I'll see you're Tea Party and raise one Coffee Party!

Who says liberals/progressives don't have a sense of humor? Parodying the right's political Tea Party "movement" a group has sprung up called the Coffee Party. The serious side of the movement is an attempt to bring reason into the public discourse. The humorous side of the movement is that they want reason in public discourse. I guess they haven't been paying attention to the ongoing attacks on the originators of the idea-- those anti-godders, the evil trinity, Dawkins, Hitchens and Harris? (Isn't there something incredibly uncanny about how all three names end with "s". Does this not prove that the Debil has had a hand in the success of these three???)By contrast the Tea Party has courted some of the most unreasonable public figures we have yet to witness and in the background lurk the extremist movements that helped to fuel(pun intended) Oklahoma city bombers Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols (see Op-ed columnist for the NY Times Frank Rich for more at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/28/opinion/28rich.html.) The Tea Party is not simply interested in reforming government and seeing the corruption in Washington end-- they actually believe the government is bad and should be destroyed. And to this end they will use violence.

Clearly someone with a truly refined sense of humor woke up one day and thought, "How can we combat the Tea partiers? Why! With reason of course! Let's get people together to demand that we are more reasonable in our political discourse."


http://www.coffeepartyusa.org/ The mission stated on their website:
The Coffee Party Movement gives voice to Americans who want to see cooperation in government. We recognize that the federal government is not the enemy of the people, but the expression of our collective will, and that we must participate in the democratic process in order to address the challenges that we face as Americans. As voters and grassroots volunteers, we will support leaders who work toward positive solutions, and hold accountable those who obstruct them.

I think it's a worthy idea-- truly. And I joined because I would love to have it be a real movement (I'm still very idealistic I guess) Unfortunately just the juxtaposition of the two group's missions shows how very far apart we are in this country and why we can't seem to make any headway. One group wants a to have a discussion and the other is fighting (literally) to win.

Follow your bliss

In memory of

Dear friend and fellow colleague Jody Gehrig passed away today. She had a passion for books-- good books. She was energetic, smart, and funny. Sitting in a review committee meeting with her, she was often heard to say, "If it's a bad book, tell us that it's a bad book. Don't be afraid to say that it stinks." She ran ERS (Educational Resource Services) at DPS but was also an advocate for the individual employee and teaching librarians in general. She is survived by her family who I have no doubt will miss her far more sorely than shall I. Yet her loss is keenly felt.

Meet The Triops

The triops were initially a birthday gift that wound up being a science experiment in what not to do. They lived for a few weeks but the water temperatures varied, then dried up and the food was probably too sporadic so they quickly died. For Christmas, a new tank was purchased with a water heater and a plant for sustenance when a meal was skipped. Which reminds me... time to feed the triops. Excuse me... *


When they were small, they were fed every other day or so and the food had to be smashed up. Now that they have grown to a distinguishable size, they eat two pellets each, twice a day. When the fishy spheres are dropped into the water, two of the prehistoric crustacean propel themselves into the food and promptly snatch up their share (or more?). They will "grab" it with their tentacles, flip over, pass the food up from one "leg" to the next then to the mouth and nibble at it upside down-- almost otterlike. Each time I feed them, I can't help but pause to watch, amused by the acrobatic antics of the Notostraca family.

In fact they move so quickly, that it is virtually impossible to get a decent picture of their feeding habits. So here they are almost posing for the camera...



An up close gander at the triops, and you might recognize them from a sci-fi film. They look more like an alien space ship than they do their shrimp cousins, but shrimp they are! (Never fear! We won't be sauteeing these little guys!)

My son has several comic strips that he reads regularly. As a result he decided to name the Triops after the characters in the strips.

Meet: Quincy (Jason's Iguana in Foxtrot)



Peter & Jason (Foxtrot)



Calvin & Hobbes is his favorite comic strip but he already has a small stuffed tiger named Hobbes so the tadpole shrimp gets to be...

Calvin.


This is what they look like upside down. Amazing!

*Pictures taken by Aubrey Cloud on his birthday. Thanks Aubrey!!!