COFFEE For All Humanity

VIDEO Starbucks Purchasing Policy In Ethiopia
VIDEO Starbucks cont.

These are really interesting videos made by a Starbucks bruista. She had been fired for her efforts to create a SBux Workers' Union, and then they had to rehire her legally. It's very interesting to hear her narration, the corporate Starbucks press conference and the perspective of the coffee growers cooperative in Ethiopia all in this 10 minute piece.

I also want to mention my friend Sine Bernahu whom hand-roasts-over-fire(TM) Ethiopian Tana Coffee in St. Louis. She is a very nice woman, and I believe now is offering a fine line of dips.

Finally, ( at the top) I am posting 2 pictures of my coffee growing friends in Honduras. The coffee growers and workers formed a cooperative called "Cooperative 25 de Julio." They produce certified Organic coffee in the mountains of Las Vegas en el distrito Yoro de Honduras. The top picture is the a processing site, and also a nursery. The bottom picture is an actual coffee plant growing in the mountain-side shade.

New Page Element

Check out the very bottom of the page. I just added a little box from a site called zfacts. It has running headlines and facts. While politics is not at all the focus of For All Humanity, I do think most people are interested in the truth in this region as the identity of global culture is being formed.

Two short videos for your perusal

VIDEO Rep. Charles Gonzalez paid attention when Dick Cheney said, in 1991, that putting a government in place in Iraq would be next to impossible.


In other news, Goalkeeper VIDEO Paul Robinson scored a goal as Tottenham beat Watford this week. The goal was similar to what happened to PNH goalkeeper Sean Brennan as they lost their district game in 2001!

Angolan Oil (and small tangential rant)

Recently, I've been studying the International Monetary Fund, and their role in assisting developing economies in my International Business class. Most countries actively seek monetary support from the IMF and borrow cash on interest to make investments in their economy. Yesterday, I heard on the radio that Angola is actually cutting off all their ties with the IMF, which I found to be interesting. The basic reason that Angola does not need the IMF is oil money. "This year alone, Angola expects to produce 585m barrels of oil, worth over $30bn (23bn euros) - more than the entire Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development aid to the whole of Africa in 2006."
So, I started thinking about how much money there really is in oil. I couldn't help but to think of how oil industry executives have been able to be elected into the US government throughout two decades and reap tremendous profits. Possibly, in the US, we could be facing a recession soon because the past 6 years we've been spending huge money ($409 Billion) to get secure oil reserves in Iraq (aka liberation, or occupation, or creating democracy, or civil war.... depending on your viewpoint). Now, what if this money hadn't been spent in this way?
Well, first of all, people in the Middle East would have a drastically different experience of globalization/Capital Markets/Americanization, that would probably be more beneficial to the US. But, what I am more concerned with, rather than the obvious destruction to our international image and reputation as US citizens, is the effect this spending will have on our own domestic economy.
While we were investing in old oil, because the oil companies are sitting in the White House, we could have taken the lead in the new global economy. Very simply, the environmental degradation and pollution associated with oil (think Exxon Valdez; Global Warming) will not be tolerated by market forces in the very near future. The market is clearly shifting to the type of activities that will allow for the continuation of humanity (rather than the Mutually Assured Destruction that neo-cons are attempting, or assume to be unavoidable). The people of the world do not want to fight. It is the leaders who perpetuate this, but the market forces themselves are overtaking the leaders' infrastructure (i.e. Angola). So, basically the point is this:
The US economy should have been leading the world into new greener, pollution free, technologically innovative investments for the future, but got trapped by the current administration and tricked into a bad, bad investment. The current administration is responsible for so much of the destruction of the American ideal and dream, I can't even blog about it (they are massive liars, plain and simple. It's starting to unravel with Libby convicted, but I pray the truth is revealed.) And, if you feel more "secure" because of the Patriot Act government that spies on its own citizens, and even kills its own citizens, then you should try to remove the fear being thrown at you, from the government we want to trust.

Find a way to see how peaceful life can be.
I am more free than some will ever be.

Waterfalls (a fun little poem)

Waterfalls flow from high to low
Recycling again between above and below
Collecting in pools what a beautiful scene
If you have seen this waterfall you know what I mean
With tender flows hugging the banks and curves
With smooth glistening rock peering beneath the water
The moments and sounds of pitter patter serene
Flowing and flowing on and on
Longer than these words or the computer I wrote them upon