H&M, Beyonce, and Bangledesh

To see the power of conscious consumerism in the eyes of H&M executives, one must direct themselves to the H&M homepage.  

After ten days of international condemnation over connections to the Bangledesh garment factory disaster, H&M agreed today to the terms of a new international legal agreement that promises to overt future disasters in Bangladesh.  This moved seemed like a noble decision from a disgraced brand.  Not to excuse the role global apparel brands have played in violating human rights, but I commend them for stepping up to the plate when many of their major competitors like Gap and Walmart have remained silent on the issue.

So, H&M should be proud.  They stood up and took a responsible move in defense of what they thought was right.  But if you go to their website’s homepage, nothing is mentioned of this bold action. 

What you will see is a full frontal Beyonce bikini shot taking up most the page.  If you click it, give it a second to load, and once fully loaded (this is some high quality video), watch two tantalizingly hypnotic minutes of Beyonce warbling about in the new Summer line. 

Press back.  Continue looking for mention of the Rana Plaza factory collapse.

The next thing you see: Fashion Finds from $5 Dollars.

And the next: H&M loves Music

And: David Beckham Body Ware (Oh my)

And then.  On the bottom right.  A call to action: H&M loves Boston. 

A nod to consumer social responsibility. In a dystopic Zizekian sort of way. 

After saving boston, I searched the site without finding one mention of the Bangledesh garment factory collapse or any news of H&M’s agreement to join progressive retailers in paying for change in Bangledesh. 

So, H&M executives believe this:

Consumers are influenced more by Beyonce than Bangledesh.  Ethical alignment with customers is valuable, but shallow.   Slap a picture of Boston on the screen.  Say we love them.  And make it easy, harmless, and safe. 

I think this:  

It’s not that consumer values don’t matter in the marketplace.  They do.  However, the desire for our money to go to ethically responsible companies leads us to demand little from these companies.  As long as we can convince ourselves that they are full of good people acting responsibly, that is enough.  Anything more, so it is thought, will get in the way of Beyonce.

Unless...

hmmmmmmm....

On Thursday President Karzai, of Afghanistan, demanded that all foreign troops pull out of Afghani villages.

The Taliban had their own statement suspending talks with the US:

"The Islamic Emirate decided on officially inaugurating its diplomatic office in Qatar a short while ago on 8th Zafar-ul-Muzaffar 1433 which corresponds with 3rd January 2012 for the purposes of reaching an understanding with the international community and for addressing some specific issues with the American invaders after arriving at an agreement with the government of Qatar.

The aim behind the induction of a diplomatic office was so that the Islamic Emirate can establish contact with the international community under complete freedom and away from any danger and to ascertain the invaders in face to face dialogue that we are not going to abandon the struggle for our freedom and will not pardon you until the withdrawal of your last soldier and until you let the Afghans establish an Islamic government for themselves. Similarly we wanted to quash the excuses put forward by the enemy who relieved themselves by repeatedly saying that the Mujahideen have no address with which contact can be made. Furthermore we wished to clarify to all the parties that in the future, we are prepared for such interaction with everyone as is done between any two sovereign nations in which every side gives consideration to its own established laws. We also wanted to erase the dull picture of Islamic Emirate painted and presented to the world by our enemies who dismissed us as a warring faction which has no political, administrative and social capabilities or that it wished to harm other nations all the while the Islamic Emirate has transparent policies, complete competence and long term plans regarding all these issues.

In this connection, the political envoys of the Islamic Emirate agreed upon the inauguration of a diplomatic office, the arrangement about which was already made with the government of Qatar and started holding preliminary talks with the occupying enemy over the exchange of prisoners. The Americans initially agreed upon taking practical steps regarding the exchange of prisoners and to not oppose our political office but with the passage of time, they turned their backs on their promises and started initiating baseless propaganda portraying the envoys of the Islamic Emirate as having commenced multilateral negotiations for solving the Afghan dilemma.

At the same time Hamid Karzai, who can not even make a single political decision without the prior consent of the Americans, falsely proclaimed that the Kabul administration and the Americans have jointly started peace talks with Taliban; whereas the Islamic Emirate has not discussed any other issue apart from the two aforementioned (i.e. the induction of an office and the exchange of prisoners) and neither have we accepted any other condition with any other side nor have we conducted any talks with Karzai administration.

A memorandum of understanding which was agreed upon earlier was not yet fulfilled when an American representative presented a list of conditions in his latest meeting with the Islamic Emirate which were not only unacceptable but also in contradiction with the earlier agreed upon points. So it was due to their alternating and ever changing position that the Islamic Emirate was compelled to suspend all dialogue with the Americans. We must categorically state that the real source of obstacle in talks was the shaky, erratic and vague standpoint of the Americans therefore all the responsibility for the halt also falls on their shoulders.

To elucidate the standpoint of the Islamic Emirate to our own Muslim people, to the transgressors and to the entire world, the inauguration of political office in Qatar was not but for the sake of reaching an understanding with the outside world and particularly for the exchange of prisoners with the Americans in the initial stages. But it seems that the invading Americans and their stooge regime took advantage of these measures of Islamic Emirate and sought to achieve other malicious objectives and therefore are postponing the core issues and are wasting time.

So the Islamic Emirate has decided to suspend all talks with Americans taking place in Qatar from today onwards until the Americans clarify their stance on the issues concerned and until they show willingness in carrying out their promises instead of wasting time.

Similarly the Afghan issue has two main dimensions; one is internal and the other external. The external dimension is associated with Americans and the internal dimension is connected with the Afghans themselves. Until and unless the external dimension is settled which rests entirely in the hands of the foreigners, discussing the internal dimension is meaningless and is nothing more than a waste of time. Therefore the Islamic Emirate considers talking with the Kabul administration as pointless.

At the same time, the Islamic Emirate is fully prepared, has enduring patience and long-term Jihadi strategies against the malicious plots of the enemy and enjoys the ceaseless support of its believing nation. The Islamic Emirate correlates the presence of the alien forces in Afghanistan with instability of the entire region and will not tolerate it in the present shape nor temporary and neither in the shape of permanent bases.

The Islamic Emirate once again calls on the entire world and particularly the regional countries to support and back the Islamic Emirate in expelling of the invaders in order to achieve peace and stability in the whole region.

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan"

Thomas Jackson

Scott Weaver- Rolling Through The Bay

intricacy

If you analyze a molecule of chlorophyl itself, what you get is
one hundred thirty-six atoms of hydrogen, carbon, oxygen and nitrogen
arranged in an exact and complex relationship around a central ring.
At the ring's center is a single atom of magnesium.

Now: If you remove the atom of magnesium and in its exact place
put an atom of iron, you get a molecule of hemoglobin.
The iron atom combines with all the other atoms to make red blood,
the streaming red dots in the goldfish's tail.

-Annie Dillard Pilgrim at Tinker's Creek

worm and the early bird

beauty

L.A.C.A.U.S.A....SEMI-HARD BARREL... from BROTHERS MARSHALL on Vimeo.

My Gray Whale

My gut is telling me to keep my mouth shut. My favorite place, this magical little enclave tucked beneath a WWII turret and enclosed by a wall of scrubby undulating cliffs, will very soon shut its gates. So I will let you in on the secret in hopes that you can help save it.

The place I speak of is Gray Whale Cove State Park, and next year it will be one of 70 California State Parks slated to close its doors due to budgetary shortfalls.

Only 15 miles from downtown San Francisco, it is a fiercely wild place devoid of cars, crowds and development, a perfect example of why there is no place in the world like the Bay Area. Leave the city, pass the track homes and strip malls of Pacifica, climb a short winding road through a eucalyptus grove, emerge onto a hairpin cliff side road, and in one mile park your car in the dusty parking lot on the left. Walk down a winding wooden staircase and hop onto the sand. You have made it: a quarter mile stretch of sand and intertidal coves, covered in mussels, sea anemones and gooseneck barnacles. You may as well be on a deserted island, or a forgotten cove in New Zealand. The few signs of mankind that do make it down to the beach remind you that you are not: surfers, fisherman, hippies, new-age parents, and on the far northern cove, a rather dependable cackle of nudist men and woman soaking up the rays without a care in the world.

To me Gray Whale is a wave. A ledge jutting out into the deep water produces a heavy barrel that will scare the living daylight out of your average beach bum. I discovered this wave at about the same time that my interest in surfing turned into a full-fledged love affair. To others Gray Whale is a fish, a photograph, a mussel, or a place where the tyranny of clothes holds no sway.

To all of us, it is a small slice of paradise inches away from our busy lives.

So how severe is this year's budget shortfall that is causing 70 of California's 278 state parks to close their doors?

The answer is a measly $11 million.

I asked Linsey Fredenburg-Humes of the California State Parks Foundation what it will mean to close Gray Whale, and she responded that it "is still unclear" how public access will be affected. "As you can imagine, there are some parks on the closure list where restricting public access would seem near impossible. At this time, it is my understanding that closing most state parks will mean that all services and staff are removed, bathrooms are closed, utilities are turned off and gates are closed."



But there are no facilities there. No guards in one-room wood shingled houses. Not even a water fountain or a hose.



Roy Stearns from the California Department of Parks and Recreation was equally perplexed over Gray Whale's fate. "We are still exploring just how to do this (close Gray Whale). Bottom line is that we have no choice but to cease operations in many parks with the budget reductions we have been handed."




The fight for Gray Whale isn't completely lost. In early October, three of the California's 70 doomed parks were saved by pooling funds from the National Park Service. Non-profits are already making some signs of jumping in to save other parks as well.

Besides donating $11 million to the California State Parks, you can help by taking a second to send a letter to Government Jerry Brown in defense of our parks.



Even if Gray Whale does shut its gates, I assume the naked people will still find their way down there. And when it's cold and the surf is heavy, surfers will scamper down its muddy cliffs to the water. A magnet for the outlandish.



Maybe I will have to reclaim it one day as well. Occupy it alone. Who is so vain as to stop me?



And when I get to the sand the road will be lost anyways. And it will be low tide and the waves will be pumping.

I Would, But You Can't Fuck An Economy

nathan kensinger

The harp beckons

I'm absorbing this news. Not even thinking about it. I'm reading things about Israel and the UN. Like watching a silent film in slow motion.

A vote will be placed before the security council this week. Palestine seeks statehood. US threatens veto. It gargles over me. What the fuck. I know this. I know all about Palestine.

The Ottoman styled Prime Minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, visited Egypt on Sunday, accompanied by 280 of Turkey's top executives

In a speech about the new trade agreement between the two countries, Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said, “This will not be an axis against any other country — not Israel, not Iran, not any other country, but this will be an axis of democracy, real democracy.”

Davutoglu also stated that his entourage of business men signed over $1 billion of contracts in a single day during the visit.

Knowing this, knowing all of it as I read.

"Let us have the courage to choose life. No more incitement. No more threats. No more terror. No more talk of genocide. No more hate. No fear. No more lies," said Glenn Beck in his speech at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem last week. "They (courageous individuals) saw injustice and they called it out. They saw their nation wage war against a single group and they said “Not in My Name.” They didn’t wait for the conventions of society to catch up."

I sit upright. And I read: The US stands between Palestine and statehood. The US stands between Palestine and statehood.

US halts unanimous vote with Security Council cohorts.

The serpent of interest has reared its head.

And I die. And I'm falling. And there is nothing I can do about it. And we will veto and nothing will change and I will die.

two way poc a way

The designed world, the bought world, the ballrooms and hallways, I care very little about. When was the last time I looked at this manufactured world and marveled? I hold grudges against clubs. I forget most bars. I resist going into shops because they try to trick me into thinking otherwise.

Then I think about the way light cuts through the lip of a wave, or the silent timidity of a spider camped watching as I pluck a tomato from his home. The awe at looking at the universe way up close. And running my hands through a field and plucking a sprig and smelling it. How superior these sensations are.

I rub shoulders with the timeless world, and speak to the same brothers and sisters that my far distant descendants will. What they tell me is truth, and I try to hear it, but their language is muffled through my ears. But still I listen, because they are the closest thing I have to knowing.

60 mile manifesto

This is what will happen.
Oil will become ever more precious. And it will go to he who can pay the most. Which means you won't get any. So driving will get more expensive and soon you will find yourself latched to a 60 mile electric car. And this will be fine.

You will drive where you need to go. And squeeze it past 60 sometimes and maybe stop to charge your battery just long enough to make it home. Or perhaps your car will be cranked into the air so a guy with greasy hands can slip in a battery in the time it took to fill your old gas guzzler.

60 miles means you can't live 60 miles from where you go everyday. You will choose the fast easy way to work. It will be obvious.

But you can go more than 60 miles if you really want to. And since people will live close to their work cities won't pour all over the place. So you will get out of the city faster. And the world will get bigger and things will open up. Which means more will be yours.



And maybe with some solar panels on the roof, and a lighter design, you will get it to 70.

Lovings vs. Virginia

Today marks the 44^th Anniversary of Lovings vs. Virginia, the US Supreme Court decision that struck down a Virginia law outlawing interracial marriage. The case began in 1959, when Mildred and Richard Loving were caught sleeping in their bed by a group of police officers who had invaded their home in the hopes of finding them in the act of sex (another crime).

The couple was charged under Section 20-58 of the Virginia Code, which prohibited interracial couples from being married out of state and then returning to Virginia, and Section 20-59, which classified "miscegenation" as a felony, punishable by a prison sentence of between one and five years. The couple was sentenced to one year in prison, though the couple later received a 25 year suspension on their sentenced provided they leave the state of Virginia.

With the help of the ACLU, the Lovings challenged the case and on October 28, 1964, after their motion still had not been decided, the Lovings began a class action suit in the U.S District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. On January 22, 1965, the three-judge district court decided to allow the Lovings to present their constitutional claims to the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals. Virginia Supreme Court Justice Harry L. Carrico (later Chief Justice of the Court) wrote an opinion for the court upholding the constitutionality of the anti-miscegenation statutes and, after modifying the sentence, affirmed the criminal convictions.

Two years later The U.S. Supreme Court overturned the convictions in a unanimous decision, dismissing the Commonwealth of Virginia's argument that a law forbidding both white and black persons from marrying persons of another race. In its decision, the court wrote:

“Marriage is one of the "basic civil rights of man," fundamental to our very existence and survival.... To deny this fundamental freedom on so unsupportable a basis as the racial classifications embodied in these statutes, classifications so directly subversive of the principle of equality at the heart of the Fourteenth Amendment, is surely to deprive all the State's citizens of liberty without due process of law. The Fourteenth Amendment requires that the freedom of choice to marry not be restricted by invidious racial discrimination. Under our Constitution, the freedom to marry, or not marry, a person of another race resides with the individual and cannot be infringed by the State.”

Despite this Supreme Court ruling, such laws remained on the books, although unenforceable, in several states until 2000, when Alabama became the last state to repeal its law against mixed-race marriage.

With our country’s history of bigotry and violence, the Lovings case proves that we cannot be neutral on topics of equality and civil rights. In the case of the Lovings, doing nothing meant accepting the injustices of 400 years of discrimination. It was only when the Supreme court pro-actively asserted the right of interracial couples to marry that the old Virginia laws were overturned.

In our day in which many of us realize the injustice of sexual discrimination, being neutral is also not enough. We cannot say, “It’s not my business what the gays do.”

We have to pro-actively assert our support.

In the words of Mildred Loving:

“I am still not a political person, but I am proud that Richard's and my name is on a court case that can help reinforce the love, the commitment, the fairness, and the family that so many people, black or white, young or old, gay or straight seek in life. I support the freedom to marry for all. That's what Loving, and loving, are all about.”