Wake Up And Smell The (Free!) Coffee

There is nothing so powerful as an idea whose time has come!  The WSJ has gotten behind my Wake Up And Smell The (Free!) Coffee Act of 2012, which mandates employers to provide free coffee to the underlings in order to boost health, morale and productivity. And lest you quibble that most employers already do so, well, that demonstrates that it is a great, cost effective idea and legislation is needed to bring the few remaining holdouts and dead-enders into line.

From the Journal, and I am using the word "Swiftian":

Coffee Is an Essential Benefit Too

Here are some other health-care mandates that government should impose on employers.

By ALLYSIA FINLEY

Dear President Obama,

Can you believe the nerve of employers? Many of them still seem to think that they should be allowed to determine the benefits they offer. I guess they haven't read your 2,000-page health law. It's the government's job now.

That's a good thing, too. Employers for too long have been able to restrict our access to essential health services like contraception by making us pay some of the bill. Really, it's amazing that we aren't all dead. Now, thanks to you, we'll enjoy free and universal access to preventative care just like workers do in Cuba. Even so, there are still many essential benefits that the government must mandate to make the U.S. the freest country in the world.

...Coffee. Studies show that coffee can ward off depression, Alzheimer's disease, type 2 diabetes and sleepiness—which makes it one of the most powerful preventive treatments. Workers who drink java are also more productive and pleasant. While many offices have coffee makers, some employers—most notably those affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—continue to deny workers this essential benefit. All employers should have to provide workers with freshly brewed coffee. Oh, and workers must also be able to choose the kind of coffee regardless of the price.

Republicans might argue that requiring Mormon charities to serve coffee is a violation of "religious liberty" since the Mormon church's doctrine proscribes coffee, but this argument is a red herring. Leading medical experts recommend drinking coffee. Moreover, 99% of adults have drunk coffee at one point in their lives (including most Mormons).

Make mine a half-caf cinnamon mocha latte.

MY SECRET FEAR: Dems are always on the prowl for possibly-popular middle class entitlements which they can mandate and then defend against skinflint Republicans. Will they realize this proposed legislation is not 100% serious?  I'll really grind the gears if I have to shut up and oppose Wake Up.

AS I PREPARE FOR MY CLOSE UP:  "Tom" and "Swift" are better than good together, he said gratingly.

Comments

[Melinda Romanoff]

I suspect you will end up opposing this.

[Jane]

We are all Founding Fathers now!

I have a right to good weather, good health and really cool shoes.

[Danube of Thought]

I suspect a majority in this nation of sheep would be just fine with that proposal. (over to you, Squaredance.)

[I R A Darth Aggie]

Were the hell is my bourbon benefit?

Come on, you bunch of cheapskates. If you can fork out $1,000/year for Fluke's pill, you can fork out a lot less for my bourbon. And I promise not to fluke Fluke, if you know what I mean...

[Ignatz]

Will those of us who don't particularly care for coffee be mandated to drink it or will we get a waiver?
I imagine the urge of a Dem nanny to make me 'eat my peas because they're good for me' would be in pretty substantial tension with demanding a large campaign contribution to get my waiver.

[NK]

Ig-- if you choose not to drink the coffee, no problem, you just pay a fine (a tax really) for the privilege of not drinking coffee. Hey, this is fun; running a fascist state is kinda cool when you get to make the rules.

[Jim,MtnViewCA,USA]

Also in the WSJ: trailing badly in the polls, Sarkozy calls for toughening immigration policies and threatens to ditch the Schengen Agreement. (LUN, requires subscription).

Will his electoral problems lead him to take an anti-Muslim stand?

[Melinda Romanoff]

Where's the waiver jar?

[Al Keyholic]

Don't forget that coffee can also reduce the risk of alcohol induced cirrhosis by up to 80% (approx 20% reduction per daily cup consumed up to 4 cups - lun). This will help since I am also drinking red wine each day to help my heart health. So I demand free coffee and booze!

[Janet]

I'm a coffee addict & I don't want govt. free anything. Govt. mandated coffee will be some crappy tasting brand put out by some Dem. contributor. Or they will change the definition of coffee & make me drink some hipster flavored tea or something....

[Sue]

Look, if you have to fight for your right to paaarrrty...then why shouldn't you have to fight for your right to coffee?

[NK]

MelR-- no waiver for you. pay the coffee mandate fine/tax.
Waivers for SEIU/higher taxes for you!

[Ignatz]

--Ig-- if you choose not to drink the coffee, no problem, you just pay a fine (a tax really) for the privilege of not drinking coffee.--

Guess that makes me a coffee bagger then, NK;

Billions for Starbucks, but not one bean for tribute!

[Clarice]

Janet, you elitist pig. Anyway, if you want good coffee get a govt job because I'm sure it will be better than the mandated for everyone else brand.

But I digress--it's now obvious that TM and the WSL have been bought and paid for by the coffee moguls.

[matt]

I want tea equality. Just because we're different doesn't mean we're second class citizens.

[Melinda Romanoff]

The Commitments of Traders Report doesn't support that argument, Clarice.

It must be Trilateral related.

[Gus]

I'm sure that BIG COFFEE is run by the KOCH BROTHERS.

[Gus]

Clarice, what if JANET is Muzzlim?? And you referred to her as a pig.

Holy Taliban Batman!!

[Danube of Thought]

What about my BarcaLounger?

[narciso]

Stonecutters, or the Brotherhood of the Bell.

[matt]

Sandy, that was an awesome post by Gloria Purvis. It is amazing to me that these voices are not heard.

[NK]

Matt-- excellent tea snark. I meant what I said earlier, running a fascist state is fun, IF you get to make the rules. No wonder 'Bam loves it.

[Comanche Voter]

Being as Obama is in charge, will we get Kona Roast or a blend from Kenya and Ethiopia? Since he promises all things to this supporters,I expect we'll get both.

[Tom Maguire]

I want tea equality. Just because we're different doesn't mean we're second class citizens.

You tea-ers may not be second class but you won't be sufficiently caffeinated to keep up with the torrent of wrods I will drop on you as soon as I get these jitters under control...

[Rick Ballard]

I found this ZeroHedge piece to be a rather convincing explanation of the failure of the economic credentialed moronacracy over the past ? years. Okun's Law appears to be closely related to the Skydragon with regard to reality.

Bernanke might want to price a new tool kit - if he can ever be convinced that he might be trying to solve a problem that he doesn't even understand.

[Melinda Romanoff]

Spelling does suffer under the influence of caffeine.

[narciso]

Helicopter Ben, reminds me Kurt Vonnegut in 'Back to School'

[Rocco]

But will they let us have sugar and cream for our coffee?

[MarkO]

Oh, no. Not the dreaded "torrent of wrods." Just how big are those wrods, anyway?

[Jim Ryan]

Still reeling from the news of Dick Van Dyke's nuptials. He was her age back in the Eisenhower administration. I need a cup of coffee.

[Chubby]

later, when the costs get prohibitive they will have to set up coffee panels to decide who can have it,

there will be a study saying coffee doesn't give old people the same kick as it gives young people, so old people can't have free coffee any more

[MarkO]

OK. I relent. If we are to have a mandate, I want a beach house.

[Dave (in MA)]

TM: Coffee slut.

[NK]

Commanche Voter-- excellent coffee bean snark.

TomM-- Wrods???!!!get spell check willya! Jeez, all those Amazon ads should be able to pay for that!! OMG-- now there's a COFFEE BREWER ad on the right hand side of my view of this page; TomM is the Koch Brother of political sarcasm -- a fatcat, a kingpin. BUT he needs spell check.

[narciso]

Every silver lining has a cloud;

http://sayanythingblog.com/entry/shocker-forum-communications-oil-patch-news-bureau-pretty-much-producing-the-anti-oil-stories-youd-expect/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+SayAnything+%28Say+Anything%29

[matt]

you'd better add the Java as well, Comanche. Barry Soetero would be insulted otherwise.

One of the things that struck me about the Purvis video was that she went back to some very sound first principles about the nature of humanity and of the soul. I tried to do the same in my post yesterday.

When you hold the logic of modern intellectual thought to the light, one can only laugh at its incredible absurdity.

When the ur-philosopher of relativism, exceptionalism, etc, Nietzsche, has been completely and utterly discredited as he was with the fall of both National Socialism and of Communism, it is time to go on the offensive for Western Philosophy and culture.

That we have allowed these false ideas and gods to stand is just one more indication of how our leaders have left logic completely behind. They are living in a false reality.

I wish there was someone in academia pointing this out. An Andrew Breitbart of philosophy, if you will.

[Rocco]

I had a job as a meat cutter in the mid 70's in a huge processing plant. 300 meat cutters cutting between 18-22 truckloads of swinging beef per day. The free coffee they gave us was said to cut down on industrial accidents with all those knives.

[NK]

JOM commenters have a wicked funny SOH-- and the don't need spellcheck.

[NK]

DOH!!!-- theY don't need spellcheck.

[NK]

MarkO-- no beach house for you... just higher taxes.

[rse]

In the same way Fluke insisted that name brands, not generics were her preference and personal preferences merit funding, I need to point out I like my tea loose and not in those awful bags.

I already have the requisite tea strainers and will not seek reimbursement. However, red and I like Lapsang Souchong from a little shop in Greenwich Village.

Should I expect to have to pay the postage or will that be covered?

[centralcal]

Dang it, got here late and wanted to second MarkO on the free beach house, but, no - NK stepped in! pheh.

[MarkO]

NK, probably no soup, either.

[NK]

No soup... but higher taxes.

[Rick Ballard]

RSE,

Do you have torrent of wrod coverage should TM wax wroth upon you?

[Ignatz]

--Still reeling from the news of Dick Van Dyke's nuptials. He was her age back in the Eisenhower administration. I need a cup of coffee.--

Yeah, but just think, she'll be his age in the Malia administration.

[Danube of Thought]

We can't forget the human right to convenient parking.

[NotSara]

The sad thing about the WSJ piece is that liberals will read and think that all those things need to be added, and they are just fine with that.

[Jack is Back!]

rse,

Lapsang Souchong is my favorite tea also. Love the smoky nose and palate. We still get it in jars from Marriage Freres or when my SIL comes over.

BTW, I get my coffee here. Douwe-Egbert Rood Aroma beans. Imported from Holland. They also carry Bewleys (just in time for St. Paddy's Day or the day after:)

[Jack is Back!]

::mariage:: Hate spell check while typing.

[marlene]

Reelz channel showed the Sarah Palin movie"The Undefeated" last night. Very poignant to see Breitbart in the film. It re-airs tonight at 10pm ET.

[Sue]

Great. I am going to register to vote as Susana Roseannadana. Texas can't make me provide an id.

[narciso]

I meant to bring that up, Sue.

http://keranews.org/post/texas-voter-id-law-blocked-justice-department

[Jane]

Will this mandate apply to decaf? (I'd never drink decaf myself, but it is important to know)

[sbw]

My wife and I special order a blend of loose tea a company used to prepare for a client that stopped ordering it. We asked the tea company how much we would have to order to have them blend it for us.

Now we put in an order once a year, which is about how much we use, and they are kind enough to fill the order for us.

[Gus]

Loose tea??? Next thing you'll be calling the TEA a SLUT.

[Rocco]

TM's idea is catching on...Hot Air

[AliceH]

I am starting to think you folks have a lot more disposable income than I do... There ought to be some sort of envy credit on my 1040.

[Porchlight]

I love Mariage Freres Christmas tea, JiB. Normally I don't like flavored teas but I make an exception for orange peel and what a friend likes to call "lady spice."

Constant Comment by Bigelow is a teabag approximation that I also enjoy.

Mostly I just love coffee though.

See, at JOM we have peace and harmony - coffee people and tea people, living together.

[Porchlight]

Reelz channel showed the Sarah Palin movie"The Undefeated" last night. Very poignant to see Breitbart in the film. It re-airs tonight at 10pm ET.

I own the DVD and have thought about watching the Breitbart parts again. He explains the title (The Undefeated) as: "she refuses to accept the premise of her destruction." Classic Breitbart.

[Extraneus]

Would the Mongolian falconer be singing the praises of Mariage Freres, Douwe-Egbert or Lapsang Souchong? Maxwell House and Tetley aren't good enough for you people?

[Captain Hate]

Tammy Bruce took one for the team and watched "Game Change" and was stunned at just how poorly it was done. She described it as a complete waste of time and tried to dissuade anybody from watching it just out of curiosity or op research; and stated that even the left should be appalled at how bad it was.

[Sandy Daze]

Matt -
Fully agree with Gloria Purvis, what a lucid explanation of first principles. For those who missed the link, you may view the video here. Incredible. Wonderful. Inspiring (at least to me ;~))

Another video on the First Amendment attack just came across, Matt, which you and Chubby, GMAX, PL, Janet and JiB and other JoMers might really like is We Hold These Truths

The Tsunami of protests regarding the HHS mandate is building, and not just with some YouTube videos that should receive broad dissemination. For instance, someone linked yesterday to a site talking about this protest nationwide 23 March at high noon, "Stand Up For Religious Freedom" The list of cities taking part is now at 102 and jumps by half a dozen or more each day.

A few days later, on 27 March outside of the Supreme Court is the Hands Off My Healthcare Rally

It might have been a warm winter, but Springtime promises to be hot.

The energy is building. Keep the Faith.

OMG~ABO,
Sandy

[narciso]

Like I've said Captain, Ed Wood could have done a better film, he would have insisted
on playing the lead though. IYNWIM

[Captain Hate]

narc, one of the odder things teh Tam said about it was that Julianne Moore had her teeth clenched what seemed like all the time. I don't think you have to even like Palin to have realized that what characterized her performances throughout the campaign was how natural and not ill at ease she was. I think that's part of what drove her critics up the wall.

[MarkO]

What does it mean that although she's not yet running, Obama chooses to run against Palin?

[Janet]

What a wonderful thread...Hah! Too funny! I love being an elitist pig. :)

If nothing else Gus, everyone knows for sure that I'm not a muslim.

That we have allowed these false ideas and gods to stand is just one more indication of how our leaders have left logic completely behind. They are living in a false reality.

The fruits of the insanity are all around us.

[Ignatz]

--Would the Mongolian falconer be singing the praises of Mariage Freres, Douwe-Egbert or Lapsang Souchong? Maxwell House and Tetley aren't good enough for you people?--

Probably grinds the beans with his teeth then pours some boiling water in his mouth.

[narciso]

Well that is a fairly standard trope for her, weaned on a pickle. Nicolle Wallace is turning out to Granholm's twin sister in temperament,

[Porchlight]

Ha, Iggy.

[Captain Hate]

What does it mean that although she's not yet running, Obama chooses to run against Palin?

Although I've been concerned about this in the past, it makes Romney's "non hair on fire" attitude to be that of somebody relatively calm and mature.

[GMAX]

The energy is building. Keep the Faith.

Right on preacher. Can I get an "amen"?

[narciso]

The template seems to be you have to have been
crazy, or crimethink to have had real concerns about Obama.

[Clarice]

Alice, Costco has a fine sumatra coffee. And it won't bust your budget.

[Clarice]

chubby, just noticed your comment on the prior thread. That's an interesting observation!.

[jimmyk]

I think it means that they had a whole strategy lined up against Sarah, and damned if they're going to let it go to waste, even if she's not running.

[narciso]

I thought he was just your average wardheeler;

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/03/12/danny-davis-he-shares-our-values

[NotSara]

Also, Alice, most big farmer's markets have a great selection of all teas, and they are cheap.

[Chubby]

Clarice, I hope you are talking about my comment about Prairie Fire. So much grist for the CRT mill there. LGF has pdfs.

[NotSara]

And, Alice, the WalMart carries cheap teas and a huge selection.

[jimmyk]

Somewhat OT, but I missed this wonderful quote when it was in the WSJ a few weeks ago. It seems that we have not learned much in the past 150 or so years.

Among the [economic] mistakes which were most pernicious in their direct consequences . . . was the immense importance attached to consumption. The great end of legislation in matters of national wealth, according to the prevalent opinion, was to create consumers. . . . It is not necessary, in the present state of the science, to contest this doctrine in the most flagrantly absurd of its forms or of its applications. The utility of a large government expenditure, for the purpose of encouraging industry, is no longer maintained.

Taxes are not now esteemed to be "like the dews of heaven, which return again in prolific showers." It is no longer supposed that you benefit the producer by taking his money, provided you give it to him again in exchange for his goods. There is nothing which impresses a person of reflection with a stronger sense of the shallowness of the political reasonings of the last two centuries, than the general reception so long given to a doctrine which, if it proves anything, proves that the more you take from the pockets of the people to spend on your own pleasures, the richer they grow; that the man who steals money out of a shop, provided he expends it all again at the same shop, is a benefactor to the tradesman whom he robs, and that the same operation, repeated sufficiently often, would make the tradesman's fortune. . . .

What a country wants to make it richer, is never consumption, but production.

John Stuart Mill, Essays on Some Unsettled Questions in Political Economy

[Ignatz]

I guess, in direct contradistinction to DoT, I must be the resident optimist because if Romney is elected, the expectations of his governance have been so lowered I'm figuring he'll probably actually surprise to the upside.

Of course that might just as easily be on my part nothing more than Johnson's definition of a second marriage; the triumph of hope over experience.

[AliceH]

Thanks, Clarice. The nearest Costco to me is about 90 miles one way. I'm mostly just kidding y'all anyway.

I supply my coffee habit via Amazon subscribe&save Gevalia, which isn't the top of the line by any stretch, but still feels like a luxury to me given it's qualitative distance from what the local teeny grocery stores carry.

[Captain Hate]

LOL jimmyk; the 5 year plan shall not be deviated from.

[Clarice]

Well, Gevalia was goof enough to get Julia Childs endorsement so it can't be bad.

Chubby, that was good but I was thinking of your analysis of Purim.

Get ready folks, only two days until Nurses for Obama:http://cripessuzette.wordpress.com/2012/03/12/department-store-nurses-for-obama/

[Clarice]

**Good enough**

[narciso]

There is a comment in that bio of Georgianna, that indicates politics haven't changed much in more than 300 years. I haven't seen the Dutchess, so I don't know how faitfully Keira
played the part.

[Danube of Thought]

Iggy, if Romney is elected I will be the happiest man on earth. My only pessimism stems from doubts that he can win. I'm not concerned about what he will or won't do in office. My concern is that another Obama term will ensure irreversible decline and erosion of personal freedom.

[Neo]

I'm still gonna hang in there for a therapeutic 60 foot yacht

[narciso]

I'm so reassured, they will score what you submit to them

http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/801-economy/214647-romney-says-his-tax-plan-cant-be-scored-because-it-lacks-details

[Captain Hate]

No matter how intelligent she may or may not be, she doesn't understand the rule of holes http://dailycaller.com/2012/03/12/soledad-obrien-stop-tweeting-me-about-derrick-bell/

[Chubby]

remember Bush's trip to Mongolia? he and Condi looked like they were having a lot of fun. I enjoyed following that story

[NotSara]

Well, DoT, from what I have heard lately, I think Romney is sending out Ann Romney to be his attack dog--since he says he won't say outrageous things about Obama. She is a wonderful attack dog--pretty, sincere and knowledgeable AND nice.

[sbw]

So who are the loose tea people at JOM?

[Thomas Collins]

Too modest a proposal, as Swift might say. I think there should be a government mandated Big Dance Pool. Billionaires pay $100,000 to enter. Millionaires must pay $50,000. After that, it will be a sliding scale downward (with guv welfare benefits such as food stamps not being counted as income). At the low end of the income scale, there is a refundable negative entry fee. Also, rebates on fees are available for those who bicycle to work, use only one sheet of toilet paper when, well, you, and vote straight Dem. Any disputes on who is entitled to rebates will be resolved by a bureaucracy headed by Liz Warren.

[Frau Kinderkaffee]

Time for Bach's Coffee Cantata, the moral of which is drinking coffee is natural. LUN

William Safire had a wonderful series of coffee articles.
"If this is coffee, I'll take tea. If this is tea, I'll take coffee."

"This coffee is like love in a canoe. It's fracking near water!"

[Tom Maguire]

Just how big are those wrods, anyway?

So big that mere words cannot describe them.

[Neo]

"Loose tea"

Funny. Spent an hour looking for loose tea in the shops around Windsor Castle on Friday afternoon (didn't have any at the shops in the castle). Did finally find it.

[Ignatz]

--Iggy, if Romney is elected I will be the happiest man on earth.--

Well then you don't seem to be in any need of any shapely, linked pick me ups. :)

[Jim,MtnViewCA,USA]

I am wondering if we should follow this to its logical conclusion...the DC Superior Court honors a woman who owned the gun used to murder a judge.
LUN