Archives by month: March, 2007
You are currently browsing the archives for March, 2007.
March 29th, 2007
Posted by Alex Payson at 10:34 am
We are very excited to announce $5 flat rate UPS ground shipping on every order. There is no minimum order size (or maximum), so this is the perfect opportunity to stock up on coffee, our new travel mugs, and much more.
You will still get the same fast, top notch service Blue State Coffee is proud of, it will just cost you less.
So go ahead and order a bag; it’s a great time to drink liberally.
Posted in Blue State Coffee news, General news | 
No Comments »
March 26th, 2007
Posted by Alex Payson at 8:31 am
Blue State Coffee is proud to announce the addition of a travel mug to our product line.
Our travel mug is made of 100% USA grown corn plastic. Extremely durable and attractive, this mug is produced completely from renewable resources.
Now your favorite liberal brew can go on the road with you!
Head on over to our gear store and pick one up today.
Posted in Blue State Coffee news, General news | 1 Comment »
March 25th, 2007
Posted by Drew at 10:30 am
As more evidence comes to light showing that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales played a role in the firing of eight U.S. attorneys, two influential Republican senators–Chuck Hagel, a possible Republican presidential candidate, and Arlen Specter, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary committee–questioned his integrity, and Senator Dianne Feinstein called for his resignation. Two of the fired attorneys served in Feinstein’s state, California.
 ”We have to have an attorney general who is candid and truthful. And if we find out he’s not been candid and truthful, that’s a very compelling reason for him not to stay on,” said Sen. Arlen Specter, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which oversees the Justice Department.
Specter, R-Pa., said he would wait until Gonzales’ scheduled testimony next month to the committee on the dismissals before deciding whether he could continue to support the attorney general. He called it a “make or break” appearance.
To Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., Gonzales “does have a credibility problem. …We govern with one currency, and that’s trust. And that trust is all important. And when you lose or debase that currency, then you can’t govern. And I think he’s going to have some difficulties.”
Hagel cited changing stories from the Justice Department about the circumstances for firing the eight U.S. attorneys. “I don’t know if he got bad advice or if he was not involved in the day-to-day management. I don’t know what the problem is, but he’s got a problem. You cannot have the nation’s chief law enforcement officer with a cloud hanging over his credibility,” Hagel said.
Additionally, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., called for Gonzales to step down over his conflicting statements on how involved he was in the dismissals last fall. Democrats contend the prosecutors’ firings were politically motivated.
Feinstein, whose state lost two U.S. attorneys in the purge — in San Diego and San Francisco — joined a growing number of Democrats and Republicans in calling for Gonzales’ ouster. She said she now believes Gonzales has not told the truth about the firings.
“I believe he should step down,” said Feinstein, also on the Senate Judiciary Committee. “And I don’t like saying this. This is not my natural personality at all. But I think the nation is not well served by this. I think we need to get at the bottom of why these resignations were made, who ordered them, and what the strategy was.”
Gonzales has said he participated in no discussions and saw no memos about plans to carry out the firings on Dec. 7 that Democrats contend were politically motivated.
His schedule, however, shows he attended at least one hourlong meeting, on Nov. 27, where he approved a detailed plan to execute the prosecutors’ firings.
My prediction? After Gonzales’ testimony next week, Senators Specter, Hagel, and other Republicans will join Democrats in calling for his resignation. It will be hard for even the top prosecutor in the country to defend the firings he approved.
Posted in General news, News round-up, Politics | No Comments »
March 21st, 2007
Posted by Alex Payson at 8:43 am
If you have not heard already, Gore is giving testimony on Capitol Hill today (March 21st) starting at 10AM EST regarding his favorite subject: climate change.
You can watch his remarks live on the House website (link is on the right hand side).
We will post a link to a taped version for those who missed it as soon as it is available.
*Update (2PM 3/21/2007): Personally, Al Gore gave an exciting, important speech today. I hope you all get a chance to watch the video or read the text of the speech.
You can watch a recording of his opening statement here courtesy of AlGore.com.
Posted in General news, News round-up, Politics | No Comments »
March 18th, 2007
Posted by Drew at 3:27 pm
Two Brookings Institution scholars produce a monthly chart called The State of Iraq, an Update, which measures certain factors such as oil production, civilian deaths, and unemployment rate in an attempt to reflect quality of life in Iraq since the beginning of the war. The chart for February 2007 shows that while some areas–such as number of Iraqi security forces and number of television subscribers–have improved, most factors have gotten worse, including number of multiple-fatality bombings and number of U.S. troops killed. Also, the chart does not measure the less tangible things like political unity, which are just as important for the U.S. as it tries to stabilize Iraq.
Happy four year anniversary, War in Iraq!
Read the authors’ analysis of February’s data here.
Posted in General news, News round-up | No Comments »
March 13th, 2007
Posted by Alex Payson at 9:05 am
Blue State Coffee is proud to announce its partnership with stopglobalwarming.org.
Stopglobalwarming.org is a website dedicated to promoting positive actions that can reduce our impact on climate change and educating our global community about the implications and effects of global warming.
We encourage you to sign up as a supporter of the Stop Global Warming Virtual March. The website also includes a list of partners committed to reducing their environmental impact.
Read our statement on global warming here.
Posted in Blue State Coffee news, General news, Our causes | 2 Comments »
March 12th, 2007
Posted by Alex Payson at 12:36 pm
A few more websites have been kind enough to give some attention to Blue State Coffee.
Rhode Island’s Future- (A great RI political blog.)
Waterbury Republican American- (Even our Republican friends are giving us some love!)
Brave Astronaut Blog- (A personal blog, clearly a person with good taste!)
Posted in BSC in the press, Blue State Coffee news, General news | No Comments »
March 10th, 2007
Posted by Drew at 12:46 am
Too funny:
Mayan priests will purify a sacred archaeological site to eliminate “bad spirits” after President Bush visits next week, an official with close ties to the group said Thursday.
“That a person like (Bush), with the persecution of our migrant brothers in the United States, with the wars he has provoked, is going to walk in our sacred lands, is an offense for the Mayan people and their culture,” Juan Tiney, the director of a Mayan nongovernmental organization with close ties to Mayan religious and political leaders, said Thursday.
Read the rest of the article here.
Posted in General news, Humor, News round-up | No Comments »
March 9th, 2007
Posted by Alex Payson at 11:19 am
Last week Time magazine ran a lengthy article on the debate between eating locally grown foods that are not organic, versus organic food that traveled a few thousand miles to your fridge.
From the article:
“If you send it halfway around the world before it is eaten,” he (ethnobotanist Gary Paul Nabhan) mused, “an organic food still may be ‘good’ for the consumer, but is it ‘good’ for the food system?”
It continues:
…shipping a strawberry from California to New York requires 435 calories of fossil fuel but provides the eater with only 5 calories of nutrition.
If you have a few minutes I suggest reading the whole article here, it is very well thought out and researched.
The author’s conclusion?
Eating locally also seems safer. Ted’s neighbors and customers can see how he farms. That transparency doesn’t exist with, say, spinach bagged by a distant agribusiness. I help keep Ted in business, and he helps keep me fed–and the elegance and sustainability of that exchange make more sense to me than gambling on faceless producers who stamp organic on a package thousands of miles from my home. I’m not a purist about these choices–I ate a Filet-O-Fish at McDonald’s on the way to Ted’s farm. But in general, I have decided that you are where you eat.
Posted in General news, Our causes | No Comments »
March 6th, 2007
Posted by Alex Payson at 10:08 am
Check out this excellent article on one man’s quest to save the world- very much from the micro perspective. Here is his mission:
Let’s be honest. I can’t change the world. Maybe you can. I don’t have the personality for it. So what can I do?
Imagine yourself, surrounded by concentric circles – like a giant target, with yourself as the bullseye. In target practice, the bullseye is the highest point total, with the rings decreasing in points as you get farther from the center. That’s how I imagine my ability to change the world. I can make the biggest differences closest to home.
So with that in mind, I’ve cobbled together ideas from my favorite authors, my own experiences, and concepts other people have had success with to form my own Crazy Scheme. There’s nothing particularly original about any of the pieces. Maybe not even the combination of pieces. But it’s a combination that makes sense to me.
Intrigued? Read his whole article here, courtesy of Groovy Green.
I think he hits the nail right on the head. While not all of us have the land to grow/raise much of anything, most of us at least know someone who does have the space- now all you need to do is convince them to make use of it!
Posted in General news, Our causes | No Comments »
