Cocoa, Slavery and Child Labor

In a recent post on the connection between "Big Chocolate" and slavery, Mark Shea stated that "Hershey, Mars, Nestle, and Cadbury exploit child slavery in the chocolate trade". I've heard of the use of slavery and child labor in the production of chocolate - and coffee - and I seem to recall reading that Cadbury has been involved in the fairtrade movement for a number of years. Unlike Mr. Shea, I'm a bit skeptical about everything I read on the Internet. It's possible that Mr Shea accepted the information given in the article he linked to because it fits the narrative that all corporations are evil.

A quick search lead me to this statement on the fairtrade.org.uk website informing us that "Cadbury Dairy Milk has been Fairtrade since 2009 and was the first mainstream chocolate brand to become Fairtrade certified. Cadbury and Fairtrade are now building on this relationship through a global partnership between Cocoa Life and Fairtrade". Looking further, I found out that Mars Chocolate is working with fair trade certifiers through its Sustainable Cocoa Initiative to certify its products. If the information I've come across is true, Cadbury and Mars don't belong on the list with Hershey and Nestlé.

Shea is correct in putting Nestlé on the list of companies supporting slavery and child labor as well as the Hershey company. My main problem with Mr Shea's post is his immediate attack on conservative, pro-life Catholics. He believes that those in the pro-life camp will defend "Big Chocolate" and turn a blind eye to the slavery and exploitation found in the cocoa business.

Reading his post, I get the impression that Mr Shea has only recently discovered the slavery component to cocoa and may have feelings of guilt about his love of chocolate. Perhaps his attack on pro-life Catholics helps to ease his conscience.

Dumaguete's New McDonald's

Over the past few weeks, I've seen advertising banners attached to light poles, announcing a new McDonald's opening soon in Dumaguete. According to the banners, the Mickey D's will be located in Dumaguete Business Park. I had no idea where the business park was located, but most of the banners that I saw where located not far from Dumaguete's new mall (which hasn't opened yet) so I made the erroneous assumption that the McDonald's would be located inside the mall.

This week, I was disabused of that notion, when I passed the construction site of the fast food joint. It will actually be located within walking distance of the Ceres Bus Terminal on Calindagan Road.

Hack Update

In a post from last Thursday - 1st in SEO.......1st in Racism?- I wrote of one company's planned to end all business relations with Republican and/or Trump supporters. As I wrote in that post, I disagree with the owner's view that Trump is a racist or a fascist, but I felt he was free to do business with whomever he wants.

I also mentioned in the post that portions of 1st in SEO's on line profile had been hacked. It appears that those hacks have been dealt with, although there is still something curious going on with the company's presence on Google Maps.

The first two photos below are from my earlier post, showing that the name "1st in SEO" had been exchanged with "1st in racism". The third photo shows that all references to the company had been removed from the map of Albuquerque. The 4th photo shows the situation as it now stands. When going to the "contact us" section, the Google Map shows the location for "SEO Miami - IPXSEO.COM". Whether this is intentional on 1st in SEO part, or another hack is something I can't address.

1st in SEO.......1st in Racism?

Back in the day when businesses owned by Christians were refusing to cater to - or bake cakes for - same sex "weddings", I supported the right of the businesses to refuse service to customers whose values did not agree with theirs. Many were comparing the refusal of Christian bakers to bake wedding cakes for such ceremonies as the same as other bakers in the past, not wanting to participate in bi-racial wedding ceremonies.

I pointed out that, as someone who is in a bi-racial marriage, I would want the business who did not accept our marriage to make their views public. I wouldn't want to do business with someone who objected to my marriage and I couldn't understand why a same-sex couple would want to force someone, who objected to their marriage, to take their money. It made no sense to me.

When I learned of the owner of an Albuquerque NM-based Internet marketing company, 1st in SEO and his refusal to do business with Republicans and/or Trump supporters, I agreed that it was his right to do business with whomever he wants, and if he didn't like Trump, then OK by me.

I personally wouldn't do business with Matthew Blanchfield or his company - not because I'm a big Trump supporter, but I do believe that Blanchfield's characterization of Trump as a racist and a fascist is completely wrong.

Personally, I believe Matthew Blanchfield has a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome, but that's his problem, not mine.

I went to the 1st in SEO website to read Blanchfield's letter first hand. While at the website, I did a bit of exploring and discovered that someone has hacked areas of the company's profile.

As can be seen from the screen shots below, someone had changed the company's name on Google Maps from 1st in SEO to 1st in racism. The Google Plus name was altered to 1st in racism as well.

At some point after I took the screen shots, someone at the company had corrected the hack. But, screen shots are forever. I had nothing to do with the hack, but I believe the screen shots should remain available on the Internet for all to see.

Deadly Air Conditioners?

Evidently, at some point in the past, I must have signed a petition at the website, change.org. I have a vague memory of having done so, although the subject matter of that particular petition is lost to me. I do, however recall that my signing the petition was done in jest.

I bring this up because, as a result of my having signed a petition in the past, I will, from time to time receive an email from change.org letting me know of a trending petition which they feel I might wish to sign. They're usually wrong.

When I received the latest email from the website, I knew immediately that the petition must concern, in some way or other, global warming AKA Climate Change as there was the mandatory polar bear jpg which, by law, must accompany anything dealing with anthropogenic climate change.

This petition comes from Kay Tea of Seattle Washington and concerns air conditioning.

Kay Tea isn't against air conditioning, per se, but merely against air conditioning units. She admits that cooler room temperatures save the lives of "children, the elderly,[and] pets" and therefore, AC isn't completely evil, but the AC units currently in use world wide are inefficient, and "spew 100 million tons of carbon dioxide into the air each year". Some, she maintains, "contain (and leak) refrigerants called hydrofluorocarbons, a very potent and long-lasting greenhouse gas".

If the petition put forth nothing more radical than that, I might agree. But of course, Kay Tea couldn't leave it there. She had to put forward a GOVERNMENT SOLUTION. You know, cuz Big Government is the solution to every problem we face.

Kay Tea believes that the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Budget and the U.S. Senate Committee on the Budget must use the power of the purse to make air conditioning innovation a top priority. It never occurred to her that there is nothing less efficient than government. It doesn't appear to have crossed her mind that letting the free market take care of this would be the best way to approach this (or any) problem. She need look no further than the failure of federal subsidies for alternative energy sources, like wind and solar, to see examples as to why her idea isn't the best solution.

Living in Philippines, where the four seasons are Hot,Hot,Hot and Hot, I am a....uh.....fan of air conditioning. I am not a fan of increased global temperatures or higher electrical bills. If Kay Tea can find a way to change the laws of thermodynamics and make air conditioning cheap and environmentally friendly, I'd be behind her 100%. I don't think, however, that the answer lies with the United States Government.

Krispy Kreme in Cebu

Early tomorrow morning, my wife and I will be traveling to Cebu city on business. While we're there, we hope to have time to stop at a Krispy Kreme donut shop before heading back home. There is more than one Krispy Kreme location in Cebu, and one is about 10 minutes from the hotel where we normally stay while in that city.

We have two full scale Dunkin' Donuts in Dumaguete, but no Krispy Kreme. If we are able to buy some of their donuts tomorrow, it will be the first time we'll have eaten Krispy Kreme donuts since arrival in Philippines over two years ago. As much as I love Dunkin' Dunkins, I wish we could magically swap one Dumaguete Dunkin' Donuts for one of Cebu's Krispy Kreme.

I'll be sure to post an update on this extremely important topic when we return.

Heathcliff's Filet-O-Fish Adventure

In a recent posting on his blog, Village Idiot Savant 2016, my friend Dom tells of his less than satisfying Filet-o-Fish sandwich from McDonald’s. He had been rushed that Friday morning and unable to prepare a packed lunch, and it being a Friday during Lent, his choices were very limited.

Dom's mentioning of the Filet-o-Fish sandwich brought to my mind a story told to me by an American friend of mine. Rather than use my friend's real name, I'll substitute the name Heathcliff - not because my American friend is particularly sinister, but I've just finished reading Wuthering Heights and the name is fresh in my mind.

My friend Heathcliff is married to a Filipina from Cebu. At the time this incident took place, Heathcliff's father-in-law, "Pops", had been living with Heathcliff and his wife - originally planning to make the U.S. his home. However, for reasons unknown to me, Pops living there was not working out and he was to return to Cebu.

It was decided that Pops would not be able to fly from Atlanta to Cebu on his own, and as Heathcliff's wife, Gertrude would not be able to take time off from work, Heathcliff would accompany Pops and stay a few weeks at a resort before returning to the U.S..

After seeing Pops home safely, Heathcliff checked into the resort, where, from what I've been told, proceeded to do absolutely nothing for two weeks. The only things he found interesting enough to relate to us, was his regrettable experience with Filipino spaghetti and his decision to live solely on McDonald's Filet-o-Fish sandwiches for the duration of his stay in Cebu; a filetofishetarian, if you will.

In relating this tale, Heathcliff did not explain to me why he did not alter his diet with the occasional Quarter Pounder w/cheese or Big Mac.

After about a week of Heathcliff's Filet-o-Fish diet, the manager of the McDonald's asked Heathcliff  how long he was planning on staying in the area, as they had served more Filet-o-Fish to my friend than they had ever sold. It was a record for them, and the manager needed to know how much more of the frozen fish fillets he would need to order to keep up with Heathcliff's consumption.

Unfortunately, there is no spectacular ending to this story, other than the fact that my friend Heathcliff lived to tell about it.

Let Them Eat Cannoli.

I have my morning rituals.

First, I get coffee into my system as quickly as I can. I've begun a daily walking regiment with my son, and if he is already awake, we'll head out on our morning constitutional, as they used to say. If he's still asleep, I'll have a second cup.

When we've returned home, I'll shower, have breakfast and then head for the Internet.

I have quite a few news sites that I visit every morning - a list of these news source can be seen on the right side of this blog. In addition to these news sites, there are a few blogs which I go to every morning.

This trip around the internet, is simply my way of coming upon something worst writing about.

One of the blogs I frequent is Mark Shea's, Catholic and Enjoying It. I can't say that I agree with Mr Shea on everything.....or even most things. We agree on the issues of torture and capital punishment, to name two.

Two areas where Shea and I disagree are 1) Michael Voris and 2) minimum wage. I don't believe I'm revealing any secret when I say that Shea really dislikes Voris, where as, Voris can caught me among his many fans.

Shea has been vocal in his support of increasing minimum wage. I am at an age and stage in my life where minimum wage does not affect me personally, but I can remember those days, long ago when I was trying to get by on the small amount of money such a wage provides.

I am against any increase in the minimum wage, not because I dislike the poor wage earner, but on the contrary. I am against raising minimum wage because such increases actually harm the very folks the increases are intended to help.

One example of how these increases arm the "little guy" is this story about a pizzeria in Seattle closing up shop due to the increase in the minimum wage in that city.

It may be one of the first casualties of Seattle’s new minimum wage law. The owner of Z Pizza says she’s being forced to close her doors, because she can’t afford the higher labor costs.
Devin Jeran was happy to get a raise, when Seattle’s minimum wage went up to $11 an hour at the beginning of the month.
“I definitely recognize that having more money is important,” he says, “especially in a city as expensive as this one.”
Unfortunately, he’ll only enjoy that bigger paycheck for a few more months. In August, his boss is shutting down Z Pizza and putting him and his 11 co-workers out of work.

Mark Shea lives in Seattle; I'm certain that he is -or soon will be - familiar with this story. He isn't shy about posting stories which he believes supports his views on minimum wage. I'd like to see him post something dealing with the other side, although I don't suspect he will. I'm afraid it's highly unlikely he'll mention the closing of Z Pizza.

Helm's -a- Poppin'

Yes, Helm's-A-Poppin' alright, but I'm not referring to the 1960's era spy movies starring Dean Martin, but rather, the new Special Operations exercise scheduled to run from July 15 to Sept. 15, called Jade Helm.

According to the Washington Post (linked to above)

"The mission is vast both geographically and strategically: Elite service members from all four branches of the U.S. military will launch an operation this summer in which they will operate covertly among the U.S. public and travel from state to state in military aircraft. Texas, Utah and a section of southern California are labeled as hostile territory, and New Mexico isn’t much friendlier".

There are no end to the conspiracy theories that have arisen, on the Internet, after the Army Special Operations Command made it's announcement last week. The Post article has a link to the released announcement; unfortunately, when I clicked on the link, I received an error message that the connection had been lost. I'm sure that some conspiracy theorists will see that as further proof that something is up.

Who knows?

Most of the conspiracies I've come across link Jade Helm with the recent closing of five Walmart stores. While a good many people see these closings as Walmart's attempt to get back at workers trying to unionize for higher wages, the Internet is ablaze with videos purporting that Jade Helm is part of the preparation for martial law in the US and that Walmart is in on the plot.

No one believes Walmart's claim that the closings are related to plumbing issues.

One particular video attempts to prove that Walmart + Jade Helm + Martial Law = Jesus is about to return.

This guy maintains that Walmart has aided the govt. by connecting Walmart stores, nation wide, with a series of underground tunnels.

Another, uh, nut-job not only tells us about the Walmart/Special Ops connection, but includes Home Depot and Lowes as well.

The reason for Martial law?

According to this video, Russia is plotting to arm insurgents in the US in order to bring about a civil war, in retaliation to the US interference with Russia's take over of Ukraine. The guy making the video claims to have gotten his information from a translation of an article on the Moscow Times website. Thing is, that site is already in English......no need for a translation from Russian.

I'm waiting for the day when this Walmart/Special Ops craziness brings up Hillary Clinton. After all, she was once on the board of directors of Walmart, back in the day when Bill was Governor of Arkansas.

Cocoa Blog Post Updated.

A look at my Google Analytics has lead me to re-read a post of my from July, 2010. This post contained a few thoughts concerning slavery and abusive child labor in the cocoa industry. I have since learned that both Hershey and Nestlé have taken steps to deal with these problems. I have gone back to that 2010 post and put in an update.

The whole thing can be located here.

Dear Google AdWords.

For several years, I've made use of Google Adsense on my website, on my blog pertaining to the website, and of course, this blog.

Over the years, I've gained a little insight into how Google places particular ads on individual web pages, although I have to admit that often times the ads on my pages are a complete mystery to me. As I write this, I'm looking at this blog and I'm seeing an ad for some sort of food product that contains No GMOs or High Fructose corn syrup at the top of the web page and another ad for Nordic Track further down the page. What sort of "clues" regarding my audience has Google gathered from what I've written? Obviously, the common theme would be "health", but how do my posts on Janis Ian and Dr. Who manage to produce that idea?

On Facebook, I've recently received a number of ads from Google AdWords and the algorithm they use to determine those ads is equally confusing to me.

As the first screenshot shows, someone at Google AdWords appears to believe I operate a Time Travel Agency. I suppose that may be an understandable mistake on their part. I have written a couple of posts on Dr. Who (as mentioned above) and one of the categories in the Label Gadget of this blog is "Time Travel". But, no. I'm sorry, Google AdWords. These examples are not sufficient proof that I now ....or ever had.....or ever will have.....a Time Travel Agency.

As much as I'm willing to say that, maybe I might have had some hand in Google's mistake on the Time Travel thing, I have to say that I have no idea how that came to believe that I have a Unicorn farm.

Alright, my name is Robert and a lot of folks call me Bob, but honestly, I'm not the Bob that owns and operates Bob's Unicorn Farm.

If I were, I don't think I'd be giving 50% off first orders. I imagine Unicorn feed is pretty expensive and raising one to a sellable size would probably set the other Bob back beaucoup, huh, Bob.

And one last thing Google AdWords........I've never harmed a zombie in my life.

Thoughts on the Living Wage.

In a piece for National Catholic Reporter entitled Wal-Mart & Catholic Social Teaching, in which he discusses the City Council for the District of Columbia passing a new 'living wage' law that "applies specifically to large scale businesses like Wal-Mart, writer Michael Sean Winters opens with a quote from Pope Leo XIII's encyclical, Rerum Novarum:

"There is a dictate of nature more imperious and more ancient than any bargain between man and man, that the remuneration must be enough to support the wage-earner in reasonable and frugal comfort. If through necessity or fear of a worse evil, the workingman accepts harder conditions because an employer or contractor will give him no better, he is the victim of force and injustice."

Winters contends that while hardly - if ever - sympathetic to Catholic concerns, the DC City Council did the right thing in mandating that Walmart be required to pay employees no less than $12.50 an hour.

Parenthetically, this is the same City Council which recently passed a bill allowing "transgender and intersex residents to amend their birth certificates to reflect their correct personal information, such as gender and name, and obtain unmarked, updated copies of the certificates".

Winter's discussion of a "living wage" lead me to reread Rerum Novarum and to look further into the idea.

The Living Wage Action Coalition defines a living wage this way:

 "A living wage is a decent wage. It affords the earner and her or his family the most basic costs of living without need for government support or poverty programs. With a living wage an individual can take pride in her work and enjoy the decency of a life beyond poverty, beyond an endless cycle of working and sleeping, beyond the ditch of poverty wages."

According to one so-called "living wage calculator", an individual living in my area, while supporting a household consisting of 2 adults and one child, should earn at least $16.26 an hour.

As a Catholic, I agree with the notion that everyone should be paid a decent wage, but nowhere in Rerum Novarum is it written that it is up to the State to enforce this ideal on businesses.

Obviously, should Walmart be forced to pay workers in Rome, GA. either the minimum wage of $12.50 an hour, or the living wage of $16.26, the company would be forced to shut it's doors. The prices Walmart would be forced to charge it's customers would make their products unaffordable. $16.26 would no longer be the "living wage" in this area. It's called inflation.

If the State wanted the workers to earn a living wage, it should encourage the workers to live frugally and soberly, and further their education. Instead, the State encourages materialism, gambling, substance abuse and sexual immorality.

Rather than expect government to force businesses to pay $16 or $17 or $18 an hour, one should concentrate on making oneself worth higher wages.

Bye Bye Samuel Adams.

I have to admit, first off, that I'm far from the beer drinker I once was. Back in the day, it was more quantity over quality. "Volume" was the guiding principle

Things have changed. Now I hardly ever drink beer, but when I do, it's strictly,good, American made beer.

After learning of Boston Beer Company's decision to omit “by their Creator” from an Independence Day ad featuring the Declaration of Independence, I've decided that Samuel Adams was one American beer that would not find a home in my refrigerator.

I know, the company won't go bankrupt because of my decision; I don't buy enough beer to keep any company in business, but it's the principle, right?

Here's the ad in question.

Cheerios Ad Brings Out Racist Comments.

I first came across this story on The Blaze.com which linked to the original story on Adweek.

General Mills had posted a recent TV ad on Youtube and due to "strong racist backlash" was forced to disable comments on the video.

The ad in question depicts an interracial couple and their young daughter. Actually, the ad is really cute. I'm totally flabbergasted that anyone in this day and age would find this ad objectionable.

Neither Adweek nor The Blaze.com have disabled the comments on their respective sites so similar racist comments are on display. Many of the comments at The Blaze focus on the so-called horrors of Political Correctness, while some leaving comments at Adweek see this ad as part of a plan for racial genocide against the "White" race.

Never Take Your $1 Million Bills to Walmart.

According to the Winston-Salem Journal, 53 year old Michael Anthony Fuller walked into the Lexington, N.C. Walmart this past Nov.17 to purchase a vacuum cleaner, a microwave oven and an assortment of other, unnamed items, valued at $476.

Mr. Fuller handed the cashier a $1 Million bill. ( the article says it was a fake $1 Million bill ).

Perhaps Mr. Fuller's first mistake was not going to the self-checkout lane.

I'm really curious as to how the bill looked. Fuller obviously had no idea that there are no such things as $1 Million bills. How did he expect to counterfeit a bill he had never seen?
Did he actually think that Walmart could give him correct change?

Another account of the same story says, "Every once in a while someone tries to pass off a fake $1 million bill". I suppose that could explain Russian math whiz Grigory Perelman's refusal to accept a $1 million prize for solving the Poincare conjecture. I'm going to have to take their word that Perelman solved the problem. Not only do I not understand his answer, I don't even understand the question.

A Bit of Good News for a Change.

As chronicled in a post from this past October, 28 [Thanks, Mr. President.] the company I work for will be closing down the location where I've worked for nearly 17 years. The plant's last day of operation will be Dec.27.

At the time of that post, I was unsure as to what was going to happen. We were told that transfers were available, but at that time I didn't know where I stood. Now, today, I know for a fact where I'll be working after the current location shuts down. I've been transferred to the distribution center 30 minutes from my house. OK, the drive is a bit longer than the 6 minute drive I've been going, but I'm really happy about it. (I might even get an increase in pay).

We're winding things down at my present location. I don't know if I'll be making the transfer next Monday or if I'll have to wait until the final day here. I'm hoping it's Monday.

The only downside is that I'll have to go to night shift. I'll be on a probationary period for 90 days; after that, my seniority is reinstated and who knows how long before there's a first shift opening. We'll just have to wait and see.

All in all, good news.

Smoking Santas

In a recent post [3½ Time-Outs Tuesday (Vol. 2)] LarryD posted an old ad showing Santa Claus selling Pall Mall cigarettes.

I did a little web search and found a few more......not only Pall Mall but, Lucky Strike, Chesterfield and Camel as well.

Robert Redford - Another Hollywood Airhead.

Not being a regular reader of the Huffington Post, I was unaware of Robert Redford's opinion piece from September, Is the Obama Administration Putting Corporate Profits Above Public Health? until I came across a link to the article on a friend's Facebook page.

Redford had originally supported Obama because, as a candidate, Obama had said "we must protect clean air, water and lands". Now, much to Redford's dismay, "three administration decisions -- on Arctic drilling, the Keystone XL pipeline and the ozone that causes smog -- have all favored dirty industry over public health and a clean environment".

Redford appears to be shocked that a man who passionately supports abortion would care so little about birds and fish and cute little butterflies.

Anyone - like our President - who sees nothing immoral about the taking of innocent life, cannot be trusted. Obama's lack of moral character was on display for all to see when he was running for office. Now, Redford writes, "Like so many others, I'm beginning to wonder just where the man stands".

Really?

Thanks, Mr. President.

It was announced today that the company I work for will be closing down the location where I've worked for nearly 17 years. The plant's last day of operation will be Dec.27.......60 days from today.

There's always the possibility that I could be transferred to another location.....should an opening arise; but, even with 16 years seniority, there's still a few ahead of me and jobs won't be created out of thin air. It would be a matter of someone at another location quitting or getting fired. Not likely.

In this economy, I'm expecting to be collecting unemployment compensation for some time to come.

99% B.S.

From Christian Science Monitor:
99% Wall Street protesters boo CEOs, but mourn Steve Jobs.

"He’s this weird, omnipresent, benevolent figure. It’s like losing the pope or something.”