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Come on in!
Coffee & Tea under the window, platters of treats on every table
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Newspapers are in their regular spot next to the door
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Please recommend (and unrecommend the Cafe/Lounge from yesterday)
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May the 4’s be with you
Mornin, everyone, the cafe is open for business, hello….hello…..where is the waiting crowd..
Morning. . .er. . .Noon
Time for the big spread
we haven’t had one for a while
ENJOY!
Jumping in here at the top…time to BooSwarm for Boston Joe’s Operation Yellow Feather at DailyKos.
Linky is here….
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/11/21/182910/40
Good morning Diane & all,
Ack, Monday morning!
Good thing we have such a brief work-week coming up.
Good morning everyone. My son got a birthday present from the government this weekend…a demand that he register for the draft. It actually made me feel sick to my stomach. Please read my diary if you want to and leave advice about what we should do about it. Not that we have a whole lot of choices.
Already read and recommended!
What a scary day it must be to receive that envelope.
It’s like a slap in the face. Can you believe that eagle logo with the muscle-man arms?
I think it’s time we of the Hippy Generation® started a national clothing drive for our college students.
Perhaps it should be targetted specifically at the Young Republicans or whatever their present incarnation is.
Boomers, we should dig out those love beads and headbands, and wrap them up with a pamphlet of tips for avoiding the draft–or should it be a travel brochure for Sunny Baghdad?–and send ’em along with a cheerful note that begins “Greetings–.”
Good idea!!!!! Mr. Gooserock…
I had 3 Young Republicans (maybe College Republicans? I can’t remember which organization they were with) come to visit me at home this weekend. They’d apparently gotten my name from the voter rolls as a non-party-affiliated voter, so they were courting me. I actually could not help myself from uttering an ironic chuckle as I explained to them, “I am so far out to your left that you can probably no longer even see me in your peripheral vision.”
But they’re lucky I’ve been so tired lately, so I wasn’t feeling as mischievous as usual, else I’d have invited them in and then backed them right up against the wall over the evil they’re supporting.
I’m hoping you get your energy and your snark back really soon, not only for yourself but because we need to figuratively back these insufferable asses up against a wall and take them to task for what they’ve done to this country. I just don’t understand young people who vote republican.
Unfortunately, I am exhausted all the time, it’s a part of this whole chronic disease deal.
I did get into it with an old childhood friend recently, though. We’ve known each other since we were 3 but we hadn’t spoken in 15 years when she dug me up last month, so she had to “confess” to me that she’s a Republican. I immediately made an ass of myself demanding to know why and ranting at everything she said; I’m amazed she didn’t hang up on me.
I did learn something important, though. In one of those epiphany moments where a bunch of previously murkily related parts just suddenly come together to make a clear picture, I realized that all of the Republican voters I know personally are both selfish and kinda purposefully under-informed about political issues. Whatever sound byte message speaks to their top 3 personal concerns gets their vote, and it doesn’t much matter how true the message is because the “purposefully under-informed” thing takes care of any cognitive dissonance that could otherwise cause a brain-ache or a sudden attack of good conscience.
And these are centrists, more or less. People who have very few/minor problems with abortion or gay equality, people who are reasonable about gun licensing issues (many of them have cops in the family), people who loathe the theocratic-pushing faux-Christians just as much as any good liberal, and people who have at least lukewarm support for various socio-economic programs (and would have warmer support if they were “sold” on why the programs work to keep their own best interests protected). These are votes the Democrats could get, in other words, but they will have to be manipulative in order to get them because these people will never do the work to be fully informed about the issues.
I don’t think the dems can get these people — the repubs have to do something so bad as to drive them away. They are walking examples of inertia.
Disagree. The Dems could totally get about 80% of the Republican voters I personally know (I won’t offer an opinion on the ones I don’t personally know). The GOP has already turned them off big time. Every last one of them hates George W. Bush; they just didn’t trust John Kerry either and had not at all been convinced by Democrats that the war was a criminal offense from the get-go, probably in large part because so many prominent Democrats supported this war for too long.
The Dems could win them without too much effort, and without moving an inch to the right — and these people are all in Florida and Ohio, to boot. After my conversation with my old friend, that was the big epiphany for me. The Dems could get these people with nothing more than: 1) winning more spin wars more often; and doing do by 2) adjusting their ad campaign & messaging so they appeal more to these people’s baser instincts and incredible capacity for self-absorption.
The political message these people are hearing right now is basically, “Democrats want to help other people; Republicans want to help you.” Change that perception and Democrats will have their votes.
I’ll be happy if you are right and I am wrong. But for what you are describing to work, these people have to be actually listening and I think that they only way they will do that is if the repubs upset them enough. Now I do think the repubs on their way to doing just that with the Iraq war, the poor handling of the economy, and the scandals. The repubs are providing the opposing force that just could knock them out of their inertia.
I think we may be talking about two different groups of people.
There is no indication that the people I know have voted for Republicans out of inertia. From my conversation with my childhood friend, specifically, and from what I know of her personality, I am as certain as I can be that in her case it’s a combination of the spin and the selfishness. I wrote a diary about it, actually, where I typed up the entirity of our political conversation, but wound up deciding not to post because it felt like a violation of our old friendship.
Suffice to say that she is listening — but only a little bit. Which is central to my whole point. She listens only a little bit because of selfishness, and so the spin only has a minute to get in. She’s very focused on her family and her kids, and since she’s neither a political junkie nor a person of grand social conscience, she will never dig deep enough to truly understand all the issues. But she does pay attention to headlines, big stories, and the occasional political dust-up. She watches cable TV news from time to time. She votes.
And she’s not averse to voting for Democrats. If the Democrats can sell her the right spin in a soundbyte way that their policies benefit her family more than those of Repubs, I guarantee you that she will vote for Democrats. She is not one of those people who’s a Republican in the same way people are, say, Packers fans. She will only vote GOP for as long as she is duped into thinking their policies benefit her family, and this duping is only successful because she won’t spend extra time chasing down facts and the Republicans are crafty enough to take advantage of that.
I do think I know which voters you’re talking about, though. My roommate knows a few of those, and from what she tells me about her conversations with them I very much agree with your assessment of their voting “logic”. But those are not the people I’ve been talking about today. Not everyone who votes Republican does so for the same reasons or motives (or lack thereof), obviously, and my focus herein has been on a subset of Republican voters who do not really agree with the party, but who get fooled by the slick marketing in the 10 minutes they pay attention to politics because there’s insufficient effective counter-messaging from Democrats.
but I’m not entirely convinced because there is a cadre of lazy, self-centered voters out there who will vote for whoever will pander to their needs the best, I don’t see how the dems are going to ever put out a message that will match the repubs tax cuts — unless the repubs make themselves so unappealing on other grounds to blow away the advantage that tax cuts give them.
OTOH, I’m prepared to agree with you because you need to save your strength for the feminist diaries and giving good snark in the cafe — ’cause I’m pretty damn lazy and self-centered too.
Heh, thanks for the kind words, Your Patron Saintliness. I was just coming back in here to check out for the day because I really am dfading fast today.
Maybe you and I can pick this topic up again in the future, I think there’s interesting territory to be explored here. Just to leave you with something more to ponder about which might make my meaning more clear, I am not thinking of that old tired strategy of trying to out-GOP the GOP; rather, I’m thinking more along the lines of how to make Democratic policies just as appealing to middle class consumers (yes, I said “consumers” and not “voters” on purpose) as Glad baggies and Kleenex while simultaneously putting competing products on the run. (Note: this is not mutually exclusive with also pushing the party from the inside left to develop better policy.) Kinda like what PepsiCo did to Coke when it embarrassed them into that whole New Coke thing back in the 80s.
More later. Rest now. :}
sweet dreams.
because, of course, I want you to feel better and the young repubs to feel worse but also because SN is likely to read this post and I just wanted to say slug sex.
I did not read it. So there.
a fine opportunity for nostalgic daydreaming *euphemism alert* wasted.
Hi!
Someone just emailed me the following & I thought I’d post it here – It’s really funny!
How many members of the Bush Administration does it take to change a light bulb?
Answer: Ten.
I spent almost all day yesterday reading the book and finished it last night (and no, I’m not giving out any spoilers).
I have to admit that by 10:00 p.m. when I hit the last page, my eyes weren’t focusing too well but I felt a solid sense of accomplishment — kind of like hiking to a mountain summit (an overstatement but it’s nice excuse the post the picture).
The view from the summit of Mt. Hoffman, Yosemite National Park
Running out of the apartment shortly — spouse has doctor’s appointment, hopefully THIS will be the one that gets him back to his regular job! Afterwards, grocery shopping when hopefully the stores aren’t quite as full of Thanksgiving shoppers.
Will check back later…
Why oh why do I let half my staff take the week off for Thanksgiving??? Being short staffed this week will keep me out of the Cafe most of today and tomorrow. I’ll try to drop by with 4’s and snark. hmmm…now what exactly is it they do all day? <grins>
In the meantime – the restful image on my desktop today…
Hi Sally, see you a pic and raise you one…
Sorry you are so busy today, do you have to work past Tue or Wed. this week…and Friday…
Another picture swap going on!
It’ll be a slow week – most of the students are gone for the holidays so we’ll probably close early on Wednesday. We are closed Thurs and Friday.
Since we don’t really celebrate Thanksgiving at our house – I work most holiday weeks. It’s better for those with travel plans or family visiting to have the time off. Some think I’m a little whacko about not taking the time myself and travelling…
Raise you winter wolves…
Good FBC people. I’ve come to shill for Operation Yellow Feather. Would love to stay and chat over coffee, but running nine ways from Sunday. If you get a chance, read the diary and do what you can to help out. Would really like to spread it through the progressive blogosphere today. Will be back to check on things later in day. Best to all, and thanks for all the help. The FBC is really the best of the pond (I have Harriet Miers, because she made even the most sincere comments seem like sucky-uppy).
I’ll be right over. I love stuff like this. 🙂
Just to let you know, I will be gone for awhile with daughter, so if the cafe gets too big during that time….one of the other hosters can put up another diary…Thanks…I will probably check in again, as I am not sure when she is coming..
Have a great day everyone!!!!!!
Yet again:
We’re well along in our season of Noah revisited with fog instead of rain. Haven’t been fully clear of fog for over a week, and it’s been 3 days since we had any sun. You older boomers will remember the old soap ad with the foghorn hook: BEEEEEEEEEEE-oh. Lots of ships’ foghorns and bells being heard around the neighborhoods these days.
Busy day in the shop for Gooserock ahead of a 4-day holiday weekend travelling with Florida Mom to sibling get-together. Puget4 is at her ‘away’ job for the day.
Two things I miss about living near Lake Erie…the sound of foghorns and trains in the night.
We’re having a severe drought here in NC with no measurable rain most of the summer and fall, so it was really neat to go to sleep with the windows open and the sound of rain dripping, dripping all night long and continuing today. It’s been almost relentlessly sunny and the clouds and rain feel good. Makes me want to nest.
winery. The bell off Middle Island was always a happy sound for us, it meant that Put-In-Bay was just a few light-wind sailing hours away over the horizon, or Pelee Island now equally close as Sandusky.
I was an infant 10 houses back from the tracks west of Cleveland when the last steam locomotives were running. We had family down by Canton so we were always hearing the steam engines chugging up to speed and losing traction pulling loads out of the steel mills. Many childhood nightmares about angry locomotives chasing me around the neighborhood! But we loved them during daylight hours.
It still surprises us but even here in rural Puget Sound there’s a train near enough that we can occasionally hear the diesels going by if it’s quiet out and the wind’s right.
I lived in the same house for my entire childhood; between the tracks bisecting Cleveland/Lakewood and the lake. I would go to sleep to the sound of the trains chugging by and blowing their horns at every single intersection along the way!
My sister lives right next to the railroad tracks now, so close you could spit on the train going by. The last time I spent the night I almost jumped out of my skin when one of them passed by in the middle of the night. I was so disoriented from sleep that I didn’t know where I was and thought a train was coming into the bedroom. Not quite the romanticized sound I remembered from my childhood!
Crazy busy this week. No tea. No time. Just had to say hi. Back some time next week.
I might diary this at about 5:30ish. Just spoke to Sally Cat via e-mail. She is going to diary the “Operation Yellow Feather” thing at 6:00pm EST/3:00pm PST over at the orange place. Hoping to turn out a few BooTribbers over there to recommend the diary, and perhaps comment about it on the list. Sally Cat has to diary and run. I can be with it from 6:00 to 6:30, but then I have to run too (Accidental Activist duties). Anywho. If anyone from the cafe can assist. Bon apetite and all. Tootles.
I wanted to go to a fundraiser for Mark Warner, but I found out that it costs $1000. Which, ironically, will be the sum total of savings I will have as of the date of the fundraiser. I could – but I just can’t. Not my whole savings account.
Sigh!
Just goes to show how out of touch candidates are with the “real” people they’re supposed to be governing — how many folks have $1000 to spare, especially in this sucky economy?
It would be refreshing if a candidate would have a get-together with a sliding scale…yeah, like that’ll ever happen…
I’ve seen a lot of organizations and even candidates do the sliding scale thing, actually. And I expect that they will be able to find enough folks with $1000 to fill the room. If I could spare it, I’d give it. I just can’t blow all my savings on a candidate. 🙂 Hopefully there will be another chance, soon.
Home for a bit before going out for the main grocery shopping…
Good news in the household: the spouse got the “all clear” from our doctor on the blood pressure front! So tomorrow (after my session with the gyn), he’ll go to the doctor for the transit district, get them to finish the paperwork, then head for DMV to file the paperwork and get his medical card back. Come Dec. 5 he’ll be back behind the bus steering wheel, and we’ll have our life back to what passes for normal around these parts!
Of course, nothing’s perfect; we got home and he proceeded to spill practically an entire smoothie on the carpet 🙁 — looks like we’ll be stopping somewhere for carpet cleaner on the way to Sweet Tomatoes (it’s mushroom soup tonight — yummy!).
Sounds like everyone’s day is going well; Diane, hope you enjoyed your day out with your daughter. I think some of the schools may have been closed this week; quite a few kids out shopping with their parent(s) today…
Hi Cali, well I ended up not going as she was not feeling well and she is 30, not school age.
I have been working outside today doing a lot of prep and cleaning work for my upcoming move…which is coming up fast and I have nothing packed nor a place to live in yet.
Looks like we will find the abode this weekend if possible, which I think is going to be something like a big fifth wheeler or a travel trailer with slide outs, due to the limited space.to place said abode…
Booswarm Request. I just posted a diary with same request. We’re trying to launch Sally Cat’s “Operation Yellow Feather” diary on dKos at 6:00p.m.EST/3:00p.m.PST. Final phase of our publicity effort. If you can help out, thanks much. If you can’t, I know it is not for want of love (more likely you are all just too addicted to the good food, drink and company of the FBC). Thank you.
and have to head out for errands/dinner/groceries soon; if it’s still hanging on the list when I get back I’ll slap a “recommend” on that puppy… 🙂
It’s easy to go to war when you’re not the one doing the bleeding…
Is it up yet? I don’t see it.
This here:
Has anyone heard anything at all about this weird story from Drudge:
CNN MARKS CHENEY: NETWORK FLASHES ‘X’ OVER VP’S FACE DURING LIVE SPEECH
Here’s a photo:
I wonder what’s going on at CNN tonight?
to be their Hollywood Square.
I am DELIRIOUS!!! Too…Much…..Blogging…Today!