On a brief occurrence outside a Starbucks on Capitol Hill on a summer morning...

This morning, I was on my way to a certain building named after a certain former President and B-Movie star when I encountered some folks protesting. 

In front of a Starbucks.   

Citizen engagement at the Starbucks 

Now, when I see people chanting in front of a Starbucks, I usually expect them to be demanding something related to Starbucks, dealing with issues such as unionization or wages (although I have no idea what their record actually is in that regard at this time, so don't hold me to it).  But it was a distinctly non-Starbucks message, and it was 7:45 in the morning.

Instead, they were chanting “Pass the Jobs Bill Now” and such things, with a big sign that said “Pass the Jobs Bill” and a bunch of smaller signs.  They seemed rather well organized, and had a pretty slick set of call-response cheers.  It wasn’t the most elaborate setup - the signs all appeared very makeshift and handmade - but there had to have been around fifty people, not a bad turnout at 7:45am. 

But why, you might wonder, would they be protesting in front of a Starbucks?  I know I was wondering that, but I didn’t have to wait long before one of the protesters gleefully told me that Eric Cantor was in the Starbucks. 

Rep. Cantor (R-VA)

Yep, Eric Cantor (R-VA), Majority Leader in the 112^th Congress (and the only Jewish Republican currently serving in Congress, according to Wikipedia), was apparently in the Starbucks having a coffee or some such (maybe also a Danish or scone, certainly not a bagel because what self-respecting anyone would have a bagel at Starbucks (I don’t even know if Starbucks sells bagels, but they sell music and newspapers and weird little sugar things on a stick, so they probably also sell bagels or some approximation)).  The Majority Leader has considerable power in setting the legislative agenda, and this particular Majority Leader has already expressed his displeasure with the Jobs Bill, so when the opportunity presents itself to present yourself and your views to the Majority Leader, you take it.

I guess that’s an advantage of D.C.  Elsewhere, you should try to get the attention of your Congressman.  Here, you can try to get the attention of someone else’s. 

p.s.  For anyone wondering why I’ve been slacking off on blogging, my response is that I have my reasons but they’re neither interesting nor compelling.  Hopefully I’ll have the couple entries I’m working on done soon.  Either that, or they become moot. Either way, we're cool.