HAPPY EASTER or BUONA PASQUA

To all our Grandchildren and Great Grandchildren: By, Joseph E. Marino, Sr. 

Up dated:  April, 2010

Dear Grandchildren and Great Grandchildren:

          It seems that every year about this time, one of you asks' me or Nonna/Biz Nonna... "What is Easter ("Pasqua") all about?"

          Well, it really is two things, one thing for young children who love to play, be carefree and have fun all the time, and another thing for us grownups who must face reality, responsibility and celebrate one of the most serious holidays in the Christian world.

          When Nonna/Biz Nonna and Nonno/Biz Nonno were young, like you, we remember that Easter always came on a Sunday.  Mom and Dad were home, and the family was together, like every Sunday and it was a Church day.  Mother always dressed us up with real fancy and new, Easter clothes and hats, for the annual Easter Parade to and from Church, parading around in our special Easter finery, from our Easter hats down to our patent leather shoes and handbags to match.

          It was a happy time, every year in April because our parents told us, Easter was a Church day of celebration, because Jesus arose and went to heaven to be with his heavenly Father.  It was a happy time, also, because, it was the end of Lent, which is forty days of fasting and penitence from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday.  I didn't particularly like Ash Wednesday because, all Catholics were expected to go to Church on that day to have palm ashes rubbed on our foreheads by the priest for some unexplained reason.  I felt a little dirty and branded since it looked like I hadn't washed my fact that morning, but since most of the kids were Catholic also, it was only the few non-Catholic bullies that made fun of us.  Still, we never wiped off the ashes because we feared being ostracized, if not excommunicated, if we did.  Besides, it was proof that we had attended Mass that day.

          We didn't like Lent because, we thought it was just another excuse our parents would make, so we couldn't eat the foods we liked, like meat, cookies and candy.

          When Palm Sunday came a week before Easter, things began to liven up in preparation for the end of the days of fast.  We children, loved Palm Sunday because, the Church gave out a sprig of palms from the palm trees that we thought came from Jerusalem, where Jesus once lived.  They were blessed by the priests and so they were Holy.  My Mother would teach us how to weave crosses and rose buds from the palms and it was fun, like weaving baskets.  Mother would then hang the Palm cross next to the calendar over the kitchen table where we were sure to see it every day and bless ourselves by making the sign of the cross with our right hand, while silently reciting, dutifully, "In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen!"

          Those forty days before Easter were awful, because, all we got to eat back then was pasta, bread, soup and crackers, every day.

          Nonno's Mother and his Nonna found ways to break the same food monotony every day, by inventing more and more ways to make and serve the same meal.

          On Monday, it was soup day, like chicken soup with small piece of chicken and a lot of broken up pieces of pasta.  Once, I even found a piece of chicken in my soup bowl, which was a mistake because dad usually got all the chicken pieces, because he worked hard and needed all the strength he could get.  Tuesdays, was spaghetti with peas, day.  Nonno's and Nonna's parents came from Tripi, Sicily, the island just off of Italy's tip of the "boot" that was poor like the in the south in America in the old days.  My family loved tomatoes and tomato sauce and put the sauce on most everything they cooked.  You could always recognize a Sicilian, because he or she always had that red tomato sauce around his lips and rubbed onto his shirt sleeves.  Wednesday, was pasta and beans ("fagiolo") day.  My Mother would make a big pot full and throw every vegetable she had in the ice box into it along with the traditional small elbow macaroni.  The surprise was it tasted good, especially if you dunked that hard, crusty Italian bread in it to soften it up.   Thursdays, was spaghetti and meatballs, with tomato sauce day.   The meatballs were more bread crumbs than hamburger (in order to stretch the hamburger), but the taste of the tomato sauce made you feel like you were in heaven.  Fridays was always fish day.  Catholic's can't eat meat on Friday's because, Jesus used to hang out with a bunch of fisherman like, Thomas, and this was one way to help support their trade.  On Saturday, it was fried or baked chicken day for the ten of us in the family.  Our Nonna, whom lived with us in our large family home in Somerville, Massachusetts, always asked for the back and tail end because no one else wanted it.  My dad and oldest brother, Vincent, each got a breast, Mother and brother, Tom, each got a leg thigh, sister, Sally and I got the leg, while brother, Tony and sister, Gloria, got a wing each.  They were young and didn't eat much then.  Until brother, John, grew old enough to eat with us he was content to eat his "pastina" a form of tiny pasta for infants.  They would prop him up at the table in his high chair handed down from the other six kids usually he spilled more food on the high chair and on everyone around him than he actually ate.  From then on, since there is no way to divide a chicken into ten pieces Saturday became "sacrifice day," the first child to misbehave, was sent to their room without supper, so the rest of them could share the chicken.  After a while you could count on our Nonna to show up in our bedrooms with a piece of her chicken and other tid-bits to stave off the hunger until breakfast.  Sundays were like feast days.  My Mother and Grandmother (Nonna) would get up early in the morning, to prepare a huge, delicious, Sunday dinner.  They would ship us all off to St. Catherine's Church, only a short walk away from our home on Porter Avenue after laying out our clothes, combing our hair and slicking it down with olive oil and checking our shoes which we were obliged to shine and show on Saturday night before bedtime.  My Father ("Pa"), who only managed to attend Mass on Christmas Eve, for some reason, would sit at the kitchen table with his box of Helmar cigarettes, a Turkish blend as strong as cigars, puffing away, inhaling and coughing while exhaling, but persisting all the while.  Most of the time instead of a cup of strong coffee to awaken himself, he would add a jigger of anisette a sweetened old world alcohol mixture popular with habitual drinkers.  He would be at the kitchen table when we left for Church services just before nine a.m. and after we returned about 11:30 a.m. he would still be there at the kitchen table smoking and drinking and coughing, in his t-shirt with the bulging stomach and disheveled hair.

          Good Friday, before Easter was always a solemn day because, we were told Jesus was crucified and died on Good Friday.  I used to wonder why they call it Good Friday when, it was really a very bad day.  My Mother told me one day, that I was born on Good Friday, so from then on, I thought it was a Good Friday, too.

          As young, impressionable children, we faithfully believed in the story of Jesus' death on the cross, on Good Friday and how after the third day he arose and went to Heaven.  This is what we have always been taught by our parents, priests, Churches and teachers at Sunday school.

          As we got older, we began to ask questions about the three days while not questioning our faith.  I, for one, asked if Jesus died on a Friday and rose from the dead on Sunday, that's only two days, not three days.  It was not until I asked my older brother, Vincent, who knew everything, that this dilemma was solved.  As Vincent explained it, Jesus arose on the third day, not after three days, someone had misstated the facts.  I can understand that, because the Holy Bible was not written until about three hundred years after Jesus died and for those three hundred years his teachings were passed along only by the spoken word.

           Remember, it took that long for Christianity to be accepted around the world Emperor Constantine, was the first world leader to accept Christianity and he became a Catholic.  Before that, the Romans, who ruled the world, worshiped idols like the Sun God and Apollo or Venus, if you liked women.

          Then, I had another question.  How could Jesus be resurrected more than two thousand years ago was he the only person resurrected since then?  We are taught that after our death, our soul leaves our body and we ascend to heaven, if we are good, or the other place, if we have been bad and our sins are not forgiven.  Our body goes from ashes to ashes, dust to dust.  So why did Jesus take his body with him, if nobody else needs it in Heaven?  I also would like to know how we recognize each other.  I have never seen anyone else's soul, have you?

          These and other questions bothered me for years, and at times, shook my faith, and made me think I was missing something.  I really began to worry, that if I was not a true believer, how would I be accepted into Heaven?

          As the years progressed and I was married to your Nonna/Biz Nonna (Rose Aveni Marino) and had children of our own, I noticed that children are children and really cannot accept a faith on faith alone, until they are old enough to understand what religion is all about.  It is better to let children be children to enjoy the day with games like Easter egg hunts, coloring eggs, special meals and desserts, because it warms them up to that day when they are old enough to ask the same questions that I asked as a young child.

          At that time, when we are old enough to understand, we will all come to the realization that our Religion is based on blind faith in ourselves our fellow people, our family, friends and neighbors, our country, Church and our God.  It is what gives us comfort and trust and drives us to be good and helpful to everyone, especially those that may need help along life's way.  And, we learn to do this without the desire to be paid or rewarded or even recognized for our efforts, because, we know, our reward will be there in Heaven for us, following in the footsteps of those that have already left us for their final reward, where we will meet them all again.  God and Jesus will be waiting for us there to pass the final judgment on us to hopefully join them all in Heaven with peace and joy everlasting in the Kingdom and protection of God and Jesus who will accept us with open arms and love forever.

          Easter dinner in the past was a feast, usually with invited guests like Aunt ("Zia") and Uncle ("Zio") Tony and Mary Cannavo and their two children, Vincent and Carmela.

          The traditional meal at Easter was lamb, "the lamb of God," my Mother would say.  Dessert always included almond paste figures of lamb which was a must, bought at the local Italian Pastry shop on Hanover Street in Boston, Massachusetts along with the Almond candies and cookies.  Of course, in those early days, we didn't have Easter egg hunts, we "Italians" helped our Mother's and GrandMother's make "goodutties", which were Easter baskets made of cookie dough with hard boiled eggs on top and baked in the oven.  Goodutties, are still made to this day in the traditional way by my daughters, Christine and Janet for their families. 

          Most immigrants were stuck on their traditional customs and meals until however, their children grew up amongst Americans and some of us were "Americanized" then their customs slowly adapted, not changed, some of us took on the American customs both worlds, the old and the new.

          So, my Grandchildren and Great Grandchildren on this Easter 2010, enjoy it, one way or another, but enjoy it and help us all to enjoy it without asking those questions that I asked.  Just bite your tongue for a while and you will get the answers like we eventually did.

CONGRESS WAS CAUGHT IN THE IDES OF MARCH

      Just like Julius Caesar was warned about the ides of March as a bad omen, congress, also forewarned, forged ahead to disaster, passing a bad health bill, as better than none, while it has spelled the doom of congress at the next election.

       President Obama, speaker Fancy Nancy Pelosi and Stone Faced Senator Harry Reid have corralled enough democratic votes to pass a health care bill the American people do not want.

       This action by the gang of three, is a prime example of party rule in congress whereby the will of the people is trumped by the democratic party, since, every one of the republican members of the house of representatives voted in opposition to this bill. It is also clear they are voting in lockstep with their republican party as they have done since the Obama administration began fifteen months ago.

       This may well account for the fact that each party member is seated in congress with the democrats on the left and the republicans on the right just like two armies facing each other, ready for combat.  However, if they were seated together, they may learn as they should to work together.

      Everyone knows that the biggest problem with health care is the cost.  If the costs are reduced, there would not be a necessity for health care legislation. This bill does nothing to reduce costs only promises that costs will be cut in some secret way.

     As a senior citizen on Medicare our costs for co-pay have risen 40% this year, from 25 dollars to 35 dollars for a doctor's visit.   One must worry and  fret over Obama's promise to cut Medicare costs a half trillion dollars a year while not limiting seniors access to health care, the fraud and waste they promise to cut, could also be cut without a health care bill.

      It is a known fact that Medicare and Medicaid costs are out of control, but the answer is not to put more people eligible for Medicaid, as is proposed by this bill under these circumstances before the costs are reduced.

      If 31 million people cannot afford to pay for health insurance, they never will be able to afford it unless and until costs are reduced.  Otherwise those 31 million people will be carried by the American people who are covered or by the American people through the government's treasury which is empty.

      It is obvious to most Americans that this push to provide health insurance for 31 million Americans may be political, for votes for the Democratic Party that voted it in.     If the balance of 270 million people are stuck with the bill for these uninsured, I can count nine times those people who will show their anger at the polls come November.

     Of course, auto insurance has passed constitutional muster because it comes as part of the privilege to drive and protection of the people not at fault as a result of an accident.    A mandate that a person must buy health insurance only favors the person that buys it and for his own protection.  When a person is not left with the choice of no insurance for himself or herself and a person is required to buy it from a limited list of insurance carriers or face a stiff fine, this smacks of a 14^th Amendment to the US Constitution violation, either equal protection or the taking of property without due process.   You can be assured that under the states' rights Tenth Amendment, many states will bring suit to declare this law unconstitutional!    

     The election of next November 2010 may very well spell the doom of this unmanageable health care law if the democrats lose control of congress which, at this point is almost certain, based on the will of the American people.

     I will predict for the above reasons that this law will die or be repealed before it is implemented as planned years from now.  Both Speaker Pelosi and Senator Reid will definitely lose their positions if not their jobs by next January and President Obama has thrown away any chance of being re-elected in 2012 for this and many other reasons among which is the unemployment problem that this unsympathetic administration refuses to face head on and solve.  The sagging economy will only get worse if we do not help Americans get back to work and gain their self respect once again.  Together we owe it to them to help them as we would help ourselves.

     I would appreciate your valued opinion in this matter and any advice you may like to offer regarding health care and solving the unemployment problem.  Please reply!      

THE REASONS WHY YOUR CONGRESS AND PRESIDENT
HAVE FAILED YOU

February 16, 2010

         Since it started three years ago, the country is in the worst recession since the great depression of the 1930's and getting worse.  You must wonder why, during that time, our state and federal governments have not been able to repair our economy and put our people back to work again.

     For the last nine years, the administrations and congresses controlled by both political parties have spent 12.5 trillion dollars of taxpayers' money we did not have, on two never ending wars, a financial institutions bailout and a stimulus package which has resulted only in an increase of our debt for our children to pay.  In the last year, we have seen an increase in our unemployment numbers, from seven to fifteen million suffering people, a continued increase in our dependence on foreign oil, causing a trade imbalance with foreign countries along with our free trade agreements. All the while, because of the high fluctuating prices of gasoline and fuel oils, prescription drugs, food and clothing at our super markets and malls the American people have been forced to reduce their standard of living, have, lost their jobs and their homes to foreclosure and those that did not lose their homes have lost most of the equity in their homes and property, due to the resulting drop in home values. The construction business, the only industry not affected by foreign competition has been put out of business because it cannot compete with the bargain basement prices of their millions of foreclosed homes continuing to flood the real estate market.

     Our health care system costs are raising at an alarming and unaffordable rate but congress and the president cannot come up with a solution the people favor.  The only people obtaining national health care and free prescription drugs are the supposed poor and illegal immigrants, and those so called foreign visa workers who compete with Americans for their jobs and also overstay their visas.

     Our schools and education system countrywide is failing to educate our children while fifty percent of them drop out of school.  Union contracts and tenure have destroyed control of our education system, while the costs have crippled the tax bases of communities.

      Our social security system for retirees will soon be broke because of the coming of age of the baby boomers born in the mid forties and fifties, due to the lack of planning by congress.  All the while our Medicare system costs are out of control, due to the high cost of medicines and health care.

      Medicaid costs have increased at such an alarming rate, due to the unemployment crisis that the government and cities and towns cannot cope with the flood of new applicant every day.

      The cost of veteran's benefits due to injuries suffered by our brave soldiers over the last ten years have taxed our government's hospitals and our treasury, while post traumatic stress disorders are afflicting and adding to their numbers every day.  Suicides and mental disorders among active duty and discharged servicemen are a national disgrace, because the government's refusal to accept responsibility for this disorder.

      Unemployment taxes on employers, has risen sharply because of extended payments to them while the cities and towns who administer the funds, have been unable to cover the work and added costs involved.

       Taxes, by the cities, states and federal government on the people and businesses are so high they cannot be increased.  So these governments must cut back about fifteen percent of their budgets and lay off more help to keep taxes from rising further.

       The interest on the national debt paid by the U.S. government is rising to ten percent limiting the funds the government has available in its budget, every year.

       With the unemployment figures at ten percent it is obvious that the states and federal income tax receipts have fallen ten percent of the money of the money needed to run the country.  This situation will not improve for years, if ever based on the inaction of congress and the Obama administration.

        Instead of reducing the expenses of running the government to help the economy congress and the Obama administrations have increased the federal payrolls and expenses of congressmen especially speaker Pelosi and Senator Harry Reed.

        Waste, duplication and cronyism have permeated the local state and federal governments to the point it must be stopped or they will go bankrupt soon, too.

      With all these critical problems facing our congress, they still stubbornly only meet three days a week at best.  Then they spend most of their time out of the congressional chambers instead of in it to tend to the nation's problems and resolve them in a bi-partisanship way they spend more than half their time collecting political contributions, not from the people, but from the lobbyists that keep all the hotels, restaurants and bars in Washington occupied.  Each congressman averages at least a million dollars a year, from these lobbyists alone, each president builds up a campaign chest of about forty million dollars.  Is it any wonder why they take orders from the lobbyists and big business corporations, especially now given a clear green light by our political supreme court recently, to the dismay of the ordinary voter who cannot get the needed help from their congressmen     president Obama has installed more lobbyists in his administration than any other president, while he has his political campaign chief workers running the White House and administration strictly on a political basis.  Since January 20, 2009, Obama has been planning his re-election campaign.  It is no small wonder they and congress have no time to help the American people out of this mess, they were elected to do and he promised to solve.

    It is clear to almost everyone that congress is hamstrung from helping the American people by solving these problems, because they are being paid to do the opposite and are controlled by their political parties.  The gasoline and fuel oil lobby has succeeded in amassing record profits while congress and the president turn a blind eye to this outrageous injustice.  The Obama health care legislation which is needed because of the high cost will not help reduce costs and only take the cost from one category, Medicare and Medicaid to help cover the illegal immigrants soon to be given amnesty by congress for their potential votes.

     Make no mistake about it because this is the determined plan of the democrats, while the republicans only want to pay less taxes and always favor tax cuts  while lacking any real plan to put the fifteen million unemployed back to work, which is the only sure way to fix the economy.

     You cannot trust either the democrats or republicans to help this country recover, because they both have failed to do so when they had ample opportunity.

      The only way to stop the influence of lobbyists, the political parties and big corporations is not to re-elect those in office today.    Better still do not elect a democrat or republican but only an independent voter who is free to represent the people of this country by whom they are elected to serve and no one else.