Nothing is better then a fine kaffee
Tired of hearing about the Tea Parties? WaPo introduces the “Coffee Party”, which aims to “promote civility and inclusiveness in political discourse, engage the government not as an enemy but as the collective will of the people, push leaders to enact the progressive change for which 52.9 percent of the country voted in 2008.”
All fine. But where’s the liquor-based political discussion group?
How to make banananut coffee cake
Most would agree that our Government hasn't been doing much to endear themselves to their constituents for quite some time. In response fringe and not so fringe groups have been sprouting up all over the place, the biggest of course being the Tea Party movement.
But say you are someone that is not happy with the way our government is being run but don't want to necessarily be associated with the Tea Party lunatic fringe, the leader of which can't even spell his racial slurs? There is a new group that might meet your need to express your displeasure, The Coffee Party.
It all started with documentary filmmaker Annabel Park venting her frustrations on her Facebook page about media coverage that made it seem that the Tea Parties were representative of the “real America.” She vehemently disagreed and her comments on Facebook got a lot of feedback from people who similarly felt pent-up and frustrated.
Their name the “Coffee Party” directly references the Tea Party movement and presents itself as an alternative. Park argues elected officials who represent us should work towards positive solutions to the problems the country faces instead of adopting obstructionist political tactics that play on peoples’ fears and which are driven by deliberate misinformation.
The Coffee Party is currently organizing nationwide. It is stressing the message that its members are voters who intend to hold elected officials accountable to holding up progress. Its members will participate and be engaged in the political process.
In addition, the Coffee Party values diversity, is, itself, diverse and completely comfortable with the changing ethnic demographics of the US. Park argues that politicians are exploiting the anxieties people feel regarding these changing demographics for political gain and that it is wrong.
(Coffee Party USA)
Vermont-based Green Mountain Coffee Roasters is no stranger to community service. Like many other coffee companies that trade directly with coffee growers and their cooperatives, they have championed a number of initiatives to better the lives of those coffee farmers who make it possible for the business to exist. Thus, it’s no real surprise to see that the organization is one of many specialty coffee companies that have contributed more than $25,000 to Grounds for Health, a Waterbury, VT based organization that has been taking on the problem of women’s health since the mid-1990s.
Grounds for Health was founded by members of the specialty coffee industry who traded with farmers in Oaxaca, Mexico. In the course of the relationships that they developed with farmers and others in the small mountain communities, they learned that women in rural Oaxaca suffer much higher rates of cervical and breast cancer than women in the United States. Part of the reason, they learned, is the lack of access to routine health care and cancer screening.
Thus was born Grounds for Health, a volunteer organization that provides cancer screening services to towns in Mexico, Central America and, most recently, Tanzania. Funded in large part by members of the specialty coffee industry, the program makes use of the networks created by coffee cooperatives to reach women in far-flung rural areas with medical services. According to the Grounds for Health web site:
In many countries where coffee is grown, cervical cancer rates are among the highest in the world. However, this disease is both preventable and, when caught early, one of the most treatable cancers.
Our mission is to bring effective cervical cancer screening and treatment to women in coffee-growing communities. We currently work in Mexico, Central America and Tanzania. We use an innovative, affordable and community-appropriate method called the Single Visit Screen & Treat Approach, which has been endorsed by the World Health Organization.
Our work is made possible through partnerships with local coffee co-operatives, national and regional ministries of health, and specialty coffee companies. These partnerships have made it possible for us to bring better and sustainable health care to women in coffee-growing communities.
To maximize donations to the cause, Grounds for Health operates on a volunteer basis. With the exception of the office staff, everyone associated with Grounds for Health is a volunteer. Those volunteers include doctors and other health care providers who travel to the coffee growing regions to provide the screening and health care services. The services are provided in a one-stop treatment campaign as much as possible to maximize the probability that the needed medical procedures will be carried out.
The ultimate goal for each area with which Grounds for Health works is for the area to eventually be able to manage the health care services themselves. This is what happened in Huatasco, Mexico, where Grounds for Health worked for eight years and helped establish a dysplasia clinic and ongoing screening center for the women in the area.
For more information about supporting Grounds for Health – including information about the Specialty Coffee Auction that raised over $100,000 for the organization last winter – visit the Grounds for Health web site at http://www.groundsforhealth.org.
Coffee Liqueur Cookies
2 eggs
2 teaspoons instant coffee crystals
2 tablespoons coffee flavored liqueur
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).
In a small bowl, dissolve instant coffee crystals into the coffee liqueur; set aside.
In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar. Gradually add eggs and coffee mixture while mixing.
Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; stir into the creamed mixture. Finally, stir in the chocolate chips.
Drop dough by rounded tablespoonsful onto a cookie sheet. Cookies should be at least 2 inches apart. Bake for 23 to 25 minutes. Immediately transfer cookies to cooling rack after baking. These keep well at room temperature or refrigerated.
Makes 3 dozen.
Washington Post:
Furious at the tempest over the Tea Party — the scattershot citizen uprising against big government and wild spending — Annabel Park did what any American does when she feels her voice has been drowned out: She squeezed her anger into a Facebook status update.
let's start a coffee party . . . smoothie party. red bull party. anything but tea. geez. ooh how about cappuccino party? that would really piss 'em off bec it sounds elitist . . . let's get together and drink cappuccino and have real political dialogue with substance and compassion.
Read the whole story: Washington Post
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