(no subject)

[ewt]

Is this real?

I'm getting pretty close to just giving up and boycotting goods made in the US. Except that all the manufacturing that actually makes profit there is done by 8-year-old girls in Thailand anyway, and there are some things I won't do without that I probably can't buy without some US involvement.

I don't boycott lightly or often; I figure it's better use of time and energy to focus on the good than to focus on the bad.

My brain is feeling very fragile. Brainhacking today was difficult and upsetting; I think reasonable progress was made but right now my brain is in the "OW STOP POKING ME" stage.

I think I shall buy a bowl of chips. Yes. Chips here are good, and potato products make everything better.


The rest of this evening:
My brain is a bit too fried for real work, but I'm going to try to sort out schedule-y stuff for next week's teaching. Many of my students are off school for Succot and as they're missing so many Sundays I'm going to try to get up on Thursday to do some teaching.

Tomorrow:
-horn lesson, then class, then meeting with S. re: Mammoth Project, then Horn Class. This is going to be a long and tiring day - I have hardly played at all this past week because of my hurty elbow, and while I think I'll get through okay, it's not going to be easy. I think I'd best get there early and do a long slow warm-up, then go to the library and find some music. I'm not going to have time to go home for lunch and I haven't been organised and packed one so I guess it's a Pie Day. MMmmm. Pie.
-laundry. I'm way behind on it at the moment.

Thursday:
-doctor's appointments in the morning (mental health update followed by cervical smear. I'm sure you can sense the unbridled joy); not worth going to Trinty beforehand so I'll have to go straight there afterward to practise. Possibly working on Mammoth Project the rest of the day, although I'd really like to make Thursday afternoons Sewing Time. If I'm not working on the project, I'll be doing some tidying, because I can't do any sewing until I've tidied anyway because there isn't anywhere to sew. Go me.
-more laundry.

Friday:
-In the morning, straight to Trinty to get some practising in.
-practising music for Suzuki school stuff on Saturday
-the Big Push with tidying; I want to make the living room presentable and the kitchen less cluttered. For the kitchen this is going ot mean taking everything off the surfaces, one at a time, cleaning the surfaces, and then putting things back/away (as sensible). For the living room... I'm not sure. I think I'll have to do 15-minute intervals or something.
-more laundry.

Saturday:
-Suzuki school. Possible pubbage (Porterhouse), but I really ought to get home and practise. Dinner party in evening.

Sunday:
-Gardening.

I've just been brought a bowl of chips. This place is heaven.

Comments

[exmoor-cat.livejournal.com]

Trouble is, boycotts only really work if a)there is a serious social movement behind them (e.g. South Africa, Nestle) b) there's a viable alternative and also you're actually sure that it will make an impact.

We had a devils advocate view in development studies that if the Thai factories closed and stopped paying out those wages, who actually benefitted, the Western crusaders or the THai workers?

[exmoor-cat.livejournal.com]

PS that Bill won't survive.

[pseudomonas.livejournal.com]

I'm not saying that article is definitely wrong, but I wouldn't automatically trust the interpretation of a website that seems to be a conspiracy theory (http://www.prisonplanet.com/911.html) repository.

[mstevens.livejournal.com]

If you boycott american products does that mean no Macbook?

[mstevens.livejournal.com]

I'm quite clean on teh Cleaning at the moment. Although not this evening because I'm knackered.

[poetpaladin.livejournal.com]

If you want a worthwhile personal boycott, consider thrift stores and second-hand shops. It's a way to make further use of an already-manufactured good, while keeping your money away from clothing manufacturers, while helping save the environment.

[crankles.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't boycott all American products. I think someone else mentioned this above - it's probably more effective to support and encourage ethical/ecological American companies, and boycott the rest. That's not exactly a "boycott" in my mind, but more of a way of living.

Actually ... you got me thinking about how I do my shopping. I tend to go to thrift stores first (I know you do, too), and then if I can't find what I need or buying used isn't a feasible/safe option, I go online and research, looking for local sustainable companies. If that fails (and yeah, sometimes I simply can't afford it), I do what I can. I am not perfect about this, but getting better.

[devvie2.livejournal.com]

BUSH IS A FUCKING TERRORIST!!!! *slips on the blindfold and gets ready to be shot*

[redcountess]

It would be possibly more effective to urge all USians of your acquaintance to register to vote for the midterm elections in November (if it's not too late), and cast an anti-Republican vote.

[403.livejournal.com]

I'd like to boycott the U.S. as well. By moving out. (Working on that, bit by bit..)

[wildcelticrose.livejournal.com]

Imagine how badly is sucks to LIVE here.

I didn't vote for the moron.

He's an embrassasment.

Unfortunatley, there isn't another country that will take me...

[pouts]

[qadira.livejournal.com]

The USA is a net importer, not exporter. It would be more economically reasonable to get other countries to not send stuff here, if you're looking for a way to pressure our insane government.

It was with alarm that I read the news of that bill passing- and then incidents such as random road checkpoints throughout the nation (allegedly to catch drunk drivers, but loudly praised when they catch illegal aliens). I feel as though many citizens are blind to the parallels between our government's moves and those of Hitler.

I studied German in highschool, and my favorite substitute teacher was a German immigrant. She'd lived by the lake on the southern German border, and recalls times when they were in blackout, and could see the lights across the lake (Switzerland?). The memorable thing she talked about however, was how they as average citizens had little idea of what was occuring in other parts of the country.

One thing we have going for us now is the relatively quick and easy spread of information, thanks to such things as the Internet. It's no shock to me that certain elements in political office want to curb people's internet freedoms.

I'm rather cynical about the government of this nation, but for all that, the people can be pretty decent- especially when they get truth instead of lies.

It would be a grand thing if we had a world free from this sort of mess, wouldn't it?

[(Anonymous)]

Most Americans barely (if at all) know where (or what) the UK actually is. A boycott would be completely futile -- no one here would ever hear about it, and economically speaking it really would just be a drop in the ocean. The local news channels are mindbogglingly crap, with even the best of them basically coming across as a cross between TV Quick and Hello magazine. On the other hand, Bush is on his last legs. Two years and he's out. What's more important is that congressional elections are happening a month or so from now, which is why he's trying to ram as much legislation through congress as possible while he still can -- the writing on the wall is that, after the election, he's not got a chance of doing that.

The scary thing is that rumours of an 'October surprise' are going around at the moment; basically that something moderately spectacular and probably unpleasant for quite a lot of innocent people will be stage managed within the next month ahead of the election. The North Korea bomb test thing is a possibility, but people have also talked about an Iran invasion. Nothing terribly good will come of it, so I'm very much hoping that rumours are just rumours.

The web site you linked should probably be read with quite a large pinch of salt, however -- it's not exactly even handed. However bad the legislation might be, it's quite another matter here to actually make it stick for any length of time. Unlike the UK, the US has mechanisms for judicial oversight such that bad laws can be thrown out, which is probably why the wording of this legislation tries to block that route. However, in practice, what is likely is that Bush will be very much sidelined toward the next election to give his successor room to manoevre in terms of campaigning, and that any new government (of whatever party) would most likely stamp on the worst excesses of the previous administration's legislation. In the mean time, it's not nice, but it's likely to be temporary.

Of course, the federal government pays my wages, and the US military part-funded my PhD, so my perspective is maybe a little different. My impression is that there are a lot of people trying to do the right thing here for all the right reasons, but the current administration are probably not really doing the place any favours right now.

(Sorry for the anon, I don't want this comment to be googleable. I'm pretty sure you know who I am, however!)

[timeplease.livejournal.com]

bowl of chips

They're listed on the menu as "hand-cut", but he insists on using a knife...

Hello, by the way - I remember seeing you in the corner when I staggered in drunk last night, but I didn't really talk much... the monthly pubwatch meetings get quite boozy.

[pseudomonas.livejournal.com]

My inclination is that China (People's Republic of) is way higher up the list of states to boycott on human rights grounds - America sounds like it's getting pretty bad, but it's nowhere close to where China already is. OTOH, avoiding all Chinese stuff is near-impossible, but it's worth trying.

[rzigweid.livejournal.com]

I make no excuses for what the country in which I reside is doing. I think what they've been doing since even before 9/11/01 is rather atrocious, though it's gotten significantly worse sense then.

Whether or not one believes in the government the founding fathers of the country created, what exists now is, IMHO, a mockery of it. A great deal of the legislation that has been passed, serves largely, to erode that initial model.

Was the initial model perfect. Of course not. Sometimes it's important to change things about the way a government works. The world has evolved, so must governments in order to govern properly.

What makes this particular regime different from many others, (though I doubt all) is there has been a massive power grab by one of the three branches, in a fashion that greatly disrupts the checks and balances that are put on it.

What I'd like to see..and I doubt I will in my lifetime, is a strong third party step up. It would need to be, in some fashion, significantly different from the two that are currently in control. The Democrats and Republicans spend a lot more time disagreeing with one another just to disagree than about important issues. On too many issues they are saying the same (and wrong) thing.

Okay, i'm rambling now. I'll shadup

[hairyears.livejournal.com]

I keep my counsel on much of what I see from this side of the Atlantic. But the move to abridge the Geneva Conventions places American Marines - indeed, all Americans in the line of fire - in grave danger if they are ever captured.

No coincidence then, that it is being rammed into law by a man who used his aristocratic privelege to avoid serving in Vietnam.