by connecticutblogger on connecticutBLOG
based on a posting by howie klein submitted to the huffington post
i need not write a thing................connecticutblogger (and of course howie) did it all for me!
Saturday, March 04, 2006
Friday, March 03, 2006
ya gotta love THIS west hartford 'house frau' or is that superwoman!!!!!!!!!!!
my kind o' babe!
Mother Fends Off Carjacker, Follows Him In Car
POSTED: 6:03 pm EST March 2, 2006
UPDATED: 6:48 am EST March 3, 2006
WEST HARTFORD, Conn. -- A West Hartford mother rescued her children after pulling a carjacker out of her car, pushing him away and following him while she called 911.
Police said the car was running in the woman’s driveway when she saw Darren Walters, 19, get into her car and attempt to steal it.
Her two children, both 4 months old, were inside the car in car seats.
Walters, of Bloomfield, had closed the door and was about to leave when she ran out, opened the door and pulled him out of the car.
After she pulled Walters from the car, she pushed him away and there was no further confrontation, police said..........
Mother Fends Off Carjacker, Follows Him In Car
POSTED: 6:03 pm EST March 2, 2006
UPDATED: 6:48 am EST March 3, 2006
WEST HARTFORD, Conn. -- A West Hartford mother rescued her children after pulling a carjacker out of her car, pushing him away and following him while she called 911.
Police said the car was running in the woman’s driveway when she saw Darren Walters, 19, get into her car and attempt to steal it.
Her two children, both 4 months old, were inside the car in car seats.
Walters, of Bloomfield, had closed the door and was about to leave when she ran out, opened the door and pulled him out of the car.
After she pulled Walters from the car, she pushed him away and there was no further confrontation, police said..........
more on 1953 alabama - oh wait, i mean 2006 FARMINGTON CONNECTICUT
i KNOW what it's like to be discriminated against because i have NO penis (well i have one or two but that's another story entirely) but i can never know what it's like to be a woman of color. the damage is done to these four women, but the GOOD part is the parent company now KNOWS there is a problem and is going to attempt to rectify it so it will NOT happen in the future. to the four women - i am truly sorry
Hard Words Spoken, Regretted
By STEVEN GOODE Courant Staff Writer March 3 2006
When Shay Ingersoll walked into a staff meeting at Middlewoods of Farmington after working her regular waitressing shift, she knew she would be hearing a reminder about not wearing long earrings to work and a discussion of the company's proposal to require kitchen-safe shoes.But the 17-year-old senior at Bloomfield High School wasn't prepared for remarks that afternoon at the assisted living community that would leave her crying, angry and looking for another job.Someone had complained about the head scarves worn by Ingersoll and at least one other employee. The dining room manager, who is white, conveyed those concerns."She said there was a complaint about four black girls - and that you're going to be upset," Ingersoll said. "She said someone working on the weekend told her we looked like we were in a gang, and like Aunt Jemima."Ingersoll, who often wore a scarf to keep her hair out of the food she served, said the comments left her in shock. She left the Feb. 25 meeting in tears and headed to her car. The other three women walked out a few minutes later.On the way out, Ingersoll said, she stopped to tell a colleague she had enjoyed working with him. "I just had a feeling I wouldn't be back," she said.That sense was confirmed when Ingersoll spoke later with Shadana Smith, one of the other women, who had called Middlewoods to say she wouldn't be at work the next day. Smith said she was told not to bother coming in ever again, that all four of the women had been fired and that police would be called if they returned.When officials at the facility's parent company, United Methodist Homes, heard what had happened, the company sent letters of apology and assured the women that the company plans to provide cultural sensitivity training for the entire staff. The company also asked them to consider remaining as employees, and requested a face-to-face meeting...........
an odd tale from the highways and byways of connecticut
a woman was pulled over recently because a device (used by the police and dmv) went off alerting the device holder radioactive materials were present in her vehicle. i guess it's cool HOMELAND SECURITY is really doing something but i don't know how i feel about my bloodstream contents being monitored.
......""I was pulled over because of something in my bloodstream," she said. "There are [federal privacy laws], and I pretty much had to tell him I had a medical test. I was going to say, `none of your business why I'm radioactive.' But that wouldn't have gotten me that far."".......
Radar Didn't Get Her; Radiation Did March 3, 2006 By TRACY GORDON FOX, Courant Staff Writer
The large, black SUV passed the woman on the left, abruptly slowed down, and then dropped behind her. Suddenly, flashing red and blue lights lit up her rearview mirror. "Ma'am, you were pulled over because you set off a nuclear radioactive alarm," a man dressed in a blue jumpsuit-type uniform and a baseball cap said in a monotone.
It sounds like a scene from the movie "Men in Black." A select group of state troopers and inspectors from the state Department of Motor Vehicles now wear ultra-sensitive, portable radiation detectors on their belts to check for dangerous materials inside large trucks.But the 45-year-old Suffield woman wasn't hauling nuclear waste. She had been injected with a radioactive substance for a common medical test.......
......""I was pulled over because of something in my bloodstream," she said. "There are [federal privacy laws], and I pretty much had to tell him I had a medical test. I was going to say, `none of your business why I'm radioactive.' But that wouldn't have gotten me that far."".......
Radar Didn't Get Her; Radiation Did March 3, 2006 By TRACY GORDON FOX, Courant Staff Writer
The large, black SUV passed the woman on the left, abruptly slowed down, and then dropped behind her. Suddenly, flashing red and blue lights lit up her rearview mirror. "Ma'am, you were pulled over because you set off a nuclear radioactive alarm," a man dressed in a blue jumpsuit-type uniform and a baseball cap said in a monotone.
It sounds like a scene from the movie "Men in Black." A select group of state troopers and inspectors from the state Department of Motor Vehicles now wear ultra-sensitive, portable radiation detectors on their belts to check for dangerous materials inside large trucks.But the 45-year-old Suffield woman wasn't hauling nuclear waste. She had been injected with a radioactive substance for a common medical test.......
more on connecticut catholic hospitals and the morning after pill
i of course don't agree with governor rell on this at all. some people choose a catholic hospital because it is the closest one or because their doctor practices there or because their insurance will only cover a visit there. if a woman is raped (lets say) the LAST thing on her mind is going to be NO DON'T TAKE ME TO THE CATHOLIC HOSPITAL. it will be TAKE ME TO THE CLOSEST HOSPITAL and if it HAPPENS to be CATHOLIC, please allow me the CHOICE of taking the morning after pill OR NOT.
From the Hartford Courant
Rell Backs Rape Policy
Supports Catholics On Contraception By CHRISTOPHER KEATING And WILLIAM HATHAWAY Courant Staff Writers March 3, 2006
Gov. M. Jodi Rell is siding with the state's Catholic hospitals in the battle over whether the hospitals should be forced to offer the morning-after contraceptive pill for women who have been raped.Some lawmakers and advocates for sexual assault victims have called upon the General Assembly to require all Connecticut hospitals, including the four Roman Catholic hospitals, to provide emergency contraception if requested by the rape victim."I'm kind of comfortable the way it is - as long as I know that there are referrals being made to a regular hospital, for example, which is what the Catholic hospitals do now," said Rell, who is an Episcopalian. "Any hospital that opts out of a service based on religious beliefs already has that right under Connecticut law. The legislature would have to change that, and I'm not sure that they are prepared to do that."When asked if the proposed new law is unnecessary, Rell said, "I don't think it's necessary, but I'd wait to see what the legislature decides to do on that bill."A public hearing is scheduled Monday at the state Capitol complex on Senate Bill 445, but no votes have been taken.A law requiring the hospitals to dispense the emergency contraceptives would conflict with Catholic teachings that life begins at the moment of conception, according to Catholic officials. Lobbyists are working on a compromise that could involve police officers' handing a card to victims, with information such as the rape crisis hot line, which would be an expansion of the practice of informing victims about their rights.In a related matter, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal issued a legal opinion Thursday that all pharmacies in Connecticut that want to do business with people covered by state insurance plans will have to carry the emergency contraceptive, known as Plan B. Those insurance plans cover about 188,000 state employees, retirees and dependents.
From the Hartford Courant
Rell Backs Rape Policy
Supports Catholics On Contraception By CHRISTOPHER KEATING And WILLIAM HATHAWAY Courant Staff Writers March 3, 2006
Gov. M. Jodi Rell is siding with the state's Catholic hospitals in the battle over whether the hospitals should be forced to offer the morning-after contraceptive pill for women who have been raped.Some lawmakers and advocates for sexual assault victims have called upon the General Assembly to require all Connecticut hospitals, including the four Roman Catholic hospitals, to provide emergency contraception if requested by the rape victim."I'm kind of comfortable the way it is - as long as I know that there are referrals being made to a regular hospital, for example, which is what the Catholic hospitals do now," said Rell, who is an Episcopalian. "Any hospital that opts out of a service based on religious beliefs already has that right under Connecticut law. The legislature would have to change that, and I'm not sure that they are prepared to do that."When asked if the proposed new law is unnecessary, Rell said, "I don't think it's necessary, but I'd wait to see what the legislature decides to do on that bill."A public hearing is scheduled Monday at the state Capitol complex on Senate Bill 445, but no votes have been taken.A law requiring the hospitals to dispense the emergency contraceptives would conflict with Catholic teachings that life begins at the moment of conception, according to Catholic officials. Lobbyists are working on a compromise that could involve police officers' handing a card to victims, with information such as the rape crisis hot line, which would be an expansion of the practice of informing victims about their rights.In a related matter, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal issued a legal opinion Thursday that all pharmacies in Connecticut that want to do business with people covered by state insurance plans will have to carry the emergency contraceptive, known as Plan B. Those insurance plans cover about 188,000 state employees, retirees and dependents.
corporate WEAK - day five
western shoshone nation vs the government
the shoshones want 'fair' resolution in court. FAIR? FAIR? c'mon that AIN'T gonna happen
'Western Shoshone said they are denied fair resolution in U.S. courts. '
Western Shoshone urge probe of human rights violations
C Indian Country Today January 27, 2006. All Rights Reserved http://www.indiancountry.com/
ELKO, Nev. - While the United States fails to respond to the United Nations inquiry into violations of human rights of Western Shoshone, supporters have surpassed an original goal of 10,000 signatures to maintain pressure on the government to answer for the harassment of Shoshone people.
''We've got a fight on our hands,'' Western Shoshone Carrie Dann told Indian Country Today, encouraging the United Nations to increase pressure on the United States to uphold the rights of indigenous peoples.
''This is supposed to be democracy?'' Dann asked and described the United States' manipulation of laws that affect American Indians.
''What is democracy? Is democracy destroying the rights of the indigenous people? We don't see any democracy where indigenous people are concerned.''
The United States missed a year-end deadline to answer questions from the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination concerning violations of Western Shoshone human rights and their right to ancestral lands.
The committee issued a list of 10 questions the government failed to answer by Dec. 31. The questions follow a request for urgent action, which, if accepted, would allow the committee to open an investigation into U.S. conduct regarding land issues and the treatment of indigenous people.
Julie Ann Fishel, land recognition program director for the Western Shoshone Defense Project, said Western Shoshone elders see pressure from the United Nations as the only solution; the petition reveals the support of the people.
''It tells the United States the Western Shoshone are not going away,'' Fishel told ICT. ''We will seek out every opportunity and forum to press this issue.''
Fishel said Western Shoshone rights are a fundamental human rights issue that affects all of civil society in the United States. Further, Western Shoshone hope pressure from the United Nations will increase awareness of indigenous rights as a mainstream issue.
Dann and Fishel were interviewed by telephone in Miami, where they are participating in the Seventh Tribal Sovereignty Symposium, ''Sovereignty and Sustainable Development of Indigenous Peoples.''
Siegfried Wiessner, professor of international law and constitutional law at the St. Thomas University School of Law in Miami, said the recognition of indigenous rights worldwide has made tremendous progress.
''There has been a remarkable resurgence of indigenous rights,'' Wiessner told ICT.
Indigenous rights of self-governance, recognition of autonomy and the execution of treaties are progressing worldwide. Indigenous peoples are transcending borders and coming together as never before to communicate, and the mass media is helping advance indigenous rights, he said.
''Indigenous people are coming together because this is the air they breathe, the land where they live.''
Western Shoshone plan to travel in a delegation to Geneva, Switzerland, in March to meet with UNCERD members and present their case and the petition.
The petition states that the U.S. government is violating the rights of the Western Shoshone to ancestral lands - rights recognized by the Treaty of Ruby Valley of 1863. The lands in question cover 60 million acres stretching across Nevada, Idaho, Utah and California.
The United States, without Western Shoshone consent, has allowed gold mining and military testing of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons on their ancestral lands. Further, Western Shoshone said they are denied fair resolution in U.S. courts. .........
US Fails to Respond to UN Request; Western Shoshone Petition for Public Support
.....The Western Shoshone have now launched a nationwide petition calling on the UN Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, or CERD, to act immediately to address the human rights violations the Western Shoshone have long endured..............
.....“This isn’t just about Indians. It’s about everybody,” added Fishel. “It’s about land, clean water, clean air, and protection of significant areas. This is about not allowing the US government to place corporate interests before human rights and environmental concerns.”............
and a few words from ONE OF MY ALL TIME FAVORITE MUSIC MAKERS (yeah, i know she's an aquired taste but i LOVE HER) buffy sainte marie:
(and she is not shoshone she is cree)
.........She disappeared suddenly from the mainstream American airwaves during the Lyndon Johnson years. As part of a blacklist which affected Eartha Kitt, Taj Mahal and a host of other outspoken performers, her name was included on White House stationery as among those whose music "deserved to be suppressed". In Indian country and abroad, however, her fame only grew. She continued to appear at countless grassroots concerts, AIM events and other activist benefits. She made 17 albums of her music, three of her own television specials, spent five years on Sesame Street, scored movies, helped to found Canada's 'Music of Aboriginal Canada' JUNO category, raised a son, earned a Ph.D. in Fine Arts, taught Digital Music as adjunct professor at several colleges, and won an Academy Award Oscar for the song "Up Where We Belong"..........
my country tis of thy people you're dying
Now that your big eyes have finally opened,
Now that you're wondering how must they feel,
Meaning them that you've chased across America's movie screens.
Now that you're wondering how can it be real
That the ones you've called colorful, noble and proudIn your school propaganda
They starve in their splendor?
You've asked for my comment
I simply will render:
My country 'tis of thy people you're dying.
Now that the longhouses breed superstition
You force us to send our toddlers away
To your schools where they're taught to despise their traditions.
You forbid them their languages,
then further say
That American history really began
When Columbus set sail out of Europe,
then stress
That the nation of leeches that conquered this land
Are the biggest and bravest and boldest and best.
And yet where in your history books is the tale
Of the genocide basic to this country's birth,
Of the preachers who lied,
how the Bill of Rights failed,
How a nation of patriots returned to their earth?
And where will it tell of the Liberty Bell
As it rang with a thud O'er Kinzua mud,
And of brave Uncle Sam in Alaska this year?
My country 'tis of thy people you're dying.
Hear how the bargain was made for the West:
With her shivering children in zero degrees,
Blankets for your land, so the treaties attest,
Oh well, blankets for land is a bargain indeed,
And the blankets were those Uncle Sam had collected
From smallpox-diseased dying soldiers that day.
And the tribes were wiped out and the history books censored,
A hundred years of your statesmen have felt it's better this way
.And yet a few of the conquered have somehow survived,
Their blood runs the redder though genes have paled.
From the Grand Canyon's caverns to craven sad hills
The wounded, the losers, the robbed sing their tale.
From Los Angeles County to upstate New York
The white nation fattens while others grow lean;
Oh the tricked and evicted they know what I mean.
My country 'tis of thy people you're dying.
The past it just crumbled,
the future just threatens;
Our life blood shut up in your chemical tanks
.And now here you come, bill of sale in your hands
And surprise in your eyes that we're lacking in thanks
For the blessings of civilization you've brought us,
The lessons you've taught us, the ruin you've wrought us --Oh see what our trust in America's brought us.
My country 'tis of thy people you're dying.
Now that the pride of the sires receives charity,
Now that we're harmless and safe behind laws,
Now that my life's to be known as your "heritage,"
Now that even the graves have been robbed,
Now that our own chosen way is a novelty --Hands on our hearts we salute you your victory,
Choke on your blue white and scarlet hypocrisy
Pitying the blindness that you've never seen
That the eagles of war whose wings lent you glory
They were never no more than carrion crows,
Pushed the wrens from their nest, stole their eggs, changed their story;
The mockingbird sings it, it's all that he knows.
"Ah what can I do?" say a powerless few
With a lump in your throat and a tear in your eye --
Can't you see that their poverty's profiting you.
My country 'tis of thy people you're dying.
buffy, walk the old way heyo ha heya
Thursday, March 02, 2006
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
two words
ned lamont
(NOT liebs!)
Shays Spills GOP Secret Party Backing Off Talk Of Joining Lieberman's Side (secret, my big fat butt!)
By MARK PAZNIOKAS Courant Staff Writer March 1 2006
It's been the subject of whispered conversations among top Republican officials for the past month. Now, U.S. Rep. Chris Shays, R-4th District, has let slip the secret: GOP officials have discussed cross-endorsing Democratic Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman this fall.In an interview Monday with the editorial board of The Advocate of Stamford, Shays said he intends to vote for Lieberman and is encouraging a Republican endorsement of the three-term senator.The remark was not immediately reported by The Advocate, but it set off a flurry of calls among Republicans who have been gauging support for the idea among GOP candidates, including Gov. M. Jodi Rell and U.S. Reps. Rob Simmons, R-2nd District, and Nancy L. Johnson, R-5th District.One GOP operative who was aware of the discussions said premature public disclosure of the possible cross-endorsement probably would kill the idea.That seems to be case......
(NOT liebs!)
Shays Spills GOP Secret Party Backing Off Talk Of Joining Lieberman's Side (secret, my big fat butt!)
By MARK PAZNIOKAS Courant Staff Writer March 1 2006
It's been the subject of whispered conversations among top Republican officials for the past month. Now, U.S. Rep. Chris Shays, R-4th District, has let slip the secret: GOP officials have discussed cross-endorsing Democratic Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman this fall.In an interview Monday with the editorial board of The Advocate of Stamford, Shays said he intends to vote for Lieberman and is encouraging a Republican endorsement of the three-term senator.The remark was not immediately reported by The Advocate, but it set off a flurry of calls among Republicans who have been gauging support for the idea among GOP candidates, including Gov. M. Jodi Rell and U.S. Reps. Rob Simmons, R-2nd District, and Nancy L. Johnson, R-5th District.One GOP operative who was aware of the discussions said premature public disclosure of the possible cross-endorsement probably would kill the idea.That seems to be case......
our state is safe (for NOW that is)
(i didn't post on the supreme court ruling yesterday on this blog or my other one ravings of a semi-sane madwoman on purpose. i would have started foaming at the mouth and i've done that far too much of late)
Connecticut not affected by protester ruling
(Hartford-AP, Feb. 28, 2006 12:26 PM) _ A lawyer for two Connecticut abortion clinics says a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on protests will have no effect in the state.
Jon Schoenhorn says today's ruling will not affect a permanent federal injunction issued in 1995 against Operation Rescue.
Schoenhorn is attorney for the Summit Women's Center which operates abortion clinics in Bridgeport and Hartford.
Schoenhorn says the injunction, which stems from a separate case, was based on racketeering and state claims such as trespassing.
Today, anti-abortion groups e won a victory at the U.S. Supreme Court. All eight justices who participated say federal extortion and racketeering laws can't be used to ban abortion protests.
Connecticut not affected by protester ruling
(Hartford-AP, Feb. 28, 2006 12:26 PM) _ A lawyer for two Connecticut abortion clinics says a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on protests will have no effect in the state.
Jon Schoenhorn says today's ruling will not affect a permanent federal injunction issued in 1995 against Operation Rescue.
Schoenhorn is attorney for the Summit Women's Center which operates abortion clinics in Bridgeport and Hartford.
Schoenhorn says the injunction, which stems from a separate case, was based on racketeering and state claims such as trespassing.
Today, anti-abortion groups e won a victory at the U.S. Supreme Court. All eight justices who participated say federal extortion and racketeering laws can't be used to ban abortion protests.
more on the two nuns who were (allegedly) discriminated against in a connecticut establishment
again, i am going to closely follow this story. i would like to hear some of the other diners interviewed. i don't WANT to (because as i said yesterday this is 2006 connecticut NOT 1953 alabama), but i tend to believe the sisters.
NAACP meets with nuns claiming discrimination
(Windsor Locks-WTNH, Feb. 28, 2006 9:45 PM) _ Two African American nuns have the attention of the NAACP. The nuns from the Sisters of Notre Dame say they were discriminated against by a white waitress at a Ramada Inn.
Now the Connecticut NAACP is asking answers and a public apology.
by News Channel 8's Sara Welch
Scot X Esdaile listened to the two women and backs their story about what happened at the Ramada Inn in Winsdor Locks Saturday night.
Sisters Patty and Josia told Esdaile the same story they told News Channel 8. The two women believe a white waitress ignored them because they are black.
When asked why it was taking so long to take their order Sister Patty claims the woman refused to serve her.
Minutes later Windsor Locks police showed up, saying the waitress felt threatened by the women and asked the nuns to leave.
"This was racism and that's it." says Esdaile........
........."So why wasn't there bad service for everyone? The bad service was directed at these two black women who were escorted out by the police."
The NAACP wants answers from Ramada's management and the nuns also want an apology.
"I am angry and because of what my faith says to me that I have to speak up and say no more."
The general manager of Ramada says when his investigation is over he plans to address the matter publicly. ...............
NAACP meets with nuns claiming discrimination
(Windsor Locks-WTNH, Feb. 28, 2006 9:45 PM) _ Two African American nuns have the attention of the NAACP. The nuns from the Sisters of Notre Dame say they were discriminated against by a white waitress at a Ramada Inn.
Now the Connecticut NAACP is asking answers and a public apology.
by News Channel 8's Sara Welch
Scot X Esdaile listened to the two women and backs their story about what happened at the Ramada Inn in Winsdor Locks Saturday night.
Sisters Patty and Josia told Esdaile the same story they told News Channel 8. The two women believe a white waitress ignored them because they are black.
When asked why it was taking so long to take their order Sister Patty claims the woman refused to serve her.
Minutes later Windsor Locks police showed up, saying the waitress felt threatened by the women and asked the nuns to leave.
"This was racism and that's it." says Esdaile........
........."So why wasn't there bad service for everyone? The bad service was directed at these two black women who were escorted out by the police."
The NAACP wants answers from Ramada's management and the nuns also want an apology.
"I am angry and because of what my faith says to me that I have to speak up and say no more."
The general manager of Ramada says when his investigation is over he plans to address the matter publicly. ...............
corporate WEAK-day three-the YAHOOs of the world (so to speak)
(ya know this is currently happening in china, BUT are WE that far away from it ourselves?) on a personal note, i don't know how much more of this (corporate WEAK) i can take. i end up all messed up after reading all of this and reading all of the other blogs as well (and i'm not even the one going through any of this shite-geeze what a damn grrrl i am). i am very simple minded. i cannot understand why the world has to be this way. i just can't. power and money? that's not a good excuse in my book
Yes, Master How Western companies are selling their souls for a piece of the massive Chinese market ..............Today, China employs approximately 30,000 cyber-police to monitor Web traffic and postings from the country's roughly 111 million Internet users. Writing articles "incompatible with the mainstream ideology" is prohibited. Posting messages that "damage the reputation of the state" can get you arrested. And publishing anything deemed to be a state secret can carry the death penalty. The list of banned websites now stands at 500,000 and growing. Even with the full weight of the Communist regime behind it, the censorship effort would have been futile without equipment and know-how supplied by Western vendors like Cisco Systems Inc., SunMicrosystems Inc. and Nortel Networks Corp. And with the world's three dominant Internet companies -- Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft -- in a blind rush for a piece of China's spectacular wealth, Beijing has found all the willing accomplices it needs to strip the Internet of its anonymity, its freedom, and to turn it into yet another tool of repression. Google and Microsoft have recently launched Chinese versions of their Internet software that block access to topics that offend China's ruling party, such as democracy and Tibet. Yahoo recently handed over a Chinese journalist to authorities after he posted information critical of the government on an Internet message board..................
SHAME ON YOU YAHOO SHAME SHAME SHAME
............But the questions of human rights and corporate ethics in China go far beyond a single industry and a handful of companies. China's emergence as an industrial and commercial power represents the biggest economic revolution in a generation, and in the rush to invest, critics say Western business is selling its soul, one ugly compromise at a time. This month, T. Kumar, Amnesty International's advocacy director for the Asia Pacific region, testified before the U.S. congressional human rights caucus, urging lawmakers to rein in big business before any more principles are sacrificed. "In the pursuit of new and lucrative markets, these IT companies are contributing to human rights violations," Kumar said. "Unless strong action is taken, this type of practice will not only increase, but is likely to move into other areas, which will lead to disastrous impacts on the Chinese people."..........
this is rather dry but it does have a lot of good links and information.
Defining Corporate Complicity in Human Rights Abuses by Bill Baue Business and Human Rights Seminar report maps the landscape of corporate complicity in human rights abuses, and addresses the dichotomy of mandatory laws versus voluntary codes. SocialFunds.com -- Researching and clarifying corporate complicity in human rights abuses is one of five mandates charged to Harvard Professor John Ruggie in a July 2005 appointment as Special Representative of the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General on Human Rights and Transnational Corporations. Helping move this agenda forward in London in December 2005 was the convening of the third annual Business & Human Rights Seminar, organized by the steering committee made up of Amnesty International, Business Leaders Initiative on Human Rights, One World Trust, The Prince of Wales International Business Leaders Forum, Respect, and TwentyFifty Limited. Last week saw the release of a report summarizing the proceedings entitled Exploring Responsibility and Complicity, the theme of the event. .... ......... The Alien Tort Claims Act ( ATCA) case referred to was brought by 15 Burmese villagers alleging that Unocal (ticker: UCL) commissioned Burmese soldiers to protect its Yadana gas pipeline knowing they committed murder, rape, and forced labor. "That ruling stated that complicity involved three things: practical assistance being given to the perpetrator; assistance having a substantial effect on the commission of the criminal act, and finally the knowledge criterion." "But the decision was vacated because the parties settled the dispute, and so it has no current legal standing," ............. ..............Other Seminar participants advanced different modes of defining corporate complicity in human rights abuses, using actual incidents to illustrate the dynamic. For example, Amnesty International Secretary General Irene Khan cited the cases of Yahoo (YHOO) revealing the identity of journalist Shi Tao to Chinese authorities, and Chevron (CVX) quelling a protest by calling on Nigerian Joint Task Force soldiers, who killed one demonstrator. "[T]hese are two cases where the state clearly had the primary responsibility and obligation to protect human rights, but it also shows the kind of complicity issues we are talking about, when a company itself does not commit an abuse, but benefits from an abuse committed by someone else, remains silent in the face of the abuse, or assists, aids and abets the state in committing abuse," Ms. Khan said. .................
Yes, Master How Western companies are selling their souls for a piece of the massive Chinese market ..............Today, China employs approximately 30,000 cyber-police to monitor Web traffic and postings from the country's roughly 111 million Internet users. Writing articles "incompatible with the mainstream ideology" is prohibited. Posting messages that "damage the reputation of the state" can get you arrested. And publishing anything deemed to be a state secret can carry the death penalty. The list of banned websites now stands at 500,000 and growing. Even with the full weight of the Communist regime behind it, the censorship effort would have been futile without equipment and know-how supplied by Western vendors like Cisco Systems Inc., SunMicrosystems Inc. and Nortel Networks Corp. And with the world's three dominant Internet companies -- Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft -- in a blind rush for a piece of China's spectacular wealth, Beijing has found all the willing accomplices it needs to strip the Internet of its anonymity, its freedom, and to turn it into yet another tool of repression. Google and Microsoft have recently launched Chinese versions of their Internet software that block access to topics that offend China's ruling party, such as democracy and Tibet. Yahoo recently handed over a Chinese journalist to authorities after he posted information critical of the government on an Internet message board..................
SHAME ON YOU YAHOO SHAME SHAME SHAME
............But the questions of human rights and corporate ethics in China go far beyond a single industry and a handful of companies. China's emergence as an industrial and commercial power represents the biggest economic revolution in a generation, and in the rush to invest, critics say Western business is selling its soul, one ugly compromise at a time. This month, T. Kumar, Amnesty International's advocacy director for the Asia Pacific region, testified before the U.S. congressional human rights caucus, urging lawmakers to rein in big business before any more principles are sacrificed. "In the pursuit of new and lucrative markets, these IT companies are contributing to human rights violations," Kumar said. "Unless strong action is taken, this type of practice will not only increase, but is likely to move into other areas, which will lead to disastrous impacts on the Chinese people."..........
this is rather dry but it does have a lot of good links and information.
Defining Corporate Complicity in Human Rights Abuses by Bill Baue Business and Human Rights Seminar report maps the landscape of corporate complicity in human rights abuses, and addresses the dichotomy of mandatory laws versus voluntary codes. SocialFunds.com -- Researching and clarifying corporate complicity in human rights abuses is one of five mandates charged to Harvard Professor John Ruggie in a July 2005 appointment as Special Representative of the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General on Human Rights and Transnational Corporations. Helping move this agenda forward in London in December 2005 was the convening of the third annual Business & Human Rights Seminar, organized by the steering committee made up of Amnesty International, Business Leaders Initiative on Human Rights, One World Trust, The Prince of Wales International Business Leaders Forum, Respect, and TwentyFifty Limited. Last week saw the release of a report summarizing the proceedings entitled Exploring Responsibility and Complicity, the theme of the event. .... ......... The Alien Tort Claims Act ( ATCA) case referred to was brought by 15 Burmese villagers alleging that Unocal (ticker: UCL) commissioned Burmese soldiers to protect its Yadana gas pipeline knowing they committed murder, rape, and forced labor. "That ruling stated that complicity involved three things: practical assistance being given to the perpetrator; assistance having a substantial effect on the commission of the criminal act, and finally the knowledge criterion." "But the decision was vacated because the parties settled the dispute, and so it has no current legal standing," ............. ..............Other Seminar participants advanced different modes of defining corporate complicity in human rights abuses, using actual incidents to illustrate the dynamic. For example, Amnesty International Secretary General Irene Khan cited the cases of Yahoo (YHOO) revealing the identity of journalist Shi Tao to Chinese authorities, and Chevron (CVX) quelling a protest by calling on Nigerian Joint Task Force soldiers, who killed one demonstrator. "[T]hese are two cases where the state clearly had the primary responsibility and obligation to protect human rights, but it also shows the kind of complicity issues we are talking about, when a company itself does not commit an abuse, but benefits from an abuse committed by someone else, remains silent in the face of the abuse, or assists, aids and abets the state in committing abuse," Ms. Khan said. .................
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
is this connecticut in 2006???????
i will be VERY interested to see how this one turns out.
Nuns claim case of discrimination
(South Windsor-WTNH, Feb. 27, 2006 Updated 9:24 PM) _ They went out for a bite to eat... Now two Catholic nuns say their night out has turned into a case of discrimination.
A News Channel 8 Exclusive- by Sara Welch
They say it all took place at the Ramada Inn in Windsor Locks.
The sign says welcome-but that's far from how two nuns felt when they came to the Ramada Inn Saturday night.
"I've never had anyone throw a menu at me." says Sister Josita Colbert of the Sisters of Notre Dame
The two women believe a waitress, who was white, ignored them because they are black. And when they asked why it was taking so long to order Sister Patty Chappell claims the waitress refused to serve her.
"And I asked her how can you do that-not serve me-and she didn't give us an answer."
A few minutes later Windsor Locks police showed up and asked the two women to leave............
corporate appreciation week - day two - CHEVRON
(Elaine Gilligan/Friends of the Earth - picture at right)take action
the following is just the VERY BEGINNING of an extensive report by amnesty usa (link on the title above)
chevon in nigeria:
"It is like paradise and hell. They have everything. We have nothing. They throw our petitions in the dustbin. They are the cause of all our problems. If we protest, they send soldiers. They sign agreements with us and then ignore us. We have graduates going hungry, without jobs. And they bring people from Lagos to work here." – Eghare W.O. Ojhogar, Chief of the Ugborodo community, one of whose members died during a protest at Chevron Nigeria’s Escravos oil terminal where demonstrators were assaulted and injured by the security forces on 4 February 2005.1
"At around 10am the soldiers arrived in 15 gunboats. There were about 100 of them. They started pouring petrol on houses. I could not count the number of firebombs used; there were too many. They fired with big guns, but no teargas was used. Two- to three-year-olds and the old ones stayed in their houses, and 12-year-old Lucky was shot dead."
L.D.I. Orumiegha-Bari, Chairman of the Council of Chiefs, following an armed forces raid on the town of Odioma, 19 February 2005, in which at least 17 people died.
and this Chevron in the Amazon – Oil Rights or Human Rights?Texaco’s legacy, Chevron’s resposibility
“Our health has been damaged seriously by the contamination caused by Texaco. Many people in our community now have red stains on their skin and others have been vomiting and fainting. Some little children have died because their parents did not know they should not drink the river water.”
Excerpt: Affidavit of the Secoya tribe given by Elias Piaguaie -Aguinda, et al v. Texaco Inc. - Case # 93-CV-7527.
.......Over the past four decades, a succession of U.S. petroleum companies including Texaco (now owned by Chevron Corporation), Occidental Petroleum, ARCO, and Maxus Energy Corporation, among others, have come to Ecuador in search of oil. Environmental and human rights defenders claim that these companies have left behind a trail of destruction, posing a serious danger to people’s survival............
.............Texaco intentionally dumped more than 19 billion gallons of toxic wastewaters into the region and was responsible for 16.8 million gallons of crude oil spilling from the main pipeline into the forest. By comparison, the infamous Exxon Valdez tanker disaster in 1989 spilled 10.8 million gallons off the coast of Alaska. The report alleges that these actions contaminated both the soil and the groundwater of the communities in the area and will continue to threaten the economic and cultural bases of Indigenous peoples' survival....................
.........On 4 February 2005, soldiers from the Joint Task Force fired on protesters at the Escravos oil terminal on the Delta State coast. One demonstrator, Bawo Ajeboghuku, was shot and later died from his injuries, and at least 30 others were injured, some of them seriously, by blows from rifle butts and other weapons. Security personnel were said to have fired first tear gas, then live ammunition, to disperse between two and three hundred demonstrators from Ugborodo, a small community of the Itsekiri ethnic group, who had entered the high-security facility at first light. Chevron Nigeria, which operates the terminal, said that 11 employees and security officers received minor injuries. The industry-strength boundary fence was cut in five places, and windows and helicopter windscreens were smashed. It was several hours before the injured protesters reached a hospital, a lengthy boat journey away. Neither the security forces nor Chevron Nigeria provided adequate medical care or assistance to transport the injured. The protest was over a Memorandum of Understanding signed by Ugborodo community representatives and Chevron Nigeria in 2002. The Ugborodo protesters said that Chevron Nigeria had not provided the jobs and development projects promised in return for a "non-disruptive operating environment". Until October 2005, Amnesty International had received no information suggesting that a thorough or independent inquiry − to establish what happened, who was injured and who was responsible − has been carried out by the federal government or by Chevron Nigeria. The company said it could not control the actions of the security forces in any way, and did not indicate taking any immediate steps to avoid a recurrence of such a case. 1.3 Death and devastation by gunboat At least 17 people were reported to have been killed and two women raped when members of the Joint Task Force raided the community of Odioma on the Bayelsa State coast in gunboats and other vessels. The attack on 19 February 2005 was ostensibly to arrest members of an armed vigilante group suspected of killing four local councillors and eight others earlier that month. The suspects were not captured but, over a period of a few days, 80 per cent of the homes in Odioma were razed, most of them near the waterfront. Two of those killed, Balasanyun Omieh, a woman said to be 105 years old, and two-year-old Inikio Omieye, burned to death. Three people were reportedly shot dead. Many inhabitants fled the violence and did not return. Over 100 of them have not been able to return. The roots of the violence lay in a dispute between communities, all part of the Ijaw ethnic group, for control of land planned for oil exploration by Shell Nigeria since 1998. Shell Nigeria had identified the landowners as the Obioku and Nembe- Bassambiri communities, but withdrew from the area in January 2005 when it became aware that Odioma disputed its ownership. Members of the vigilante group in Odioma suspected of the killing earlier that month were reported to have been recruited by a subcontractor of Shell Nigeria to be responsible for security in the area, despite their alleged record of criminality. Shell is not known to have expressed concern about the attack on the people of Odioma or their continuing destitution. A Judicial Commission of Inquiry appointed by the State Governor to investigate...................
there really isn't much i can add here. i'm a human being. the powers that be obviously are NOT human. this is OUR earth, they are OUR people. whatever happens EFFECTS ALL OF US ONE WAY OR ANOTHER. i've said it before and i'll say it again. i KNOW these people (the powers that be people that is) have families. have wives and husbands and children and grandchildren. do they NOT want a SAFE EARTH for them? do they not want ALL people treated like they want their families treated? how do they sleep at night? i sure as shite don't know but i DO know i only sleep two or three hours a night............
HOW CAN THEY POSSIBLY PROFESS TO BELIEVE IN A GOD?
Monday, February 27, 2006
this is rather cool - how the connecticut valley formed
A Rift - Not The River - Made This Valley
By HOWARD WRIGHT February 26 2006
The Connecticut Valley is far more than just a river valley, despite the fact some people refer to it only that way.To understand how the Connecticut Valley formed, look at Lake George, located in upstate New York and site of a tragic tourist boat accident in October in which 21 people were killed.One of the nicknames for Lake George is "Queen of the American Lakes," and it is a beautiful lake with crystalline waters. Many houses and cottages dot its Adirondack shoreline. The lake's serpentine shape - 32 miles in length and a few miles in width at most - belies its geologic origin.Hundreds of millions of years ago, the mountains were pulled apart, which created a rift valley. Within the last 20,000 years, water collected in this deep valley from melting glaciers and formed a pristine lake.Lake George actually formed from two rift valleys, a northern one and a southern one, which were separated by a mountain ridge. During the ice age that started about 2 million years ago, advancing continental glaciers bulldozed through the ridge and connected the north and south valleys together, creating a sinuous depression 32 miles in length. Disrupted drainage patterns and melting ice filled the valley with cold, clear waters, creating the lovely deep lake we see today. One striking feature of the lake is the way the mountainsides seem to plunge right into the water. In fact, the Mohawks called the lake Andia-to-roc-te, "The Lake Where the Mountains Close In."The Connecticut Valley also was formed by mountains that were pulled apart when the supercontinent called Pangaea broke up during the Mesozoic Era. North America and Africa had been stuck together for many millions of years, but about 200 million years ago they rifted apart, and for a while our little state was caught in the middle. As if in a taffy pull, tiny Connecticut was stretched in opposite directions until a large block of rock layers broke away from the eastern and western portions of the state, and a rift valley formed. For a period of about 15 million years, the valley floor slowly sank, only to be filled up by river and lake sediments and lava flows. Today, the lowlands of the valley are in contrast to the highlands of the eastern and western parts of the state. The Connecticut Valley is referred to by geologists as the Hartford basin, and it owes its origins to tectonic forces, not to erosion forces. The valley can be traced from New Haven all the way up to the Massachusetts/Vermont border. Actually, this valley is made of two rift valleys (like Lake George). Just north of Exit 17 on I-91 in Holyoke, Mass., is a 1,000-foot-high ridge of rock layers (principally made of erosion-resistant rocks from those long-ago lava flows), which separates the Hartford basin to the south from the smaller Deerfield basin to the north............
By HOWARD WRIGHT February 26 2006
The Connecticut Valley is far more than just a river valley, despite the fact some people refer to it only that way.To understand how the Connecticut Valley formed, look at Lake George, located in upstate New York and site of a tragic tourist boat accident in October in which 21 people were killed.One of the nicknames for Lake George is "Queen of the American Lakes," and it is a beautiful lake with crystalline waters. Many houses and cottages dot its Adirondack shoreline. The lake's serpentine shape - 32 miles in length and a few miles in width at most - belies its geologic origin.Hundreds of millions of years ago, the mountains were pulled apart, which created a rift valley. Within the last 20,000 years, water collected in this deep valley from melting glaciers and formed a pristine lake.Lake George actually formed from two rift valleys, a northern one and a southern one, which were separated by a mountain ridge. During the ice age that started about 2 million years ago, advancing continental glaciers bulldozed through the ridge and connected the north and south valleys together, creating a sinuous depression 32 miles in length. Disrupted drainage patterns and melting ice filled the valley with cold, clear waters, creating the lovely deep lake we see today. One striking feature of the lake is the way the mountainsides seem to plunge right into the water. In fact, the Mohawks called the lake Andia-to-roc-te, "The Lake Where the Mountains Close In."The Connecticut Valley also was formed by mountains that were pulled apart when the supercontinent called Pangaea broke up during the Mesozoic Era. North America and Africa had been stuck together for many millions of years, but about 200 million years ago they rifted apart, and for a while our little state was caught in the middle. As if in a taffy pull, tiny Connecticut was stretched in opposite directions until a large block of rock layers broke away from the eastern and western portions of the state, and a rift valley formed. For a period of about 15 million years, the valley floor slowly sank, only to be filled up by river and lake sediments and lava flows. Today, the lowlands of the valley are in contrast to the highlands of the eastern and western parts of the state. The Connecticut Valley is referred to by geologists as the Hartford basin, and it owes its origins to tectonic forces, not to erosion forces. The valley can be traced from New Haven all the way up to the Massachusetts/Vermont border. Actually, this valley is made of two rift valleys (like Lake George). Just north of Exit 17 on I-91 in Holyoke, Mass., is a 1,000-foot-high ridge of rock layers (principally made of erosion-resistant rocks from those long-ago lava flows), which separates the Hartford basin to the south from the smaller Deerfield basin to the north............
yes it's corporate appreciation week here in the blog-o-sphere
the corporate week idea came from lose the noose and consider the boot
do you know where your chocolate comes from? no? well perhaps from now on every time you buy something with cocoa in it, you’ll think twice about who is gathering up that cocoa and why. i do hope you also think twice about which corporation to buy it from as well
(cross posted from ravings of a semi-sane madwoman)
this (in part) is from the international labor rights fund
Tell Nestle to Stop buying Child Made Cocoa Nestle & Cocoa Nestle USA is a part of Nestle SA in Vevey, Switzerland -- the world's largest food company and also the subject of one of the world's longest running boycotts. For over twenty years Nestle has faced continued pressure from consumers to end its agressive and irresonsible promotion of infant formula - a policy that has cost the lives of over 1.5 million infants around the world. But Nestle's irresponsible attitude towards children doesn't end there. As a leading exporter of cocoa from the Ivory Coast, Nestle has also been implicated in the ongoing abuse and torture of child cocoa laborers…….. ………International Labor Rights Fund has also filed a lawsuit in 2005 against Nestle, Cargil and ADM on behalf of Malian children who were trafficked from Mali into the Ivory Coast and forced to work twelve to fourteen hours a day with no pay, little food and sleep, and frequent beatings………..
this is in part from the milwaukee journal sentinel yes, it was a 2001 article but suit was brought forth in 2005. as far as i know, ALL of these companies are STILL abusing humans (and who knows about animals and the earth)
ADM plant makes Milwaukee a key site in chocolate business By TOM DAYKIN of the Journal Sentinel staff Last Updated: June 23, 2001
The fruits of African slave labor might be found in Milwaukee, home of cocoa processor ADM Cocoa. ADM Cocoa, a subsidiary of Decatur, Ill.-based agribusiness conglomerate Archer Daniels Midland Co., operates a cocoa processing plant at 12500 W. Carmen Ave., on Milwaukee's far northwest side. Like other U.S. and European cocoa processors, ADM Cocoa uses cocoa beans from the Ivory Coast, in West Africa, as a raw ingredient to make chocolate. An investigation by Knight Ridder News Service has revealed that some cocoa beans are harvested in the Ivory Coast by child slave labor, and are mixed with beans harvested legitimately before being sold to chocolate makers. U.S. chocolate makers at first said they weren't aware that slaves - mostly preteen and teenage boys - were used to harvest cocoa beans purchased in Africa. After Knight Ridder began inquiring about the use of slaves on Ivory Coast cocoa farms, however, the Vienna, Va.-based Chocolate Manufacturers Association in late April acknowledged that a problem might exist and said it strongly condemned "these practices wherever they may occur."…………..
and this - please note some changes ‘don’t have to occur until 2008’. 2008? DO NOT BUY CHOCOLATE from companies that use forced labor or child labor. YOU DON’T NEED IT THAT BADLY
ADM targeted in lawsuit alleging forced labor in cocoa farming By Amy Hoak
DECATUR -- Willy Wonka may be having a fine time at the box office this summer, but real life chocolate makers have a federal lawsuit on their hands. One of them resides in our back yard. Archer Daniels Midland Co. is one of three companies named in a federal lawsuit that alleges the industry's involvement in the trafficking, torture and forced labor of children who cultivate and harvest cocoa beans. Nestle and Cargill Inc. also are named in the lawsuit filed earlier this month in Federal District Court in Los Angeles. The lawsuit was filed by the Washington, D.C.-based International Labor Rights Fund on behalf of children who were trafficked from Mali into the Ivory Coast and forced to work 12- to 14-hour days, according to the fund's news release. The children allegedly received no pay, little food or sleep and frequent beatings. It also was filed in the wake of the chocolate industry's missed July 1 federal deadline to develop standards for monitoring and certifying African suppliers, an attempt to keep tabs on the labor practices of cocoa farming operations. ADM's response: These changes take time. "The effort to obtain accurate information regarding labor conditions in the West African cocoa sector and to respond appropriately is complicated and difficult and will take the cooperation of many interested parties over an extended period of time," ADM said in a statement posted on its Web site. "Plans for investigating and addressing labor concerns must be informed by the local culture, beliefs, economics and infrastructure." In the release, ADM also noted that since 2001, more than 1,000 farmers attended training programs for co-operatives in Cote d'Ivoire. ADM personnel trained them on topics of cocoa quality, child labor, working conditions and HIV/AIDS awareness. The industry's efforts weren't enough for San Francisco-based Global Exchange, which joined the lawsuit under California's unfair business practice law. The organization alleges no effective steps have been taken to address the child labor problem and, further, that companies have led the public to believe otherwise. But the response from industry was enough for U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and Rep. Eliot Engel, D-New York. The two developed the Harkin-Engel Protocol in 2001 to eliminate the worst forms of child labor. When the July 2005 deadline for certification standards was missed, the two expressed disappointment coupled with a willingness to allow industry more time to address the problem. Under the Protocol, the industry now is expected to roll out a certification system, which includes monitoring, data analysis, reporting and activities to address the worst forms of child labor -- aggressively in Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana -- by July 2008. Support for programs to improve conditions in the farming communities is also expected.
here is a great reference source CHOCOLATE AND SLAVERY: CHILD LABOR IN COTE D'IVOIRE
and from the global exchange
Harkin-Engel Protocol on Chocolate and Child Slavery Expires on July 1
Human Rights Groups Say the Chocolate Industry Broke Its Promise to Eradicate Illegal Child Labor from Chocolate Production; Call for Legislation Global Exchange/ILRF June 30, 2005 CONTACT: Jamie Guzzi, Global Exchange, 415-575-5538, cell 415-505-7427 Natacha Thys, ILRF, 202-347-4100 ext.110 San Francisco, CA -- July 1, 2005 will mark the expiration of the Harkin-Engel Protocol, a voluntary protocol agreed to by the chocolate industry to ensure U.S. chocolate products aren't made using illegal child labor. Eyewitness reports from the field confirm that the industry has failed to fulfill its promise to monitor and certify by July 2005 that the cocoa it imports is not made by forced child labor. Thus, Global Exchange, an international human rights group based in San Francisco, and the International Labor Rights Fund, an advocacy organization based in Washington, DC, are calling on the US government to step in and end the use of illegal child labor by the U.S. chocolate industry………..
here is a partial listing of SLAVERY FREE CHOCOLATE SOURCES
SLAVERY FREE CHOCOLATE To Support Slave-free and Fair Trade Chocolate The human rights group Global Exchange is launching a "Fair Trade Cocoa" campaign this Valentine's Day to get the slave labor out of your chocolate. See globalexchange.org/cocoa for more information. Also, Steven Millman of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology sent letters to over 200 chocolate companies, asking if they used cocoa which might be tainted with child slave labor. He posted their responses, and his list of best chocolate companies at RadicalThought.org. Here's a short (incomplete) list of companies known to sell slavery-free chocolate and cocoa products:
Clif Bar
Cloud Nine
Dagoba Organic Chocolate
Denman Island Chocolate
Gardners Candies
Green and Black's
Kailua Candy Company
Koppers Chocolate
L.A. Burdick Chocolates
La Siembre Montezuma's Chocolates
Newman's Own Organics
Omanhene Cocoa Bean Company
Rapunzel Pure Organics
The Endangered Species Chocolate Company
Note: No organic beans are produced in Ivory Coast, but an organic label is no guarantee that the product is slave-free. Newman's Own, however, is both. Newman's Own contracts with Costa Rica producers who are closely monitored to comply with labor laws and organic standards. (Source: Food Revolution, by John Robbins)
do you know where your chocolate comes from? no? well perhaps from now on every time you buy something with cocoa in it, you’ll think twice about who is gathering up that cocoa and why. i do hope you also think twice about which corporation to buy it from as well
(cross posted from ravings of a semi-sane madwoman)
this (in part) is from the international labor rights fund
Tell Nestle to Stop buying Child Made Cocoa Nestle & Cocoa Nestle USA is a part of Nestle SA in Vevey, Switzerland -- the world's largest food company and also the subject of one of the world's longest running boycotts. For over twenty years Nestle has faced continued pressure from consumers to end its agressive and irresonsible promotion of infant formula - a policy that has cost the lives of over 1.5 million infants around the world. But Nestle's irresponsible attitude towards children doesn't end there. As a leading exporter of cocoa from the Ivory Coast, Nestle has also been implicated in the ongoing abuse and torture of child cocoa laborers…….. ………International Labor Rights Fund has also filed a lawsuit in 2005 against Nestle, Cargil and ADM on behalf of Malian children who were trafficked from Mali into the Ivory Coast and forced to work twelve to fourteen hours a day with no pay, little food and sleep, and frequent beatings………..
this is in part from the milwaukee journal sentinel yes, it was a 2001 article but suit was brought forth in 2005. as far as i know, ALL of these companies are STILL abusing humans (and who knows about animals and the earth)
ADM plant makes Milwaukee a key site in chocolate business By TOM DAYKIN of the Journal Sentinel staff Last Updated: June 23, 2001
The fruits of African slave labor might be found in Milwaukee, home of cocoa processor ADM Cocoa. ADM Cocoa, a subsidiary of Decatur, Ill.-based agribusiness conglomerate Archer Daniels Midland Co., operates a cocoa processing plant at 12500 W. Carmen Ave., on Milwaukee's far northwest side. Like other U.S. and European cocoa processors, ADM Cocoa uses cocoa beans from the Ivory Coast, in West Africa, as a raw ingredient to make chocolate. An investigation by Knight Ridder News Service has revealed that some cocoa beans are harvested in the Ivory Coast by child slave labor, and are mixed with beans harvested legitimately before being sold to chocolate makers. U.S. chocolate makers at first said they weren't aware that slaves - mostly preteen and teenage boys - were used to harvest cocoa beans purchased in Africa. After Knight Ridder began inquiring about the use of slaves on Ivory Coast cocoa farms, however, the Vienna, Va.-based Chocolate Manufacturers Association in late April acknowledged that a problem might exist and said it strongly condemned "these practices wherever they may occur."…………..
and this - please note some changes ‘don’t have to occur until 2008’. 2008? DO NOT BUY CHOCOLATE from companies that use forced labor or child labor. YOU DON’T NEED IT THAT BADLY
ADM targeted in lawsuit alleging forced labor in cocoa farming By Amy Hoak
DECATUR -- Willy Wonka may be having a fine time at the box office this summer, but real life chocolate makers have a federal lawsuit on their hands. One of them resides in our back yard. Archer Daniels Midland Co. is one of three companies named in a federal lawsuit that alleges the industry's involvement in the trafficking, torture and forced labor of children who cultivate and harvest cocoa beans. Nestle and Cargill Inc. also are named in the lawsuit filed earlier this month in Federal District Court in Los Angeles. The lawsuit was filed by the Washington, D.C.-based International Labor Rights Fund on behalf of children who were trafficked from Mali into the Ivory Coast and forced to work 12- to 14-hour days, according to the fund's news release. The children allegedly received no pay, little food or sleep and frequent beatings. It also was filed in the wake of the chocolate industry's missed July 1 federal deadline to develop standards for monitoring and certifying African suppliers, an attempt to keep tabs on the labor practices of cocoa farming operations. ADM's response: These changes take time. "The effort to obtain accurate information regarding labor conditions in the West African cocoa sector and to respond appropriately is complicated and difficult and will take the cooperation of many interested parties over an extended period of time," ADM said in a statement posted on its Web site. "Plans for investigating and addressing labor concerns must be informed by the local culture, beliefs, economics and infrastructure." In the release, ADM also noted that since 2001, more than 1,000 farmers attended training programs for co-operatives in Cote d'Ivoire. ADM personnel trained them on topics of cocoa quality, child labor, working conditions and HIV/AIDS awareness. The industry's efforts weren't enough for San Francisco-based Global Exchange, which joined the lawsuit under California's unfair business practice law. The organization alleges no effective steps have been taken to address the child labor problem and, further, that companies have led the public to believe otherwise. But the response from industry was enough for U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and Rep. Eliot Engel, D-New York. The two developed the Harkin-Engel Protocol in 2001 to eliminate the worst forms of child labor. When the July 2005 deadline for certification standards was missed, the two expressed disappointment coupled with a willingness to allow industry more time to address the problem. Under the Protocol, the industry now is expected to roll out a certification system, which includes monitoring, data analysis, reporting and activities to address the worst forms of child labor -- aggressively in Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana -- by July 2008. Support for programs to improve conditions in the farming communities is also expected.
here is a great reference source CHOCOLATE AND SLAVERY: CHILD LABOR IN COTE D'IVOIRE
and from the global exchange
Harkin-Engel Protocol on Chocolate and Child Slavery Expires on July 1
Human Rights Groups Say the Chocolate Industry Broke Its Promise to Eradicate Illegal Child Labor from Chocolate Production; Call for Legislation Global Exchange/ILRF June 30, 2005 CONTACT: Jamie Guzzi, Global Exchange, 415-575-5538, cell 415-505-7427 Natacha Thys, ILRF, 202-347-4100 ext.110 San Francisco, CA -- July 1, 2005 will mark the expiration of the Harkin-Engel Protocol, a voluntary protocol agreed to by the chocolate industry to ensure U.S. chocolate products aren't made using illegal child labor. Eyewitness reports from the field confirm that the industry has failed to fulfill its promise to monitor and certify by July 2005 that the cocoa it imports is not made by forced child labor. Thus, Global Exchange, an international human rights group based in San Francisco, and the International Labor Rights Fund, an advocacy organization based in Washington, DC, are calling on the US government to step in and end the use of illegal child labor by the U.S. chocolate industry………..
here is a partial listing of SLAVERY FREE CHOCOLATE SOURCES
SLAVERY FREE CHOCOLATE To Support Slave-free and Fair Trade Chocolate The human rights group Global Exchange is launching a "Fair Trade Cocoa" campaign this Valentine's Day to get the slave labor out of your chocolate. See globalexchange.org/cocoa for more information. Also, Steven Millman of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology sent letters to over 200 chocolate companies, asking if they used cocoa which might be tainted with child slave labor. He posted their responses, and his list of best chocolate companies at RadicalThought.org. Here's a short (incomplete) list of companies known to sell slavery-free chocolate and cocoa products:
Clif Bar
Cloud Nine
Dagoba Organic Chocolate
Denman Island Chocolate
Gardners Candies
Green and Black's
Kailua Candy Company
Koppers Chocolate
L.A. Burdick Chocolates
La Siembre Montezuma's Chocolates
Newman's Own Organics
Omanhene Cocoa Bean Company
Rapunzel Pure Organics
The Endangered Species Chocolate Company
Note: No organic beans are produced in Ivory Coast, but an organic label is no guarantee that the product is slave-free. Newman's Own, however, is both. Newman's Own contracts with Costa Rica producers who are closely monitored to comply with labor laws and organic standards. (Source: Food Revolution, by John Robbins)
four new moose pictures from gail
moose in the mist
she tells me there are four of them. two bulls, a mom and a one year old baby
Sunday, February 26, 2006
i can only shake my head in disappointment
even dodd is supporting liebs (ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww)
Party stalwarts line up behind Sen. Lieberman
By Mark PazniokasThe Hartford CourantFebruary 25, 2006By lining up early endorsements from Democratic leaders and organized labor, U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., signaled Thursday he is taking seriously the anti-war candidacy of Ned Lamont of Greenwich.Lieberman, who turned 64 yesterday, accepted birthday wishes and endorsements from an extraordinary assemblage of political figures, many of whom disagree with his support of the war in Iraq."I think my fellow Democrats, my friends in the labor movement are saying, 'That's one part of a long record of service in the United States Senate. Even if we disagree with him on the Iraq war, we agree with him on everything else,' " Lieberman said.Every statewide Democratic officeholder except Treasurer Denise Nappier, who campaigned with Lieberman the previous day, joined the senator in a union hall in Hartford. Nine politicians and a dozen union leaders took turns singing the praises of Connecticut's junior senator.Rocco Calo, who leads the Teamsters local on strike at Sikorsky, told the crowd that the house of labor does not forget old friends. Lieberman already has walked the picket line with his members and tried to restart contract talks, he said.In an odd way, the endorsement bash was a milestone for Lamont, a Greenwich businessman who is not scheduled to formally announce his candidacy until next month and is unknown to 93 percent of voters."What I took out of it is the fact they are taking us seriously," said Tom Swan, who is managing Lamont's campaign. "They know we will be building a serious campaign."Lamont is offering himself as a catalyst for liberals dissatisfied with Lieberman's support of the war and his cordial relationship with President Bush. No one knows precisely how deep or wide runs that vein of dissatisfaction.
my vote however, is going to ned lamont if at all possible
Party stalwarts line up behind Sen. Lieberman
By Mark PazniokasThe Hartford CourantFebruary 25, 2006By lining up early endorsements from Democratic leaders and organized labor, U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., signaled Thursday he is taking seriously the anti-war candidacy of Ned Lamont of Greenwich.Lieberman, who turned 64 yesterday, accepted birthday wishes and endorsements from an extraordinary assemblage of political figures, many of whom disagree with his support of the war in Iraq."I think my fellow Democrats, my friends in the labor movement are saying, 'That's one part of a long record of service in the United States Senate. Even if we disagree with him on the Iraq war, we agree with him on everything else,' " Lieberman said.Every statewide Democratic officeholder except Treasurer Denise Nappier, who campaigned with Lieberman the previous day, joined the senator in a union hall in Hartford. Nine politicians and a dozen union leaders took turns singing the praises of Connecticut's junior senator.Rocco Calo, who leads the Teamsters local on strike at Sikorsky, told the crowd that the house of labor does not forget old friends. Lieberman already has walked the picket line with his members and tried to restart contract talks, he said.In an odd way, the endorsement bash was a milestone for Lamont, a Greenwich businessman who is not scheduled to formally announce his candidacy until next month and is unknown to 93 percent of voters."What I took out of it is the fact they are taking us seriously," said Tom Swan, who is managing Lamont's campaign. "They know we will be building a serious campaign."Lamont is offering himself as a catalyst for liberals dissatisfied with Lieberman's support of the war and his cordial relationship with President Bush. No one knows precisely how deep or wide runs that vein of dissatisfaction.
my vote however, is going to ned lamont if at all possible
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