Happy Herb Discoveries

This week has been a good week in many ways, but I feel like sharing the parts that I think you will benefit from hearing about: My local food discoveries!



Today a gardener at the Plant Science Lab, the greenhouse at Seattle Central Community College, just told me they now have Lovage!!! An exquisite herb, that taste of my childhood summers when it's wrapped around or stuffed into a chicken, served with (Danish, almost skinless) summer potatoes w butter and lovage. I have been missing that herb insanely during the three and a half years I have lived in the US - I'm a happy girl :-9




On top of that, this past Sunday I found what smelled and looked like elderflowers (before the elderberries on an elderbush) A MUST try for homemade lemonade. If you have a bush in your garden or some other place where car traffic isn't too intense, I'll give you the simple and ABSOLUTELY yummy recipe for elderflower lemonade :-D

Lemonbalm is another herb I haven't seen over here that I hope to come across at some point. It's so good w any type of ice cream, on top of most cakes, or as a fresh herbal tea (can be mixed w fresh mint leaves/stalks, too)

As usual I'm happy when people like my cakes, and it appears that especially the poppy seed cake made people happy at the STEM event at the Plant Science Lab/Greenhouse today :-)) Should I consider starting a baking company after all? ;-D

Egypt - a new member of the democratic club?

I get happy chills whenever I see a people rise for the sake of democracy. I felt the same when I saw the youth of America in 2008 and 2009 caring and daring to hope for the first time since the student revolutions in 1968. I couldn't believe for how long too many Americans sat idly when faced with so much injustice that would make any European take to the streets in anger!

NYT Egypt theme
P.S. Funny that the top hitter when searching on Egypt and Mubarak on Google is a Xinhua article. That can only mean tht China is loosening up its tight grip on the flow of free information, and that a huge amount of Chinese are following the democracy movement in Egypt with great interest: Egypt news article from Xinhua

Republican attempts to kill public media is a threat to US democracy

NPR and PBS are the only quality radio and tv stations left in the US that bring unbiased, relevant information to the US citizens. The commercial tv stations no longer bring relevant news or in depth information about issues that have an impact on the lives of American citizens. It's mostly reduced to chatter about celebrities and cooking now. A functioning democracy needs an informed population. I do acknowledge that with voting rights comes the duty to keeping yourself informed about the issues that the democratically elected representatives vote on, but it would be a much more difficult task for the average voter to do without the existence of PBS and NPR. Save public media - save democracy in the US!

Sign the petition

The Capitolist, Politics Daily: "Jim DeMint Introduces Bill to Defund NPR

The Leadership of NOW: Leading With Kindness

A tv -program on PBS about good leadership calls attention to companies of all sizes that succeed by practising good, human leadership. They prioritize openness, inclusion, encouragement and health for their employees, who in return are glad to reciprocate by giving all they've got for their workplace.

The most interesting example is the fashion company Eileen Ford. Instead of rewarding the staff with a raise, she gives them access to yoga, pilates and massage. This in turn leads to the employees being less stressed, healthier and thereby having less absence due to illness. I hope that this will be the norm at all work places in the very near future!

Another interesting example is Google. Here the employees are encouraged to take chances and risk failure, in contrast to the work principles of other big companies, such as Google's competitor Microsoft. This is not a principle uniquely used at Google, admittedly. The new and interesting element of Google's leadership methods is that they incite the staff to spend 20% of their work week on a project they are passionate about, and the rest of the time working on the tasks their boss tells them to work on. Not only does this boost motivation and loyalty; it also gives the management a higher quality of work and thereby a better return on investment on each employee.


The tv-program is based in the book "Leading With Kindness"

Obama's Presidency - Midways of His First term

As much as I'm disappointed in the depth of improvements the American's have gotten since January 2009, one should remember that he did also run on making compromises, reaching across the aisle (even though he's more to the left politically than Hillary). That's what he's doing. Or at least has been trying desperately to do. But the other side didn't wanna play, or in the few cases they do, they play so hard ball, that he should have stopped playing very early in each negotiation. He was trying to stay "kind/polite", because he was also running on not playing the old dog's game of angry partisanship. It's just really hard to succeed doing that, when the other side continues the rough partisanship. I imagine that he himself is bitter about some of the policy outcomes, and sometimes he probably wanna bang his head against the wall in frustration with the results and the political realities he's up against. Could he have done better? Yes. Would Hillary have been better in all matters? Under the current circumstances, with the dirty politics still being the norm in D.C., perhaps. But he ran on changing that game, and people voted for him by noticeable margins to get that chance. The fact that that wasn't enough to make the politicians make balanced compromises in respect for their opponents is just sad, seen from a democratic, idealist perspective. Maybe that just wasn't possible when the vast majority of the current Republicans holding office are much more extremist in their opinions than most Republicans before them. The moderate Republicans (and Democrats) have just about been rooted out of office. I don't understand why that happened, but nonetheless do I acknowledge that it's hard for anyone to make balanced compromises when the opinions are that far apart.

Militias brewing in the US

Scary stuff!! What else is out there?

Washington State Militia


From Craigslist

"Tri City Militia Forming in 2011 (apply within) (Badger Mtn (?))
Date: 2010-11-24, 10:09AM PST
Reply to: comm-6qhcg-2077882748@craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]


Fellow Tri Citians:

I have the same resolution each and every New Year that always seems to go by the wayside by months end due to various commitments in my life. However, this year I find myself jobless and womanless—no better time to rally support for a Tri-City paramilitary group. It is our constitutional right, nay, our duty, to form an arms bearing militia to defend our great, God given land.

I’m thinking that we should set up a fort somewhere on Badger Canyon (due to its advantageous view of all the cities) and start by meeting once a week to secure an arsenal of weapons and food (canned, freeze dried, etc). Our militia will be progressive and all enduring. One need only be Christian and American (or ¾ through the process of naturalization) and be willing to contribute a weapon capable of substantial bodily harm. I currently don’t have a gun due to some past legal issues but I do have a crossbow and some arrows I fashioned myself and a bowie knife that I will contribute to our caché. I have some extra wool socks that can be used as socks or hand warmers during these colder months. I can also probably get my mother to sign over the title to my late grandmothers Kia Sephia which can be utilized as a group car for rideshares, and left on site at the fort for runs into town.

Essentially what I’m looking for right now at this early stage is some people to commit some time to getting the fort and arsenal secured. And to also contribute some items that may help in getting things rolling, like:

Toilet paper
Am fm radio
(oh ill bring my gateway laptop too)
ladder
hammer and nails
wood
those hand warmers that activate by squeezing ( I have poor circulation)
cigarettes
distilled water
and anything else you can think of

Gun control is unconstitutional and we have a right to gather and defend our land. I’m especially concerned about what’s going on over there in Korea which hits to close to home because they are on the Pacific. Mostly, though we’ll gather to tell stories and do some target practice and walk through hand to hand combat. I wrestled in junior high so if anyone can bring knowledge of another martial arts to the group that would be good.

I’d like to get things up and running by Jan 3rd so please email me with questions and ill send sign up sheets to those interested.

Thank you for your time fellow Americans and Tri Citians,
C.M.

* Location: Badger Mtn (?)
* it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

PostingID: 2077882748"

(Source Craigslist)

Other links
Ghost Army Tactical Store

The US Two-party system and "Big Government"

I just saw a note on Facebook where an American guy complains about the two-party system in the US. Among other things he wants to boykot the two parties and replace all current politicians with Main Street people. This, goes his logic, will result in "No union block votes, no quid pro quo, no back room double dealing. Just actual representation of the voting American".

I don't agree. There are policies and there's politics. Since the Greeks invented democracy 2000 years ago there has been back room dealings and quid pro quo's. And that's an acceptable part of the game of politics, I think. Slander and lying is not. I, too, think that two parties is not enough for a healthy democracy. Denmark, where I'm from, has had between 8 and 11 parties in the Parliament (+ small local parties in the municipalities) => Denmark has mostly had minority coalition governments that had to strike compromises with the majority in the parliament. That construction keeps a democracy vibrant, I think, and I wish the American constitution could be changed so that not only parties, but also coalition governments could be allowed.

On another note, being from a country that's founded on Socialdemocratic principles (socialism mixed with capitalism, flexicurity = easy to hire & fire & and a welfare state to clean up after the firing rounds so we don't have too much homelessness and crime messing up our streets), I don't consider Obama a socialist. And even if he's a proponent of "Big Government", I assure you that all countries in Western Europe have by far more positive than negative experiences with a relatively big welfare state/public sector. In return for some of the highest taxes in the world, a Danish citizen gets:

- free health care where a broken arm gets fixed right away. Unlike mine. My husband and I are insured via Microsoft, supposedly one of the best insurances in the country. Still they sent me home from the ER last night in a temporary wrapping, telling me to make my own appointment with a specialist to get a cast or an operation! The place I was told to call, said I could get it fixed on FRIDAY!!!! WTF!?

- free education from 0 grade to university + money to live for while studying AND access to VERY cheap student loans

- plenty and cheap access to child care for all 0-6 year-olds, partly paid by the municipality, partly paid by the parent. In Sweden, it's considered a child's right to be raised/developed by a professional pedagogue when your parents are at work, so they keep the price even lower than Denmark, at a mere $180 a month - including meals and diapers

- public elderly care and protected housing for more independent elders and handicapped

- all kinds of economic support for unemployed single parents, since Denmark values its future - the children - highly and therefore invests in them

- Effective, fast and clean public transport and wide, well-maintained bikelanes, so I don't have to remember where I parked and worry about parking rules :-) i MISS not needing a car!

So all in all, even though the Obama administration has managed to make some improvements in the rights of the majority of the American people, I think there's still a loooong way to go before Americans are fairly protected by strong consumer rights and the freedom to not having to lie awake at night worrying about going bankrupt if a family member gets ill, or if a parent gets unemployed.

Links
http://whatthefuckhasobamadonesofar.com
nprnews: Reich Blames Economy's Woes On Income Disparity
Johann Hari: America is now officially for sale