the guy by the door …

In Summer of  ’68 I went to Paris. I had missed the Days of Rage, but I was in la place de la Bastille¹ [Eng] on July 14. The CNRS was out in force.  Lacrymogène was in the air.

Yesterday was not a Day of Rage at Harvard, but last night was a Night of Concern.

Healthcare, especially the Stupak Amendment

I’m with Harvard’s own Dr. Steffi Woolhandler [on Democracy Now! a day or two ago.] The current bill is worse than nothing. Call your Senator. [More in a bit.]

Global Warming

The Leadership Campaign in Harvard Yard

The Leadership Campaign is a Project of Massachusetts Power Shift. Their goals are:

• Nothing less than 100% clean electricity
• Nothing more than 350 ppm carbon dioxide.

This latter goal will certainly require a national policy stronger than the Cap and Trade that Mass Power Shift was espousing when they met at the Onetarian church across from Charles Sumner. Cap and Trade, as David Harvey points out, rewards past polluters. I will make the argument in capitalist terms with all the externality/internality jargon. More importantly it will be slooooow. It is basically a delaying tactic by the power industry, which has representatives within Mass Powershift. The Leadership Campaign must lead Powershift away from being a captive of Big Power. I will explain, but …
Gentle reader, I have lot to say more to say about both issues. Please come back, tomorrow. I need to spend some time dealing with my own homelessness.

¹My command of French barely gets beyond, “Il mio conto per favore.”^A I thought I would link the French Wikipages for those who are more able. For those who are tediously monolingual like me, I will link the English pages with [Eng].

^AYes, I do jest. Hearing Andrea Bocelli sing “Con te partirò” [Eng] is such an expansive experience that I wondered how much more was in the lyrics. The translations leave me with the vague notion that I know what the song is ‘about’. If you understand the lingo, you might try to explain it to me. But you may find me challenged in my knowledge of love, Love, lLove, or some such thing.ⁱ

ⁱi’m a bit of nominalist, remember?