Page 3 - THE NEWS - February, 1982
Random Thoughts
by Muriel Levitt
For The Record
My husband says that when it
comes to prices, 1 am still living
in the 1940’s. He is probably
right. I simply cannot adjust to
or accept the monies being
charged for things today. A
stroll through any supermarket
makes me nervous and jumpy.
It is no longer a pleasant ex
perience to plan menus and
shop for the necessary ingre
dients. In fact, I avoid it like the
plague!
Like, for instance, when I
was first married skirt steak was
the cheapest cut of meat.
Although chewy and not too
tender, I used it for pan
fried steak or London
broil because' it was so
reasonable, I even had
it ground on occasion. Forget
it! Today it hovers around $4.00
per pound and it is far from
economical, but still stringy.
1 also used to be an eggplant
freak and when it went to \2‘ a
pound 1 thought that was
disgraceful. Little did 1 know 1
would be paying S9‘ for the
same quantity 30 years later.
Somehow those purple beauties
have lost their basic appeal. I
wonder why.
I remember clearly when milk
used to cost I0‘ a quart and it
was a good buy for the money.
Now, mind you, I am not
against dairy farmers getting
their fair shake, but don’t you
think that 1S‘ is a bit much for a
small container of milk?
Families with lots of kiddos'
must surely find it difficult to
provide them with their essen
tial Vitamin D.
It seems to me that the
nickel and dime have become
obsolete. I can’t think of
anything that can be bought
for those amounts. A five
cent candy bar is now 25‘ and
it- is half the size it used to
be. A 10' loaf of bread is now
60‘ and tastes like card
board. Everything costs
more, looks shrunken, and
tastes yucky.
Let’s not stop at food.
Clothing is another area for
us to inspect closely. It used
to be that a pair of classy
ladies’ shoes cost around
$10. There were plenty of
chain stores offering snazzy
styles for much less, but
when you forked over ten
bucks you got quality and
design. Today a mediocre
pair is fifty or sixty dollars,
and it’s not at all unusual to
see ads for well over $100.
Where is all this money go
ing to and who is reaping the
profit?
As for dresses, coats and
suits, one has only to browse
through any retail store to
elegance
Ort/the fines!
hVJcndBkoror
gold jevi«lrv and
OQ^ cry^ and fgurines
sparking dcrnonds,
ihe Jlimatein
ewdusKe g^ftvyoe
lhaft elegcnce*
Tbais DcMdsLfci
2 NCNB Roro/3756543
get the screaming meemies.
You used to pay a month’s
rent for what one blouse
costs nowadays. Simple
fashions are sky high while
designer labels are
astronomical. It’s not prac
tical to wear a bathing suit
all year round, so we are
prisoners of the garment in
dustry.
Although I long for the
days when a dollar contained
100 cents and your money
was worth something, I must
confess that I really adore
the life style of 1981. Scratch
baking has been replaced by
nifty cake mixes and without
them I’d be a dead duck.
Fresh plucked chickens with
a million pinfeathers left the
scene when immaculate,
frozen poultry appeared.
Washing, cleaning, and peel
ing veggies fell by the
wayside when Clarence Bird
seye came on the scene. It
may all cost a lot more, but it
took the woman out of the
kitchen and released her for
more fulfilling endeavors.
I’m all for that.
And although clothing is
almost too expensive to con
template, it has gone a long,
long way. Styles are trendy
and attractive, better fitting
and finely tailored. True,
they cost more, but they last
longer and you can’t knock
that.
What it all boils down to is
that while money is freer to
day, we are also spending it
more quickly and in larger
amounts. I’m not exactly
thrilled by the whole picture
until I rationalize about
quick, expensive plane trips
versus long, cheap train
rides. I also recall dull, inex
pensive dinners as opposed
to costly gourmet dining.
Low cost, inadequate hous
ing cannot be compared to
modern, well equipped living
quarters.
I could go on and on.
Washtubs vs. washing
machines. Iceboxes vs.
refrigerators. Carpet
sweepers vs. vacuums.
Linoleum vs. asphalt tiles.
Wire whisks vs. blenders.
The list is endless and only
goes to prove that while
everything costs more, our
lives are easier and more
pleasant because of pro
gress.
Progress, dear readers,
always means that someone,
somewhere has to pay and I
guess we’re elected. I won’t
con you and say that I like
high prices, but I surely en
joy the benefits they bring.
So, while my heart is in the
40’s, I guess my checkbook
will remain in the 80’s.
Although I prefer lower
prices, I can’t think of one
single luxury I’d willingly
give up.
I enjoy the creature com
forts, and I’ll bet you do too.
Inflation will probably be
with us for quite a while and
since it would seem we can
not conquer it, we might as
well accept our lot gracious
ly. Like the wise man said "
If you cannot beat them, join
them. And Once you join
them, make sure you enjoy,
enjoy!
Impmrtml wnmrmo moducts
Specialists In Raised Printing
Stationery — Business Cards
Wedding — BarMitzvah Invitations
Business &. SociBi Announcements
4731 SwmdM Road
Chmrtottm, N.C. 28210
(704}B54-im
Stuart Cofac
PrMident
WEDDlNGS*BAft M1TZVAHS*BAT MITZVAHS
Superb Catering in Elegant Surroundings
*
R
Out of town guests? Let the Registry Inn
offer you our special weekend rate.,. Any
Friday, Satuiday or Sunday night
$39.00 for up to 4 people per room.
THEREaSTRY INN
321 W. Wtxxllawn Road
Charlotte, N.C. 28210
704/523-4441 800/438-1376
By Norman Olshansky
Regional Director
Anti-Defamation League
l op on the list of publica
tions distributed by anti-
Semitic hate groups is the in
famous “Protocols of the
Learned Elders of Zion.”
The Protocols are a forged
document that the Czarist
Secret Police in Russia con
cocted around the turn of the
century. Sixty years ago in
1921, it was conclusively ex
posed as a fake.
It consists of 24 sections
and professes to be the con
fidential minutes of a Jewish
conclave convened in the last
years of the 19th century.
The thrust of the arguments
are that a Jewish conspiracy
was put together to secretly
undermine the morals of the
Christian world.
Neo-Nazi, neo-fascist and
anti-Semitic organizations
here and around the world
reprint and distribute the
Protocols and thousands of
other anti-Jewish items bas
ed on themes and ideas con
tained in the long discredited
Czarist forgery. In recent
years they have appeared in
the Arab world and in the
Soviet Union. The Protocols
have also been for sale
recently in Chile, Mexico,
Panama and other Latin
American countries as well
as in Britain, Italy and other
parts of Europe.
The themes expressed in
the Protocols have been used
for many years as a basis for
other expressions bf anti-
Semitism. There are five
basic ideas expressed.
1. That international
Jewry, utilizing the chosen
people concept, seeks world
domination.
2. That this goal is to be
achieved by subterfuge,
guile and conspiracy that
will deceive Christians.
3. That the Jews seek, and
have gained, control over the
international banking
system and exact financial
tribute from the Gentile
World.
4. That the Jews seek to
control, and in fact do con
trol, the press and the media
of information and thus in
fluence the non-Jewish world
in a subtle and hidden way
while remaining in the
background.
5. That Jews have in
filtrated and manipulated
Freemasonry and Masonic
lodges and thus deceive the
Christian world as part of
the overall plot for world
control and domination.
As you can see from the
above, these lies and varia
tions to them have been the
basis for anti-Semitic pro
paganda campaigns carried
out for decades by hate
mongers around the world.
Several noted historians
and authorities who have in
vestigated the Protocols
have concluded that the
documents are a fake. Philip
Graves, correspondent for
the London Times in the
1920’s and half brother of the
poet Robert Graves, Father
Pierre Charles, Jesuit pro
fessor at the University of
Louvain in the 1930’s, John
Curtiss, professor of history
in the 1940's at Columbia
University and Norman
Cohn, professor of social
history at the University of
Sussex, England are among
the names most closely
associated with the repudia
tion of the Protocols. Even
the editor of the Protocols,
Serge Nilus, privately admit
ted that he could not prove
its authenticity. He received
the document from an
unidentified woman who
gave no evidence as to who
really wrote the copy which
he received. He took the in
formation from an unknown
woman and accepted it as
fact.
British Historian
Christopher Sykes, hits the
nail on the head in his
analysis of the Protocols:
‘‘One can see why the Pro
tocols go on being read. It is
painful to have to admit the
truth of anything thit ^litler
said, but there can be no
doubt that when he declared
in Mein Kampf that the
masses find vast untruths
more credible than small
ones, and that in conse
quence those who use a lie in
propaganda work should
always tell a big lie, he show
ed an uncanny degree of
shrewdness. This is one of
the biggest lies ever devised
by a liar, and for that reason
there will for long be fools to
believe it.”
For more information
about the Protocols, the
Anti-Defamation League
now has available a new
publication titled “The Pro
tocols: Myth and History.”
The document is available
for $1.50 per copy and can be
obtained by contacting your
regional office of the Anti-
Defamation League at 3311
W. Broad Street, Richmond.
VA 23230.
First Call
See page 16
reenspon
""T& Assoc'aiesf Inc.
125 Cottage Place
376-7434
Now offering Individual Retirement Accountt for in
dividuals and for companies who provide payroll
deduction plans.
STAN GREENSPON SCOTT SWIMIMER
HARRY SWIMMER DAVID SWIMMER