Does the fault lie in our Starbucks?

I rise today to speak for the citizens deprived of their God-given rights, those of us who sallied forth with hopes and dreams in our hearts and heads, and hunger in our bellies.

Thanks to Starbucks’ corporate decision, the La Boulange Loyal Customer Card I once carried — with every one of its six punched-out stars wished upon — is as valuable as crumbs from a stale croissant. I was thanked, in full-color print, for my loyal patronage, but can I sell the card on eBay or save it for the “Antiques Roadshow”? If, as rumored, La Boulange is putting on sheep’s clothing and coming back as La Boulangerie, is there a chance the new biz will honor the old card?

I can hear the corporate titans laughing — in French — at my despair. Merci

beaucoup, I say to them, your Statue of Liberty is weeping.

A 12-foot high work by French sculptor Jean-Michael Othoniel — who was commissioned to create the first art installation at Versailles in hundreds of years — will be unveiled in front of the Conservatory of Flowers on Saturday between noon and 2 p.m. “La Rose des Vents,” like the artist’s one-ton necklace, “Peony, the Knot of Shame” (which will be shown at the Gallery 836M), was sent to San Francisco from Boston, where they have been on display.

“La Rose,” privately funded, sailed through the approvals by the San Francisco Arts Commission and Rec and Park, allowing it to remain in place in the park through mid-January. Response was so favorable that officials are hoping to find a permanent home for it here. The project is also supported by the French consul, the French American Cultural Society and the Lepinard Foundation.

P.S.: And while the subject (sort of ) is French-flavored treats, yum yum is what I say to “Amélie” at Berkeley Rep.

By several accounts, the 35th annual Comedy Celebration Day in Golden Gate Park, last Sunday, was a roaring good time, with 6,000 folks in the audience and 40 comics on stage. Debi and Will Durst are the only two performers to have participated in the show every year.

Debi Durst’s Facebook post exulted in the “huge success” of the day, but added: “And for the people who took off with our 6’ banner of Robin Williams after last year’s show: you stole something worth more than the $600+ it cost a struggling non-profit organization to have made.” She called for its return. And “Otherwise, I hope you burn in Hell.”

And Hell, as the esteemed comic Father Guido Sarducci noted long ago, is a place where dogs bark all the time and Fig Newtons have the filling on the outside.

If, suggests Randy Alfred, the Giants hold on to Hunter Pence and Hunter Strickland and bring up Double-A Richmond Flying Squirrels outfielder Hunter Cole, Brian Sabean may be known as major-league baseball’s top Hunter gatherer.

Immediately upon learning that Yogi Berra had died, Grant Ewald, who plays piano at Lefty O’Doul’s, broke into a rendition of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.”

More glimpses of our community from NextDoor: “Last night two spoiled potato chunks made it past my ‘smell test,’ ” wrote a woman about a supermarket deli counter. She always sniffs “certain foods,” she wrote, listing them in detail. I’m picturing the clerks’ response.

Ken Maley’s good friend, for many years, has been Jack Larson, a playwright, producer and actor perhaps best known for having played Jimmy Olsen, cub reporter, in the old “Superman” TV series. Larson, who was in his late ’80s and lived in a Frank Lloyd Wright house in Los Angeles, died the other day.

Apparently, says Maley, he had let his dog out for a nightly walk, and sat down in a chair in his driveway while the dog did what he had come outside to do. And there Larson died.

When his friend Debra Winger came to visit him, she found him there, sitting in that chair in his driveway with his dog at his feet.

Today’s drought tip, from Bertie Brouhard: “Wring out used tea bags over your house plants.” Wringologist Brouhard also suggests canceling your washing machine’s spin cycle and wringing the clothes over your petunias. Open for business in San Francisco, (415) 777-8426. E-mail: lgarchik@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @leahgarchik