher Hitchen's criticism of her as a fraud. But he himself had degenerated into a drunken, God hating, professional atheist. I have no problem with sincere atheists. But when did a bunch of atheists ever get together to do something more constructive than bash THE FAITH of millions in a loving God?

Do they ever set up soup kitchens for the poor or shelters for the homeless? When the great Italian poet Dante conceived his nine circles of Hell, he left out a special circle for intellectual snobs.

Even the late great Humanist, Isaac Asimov- a writer I still love- reflected that God just might exist and He would be kind to most agnostics and atheists. But would He forgive wise guy, punk atheism?

The New Atheists are lacking Humanist Asimov's kindness and manners. They have lost touch with common humanity.

Give me a CHOICE between the likes of Christopher Hitchens and Mother Teresa–Mother Teresa without hesitation!

YES, YES, on QUESTION 3!

To: John DePetro <john@630wpro.com>

John, just briefly: From a LEFT point of view, no state or national Constitution should be sacrosanct and fixed for all time. A democratic majority should be behind the mystique of THE LAW.

So I will VOTE YES on a Constitutional Convention.

–Ron, Cranston

Compassion for campaigning Politicians: "My mother was a saint!"

Negative campaign ads suggests-quite contrary to the simple truth-that Rhode Island politicians- presently holding office or seeking office-are inherently corrupt types eager to sell their souls to the highest bidder.

My own observation is that they are considerably less corrupt than MOST make-a-buck-business geeks.

They are FORCED to campaign clownishly for JOBS they they think are highly desirable. Once in office it becomes clear that THE JOB could be done just as well by the defeated opponent. It also does not matter if they Catholics, Protestants, Jews, atheists, if they are black, white, Asian, if they are male or female, gay, straight, or bisexual.

Any government job usually just DEFINES ITSELF regardless of WHO is doing it. The system simply does not permit much CREATIVITY in public office. There may be opportunities for corruption, but that is true of any job- a security guard, for example.

Above all, creativity is limited by NECESSITY–a limited budget. I tell anybody who is interested that I am a socialist. But if I were  suddenly and very surprisingly elected Mayor of Cranston, could I possibly do a BETTER JOB than Mayor Fung? No, not with his budget restrictions. Apart from not winking at corrupt pals, could I do a BETTER JOB than Mayor Vincent "Buddy" Cianci? No, not with his budget restriction.

PERSONALITY certainly matters when you have to deal with THE PUBLIC every day. But I suspect it is quite irrelevant to THE JOB itself. And, of course, the AUTHORITY of any elected official is rather narrowly defined legally.

It would first of all take a profound REVOLUTION of CONSCIOUSNESS to change all this. And a rational attitude toward WEALTH- as nothing but our collective social surplus product. Nothing mysterious about AVAILABLE QUANTITY and alternative ways of distributing the social surplus product, after everyone is guaranteed a decent standard of living.

Under a more tolerable form of Socialism a lot will change in American politics. To be sure, no money will be wasted on creating false images of REAL public servants. In fact the whole capitalist based public relations industry will quickly disappear. In fact, you will cease to hear any annoying ads on radio or TV.

For now, we must forgive our mostly likable politicians their pathetic phoniness. They probably really do love  their working class Pop who supported a family on sweat shop wages. They probably  do love  dear old Mom. "My mother was saint!" cried the disgraced American president, Richard M. Nixon. And we can believe it!