Alas, Republicans do have a conscience !

Thomas B. Young III 's Nov. 5 letter - " Do Republicans have a conscience ? " - reminded me of  the fiery liberal spirit  showed  way back in the tumultuous year 1968 by Democratic  presidential candidate, Senator Robert F. Kennedy -soon to be assassinated.   Kennedy's political conscience was shaped by  traditional Catholic social philosophy and the existential humanism of the famous French writer, Albert Camus.
        I  agree with Mr. Young about the need for a progressive income tax. In general, we need a national debate on the roots of wealth in America.  The capitalist profit system is ruining and corrupting the very soul of the country. A scientific understanding of mass social misery is precluded by the fatuous assumption that PRIVATE PROPERTY in all its insidious forms is sacrosanct. Many of the intellectual elite are already convinced that Karl Marx was right about the  irrationality of the " free market " and the polarization of social classes.
           By the way, Republicans do have a conscience. Recall   Barry Goldwater's classic- " Conscience of a Conservative ". A  conscience  which can live  with this relentless   war on the poor and working class. Today even  the middle class is frightfully insecure. Robert Kennedy had a favorite word for all this injustice : unacceptable.

Wrong time to debate affirmative action

I'll bet many ordinary Americans would agree with me that

    right now -in the midst of controversial and calamitous war - is the

    wrong time for a vitriolic debate on the merits or foolishness of

    affirmative action . In fact I lean toward a negative opinion of affirmative

    action. But how many poor white kids -eager for an education - have been

    hurt for life because  some poor black kids -often unprepared - have

    been pushed through OPEN DOORS of Academy ?

                 For me education -even an elite education - is just a

    human right for ANY student who can benefit for it. I think Bill Gates

    -a college drop out - made the point in a chapter of his book devoted

    to the future of education that the computer revolution, the Internet

    has made old fashioned Ivy League " education " an effete anachronism.

    What is REALLY being pursued in affirmative action is SNOB VALUE, a

    chance for the noble privilege of looking down on others of your social

    background. Affirmative action is no threat to the social pyramid. It

    just changes faces somewhere near the bottom of the structure.

                   Like West Point which cultivates a sinister military

    elite, the Ivy League mass produces an elite for global capitalism.

                Dying to make the world safe for SNOBBERY ? Where is

    the elite institution with  A MORE JUST WORLD as its agenda ?

               A black boss, a  woman boss, a homosexual boss is still

    the boss - SAME AS THE OLD BOSS !  Nowhere does the BOTTOM LINE

    change .

MEN in LADIES ROOM at public library ?

         I guess I'm old fashioned in even questioning this unisex use

    of Providence Public Library restrooms -distinctly labeled MEN...

    WOMEN. I observed two males being given keys to WOMEN restrooms because

    the MEN rooms were all occupied. I had just returned a key to a WOMEN

    restroom when I suddenly realized that I was not, after all, FEMALE

    and I did not want to cause a scandal ( being seen entering a WOMEN

    room might get a  decent guy tagged as a pervert -especially nowadays !)

              When I questioned a male employee about this unisex use

    of library restrooms, he snarled at me. Then I went to get my coat

    in the periodical room where three kids were at a READING table playing

    cards.

           On the way out a derelict friend of mine -known as Emo the Cat

    Man- said that my mind must be degenerating for even thinking in such

    narrow categories !

             My sister , a day care school supervisor, must be even more


    degenerate than me. She wondered why a LADIES ROOM in a local night club

    had a condom dispensing machine . I guess she was not as liberated as

    " Sally " .

                 How many female readers of this newspaper would use a

    public library LADIES room more frequently used by homeless male

    derelicts ?

              It use to be a nice place to read and study -many years ago

    -the Providence Public Library.

Jayson T. Blairs and newspaper letter writers

        I won't say that Jayson T. Blair of New York Times was stretching

    DIVERSITY  enthusiasm, but it does look like that whatever the editors

    of ALL THE NEWS THAT'S FIT TO PRINT  say about the scandal.

            One way to avoid these newspaper fraud scandals is - I suspect -

    to pay more attention to  your rather obscure and undistinguished letter

    writers , the literary hoi polloi who love to sniff out baloney just

    for the sport of it.  Were there such letter writers that at least

    TRIED to bring Blair's fictions to the attention of honest but

    supercilious editors - not to be distracted by humble letter writers?

            " We welcome mail " . Yes, like you welcome in laws on holidays !


             If the New York Times wants to publish a shocking best seller :

    Publish a book of just 1000 letters NOT FIT TO PRINT !  Unlike other

    major newspapers , the VOICE OF AMERICA is hard to hear on prestigious

    Commentary Page of the New York Times - where we find all the opinions

    of the respectable Country Club - where even an honest Jayson T. Blair

    would be liberally snubbed .