The NY Times writes a smug, condescending article about the oh-so-overthetop Fair Trade Coffee Initiative.... and is right to do so!

It's a skillful putdown of an article, following a pattern of Rick Young making a seemingly innocous statement, followed by a quote pointing out that that comment is either utterly ignorant or fascism in disguise.

"We are very excited that the ballot initiative is gaining so much momentum," said Kenya Lewis, the public relations manager.

"Fair Trade certified coffee is such an easy way for any coffee drinker to effect change on critical global issues such as immigration, starvation, drug trade and the environment — and more immediately, it really offers a simply way to make a real and measurable difference in the lives of farmers."

Followed by the Mayor's

"But how can we enforce such a law?" she said, in a city with more than 300 establishments that would be affected. "How will we tell which coffee is certified? You can't do a taste test. What would this law mean for our business inspectors? How do you balance the socially responsible against the practical?"

and

"The proposal seems fascist," said Darryl Ross, owner of several cafes, including one, across from the law school at Berkeley, which serves only Fair Trade coffee.

"No business wants to be forced to carry a specific brand," said Mr. Ross, who remembered when Mr. Young as a student, threatened a boycott of his cafe if he did not go the Fair Trade-only route. That worked, but Mr. Ross said few people seem to think the initiative is a good idea.

Mr. Ross appears to be the owner of Strada, BTW.

I hadn't known this, but apparently the Initiative made CNN as well.

This is the great despair of Columnists trying to find a new angle on Berkeley. There are only four stories in the entire town. Everything falls under some combination of 1) Progressives vs. Moderates, 2) Neighborhoods vs. Developers, 3) Everyone vs. University and 4) Berkeley embarasses self before Nation.

And all that nonsense gets tedious.

UPDATE: Shoot, this has been on all sorts of news outlets. How depressing. LA Times, SF Chron, MSNBC, Fox News...Email This Post!