News from Mexico, the land I love:
Wal-Mart eyes 'magic' town of Patzcuaro

An idyllic tourist town in the mountains of Michoachan is being targeted for a new megastore and the possibility is already drawing controversy.

PATZCUARO, Michoacan Long before the Spanish arrived, the Purepecha Indians considered this place to be a doorway to heaven, a portal through which the gods descended to earth.
Today, Patzcuaro is one of Mexico's most important domestic tourist destinations, a socalled "magic town" that lures thousands of visitors with its charming cobblestone streets, colonial architecture and a picturesque lake high in the green mountains of Michoacan.

But over the last month, this pueblo of 66,000 people has become something else entirely: the latest battleground in the Wal-Mart wars.

GROWING CONTROVERSY

Just months after opening a store at a highly controversial location near the ancient pyramids of Teotihuacan, the retailing giant has set its sights on Patzcuaro, unleashing a torrent of worry and anticipation in this sleepy hamlet a five-hour drive from Mexico City.

For now, Wal-Mart officials in Mexico say they are only studying the feasibility of a Patzcuaro location.

But Chamber of Commerce officials in Patzcuaro say the Arkansas-based company has already bought land at the entrance to town (as has been widely reported in the Mexican press) and rumors are flying in Patzcuaro that Wal-Mart is in the process of getting the municipal permits it needs to build. With 695 stores under various names, Wal-Mart is the largest retailer in Mexico.

A group of merchants and community leaders has formed to oppose the project and pressure municipal and state officials, who they complain so far have made only vague statements supporting Patzcuaro's cultural tradition. The coalition also plans on linking with the National Front Against Wal-Mart, a Mexico-wide organization formed in January.

The group fears that the presence of the mega-retailer will destroy local businesses, causing increased emigration to the United States, and open the door to more chain stores and the big-box blight of U.S. cities.

"When Wal-Mart arrives, the identity disappears," said Juan David Escarcega Viveros, owner of a school supply and toy store in the city's historic center.

David's store is one of hundreds interspersed among hotels and sidewalk cafes in what were once colonial mansions in Patzcuaro's downtown. Much like Santa Fe, N.M., local law here dictates the appearance of downtown businesses, even regulating the size and color of storefront signs.

FEARS OF CLOSINGS

Elvira Rodríguez, a Patzcuaro journalist with the weekly Punto y Aparte, fears Wal-Mart will put mom and pop shops out of business and ship their earnings to the United States.

"Money comes into Patzcuaro from remittances (from immigrants working in the United States), but it goes right back with Wal-Mart," she said.

In 2002, Patzcuaro joined a list of 17 Mexican pueblos dubbed "magic towns" by the government, in a program designed to promote tourism and preservation. Beyond its colonial center and lakeside attractions, Patzcuaro is famous for its Day of the Dead celebrations, which draw thousands of sightseers to the dance, music and traditional altars of the Purepecha Indians.

Gerry Lewis, a Boston-area psychologist vacationing in Patzcuaro with his wife, said he worries that the introduction of Wal-Mart could mean the beginning of an unwelcome transformation.

"I think that it will ruin this city," said Lewis, relaxing with a book in the town's zocalo, or main square, widely considered to be one of the prettiest in Mexico. "I think people come to Mexico to get away from WalMart and the big stores. You come here for this the little shops." But not everyone is dreading the arrival of Wal-Mart.


LOCAL SUPPORT

Alejandro Vásquez Cárdenas, a columnist in the daily Cambio de Michoacan, says the opposition is led by a loud, self-interested minority and points out that the proposed site is removed from the town's historic center and near several less-than-flattering existing businesses.

Óscar Rodríguez, a taxi driver who makes his living on tourism, said he welcomes the Wal-Mart and the newer products it would bring to town. A Wal-Mart would also bring 100 or more jobs, depending on the size of the store.

If the store comes, Rodríguez said he and others wouldn't have to drive 45 minutes to the state capital of Morelia for the big stores there.

"Every 15 days I pack up the car with the kids and head to Morelia," he said. "We go for the sales." Just south of the Patzcuaro's main square is an outdoor market, itself a virtual Wal-Mart, where shoppers can find everything from avocados and mangoes to extension cords and pirated DVDs. Some indigenous merchants still engage in the ancient practice of trueque, a kind of money-less barter.
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Workers Strike at Wal-Mart’s Mexico Stores

http://walmartwatch.com/blog/archives/workers_strike_at_wal_marts_mexico_stores/

KALBÝYLE AKIL EDEBÝLMEKBaþarýyý belgelerde,Huzuru sokaklarda,Ýsmini kimlik kartlarýnda arayan insan!Sýrtýndaki endiþe çantasý kimlere ait?Neden düþlerin geceden
karanlýk,Korkularýn umutlarýndan büyük?Keþke kalbinle akýl edebilseydin,Ayrýntýlarýn perdelediði hakikati...Sahte korkulardan birer birer kurtularak,Bütün cevaplarý yeniden sorabilseydin!Aðaçlarýn gölgelediði,Gökyüzünün kucakladýðý,Meleklerin önünde eðildiði kimdi?Zamanýn durduramadýðý, ölümün bile öldüremediði,Sonsuzluk yolcusu kimdi?Kimdi Kainatýn tek halifesi?Aslý H.Arusan

To think with a heart
The person who is looking for ;the succes in the documents,the peace in the streets,his/her name in the identify card,Whose bag on your backside that is full of anxiety?Why are your dreams dark more than nights?Why are your fears big more than your hopes?I wish you only think with a heart ,the reality is shadowed by details!I wish you only ask questions anew once
againwithout false fears of yours…Who are you?Protecting by trees from the sun,Hugging by the sky,Bending respectively by the Angels, you,Who are you?Who is the traveller of endless?Who is the Caliph of the Universe?

http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=74986

One of my favorites: Cyclamen in Medicine & Herbals
Cyclamen were put to many medicinal uses during the first few centuries A.D. according to Pedacio (or Padanius) Dioscorides, a Greek military surgeon and naturalist of the first century. He is sometimes referred to as the 'father of the materia medica' and, for more than 1500 years, was accepted as THE authority in botany and medicine. During the 16th century, a traveller in Greece came across some manuscripts of Dioscorides and took them home to Italy to his friend, one Pietro Andrea Mattioli, a prominent physician and writer who devoted many years to publishing various editions in numerous languages of his translations of the Discourses of Dioscorides. In his 1559 edition in Italian, Chapter CLI II is devoted to cyclamen.

Cyclamen has ivy like leaves, purplish, varied, with some spots on the top and white underneath. The stem is about four inches long and bare. On top are the flowers, red, rose like. The root is black, squashed, similar to a turnip.

Among the prescribed uses of cyclamen were the following:
It is said that pregnant women will abort if they walk over it.
If one wears it on herself, it speeds up delivery.
It can be drank to counteract any kind of poison, but especially the sea air.
As an ointment, it is good against serpent's bite.
Taken with wine, it makes one drunk.
It should be taken with wine or honey wine diluted with water for bile overflow in the proportion of three drams. It is necessary, however, to put the patient in a warm place with no drafts and well covered so that he will be able to sweat and the sweat will come out yellow like bile.
The juice of the root can be absorbed through the nose to purge the head.
Applied with honey to the eyes, it is good for cataracts and eye weakness.
The juice of the squeezed roots is cooked until it thickens like honey. The root purges and cleanses the skin; it cures and prevents blemishes and boils.
Taken alone or with honey, it heals wounds.
As a plaster, it dissolves the spleen; it does good to a sunburned face; and it makes hair grow again.
The decoction is good for dislocated limbs, gout, head ulcers, and chilblains. The old oil in which the root was fried makes ulcers heal. One can make a hole in the root and fill with oil and cook it on hot ashes. Sometimes they add Tirrenian wax so that it becomes similar to an oint-ment, especially effective with chilblains.
Somebody says that mashed into a paste it can be used as a love potion.

Many centuries later Gerard in his Herbal says - 'it is reported to me by men of good credit, that cyclamen or sow-bread groweth upon the mountains of Wales; on the hills of Lincolnshire and in Somerset-Shire. Being beaten and made up into trochisches, or little flat cakes, it is reputed to be a good amorous medicine to make one love, if it be inwardly taken'.
Gerard's illustration is almost certainly Cyclamen hederifolium .

Modern Herbals
In modern herbals, Cyclamen are described as a 'Self-esteem builder essence', which allows the person to get in touch with their self-esteem and confidence.

In addition to this rather vague reference, there are a number of more specific applications:
A homeopathic tincture is made from fresh tubers and is applied as a liniment externally over the bowels, causing purging.
There is a story that in the past the tubers were baked and made into little flat cakes which were considered a good amorous medicine which caused the person eating them to fall violently in love.
The fresh tubers, bruised, and made into a cataplasm, make a stimulating application to indolent ulcers.
An ointment called 'Ointment of Arthainta' was made from the fresh tubers for expelling worms, and was rubbed on the umbilicus of children and on the abdomen of adultsto cause emesis, and in the region over the bladder to increase urinary discharge.

Dermatology
There are a number of references to dermatological problems with Cyclamen, but these are rare and no growers known to the author have been effected in any way.

A species of the genus produced a positive patch test reaction in one patient, negative in nine patients (Agrup 1969).
Cyclamen persicum: A positive patch test reaction to the leaf was observed in one patient (Agrup 1969).
Cyclamen persicum hybridum: A woman showed a positive patch test reaction to this hybrid and to Streptocarpus (Agrup and Fregert 1968).
Animals
The popular name 'Sowbread' comes from the fact that the tubers were a source of food for wild boar.
There is a report that Cyclamen are poisonous to cats and fish.

White Magic
In white magic circles, Cyclamen are listed as a plant which brings happiness

In a Europe where an estimated 10 million Euro-Turks will live, will Turkey itself be a part of the EU starting 1 January 2014?

TURKISH WEEKLY

you are welcome!

American fresh yeast cake: 2oz.

Tobacco epidemic that threatens lives
http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=95817

http://www.turkishkitchen.org/turkish_cuisine.html

Britain has rejected a suggestion by the head of the Anglican Church that partial Islamic law be enforced in the country to allow Muslims to resolve marital and financial disputes, rather than through British courts.


http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/C084F110-DFAD-4450-B725-EF25094F3A5E.htm

Archbishop: UK Should Allow Shariah

http://www.salon.com/wires/ap/world/2008/02/07/D8ULP7A05_britain_shariah_law/index.html

Sharia Law in Germany.

A German female judge in Frankfurt has been removed from a case concerning a simple divorce. The woman seeking the divorce had used her Moroccan born husbands mistreatment of her as grounds for divorce. According to German law, violence is grounds for speedy process. According to the judge, the Koran allows the beating of a wife by the husband, and she should have known that before she married the man. Therefore, said the judge, there is no reason for dissolving the marriage. The woman would have to wait for the mandatory year to pass before any divorce could be finalised. The judge also went on to say that both parties had their cultural roots in Morocco, they were both aware of the ruling in the Koran and that "in that culture, it is not unusual for a man to beat his wife". This was her own fault.

The judge was removed from the case after the German magasine "Der Spiegel" published the story.