February 16, 2006

• I'm guessing that those are the locations of some of Walmart's biggest suppliers.
• Peaches and shirts - go figure.
• Damn it! Not chocolate! *curses all the immoral executives that keep her from buying things she wants*
• Still going on? Slave Labor has been going strong since 1986. Allright, allright. Serious time. I get it. *puts on serious face*
• Paper clips????? Are we pasty-faced cubicle dwellers not allowed to have anything? Is nothing sacred?! Paper clips? Really?
• Why wouldn't they use a machine to put those things together? That's just sadistic.
• Thank God I pick my own peaches. Or, more accurately, wait for my in-laws to pick them for me and then bring me large grocery bags full of them.
• Why don't they mention brand names so we know who not to buy from?
• That would be nice. Like Koko said, I can't imagine that every brand of paper clip is made by women in Chinese prisons. Mine look pretty regular to have not been made in a factory.
• according to the pop-up the paperclips (binder clips it sounds like) were sold by Staples but the manufacturer got slapped with $50,000 fine and they cut it out.
• They very nicely list the chocolate companies. I buy Rapunzel regularly. Just finished some. About to eat some Green & Black. Nice, but not as good. You can find them in most health food stores. I get mine at co-opportunity in Santa Monica. Now, clothing. American Aparrel is a clothing manufacturer located in downtown L.A. dedicated to fighting these abuses. They have more and more retail stores and are available online (I think) Not crazy about their designs, but they are *hip* and *sexy* for what it's worth. They are quite Gap-like. The paper clip thing is weird. I have no idea how to avoid that one. petebest said "according to the pop-up the paperclips (binder clips it sounds like) were sold by Staples but the manufacturer got slapped with $50,000 fine and they cut it out." It said they paid the fine. It does not say they stopped their business practices. Fines are slaps on the wrists that most companies pay as part of the cost of doing business. This is why whenever I hear on the news that a company is forced to pay a fine, I am very cynical that anything will change in that case. Bottom line , for me at least, is to support companies that conduct their business in sustainable ways. Check out the film The Corporation. The 2 disc set has an additional 10 hours of interviews. One of the positive companies spotlighted is Interfor. They make carpet tiles. While slave labor is not involved in this industry, heavy pollution is. Interfor is working hard to eradicate that. I'll stop here. If anyone has any questions about sustainable businesses or anything related, feel free to ask me. I make these issues a part of my daily life. Peace.
• Well, I guess I could have actually read that more thoroughly, but that wouldn't have stirred my outrage quite as much. Thanks a lot, petebeast. You're harshing my buzz.
• I'm wrestling with the moral implications of buying thrift-store clothes - by the time they get to me, is the taint gone?
• monkeylice, thanks for that comment. I meant to see The Corporation when it was screening at a film festival here -- I'll have to try and find the DVD now.
• monkeylarf, got any links?
• Urm, here.... http://www.americanapparel.net/ http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0007LEMQA/qid=1140153255/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/103-8722888-3471856?s=dvd&v=glance&n=130 What did you have in mind?
• Oops, wrong monkey+four-letter-word-starting-with-l. I meant you, monkeylion.
• This work "The Corporation" says nothing new. (1) Corporate officers are employed by the owners, and are responsible for the owners investment. Doing anything less than their best to that end is immoral. Hardly a revelation. (2) Corporations survive on public sufferance alone. We, the people, grant patents, incorporation, limited liability, we license the radio spectrum, grant trademarks etc. The importance of this work is extrinsic, it directly relates to the naivety/ignorance of the public. In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king
• Trac, are you sure you didn't impune the monkeyliar? In the land of the Chy, the one-eyed monster is king
• The owner of American Apparel has been hit lately with sexual harassment suits, and he has also fought hard against his employee's efforts to unionize. Here's a link from a feminist blog, and a link from BusinessWeek that says basically the same thing. This article notes that the owner of AA intends to downplay the "sweatshop-free" angle because it's "passe." (I've heard that elsewhere as well.) I'm not sure what to do about this. AA makes good clothes, and I've bought them in the past because they claim to be politically better than other brands. If the claims against him are true, though, I'm not sure I want to give him any more of my money.
• American Apparel isn't entirely without its problems: sexual harassment charges leveled at the owner over the summer. While the work atmosphere there isn't as horrible as the Triangle Waist Factory, it still sounds oppressive. here's some info: http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/2270 http://www.nosweatshop.org/americanapparel.htm
• Another link on chocolate http://www.wildoats.com/u/General100512/
• Hmm, everytime I try this link it's still down.
• Child Labor: The Hidden Ingredient to the Billion-Dollar Chocolate Industry?
• Hershey's, Godiva, Mars Shoot. *files away, looks for free-trade goodness*
• Fair. Fair trade, not free trade. Moran.
• From Sex Workers to Restaurant Workers, the Global Slave Trade Is Growing
• Twenty-seven million slaves exist in our world today. Girls and boys, women and men of all ages are forced to toil in the rug loom sheds of Nepal, sell their bodies in the brothels of Rome, break rocks in the quarries of Pakistan, and fight wars in the jungles of Africa.