Wal Mart and Child Abuse in China

A piece brought to light on Mother Jones News documents the abuses of Wal Mart and a Chinese Christmas ornament factory where children work in sweat shop conditions up to 15 hours a day and 7 days a week. They are paid 1/2 the Chinese minimum wage of 26 cents per hour. Wal Mart said they would investigate but they have done nothing to date. The conditions of this Wal Mart supplier were brought to light by sympathetic temporary Chinese high school workers who brought in cell phone cameras to take pictures of the abuse.

If you bought your ornaments at Wal Mart, take them back. Boycott this place that always offends and exploits always. As Americans perhaps we should better control our passion to consume which creates such a burden on the innocent and only fattens the purses of a few.

Brix index and Wal Mart

Regional officials from Wal Wart met with our city government recently and were told by our mayor we were all happy to have them open their new super center in Centerville. Maybe his memory is not so good or maybe he is just trying to be polite, but 72% of the residents in a poll conducted among residents of Centerville by Dr. Raymond Briscoe in 2004 said they did not want that big box here. As the store’s grand opening gets closer I am wondering what I will do to non-observe this event. Somehow I find no comfort in the words of our city manager Steve Thacker when he offered we were going to have the ‘finest Wal Mart in all Utah.’ Several other communities have taken that title away from us though as new and better Wal Warts are being constructed in Utah with better looking fake stone and archways.

Friday I planted 10 bushes and trees in my yard including two Pluots. If you have not discovered this very sweet fruit I recommend trying them. Maybe with the addition of these trees and bushes we can drown out the noise of happy shoppers driving on Main Street to the big box. At least we can reduce CO2 emissions with our new foliage and can look forward to new fruit in a couple years. It is a pleasant experience growing one's fruit and vegeys or getting it from local sources. If only I could grow pineapples in the green house I would not have to buy them at Target.

From a web site I found this about Pluots: “Pluots are a hybrid of a plum and an apricot. They mainly retain the characteristics and flavor of a plum. Their skin is a light reddish-yellow color with small speckles. Every year they become more available in stores across the U.S. as demand and production rises. This fruit has one of the highest brix level readings on a refractometer, meaning that it has a very sweet taste!”

Too bad Wal Mart leaves me with such a sour taste...