Archives by month: April, 2007
You are currently browsing the archives for April, 2007.
April 30th, 2007
Posted by Alex Payson at 10:53 am
I recently learned of CODEPINK, a grassroots women-organized civil disobedience movement. They have garnered attention recently for their rather vocal protests and demonstrations in Washington at Alberto Gonzales’s hearings, getting arrested in a senate building while calling for impeaching Bush and Cheny, and much more.
CODEPINK’s mission(from their website)-
CODEPINK is a women-initiated grassroots peace and social justice movement working to end the war in Iraq, stop new wars, and redirect our resources into healthcare, education and other life-affirming activities. We reject the Bush administration’s fear-based politics that justify violence, and instead calls for policies based on compassion, kindness and a commitment to international law. With an emphasis on joy and humor, CODEPINK women and men seek to activate, amplify and inspire a community of peacemakers through creative campaigns and a commitment to non-violence.
They seem like a great group, I am always in favor of “active” activism and a little civil disobedience. To learn more, check out their website.
Posted in General news, Our causes | 
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April 25th, 2007
Posted by Alex Payson at 3:55 pm
Michael Pollan, the author of “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” wrote a great article on the seeming paradox of why there is an inverse correlation between wealth and dietary health. In essence, why are cheapest foods normally the least healthy ones? Shouldn’t it be a priority of our country to ensure that the most affordable foods provide a good balanced diet?
And yet if you measure the cost per 1,000 calories of various foods in a grocery store, the cheapest sources of calories are processed cookies, potato chips, or soda. You can buy 2,000 calories worth of twinkies for a couple dollars, but to buy the same caloric content from fresh produce, you will easily spend over $10.
For those families with a low income, it simply does not make economic sense to buy fresh foods, when you can buy a dinner at McDonald’s for a fraction of the cost. Your waistline and long term health may suffer from the golden arches diet, but when you are on a tight budget there is no alternative.
To find out who is to blame for this situation, and what one man thinks should be done about it, read Michael Pollan’s article here.
Posted in General news, Politics | No Comments »
April 22nd, 2007
Posted by Drew at 8:57 pm
When Democrats claimed last fall that the Republicans had created a “culture of corruption” in Washington, even then they were correct. The news about Mark Foley, chairman of the Missing and Exploited Children’s caucus, had just come out. Other scandals included Plamegate; Abu Ghraib; Haditha; “Bin Laden Determined to Strike…”; illegal domestic spying; Guantanamo; Cheney’s secretive Energy Task Force; Abramoff; Bob Ney; Randy “Duke” Cunningham; the missing billions allocated to Iraq and Hurricane Katrina reconstruction; “Heckuva job, Brownie!”; Tom DeLay; and no-bid contracts for Halliburton. It seems that the results of the 2006 midterm elections haven’t phased the White House, though: new scandals continue to be uncovered.
Campaigning in 2000, Texas Gov. George W. Bush would repeatedly raise his right hand as if taking an oath and vow to “restore honor and integrity” to the White House. He pledged to usher in a new era of bipartisanship.
The dual themes of honesty and bipartisanship struck a chord with many voters and helped propel Bush to the White House in one of the nation’s closest-ever elections. Americans re-elected him in 2004 after he characterized himself as best suited to protect a nation at war.
Now, with fewer than two years left of his second term, the Bush administration is embroiled in multiple scandals and ethics investigations. The war in Iraq still rages. Bush’s approval ratings are hovering in the mid-30s. And Democratic-Republican relations have seldom been more rancorous.
The article continues:
What ever happened to restoring honor and dignity?
“From the very beginning, this administration emphasized loyalty over competence. And at some point, that catches up with you,” said Paul Light, a professor of public policy at New York University. He said the increase in scandals and investigations also reflects the “natural decay” that happens late in a second presidential term as many experienced people have already left and those remaining start focusing on their financial futures.
Read the rest of the article, which discusses some of Bush’s recent scandals, here.
Had the Democrats not taken back the House and Senate in November, many of these scandals would have gone unnoticed.
Posted in General news, News round-up, Politics | No Comments »
April 19th, 2007
Posted by Alex Payson at 9:55 am
Last night I had the fortune of attending a speech by Elie Wiesel, the Nobel Laureate and renowned spokesman for peace, sponsored by the Institute for International Sport. He spoke about war, and peace, and suicide terrorists. One of the problems with suicide murders/terrorists he said (and excuse my poor paraphrasing), was that if they are ready to kill themselves, then they are already past the point where they can be convinced to change their ways. It is too late to reach them. So we must teach our youth while they are still young, with the hope and conviction that they can make the next generation a little better.
Professor Wiesel went one step further, saying that when teaching, imparting knowledge is not sufficient. He proposed that if all you teach is knowledge, then what prevents that knowledge from being used to exploit another human? He brought up a very important point, but never quite explained what needed to be taught alongside knowledge to prevent its misuse.
After the lecture I was pondering what the missing ingredient was from Elie’s speech when I remembered a quote from the founder of my high school, written circa 1780.
“Goodness without knowledge is weak and feeble, yet knowledge without goodness is dangerous, and that both united form the noblest character, and lay the surest foundation of usefulness to mankind.” -John Phillips
Perhaps this is our problem today. We focus too much on knowledge, through instant communication and surrounding ourselves in an isolated world where everyone is connected and can get the answers to anything, but is looking not into the eyes of another human, but at the screen of their computer, phone, or pda. We proclaim ourselves a global community, yet spend less time interacting with other humans than ever before in history.
Let us not forget about knowledge with goodness.
Posted in General news, Personal | No Comments »
April 16th, 2007
Posted by Drew at 10:27 pm
The staff of Blue State Coffee extends our condolences to the families of the students and faculty who were killed or wounded today at Virginia Tech.
Our thoughts and prayers are with you.
Posted in General news, Personal | No Comments »
April 16th, 2007
Posted by Alex Payson at 10:06 am
On March 31st we closed customer voting on our first group of four excellent causes.
Results are as follows:
National Even Start Association- 32.7%
Democratic Candidates and Organizations- 27.1%
World Resources Institute- 21.1%
Disabled American Veterans- 19.1%
Congratulations to all of our recipients and keep up the good work that you are doing!
As a new company we do not yet have profits to speak of, however we are dedicated to our mission of donating to progressive causes. This quarter we have decided to split $5,000 amongst the four causes according to how you all voted.
You can read about our next group of causes to vote for on our causes page.
Posted in Blue State Coffee news, General news, Giving, Our causes | No Comments »
April 15th, 2007
Posted by Drew at 3:01 pm
AWOLBush.com is a website that provides a comprehensive summary of the military experience–and non-experience–of prominent policy-makers. It’s no surprise that Republicans who haven’t served–President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Rove, Rumsfeld, Rice, Hastert, Armey, DeLay, Blunt, Frist, Santorum, Gingrich, McConnell, Lott, Boehner, and others–were so eager to invade Iraq.
The site also shows that it is largely the Democratic policy-makers who have served in the military.
Visit AWOLBush to learn more.
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Posted in General news, Politics | No Comments »
April 14th, 2007
Posted by Drew at 7:44 pm
Boosted by donations from celebrity friends, Al Franken is on his way to becoming the funniest Senator in Washington:
Scores of actors, writers, producers and others from the entertainment industry have contributed to Al Franken’s Senate campaign, helping the Minnesota Democrat get off to a strong fundraising start.
Franken, a former “Saturday Night Live” star who hopes to take on GOP Sen. Norm Coleman next year, raised the maximum $4,600 from actors such as Tom Hanks, Paul Newman, Jason Alexander and Larry David, according to a campaign finance report filed Friday.
That helped Franken pull in $1.35 million in the first quarter of the year — despite not beginning his fundraising effort until Feb. 14 — just behind Coleman’s $1.53 million.
Read the rest of the article here.
Meanwhile, today marks Nancy Pelosi’s 100th day as Speaker of the House, and she celebrated by passing legislation setting a deadline for withdrawing our troops from Iraq. Things are looking up for the Democrats.
Posted in General news, News round-up, Politics | No Comments »
April 4th, 2007
Posted by Alex Payson at 8:16 am
Today, April 4th, the Hartford Courant ran a great article on Blue State Coffee.
Grab a cup of joe and then read the article here.
Posted in BSC in the press, Blue State Coffee news, General news | 1 Comment »
April 2nd, 2007
Posted by Alex Payson at 1:11 pm
Last Wednesday March 28th, Blue State Coffee served our yummy brew to the good folk at the Connecticut democratic state central meeting. Tom Clark, one of the founders of Blue State Coffee was proudly showing his colors.
Stay tuned- we will be announcing the opening date for our first store soon!
Posted in Blue State Coffee news, General news, Politics | No Comments »
