Great News For The Cup of Joe

The Cup of Joe has been publishing continuously for more than two weeks now, and without a single lost-time work accident! Congratulations are in order, all around.

That Apprentice Guy With the Accent

With the finale of The Apprentice next week, I'm predicting "British Guy" will win.

Sorry, I can't remember his name.

Godspeed, British Guy. I hope your ability to correctly pick out napkin colors will serve you well in your future life in Mr. Trump's companies.

Bush Says He's Like Former Liberal President

George Bush recently drew comparisons between himself and the most liberal U.S. president of the last 60 years, Harry Truman.

Not only was Harry Truman country before country was cool, he also advocated progressive causes such as national health insurance and Medicare, desegregated the armed forces and took courageous stands for civil rights at the risk of his own political popularity. These are all things that conservatives in his day did not support, but liberals did.

I would like to repeat the phrase "Give them H#ll Harry," but as you know we here at the Cup of Joe do not condone foul language of any sort!

Ever!

In Memorial

This Monday is Memorial Day. In all seriousness, this is something we should pause and think about.

My father is buried in a veterans cemetery, having served in World War II. I have friends' dads who also served in this war and Korea. I know of friends or relatives who have served in just about any American war you could name, from the Spanish-American War to Korea.

My generation? Our great moment was Grenada. So we tend not to understand some things, things that were understood by the men and women buried in Arlington, or Jefferson Barracks, or near some beach in France.

The Guy I Voted For

The last time many of us heard from Al Gore was 2000, when he was selected as the 43rd president of the United States by voters.

Unfortunately, this was not the candidate selected by the Fab Five (Antonin, Anthony, Sandra, William and Clarence.)

Al is back in the news recently for a couple reasons.

* This funny appearance on Saturday Night Live. Watch it here or read the transcript here.

* The New York Times had this interesting story on Gore last week. It tries to explain why Democrats seem to run away from losing presidential candidates. "We tend to treat our losing nominees like Superfund sites," a longtime democrat is quoted in the story.

* His new movie on global warming, "An Inconvenient Truth," comes out this week. It won't open here in the midwest for another week or two, so I can't comment on the film.

What I can comment on, however, is my view that the biggest pro-life issue facing all of us is protecting the environment and saving the planet. If the planet dies, we all die -- plants, animals and humans. Please note that if Terry Schiavo were still alive, she'd be threatened too.

Shhhhhh. Joe doesn't know who won

... With the big Lost and Top Chef finales last night, we here at The Cup of Joe haven't yet had a chance to watch American Idol . But we are looking forward to watching it on Tivo tonight as America's Sweetheart, Katherine McPhee, takes home gold!

And we are looking forward to Mr. Taylor Hicks as he collects his second prize: $10,000 to sing a ditty about a delicious new taste treat at Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Observations on Mary Cheney

If you didn't see Mary Cheney, the gay daughter of the Veep, on Letterman the other night, here's a link. I have several observations about Mary:

* She's a lot smarter than I am, and very well spoken. It makes me a little jealous.

* She could probably beat me up. If we ever had an argument about politics, and it went to fisticuffs, I'd be in big trouble. (I say this based on this link, but please don't visit if you are a Friend of Joe, like so many are, who is troubled or angered by foul language!)

* She reminds me a little bit of the lesbian dog trainer in the movie Best in Show.

* It's absolutely terrific that her father loves her, as she says in the interview, and that he was a loving, accepting father when she disclosed to him (as a teenager) her sexuality. It's too bad that our Veep and his political party had to appeal so strongly to people's prejudices, fears and hatreds against people like his daughter while campaigning for national office.

Maybe It Came in at 26?

Ethan Hawke's second novel -- Ash Wednesday -- is the story of a young couple (Jimmy Heartsock, AWOL from the army, and his pregnant girlfriend, Christy) caught between love and disillusionment, and whose path to self-discovery is punctuated by passion as well as endearing quirkiness, according to Publishers Weekly.

I only mention this because this work of fiction was not selected among the 25 finest works of American fiction over the last 25 years, as judged by a distinguished panel of critics selected by the New York Times in last Sunday's book review section. Read all about the best American books of the last 25 years at this link.

No Coffee This Afternoon

Tonight is the two-hour season finale to 24. Watching this show makes me nervous, so we shut off early today the flow of delicious Sumatra blend because Coffee + 24 = Nervous. Will Chloe be able to load the mainframe backup to Jack’s PDA in 10 seconds (or less) so Jack can produce the recording that proves that President Logan was complicent in the assassination of President David Palmer? Frankly, it takes me longer to log onto AOL than it does for Chloe to hack into an encrypted system, determine all data anomalies over the last 24 hours and then cross-reference with several years worth of satellite photos. Bierko!

The Seamstress

It’s down to the final four on The Apprentice tonight, with Sean, Allie, Roxanne and Lee in a vicious battle testing that sought-after real-world management skill: creating a new line of uniforms. Godspeed, mis amigos!

The Eyes Have It

Tomorrow is the start of the big finale for American Idol. I predict, without even hearing the final songs, that Taylor Hicks will win based only on his eyeliner. Eye makeup like this can’t help but win over the heart of America.

You’ve already won mine, Mr. Taylor Hicks.

First Post

The Cup of Joe is a new blog that is brought to you by a love of caffeine and "all things sumatra." Whereas the extra special ingredient for many coffee-related products may be half-and-half, sugar or steamed milk, our special ingredient ... is love.

Sometimes, these posts will be like the sumatra blend -- featuring a full, syrupy body with virtually no acidity.

Other times, we will opt for a different approach, offering concentrated spicy and herbal notes, shimmers of sweet acidity, fruity overtones and an earthy aroma.

In any case, please note that we hope our posts are, like your favorite cup of coffee, deep, rich, full-bodied, bold and flavorful. If you find they are not, then maybe you should go away. Or die. Or splash yourself with battery acid.

... Please note that this website is not about coffee. It's about whatever I want to make it about. Sometimes, it will make sense. Frequently, it will not. This is my pledge to you.

Please also note that at The Cup of Joe, each entry is prepared "as if I care." I would offer my most favored and delightful readers nothing less!