Media Contact:  Eric Byler, Press@CoffeePartyUSA.com

CLICK HERE for Coffee Party Website Press Page.

Below are items relating to the Sept. 2010 convention:

PRESS RELEASE: Convention Builds Relationships, Momentum for Coffee Party

Watch VIDEO of Lt. Choi’s speech.

Watch VIDEO report by The Louisville Courier-Journal.

Coffee Party Convention LIVE STREAMING on two channels Saturday 9/27.

Grab a mug, this is no tea party
Janet Cappiello Blake (Associated Press)

Alternet‘s Alexander Amend previews Coffee Party convention

Coffee Party Convention to host LIVE watch party for MTV Networks’ world television premiere of “9500 Liberty” — the film that inspired the Coffee Party — by Annabel Park & Eric Byler Sunday 9/28 at 8 PM

PRESS RELEASE 9/22/2010:  Coffee Party Convention to be streamed LIVE starting Friday 9/24

PRESS RELEASE 9/20/2010:  Coffee Party hopes to celebrate legislative victories at Louisville convention

PRESS RELEASE 9/13/2010:  Coffee Party, Tea Party to take stage together at first Coffee Party National Convention

ANNOUNCEMENT:  Coffee Vote, non-partisan GOTV initiative 8/25/2010

LEXINGTON HERALD-LEADER:  Coffee Party prepares for national convention in Louisville by Tom Eblen

DENVER POST: Coffee Party’s First Six Months by Sue Brody

More Coffee Party news clippings at the PRESS DESK on the Coffee Party USA website

Coffee Vote 2010 to launch Sept. 17

Building a Sustainable Movement

Americans are longing for an energetic, non-partisan, and solutions-oriented approach to political discourse and civic participation.  The Coffee Party a rare achievement of all three ideals.  That’s why our unplanned, all-volunteer movement went viral so quickly, attracting nearly 300,000 active participants on Facebook, where our on-going virtual town hall receives nearly 4 million post views per day.  Our message of civility and trans-partisan dialogue has allowed us to create an email list of over 65,000.  Our YouTube channel has attracted 275,000 viewers.  We’ve just launched a LiveStream channel, which has already registered 73,754 viewer minutes.  And our Flickr page has nearly 2000 photos from across the United States.  When a movement is truly of, for, and by the People, billionaire sponsorship is not required.  All of our methods of communication are free, or almost free, on the Internet.

As we enter our eighth month, the Coffee Party’s long-term focus is to develop, replicate, and sustain an effective method of engagement.  We are creating models of participation based on responsible citizenship — a sense of civic duty, patriotism, and a respect for our democratic system of government.  Our goal is an informed and involved electorate that takes seriously the responsibilities of citizenship, not only for the purpose of winning elections, but to effectively govern our nation on behalf of The People, and no other interest.

Yes, wee are non-partisan, but being non-partisan does not mean we will not take positions.  It means that Coffee Party members will arrive at positions based on principles and facts; not based on party affiliation and ideology.  It takes more time, it requires more work, and it requires more discipline. But it is what our country needs.  Responsible citizenship is required to save our republic.  Too many Americans simply adopt the rhetoric, and thus the agenda, of institutions wealthy enough to afford the tools of mass communication.  A nation that is self-governed calls upon its citizens to make judgments and decisions for themselves.  Thanks to new technology available on the Internet, we believe that American can meet this challenges of self-governance in the 21st century by becoming active citizens rather than periodic consumers of partisan entertainment.

As members of the Coffee Party, we have found that the practice responsible citizenship in a creative, collaborative environment fosters a sense of community and civic pride that is its own reward.  Love of country is not based on shared resentment, anger, or fear.  Love of country is based on shared values and ideals that define us as a people.  The accomplishments of our first 8 months, and our future endeavors and future accomplishments, are founded in these ideals.  That is what makes our volunteerism worth while.  That is what powers our movement.

What ails our democracy, and what will cure it?

What precisely is undermining our democratic process right now?  What threatens our Republic, drowning out our voices in a political process obscured by partisanship, hyperbole, and spectacle?

We believe that powerful special interests are employing very deliberate political tactics to divide and distract the American public. These tactics make us more susceptible to ill-considered proposals, because sound policy is subjugated to a perpetual contest of cultural resentment, and the temptation of our elected leaders to play to the noise instead of the substance of a policy debate.  The ugliness on television, hear on the radio, or read on blogs or conspiracy emails is alienating to the vast majority of Americans.  Alienation breeds apathy, shrinking participation, and leaving our democracy vulnerable to manipulation by the very special interests who fund and produce this alienation.

We need to learn to recognize and actively resist these tactics. We need to have a good understanding of Constitution and American history, and not allow the Constitution to be appropriated by vocal minorities seeking to advance a narrow, radical agenda.  This is why we like to quote the Founding Fathers, Declaration of Independence, and other founding documents.  This is why we are hosting a ground-breaking Mock Constitutional Convention. The values and ideals that inspired this country belong to us all; not just those who have the money and the motive to game the system.

More Information about Coffee Party

• Coffee Party’s Facebook Fan Page
• Coffee Party U Facebook Fan Page
• Coffee Party on Twitter
• Follow Annabel Park on Twitter
• See trailer for Annabel’s film, 9500 Liberty
• Coffee Party Live Stream Channel (24 hour Coffee Party programming)

“Why I Started Coffee Party USA” by Annabel Park

CLICK HERE to fact-check rumors/deliberate misinformation about the Coffee Party

Coffee Party USA official website

Radio interview with Annabel Park:

Coffee Party USA draws from diverse backgrounds and diverse perspectives, with the goal of expanding the influence of the People in America’s political arena. We do not require nor adhere to any preexisting ideology.  We encourage deliberation guided by reason amongst the many viewpoints held by our members. We see our diversity as a strength, not a weakness, because we believe that faithful deliberation from multiple vantage points is the best way to achieve the common good.  It is in the responsible and reasonable practice of deliberation that we hope to contribute to society.

Coffee Party USA is made up of people acting independently of political parties, of corporations, and of political lobbying networks.  To this point, all products created and hours logged for Coffee Party have been carried out in the spirit of volunteerism.  In the coming months and years, we hope to transform our disappointment in our current political system into a force that will return our nation to a course of popular governance, of the People by the People for the People.

We are diverse — ethnically, geographically, politically, in age and in experience.

We are 100% grassroots. No lobbyists here.  No pundits.  And no hyper-partisan strategists calling the shots in this movement. We are a spontaneous and collective expression of our desire to forge a culture of civic engagement that is solution-oriented, not blame-oriented.

We demand a government that responds to the needs of the majority of its citizens as expressed by our votes and by our voices; NOT corporate interests as expressed by misleading advertisements and campaign contributions.

We want a society in which democracy is treated as sacrosanct and ordinary citizens participate out of a sense of civic duty, civic pride, and a desire to contribute to society.

Coffee Party USA is a call to action. Our Founding Fathers and Mothers gave us an enduring gift — democracy — and we must use it to meet the challenges that we face as a nation.

“Why I Started Coffee Party USA” by Annabel Park on CNN

Annabel Park
Founder, Coffee Party USA

Annabel was born in Seoul, South Korea, and immigrated to America when she was nine years old with her family. She grew up in Texas and Maryland. She studied philosophy at Boston University on a Melville Scholarship and political theory at Oxford University as a Marshall Scholar.

Annabel and Coffee Party co-founder Eric Byler directed the award-winning film 9500 Liberty, a documentary about the immigration culture war of Prince William County, Virginia, 2007-2008.  Due to the federal injunction halting Arizona’s S.B. 1070, 9500 Liberty chronicles the only two months in American history when local law enforcement was mandated to check immigration status based on a standard of suspicion.

During the past four years of strictly volunteer civic engagement, Annabel has coordinated the historic grassroots campaign for H.Res.121 (the “Comfort Women” resolution) in which the U.S. House of Representatives addressed the trafficking of girls into sexual slavery by the Japanese Army during WWII, produced the viral YouTube video “Si Se Puede Cambiar” in support of Barack Obama’s presidential primary bid, and coordinated the grassroots volunteer campaign Real Virginians for Webb in support of Jim Webb’s 2006 Senate campaign.

Annabel’s life experiences include working with inner city children, management consulting, writing and directing theater, and combining new media and active citizenship. She won The Cameron MacIntosh Award for her playwriting at Oxford University and was selected as a fellow for Film Independent’s Filmmaker Lab in 2005.

CLICK HERE to listen to “Coffee with Annabel”

To contact the team, please use the contact page.