YumSugar

12 Days of Cookies - Day 2 - Moravian Spice Cookie Wafers

CiaoBella — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 08:18:59 -0800

Moravian Spice Cookie Waffers
From Food Network Kitchens

This cookie comes to us from North Carolina by way of Central Europe; it's a classic, peppery spice cookie brought to the U.S. by Moravians in the 1700s. The key to this cookie is rolling it super-thin to get that characteristic snap; it's a lot easier to roll it that thin between waxed paper. If you don't have the patience, go thicker, for chewy gingerbread-style cookies. Either way, these cookies would be fantastic on your holiday table.

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon fine salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon finely ground white pepper
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard powder
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1 large egg yolk

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
Whisk the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, pepper and mustard together in a medium bowl.

Beat the butter and sugar together in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until just combined and lightly fluffy. Beat in the molasses and egg yolk. Gradually add the dry ingredients and mix together on low speed until dough is just combined and still crumbly, about 3 minutes. Give dough a few turns with a spatula to bring together.

Lay out wax paper on a clean work surface and put about 1/3 of the batter on top. Lightly press down and top with another sheet of wax paper. Using your hands or a rolling pin, gently pat into a rectangle. Roll out with a rolling pin until dough is as thin as possible without breaking, no thicker than 1/16 inch thick. This is the key to these cookies: they really can't be too thin. Gently peel back the layer of waxed paper and then replace it loosely.

Transfer rolled batter to a flat baking sheet and freeze until firm and can easily be peeled away from the waxed paper, about 30 minutes. Repeat with the remaining dough.

Cut dough using a small (2- to 3-inch) fluted round cookie cutter and return to the freezer for 15 minutes to set. Transfer frozen cookies to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake until crisp and lightly, evenly colored (but not brown), about 10 minutes.

Busy baker's tips: Store baked cookies in an airtight container for up to 10 days. The dough can be frozen, between sheets of waxed paper and well-wrapped in plastic wrap, for up to 2 weeks. Baked cookies can be wrapped in plastic wrap then aluminum foil and frozen for up to 1 month.

Cook's note: Don't be intimidated by how many cookies this recipe makes. This dough freezes well, and you can roll out far in advance -- so when you need cookies, you can cut and bake as needed, which is a great holiday timesaver.

CHAPTER 95

Iveenia — Sun, 03 May 2009 12:01:59 -0700

Oh yes, and the parcel fm my parents had not arrived either… No idea whether it had been the war or whether someone else had found it nice and kept it. Could be… Next time I would tell my parents – write OLD clothes and pls never ever write more than 50 Swiss Franks on it… However c’est la vie…
I did not count on it anymore – too many days had passed; i.e. more than a month. Adel Shumena went to the post office every day – I nagged on Salah to invite Adel… It would be the least.
***
Maybe one of you might remember the bulb which went one of those days. Salah had still not replaced it. After having visited the bulb – i.e. the place where it once had been – i felt somehow illuminated, despite of the darkness in the bathroom… So i went to the storage room and swept it. I was unable to watch that mess in there. I presume that must have been the “days” of our monthly “PMS”. So it was still there… Whenever i had PMS i felt like cleaning… and of course the chocolat mood. Wished to go to the kitchen and make some hot chocolate with BLACK one of course – yet at that time there was no black one on the market – the Libyans anyway loved milk chocolate better than the black one… Salah was working – had meetings and a check-up the next day for renewal of license in Libya – that is different in EVERY country. I did not believe he would make it so fast… And, of course and as usual I was right – it took him another four years – i.e. till 2007 till he finally was flying again…
The only thing I was tired of was to live on 10 Dinars a day (10 a day is good, that was still “heaven” compared to what was to come…)- We went shopping if you can call that shopping we had to cut down the list on 1/3 – i.e. 2/3 we had to delete… So, it has never been Salah forgetting sth – he just had no other choice than cancelling things on the list because of lack of money. I felt so bad I never felt in years. I had always been independent and now that… There were still 20 Swiss Franks fixed on the white board… He never even touched them… Maybe it was like that because he felt that Madame was soon to arrive…
The day before I went to the internet – she was absolutely quiet – as if she was surfing, too. Afterwards I had trouble to get up – i.e. out of the office chair – too soft… Of course all pregnant women had trouble to either get up or sit down, sleep etc.
Sometimes I had thoughts like: should I remain in the bathroom – cause I anyway had to leave water too often
Whenever I was washing dishes or had only the water running I felt like oh – BATHROOM… But it was not even half a cup… Sometimes there were only 3 drops – and for this I was getting up??? Well – when babies are working out – i.e. going for sit-ups in the belly… There we run.
Well in the pregnancy book it was written – that the energy level was going up then down etc… Yes true, sometimes I felt like going for all (even like cut down a tree ) - then I was lying low, drained and felt more dead than alive …
Then it was written: do not clean keep your energy for the labor. So I should go for saving here as well? Of course… What else? I thought if i did not do the chores, who else? I did not care what was written in there because who would if I did not take care of that… And besides – what would chores do to us? Kill us? No, we practically grew up with it – that was the same with men; they grow beards all alone I even thought – hey great – that is gym – so get some more
***
The whole family was happy abt the crib. Even Amal – she had been with us for the first time ever, was smiling.
Actually Amal was the one I liked mostly. All thought she took her “mother’s life” too easy, she has 5. Yet I knew that it was not true. Even my husband thought that she was not “good enough” in educating the kids properly. I thought that this was “mish dachlik” (that is not your business). Oh – I would have better kept quiet – yet you know me, cannot – am who I am… However I just said: do it better with our daughter. Khallas (over and out).
My personal opinion was that Amal did the best she could in that family with one husband who never really worked at a work place for more than 2 or 3 months and she was a teacher so she went to work at a public school for starvation wages – i.e. for nothing really… At least she was tough but kind-hearted – she was fair and honest (very rare in Libya – we will get to that later) and even when it came to people passing by at her house – she always shared with all – yet the cookies fm my dad – she ate some herself and I think SHE DESERVED IT REALLY! Her kitchen I liked – she cooked a simple cuisine but it was tasty and nice. In addition to her cooking – her house WAS ALWAYS clean – even so she had NO vacuum cleaner and carpets all over the place…
***
Then there was this story with the workers who were always staring at me. The owner of that house came to us personally and excused himself. You can make hell of a noise but if someone was staring at you that was really the worst which could happen. Then it was a disaster…
Then we had all these women telling that it was so bad when a man had to suffer fm a newborn baby – cause his wife would turn away fm him and all the love she once had would be for the baby, only. How stupid! On my opinion this happened when a woman was insecure – she then hang to her baby(ies) instead of sharing comfort time with her husband, too – yet – I was nearly 40 so I could sing all that tunes
***
Regarding supervising and observing babies: Kerima’s baby nearly killed himself i.e. suffocation with a cushion. By God the whole family nearly went nuts! Can you imagine? How dreadful!
***
The same evening we had a quarrel abt his brother Nurheddin – he did not even inform his own mother abt their father – her husband – his sickness became worse and worse. Nurheddin expected his father practically every day to get lost in the city – so actually he should have informed mom firstly – but he did not – all of the family knew but she did not. So I kicked Salah, to tell his brother, the doctor, to do so…
Well doctors anyway have got a different sense of humor… My best friend, David, an oncologist, loved for example the movie – Serial Mom with Kathleen Turner – and when this scene appeared; i.e. her daughter being dumped by her boyfriend – and she went into the men’s room to kill the ex-bf of her daughter – with that poker – which she firstly choose fm that flea market… Wow – after having done the job and something came out – I think it was the kidney – and she nearly fell because she slipped on it – WOW – David nearly died laughing. And the guy who was sitting next to our “cinema gang” went grey and then green and at the end – he of course left - I loved that “leaving” more than the scene but actually I understand David – it was bizarre and at the same time OVER DOING sth. It was actually hilarious. The other doctor I know personally was also a strange guy – he explained when they had all these surgeries on the dead parts of people… I asked him whether he had to vomit – he said: “No.” Then I asked him: “Did you feel sick then?” He said: “No. Actually, you know - I feel hungry…” Well so far so good – I think changing the subject makes more sense – in addition to the coming examination at the gynecologist, cause next day I had another appointment with my gynecologist… It would be March 31, 2003…
***
Here we were: Gynecologist… Because i had very high blood pressure (at least for my „body household“, edemas and also other problems, he said: hospital – cesarean. I had to wait for another day. On April 2, 2003 I gave birth to Athana Naeema – I only felt old – cause 18 days later I would become 40…
***
There was gossip – a lot of gossip – 1. my gynecologist is a professor – not a regular doctor and in addition to that he had studied in the UK – and he received his PhD there… So he was actually a very well educated man – we had the same spiritual level. However – he operated me by himself – normally he had a crew and was just supervising – yet since I was treated like his own daughter, so they did gossip.
2. He gave me his arm to help me getting on the OP-table but I went all alone on it without help mentioning – I can do that and smiled…
And
3. He waited till i woke up and that is also very unusual Actually I was numb – and just asked whispering (cause I was totally exhausted): “what is it?” He only said: “She is a girl and she is as beautiful as her mother…”
He then disappeared and I went back to sleep… - somehow I realized that he was proud and I had that “wow-feeling”.
***
The day after was also a gossip-day for the hospital. Of course I had a catheter and I do not like that at all – so I asked to go to the bathroom and get rid of that stupid thingy… of course that was GETTING up time – tough – when you wobble around and have pudding instead of legs… The sisters helped me – three of them. I did not give up. Abt two hours later, Dr. Mermesh came again and helped me personally to get up. And then walked with me – like a father – up and down the corridor of the hospital…
That was the headline all over the hospital…
I did not give up – I got up alone and went to the bathroom alone the same evening.
***
In addition to that – Dr. Mermesh was right regarding the taste of the Libyan women. Athana obviously was a very beautiful baby to them - maybe because she was so white, so I had a lot of visitors. They all came to see my baby. Brilliant – actually I wished for some relaxation but hello – she was white had only some small hair on her head and looked so shiny that all were so moved by only seeing her. I hoped I was soon to leave that place – but when giving birth by C-Section bravo – at least 5 days…
I was only happy that my mother in law helped me a great deal in EVERYTHING – that was good – cause I felt lost somehow. A career woman with a baby, never had any lessons in babysitting was impatient to the level and now a mother – I could hardly believe that…

Meet the whole family - Athana - her Father and me:

Meet Athana and her father

McCain's Son

cine_lover — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 06:06:52 -0700

I wonder if this will help McCain and change the peoples minds who say that McCain is just another Bush?

Vocal on War, McCain Is Silent on Son’s Service
Ruth Fremson/The New York Times
Jimmy, Jack, Meghan and Bridget McCain on Super Tuesday

By JODI KANTOR
Published: April 6, 2008

One evening last July, Senator John McCain of Arizona arrived at the New Hampshire home of Erin Flanagan for sandwiches, chocolate-chip cookies and heartfelt talk about Iraq. They had met at a presidential debate, when she asked the candidates what they would do to bring home American soldiers - soldiers like her brother, who had been killed in action a few months earlier.

Mr. McCain did not bring cameras or a retinue. Instead, he brought his youngest son, James McCain, 19, then a private first class in the Marine Corps about to leave for Iraq. Father and son sat down to hear more about Ms. Flanagan’s brother Michael Cleary, a 24-year-old Army first lieutenant killed by an ambush and roadside bomb.

No one mentioned the obvious: in just days, Jimmy McCain could face similar perils. “I can’t imagine what it must have been like for them as they were coming to meet with a family that ...” Ms. Flanagan recalled, choking up. “We lost a dear one,” she finished.

Mr. McCain, now the presumptive Republican nominee, has staked his candidacy on the promise that American troops can bring stability to Iraq. What he almost never says is that one of them is his own son, who spent seven months patrolling Anbar Province and learned of his father’s New Hampshire victory in January while he was digging a stuck military vehicle out of the mud.

In his 71 years, Mr. McCain has confronted war as a pilot, a prisoner and a United States senator, but never before as a father. His son’s departure for Iraq brought him the same worry that every military parent feels, friends say, while the young marine’s experiences there have given him a sustained grunt’s-eye view of the action and private confirmation for his argument that United States strategy in Iraq is working.

While Jimmy McCain’s service is a story all his own - he enlisted at age 17 - it illuminates the beliefs about duty, honor and sacrifice with which family friends say he was raised. Military ideals have defined Mr. McCain as a person and a politician, and he is placing them at the core of his presidential candidacy. Last week, he campaigned at his former stations of duty, explaining how the lessons he learned there would guide his decisions as commander in chief.

“If I had ignored some of the less important conventions of the Academy,” as a demerit-prone midshipman, Mr. McCain said Wednesday at the United States Naval Academy, “I was careful not to defame its more compelling traditions: the veneration of courage and resilience; the honor code that simply assumed your fidelity to its principles; the homage paid to Americans who had sacrificed greatly for our country; the expectation that you, too, would prove worthy of your country’s trust.”

With both potential Democratic nominees in favor of withdrawal from Iraq, debate about the war - whether it is winnable, what would happen if the United States withdrew, how much loss the country can endure - is likely to be a dominant issue in the general election. Mr. McCain’s potential opponents are already implying that he is too willing to risk American lives, too committed to stretching an already unpopular war far into the future.

Out of the Public Eye

Mr. McCain has largely maintained a code of silence about his son, now a lance corporal, making only fleeting references to him in public both to protect him from becoming a prize target and avoid exploiting his service for political gain, according to friends. At the few campaign events where Lance Corporal McCain appeared last year, he was not introduced.

The McCains declined to be interviewed for this article, which the campaign requested not be published. “The McCain campaign objects strongly to this intrusion into the privacy of Senator McCain’s son,” Steve Schmidt, a campaign spokesman, said in a statement. “The children of presidential candidates in this election cycle should be afforded the same respect for their privacy that the children of President Bush and President and Senator Clinton have been afforded.” (To protect Lance Corporal McCain in case he is again deployed to a war zone, The New York Times is not publishing recent photographs of him and has withheld some details of his service).

Born in 1988, the third of John and Cindy McCain’s children, Jimmy inherited his father’s features and slight build, outrageous humor and family tradition of military service that stretches back to the Revolutionary War. His grandfather and great-grandfather were the first parent and son to achieve four-star admiral status in Naval history.

Then there was his father’s ever-growing legend. A hell-raising Navy pilot, John McCain relied on a defiant streak to survive nearly six brutal years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. As Jimmy grew up, his father, first a congressman and then a senator, was always dashing off to speak at military events - a dedication here, a graduation there. Mr. McCain’s reputation was burnished with his memoir, “Faith of My Fathers,” and its adaptation into a television movie.

Corbis Sygma
1936 John McCain as an infant with his father, John S. McCain Jr., left, and grandfather, John S. McCain, who were the first parent and son to achieve four-star admiral status in Naval history.

Two of Jimmy’s three older brothers went into the military. Doug McCain, 48, was a Navy pilot. Jack McCain, 21, is to graduate from the Naval Academy next year, raising the chances that his father, if elected, could become the first president since Dwight D. Eisenhower with a son at war.

The McCain children were not force-fed tales of their father’s bravery, said Orson Swindle, who was imprisoned in Vietnam with Mr. McCain. But “if you’re a man in the public eye, it’s hard for them not to know about it,” Mr. Swindle said in an interview.

Early Ambition

By the time Jimmy was in high school, he was scouting war memorabilia on eBay and playing video games like “Battlefield 1942,” classmates said. He chose sports that simulated combat, like fencing and paintball, and his prized possession was a World War II Army hat.

At Culver Academy, a military-style boarding school in Indiana, he and his friend Nick Moore would fire up “Apocalypse Now” or “Platoon” on a laptop - critiques of war, but never mind - turn the sound down and talk about serving. “The testosterone was flying,” Mr. Moore said in an interview. “He’d say, ‘I’m just going to go in there guns blazing!’ ”

Jimmy wanted to attend the Naval Academy, he told Mr. Moore, and then learn to fly. But how he would get there was uncertain. In interviews, classmates and teachers described him as the kind of kid who contributed impressive thoughts to classroom discussions but did not always turn in assignments, who was always collecting demerits for minor offenses like smoking - descriptions that echo those of his father at the same age. He left Culver after his sophomore year, making it the second school he passed through in two years.

Sometime in the next year, Jimmy enlisted in the Marine Corps. He only called his parents to tell them afterward, according to Lance Cpl. Casey Gardiner, a friend from boot camp. Iraq was tilting toward civil war, with blasts of improvised explosive devices at their highest levels yet. Jimmy McCain was 17, so young that Cindy McCain had to sign consent forms for his medical tests before he could report for duty, according to Gunnery Sgt. Edward Carter, a recruiter in Phoenix who handed her the papers.

By enlisting in the Marines, Jimmy seemed to be giving up his birthright. The Navy is, by reputation, the most aristocratic of the armed forces, the McCains among its most storied families. Now he would hold the lowest rank in a branch known for its grittiness. “The first time I heard he was going to be in the company, I couldn’t believe it,” said First Lt. Sam Bowlby, one of Lance Corporal McCain’s officers in Iraq.

“He didn’t want to be in the shadow of his father,” Lance Corporal Gardiner said.

But the new marine was fulfilling his father’s legacy in at least one way. John McCain had become a hero not for the missions he had flown or the men he had led, but for the privileges he had refused and the hardships he had endured. The North Vietnamese wanted to free Mr. McCain ahead of other captives because he was the son of a Navy admiral and Pacific commander. Mr. McCain refused. Now his son was carving a humble new path that the father, academy-bound since birth, never had.

Jimmy began boot camp on Sept. 11, 2006. He took extra abuse for his last name, said Lance Cpl. Gregory Aalto, a member of his training platoon. Recruits are not even allowed their own eyeglasses, so Jimmy had to wear the standard-issue Marine ones, so unappealing they are known as “birth-control goggles.”

As he completed his training and prepared for deployment, other marines caught only occasional glimpses of his family’s celebrity and wealth, such as when he handed out extra tickets for a Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Oscar De La Hoya boxing match he was attending with his father in Las Vegas. If anyone asked about his family, he had a sarcastic joke at the ready. When a cluster of marines asked how they could help his father’s campaign, Lance Corporal McCain pretended to call him and then passed on a message: they could carry out the contracts the senator had taken out on his rivals’ lives.

“Jimmy was just completely joking,” said Lance Cpl. Johnathan Pebley. “You can kind of tell he doesn’t want to talk about it.”

In July, days from deployment, Lance Corporal McCain, newly engaged to be married, joined his father’s struggling campaign in New Hampshire. He visited the Flanagans and sat unrecognized at campaign events.

Candidate Topic PagesMore Politics NewsAt the last stop, a veteran asked for a round of applause for the candidate’s brave Marine son. He did not seem to know that Jimmy McCain was sitting just a few seats away. Almost no one did.

As Father of a Marine

Mr. McCain did not speak publicly about whatever anxiety he may have felt about his son’s deployment, but Mr. Swindle described the experience as difficult. “Anybody who tells you it’s not tough is not being straightforward with you,” he said.

Senator Christopher S. Bond, Republican of Missouri, whose son served two tours in Iraq, said he and Mr. McCain privately traded their concerns. “We talked about how it affects the young men over there,” Mr. Bond said. “He’s basically a father, very anxious about what his son’s going to be doing.”

Representative Duncan Hunter, Republican of California, a former presidential contender whose son was serving in Afghanistan, said he and Mr. McCain would update each other at debates. “He knows what his father and grandfather went through as his sons went off to war,” Mr. Hunter said. “So he’s got a model to follow.”

Indeed, John McCain’s own parents were dressing for a dinner party in London when they learned he had been shot down. They went anyway, never telling other guests. Later, Admiral McCain ordered air strikes on Hanoi, where he knew his son was imprisoned.

Just before Jimmy’s departure, Mrs. McCain decided she had to see him one final time, according to Lieutenant Bowlby. With a few well-placed phone calls, she won permission to visit the Air Force base from which his unit would depart. When Lance Corporal McCain found out, he protested. No special favors, he said. Mrs. McCain stayed away.

“God forbid someone gave him something the rest of the marines weren’t entitled to,” Lieutenant Bowlby said.

Lance Corporal McCain and his fellow riflemen had trained for the worst in the spring of 2007, using paintball guns rigged as M-16s to apprehend costume-clad “insurgents” in fake Iraqi villages.

In the real Iraq, they saw little combat. “We were expecting to get shot at all the time,” said Lance Cpl. Justin Murdock, 20. “But 95 percent of the time, nothing was going on.”

The marines were stationed in Anbar Province, where some of the war’s bloodiest battles had been fought. But the fighting had moved on to other areas, and Lance Corporal McCain’s company mostly did security work, which meant keeping an unceasing eye on the locals, poor Sunnis who grew rice and other crops on small plots.

Lance Corporal McCain’s unit performed “soft knocks” - visits to Iraqi homes intended as reassurance as well as surveillance, said Lance Cpl. Jason Case. His platoon hunted for weapons caches and I.E.D.’s, but also distributed school supplies and candy. Relying on interpreters and the bits of Arabic they all seemed to pick up, the 19- and 20-year-old grunts taught Iraqi police officers how to hold and clean weapons, search vehicles and conduct patrols.

The hardest part, said several marines, was enduring tedium while remaining braced for mayhem. There were physical deprivations, too - searing heat, heavy gear, long hours and minimal sleep.

Fifteen marines with whom Lance Corporal McCain trained or served were interviewed for this article, and all praised his performance. He “was just always a hardworking kid,” Lieutenant Bowlby said. “He never b*tched about anything,” he said, and always seemed to be laughing. “The humility of him, that’s what blew me away,” he continued.

For much of his tour, Jimmy McCain was cut off from political news. The rented Iraqi home where his platoon bunked did not have Internet service, and the 30-odd men shared one satellite phone with a shaky signal. Some news arrived via word-of-mouth, like the senator’s New Hampshire victory (Mr. McCain recounted the story at a recent Manhattan fund-raiser). Lance Corporal McCain did see his father once. On Thanksgiving, Mr. McCain visited Camp Habbaniya with Senate colleagues, and the two shared the holiday meal in the chow hall, according to several people present. Mr. McCain asked other marines if they saw security improving and seemed heartened when they told him

Lance Corporal McCain and his unit returned home in February. For his father, who believed that United States strategy in Iraq was working, his son’s tour corresponded well. The company had not lost any men, though three from the battalion had died. It had arrived in a stable area and things had only improved from there. “In my seven months there, you would see drastic changes in Iraq,” Lance Cpl. Greg Jumes said.

Candidate Topic PagesMore Politics NewsLieutenant Bowlby echoed his comments, as did every marine interviewed. “There were some hairy moments, but compared to the past couple of years, it’s 180 degrees,” he said, comparing his first tour in Iraq with his second.

Mixed Events

Two days after Lance Corporal McCain arrived back in the United States, his father shared his account of the war with Republican congressmen. In a private meeting on Capitol Hill, Mr. McCain mentioned the decline in I.E.D.’s that his son witnessed, the soccer balls he gave to Iraqi children. Mr. McCain’s audience responded with a standing ovation, according to a report published by CNN and confirmed by several aides who were present.

In recent weeks, the news from Iraq has been less encouraging. The cease-fire between the leading Shiite militia and American and Iraqi security forces, which overlapped with Lance Corporal McCain’s tour, has frayed. Bombings and sectarian killings have increased. Days after the fifth anniversary of the war’s start, the death toll of American troops crossed the 4,000 mark.

As Mr. McCain enters the general election, some say that his son’s service will underscore the sincerity of his stance on the war. “He has, to use a gambler’s term, skin in the game,” said Bob Kerrey, the former Democratic senator and longtime friend of Mr. McCain. “It’s among the most important things that people want to know about John McCain in trying to decide whether or not to trust him.”

Last month, Mrs. McCain made a similar argument at a campaign event in Houston. “I want him to represent my son at 3 o’clock in the morning,” she said of her husband, referring to an advertisement for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York that boasts of her national security credentials. She wore a blue-star pin, the mark of an American with a family member at war.

Her son is back at Camp Pendleton, where he is using the Jeep he just bought to ferry other marines to the beach. Lately he has been teased about a McCain presidency, according to Lance Cpl. Matt Drake, another company member. “Will we have to go patrolling with Secret Service?” they ask.

“Shut up,” Lance Corporal McCain tells them good-naturedly.

The Scoop on Fair Trade

tdamji — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 21:27:01 -0700

"Before you've finished your breakfast this morning, you'll have relied on half the world"
- Martin Luther King

An interesting thought. And a depressing one, when you realise that those people you've relied on for your coffee and muesli are almost certainly being exploited and oppressed by the unfair power balance in world trade.

- from maketradefair.com

Fair Trade is a trading partnership, based on dialogue, transparency and respect, that seeks greater equity in international trade. It contributes to sustainable development by offering better trading conditions to, and securing the rights of, marginalized producers and workers - especially in the South. Fair Trade organisations (backed by consumers) are engaged actively in supporting producers, awareness raising, and in campaigning for changes in the rules and practice of conventional international trade.

WHY FAIR TRADE??

Ever think your choice of morning coffee could influence global economics and impact the environment? It does. And that's why Ethical Bean feels so strongly about Fair Trade coffee. Kim and Lloyd (founders) lived in Central America, met the men and women who work on coffee farms and understand the effect that Fair Trade can have in their communities. And they believe that even little choices, like the type of coffee you're sipping, can ripple around the world.

The development of Fair Trade came out of an urgent need to help small-scale farmers earn a decent living for their efforts. It works in two ways. One, it sets a guaranteed minimum price for the coffee. And two, it helps eliminate the middlemen by dealing more directly with farmer-owned co-operatives.

Coffee is the world's second-largest traded commodity after oil, and the global market for coffee is extremely volatile. Over a decade ago, farmers saw prices drop 80% worldwide in less than 12 months. Over the past three years, the average price of coffee has fallen almost 50% and now rests at a near 30-year low, impacting over 25-million coffee growing families in over 50 developing countries.

Certified Fair Trade coffee guarantees farmers a minimum of $1.26 USD per pound. In August 2003, the International Coffee Organization composite indicator listed the average price for green coffee at 52 cents per pound. Beyond a better wage, communities are seeing the benefits of social programs that bring better access to education and health care. Ensuring a sustainable future for coffee farmers lies at the heart of Fair Trade. As a responsible global citizen, Ethical Bean understands that the decisions we make can change lives and build futures.

12 Easy Ways to Support Fair Trade
(via. Keetsa!)

Paul Rice who is the founder of TransFair USA, said it best in a video, when he said, that “when you support fair trade, you support hope“. Here is the list:

1. Vote - vote with your dollar, buy fair trade products
2. Ask - ask for them at your local shops, create demand
3. Host - have fair trade events to raise awareness in your local community
4. Join - online communities - like: http://www.myspace.com/fairtradecertified
5. Celebrate - every October is fair trade month
6. Learn - get educated about fair trade and its global impact
7. Donate - to transfair usa and support their mission
8. Introduce - the fair trade movement in college campuses
9. Start - get involved with a local group or start one
10. Fundraise - hold a school or church fair trade products fundraiser
11. Give - need gift-giving ideas? fair trade products make great gifts
12. Serve - fair trade coffee and tea at your next faith service

Co-op America's List of 12 ways to shop Fair Trade now:

1. Tea - One of the fastest-growing segments of the Fair Trade market, US imports of Fair Trade tea increased an impressive 187 percent in 2005. Since then, herbal tea products like chamomile, hibiscus, peppermint, and spearmint have gained Fair Trade status. Tea lovers can find teas bagged, loose, and bottled.

2. Chocolate - The average American eats 12 pounds of chocolate a year, supporting an industry that saw retail sales of more than $16 billion in 2007. If you're among the 46 percent of Amreicans who say they can't live without chocolate, you can avoid the well-documented problem of child slave labor in the cocoa industry, and direct your share of that $16 billion toward chocolate that helps communities and the environment.

3. Fresh Fruit - In Europe, where Fair Trade fruit has been available since the mid-1990s, Fair Trade bananas have reached a market share as high as 24 percent. In the US, Fair Trade tropical fruits like bananas, mangoes, and pineapples became available in 2004, and their availaibility is growing, especially in natural foods stores and food co-operatives. Find a store near you selling Fair Trade fruit by using TransFair USA's store locator.

4. Sugar - Phosphorus run-offs from the conventional sugar industry in Florida have devastaed the ecosystem of the Everglades, and the sugar lobby has worked aggressively to avoid responsibility. Sustainable alternatives to sugar like locally grown, organic maple syrup or honey can help you avoid the problems in the sugar industry, as can Fair Trade Certified™ sugar, introduced to the US in 2005.

5. Rice - While most of the white and brown rice consumed in the US was grown on US farms, most aromatic long-grain rice comes to our tables from small-scale farms in Asia where it was harvested by hand. Workers on these farms often find themselves squeezed by middle merchants and sickened by pesticides; Fair Trade rice-most of which is also organic-protects both workers and the environment.

6. Vanilla - Working with a labor-intensive crop that yields a relatively low harvest, vanilla farmers are hard-hit when their market fluctuates, as it has since environmental disasters at key procuction centers in 2000. TransFair USA began certifying vanilla in 2006, and new Fair Trade Certified™ vanilla ice cream from Ben & Jerry's arrived in supermarkets in January 2007, joining their previous Fair Trade coffee and chocolate flavors.

7. Spices - The European Fair Trade certifying body (FLO) approved standards for Fair Trade spices in 2005. In Europe, products like ginger cookies and lemongrass soap have begun to appear with Fair Trade spices among their ingedients, as hopeful sign for the future of Fair Trade spices in the US.

8. Wine - Introduced to the US market in 2007, Fair Trade wine has been produced in South Africa since 2003, and in Chile and Argentina since 2004. The South African certification process requires vineyard workers to maintain a legally protected minimum 25 percent interest in the winery, in support of the South African government's policies promoting equal land ownerships following Apartheid.

9. Olive oil - The Canaan Fair Trade Association uses the Fair Trade concept to empower marginalized Palestinian rural communities caught in conflict so they can sustain their livelihoods and culture. Farmers are guaranteed a minimum price, and receive a 10 percent Fair Trade premium above market price, plus a 10 percent organic premium above market price.

10. Sports balls - When the European Fair Trade certification body (FLO) created standards for soccer ball production in 2002, it was the first time a non-agricultural commodity had received certification. Since then, four Pakistani and one Thai producer have achieived certification, ensuring that no child labor is involved, and that workers receive a living wage in a healthy work environment.

11. Arts and crafts - Producers of unique, handmade, artisanal Fair Trade products like jewelry, baskets, textiles, and other handicrafts belong to trade associations that screen for internationally recognized Fair Trade standards. For example, our ally the Fair Trade Federation links low-income producers with consumer marketers that pledge to: pay fair wages in the local context, support participatory workplaces, ensure environmental sustainability and public accountability, and suppply financial and technical support.

12. Coffee - Available since the late 1990s, Fair Trade coffee is the most widespread and recognizable Fair Trade commodity. Currently, it is the fastest growing segment of the $11 billion US specialty coffee market, and about 85 percent of Fair Trade coffee is also organic.

Fair Trade Flash With the Facts:
Click Here

Resources
Ø Trans Fair's information and great menu of (some of the) places where you can buy Fair Trade items
Ø Global Exchange
Ø Make Trade Fair
Ø International Fair Trade
Ø Fair Trade Resource Organization
Ø Fair Trade Organization
Ø Ten Thousand Villages Fair Trade Store

Please also see my post on my favorite Fair Trade items:
http://teamsugar.com/group/422515/blog/558584

And here are some of the many products that are available Fair Trade:

Solutions for holiday headaches

justingirl1989 — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 09:35:56 -0800

By Linda Stern

WASHINGTON (Reuters Life!) - It's remarkably easy to let your budget and your blood pressure go woefully out of control during the holidays. Just peruse this list: cards, gifts, goodies, stamps, travel, parties, tips, champagne, cookies, neighbors, the mailman, wrapping paper, Secret Santas, shipping... need I go on?

The money you spend on gifts is the least of it. It's the money spent on extras that really hurts. You can waste money by overspending to save time; by misusing plastic; by being disorganized, by getting into family bidding wars.

Or, you can be smart about managing the various costs of Christmas and the other winter holidays and move on, because we all know it's not supposed to be about the money anyway, right?

Here's are some solutions to your holiday financial woes.

-- You're worried about your credit. Roughly one in four Americans say they don't know when they'll pay off their holiday bills and many are still struggling with them when the next holiday season comes around. Don't do it! Even if you have to declare a year of no gifts/homemade gifts/regifted gifts or more, vow that you won't increase your debt this holiday season. Check out the Center for A New American Dream for other frugal holiday tips.

Don't go to the max on any of your cards, even if you expect to pay it off, says Loretta Abrams of HSBC-North America, because it can hurt your credit score. So can applying for too many cards at once, so don't open a slew of retailer-specific cards just because you'll save 10 percent or more on a specific day.

-- You don't know whom to tip, or how much. "Tip" anyone who makes your life better throughout the year. Make a list. Go to the bank, get a bunch of cash and fill all the thank you cards at once. Remember your trash collectors (call the firm to get names of your individual service people), the newspaper carrier, the cleaning person and more. Typically tip as much as a service costs -- one haircut for your hairdresser, a week's pay for your full-time babysitter, etc. Don't forget the guy who mows your lawn all summer but doesn't come around in winter.

-- You're divorced and trying to buy your kids' affection. Who doesn't fall into that trap? But even a warring mom and pop should try to negotiate the holiday gifts, says Linda Leitz, a financial adviser from Colorado Springs. "When parents can agree on what they'll each spend and, ideally, give at least one gift jointly, kids have a good holiday, competitive tension is lessened between the divorced parents, and the kids know that both parents love them."

-- You've heard bad things about gift cards. They are easy and teens especially like them, but those issued by banks (that look like credit cards) often carry extra fees, says Ben Woolsey of CreditCards.com. "In addition to the standard purchasing, shipping and handling costs, gift cards can assess fees for dormancy, card replacement, retrieving unused balances, service charges for ATM withdrawals, statement requests, and monthly administration," he says. Gift cards issued by individual retailers usually don't carry as many fees, but before you buy one find out if it has an expiration date, activation fee or limitations on its use. Done all that homework? Good, now buy the card. They are useful, easy and appreciated gifts.

-- You need to buy too many gifts. You're invited to office parties, neighborhood parties and office neighborhood parties. You've got lots of relatives and friends. You want to thank each host and hostess in an individualized way, but who's got that kind of time and money? Pick one generic gift -- bottle of wine, box of chocolates, candle and holder -- and buy it in bulk. Done. Or have a family baking day, make several batches of fudge (or cookies) and give that as your gift to everyone. Or go to charitygiftcertificates.org or tisbest.org and buy a gift card for everyone on your list at once. They can use it to donate to the charity they choose.

-- You think the holidays are too commercial and stressful. Shop for alternative charitable gifts for friends and family at changingthepresent.org or alternativegifts.org. Give experiences, like a day's adventure out, instead of toys. Leave out at least one complicated dish from the annual holiday meal, or make it a potluck.

-- You can't stop. It sounds obvious, but stop shopping when you're done with your gift list. It's often not the gifts that cost so much, but the damage you do by adding to the list once it's complete, or heading out for the -- horrors! -- after holiday sales. Just stay home and wallow in all the happy holiday memories.

source: reuters.com

Boston's $14.8B Big Dig finally complete

justingirl1989 — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 06:04:35 -0800

BOSTON - When the clock runs out on 2007, Boston will quietly mark the end of one of the most tumultuous eras in the city's history: The Big Dig, the nation's most complex and costliest highway project, will officially come to an end.

Don't expect any champagne toasts.

After a history marked by engineering triumphs, tunnels leaks, epic traffic jams, last year's death of a motorist crushed by falling concrete panels and a price tag that soared from $2.6 billion to a staggering $14.8 billion, there's little appetite for celebration.

Civil and criminal cases stemming from the July 2006 tunnel ceiling collapse continue, though on Monday the family of Milena Del Valle announced a $6 million settlement with Powers Fasteners, the company that manufactured the epoxy blamed by investigators for the accident. Lawsuits are pending against other Big Dig contractors, and Powers Fasteners still faces a manslaughter indictment.

Officially, Dec. 31 marks the end of the joint venture that teamed megaproject contractor Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff with the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority to build the dizzying array of underground highways, bridges, ramps and a new tunnel under Boston Harbor - all while the city remained open for business.

The project was so complex it's been likened to performing open heart surgery on a patient while the patient is wide awake.

Some didn't know if they'd live to see it end.

Enza Merola had a front row seat on the Big Dig from the front window of her pastry shop - stacked neatly with tiramisu, sfogliatelle and brightly colored Italian cookies - in Boston's North End.

During the toughest days of the project, the facade of Marie's Pastry Shop, named after her sister, was obscured from view. The only way customers could find the front door was along a treacherous path through heavy construction.

"For a while we thought we weren't going to make it," Merola said. "But you know, we hung in there."

The Central Artery/Third Harbor Tunnel Project - as the Big Dig is officially known - has its roots in the construction of the hulking 1950's era elevated Central Artery that cut a swath through the center of Boston, lopping off the waterfront from downtown and casting a shadow over some of the city's oldest neighborhoods.

Almost as soon as the ribbon was cut on the elevated highway in 1959, many were already wishing it away.

One was Frederick Salvucci, a city kid for whom the demolition of the old Central Artery became a lifelong quest.

"It was always a beautiful city, but it had this ugly scar through it," said Salvucci, state transportation secretary during the project's planning stages.

Rather than build a new elevated highway, Salvucci and others pushed a far more radical solution - burying it.

Easier said than done.

Those who built the Big Dig would have to undertake the massive highway project in the cramped confines of Boston's narrow, winding streets, some dating to pre-Colonial days.

Of all the project's Rubik's Cube-like engineering challenges, none was more daunting than the first - how to build a wider tunnel directly underneath a narrower existing elevated highway while preventing the overhead highway from collapsing.

To solve the problem, engineers created horizontal braces as wide as the new tunnel, then cut away the elevated highway's original metal struts and gently lowered them onto the braces - even as cars crawled along overhead, their drivers oblivious to the work below.

It was the just one of what would be referred to as the Big Dig's "engineering marvels."

The Big Dig's long history is also littered with wrong turns - some unavoidable, others self-inflicted.

One of the biggest occurred in 2004 when water started pouring through a wall of the recently opened I-93 tunnel under downtown Boston. An investigation found the leak was caused by the failure to clear debris that became caught in the concrete in the wall during construction. Hundreds of smaller drips, most near the ceiling, were also found.

Some delays were unrelated to construction.

The Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge - the project's signature element - went through dozens of revisions as designers labored to come up with the most practical and elegant way to cross the Charles River.

But the project's darkest day came near the end of construction in 2006 when suspended concrete ceiling panels in a tunnel leading to Logan Airport collapsed, crushing a car and killing Del Valle, 39, a passenger in the vehicle driven by her husband.

The tunnel was shut down for months as each of the remaining panels was inspected and a new fastening system installed. A federal investigation blamed the use of the wrong kind of epoxy and the Massachusetts attorney general indicted the epoxy manufacturer.

Four workers also were killed working on the project. During peak construction, more than 5,000 workers labored daily on the project.

The project's escalating budget also became an unwanted part of its legacy.

In 2000, former Big Dig head James Kerasiotes resigned after failing to disclose $1.4 billion in overruns. A frustrated Congress capped the federal contribution.

"It never should have taken so long. It never should have been so expensive," said former Gov. Michael Dukakis, who left office just as major construction was to begin.

For those who grew up with the noise and clutter of the old Central Artery, the transformation of downtown Boston is still a wonder to behold.

The darkened parking lots under the old elevated highway have been replaced by parks, dubbed the Rose Kennedy Fitzgerald Greenway after the mother of Sen. Edward Kennedy, who grew up in the North End. Buildings that once turned their backs to the old Central Artery are finding ways to open their doors to the parkway.

Mayor Thomas Menino, who presided over the city during most of the construction, said that for the first time in half a century, residents can walk from City Hall to the waterfront without trudging under a major highway.

"When I came into office in 1993, people said your city isn't going to survive," he said. "Now we have a beautiful open space in the heart of the city. It knits the downtown with the waterfront. All those dire predictions by the experts didn't come true."

Drivers also give the Big Dig a big thumbs up.

A study by the Turnpike Authority found the Big Dig cut the average trip through Boston from 19.5 minutes to 2.8 minutes.

"Before we drive bumper to bumper, but now they are moving very well," said Gamal Ahmed, 38, who has been driving a cab in Boston for seven years. "Sometimes we are stuck, but not like before."

For Salvucci, who warns gridlock could soon return without a major commitment to public transportation, the Big Dig - for all its whiz-bang engineering - was always second to the city itself.

"The Big Dig is not a highway with an incidental city adjacent to it. It is a living city that happens to have some major highway infrastructure within it and that highway infrastructure had to be rebuilt," he said. "This was not elective surgery. It had to be done."

____

Associated Press writer Rodrique Ngowi contributed to this report.

source: yahoo.com