Thursday, January 14, 1999

RIPTA - Good News for Warwick !

A front page article by Ralph Busby in the Jan.14 Warwick

    Beacon -" New RIPTA routes to enhance city service - "  reports

    good news for Warwick's bus riders : after 35 years of public

    transportation inflexibility, a  recognition that " things need

    to change dramatically ".

           With an aging population, all Rhode Island should want

    to support RIPTA efforts to improve, in every which way, public

    transportation here. We just can't have a half a million senior

    citizens driving around in cars all day ! It ain't SAFE !

          Although I have a valid drivers license -and an excellent

    driving record - I choose not to own my own car. I share Ralph

    Nader's view of this twentieth century nemesis.( What can

    be more un-American than car hating ? )

            So if I get people like myself elected to high office,

    you'll all be enjoying the benefits of socialized medicine in

    your old age AND be riding the bus to the pharmacy .

           One suggestion for RIPTA service in Warwick : Why

    is downtown off limits for riders after 8 o'clock at night

    and completely off limits on Sunday ? ( downtown Providence )

                     Forget all that fuss

                        Just take the bus !

Things we lose sleep over

I'm half asleep myself when I hear on the radio this important

    news: " Henry Hyde says he will lose sleep if his Bill Clinton

    prosecutors do not deliver a 4 star performance in a Senate Trial.

           Does this old Republican fart ever lose sleep over HOMELESSNESS

    in this country ? Or obscene gap between the rich and the poor ? Or

    the harm done by the cigarette companies ? Or the millions of WORKING

    people without health insurance ? Or the shameless neglect of the

    mentally ill "

            Worry not Henry over losing sleep: You will soon be sleeping

    the sleep of the JUST!

             I wrote to The Warwick Beacon about a Republican candidate

    for city council who seemed to be losing sleep over school lunch

    programs . He LOST !

Wednesday, January 13, 1999

Joe Mollicone and the ACI Redemption

 Good morning , Bob. I am no more inclined to shout " Free

        Ed " than I was to shout " Free Charlie Manson " in the Golden

        Age of Protest .

            But Ed can least find some inspiration in the Stephen King

        movie " Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption ".

               You note that Ed is imprisoned with guys who never

        buy life insurance . A key to " success " in  prison is to

        make yourself USEFUL . Ed should consider giving his fellow

        felons FREE ADVICE.

               In the meantime I will try -through my Sicilian connections

        on Federal Hill to send him a rubber chisel and a large poster

        of Joe Mollicone.

                 Have a nice day - Ron

A "concomitant " of haste

Good morning , fellow progressives. It is hardly important, but

        just for the record I misspelled " concomitant " in a letter I

        recently sent you. Misspelling is often just a CONCOMITANT of

        haste.

              My working class perspective is a CONCOMITANT of my

        working class INCOME.

             As Karl Marx observed somewhere : " A man thinks differently

        in a palace than he does in a hut ".

               By the way , the striking workers at Women & Infants Hospital

        can now collect weekly unemployment benefits ( unless there is

        some appeal complication ).

              I was very inspired by a pro-union article by former Providence

        College vice-president, Father Lennon, that appeared in the Catholic

        weekly " The Providence Visitor "  ( Jan 7 ) . I hope the People's

        Weekly World will be able to reprint. Needless to say the good

        priest would not describe himself as a flaming Marxist !

             But for the working class of America, there is indeed STRENGTH

        IN UNITY .

- - - - - - - - - -

comment: From: rgiovanoni@pww.org (Rich Giovanoni)
    To: ar803@osfn.org
    Subject: Thanks for info on Fr. Lennon article
    Date: Tue, 12 Jan


    Dear Ron Ruggieri,

    Thank you for informing us about the Father Lennon article. We
    downloaded it off the web.

    We will consider reprinting it in the People's Weekly World if
    we get permission.

    Sincerely,

    Rich Giovanoni for the PWW staff