Paranoia Will Destroy Ya: Darkness in the Heart of SBX?

Not too long ago, Siel of greenlagirl asked if I was still feelin' so positive after the meeting with SBX managers in LA; at the time she asked, I was still quite happy notwithstanding the nine-month-long time frame they set and my recent heavy run of challenge failures. So, am I happy today?

Today, not so much.

Oh certainly part of my discontent may stem from the fact that the Vice-President's chief of staff says he forgot he leaked classified information for political gain and that he was ordered by the vice-president to do it, now that he thinks about it for a minute -- and the mainstream media, even the blogs0sphere is hardly mentioning it.

I mean, really now -- this is the John Dean moment, when the Counsel to the President turned to the public and said "it's exactly as bad as you thought, the [vice]-president ordered these criminal acts, and ordered more crimes to cover them up."

Next is supposed to come the shock and outrage, and media frenzy to get all the details; and then Cheney resigns (for health reasons), to help save the foundering Bush administration, and then George W. resigns after the FISA court finds his warrant-less wiretaps were felony violations of FISA and a violation of the Constitution -- resigning before he can be impeached, mind you-- claiming he didn't know what he did was illegal. (And of course the the current Attorney General, Alberto "Brownie" Gonzalez and some others will go too, since the esteemed AG both (a) gave the bad advice and (b) doesn't really even understand why what W done did is illegal and immoral too boot.)

But it's not happening!

The media has given it a big yawn, perhaps because every one kind of knew in their gut that this was going to happen, that in the world of an Alpha-male like Cheney a toady like Libby doesn't sneeze without permission and a gruffly growled "Good job, Scooter" from the boss.

So I am not in a charitable mood: Or more to the point, my dusty old legal strategist used-to-be-a-lawyer hat got dusted off and I am in a disgruntled and paranoid mood.

Let's Play Paranoid "What If?"

What if one ore more of the folks at the meeting realized that over the summer, or at the start of fall, Starbucks would be making major changes that would affect the issue?

What if one of those changes was to eliminate FT coffee altogether, substituting its OWN certification that allowed coffee from plantations, say, or corporate growers, so long as certain barely green and barely socially-green requirements were met?

What if Starbucks is simply planning to stop selling FT all-together, and is just waiting for current contracts or stocks to run out?

What if the canny manager who came up with 9 months had a good laugh after the meeting about dodging a bullet and keeping us on hold indefinitely?

See what I mean?!?

In a world so cynical that direct, unambiguous, unimpeachable evidence that a top elected official casually broke the law for political gain is a yawn would it be any less shocking that the Mermaid's Manager Minions were in on the joke, and part of every conspiracy laid to SBX door?

In such a world, I am a real chump.

(Hey -- watch it! This is self-flagellation, you don't get to play.)

In such a world Cynical Siel's intuitions are validated, and I am going to go hide in my tree house drinking certified FT, Shade Grown, Organic, hand-ground, french-pressed coffee all by myself. I might even use a magnify glass to heat the water.

Silver Lining?

Or -- wait, ouch! Wait's that? Ooooh. It's Hope. Hope springing! Springing eternal, right here in this chair. What if -- what if -- no, it couldn't be true.

Ok, I'll say it and then you can hit me too: whatifstarbucksis (gasp) goingtochangetoallFTcoffee(furtive look over shoulder) oratleastdoubleortripletheFTintheirrotation??

Huh? Well?!?

Hmmm?

You're right of course. The President has admitted to impeachable felonies and the Vice-President has been fingered by his long-time top aid for the same, and they still get their coffee served by the White House mess.

Do you suppose Dick Cheney drinks FT, organic coffee? If you need me, I'll be in the treehouse.

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Amused by the Starbucks Challenge? Me too. Now come see my real mission in the blogosphere: Easy Green and its companion journal, Observations, and such: Notes on the Kitchen Calendar