Notes from the Cafe Fiasco

Sponsorship

Noticed last night that CNN coverage of the Republican National Convention was brought to us by the American Petroleum Institute. Think we're going to hear a lot about climate change this week?

Wondering

I wonder if lying on your resume is cause for dismissal at Bain Capital   .....

MBTA Station Renaming

I think that the stations of the T should be named after the people who paid for them who are, lest we forget, the citizens of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. When the corporations start carrying the real financial burden of the public transportation system, not a couple of million here and there, then they can get to plaster their names on the stations.

My 30 Seconds

All of my fans will want to check out my picture which appears in the fabulous Boston Globe (Page B4) today. I was making the scene at SOWA yesterday. They even got my best side.

Opening Day

I'm still not sure who's playing shortstop. Is Bobby Valentine sure who's playing shortstop?

Susan G. Komen and Planned Parenthood

News has come that the Susan G. Komen Foundation, the countries largest anti-breast cancer foundation, has caved in to the Right on their funding of screening of women for breast cancer. They have stated that they will no longer fund organizations that are "under investigation" and since the right wing House of Representatives has started such an investigation (shades of Joseph McCarthy) this gives Komen an excuse to bow to the wills of those who would put Planned Parenthood out of business.

Mom had breast cancer - both breasts, two radical masectomies one after the other - the second cancer being diagnosed right after the first surgery. This was back in the 60's - in the days before lumpectomies, when cancer was pretty much a death sentence. She didn't die of cancer, but she did go through a version of hell before she died of something else.

Watching her go through this taught me a very important lesson - cowardice is not a survival attribute when you're dealing with cancer. The only way to really deal with cancer is face on - just as my mother did. This turned out to be a very valuable lesson 40 years later when I was diagnosed with my own version of cancer. Compared to her, I had cancer light. But I still benefited from her teachings on the subject. When something like cancer happens to you, you've got to stand up and deal with it.

Unfortunately, the folks at the Susan G. Komen Foundation haven't learned this simple lesson from the people that they purport to serve. And therefore they have proved themselves to be not worthy of the people who they want to help. Cowardice in the face of political pressure is an ugly thing. It's almost as ugly as cancer itself. You'd think that the Komen Foundation people would have figured this out by now.

Occupy Harvard

Wow.  Even the Ruling Class is upset with the Ruling Class.

Of course, Harvard is handling this assembly of tents in the Yard in a typically Harvard way. You can have Freedom of Assembly, but you need a Harvard ID to do it.

Wedding Prep

Denise announced that she had found the Wedding Dress (which I can not see until the wedding) last evening at the same time that a box from J. Crew appeared on the dining room table. I don't think that the two are connected, but if they are it looks like a preppie wedding. (Maybe I'll wear madras shorts ... )

Prayer for the 21st Century

May all beings be "awesome".

May all events be "exciting".

I've Got an Idea!

Let's make the rich feel better about themselves!

Oh...  The Republicans are already doing this ...