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The cotton harvest was just completed in Uzbekistan. See a summary of events below. With Bangladesh, India and Russia being the largest importer of Uzbek cotton, will you be looking at your clothing labels different this Christmas season? If you understand the cotton supply chain, you'll realize that there is no easily discernible way of segregating cotton from one country. It's a commodity that is purchased, mixed, processed, mixed, processed, etc., before ever ending up in the hands of the cutters and sewers. Traceability is a huge hurdle to overcome. 2014-12-04 2014 Uzbek Cotton Harvest Update Webinar from As You Sow on Vimeo . Source: https://ethicallysourced.wordpress.com/

It shouldn't be surprising that corruption doesn't actually pay for companies -- yet many, do it, despite having ethical policies in place. Greasing the wheel is prevalent -- not just limited to countries where bureaucrats expect rewards to speed the flow of commerce -- not that dealing with regulatory requirements is actually a bad thing, from a public interest perspective, it might be just the right thing to have in place -- greasing the wheel is very much prevalent in developed economies. Just look at the ratio of lobbyists to elected politicians in Washington. Lobbyists provide grease, as a result, businesses get their way with less regulatory impediment. Research however, shows that bribery simply doesn't make sense. Not only does it take a psychological toll on those involved, but it also costs companies more money -- more so in the long term -- and it breeds an environment where delays occur as bribery becomes the norm, and bureaucrats habitually give businesses ...

The fact that the IDF goes around killing indiscriminately when operating in Palestine, is no new news. It happens -- not necessarily widespread -- but it happens. That top Israeli commanders would order their soldiers to shoot certain people on-site, is not new -- heck, Mossad went to great lengths to assassinate a Hamas official in Dubai. This shit happens. Of course, having it happen, and pretending that it's all rumour, is quite different than having proof that it has happened, and that it was premeditated. That's the case right now with an Israeli journalist, Anat Kamm, under house arrest, for reporting on state secrets that would reveal Israeli commanders to have ordered shooting on-site of top Palestinian fighters in the West Bank. There are those that would argue that the publishing of state secrets is a crime -- should be punished, and should be prevented. But, in a practising democracy, where is the line drawn between what the citizens are allowed to know -- and ...

America is unaware of how much of its freedom it has vested in the last few years from public institutions to private corporations, and individuals. Glenn Greenwald just needs to follow the trail -- unravel a not too complicated story, as exampled by Mike McConnell -- a man who moved easily between the government and a corporation, restlessly pursuing a single minded goal: the vesting of American intelligence capability from the government, to corporations. And he has succeeded. The question the public, who pays for all of this, needs to ask is: when does a corporation's self-interest trump the interest of the public it is now charged with serving? The answer is simple. Time and time again, it has been proven -- and it's written into corporate law. A corporation has to service only the interests of its shareholders. Doing anything else, and the management team is in violation of their contractual obligations. And in the intelligence business, peace is not good for busin...

In our first world democracies, the general population nestles under the comfort of apathy, trusting that what our government does, is in our best interest -- in the best interest of our nation, our democracy and the world. Wish that was true. As with most power, the benefits pour to the self-interested -- and caters to the few close our elected officials -- including those elected to serve us. At the end of the day, we're sheep, making the rich, richer -- and the powerful, more powerful, and above the laws that govern the rest of us. That is why, entities such as Wikileaks , exist. In fact, it is one of the few, where the powerful can be challenged and brought to their knees. And you know the powerful self-interest are afraid, when they've declared an open war on Wikileaks. The US government, along with the governments of China, North Korea and Iran -- as well as others, such as Australia and Britain -- are seeking to bring Wikileaks to its knees. Not only have their b...

If you need any more reason to be pissed at the Roman Catholic church, here's another one. The revelations of the abuse of kids by priests in Europe continue. Now, it appears the once future pope, Archbishop Ratty, in 1980, assisted in quietly moving a pedophile within the church's ranks, away for a little bit of treatment to cure his sexual obsession with boys. The treatment didn't work. (Dogma! Huh-yeah! What is it good for? ...) Now I know papal infallibility is just some bullshit the catholic church made up to make their sheep bleat in unison -- and I'm also very much aware that it doesn't mean that the pope can't make mistakes or (gasp!) commit a sin ... however ... let's think critically about this for a moment (if you're religious, don't try this, you'll find yourself incapable of doing this). If there is a god, and said god tolerates pedophiles in his ranks -- and further, lets his future right hand man assist in hiding the abuse -...

China can't seem to get any slack these days. The latest comes from Britain's MI5, which has accused China of some pretty nefarious practices to cull secrets from British firms and government. In the report, the Threat from Chinese Espionage, circulated to business and government leaders in the UK, MI5 warns that vigilance is needed, as well as government-security intervention to thwart the Chinese threat. Apparently, there have been Chinese electronic attacks on Britain's defense, energy, communications and manufacturing companies, as well as the government. As well, there has been cases of sexual entrapment and espionage involving electronic gifts and bugged hotel rooms. None of this is entirely new of course. China regularly spies on foreign governments. And so do western governments spy on China. What's alarming however, is China is also spying on businesses. Some will argue, especially the Chinese government, that they are innocent of any espionage against w...

Yesterday, Freedom House (FH) released it's annual edition of Freedom in the World . And, for the fourth year in a row, freedom around the world suffered another decline. FH recorded declines in 40 countries -- and in 3 of those, their citizens lost electoral freedoms. The assault on freedom came in many forms, with freedom of expression and association being the dominant areas of loss, in addition to violent repression by governments, prison sentences for dissidents, attacks on human rights activists, and, terrorism and insurgence disrupting the general population. Other trends noted by report: Russia, China, Vietnam and Iran, cracking down on frontline human rights defenders; Philippines, Russia, Pakistan, Mexico, Somalia, China, Iran and Azerbaijan, attacking journalists and new media; Guinea, Honduras, Niger and Madagascar, experiencing coups, overthrowing legitimate governments, or extending the rule of existing rulers; and, As if things weren't bad enough, from Afri...

Nothing in this world is free -- especially freedom -- and that goes for those of us living in the free world . "... serves as an uncensorable and untraceable depository for the truth, able to publish documents that the courts may prevent newspapers and broadcasters from being able to touch." — In praise of... Wikileaks - The Guardian, October 20, 2009. Wikileaks , in case you don't know, is a non-profit organization, whose purpose is to out those who would steal our freedoms and subjugate us. The organization provides a platform for whistle-blowers everywhere, to get the truth out. Wikileaks isn't loved by most governments around the world. You'd first guess that places like China and Iran don't like Wikileaks. And that would be true. However, you may be surprised to learn that governments from the US, Canada, Australia, England and other first world democracies, also don't like Wikileaks. Why? Wikileaks shine light into the dark corners of these...

The American International Group, which has received more than $170 billion in taxpayer bailout money from the Treasury and Federal Reserve, plans to pay about $165 million in bonuses by Sunday to executives in the same business unit that brought the company to the brink of collapse last year. According to the government appointed chairman of AIG, the bonuses are needed to keep executives around. Umm ... maybe the losers that caused AIG to arrive at the brink shouldn't be bonused so they can be retained. WTF is wrong with these people? Not that AIG has any choice in the matter. The bonuses don't seem to be tied to performance and the firm is contractually obligated to pay them. Although, I'd like to see the executives fight for those bonuses in court. AIG should just refuse to payout siting the unusual circumstances they're currently in.

I've posted about this before ... the Somalian pirates are opportunists -- driven by economic necessity, pure criminality and, some desire to seek justice from the nations in the world that's been raping their coastline for years. The Huffington Post has an article on the stealing of fish and the dumping of nuclear waste along the Somalian coastline. Now, the nations of the world have a new source of terror to fight against, and navies are racing to the scene from many nations, including the US, the Europeans and the Chinese. Sometimes, there is no justice in this fucking world.

Before I read the book, I had seen the documentary based on it -- twice -- and it was every bit as effective -- disturbing, really -- on second viewing. The book, being read a couple of years after seeing the documentary, was chilling. I'm writing about the Corporation by Joel Bakan -- a book that many will regard as being anti-business, anti-globalization -- but I don't see it that way. The book is hardly anti-business. It's hardly anti-anything. It's actually a book that calls on us to exercise the epitomizes of our civil society: democracy, and social responsibility. Both of these however, run directly against the interests of a monster of our own creation: the corporation. Take some of these corporate misdeeds and ask yourself why it happened. Enron 's collapse. Monsanto 's terminator seeds. Blackwater 's creation of a mercenary army. Halliburton 's bilking of the US public funds. How did it come to be that people, working for a business...

Yet another little girl has been murdered. Horribly murdered. Thirteen year old Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow , of Kismayo, Somalia, was raped by three men. She was convicted of adultery by the Islamic Courts in Kismayo, and was stoned to death by dozens of men in a stadium packed with about 1,000 spectators. If the UN doesn't do something in Somalia, Ethiopia should just permanently occupy the country and open hunting season on the murderous Islamic Court.

Canada and the US, state sponsors of terrorism? Yes, if you believe Lieutenant-General Roméo Alain Dallaire. As reported on chycho.com , Dallaire told a parliamentary subcommittee meeting that in failing to protect Omar Khadr from the US, Canada, and the US, both broke international law -- not to mention many domestic laws -- and if we're not prepared to obey the law, then we're no different from those that have no respect for the law. Well said, Mr. Dallaire. Whether we feel someone is guilty or not, doesn't make them guilty or not guilty -- only evidence does that -- and without evidence, there is no guilt. That premise mostly works -- and has been a foundation of our society. When we start making exceptions, we tamper with the foundations of our society.

The above headline is a quote from an article . The title leads an article that's disturbing on many levels, but I was floored by the last sentence: Ralph's [the 13-year-old boy] ambition is to one day become a politician. The boy's father is a lawyer from Texas, and he was apparently too busy to notice his son going on a $30,000 spending spree.

There are few faceless corporations that are truly evil. Monsanto is one of them. One must wonder about the people who are the tireless cogs in its machinery -- as they slog away, do they ever wonder about the machine they power? Vanity Fair is running an investigative piece that looks at Monstanso: its quest to control the food supply chain and the destruction of the environment that it is responsible for. If I worked for Monsanto, I think I would breaking glass and diving out of the offices of its highest towers, because I wouldn't be able to live with myself. Evil.

So what exactly is wrong with anonymous free speech? If you're a public figure, especially in a position of power, anonymous critique is construed as an open, if faceless, assault. And with great power, usually comes great irresponsibility. Rather than welcome criticism as an opportunity for improvement -- a perspective that any public servant should take when facing heat from their constituents -- most counterattack. That is the case currently being played out in the backwater town of Whitewater, Wisconsin, where John Adams, an anonymous blogger is raining on the stupidity of public officials there. In response, the police chief, James Coan, is using city employees to play detective to unmask John Adams. Can we say misuse of public resources, folks? Apparently not, say Coan and his cohorts in government. The the police, the blogger "seems like an anti-government radical." Yes, criticizing the people who work for you is considered radical by some. WTF?

This image was taken by Luis Vasconcelos and posted on Reuters blog . The caption: An indigenous woman holds her child while trying to resist the advance of Amazonas state policemen who were expelling the woman and some 200 other members of the Landless Movement from a privately-owned tract of land on the outskirts of Manaus, in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon March 11, 2008. The landless peasants tried in vain to resist the eviction with bows and arrows against police using tear gas and trained dogs. REUTERS/Luiz Vasconcelos-A Critica/AE (BRAZIL) More on the Landless Workers' Movement can be found on Wikipedia . Yet again, another example of the rich living off the poor.

Chinese food quality is making the rounds in the news in North America. Food quality is also making the news in China. Yesterday, as I flew out of Shanghai, I heard the news of an undercover TV crew that busted a dim-sum restaurant in Beijing's Chaoyang District. The restaurant, in a effort to save money amid rising pork prices, started to cut their steamed pork-stuffed buns with cardboard. The recipe went like this: Cardboard was soaked in water and an industrial-use caustic soda, a poisonous chemical, was added. The cardboard lost its normal color and became fragile under the soda's strong causticity, making it look more like pork. Finally, pork-smell essence and pork fat were stirred into the concoction to make the stuffing more "vivid." Product quality in China is suspect, and to be fair, China is starting to take product quality seriously. Earlier this month China executed the State Food and Drug Administration director, Zheng Xiaoyu , for taking bribes to ...

If you've been keeping tabs on democratic process south of the border, you'd rapidly be coming to the conclusion that democracy is in decline. In the country that holds itself up to the world as an example of rule by the people , the United States of America has done an awful job of living up to the basics, let alone the idealism it seeks to inspire. From the debacle of the last election, to the abuses of the Bush Administration and the wars the country has fought -- including the secret ones -- America has really been a terrible disappointment. Now the hoedown has started again, as candidates from the Republicans and Democrats, test the waters of presidential candidacy -- and what little hope there may have been for change, is slowly morphing into yet another disappointment. The impartial media has been weighing in on candidates, and with their subtle machinations, continuing the sacking of democracy. Candidates are who the media portray them to be. Case in point, Al Go...