BS: The Coffee Party

Subject: BS: The Coffee Party
From: Alice
Date: 05 Mar 10 - 05:06 PM

I posted about this in the republican thread,
HERE

Here is a video from the founder of the Coffee Party,
Annabel Park, and how the concept of the Coffee Party began.
VIDEO how the Coffee Party began

Here is the civility pledge:
"As a member or supporter of the Coffee Party, I pledge to conduct myself in a way that is civil, honest, and respectful toward people with whom I disagree. I value people from different cultures, I value people with different ideas, and I value and cherish the democratic process."

Here is a link to the web site:
http://www.coffeepartyusa.com/

I joined earlier this week.

Alice

Subject: RE: BS: The Coffee Party
From: Alice
Date: 05 Mar 10 - 06:44 PM

"we've got to send a message to people in Washington that you have to learn how to work together, you have to learn how to talk about these issues without acting like you're in an ultimate fighting session."


A Taste For Civic Participation, article, NY Times

Subject: RE: BS: The Coffee Party
From: Alice
Date: 05 Mar 10 - 07:05 PM

From the Coffee Party web site:

"Someone posted the same video to YouTube and called the people who are interviewed "left wing extremists." Do you buy this person's claim that St. Louis is teaming with extremists? On what do you suppose it was based?

NEW: For the sake of discussion, let's assume something about the person who labeled fellow Americans "extremists." Let's assume he is someone who identifies strongly with the Tea Party. He fills uncomfortable or angry when he sees this spot, and his way of coping is to search his mind for a word that is insulting and dismissive. Maybe the word "extremist" comes to mind because this is a word that he doesn't like to hear when people describe the Tea Party. That's understandable, isn't it?

There are many, many good souls who identify with the Tea Party, and it is unfair when someone labels the entire network "extremist" just because of one speech by a former presidential candidate, or a few outrageous hand-made signs. This is why we encourage participants in the Coffee Party NOT paint ANYONE or any group with broad brushes.

We have decided as a group to stop using the term "teabagger," which we should all by now understand is both insulting and dismissive. By the same token, we really do prefer that the word "racist" not be applied to any person or any group. That is a word that is deeply insulting and incredibly dismissive. When you insult and dismiss people, it makes dialogue impossible. And we're the ones who are supposed to be PROMOTING dialouge right? So can I get some buy in on this? Can we agree that Coffee Party supporters and members should not indulge in these types of pejoritive attacks?

We can say someone's actions were extreme with calling them an extremist.

We can say someone's words expressed anxiety over demographic shifts, rather than saying the person who said those words is a racist.

We have much to gain by being polite. And much to lose by not being polite. As we can see, harsh words hurts people's feelings, they internalize it, and then they project that anger out as someone else. This is a cylce we need to break. "

-----

I think it's time for people to recognize that on mudcat, also, it is not constructive to alienate people who don't agree, and it may be time to pull back and examine how it just leads to trolling and endless backlash.
Alice

Subject: RE: BS: The Coffee Party
From: Bobert
Date: 05 Mar 10 - 07:32 PM

There was a good article in the Washington Post last week about this... I told Amos to do somethin' with it but he and Sawz are embroiled in a collapsing/collapsed wrestling match and I guess he was too busy...

Okay, "Coffee Party" may not have that marketable ring to it as Tea Party does but the folks ain't prechin violence and they do seem to have, ahhhhhhh, intellegence...

(There you go again, Boberdz, with that elitist carpola...)

See how easy if is to be a Tea Bagger??? All ya' gotta do is put down anyone who bothered to learn to read and actually spends alot of time doing just that...

But nevermind that...

Seems like the "Coffee Party" just might take hold... No, it won't get the media attention until it straps on guns and does "the scream"...

But, hey, it's good to see progressives and moderates who ain't into all that hestical screamin' get together and talk about stuff...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: The Coffee Party
From: Alice
Date: 05 Mar 10 - 08:54 PM

More from the Coffee Party...

"MISSION: The Coffee Party Movement gives voice to Americans who want to see cooperation in government. We recognize that the federal government is not the enemy of the people, but the expression of our collective will, and that we must participate in the democratic process in order to address the challenges that we face as Americans. As voters and grassroots volunteers, we will support leaders who work toward positive solutions, and hold accountable those who obstruct them."

Subject: RE: BS: The Coffee Party
From: LadyJean
Date: 05 Mar 10 - 09:09 PM

i don't care for coffee. I am a confirmed tea drinker, who is ab out to join the coffee party.

Subject: RE: BS: The Coffee Party
From: Alice
Date: 06 Mar 10 - 12:21 PM

over 90,000 facebook fans today
so far, over 200 meet-ups in coffee shops across the country planned for March 13, to discuss issues and find common ground

Subject: RE: BS: The Coffee Party
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 06 Mar 10 - 04:37 PM

It definitely looks intriguing to me!

~ Becky in Tucson

Subject: RE: BS: The Coffee Party
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 06 Mar 10 - 10:14 PM

The original 'Coffee Shops' in England were a hotbed of those who were considered outrageous and forward thinking at the time - many great thinkers and writers got a foothold there... isn't knowing about History wonderful?

Sad to see that the new proposed Aussie curriculum is apparently going to drop all that 'English History' stuff (Magna carta, etc) in favour of more 'Indigenous history'...

Subject: RE: BS: The Coffee Party
From: Alice
Date: 07 Mar 10 - 04:56 PM

Quote of the day from the Coffee Party, it's as true today as it was back then...

"We hardly need to be reminded that we are living in an age of confusion - a lot of us have traded in our beliefs for bitterness and cynicism or for a heavy package of despair, or even a quivering portion of hysteria. Opinions can be picked up cheap in the market place while such commodities as courage and... fortitude and faith are in alarmingly short supply." Edward R. Murrow

Subject: RE: BS: The Coffee Party
From: Alice
Date: 08 Mar 10 - 07:54 PM

This Saturday, March 13, 2010, will be the kick off of small groups of people coming together over a cup of tea or coffee to discuss common sense and civility.

Here is a VIDEO describing what the coffee party attendees will do this Saturday:

meet on Sat., make a simple poster, take a group photo

Subject: RE: BS: The Coffee Party
From: Bobert
Date: 08 Mar 10 - 09:33 PM

The sad thing is that liberal and moderate causes just don't get off the ground these days... Just no money it takes to organize...

The Tea Party, on the other hand, was organized with lots of $$$ behind it... Dick Armey's lobbying firm took lots of $$$ from the folks who were going to lose out if health care reform passed (we know who his clients were) and then used that money to orgainize... Plus, with FOX organizing right along side of the big $$$ efforts it was going to happen...

Liberals and moderates just want a better country... What lobbying firm wants that??? Well, none...

In the words of Bruce Springsteeen, "Sooner or later it all comes down to money..."

B~

Subject: RE: BS: The Coffee Party
From: Alice
Date: 08 Mar 10 - 10:09 PM

Yes, Dick Armey and money is behind the Tea Party group, but they did not grow as fast as the Coffee Party is growing. There are over 100,000 facebook members for the Coffee Party in less than a month, and it took a long time for the Tea Party to get even half of that.
I'm not so cynical about the power of average citizens.

Subject: RE: BS: The Coffee Party
From: Leadfingers
Date: 08 Mar 10 - 10:32 PM

Is there a U K Chapter ??

Subject: RE: BS: The Coffee Party
From: Alice
Date: 08 Mar 10 - 11:03 PM

I don't know, Terry, but you can always just join the facebook group. There is not yet a chapter in Montana to meet with, and I don't have the energy to lead one here, but I'm hoping someone in town will eventually set up something at a local coffee shop.

Subject: RE: BS: The Coffee Party
From: Alice
Date: 10 Mar 10 - 12:15 PM

The Coffee Party web site quote of the day:

"I've always felt, in all my books, that there's a deep decency in the American people and a native intelligence - providing they have the facts, providing they have the information."
-- Studs Terkel, Conversations with America

Subject: RE: BS: The Coffee Party
From: Sawzaw
Date: 10 Mar 10 - 03:55 PM

How about a Coke Party for all the dopers?

Subject: RE: BS: The Coffee Party
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 10 Mar 10 - 10:34 PM

I'd be waiting for the Poop Party, but how can you expect Organisation from those whose brains are full of ....

Subject: RE: BS: The Coffee Party
From: Alice
Date: 12 Mar 10 - 01:28 PM

quote of the day from the Coffee Party

"I think we too often make choices based on the safety of cynicism, and what we're led to is a life not fully lived. Cynicism is fear, and it's worse than fear - it's active disengagement." -- Ken Burns

Subject: RE: BS: The Coffee Party
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 12 Mar 10 - 01:44 PM

I could not in conscience join a group that was prepared to treat bigots from the imbecile right - like Failin-Palin and other teabaggers and menaces to society with cvility.

I would also point out that Lloyds began in a London coffee-house and may now be seen as an early warning for the recent financial meltdown -caused by avarice and lack of conscience or understanding.

Subject: RE: BS: The Coffee Party
From: Alice
Date: 12 Mar 10 - 02:20 PM

CNN.com has an article on the Coffee Party today:

snip..."Hopkins was 5 when she stared at the two water fountains: one marked "colored," the other "white." The New Yorker was somewhere in Virginia at a train stop with her mother and grandmother, and, well, she'd never drunk colored water before and figured white was what she wanted. But her grandmother yanked her away from that water, muttering something about her getting them all killed.

That moment, and her childlike understanding of what it meant, stuck with Hopkins and has driven her ever since. The stay-at-home mom used to work in the real-estate mortgage field but left when she became disheartened by the industry.

She feels hopeful about the people who are re-engaging in and taking ownership of the political process.".... snip


Article here CLICK

Subject: RE: BS: The Coffee Party
From: Alice
Date: 15 Mar 10 - 03:19 PM

over 162,000 members in the facebook group now and growing by thousands every day.

On Saturday, over 350 groups of people gathered together for civil discussions of issues (in 44 states).

March 29 through April 9, the groups of citizens who came together for Coffee Party discussions will invite their members of Congress who will be home for Easter break to attend the coffee gatherings and discuss issues.
press release for meetings during Congressional recess

Subject: RE: BS: The Coffee Party
From: Alice
Date: 22 Mar 10 - 06:04 PM

Explanation of the local coffee meetings with Congressional representatives during spring recess:

We need to be able to talk.
You Tube Video, Coffee With Congress, local meetings

Subject: RE: BS: The Coffee Party
From: Alice
Date: 24 Mar 10 - 03:18 PM

#coffeeparty Two quotes to ponder over coffee today. "Information is the currency of democracy." -- Thomas Jefferson
"Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other." -- John F. Kennedy
-------------

The US needs to improve education. Voters should have better understanding of history, society, politics, science and better critical thinking skills. The text books from the state of Texas are a problem.
Alice

Subject: RE: BS: The Coffee Party
From: Alice
Date: 26 Mar 10 - 12:58 PM

quote of the day from the Coffee Party USA

#coffeeparty "A man has honor if he holds himself to an ideal of conduct though it is inconvenient, unprofitable, or dangerous to do so." -- Walter Lippmann

Subject: RE: BS: The Coffee Party
From: Alice
Date: 27 Mar 10 - 12:10 PM

Today and tomorrow are the second national get together of groups in the Coffee Party. Local groups invited their congressional representatives to meet with them and discuss issues.

Subject: RE: BS: The Coffee Party
From: pdq
Date: 27 Mar 10 - 03:50 PM

This is the most boring thread in Mudcat history.

Perhaps we can replace it with a new one about the Cocktail Party?

Even better, how about the Petting Party.

Subject: RE: BS: The Coffee Party
From: Don Firth
Date: 27 Mar 10 - 06:46 PM

Let me bore you a bit further, pdq.

I believe the institution of a Coffee Party in this day of rampant irrationality and generally uncivilized behavior, especially in the realm of politics (which affects us all) is especially timely.

There are certain aspects, both symbolic and very real, about coffee and the effect it had upon shaping our history that makes the inception of a Coffee Party particularly relevant these days. The following, which highlights this, is an excerpt from the book I am writing on the folk music scene in the Puget Sound area leading up to and during the "folk music revival:"

As early as Homer, there were stories of a black and bitter brew that had the power to endow increased alertness on those who drank it, but it was not until much later that the details of the discovery of coffee comes into sharper focus.

One of the many legends that surround the discovery of this universal solvent of intellectuality and sociability holds that sometime in the 9th century, in the part of north Africa now called Ethiopia, a young goat-herd named Kaldi noticed that his goats became particularly alert, frisky, and playful after eating the red berries that grew on certain leafy bushes. Kaldi tried a handful of the berries, and soon found himself experiencing a refreshing lift of spirits and a pleasant sense of heightened awareness. He eagerly recommended the berries to his fellow tribesmen, who subsequently agreed that Kaldi's discovery had indeed been a worthy one.

News of these wonderful berries spread quickly. Local monks heard of them, tried them, and noticed that the berries had the salutary effect of producing more alertness and less dozing off during prayers. They dried the berries so they could be transported to other monasteries. There, the berries were reconstituted in water. The monks ate the berries and then drank the liquid.

Coffee berries soon made their way from Ethiopia to the Arabian Peninsula where they were first cultivated in what today is the country of Yemen. Coffee then traveled north to Turkey. The Turks were the first to roast the beans. Then they crushed them and boiled them in water. The result was pretty stout stuff, hardly what we today would call gourmet coffee, but it was well on its way. They sometimes added spices to the brew, such as anise, cloves, cinnamon, and cardamom.

Venetian traders carried coffee to the European continent sometime in the 16th century. Once in Europe, enthusiastic imbibers regarded this new beverage as the Elixir of Life and the Invigorator of Thought.

But, as frequently happens when humankind discovers something pleasurable, there emerged those people whose lips are stiff and whose faces are grim. These unhappy souls declared coffee to be "the beverage of infidels" and "the Drink of the Devil." Some members of the Catholic Church called for Pope Clement VIII to ban it. Consider their dismay when instead, the Pontiff, wide awake and alert because he'd already had his morning coffee, blessed it and declared it a truly Christian beverage.

The first coffeehouse in Britain, called "The Angel," opened in 1652, not in London, but in Oxford. This is, perhaps, not surprising. After all, Oxford had been a college town since the 12th century. Soon thereafter, coffeehouses began flourishing in London. They swiftly became gathering spots for artists, poets, and philosophers, along with their disciples and groupies. Since coffee at these establishments cost a penny a cup, coffeehouses became known as "penny universities." James Boswell and Samuel Johnson were two well-known coffeehouse habitués.

King Charles II considered coffeehouses to be hotbeds of discontent and a breeding ground for revolt, so in 1675 he banned them. This act nearly caused a revolt. The turmoil was so great that eleven days later he rescinded the ban.

In 1732, Johann Sebastian Bach composed his "Coffee Cantata." The work is an ode to coffee. At the same time, it takes a poke at a movement extant in Germany at the time that sought to forbid women to drink coffee because some people thought it made women sterile.

In the late sixteen-hundreds coffeehouses made their way to the New World: to Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, where they prospered just as they had in England. They were also patronized by musicians, artists, poets and other suspicious and undesirable characters. Such as Tom Paine and Ben Franklin. In fact, when the United States were still "The Colonies," the Continental Congress, in protest against the excessive tax the British levied on tea, declared coffee to be the national drink.

So when coffeehouses sprang up like mushrooms in the dank undergrowth of the 1950s, they were nothing really new; they were just another phase of a centuries-old tradition. This renaissance spread through the previous sites: New York, Boston, and Philadelphia; then it vaulted across the continent to California, particularly to San Francisco, Berkeley, Los Angeles, and Seattle.

© Copyright 2010, Donald Richard Firth

And then I go on to describe the more recent relationship between coffeehouses and folk music.   But there is a further aspect of coffee and how it had a beneficial effect on the civilizing of humankind:

In a fascinating book entitled Around the World in Six Glasses, author Tom Standage, explains how early farmers saved surplus grain by fermenting it into beer, the Greeks took grapes and made wine, and Arabs learned how to distill spirits. Water was often unsafe to drink because of the prevalence of water-born diseases, and not knowing that the cause was bacteria, which could be killed by boiling the water, most people tended to avoid water and drank beer or wine, in which the alcohol killed the germs.

Which is to say, most people wandered about half-splashed most of the time!

When coffee spread from Arabia to Europe and coffeehouses became popular gathering places, for the first time in history since the early discovery of fermentation, people were drinking something which was not only safe to drink (boiling having killed the bacteria), but didn't send them into a foggy stupor! Suddenly, lots of people were alert and could think clearly! Standage credits coffee with being the Universal Solvent that brought about what we now call the Age of Enlightenment. He refers to coffeehouses as being "the Internet of the Age of Reason, facilitating scientific and rational thought."

So it seems that Charles II was right to be apprehensive about coffeehouses. The "Rights of Man" movement started over cups of coffee.

© Copyright 2010, Donald Richard Firth

Respectfully presented for your enlightenment, edification, and general amusement.

Coffee, depending on how you brew it, can give you a considerably stronger belt of caffeine than tea at its strongest. So—here's to good, strong coffee, and thus to alertness and clear thinking, something which is greatly needed in this day and age!

To the Coffee Party!!

Don Firth (make mine strong, black, and no sugar.)

P. S. Of course, "Tea Party" refers to those who rebelled against the English tea tax by throwing a shipment of tea overboard into Boston Harbor. But one wonders what it is that those who currently call themselves the "Tea Party" want to throw overboard besides civilized decorum. The Constitution? After all, the new health care law has been duly passed, not by royal edict or governmental fiat, but by Constitutional means. Rather than rioting, hurling insults, displaying firearms, and striving to physically intimidate elected leaders, they should register their objections at the ballot box.

But then . . . I tend to be an idealist.

Subject: RE: BS: The Coffee Party
From: Alice
Date: 27 Mar 10 - 06:57 PM

Thanks for that, Don.

The novel The Coffee Trader, by David Liss, tells the story well of how a trader in Amsterdam gained an edge in the markets because he started drinking the new coffee drink and his mind was sharp and clear while his competitors became woozy from alcohol. I think we discussed The Coffee Trader in another thread.

Subject: RE: BS: The Coffee Party
From: Don Firth
Date: 27 Mar 10 - 07:39 PM

Thanks for the heads-up on the Coffee Party, Alice! And I will look up The Coffee Trader, by David Liss. Sounds interesting!

And—damn and blast!! I went to the Coffee Party web site and discovered that there was a meeting this afternoon about four and a half blocks from where I live—but it was over about two hours ago!

Mutter mutter mutter. . . .

Well, I'll keep checking the web site and catch the next one.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: The Coffee Party
From: Alice
Date: 27 Mar 10 - 07:41 PM

They are having meetings tomorrow, too, for the people who couldn't do it today. Click on the group near you and you can contact the organizer, or join the facebook group and post a message.

A.

Subject: RE: BS: The Coffee Party
From: Bobert
Date: 27 Mar 10 - 07:54 PM

Keep up the good fight, Alice...

Yes, compared to the TV wrestling fan acting Tea Partiers the Coffee Party is boring... The big difference is that the Coffee Partiers are folks like I work with on various community orgainzations that get together, Dem and Repub, and talk and oragnize and get things done in the community while the Tea Partiers are just the folks whos cut their teeth on George Wallace, segregation and the KKK...

Yes, of course the Coffee Party is not as exciting... But a million times more policte and community-first centered as opposed to the poor-is-me victim-oriented Tea Partiers who "want their country back"... BTW, how the hell did this morons come to think that this was their country???

Again, Alice... You stay at it, girl and I'll stop in from time to time fir a sip of capichino...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: The Coffee Party
From: Alice
Date: 27 Mar 10 - 08:20 PM

I was reading stories people are posting about the Coffee Party meetings today and noticed this comment:

"It seems to me that the Coffee Party is just about saying again and again: Let's be civil. At this group they were talking about 'issues' such as corporate financing of elections etc. Also there were people who felt afraid to go to meetings where others were being unruly because of potential violence." from a meeting attended in Novato

Subject: RE: BS: The Coffee Party
From: Alice
Date: 27 Mar 10 - 09:44 PM

More comments are coming in from today's Coffee Party meetings, and a common point of view is that the media needs to be held more accountable in reporting facts and campaign financing needs to be reformed.

Subject: RE: BS: The Coffee Party
From: Bobert
Date: 27 Mar 10 - 10:09 PM

Yes, Alice, these things need desperately to be done... The problem is money and access to media... FOX is tough to go up against without lots of money... I mean, like Fort Knox...

I think the best thing that folks can do is continue with their meeting but also look for ways to capture media attention... No, it doesn't have to be un-civil... But it has to be original...

I wish I was in an area where we had enough people who actaully gave a crap about civility but Page County, Va. is the capitol of Redneck Nation...

But back to positive things that can be accomplished... Attend Tea Party rallies with coffee and doughnuts... No, the Tea Party will just be angry with you but the media will capture them being the bullies and the coffee folks being the victims... This would be a splashing media event that would, at least, get the movement some media time...

Also, have coffee and doughnuts at town council meetings, county board of supervisors meetings, farm markets, sporting events...

Sorry, I hate to tell folks what I think needs to be done when I am not able to do those things myself but I just can't right now 'cuase I am bogged down with my own projects... And I really can't responsibly walk away from them...

b~

Subject: RE: BS: The Coffee Party
From: Alice
Date: 27 Mar 10 - 10:26 PM

The news media were invited to meetings and they were there, including FOX news, C-Span and CNN.
There are over 400 meetings today and tomorrow in D.C. and 45 states. The media coverage is building.



C-Span coverage broadcast:
#coffeeparty C-SPAN will be broadcasting at various times over the weekend "Coffee, Broken Politics & Citizen Participation" a Coffee Summit event in DC held tomorrow (Saturday) at 9:30am. Please check http://www.c-span.org/ for the exact times and channel of the broadcast. Annabel and her guests will have a conversati...on about how to improve the legislative process and our democracy before breaking up into small discussion groups. Guests include Darrell West, the vice president and director of Governance Studies at Brookings and Linda Killian, a senior scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center and a columnist for Politico and U.S. News & World Report.

Subject: RE: BS: The Coffee Party
From: katlaughing
Date: 28 Mar 10 - 02:37 AM

Thanks for keeping us informed, Alice. Great thread!

Subject: RE: BS: The Coffee Party
From: Alice
Date: 28 Mar 10 - 12:31 PM

Link to the C-Span video


Civic Engagement - Coffee Party USA

The above is from one of the meetings in Washington, D.C. yesterday.

Subject: RE: BS: The Coffee Party
From: Alice
Date: 28 Mar 10 - 12:39 PM

Listening to Darrell West from the Brookings Institute on the C-Span video. One of the first things we can do is demand from our Congress that they reform the filibuster rule and the delay tactic of "putting holds" on decisions.


C-Span video Civic Engagement - Coffee Party USA

Subject: RE: BS: The Coffee Party
From: GUEST,Guest from Sanity
Date: 28 Mar 10 - 02:17 PM

Thank you, Alice for posting this!..It was news to me. I think I'd prefer a party who is interested in finding the truth, and living it, rather than making up 'truths' for other people to believe, to manipulate them into their bullshit causes!!!!!
GfS

Subject: RE: BS: The Coffee Party
From: olddude
Date: 28 Mar 10 - 02:53 PM

Thanks Alice

Subject: RE: BS: The Coffee Party
From: Alice
Date: 28 Mar 10 - 04:45 PM

Here is a report from a Coffee Party meeting in Raleigh, NC:

from Kelly "In downtown Raleigh, NC, at The Morning Times Cafe, 18 people engaged in spirited debate and discussion about questions, suggestions, challenges and commitments this group would like to present to our Congressmen and women at their Coffee With Congress. My favorite was: As a movement, we commit to you to promote a coalition of people who make voting decisions that are rational and based on substantive information. In return, we expect you to keep us informed in an honest, non-manipulative, substantive way -- not just soundbites and hyperbole."

Subject: RE: BS: The Coffee Party
From: Alice
Date: 28 Mar 10 - 09:47 PM

For more info about the 2 founders of Coffee Party USA,
Annabel Park and Eric Byler, here is their film company
web site and professional bios: www.9500liberty.com/filmmakers.html

Subject: RE: BS: The Coffee Party
From: Alice
Date: 29 Mar 10 - 03:23 PM

The Coffee Party USA facebook page just passed over 190,000 members.
The Join the Coffeee Party group page just started on January 26, 2010.
I checked the Tea Party Patriots, which started last summer, and their official facebook page has over 147,472 members.

Wow! Could civil discussion actually be more popular than angry shouting? :-)

Subject: RE: BS: The Coffee Party
From: Genie
Date: 29 Mar 10 - 09:44 PM

I hope the "news" media will give fair attention to the Coffee Party. They're already giving the "T E A Party" more coverage than their size or message warrants, IMO. But in the one "news" story I did hear (radio) about the Coffee Party, the 'reporter' just hadda throw in something (beyond the cursory mention of the organization) about the Coffee Party members "getting together over cappucino." Aarrggh!

The attempt, of course, seemed to be to paint this organization as 'elite, latte-drinking, Berkinstock-wearing intellectual' city folks, when there's absolutely no reason to think that's the kind of people who make up the bulk of the members.   From what I can see, the Coffee Party people are as representative of the working class and the middle class -- salt-of-the-earth Americans -- as the TEA Partiers. Plus, I don't think the Coffee Party is funded behind the scenes by billionaires, as the TEA Party is.

Subject: RE: BS: The Coffee Party
From: Bobert
Date: 30 Mar 10 - 05:44 PM

The "screamers" will always get the media coverage regarless of them not having a clue about the real world...

But stay with it, Alice... Who knows??? Ya'll might break thru...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: The Coffee Party
From: Alice
Date: 01 Apr 10 - 02:43 PM

Here is the quote of the day from the Coffee Party USA:

#coffeeparty "The government, which was designed for the people, has got into the hands of the bosses and their employers, the special interests. An invisible empire has been set up above the forms of democracy." -- Woodrow Wilson

Subject: RE: BS: The Coffee Party
From: Alice
Date: 02 Apr 10 - 11:02 AM

This might inspire some people who are disheartened:

Stories from our Coffee Parties

Mercer Island, WA - Carol F

In two weeks our MI group organized and put on a workshop on Civil Discourse. We had about 35 attendees and the workshop was very well received. We're now using conducting an online survey to find out where people want to go next. One of the ideas is to take the workshop to other Coffee Party groupsl People are not only excited but also in action. I've never seen a group of people so committed.

Subject: RE: BS: The Coffee Party
From: Alice
Date: 04 Apr 10 - 12:36 PM

The Coffee Party has over 195,000 members on facebook, and has set a goal to reach 200,000 tomorrow.

With a pledge to engage in civil discourse, these people are hoping to encourage citizens to communicate with their neighbors and elected representatives year 'round. There is an open discussion forum on the site.

If you want to add your support by joining in the numbers who are interested in this idea, the link is here:on facebook and here for the coffeepartyusa web site.
- Alice

Subject: RE: BS: The Coffee Party
From: Alice
Date: 13 Apr 10 - 05:55 PM

There are now over 200,000 members of the Coffee Party.
A poll of members gave these results today:

---------------
"Over 12,000 of you participated in our poll and the results confirm what we've been hearing over these last weeks: 92% said Coffee Party USA should address the role of money in politics and 89% said that we should prioritize making Wall Street accountable to Main Street.

We are putting in place a process for considering action on these issues. We also received over 8,000 comments which we will study closely to help identify future directions.

Next week is Campus Coffee Week. So please tell this to your favorite high school or college student."
-----------------------

Here is a link to the most recent action.

CLICK

Subject: RE: BS: The Coffee Party
From: Alice
Date: 22 Apr 10 - 04:55 PM

Update

Tonight is an event at Harvard for the Coffee Party called "Campus Coffee". The co-founders of the Coffee Party, Annabel Park and Eric Byler, are documentary film makers. Before the start of the Coffee Party, they created a film on immigration called 9500 Liberty. Link to film clip and synopsis is
HERE www.9500liberty.com.

The film will screen tonight for members of Congress on Capitol Hill.
Byler says he plans to show clips from 9500 LIBERTY at the [Harvard] engagement tonight. "9500 Liberty is in many ways the prequel to Coffee Party," Byler said in a Tuesday interview on CNN. "We learned that building coalitions in the center is the only way to reinvigorate a democracy that has been hurt by polarization and extreme political tactics."

The info about the Harvard campus coffee event is
HERE click.

I highly recommend watching the film clip of 9500 Liberty.


Alice

Subject: RE: BS: The Coffee Party
From: Bobert
Date: 22 Apr 10 - 06:38 PM

Now if they could just get all 200,00 to DC for a ralley then we'd have us a ballgame...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: The Coffee Party
From: Alice
Date: 21 May 10 - 01:52 PM

Update from the Coffee Party after we decided first to focus on financial reform. "refreshingly informed and civil" calls & letters to Capitol Hill.

The Coffee Party USA facebook page now has 213,010 members.
There are additionally other facebook Coffee Party pages for individual states.

---------quote from coffeepartyusa.com
Fri, 05/21/2010 - 9:36am â€" Coffee Party USA

Congratulations! We did it. Coffee Party USA worked with Americans for Financial Reform to organize a grassroots campaign to pass Wall St reform, an issue that 90% of you wanted to prioritize in a poll. We did it the Coffee Party way. Our letters, calls and lobby day efforts were recognized by many on Capitol Hill as refreshingly informed and civil. A special thanks to our volunteers in Maine and Massachusetts for helping to convince Republican senators Collins, Snowe and Scott Brown to vote for this historic legislation.
----------

Subject: RE: BS: The Coffee Party
From: Alice
Date: 15 Jul 10 - 12:31 PM

The Coffee Party has asked US voters to join them in this petition to Candidates, Incumbents and Party Leaders, in the upcoming election:

"In this election, please find a way of campaigning without deliberately triggering anger, hatred and fear. Please avoid contributing to the DISUNITING of America. It is the last thing we need in a time of two wars, an environmental catastrophe and an economic crisis.

We will hold accountable those who engage in the politics of division. We will support those who offer facts, civility and solutions."


The link is HERE click.

Subject: RE: BS: The Coffee Party
From: Alice
Date: 29 Sep 10 - 05:06 PM

The Coffee Party USA convention just ended on the 26th in Louisville, KY.

Here is a video of a speech to the convention by Lawrence Lessig, Harvard Law School, given on the subject of Fair Elections.


VIDEO http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FH8u9rpKOk0

Alice

Subject: RE: BS: The Coffee Party
From: GUEST,Guest from Sanity
Date: 29 Sep 10 - 05:27 PM

Great link, Alice!! THANK YOU!!!

GfS

Subject: RE: BS: The Coffee Party
From: GUEST,Patsy
Date: 30 Sep 10 - 03:59 AM

The only coffee parties here in UK is run by the mother's mafia who are either on the playgroup committee or well in with the governors of their local primary schools!