The new Coffee Party touts its philosophy: The government is “not the enemy of the people, but the collective expression of our will.”
Could Orwell have crafted a better slogan? Could any statement plead more effectively for acquiescence or appeal to a mindset of appeasement? Were these same people making this argument when Bush was president and Republicans controlled Congress?
Allah Pundit observes too kindly: “I’m getting a distinct ‘beta male’ vibe from this group.
I’m not a member of the Tea Party movement, although I’ve considered joining just as a retort to those who insist on equating them with right-wing militias and attributing to them every act of violence (never mind what Stack’s manifesto actually says). Reading Frank Rich’s columns will make you “beta” in every respect. If his guilt-by-association meme catches on, I want to be sure no one associates me with Rich.
We Texans drink iced tea in copious amounts, and I occasionally indulge in a cup of hot tea (the black variety – none of that fruity stuff).
But tea, like the Tea Party, is optional, whereas coffee is essential. The Coffee Party has no business tainting the good name of that noble beverage. Really, they could have more accurately described themselves with the name of some coffee drink like cappuccino or “skinny cinnamon dolce latte.”
We live in a dangerous world when coffee becomes associated with lefty wackos. Nothing is safe.
So we must start the Beer Party preemptively. We can work out a more detailed philosophy and agenda later. For now, it is enough to ensure that beer will forever be associated with real men and good-hearted women, that it will never be commandeered by some group of effete whiners, and that’s its primary purpose will remain conspicuous consumption.
Beer is the elixir of charity, the path to clear thinking, the promoter of Gemütlichkeit, proof that God loves us, and the antidote to Frank Rich.
Photo by dr_sponge
March 2nd, 2010
Posted by
Fitzroy |
Leisure, Politics |
one comment
What we need is a “Terminable Stupidity” clock instead of the “Doomsday” clock trotted out by the scientific community.
A spokesman said: ‘Factors influencing the latest Doomsday Clock change include international negotiations on nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation, expansion of civilian nuclear power, the possibilities of nuclear terrorism, and climate change.’
If we look at the last item on this list, climate change, scientists should be rolling the clock back, not forward, based on mounting evidence that there is no evidence.
But if you really believe in AGW, civilian nuclear power represents one of the best solutions to the problem. A ready solution, of course, would take the problem out of the hands of theoretical scientists and turn it over to engineers. That would spell doomsday for grants that feed the families of scientists.
Meanwhile, we keep talking about the weather and pretending there is no real threat from terrorism - unless of course the terrorist get a nuclear bomb - the first of which was detonated by a group of theoretical scientist who weren’t entirely sure whether the reaction would be confined to the New Mexico desert as opposed to incinerating the whole planet. Talk about your global warming!
The scientists would presumably feel better if we get rid of the nuclear devices that they so graciously gave us in 1945 - “we” being the civilized world with democratic and accountable governments. As for failed states and terrorist organizations, “agreements” and kind words will have to suffice.
I tend to think Doomsday is not just around the corner, or at least it needn’t be if we can avoid giving scientists control over our economy and national security.
January 13th, 2010
Posted by
Fitzroy |
Leisure, Politics |
no comments
The Strafer (occasional contributor to his blog and curator of destroyers) writes:
WTF? Evil exists? We must fight it? Singing Kumbaya and apologizing will not solve all world problems? This is refreshingly close to the Bushman, except he does not want to “go pre-emptive” . . . or does he? Does Robert Gates have this much sway?
Please explain, Fitzroy! What’s the catch?
I’ll give it a try, Strafer. First, as you should know, answers can sometimes found at the bottom of the glass.
We live in unserious times, which means very serious times lie ahead. Going preemptive is something only serious people do. Whether preemptive action is right or wrong in a particular instance is a different question, but preemptive action is at least a serious act.
Unserious people elect unserious leaders who borrow speeches, ideas, and serious thoughts from other more serious people. They don’t do preemption because they don’t admit that inaction has consequences.
Let’s approach the problem from a new angle. Martinis were once the drink of serious people, and serious people made martinis with gin. Along came some less serious people who made pretend martinis with vodka and popularized them in the fictional world of James Bond. Proof of slippery slopes followed with chocolate martinis and the post-modern, relativist lie that anything in a martini glass is a martini.
That relativist lie can be applied to empty suits in a variety of professions. Unserious drinkers who prefer some syrupy blue slush with a parasol borrow the trappings of serious drinkers – the martini glass. Unserious politicians borrow the speeches of their more serious counterparts, complete with fighting words and references to evil.
Speaking of Robert Gates, former head of the CIA – yes, this is a leap – Ingo Swann writes about the spy world post James Bond and describes the “eight martini result.”
Well, this is an intelligence community in-house term for remote viewing data so good that it cracks everyone’s realities. So they have to go out and drink eight martinis to recover.
Obama talking like Bush is an eight martini occasion: it cracks everyone’s realities. The people who supported him in the hopes that he would never call anything evil are already at the bar and a few rounds ahead of you. They are easy to recognize. Their martini glasses will be full of blue slush, chocolate, and parasols.
I suggest you have the bartender fill your glass with gin in preparation for the more serious days that lie ahead.
Image by Ken30684 - Creative Commons
December 11th, 2009
Posted by
Fitzroy |
Leisure, Politics |
2 comments
Germany is always a welcome diversion. My second home of Weimar has a pleasant urban environment, parks, good train transportation, and bratwurst and beer always readily available. The artistic offerings are many and often quite good. When they are bad, they are really bad. But there are certain things that compel one to live in Texas.
September 23rd, 2009
Posted by
Fitzroy |
Leisure |
no comments
The beer summit is on tap for tonight, and American beer companies are hopping mad. Obama has ordered up brews that fit the profiles of his guests: a color-sensitive selection of Red Stripe and Blue Moon. Obama himself intends to drink Bud Light. Yuck! One more thing they apparently don’t teach you at Harvard.
American companies wonder how the gears of domestic diplomacy can be lubricated with foreign brews. (Anheuser-Busch is now a Belgium enterprise, which makes we wonder if Obama drank Bud Light before it became European.) At any rate, beer apparently makes Obama’s list of things unexceptional in America. In attempting to quell one dispute, Obama is fomenting bitter resentment in other quarters.
So I’m betting that Sgt. Crowley gets the best of this teaching moment. After all, he will be up against a literary scholar who testified as an expert witness that 2 Live Crew lyrics were akin to Shakespeare’s “My love is like a red, red rose” (without questioning his own expertise long enough to discover that Shakespeare never wrote that line) and a president so enamored with things European that he will uncritically buy the worst they have to offer.
July 30th, 2009
Posted by
Fitzroy |
Leisure, Politics |
no comments
Miss California, Carrie Prejean, makes an excellent poster girl for heterosexuality.
It’s unfortunate that her views on same-sex marriage are being marginalized as peculiar to Christian conservatives. Her views are equally compatible with Catholicism, Judaism, Islam, and numerous other religions. But you don’t have to believe in any of them to agree with Prejean. You could simply believe in biology, for example, and rationally conclude that there is something unique about heterosexual marriage.
Personally, I wonder who came up with the insane idea of having Perez Hilton, an openly gay gossip columnist who apparently made his mark “outing” allegedly gay celebrities, judge a beauty contest. He usurped the show. The Miss USA Pageant will never be the same. I suppose next year the pageant will be open to contestants of any gender, all in the name of tolerance and equality.
Someone left a comment at Wizbang that pretty well sums up my feelings about all this foolishness:
I didnt know who either of them were before this week…I like her a WHOLE lot better!
Image by Vrysxy - Creative Commons
April 23rd, 2009
Posted by
Fitzroy |
Leisure, Politics, Religion |
one comment
Bach was born on this date in 1685, and Leipzig is a good place to celebrate. The location of Bach’s last post where he spent his last 27 years, Leipzig is described as “a city devoted to letters, song, and the coffee bean.” Bach made his own contribution to Leipzig’s coffee craze as the YouTube video shows.
March 21st, 2009
Posted by
Fitzroy |
Leisure, Music |
no comments
Go ahead. Make my day 
with a Dirty Harry martini. The recipe from Best-Martini-Recipes Ever.com:
Ingredients:
6 oz. vodka
1 Dash Dry Vermouth
4 Stuffed Green Olives
1 oz. Brine from Olive Jar
Directions:
In a mixing glass, combine the vodka, dry vermouth, olives, and the brine.
Pour into a martini glass over ice, you can either drink it on the rocks, or strain out the ice.
After you drink it, it will be your “inner Dirty Harry.”
Image by Ken30684 - Creative Commons
March 20th, 2009
Posted by
Fitzroy |
Leisure |
no comments
The folks at SPOGG, who sponsor National Grammar Day, have their priorities straight up: their site includes the “Grammartini.”
Being the careful people that they are, they have the recipe almost right. On the positive side, they use actual gin (no cheap substitutes). Vodka must be among the “Things that Make Us [Sic].”
I would quibble with their slightly high quotient of vermouth and suggestion than you shake rather than stir.
But grammarians, I’m sure, can handle a little quibbling.
Image by Ken30684 - Creative Commons
March 6th, 2009
Posted by
Fitzroy |
Language, Leisure |
2 comments
Snopes says it ain’t so, but some day someone is going to debunk Snopes itself.
It seems entirely logical, though perhaps not accurate, to follow yesterday’s musings on Helen of Troy with a note about champagne. Accuracy is not highly prized at the bar anyway.
There is truth in lore, even when the historical details are in disarray. I refer, of course, to the shape of the champagne coupe. The saucer-shaped glass has fallen out of favor in preference for the flute, which preserves the chill and bubbles for slow drinkers. But the coupe has a sensuous shape, and stories have sprung up about how it was modeled on (or actually molded from) the breast of some famed beauty: Marie Antoinette, Madame de Pompadour, Helen of Troy.
In all of the stories you simply have the cleaving desire to possess an unattainable historical siren—what could be more sexual than placing ones lips to [insert famous female name here]’s breast while drinking sparkling wine?
Discovering which individual, if any, served as the true model is a fools errand. Truth lies elsewhere. I like this historical anecdote from VodkaFreak:
As to be expected, the manufacturing wizard who gave the glass its birth was a Frenchmen. And it was the French royalty who realised its full potential.
At a brunch, or a high tea, while drinking their champagne, the ladies would pass the tort or the angel cake. ‘Oh, my dear,’ they would cry, ‘do try the sponge cake with the champagne. Have you ever tasted anything so delicious?’ And they would dip their cake or pastry into the bubbles before popping the champagne-impregnated morsel into their mouth. Lovers, in particular, loved to feed each other on this heavenly fare.
All was well, and life was good.
Then along came the wine buffs. With no romance in their souls, just their long noses and cultivated palates, they went into a scientific huddle. Taking a tape measure they first measured the perimeter of the saucer-shaped glass and then the tulip-shaped glass, and shook their heads in dismay.
And, being smugly confident in their scientific, function-over-form, scrupulously detailed, graceless and secular outlook on the world, they went on to form a company called Snopes.
So really, who would you rather have plop down on the barstool beside you? Marie Antoinette or the guy from Snopes?
Image by CoffeeGeek – Creative Commons
February 27th, 2009
Posted by
Fitzroy |
Leisure |
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