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Activism, News, Sports, Human Rights
Activism, News, Sports, Human Rights
Tuesday
07Oct
Soccer is Fueling Child Labor - Video Proves
A recent report by the International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF) and Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA) in India reveals that extensive child labor is being employed in two villages in India to produce soccer balls for use in the United States. You may recall the "Foul Ball campaign" of the 1990's that uncovered similar child labor abuses in Pakistan.
In the Indian villages of Jalandhar and Meerut, as many as ten companies are staffed by workers in these two villages to produce soccer balls in the United States. This issue has recently surfaced in the mainstream media during a September 2008 HBO "Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel" segment (see video link below) that describes child laborers holding soccer balls between their knees and using sharp needles to stitch the panels together, some panels marked as "Child Free Labor."
In both villages, children often work 10-15 hour days for pennies a day, and sometimes no pay at all. The report reveals that the children's hands are marked with cuts and gashes, in addition to poor work conditions that resuls in severe back pain. As the ILRF press release notes: "When asked their dreams for the future, children voiced their desires to go to school or even to get to play with the soccer balls they spend hours stitching."
What can you do?! Don't support corporations employing child labor. The organizations cite many of the companies employing child labor and here is a partial list:
- Mitre
- Regent Sports Corporation (imports Mitre balls to the U.S.)
- Beltona
The ILRF call to action says it all:
The major U.S. sporting goods companies need to be held responsible for human rights violations in the production of their goods. It is essential for the soccer ball industry to again reconfirm its commitment to eradicate child labor from its production. This time the commitment from the soccer ball industry must be more than a piece of paper and must include full transparency of its supply chains, fair pricing to their suppliers, and independent monitoring throughout the entire supply chain.
Another important step is spreading the word about this important issue and sharing this blog entry with others so that they may learn more and take action to stop this abuse of human rights.
Check out the HBO videos documenting the child labor violations.
Friday
03Oct
Is an election October surprise brewing?
McCain has conceded Michigan and is shifting his campaign elsewhere, polls show Obama making significant gains in battleground states, and after the September news bombshell of a massive economic fallout on Wall Street, are the presidential candidates in the clear to avoid an October surprise?!
Think again.
History has shown a last minute, pivotal news story can make or break the chances for a presidential candidate to win an election, let alone swing momentum in the opposite direction. The term of art "October surprise" has come to mean "a news event with the potential to influence the outcome of the election." The reason these last minute events are so influential, is that the ability for the campaigns to quickly reverse the damage that such a news story can bring is very difficult with only a few days before Election Day.
In the most recent presidential election cycle, in a contest between Democratic Senator John Kerry and then incumbent President Bush, two significant events were widely held to be October surprises. On October 29, 2004, Al Jazeera aired a video from Osama bin Laden, where bin Laden takes credit for the September 11th attacks and proclaims that "Your security does not lie in the hands of Kerry, Bush, or al-Qaeda. Your security is in your own hands." With the Bush Administration clinging to the campaign message of being tough on terrorism, this video thrust the issue of September 11th and terrorism back into the spotlight in front of the American public. Pundits were not at all surprised on the affect this had on polling.
In another convenient twist shortly before the 2004 election, gas prices dropped due to Saudi Prince Bandar cutting the price of oil. A 60 minutes broadcast revealed that "Prince Bandar enjoys easy access to the Oval Office. His family and the Bush family are close. And Woodward told us that Bandar has promied the president that Saudi Arabia will lower oil prices in the months before the election to ensure the U.S. economy is strong on Election Day." Low gas prices make voters happy.
Examples of an October surprise scenario also include holding back key information to release at the last minute to shift momentum in an election. Last spring, a former advisor to Senator Clinton stated that "We don't know enough about Senator Obama yet. We don't need an October surprise." Does the McCain camp have something on Obama that the public doesn't know yet? Senator Kerry thinks that if this is a strategy the McCain campaign employs, there would be consequences. Kerry stated:
"I think the media has grown much more suspicious of it because of the recent experiences...so I suspect there'll be a lot of scrutiny and maybe even some backlash."
Senator Kerry has warned Obama and McCain that anything can happen in October and they should be ready. But has the October surprise come and gone? The same AP news story reports:
From Obama's perspective, an October surprise may have come a month early: The turmoil in U.S. financial markets that erupted in September triggered criticism of McCain's leadership and economic understanding, and polls show Obama starting to open a lead in key battleground states. That movement could be reversed in the two remaining presidential debates - or by a true October surprise."
Mary MacElveen has some good advice to the Obama campaign should al-Qaeda release another video or the McCain camp reinstitute the "politics of fear" to gain votes for the election: "The Obama campaign should fire back that in both Obama's speech as well as Biden's acceptance speeches they made specific references to bin Laden and their willingness to go after him. There was no mention of bin Laden in McCain's acceptance speech or Palin's. "
Anger at Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda for the September 11, 2001 attacks and a commitment to preventing a terrorist attack on U.S. soil are not "Republican values" and Republicans and McCain have no right to claim them.
Here's to hoping that the McCain and Obama campaigns don't unleash a failed October surprise and embarass themselves.
in Politics, News, Election 2008
Politics, News, Election 2008 Thursday
02Oct
Congress Votes Tomorrow - Tricky $700 Bailout Manipulation
Bear with me, there's a lot you should know.
For the past seven and a half years the Bush Administration and their followers in the House and Senate got what they wanted. For the first four years of the Bush Administration, when Republicans controlled the White House, Senate and House, they rammed through bill after bill with no consequences and no opposition. The chances of constituent and 
Courtesy: http://www.granitegrok.com/pix/IRS.jpgpublic opinion prevailing were virtually zero. Since January 2007, when Democrats gained control of the House and Senate, it's been more of the same, and in the few instances where Congress has fought back, a veto from the White House scared them into submission.
This week, the public fought back.
Earlier this week, the House of Representatives rejected attempts to posit a $700 billion dollar bailout of the financial industry as the cure all for the economy's problems. Congressional offices in the House reported being flooded with phone calls, emails and faxes with almost 11-1 opposition against the bailout proposal, or what is affectionately referred to as the "No Banker Left Behind Act". Shockingly, the majority of the House listened to the will of their consituents (after all, they are the ones who put them there in the first place!) and the 228 - 205 vote sent shockwaves through the stock market. The Dow Jones dropped over 700 points, the sharpest drop in history and financial markets worldwide followed suit.
In the immediate aftermath, the finger-pointing began on all sides, as did the same scare tactics that have been used repeatedly by the Bush Administration to advance the war in Iraq and numerous other policies. Over and over we hear "we have to do SOMETHING" or "doing nothing would be disasterous" or "doing something is better than doing nothing."
Well this bailout package is NOT the answer. We may need to do something, but this legislation is NOT it. Read more about a better alternative bill released this week.
Consider your sources and who you trust
After the Senate approved a virtually identical version of the bailout legislation last night, everyone is talking about the next House vote on Friday. With a few days to bombard the House with warnings of complete and utter destruction if they don't act, as well as constant reminders of the drop in stocks earlier this week, it wouldn't be surprising if the House reversed course, ignored their constituents and common sense, and passed the Senate bill. As Congressman Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) stated this week in a Tuesday news conference:
"The whole bill has been fueled by fear, and hinged on haste."
Who are House Representatives listening to this week and why would they change their minds, reverse course, and support the bill? Certainly the architects of the legislation want to claim victory -- it is an election year after all. But consider the government voices we are hearing from. How many of these elected or appointed officials have reputable, advanced economics degrees? And who are they beholdened to?
All eyes are on Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, who is leading the charge on the bailout. Some basic, surface research reveals that up until two years ago, he was the Chairman and then Executive Director at Goldman Sacs investment company (now bank holding company), who you might have seen in the news as one of the last two major bank holding institutions left standing after financial house failures in the last few weeks. After millions of dollars in compensation packages from Goldman Sacs, his net worth is estimated at over $700 million dollars. How can a millionaire hundreds of times over, who profited from the very bank he he now trying to save, possibly represent the interests of the American public? Are the voices of his former Goldman Sacs employees ringing in his head as he promotes this bailout?
The House is Subverting Democracy
The recent public outrage and the House's 228 - 205 response should not be taken lightly -- it's been years since Congress has directly responded, overwhelmingly, to public opinion on a congressional vote. And the White House and congressional leaders are scared. So scared, that this week after the House voted down the ill-advised bailout legislation, reports began to surface in the media that the House phone switchboard and Representative websites were so overloaded, that the system could no longer handle requests in peak hours.
Congress released information after the first House vote that due to receiving millions of emails opposing the "No Banker Left Behind Act," they were going to play "digital version of a traffic cop" saying that people sending email messages during peak hours would likely receive error messages and their messages would be rejected to avoid a crash of their email server. In reality, the House email server did not crash during a time they received the most emails -- this policy was instituted late Tuesday afternoon after the flood of messages transpired.
Are U.S. citizens being put on notice that the House of Representatives will be unable to consider public opinion during their next consideration of financial bailout legislation?! I'm sorry, didn't WE THE PEOPLE elect these public officials to represent our interests in Washington?! Isn't that their job?! And why is the most powerful government in the world "suddenly" unable to accept a large volume of constituent feedback at one of the most crucial times in history?!
TAKE ACTION!
Make no mistake: we have alternatives to the Congressional switchboard, and even though the House email and web servers may be scaled back to avoid handling large volumes of messages when the public wants to interact with their elected government officials, we can reach them in other ways:
If you don't know who your House Representative is, check your phone book, there is usually a listing inside with their name and phone number in Washington DC. You can also use the feature on the upper right hand side of Congress.org to look up your representative by their zip code.
I've posted a link on this blog for the House Phone Directory that is also accessible on the navigation bar at the top of your screen. The directions are on the PDF document, but make sure you dial area code (202) 22- before the calling code for your Representative.
If you know who your Representative is, and you can't get through to the Capitol Switchboard or our phone directory link, try these websites where you can get a full list of phone numbers and fax number for Members of Congress:
It's never been more important that you make this phone call. The vote is expected at midday Friday (Oct 3). Start calling and faxing NOW.