"SAY NO TO RUGS"

Hah!!  I saw this phrase on a car sticker.  It was encircled in red with one of those red lines going through it diagonally.  I think it is terrific and only wish I had thought of it so I could be the next millionaire.  Legalize all rugs I say or do away with all rugs since I like the look of wooden floors especially those wide board types. Given what goes on in this country with respect to drugs, I might also say the same for them.  Legalize them all; get in business with the cartels;, farm those Afghan poppies; and stop sending so many people to jail.

Items:

--A giant shout out to the new Director of Development at the Blanton Museum.  You earned it and you got it and you will succeed.  You go girl.
--Hungary has its fence, used water cannons, tear gas, and generally tried to make life miserable for the refugees flowing from the South.   The Balkan countries and those in Eastern Europe are now squabbling about whose causing the most harm.  These people just want to get moving and go further north.  They get it--Hungary does not want them.  It is despicable--meanwhile we have politicians who would like a wall along our border with Mexico--as if they have not learned one thing.  And, oh yeah, the Israelis have built there own but it has not reduced the violence one bit.  Does anyone learn anything??
--If I see one more scantily clad female model with a cross hanging between her nearly exposed breasts, I might puke.  What would Pope Francis say about that, huh?
--Well there is this Arizona republican who boycotted the Pope's speech to Congress despite being Catholic.  Why, you might ask.  He does not think it is in the Pope's job description to discuss climate change or our relationship with Cuba or how we should welcome immigrants.  This is in a state which is likely to be the next New Mexico--a sate with a minority majority.
--Our child welfare agency continues to mishandle cases.  The parents of "Baby Bella" were nabbed and when I saw them, I was not really shocked.  Strung out junkies.  The mother already had two other children removed  and our child welfare workers had been in her home and did not notice anything amiss even after removing the other two.  At least our Governor did not create more commissions or investigations--he actually made some changes.  And the leader of the Social Workers union actually got up and supported the changes--but he did say something which largely went unnoticed--"children will continue to die" no matter what we do.  Until we, as a society, respect children and not treat them as objects, they will die.  Until we put more money into prevention, they will die.  We know that smoking causes lung cancer and know also that smoking prevention programs have reduced the number of people who smoke and thus have reduced the incidence of lung cancer.  We know, at time of birth, babies who are at risk for abuse--parents age at time of birth is a big variable.  Parents who abuse drugs or alcohol is another biggie.  Parents who have been victims themselves is another.  WE KNOW ALL THIS.  But continue to put flowers in front of houses where children have been murdered by adult caregivers. Enough.
--The Donald did a whole bunch of crazy stuff but none worse than suggesting vaccines cause autism.  Much  like climate change, the people who love the Donald do not believe in science and might actually withhold vaccines from their kids.
--Ben Carson, he an African American Republican candidate for President, told NASCAR fans it is ok to bring their Confederate flags to the races.  Quite the role model.
--John Boehner is down for the count which is fine except someone worse is just around the corner so I am not too excited--although he did cry during the Pope's speech which is just so human.
--UMass Memorial Hospitals which dominates the middle of the state (and includes a hospital connected to the state's only public medical school) is a non profit with a 54 million dollar surplus.  In smaller print you learn that one way they got there was by laying off over 400 staff.  How many were doctors would you guess?
--Get better, CP.

SPORTS TALK
--Brady likes the Donald which really forces me to step a bit further away from him. Then he backtracked. But I am telling you, the less we know about the personal lives of our athletic heroes, the better off we are. The Pats look terrific but need some tougher opponents.  And yikes, the Yanks are choking big time. Almost time for the puck to drop. So every time Russell Wilson does something like throw a touchdown pass, he points up to heaven and then at press conferences thanks God.  After beating the Seahawks a couple of weeks ago, Aaron Rodgers, who is a Cal Berkley grad and has a brain which he actually uses, said he thought it proved that God did not have a favorite NFL team.

Adios