I may have to change my coffee (and my profile)

I admit it: I'm a coffee addict. I don't think I drink as much as some people--I generally have two cups--okay, mugs--in the morning and one in the afternoon when the sleepies hit. But I must acknowledge that I am dependent, especially on that first morning cup. Without it I can count on a headache.

For years now I have been drinking Caribou coffee. I just prefer the taste to Starbuck's. We like Caribou coffee so much that a few years ago my husband looked into opening our own franchise. (I'm kind of glad he stuck to church music.) At that time he also looked into concerns about Caribou's connections to Islamic militants. If you check into Caribou's history on Snopes or Urban Legends, you will find that yes, First Islamic Investment Bank is majority owner of the company and that at one time there was an advisory board member known for having strong anti-Israel and anti-American views. But you will also find that the person in question is no longer on the advisory board (having left in 2002) and that Caribou has hired an American law firm to review its charitable donations and affirm that none are going to organizations banned under U.S. law.

Still, I wonder if my money could be better spent. If only Starbuck's coffee tasted a little better it would be easy! Today, though, I may have another reason to make a change not only to my preferred coffeehouse but also to my profile. Starbuck's, maybe it's time we got to know each other a little better.

Disgusting Double Standard

So over in Germany it's okay to engage in pro-Hamas demonstrations by marching in the street and waving pro-Hamas messages, but if you exercise your right of free speech by hanging an Israeli flag inside your own apartment window, the police will come into your home and take it down--all in the name of your own protection, of course.

Of course.

What is scary is to consider that if this can happen in Germany, a supposedly free and democratic country, what's to prevent it from happening here?

Nothing, really, which is why it seems we are losing our freedoms left and right in this country. But there is hope, and it's called "we the people." It's up to us, our own selves, America. Do we care enough to stand up for freedom and the rule of law so that the nation we inherited is still worth passing on to the next generation? Or are we just interested in getting taken care of until it's our time to move on?

Sometimes I'm not sure I want to hear the answer.

Angel at the Fence

Have you heard the story "Angel at the Fence"? I received it via email this past year.

It was recently revealed to be a hoax. The subjects/propagators of the story have said their motivation was not to deceive or personally profit but to touch hearts with an inspirational tale relating to the Holocaust.

Here's one writer's thoughts on the whole episode. He says it is just an example of a trend towards "candy-coating the Holocaust" by focusing on peripheral stories that pull at the heartstrings rather than looking the horror of the Holocaust squarely in the face.

I'm not sure what I think of his thesis. It seems to me that one thing kids are learning in history classes these days is Holocaust history.

On the other hand, perhaps the writer has a point. Maybe it's just too painful for us to face the evil of that time head on, and so we deal with it by coming at it from less shocking angles.

Or maybe the world is already starting to forget. As I look at the news of the day, it seems to me that anti-Semitism is alive and well. Here's one perspective from a respected source that provocatively says it is even worse today than in Hitler's Germany.

What do you think?