THE BEST PART OF WAKING UP:

Berkeley’s ‘Bad’ Brew Ballot Fails (Gersh Kuntzman, Newsweek)

Of all the humiliations that we liberals endured on Election Night last week, none was as bitter as that really bad cup of coffee served in — of all places — the city of Berkeley, California.  

IT WAS THERE, in that once reliably liberal city that voters threw cold (and, most likely, fluoridated) water on a ballot referendum that would have changed the morning ritual of tens of thousands of people.

Ballot Measure O — as it was officially known — would have banned the sale of coffee that had not been brewed from “organic, shade-grown or fair-trade certified” beans.

The measure was all set to pass — let’s face it, Berkeley voters tend to view the city rule book as a manifesto — until someone noticed the fine print: Anyone who served the “wrong” type of coffee would face six months in jail.

What a silly state. Why'd they have to put the Reagan Library there? Posted by Orrin Judd at November 12, 2002 10:10 AM