COFFEE PARTY WITH ANOTHER NAME?

While talking heads on cable news repeat phrases about what 'the people' want, real people across the nation are seeking solutions and having conversations about what 'the people' really want.

NO LABELS Media Message Training from No Labels on Vimeo.

Tom Friedman’s New York Times article, The Tea Kettle Movement, (full of steam and without solutions) was published before the November elections. It talks about the yearning of every day Americans for solutions instead of bickering.

The article points to the fact that the answer isn’t just about shrinking government and cutting taxes. Read more here.

WHO IS FUNDING OPPOSITION TO FAIR DISTRICTS?

Who is funding the opposition to the Fair Districts amendment that voters approved?

The Florida Leadership Alliance is run by state Sen. Don Gaetz. Citizens
for Housing and Urban Growth is controlled by a cluster of legislators,
including Sen. Mike Bennett of Bradenton and state Rep. Ron Reagan of
Sarasota.

Include investigative reporters in your list of "Thanks" this Thursday.

Here's the link to the article, Games the pols play:
http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/columns/games-the-pols-play/1135283

DISRUPTING POLITICAL ROBO CALLS

Opting out of the last weekend of political robo calls? Try pressing star-pound-zero (*#0) on your phone. A commenter on a New York Times article said this will disrupt the call, while an article on productivity blog Lifehacker says pressing the pound key will get you taken off that caller’s list altogether. Worth a try.

Consider signing up at StopPoliticalCalls.org, a service run by non-profit group Citizens for Civil Discourse. They’ve started a registry similar to the national Do Not Call list, but specifically for discouraging political campaigns. There’s no law backing it, but they’ve gotten commitments to cut the calls from several political campaigns. You can get put on the list for free, though there are paid options as well.

MONEY IN POLITICS

The Coffee Party National Vote on Money in Politics concluded this past Monday night.

From every part of the country, over 3,100 took the time to become informed, by reading the background material, attending a National Coffee Summit meeting or joining a Cafe Call - and then expressed your opinion by voting. And nearly 1,400 wrote in comments and suggestions.

The results make it clear that Money in Politics is a core issue to over 95% of us - and the four specific approaches to action (focusing on the Fair Elections Now Act, the DISCLOSE Act, the Shareholder Protection Act and a Constitutional amendment) all received broad support.

Click this link to review the results and read all the text comments.

This action plan will be announced soon that will coordinate closely with local Coffee Party groups, who are encouraged to do what they do best - including state or local initiatives to complement the national campaign.

BIG BEND ENVIRONMENTAL FORUMS

Hosted by the Big Bend Environmental Forum, candidate forums will again be held in Tallahassee. On August 5, candidates for the offices of mayor, city and county commission will answer questions following a brief statement. On August 12 candidates for State House, State Senate and Congress will have the same opportunity. Forums will be held at Tallahassee City Hall in the Commission Chambers. The primary will be held August 24th.

The general election forum will be held on Thursday October 7th.

NATIONAL CAFE CALL

The next Coffee Party USA Cafe Call is planned for this Thursday, June 24th, from 8-10pm Eastern.

The subject will be the political implications of the Gulf Oil Spill. Please click here to register. Priority is given to people who wanted to join us on the three calls last week but were unable to do, so due to space limitations and/or technical issues with Maestro Conference.

The Coffee Party Movement’s national vote on the question of whether or not to engage in lobbying related to Money in Politics is taking place today.

Tallahassee Coffee Party - next meeting

Vacations and family commitments cause us to skip July and set the next meeting on August 14th. Check the Calendar on the sidebar. Stop by and bring a friend.

Tallahassee Coffee Party - next meeting

The next Timberlane Coffee Party will be held at the Atlanta Bread Company on Timberlane, at 10 AM until noon, on Saturday, May 22nd. Two subjects for discussion are development of the Coffee Party in Leon County and development of Coffee Parties at our Universities and Colleges. From there the agenda is open.

Organizing a Local group of the Coffee Party USA

For those interested some of us will meet Saturday morning at the Timberlane Atlanta Bread Company to discuss the Coffee Party and whether or not a regular session should be established in this area.

Please join us.

After the general discussion we will talk about the issues on the Coffee Party Agenda below:

Over 12,000 people across the US participated in the national coffee party poll and the results confirm what we’ve been hearing over these last weeks: 92% said Coffee Party USA should address the role of money in politics and 89% said that we should prioritize making Wall Street accountable to Main Street.

Tallahassee, FL - Coffee Party Day

The Tallahassee Chapter of the Coffee Party met today at Black Dog Café with over an hour and a half of good and spirited, yet civil and rational discussion. It was great to hear from so many voices in the local community, and to see the real desire to bring civility back to public discourse. More at this link.