So. What can I type without being shot down by your content filter?

Do I have to actually agree with you?

Testify. Plus, at Dunkin Donuts you can get a donut, rather than some mealy piece of tofu-ridden quasi-pastry crap.

A 20 oz cup of coffee costs $1.91 after tax at Starbucks.

How much is it at Dunkin Donuts?

Where are you patronizing Starbucks that a small coffee runs $1.91 after tax, W? Sri Lanka?

Ace, I agree with you, but this one kinda pissed me off:

The Way I See It #99

CHICKENHAWK!!!

---Markos Moulitsas Zúniga

I realize it's a matter of taste, but Starbucks dark roast just tastes plain old burned to me. Possibly because I only patronize them at the airport, where brewing standards may not be up to par.

Dunkie rules! I bought a medium iced coffee and a cruller Sunday for under $3.

20 oz. is a small coffee? You must have an amazing bladder, Brett.

Don't tell that line that Starbucks is liberal to the anti-globo or "fair trade" crowd. Starbucks is the root of all dark roasted evil for them.

Fun fact: Every starbucks in London is plastered with "fair trade" garbage.

I think an AoS brand of coffee is needed. It's catchy - like Chock Full O' Nuts. Ace can have his likenes and own quotes and favorite sayings on the cup. He'll make gazillions.

#1 MORE COWBELL!
#2 THE DIRTY ADOLPH

Next time anyone is in SoCal, check out In-n-Out Burgers. Their cups and wrappers have Bible verses on them. That might even it out a little bit if it wasn't for the 300 to 1 ratio of Starbucks to In-n-Outs.

But at least In-n-Out has a saucy name.

I admit to patronizing Sbucks, but only for a $2 giant cup of dark coffee. I figure they aren't making too much margin on that, as opposed to one of those ridiculous half caff frottage latte caramel bath house whatevers. But yeah, uber liberal for the most part.

Interesting you bring this up, Ace. Actually my last two venti Caramel Macchiatos (Macchiatoes?) had 'The Way I See It' quotes from Jonah Goldberg (on the folly of 'independent thinkers') and Michael Medved (on how people watch too much TV). So apparently someone at Starbucks noticed the dropping market share in all the red counties.

But I acknowledge, the day I find my first Cindy Sheehan quote on my overpriced, oversweetened energy fluid, I'll become a die-hard Diedrich drinker. (Diedrich Coffee is a somewhat tonier coffee house chain that's big in the Newport Beach/OC California area.)

STEVE

Frottage? Isn't that a bit, uh, risky?

Oh how I miss the coffee/bagel venders in New York city. 65 cents for a cup of coffee (at least when I lived there) that tasted ten times better than the bitter sewer sludge they sell at Starbucks.

http://www.johnsondevelopmentcorp.com/wsj/

Here in Seattle, aka coffee-bean-town, the McD's, Dennys, and pretty much anywhere that offers coffee offers Starbuck-esque coffee. And all the other other local coffee-branders carp about how inhuman Starbucks is.

We've got Starbucks, Caribou, and Dunn Bros chains here in Minnesota. Dunn Brothers roast their beans right in the store. Absolutely the best and strongest coffee you can buy. I'm just one lay-off away from buying a franchise.

I think the only reason Starbucks makes its coffee so strong is because they think everyone is going to order a cup with cream, sugar and some stupid flavor.

I'm with Denis Leary: "You can get every other flavor except coffee-flavored coffee! They got mochaccino, they got chocaccino, frappaccino, rappaccino, Al Pacino, what the f**k?!"

Give me a cup of Dunkin' Donuts coffee, black with a little sugar.

What's not to like about Starbucks? It's a rabidly, absurdly successful capitalist enterprise which has about 5 stores on every block in every major city in the world--it's more ubiquitous than McDonalds. It's name is or should be synonymous with globalization--and yet, delightfully enough--it thrives on and primarily solicits the business of wealthy yuppie urban liberals and their college-going spawn: the very people who should in theory despise it for all the little mom and pop cafes it puts out of business and the wicked monoculture it propagates worldwide. This is the "Che Guevara T-shirt--brought to you by capitalism!" times a thousand--surely, conservatives more than anyone else should love Starbucks: it's a globalizing juggernaut catering to and powered primarily by the people who hate globalization most. Trust me--go to your nearest college town, kick back in a nice fuzzy chair with a latte, and listen to the crowd of earnest young ersatz Marxists at the next table discussing the horrors of poverty over four dollar coffee.

Mmm, that's good irony.

What's not to like about Starbucks?

Um, the coffee?

Hmm. Well, I wouldn't know about THAT--I generally drink tea. :)

Who reads the cups, anyway? Sure, I prefer Dunkin' to just about anything. But if Starbucks is more convenient, so be it. You're buying coffee, not a poli sci degree.

"Dunkin Donuts coffee kicks ass and is one-third the price."

Ace, you're totally the man!

digitalbrownshirt:

The reason In-N-Out wrappers have Bible verses on them is because the food they sell is made by God.

Another reason why California is better. ;)

Tea?

That's just not right. :-)

F**king tea drinkers.

Coffee kills incipient head colds.

Coffee contains more antioxidants than green tea and im*proves the quality of your exercise when you drink it before you work out.

Many people rely on a coffee in the afternoon to perk them up during that after-lunch lull.

Coffee im*proves your sense of humor by giving you the ability to make the quick mental connections that become witty comebacks. Be careful; too much coffee will make you mean. Wayyy too much coffee will make you a sociopath.

Coffee stimulates the immune system and is a perfectly acceptable substitute for echinacea and most minor surgeries.

Try this; the next time you get a cut or scrape, pour coffee on it.
Then rinse it right the fuck off. Quickly, or that shit will get infected and they'll be cutting your whole leg off.

Nevermind. Forget I said anything.

Laura, Slub - there's gotta be a reason why you're both not comforting me on AIM, and I'll bet it's not a good one.

Coffee's for closers.

Tchibo is great choice

Est le meilleur choix pour tous ceux qui apprecient un cafe de qualite.

Starbucks' recent arrival in my town was amusing for me in that it replaced a locally run coffee house that had been a hippy hangout and had been there for several decades. The owners of the property raised the rent, so the locals had to move out and Starbucks moved in. The liberals in the town went apeshit and futilely protested like they always do, but I just laughed because I don't patronize either one. The irony is, it probably didn't stop the liberals from going there. It's always fun to see liberals com-promise their principles.

I have a cousin that is a V.P. at starbucks, a real big shot. She is an ultra liberal, filthy rich, tax lawyer havin' hypocrite who totally doesn't see the irony. I mean starbucks is the corprate whore of all time! Her job pays high six figures. Viva capatilism.

BTW, Dunkin Donuts coffee is so good it should be like a schedule 3 drug. Yummy!

Wayyy too much coffee will make you a sociopath.

I've been snorting ground up Folgers for years - it perks me up for a "mission". I never noticed any side effects.

I saw a poster in my local Starbucks, picture of a black guy in a shirt and tie and the caption underneath read 'Mike is Conservative'..

Obviously it was meant to engage the liberal mindset that would be too curious what a black man ripped from his native Africa was doing wearing the capitalist uniform, and had the political views of the KKK and the nazis combined.

The poster however was about bringing in your own cup to save on theirs.

Starbucks is another example of how the left will eat it's own. It pours millions into the democrat party and liberal causes, and yet they have to close up stores and get the repair man on standby everytime there's going to be a liberal protest in town.

I'll second the appearance of Medved and Goldberg on the coffee cups. There's also one by David 'No Nude' Cross.

As for ace's post, I agree, so what if they want to be liberal. It's a free country and they are a constant reminder of the irony of the left.

Even within the Democratic Party there is a split along ideological lines between Dems who drink at Starbucks and Dems that drink at Dunkin and we have the data to back it up. (OK, we have too much time on our hands but it was slow of the weekend so we crunched some #s):

Coffee and Politics and the DNC

I have to confess, I have a bit of a taste for the caramel macchiato at Starbucks. But I do have mixed feelings about going there. Actually, strike that. They're not so much mixed. As a conservative, I feel kind of guilty when I buy their coffee -- kind of like I just can't bring myself to buy Ben & Jerry's ice cream at the moment.

Isn't it Tschibo not Tchibo?

They also sell ironing boards.

Okay. How many of you have actually been to a Starbucks?

First of all, you seem to think the coffee is expensive, which it is not. Yes, the bar drinks are expensive, but the straight-up coffee is not.

Second, you claim they're everywhere, which I find absurd because DD outnumbers them in my state (CT) by at least 3 to 1 (which is I'd say is an, um, "conservative" estimate).

Third, the donuts are not very good at Dunkin. Krispy Kreme are a little better. Dunkin are barely better than the Hostess boxed donuts. Go to a freakin' bakery if you want good donuts.

Fourth... ahem. If you're not manly enough to drink the dark roast at Starbucks... I understand. The DD coffee is weak enough for your girlish palate.

Fifth. In case you were wondering. There's no flavored coffee at Starbucks, unlike your sissy DD. Yes, if you're a pussy you can get some syrup in your coffee.

BTW. The local Starbucks collected (can't remember what) for the troops in Iraq. Believe it or don't.

I refuse, however, to buy anything there that says "Fair Trade". A man's got to draw the line somewhere.

Yes. Tchibo.
I am sorry for misspelling. Thanks.

I have a question. What happened to buying a coffee pot and making your own coffee? I can drink coffee for a month for what a lot of people are paying for one cup.

Starbucks may be a liberal corporation, for liberals but you'll find me, a conservative, at Starbucks. If I'm in a town and there's one across the street, I'm there!
Why should I care they sell those stupid CDs, I love their beverages. That's all that counts. As to the price, couldn't care less. I'd still get my Mocha if it was 10 bucks.

Expresso rocks!! I mean...if you're going to use, why wouldn't you mainline?

Profit margins on bar drinks: We manufactured fixtures for a Bagel shop (small chain) and the barrista said that the expresso machine they were using cost $30,000!! I was amazed. Then he told me that it paid for itself the first 90 days the store was open.

Second, you claim they're everywhere, which I find absurd

There is a place in downtown Minneapolis where you can actually sit in one Starbucks, and look across the street into a completely different Starbucks. Now that is ABSURD.

Okay. How many of you have actually been to a Starbucks?

I have. We have a few of the stores up here in Maine.

First of all, you seem to think the coffee is expensive, which it is not. Yes, the bar drinks are expensive, but the straight-up coffee is not.

Coffeehouses shouldn't have 'bar drinks.' It's about the coffee, darn it! COFFEE! And yes, the straight-up coffee is not all that expensive. Unfortunately, it's also not all that good.

Second, you claim they're everywhere, which I find absurd because DD outnumbers them in my state (CT) by at least 3 to 1 (which is I'd say is an, um, "conservative" estimate).

University Union - Starbucks
Near Mall - Starbucks
In Target Store - Starbucks

Soon, they're coming for us all.

They're here already.

You're next.

Third, the donuts are not very good at Dunkin. Krispy Kreme are a little better. Dunkin are barely better than the Hostess boxed donuts. Go to a freakin' bakery if you want good donuts.

Now this I can agree with. D&D makes truly bad donuts. I go to a local bakery when I need a glazed.

Fourth... ahem. If you're not manly enough to drink the dark roast at Starbucks... I understand. The DD coffee is weak enough for your girlish palate.

Maybe it's just me, but I prefer coffee that isn't bitter, burnt-tasting and overly acidic. Starbucks has not yet figured out that strong does not equal good.

I love dark roast coffee, but think it should taste like a rich, oh, I don't know - coffee. Not like something you scraped out of the oil filter of a Chevy.

Fifth. In case you were wondering. There's no flavored coffee at Starbucks, unlike your sissy DD. Yes, if you're a pussy you can get some syrup in your coffee.

Flavored coffee sucks. Down with flavored coffee! And syrup? Sorry, that's something you put on pancakes, not in coffee.

BTW. The local Starbucks collected (can't remember what) for the troops in Iraq. Believe it or don't.

And that's a good thing?

I refuse, however, to buy anything there that says "Fair Trade". A man's got to draw the line somewhere.

Oh, crap. I actually buy fair trade coffee. Um...

I agree with Ace: Starbucks should be free to print whatever the hell they want on their coffee cups. For pete's sake, they end up in the trash can after you drink them, and as qdpsteve posted above, they've got a rather broad selection of quotes. I think most conservatives are tough enough to handle a quote from Chomsky on their coffee cup.

Different strokes for different folks: I travel a lot for work, and keep a T-Mobile account for wi-fi when I'm on the road. Thanks to the profusion of Starbucks in most American cities, it's very easy for me to find a place where I can get a fast internet connection, a big comfy chair for my big comfy backside, and a hazelnut latte. I'm happy to pay $4 for my girly java, $30 a month for the wifi, and I'll take the comfy chair for free: markets work!

Granted, the hazelnut latte makes me, by definition, a latte-drinker.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Granted, the hazelnut latte makes me, by definition, a latte-drinker.

As long as it's not a SOY hazelnut latte. 'Cause that would really be gay.

In Target Store - Starbucks

They have Starbucks in Targets? In Maine I assume... sweet! Can't wait til they get one down here. I love Target! All that sweatshop labor providing me with cheap merchandise... can you smell the sweet, sweet Capitalism?

Okay, let's see. There's a SBux in town, as well as one in the Barnes & Noble. There's two DD's in town, as well as one in the Home Depot and one in each of the two Stop & Shops.

That's (in my town) a 5 to 2 ratio. And most towns in (as I said) Connecticut do not have a Starbucks. There's DD out the wazoo.

---BTW. The local Starbucks collected (can't remember what) for the troops in Iraq. Believe it or don't.

And that's a good thing?

Good? Bad? No, just unexpected from an outlet of a lefty corporation.

Oh, crap. I actually buy fair trade coffee. Um...

Well, that makes you a Commie, doesn't it. After you buy your Birkenstocks down at the collective, head over to Starbucks and I'll buy you a man's coffee.

They have Starbucks in Targets? In Maine I assume... sweet! Can't wait til they get one down here. I love Target! All that sweatshop labor providing me with cheap merchandise... can you smell the sweet, sweet Capitalism?

Yes, yes I can. It's the smell of...money.

Um, sorry about that.

Yeah, we do have a Starbucks up here in our Target stores. D&D is actually available in some grocery stores. Basically, we're all a bunch of twitchy hypercaffienated folks up here.

Well, that makes you a Commie, doesn't it. After you buy your Birkenstocks down at the collective, head over to Starbucks and I'll buy you a man's coffee.

Ah, crap. I knew that fair trade stuff was going to get me in trouble someday.

Its true that Starbucks hasn't taken over Connecticut. And I doubt they ever will.

You'd think the same kinds of businesses that you see on every corner in states like CA would work here. But nope.

A lot of these major chains are far from being a 'sure thing' in CT.

Kinko's and UPS Stores and Office Depot come to mind...as well as a number of other box stores.

They pop up overnight and then wither on the branch for a year before throwing in the towel.

woop woop woop

Mixed metaphor alert

That Christian women's group may not want to know what the Starbucks logo represents.

The artsy-fartsy types I know won't patronize Starbuck's because it's a highly successful capitalist mega-corporation, as Alex noted. They go to the local, non-chain coffeehouses.

Also, they tend to feel that Starbuck's is trying to drive the local guys out of business, possibly because in three different instances they opened outlets directly across the street from coffeehouses that had been around for years. That does seem a little absurd.

"For an excellent discussion of Disney's Ariel as a denigrated Mary Magdalene figure, see the online essay, "The 'Little Mermaid' and the Archetype of the Lost 'Bride'" by Margaret Starbird..."

Aaargh
Still running, running from college.

Is there anything not worth detailed examination? Anything in the world too mundane or insignificant?
Can't they just...let it be?

D&D is actually available in some grocery stores

Your problem ain't liberals, it's geeks. We have to go down to the A/V club at the local high school to get D & D. They don't play down at the grocery store.

As to the ubiquity issue:

https://www.dunkindonuts.com/aboutus/company/

There are over 6,000 Dunkin' Donuts worldwide in 30 countries. In the U.S. there are over 4,400 Dunkin' Donuts locations across 36 states. Internationally, there are over 1,700 Dunkin' Donuts locations in 29
countries.

http://www.starbucks.com/aboutus

UNITED STATES LOCATIONS
50 states, plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico
4,666 Company-operated coffeehouses
2,222 licensed locations

Okay. I stand corrected. Starbucks is everywhere EXCEPT CONNECTICUT. I also couldn't find one when I was in the White Mountains.

I guess we can surmise that Starbucks is avoiding me.

Make mine 100 percent Kona Coffee.

W I guess it all depends on where you are. I'm in Salt Lake City, and I've never seen a Dunkin' Donuts in this part of the country. Accoring to the link you provided, there are no DD's within 50 miles of me.

There are, however, 33 Starbucks outlets within the same radius. Maybe they really are avoiding you.

> Fourth... ahem. If you're not manly enough to drink the dark roast at Starbucks... I understand. The DD coffee is weak enough for your girlish palate.

Starbucks "espresso roast" is tasty and you can use it in an ordinary coffee maker -- it won't come out as strong as real espresso, but it's good for what beer connoisseurs call "session drinking."

Is there anything not worth detailed examination? Anything in the world too mundane or insignificant?
Can't they just...let it be?

Not for Critical Theorists or other assorted overpaid, underemployed losers.

Long ago, during an innocent online search for something related to the Wizard of Oz, I found a dissertation on how the ruby slippers were a metaphor for vagina, Dorothy was the madonna/whore archetype, and the Wicked Witch represented lesbianism.

Seriously, these people have too much time on their hands and too much sex on their minds. Like teenagers, except they're getting paid for mental masturbation.

Similar experience here in Denver: No Dunkin' Donuts withing 50 miles, but 216 Starbucks retail outlets within the same radius.

I think it's the clustering of Starbucks that is really annoying: there's a Starbucks store a mile from me that has a Starbucks in a Safeway right across the parking lot. Three miles down the road there's a Target with a Starbucks store; three doors down in the mall there's a Starbucks in a Barnes and Noble.

Despite its claims of diversity of opinion and thought, I see no quotes by William F. Buckley, or C.S. Lewis or Thomas Aquinas or Saint Paul. (I wonder if Marx, Lenin or Stalin are quoted by them?)

Starbucks is clearly advocationg homosexuality and is so Liberal that it sees nothing in this quote that anyone should object to (or so they claim). After all, in their world this really is mainstream thought. And if they keep it up long enough it shall become so (or so they think).

Of course, being a Liberal corporation, they are total hypocrites about money and are as greedy as they come. They think nothing of gouging consumers for all they can and using every cheap "marketing" ploy to create a false "image" that their absurdly overpriced coffee is justified. When they first came out I knew people who thought it cool to show off the fact that they'd paid so much for a single cup of coffee and would parade around with their Starbucks cup in hand so that everyone would see it and know that they had "upscale taste" which proved just how "sophisticated" they were. What fools!

I wonder how many of their patrons are conservatives who would boycott them over this kind of shit?

I wonder how many of their patrons are conservatives who would boycott them over this kind of shit?

Let's see. My boss is a very Christian conservative, who patronizes SBux whenever he can. Me, many would call me conservative and I am almost exclusively a SBux customer.

It ain't like we don't know they're a bunch of liberal weenies. And it ain't like they're putting on a big act about how "conservative" they are.

As far as I'm concerned they can put whatever tripe they want on the cup. It's what's in the cup that I'm paying for. As it turns out, the little cardboard sleeve that protects my dainty little hands from the heat of that delicious bean also serves to obscure the "wit" enshrined thereupon.

And if you don't like it, I cordially invite you to start your own coffee chain, and when you're big and successful, you can put Pat Robertson's or Ace's latest witticism on your cups.

And if your coffee's any good, I'll buy it.

W

Starbucks is promoting a Liberal Agenda, which means that they are necessarily tryting to defeat the conservative agenda.

I simply cannot understand why it is that so many "conservatives" are so apathetic about the Liberal Agenda being pushed down our throats. You think it is ok to put on products messages that advocate homosexuality? Why don't you put a bumper sticker on your car (if you don't have one already) that says: My only regret about being gay is that I repressed it for so long. I surrendered my youth to the people I feared when I could have been out there loving someone. Don't make that mistake yourself. Life's too damn short?

If you really are a conservative like you claim (which I doubt) you ought to know better.

BTW - Are you gay?

Beverages with too much water in them (i.e., coffee and tea) dilute my vital fluids:

GIMME WHISKEY (and democracy and sexy)

W

PS - It is precisely this kind of brainwashing that over the years has had such a profound effect upon the public as a whole, and Liberals know it! I recently came across a gay magazine that contained stories all about gays in the media and how their image was "changing," it was called: Outsmart. This so-called "live and let live" attitude merely masks fear and reluctance to make value judgments about the world when they need to be made. Conservatives have been so demonized by the Left for so long that we've become afraid to speak out and condemn what we know to be wrong, while the Liberal Agenda is steamrolling over us all because of their control of the media, and Starbucks has joined them.

It is more than a fucking cup of coffee - it is a message advocating homosexuality that goes out to millions of people every day! Why do you think it is there ?

What about moderates? Would one that respects him/herself be caught dead there?

Answer: NO! I am a moderate, and given the choice of where I would be caught dead, my choice is nowhere, and that includes Starbucks.

As far as I'm concerned they can put whatever tripe they want on the cup. It's what's in the cup that I'm paying for. As it turns out, the little cardboard sleeve that protects my dainty little hands from the heat of that delicious bean also serves to obscure the "wit" enshrined thereupon.

Yay capitalism!

If you really are a conservative like you claim (which I doubt) you ought to know better.

Read more carefully, dude. I did not claim to be a conservative. I said others would call me one. You might call me "Libertarian", though that would not be correct either.

But I can't say that words on a cup scare me. I guess I'm intelligent enough to be immune to stupidity written on coffee cups. Frankly, I find most of what's written on the cups to be rather vacuous. I've laughed out loud at the idiocy of some of them, though I rather doubt that was the author's intent.

And no, I'm not gay. Though I am willing to learn.

Jeez, why are you guys so afraid of homos?

Yay capitalism!

Now you're preaching my religion, brother!

Slublog

Greetings from Oceania:

Apparently you approve of Liberal messages (like this one advocating homosexuality) being put on products. Why not have a "gay" Ford car with "I drive with gay pride," emblazed onto the doors or Ford Tough (and butch) or "Chickenhawks are killing our sons?" Why not have the new model Chevy called the Chevy Twinkie or the Kill Bush model? Why not have virtual Liberal messages everywhere we go, like the virtual ads in Minority Report?

Cheesh! When are you people going to wake up? We have all been manipulated into aquiesence and silenced by years and years of demonizing that has made us all a bunch of proles afraid of our own shadows! We are the damned.

Oh my God! My telecscreen just said to me, "you are the damned!"

Winston Smith

Apparently you approve of Liberal messages (like this one advocating homosexuality) being put on products. Why not have a "gay" Ford car with "I drive with gay pride," emblazed onto the doors or Ford Tough (and butch) or "Chickenhawks are killing our sons?" Why not have the new model Chevy called the Chevy Twinkie or the Kill Bush model? Why not have virtual Liberal messages everywhere we go, like the virtual ads in Minority Report?

I may not approve of the message, but I approve of the marketplace that gives us the option to purchase or not to purchase those products.

In my experience, 72, no message with "you people" in it ever moves its target an inch.

I approve of the marketplace that gives us the option to purchase or not to purchase those products.

Precisely! And I am at wit's end saying it over and over and over. But then, I'm sure so was CATO. So, as they say in music, once more with feeling:

THE RIGHT MUST BOYCOTTT!

Why not have a "gay" Ford car with "I drive with gay pride," emblazed onto the doors or Ford Tough (and butch) or "Chickenhawks are killing our sons?"

If there is are people willing to pay for those products, then there is no problem with a company filling the niche.

I don't like liberals telling me what I am allowed to have or make or buy. I don't appreciate it coming from the right, either.

If you don't like liberals telling you to take the creche off state property, you have a lot of fucking nerve telling them how to run their companies.

I guess I'm intelligent enough to be immune to stupidity written on coffee cups.

The point is that little by little a Liberal Agenda, not a Libertarian Agenda, has been shoved down our throats relentlessly year after year until so many people think of it as mainstream and just choose not objectionable, your inability to see that is evidence of it. There was a time when this kind of message would've ensured bankruptcy in very short order. That time had a moral clarity to it that seems to be rapidly vanishing. And if you can't understand why so many people object to homosexuality there is no explaining it. So you're willing to learn? Be my guest and find out, if you haven't done so long ago.

I may have been a little harsh there 72. Sorry bout that.

But if a company wants to print fashionably stupid remarks on their cups, and there's a market for it...I just don't see what the big deal is.

They have a right to say what they want to say, and sell it wrapped around bad burned coffee.

Yikes, it really is a sad day when conservatives don't object to a company prostelitizing homosexuality on their products. And for the umpteenth time, no one is saying they can't make such products, but that we don't have to buy them and may seek to show our disapproval and desire for change with this by boycotting this product.

lauraw - After you said a few times that I was "stealing your joy" and sounding so bleak and negative, I once said to you that someday you'd be proud that you were a part of the generation that reversed the tide of Liberalism. I am old enough to have seen a very different, much more conservative time which was in many ways, much more honest and much more free than the world is today.

If I sound negative about it all, let me use the example of the WWII vet and the Vietnam vet. The WWII vets are (except for their losses) are happy and proud that they were a part of a great event that changed history for the better. Too many Vietnam vets remember feel ambivilent, angry, and ashamed that we didn't win the war. And they understand that legacy has haunted us in every war since, and it still does today. So if I sound negative to you, it is because I have seen so much change for the worse it is difficult not to feel like Cassandra when one can see where we are heading. I put my faith in the Generations X and Y to bring this country back to sanity. And if they don't succeed, years from now you'll be saying the same thing. I hope you'll remember this.

I may have been a little harsh there 72. Sorry bout that.

If you're really sorry, you'll send me your panties.

It's not acquiesence so much as a belief in the classic liberal/true conservative value of letting people have what they want, and leaving them pretty much alone.

Again, not a problem for me, because I already "boycott" Starbucks, as I just don't like the coffee, the cost, or them trying to sell me CD's of Nina Fuckin' Simone's favorite jazz tunes.

I'm not nearly as worried about companies proselytizing to adults in frou-frou coffee shops as I am the NEA proselytizing to our kids in school. Conservative adults should have enough intellectual wherewithal to withstand, or even benefit from, any liberal adages plastered on merchandise. Liberal adults are already lost.

While the social mean has indeed drifted leftward, Starbucks' labeling is just a symptom. We need to stop focusing on issues-du-jour and get down to the bedrock philosophies of liberals vs. conservatives.

Greetings from Oceania

More Prolefeed on cups? How could anyone object to the dissemination of good bellyfeel without facecrime since it is blackwhite? Your crimethink of the highest order has been observed at the former Chestnut Tree Cafe (which is now Starbucks and part of the Ministry of Truth) 72, and you are invited to the free your mind and become a goodthinker before Hate week begins and you are sent to joycamp for critiscizing the versifacator, thoughtcrime, duckspeak, oldthink, ownlife, and not adhearing to Newspeak. BB

You are the Damned!

geoff

Starbucks' labeling is just a symptom. We need to stop focusing on issues-du-jour and get down to the bedrock philosophies of liberals vs. conservatives.

Agreed! But conservatives need to galvanize, organize and harness the one power that can change the political landscape: The Boycott! This is just a very visible symptom of the arrogance and smugness of Liberals when they know damn well that many millions of people consider such messages highly offensive and agains their religious beliefs, and they don't care because they don't expect economic action against them. Perhaps conservatives could coalesce around this very visible issue, for nothing will change for the better until we make it change. We don't need legislation or lawsuits or any other form of government coercive power (which could be used against us someday). For we already have the power to change this world for the better through boycotts, the same way that the civil rights movement did. The power is on our hands. I shall pray for it.

I am old enough to have seen a very different, much more conservative time which was in many ways, much more honest and much more free than the world is today.

Let's not dupe ourselves that the past was necessarily so much better than the present. Different, and better in some ways. But in other ways not so good.

I would not want to return to those days.

I would not want to return to those days.

Neither would I.

No internet.