Say it isn't So!

I am not a dessert sort of person, but SWMBO makes up for both of us in that area, so I was disappointed (on her behalf) when I saw the news that Ben and Jerry had split over a disagreement with their owner, Unilever.

Ben & Jerry's co-founder Jerry Greenfield is leaving the ice cream brand after 47 years, saying the independence it once had to speak up on social issues has been stifled by parent company Unilever.

Indeed, it is unfashionable to name bigots, blowhards, thieves and fascists for what they are.

Indeed, it is unfashionable to name bigots, blowhards, thieves and fascists for what they are.

Especially after they bought your enterprise that you developed with your friend and then took it in directions unbearable to the inventors, I should think.

[Jenise]

Especially after they bought your enterprise that you developed with your friend and then took it in directions unbearable to the inventors, I should think.

But entirely predictable once you're just another item of merchandise in Corporate America.

I have to admit, Bill, as you know I have a lot more in common with you than Suzanne about sweets. And if ice cream in particular left the planet I'd be the second to the last person to notice (you being the last)--it's just not a texture I care for. But I might shed a tear, in my Bob's memory, over the lack of Cherry Garcia should it ever go away. There was a little half pint carton in the freezer, unopened, at the time of his death. (Ice cream had been a great way to help him with caloric intake in the late stages of his disease.) I eventually took out a spoon and had a bite. And then another. Took me a week to finish it. And it was pretty darned good.

Successful entrepreneurial founders often have seller's regret when they sell the corporations they built to large holding companies. Harland Sanders came to regret selling KFC. He was particularly critical of extra crispy chicken, which he described as doughballs. I wonder how the founders of Google feel about where "do no evil" ended up going?

-Paul W.