I never watch the Grammys because they tend to be a showcase for everything bad about the music industry. I know most folks aren’t that cynical and enjoy the spectacle. And the truth is, every once in awhile the academy gets it right. Last night Adele carried home six Grammys and Foo Fighters hauled in five more. Very worthy winners,
Read moreRecently I was e-mailed, via Match.com, by an attractive woman (to the extent that profile pictures can be trusted, anyway) named Kathleen. I love that name, and her profile made her sound like someone I’d be interested in talking to a bit more, so I replied. We exchanged a couple of e-mails and I was thinking that maybe I’d like
Read moreRecently I was e-mailed, via Match.com, by an attractive woman (to the extent that profile pictures can be trusted, anyway) named Kathleen. I love that name, and her profile made her sound like someone I’d be interested in talking to a bit more, so I replied. We exchanged a couple of e-mails and I was thinking that maybe I’d like
Read moreCorporate sponsorship is important for a great many of America’s non-profits, and that’s certainly true of the Susan G. Komen Foundation. Of course, any time you strike an alliance with another entity, you can’t help assuming some of their risk. Your partner jumps the tracks, all of a sudden people are looking at you even though you didn’t do anything
Read moreThe Komen Foundation VP at the center of the Planned Parenthood firestorm, Karen Handel, has resigned. A few days ago I predicted on Facebook that she’d be gone within a week, but then retracted the prediction when I learned more about the heavy-Right political leanings of the rest of the board (and the involvement of Ari Fleischer in their strategy
Read moreYesterday I attempted to shed a little light on the PR crisis strategy behind the Komen Foundation’s sudden Planned Parenthood “backtracking.” Contrary to what Komen’s highly-paid PR crisis hacks and gullible headline writers at newsdesks around the nation would ask you to believe, The Susan G. Komen Foundation does NOT promise to fund Planned Parenthood in the future. They promise to let
Read moreI can’t tell you how many times this week, in listening to radio, watching TV or reading print “analyses” on the upcoming Super Bowl, I have heard “Bill Belichick” and “Hall of Fame” used in sequence. It’s been a lot. The working assumption is that the Patriots’ head coach, who has been to four Super Bowls and won three of
Read moreRead. The language. Closely. Contrary to what Komen’s highly-paid PR crisis hacks and gullible headline writers at newsdesks around the nation would ask you to believe, The Susan G. Komen Foundation does NOT promise to fund Planned Parenthood in the future. They promise to let PP APPLY for grants in the future. Applying and receiving are different things, as anyone who
Read morePreviously: I hope you took a few minutes to explore the outstanding recipients of this year’s Gold and Platinum LP awards. Honorable Mentions, too. I don’t think many readers will find much controversy in the assertion that things have been hard over the past few years, and 2010 and 2011 were especially hellish in my neck of the woods. So
Read moreJoe Paterno is dead. Lots has been written and more will be added to the pile in the coming days and weeks. So let me add my two cents while the thoughts are fresh in my mind. Had the last few months not happened we’d now be anointing JoePa for sainthood. As you’ve been told so many times before, and are
Read moreCan’t make this stuff up, folks. I mean, you could, but everybody would think you were, well, making stuff up. On tonight’s episode of Modern Family (perhaps TV’s best sitcom), one of the storylines deals with what happens when a young child starts using curse words. One of America’s more prominent gatekeepers of the public morality, the Parents Television council, immediately
Read more“I ain’t got no quarrel with them Viet Cong… No Viet Cong ever called me nigger.”
Read moreAs you may have heard, former ESPN football analyst Craig James is running for US senate. James originally rose to national prominence as a star running back for Southern Methodist during the years it was illegally paying athletes under the table, a practice that eventually made SMU the only football program to ever receive the NCAA’s infamous death penalty. Unfortunately for James
Read moreThis morning I took a few minutes to watch the vid for the new Van Halen single, “Tattoo.” I was a little startled, in the final verse, to encounter these lyrics: Uncle Danny, had a coal tattoo. He fought for the unions, Some of us still do. On my shoulder is the number of the chapter he was in. That
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