No, it's not appropriate for Alaskans, especially men, to carp and
snivel about Gov Sarah as VP. I see some, like Lida Green, even
trying to rail at Sarah as a ridiculous choice for McCain's VP,
pretending their spiteful remarks are politically savvy. (I hope Lida
Green keeps her promise of leaving the senate due to Sarah's
popularity, but suspect she will now find some excuse for staying on
as Senate President.)

My take on the Sarah factor in today's political scene is that she
represents the very significant women's vote for equal rights,
possibly even ascendancy. She is the shrewd McCain counter to the
Obama-Hillary Clinton gambit, and even Obama admits that. I predict
that in the coming debates, she will star against even Joe Biden,
because she will demonstrate her virtues of sweetness and light, plus
maybe some Alaskan frontier spirit. It's going to be a real treat to
see her up against Hillary, who she has already credited with cracking
the glass ceiling against women in politics. Don't know if the claws
will come out or not, on these wildcats. bookburn

Sorry, wrong address. bookburn

yahoo.com> wrote:

Sure, but how will this affect tea sales?

Which brings to mind a big question... aren't a lot of the big tea growing
regions in Georgia actually in the Abkhazian region? With the current
political crisis there, how is tea production being affected?

I have had a couple very nice teas from the area, and I think they deserve
more attention. They don't seem to have much of an export market.

On 08/30/2008 15:28:15 kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) wrote:

Scott, I think Nigel of Nothing But Tea had a major part in Georgian tea development and production. He also sells some excellent examples through his site, nice full leaf red teas, for example. I drank one this morning, and will drink another later today. I hope Nigel is at hand to answer your excellent question.
Michael

On 30 Aug 2008 15:28:15 -0400, kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) wrote:

Senator McCain has at least one lobbyist for Georgia on his staff, so
maybe that's an avenue or platform for promoting Georgia tea imports,
or something? bookburn

On Aug 30, 7:21 pm, Michael Plant pipeline.com> wrote:

I emailed him about it 1-2weeks back, but he might be on vacation (as
i see on the nbtea frontpage)

Many thanks for the mention Michael, and no, I have not been on
vacation SN, I have been in Rwanda with a client on a quest to acquire
a stunning tea factory there. More details later if we are
successful.
I too have been concerned about the Georgian teas and the tea makers
there during the Russian incursion. My information so far is that
they are all safe. However, all my hand made tea makers are in the
hills around Ozurgeti in Guria District well away from the recent
conflict. Scott is correct that a lot of tea was grown in Abkhazia,
much less so now - the total of tea from Georgia is currently around
3,500 tonnes, down from 180,000 tonnes in 1990. A catastrophic drop.
When I visited factories in Abkhazia in 2003 there was much bomb
damage still evident from the 1992 civil war, and lack of power,
spares, and capital, let alone a market, was deterring even doughty
Georgian entrepreneurs.
Incidentally I gave a well attended talk about hand making of tea in
Georgia last evening at the Georgian Embassy in London to launch a new
brand of Georgian tea - Caucasus Arts' "Natela Gold" and "Nagobilevi
Village". See www.caucasusarts.org.uk The Ambassador was still
recalled in Tblisi but his number 2 was quite upbeat about the ...