(14) It has been cold here for a week or so, with gray overcast skies. We haven't seen the sun in so long, I swear I had forgotten what it looked like. Last night and early this morning, the temperature dropped and we got snow!
By the time I got up and thought about taking a picture, the snow was pretty much gone. But here's a photo of the cedar tree in the back yard.
It seems that the home of falling prices causes other prices to fall. In a UK study reported by the Guardian, large retailers are requiring their suppliers to cut prices. And to do that, suppliers are cutting wages, and increasing overtime, and causing. It seems that for every dollar spent in a Wal-Mart or Tesco, two of Britain's largest retailers, $42 is kept by the chain. Farmers are paid four cents and farm workers get five cents.
Here are some examples from the article:
-At one US-owned factory in Kenya where jeans are made for Wal-Mart, price pressure has led to hourly production targets that are almost impossible to reach. The factory rules allow unions, but in April 2003, when workers went on strike to demand decent pay, most union members were fired.
-In Chile 75% of women fruit-pickers worked 60 hours a week during the season but one in three was paid the minimum wage or less.
-In China, several factory managers admitted to researchers to using an array of tools to pass inspections even though they were violating the codes set by retailers. Factories supplying Wal-Mart, Toys R Us and Tommy Hilfiger were found to have false documents on hours and wages and to coach workers on how to answer inspectors' questions.
Wal-Mart has gone on record saying they have a fair trade policy in place at every step of the trade chain. They also added that prices will continue to fall at their stores! (They didn't. I made that part up. But I saw it on an ad on TV.)
The American public hounded Cathy Lee Gifford to tears because her line was using sweatshop labor. When are they going to do it to Wal-Mart?
I have now seen the latest Pepsi ad about fifty times. You know, the one where a girls tells you she was one of the kids "prosecuted" for downloading songs from the Internet. A point of clarification here, she was not prosecuted! She was sued by the RIAA! Only the State can prosecute. To date no one has been prosecuted for downloading songs of the Internet. Get it right, Pepsi.
The uproar over Janet Jackson's tit flash during the Super Bowl half time event is starting to irritate me.
The first lawsuit has been filed against Jackson, Justin Timberlake, CBS, Viacom, MTV, and the NFL because the "sexually explicit conduct" by the performers caused millions of people to "suffer outrage, anger, embarrassment and serious injury." It is a class action lawsuit which will no doubt ask for billions of dollars in damages, so we might all get a ten spot out of it. I'll look at a boobie for $10 any day!
CBS has instituted a five second delay in its upcoming broadcast of the Grammy Awards. In related news, Jackson has been uninvited, while Timberlake, who actually revealed the breast to the world, will still perform.
The NFL cancelled a half time appearance by Timberlake's 'N Sync bandmates, JC Chasez, planned for Sunday's Pro Bowl in Honolulu, because Chasez's song contained the words "horny" and "naughty." He'll be replaced by hula dancers and local singers.
ABC said it would add a delay for its Feb. 29 broadcast of the Academy Awards. TNT also said it was considering a delay for the entertainment portion of the NBA All-Star Game, featuring Beyonce, OutKast and Christina Aguilera.
NBC cut a scene from Thursday's "ER" that showed an elderly patient's breast, saying the current atmosphere made it too difficult for affiliates to air the segment.
AOL is rumored to be asking CBS for a refund of their $7.5 million they spent sponsoring the half time show.
The FCC is about to tighten broadcast standards and increase the fines for violating them.
All this over a one second boobie flash.
Don't get me wrong. It was a senseless, tasteless, and self serving act. And the boobie wasn't all that impressive. Janet's hot, and all, but it could have been bigger. (We might have gotten $20 out of the class action lawsuit then.) But was it that bad?
Let's see, we had a flatulent horse burn the hair of a woman. (Someone told me, "A horse doesn't have a conscience,"
when I brought this up. Apparently neither do advertisers.) We saw a chimpanzee ask a woman to go to the bed room for a little "ooo ooo ooo, aaa aaa aaa, eee, eee, eee." We saw a kid start to say "Holy Sh--!" We saw ads for erectile dysfunction. We saw Kid Rock wearing a flag as a poncho. And we saw the Panthers squib kick a ball to the Patriots with seconds left in the game, setting up the winning field goal! (Can you tell I was rooting for the Panthers?) Out of all of that, the only thing people seem to be worked up about is a boobie? Our kids can ask us "What is erectile dysfunction?" but they can't ask "What did I just see?"
Sheesh. Sounds like the only winners are all the TiVo owners, and Michael Jackson, who now can bask in obscurity.
We're going to Mars! Not just robots, but men! President Bush has set out a plan to get us there. I encourage everyone to support this plan, regardless of politics. I believe we need to go to Mars, and beyond.
What with the current attention on the current presidential campaign, I thought it would be my turn to rant.
I have long said that there isn't a lot of difference between our two political parties. I found a site that agreed with me!
John Ashcroft scares me. But nothing Ashcroft has done, yet, compares to FDR. This Democrat signed the order that sent thousands of American citizens of Japanese descent to prison camps during WWII. Not one citizen of German descent was imprisoned in the same way.
Truman, a Democrat, used the Bomb on Japan. Reagan was castigated for joking about using the bomb.
JFK started to invade Cuba. LBJ sent troops into Vietnam. It took a Republican to get us out, yet every Republican since Johnson has been accused of trying to create another Vietnam.
Carter denied Haitian refugees entry to the United States, while he escalated the violence in East Timor. Carter also earned his Nobel Prize for his work in Southeast Asia while he helped prop up the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. Even though the Khmer Rouge has dropped off the media's radar, their legacy still affects Cambodia to this day. It was Carter's administration the recruited Osama Bin Laden to combat communists in Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan.
Texas' congresswoman, the celebrated Barbara Jordan, came out in favor of a national ID card.
Clinton abandoned his pledge to allow Haitian refugees (and his promise of a tax cut) almost as soon as he completed his inaugural address. He reneged on his promise to allow gays in the military (which he should have followed through on), his health care plan (which was a bit scary). He bombed Iraq and the Balkans, invaded Haiti, tightened restrictions against Cuba (as well as Iran and Libya), and signed a Welfare repeal bill. He also signed the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act that laid the ground work for the Patriot Act. He also began dismantling environmental laws that, today, we lay at Bush's doorstep.
As Gore Vidal said, "Our only political party has two right wings, one called Republican, the other Democratic." And as Rush Limbaugh said, "Hold your nose and vote."
Me? I'll be supporting the Libertarian party.
I have been hearing a lot about Wal-Mart lately that is disturbing.
One of the first things I read was that seven cents out of every dollar spent in the US goes to Bentonville, Arkansas, the home of Wal-Mart. That's a staggering figure! Take my weekly paycheck, say, about $250. That means about $17 a week of my hard earned dough goes to Wal-mart. (I'm thinking that's low! There the only place in Fredericksburg that sells video games. :)
Then I read about the folks at Vlasic, the pickle people, have had to create a special package for Wal-Mart, a gallon jar. Vlasic had never put pickles into a gallon jar until Wal-Mart demanded it a year or so ago. Then, because Wal-Mart requires its suppliers to reduce prices every year, it had to make the product cheaper than smaller jars available in the supermarket down the street.
For years, Vlasic has been advertising heavily to get consumers to spend more for their pickles that other brands. In one fell swoop, Wal-Mart has undercut decades of brand building. Vlasic is now a "bargain" brand in Wal-Mart.
Also as a result of their "Falling Prices" program, more and more suppliers are having to move their production facilities overseas to keep lowering their prices. Wal-Mart used to be the home of the "Made in America" items. Now, very little of what they sell is made here. While Congress complains about the exportation of jobs from this country, Wal-Mart keeps slashing their prices!
I have heard stories about how Wal-Mart treats its employees. For instance, I had heard that Wal-Mart did not have any full time employees, apart from the store managers. I had even heard about one Wal-Mart manager instructing his employees how to apply for food stamps rather than giving them a raise. I had always taken these stories with a couple of grains of salt. Lately, though, news stories have come out that have made me reconsider.
On January 9, Wal-Mart settled a lawsuit over its practice of taking out life insurance on employees and making itself the beneficiary. Wal-Mart never told workers about the life insurance policies. According the the Associated Press article, "Wal-Mart is one of many large U.S. companies in recent years that have taken out policies on the lives of employees, ranging from executives to workers on the bottom rungs of the pay ladder, with the goal of collecting benefits when the employees die. Companies term the policies corporate-owned life insurance, or COLIs. Critics call them dead-peasant policies. Wal-Mart set up a trust in 1993 and named itself as beneficiary on policies for 355,000 employees." In 2000, the IRS took away tax advantages of the program and Wal-Mart discontinued the program.
On January 13, Reuters ran a story that revealed Wal-Mart had conducted an internal audit of their labor policies. The report indicated that employee records at 128 stores showed extensive violations of child-labor laws and state regulations. According to the story, "The audit -- now under court seal [my emphasis] -- of one week's time-clock records for about 25,000 employees found 1,371 instances in which minors worked too late at night, worked during school hours or worked too many hours in a day, the paper said. It also found 60,767 apparent instances of workers not taking breaks, and 15,705 apparent instances of employees working through meal times." There are currently 40 lawsuits charging Wal-Mart with making employees work without pay through lunch and rest breaks.
Just this week, I read about another group of employees suing Wal-Mart for locking them inside the stores at night while they stock. The only way the employees can leave are through the emergency fire doors, and unless there is a fire, they can be reprimanded or dismissed for using them. Wal-mart instituted this policy to reduce shrink. (Shrink is a retailing term for losses as a result of employee theft.) In one instance, a worker was pinned under some fallen machinery, and had to wait three hours for someone with a key to come down and let EMS in. (I wish I could find that article.) A Wal-Mart spokesman did say that it was common practice in high crime areas, but blamed most of the excesses on "rogue managers."
Before Christmas of 2002, one of these rogue managers removed all the donated toys from a "Toys for Tots" bin in the lobby of his store because it was full. He put the toys back on the shelves for resale. (That means that the store is going to sell some of the toys twice!) When the organization arrived to collect the toys, there were none, even though the organizer of the event had been in the store a couple of days earlier and seen the overflowing bin. The manager explained that he thought the bin was too full and he didn't know when they were going to be picked up. The organizer explained that a full bin makes people donate more, and that the pick up date was on the "freakin' sign, for crying out loud!" (Actually, I made that quote up. She had spoken to one of the minimum wage slaves at the customer service counter and told them she would be back in a couple of days.)
In a related story, Wal-Mart is being sued by a group of illegal aliens arrested at 60 Wal-Marts in 21 states. They were not Wal-Mart employees, but worked for outside cleaning contractors hired by Wal-Mart. The aliens claim they worked for below minimum wage (imagine my surprise at illegal aliens being paid below minimum wage) and worked up to 56 hours a week and did not receive any overtime pay (ditto). They are suing Wal-Mart because they say Wal-Mart had to know that they were illegals and that they were being paid below minimum wage. Wal-Mart says that they hired a contractor to do the work, and he was the lowest bidder. (In Wal-Mart's defense, they are not required to check the work status of contractors' employees. But it wouldn't surprise me if Wal-Mart knew, and actually looked for, these contractors.)
As Wal-Mart continues is inexorable spread across the retailing landscape, destroying countless mom and pop stores, smaller chains and entire downtowns and Main Streets, we'll see more of these stories. With fark.com's help (That's where I found links to these stories.), I'll bring as many of them to you as I can.
Bob and Ann stopped by for a visit yesterday. Bob had a presentation to a contractors convention, so Ann stayed with us to visit. We chatted about the families and agreed we were all excited about Gary coming home soon.
Happy New Year!
Today, Mom, Dad and I went to Austin to see the much ballyhooed White House in Miniature at the LBJ library at the University of Texas. We arrived about 10:30 am, and spent about an hour in line, then about twenty minutes looking at the model.
'Kay. The model is at a 1 inch equals one foot scale. It measures over 60 feet long, and, on its display table, is about six feet tall. The display location at the library did not allow us to look at both sides of the model, which is a disservice, I imagine.
After the museum, we stopped at Matt's Famous El Rancho Cafe, home of the "Best Mexican Food in the World." Trust me. It is. Go there!
During the last couple of years, I have been living in my past as I write Chasing the Sun, fictionalizing my time in Japan. Today, I learned something that took me even further back in time.
One of the benefits of living in a small town is knowing a lot of people.
When I was elementary school there was a lady in the lunch room who, to me, was the symbol of lunch. Mrs. Kuhlman was one of the cooks in the lunch room. I learned today that she passed away.
She lived around the corner from us, and when I would go back to work from lunch, I would often see her watering her yard. Every time I saw her, I was reminded of those elementary school days.
I hope she is working in the cafeteria in the sky, and having a great time.
And so it begins! The Toronto Star recently ran an article report the high cost of drinking to business. "Estimates suggest sick time related to drinking costs the British economy about $4.4 billion, the Australian economy $5 billion and the American economy a staggering $197 billion (all figures Canadian) — roughly equivalent to the previous night's bar tab."
This is the same argument they used about smoking.
The war on alcohol has begun!
The Fredericksburg Chamber of Commerce recently redid their website. Some B&B owners have complained that their hits have fallen because of the redesign. Donna, my boss, suggested I be involved in the process of fixing the problem. So I am on a Chamber committee looking into the concerns. Yee ha.
(10) Here's something to darken your day. From the people who brought you Ruby Ridge and Waco, the director of the ATF is stepping down to become head of the anti-piracy unit of the RIAA. Expect the tanks to roll soon!
BWAH! HA! HA! HA! HA!
Revenge is so sweet!
I once got into an arguement with a NORML geek once about the effects of smoking. His position was that marijuana smoking was not harmful and therfore should be legalized; but tobacco smoking was harmful and should be banned. He didn't want to suffer through second hand smoke. My position was that if smoking one dried leaf was harmful then smoking another dried leaf was harmful as well. I pointed out that cigarette smoke, according to the Surgeon General's warning said "Cigarette smoke contains carbon monoxide." I suggested that marijuana smoke contained carbon monoxide, since carbon monoxide is a by product of combustion. His response, "There are no studies that show that marijuana smoking is harmful!"
BWAH! HA! HA! HA!
Here's why I'm laughing. A study has concluded that moderate pot smokers have reduced lung capacity, and have fewer cancer preventing antioxidant levels.
Now all those pot smoking anti-tobacco zealots have to quit smoking! BWAH! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA!
No. I am not bitter and I don't hold a grudge.
A news story out of Austin reveals that a public policy wonk has decided that raising the excise taxes on cigarettes in Texas to $1.41 per pack (from $.41 per pack) will "reduce smokers, cut health care costs and help finance public schools" by generating $986 million in new revenues.
Bull! It will reduce smokers. Sure there will be a short-term gain in revenues, but if the number of smokers decrease, then the revenues will too.
The Centers for Disease Control released a study that concluded a 10% increase in excise taxes results in a corresponding 10% decrease in consumption.
Meanwhile, the State of Texas has been using its share of the tobacco settlement to fund anti-smoking programs, and these programs have been fairly successful. According to the State of Texas Fiscal Size Up 2002-2003 in 1998 the State collected $623.6 million in excise taxes. In 2003, the expected revenues are $562.6 million. That is a 10% decrease in revenues. A new study by the CDC, trumpets the fact that anti-smoking programs work!
The CDC recommends stiff tax increases, and increased funding for anti-smoking programs.
So here we have a guy that says raising cigarette taxes will reduce public health care costs and fund public schools! Wow! What a great tax!
There is a group called Trust for a Smoke Free Texas who advocate this plan to raise revenue, even though they want this revenue source to dry up! On the page that has a report on this latest tax proposal they show a woman carrying a tray with a bottle of beer and an empty glass. What are they going to go after next, I wonder?
The only way this tax increase will work is if every Texas resident is required to buy a pack of cigarettes every month!
A Federal judge has approved a settlement in a case against several record companies for price gouging. Sony Music Entertainment, EMI Music Distribution, Warner-Elektra-Atlantic Corp., Universal Music Group and Bertelsmann Music Group, plus a couple of retailers, settled the suit without admitting fault. The same judge had earlier approved a $143 million settlement in a related lawsuit that found these companies conspired to fix music prices! And the RIAA wants me to believe that the recording industry is an innocent victim of crime? After their members colluded to fix prices? HA!
I haven't been able to find out the amount of this settlement. But I bet I know how they intend to pay for it!
The RIAA has just unleashed their latest wave of lawsuits, including an elderly couple who don't even own or operate a computer. (Their son-in-law added internet access to their cable bill while living with them to avoid a surcharge for another bill to the same address.) The RIAA has settled with about 220 users, at about $5000 each (on average by my math), for a total of $110,000. Anything to keep that cash stream flowing, I guess.
Okay. You people reading this regularly (both of you) have not been doing your jobs! I asked for donations to my PayPal Account and no one has responded. I even provided you with a list of worthy examples I am following and still nothing!
Today, inspired by the story Lynn Wagner, I am announcing that I will be collecting pennies! Not any specific pennies, mind you, but any penny I can get my grubby mitts on. I want to collect one million pennies. That's right! You read correctly. One million pennies! (I thought about collecting quarters, but I didn't think you guys would help me with that.)
Here's all you need to do: Give me your pennies! Box 'em up and ship 'em to me. Hell! Send 'em COD if you want! I don't care. I want your pennies! I will add a graphic to help you track my progress.
Thanks in advance!
Yesterday, we went to Voss and visited the Turners in their house. Sam and Mary Jo and Darrell and Leslie were there, with all five kids.
I have to go on record and say that the new house is very nice. Compared to their old house, which was 800 square feet, Darrell said, this is a monster.
Sam, Darrell, Rodney and I went for a short walk across the back of the property, reminiscing about all the fun the five of us (including Gary) had. As we neared the fenceline, in a pile of wood, Darrell, a trained law enforcement officer, discovered a little plastic leg.
He quickly went into investigative mode, strung up some yellow tape, and found more plastic body parts. We collected the peices together and were shocked to learn the fate of Darrell's Six Million Dollar Man action figure. On his chest were three or four .22 caliber bullet holes in what Darrell called a very tight pattern. After he was shot, he had been dismembered in a hideous fashion. The body parts were stashed where someone else had stashed the head of a Depression-era doll, complete with painted face. Darrell concluded that the culprit was either him, Sam, or Gary. Investigations are still pending.
Sam and Grant, and Darrell and Cassidy. When's lunch?
Katie's shoulder, Bailey, Garrett, and Amanda
Why does the Left act so much like the Right when it comes to smoking (and alcohol ads, and fast food, and Christmas decorations)?
A recent article in the New York Post reported that the city's health department searched Players Club and found, in the manager's office, three stacked, clean ashtrays. That's it. No cigar or cigarette butts. No matches. No lighters. And no ashes, either.
The club removed all the ashtrays when New York passed its smoking ban in public places. The health department had received a tip that "smoking was occurring in that office." The club now faces a fine from $200 to $2000 as a result of these clean ashtrays simply being on the property. In New York City, ashtrays are like WMDs (see below).
In a related story, Rich Lowry, a conservative columnist, defended beer ads in his latest column. The Center for Science in the Public Interest (Who have also gone after Chinese food, movie theater popcorn, and ice cream. They also created the scale where food is rated on artery clogging fat in Big Mac units.) is backing a sports advertising ban because beer ads are aimed a college students, causing them to binge drink. They reached this conclusion despite the results of a study that said college students rank their parents' and friends' influence over TV ads, and that Neilsen rating data indicates that 87% of college sports veiwers are over the age of 21.
They have also sued the Smithsonian Institute to have Bud Light logos removed from a famous aerobatic plane (hanging in the museum) that was actually sponsered by Anheuser-Busch! Apparently, every kid who sees that plane will then rush out to buy a case of Bud Light.
They are also behind KFC's recent actions in pulling their most recent ads for their chicken, suggesting that eating their chicken, as part of a balanced diet, was nutritious. (Admittedly, when I saw those ads, I wondered if KFC was pulling my leg.) Their hook? Listing the carbs in KFC chicken. Apparently, only beer companies can compete in the carb category; fast food places can't. But I would be willing to bet that eating at KFC is better for you than eating at McDonald's, Burger King, or Wendy's.
The Right, meanwhile, is doing everything it can to stop gay marriages. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) has introduced the Federal Marriage Amendment which would define marriage as something that only a man and woman can do, and eliminate "domestic partner" benefits, like insurance.
The Massachusetts Supreme Court recently ruled: "The Massachusetts Constitution affirms the dignity and equality of all individuals. It forbids the creation of second-class citizens." Unsurprisingly, the Right is having apoplexy.
The Left cannot understand why they Right is thinking about boycotting Massachussets, the same way the Left boycotted Arizona for not creating a holiday for Martin Luther King, Jr., and Colorado for not recognizing Gay marriages.
Apparently, only the Left can boycott states.
In the Early 90s, Rush Limbaugh did some ads for Florida Orange juice. The Left went into full body spasms of rage, and mounted a protest that eventually resulted in Rush being fired from the ad campaign. In the early days of the Iraq war, Danny Glover was doing ads for MCI's Neighborhood. When his views opposing the war were made public, the Right deluged MCI with their righteous indignation, and Glover was replaced. Some Leftist pundit mourned, "So much for Freedom of Speech."
Apparently, only the Left can shill someone's products without their political opinions being a factor.
My conclusion, the Left and the Right are equally intolerant. They both seem the be afraid that someone, somewhere, might be having fun, and it must be stopped. H. L. Mencken called that Puritanism.
Welcome to the new Puritan Age!
I tweaked the site a bit. I looked at it in Netscape, and the outer frames had overlapped the center frame, rendering it unreadable. I found a template that I could adapt that worked in Netscape. I asked Steve to check out the site, and he disagreed with my view of the conflict in Iraq. He wrote a great letter that I am reposting here, with his permission. I have edited it a bit, again with Steve's permission.
--Uh...no disrespect, Everyone has the right to their opinion and here is mine.
I completely disagree on Iraq. I guess the world was going to wait until Saddam got Nukes or until it was too late. Of course the rebuilding isn't going well, but [he] had to go, by any means necessary. I won't see it otherwise and yes I will go over there, say the word, when do I leave? Live in fear or take out an asshole?
Yeah, Yeah, we created him, we funded him in the Afghan war blah, blah....but are we going to do something about it or let him torture people/genocide and pretend it wasn't going on?
I look at it like we are cleaning up our own mess. I wanted to have a party when I heard about Usay and Uday, [the] assholes got what they deserved!
My company's travel agent has a husband over there, in the same hotel that was recently bombed. He is a General and I told her this, (she is against the war too): "Ok, you don't have to agree, but what is the best thing now? 'Ooops sorry we made a mistake, bye' or exactly what Dubya said, 'WE ARE NOT LEAVING!'
I would much rather have a President make a decision and stick with it than change his mind like he did ugly . . .interns. I voted for him and I agree.
Fuck Al Gore, I worked on the last Clinton/Gore Whore campaign and was not a Republican until after I saw how the Democrats run things. I base my opinion on experience with liberal politicians (Carville, Steponafugus, Morris etc. yup I met and spoke to all of them) and the fact that this is STILL the most efficient war campaign in modern history.
Oh yeah one more thing, FUCK FRANCE! Worthless, cowards, almost German speaking bastards! --
Like Steve, I voted for Bush. (Actually I voted against Tipper Gore, who started the whole censorship thing on records.) Steve said we could argue the case all month and our boys won't come home. He's right, of course.
Yeah, we'll disagree on Iraq. But that's cool. If everyone thought the same way, we'd be living in the Middle East and enlisting in Al Qaeda.
