230,000

The current estimate for the death toll in Haiti.

A few weeks back, I was unsettled by an article dug up from 2008 on hunger in Haiti, which reported on a sizable section of the population that was forced to eat dirt. It apparently staved off hunger pangs, which felt like “swallowing Chlorox.”  Some see in the attention provoked by the disaster an opportunity to rebuild a nation stronger than it was before the disaster. I’m not optimistic the international community will rise to the occassion–which only makes it more imperative that we continue to give what we can. We can’t count on anyone else helping.

DADT advocate redeployed

I don’t think anyone has covered Lt. Dan Choi in this space. He’s a West Point graduate and Arabic translater discharged under the military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy. Since then, he has been a vocal advocate for repealing the ban on such platforms as the Rachel Maddow Show, a march on Washington, and the San Fransisco Pride Parade, which he was grand marshal of.

Now, surprisingly, he has been redeployed:

 ”Apparently, Lt. Choi’s commander has always been in full support of him, and even after Lt. Choi came out on The Rachel Maddow Show, his commander did not press for his discharge,” writes Jeff Sheng, who posted pictures of Choi in training. “The military did eventually serve Lt. Choi a discharge notification – essentially firing him from his job, but he was allowed to fight this at trial, and as it currently stands, the discharge has not been finalized.”

“Given the current state of how DADT is in such flux, and also, in my opinion, the prominence and celebrity of Lt. Choi, his discharge might never be fully enforced,” adds Sheng.

Even if repeal of DADT takes years, individual commanders are willing not to enforce it. This is good news.

Everything you buy is from a corporation

Hello People of the World (really just those who read this blog). I have recently come to the horrifying realization that everything is owned by corporate conglomerates.

Being raised by “hippies” and compared to my other hippie, hipster, and general society-bashing-atheist/mothereathgoddessbelieving-slingshot planner-using-anarchist brethren/sistren, yes I realize this is late in the game.

How did I come to this terrible realization you ask? Simple, The Environmental Working Group’s website, skindeep. I was researching the immunotoxicity of my roommate’s make up when I noticed that the brand “Origins” is owned by Estee Lauder. I was intrigued, so I clicked on the Estee Lauder icon and realized they own a boat load of other companies, Aveda, Clinique, Coach, Missoni, Michael Kors…

Which naturally led me to question what other products I used are owned by insidious corporations? Is my devotion to purchasing products made with organic, eco-friendly, no synthetic chemicals ingredients paying off or are they all owned by larger companies who don’t give a fart in the long run?

Here are the big ones:

1.) Unilever, an international British-Dutch based company. They own/produce: Ben and Jerry’s, Degree, Dove, Axe, Knorr, Hellmans, I can’t believe it’s not butter!, Lever 2000, Lipton, Pond’s, Q-Tips, Suave, Sun Silk, Slim Fast, Vaseline, and many others.

2.)Proctor and Gamble, an international American based company from Cincinnati, OH. They own/produce: Bounty, Braun, Crest, Dawn, Downy, Duracell, Gain, Gillette, Ivory, Head and Shoulders, Old Spice, Olay, Pampers, Always, Pantene, Pringles Secret, Vicks, Tide, etc.

3.) Nestle, an old enemy of my childhood (I wasn’t allowed to buy Nestle products because they encourage mothers in developing countries to use their baby formula instead of breast-feeding) and an international Swiss based company. They own/produce: Carnation, Gerber, Ice Mountain, San Pelligrino, Perrier, Panna, 100 Grand Bar, Baby Ruth, Poland Spring, Bit-O-Honey, Butterfinger, Crunch, Kit Kat, Smarties, Rolo, Toll House, Coffee Mate, Newquick, Juicy Juice, Jenny Craig, Boost, Powerbar, etc.

4.) Kraft, the largest company in America and second largest in the world after Nestle. They own/produce: A1 Steak Sauce, Grey Popoun, Miracle Whip, Vegemite, Chips Ahoy!, Fig Newton, Jell-O, Mallomars, Nutter Butter, Oreo, Planters, Ritz Crackers, Teddy Grahams, Triscuit, Wheat Thins, Milka, Toblerone, Cheez Wiz, Cool Whip, Philadelphia, Velveeta, Capri Sun, Crystal Light, Kool-Aid, Maxwell House, Tang, Oscar Meyer, Shake ‘n Bake, Handi Snacks, etc.

5.) S.C. Johnson and Son, an American company based right here in Racine, WI. They own:Drano, Fantastik, Glade, Nature’s Source, Oust, Pledge, Scrubbing Bubbles, Shout, Windex, Saran Wrap, Ziploc, Edge, Skintimate, OFF!, Raid, Windex, etc. They also own “Greenlist”, which is another greenwashing marketing ploy to make consumers think the product they bought is “eco-friendly” when in reality it’s still full of volatile organic compounds, phthalates, and a host of other disconcerting ingredients.

6.) Colgate-Palmolive, an international American based company. They own/produce: Anbesol, Ajax, Colgate, Fresh Start, Handi Wipes, Irish Spring, Murphy Oil Soap, Palmolive, Softsoap, Speed Stick, Tom’s of Maine, Teen Spirit, Science Diet, Ultra Brite, etc.

7.) Johnson and Johnson, an American based international company. They primarily produce/own consumer pharmaceuticals: Acuvue, Aveeno, Band-Aid, Benadryl, Bengay, Carefree, Clean and Clear, Cortaid, Desitin, Efferdent, Imodium, Johnson’s Baby, K-Y, Lactaid, Listerine, Lubriderm, Lundens, Monistat, Motrin, Mylanta, Neosporin, Nicoderm, Neutrogena, Nicorette, O.B., Onetouch, Pediacare, Pepcid, Purell, REACH, Rembrandt, Rogaine, Rolaids, Splenda, Stayfree, Sudafed, Tucks, Tylenol, Visine, Zyrtec, etc.

8.) L’Oreal, a French based international company who primarily sells consumer cosmetic products. They own/produce: Kerastase, Redken, Matrix, Shu Uemura, L’Oreal Paris, Garnier, Maybelline New York, Lancome, Biotherm, YSL Beaute, Giorgio Armani Parfums and Cosmetics, Ralph Lauren Frangrances, Diesel Fragrances, Victor and Rolf parfums, Ombrelle, The Body Shop, and others.

In the end, I found only a few of the products I use are owned by larger companies, my Tom’s deodorant and toothpaste, and my Burt’s Bees lip balm. I don’t have a huge problem with corporations or capitalism. I do have a problem with the fact that most of these companies propagate sexism, colonialist thought/racism, and contribute to Global Warming. The sources cited for each of the wikipedia articles* for these companies have included known incidents of sexism in the workplace, racism and exploitation in the developing countries most of these companies do their business in and the carbon emissions these companies produce.

*here are the links to the wikipedia pages and you can explore the cited links from there.

Unilever, Nestle, Colgate-Palmolive, Proctor and Gamble, S.C. Johnson, Kraft, Johnson and Johnson, Johnson and Johnson 2, L’Oreal, and an independent review of the claims made by Tom’s of Maine and Burt’s Bees

Monday Morning Surrealism

From Andre Breton’s First Surrealist Manifesto (1924):

SURREALISM, noun, masc., Pure psychic automatism by which it is intended to express, either verbally or in writing, the true function of thought. Thought dictated in the absence of all control exerted by reason, and outside all aesthetic or moral preoccupations.

ENCYCL. Philos. Surrealism is based on the belief in the superior reality of certain forms of association heretofore neglected, in the omnipotence of the dream, and in the disinterested play of thought. It leads to the permanent destruction of all other psychic mechanisms and to its substitution for them in the solution of the principal problems of life.

WTF story of the week (and it’s only Sunday)

Some Somali pirates announced plans to donate stolen loot to Haiti.

If this is true, it might not be as surprising as one initially would think. Piracy is lucrative crime (and not just by Somalian standards).

I did not watch the Superbowl

…but very passively hoped the Saints would win. So, like, yay.

But anti-yay: Something like four people in my Facebook newsfeed commented on sexist advertising–apparently, it was even more pronounced than usual for a Superbowl commercial lineup.

For those of you who watched: Were they worse than usual this year? Or is the same old misogyny only that much more infuriating in 2010?

Five science fiction monsters more appealing than a Palin candidacy

Robot Nixon’s campaign promises might include selling our children’s organs for zoo meat and breaking into people’s houses and wreaking up the place, but one has to appreciate that they’re more specific than Palin’s vague saber-rattling on national security and promises to “restore energy independence.”

Some Cthulhu-Dagon critics will inevitibly claim the Dread Lord of R’lyeh is inelligible for the presidency because He is not a naturally-born US citizen. However, given that The Great Cthulhu was sired of the quantum chaos that was before creation, He was born before “space” existed as a category. He could be said to have been purged from the womb of oblivion in all places and all times. Therefore, the objection is moot. Vote “Ia, ia!” for the Elder Party!

Palin “would be willing” to run for POTUS in 2012

Marc Ambinder claims “Palin gave a campaign speech” :

And that’s pretty much all you really need to know.  So much of a campaign speech was it that I am revising upward my estimate of the chances she runs for president in 2012. So much so that I am evaluating my basic Palin assumption, which is that she has decided not to run for office.

Meanwhile, Andrew Sullivan despairs of the possibility of any degree of transparency after her alliance with Fox News:

She now confirms [the possibility of a run] on Fox, the only channel on which she will now appear. Remember the last campaign? The MSM was shut out as far as humanly possible – and they colluded in the McCain strategy. Some, like the Washington Post’s Howie Kurtz, even joined forces with the campaign to intimidate and smear other journalists trying to seek the truth. Now that they have built an entire propaganda media complex that channels directly into the bloodstream of what O’Reilly calls “the folks”, the idea that the last dregs of the independent press can challenge or really expose her is becoming more and more remote. The Washington media had their chance in the last campaign. They didn’t have the nerve. Now they won’t have the chance.

Palin “would be willing” to run for POTUS in 2012

Detail from Hieronymous Bosch's "The Garden of Earthly Delights," Panel III (ca. 1503-4)

Via Fox:

Sarah Palin has President Obama in her sights, telling FoxNews.com she “would be willing” to challenge him in the 2012 presidential race. The former Alaska governor, in an interview Saturday on the sidelines of the National Tea Party Convention in Nashville, said President Obama’s “lack of experience” has held him back his first year in office and that she would put her credentials up against his any day.

So, Sarah “Finished A Little More Than Half Of My First Term” Palin is positioning herself as more experienced than Obama? That’s rich.

“I would be willing to if I believe that it’s right for the country,” Palin said when asked if she would run for president in 2012…the former GOP vice presidential nominee told “Fox News Sunday”: “I won’t close the door that perhaps could be open for me in the future.” 

Further Tea Party shenanigans

On the second day of the Tea Party national convention, World Net Daily founder Joseph Farah, of course, spoke at length about the circumstances of Obama’s birth, and contrasted it to the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, “the most well documented birth in history.” Never no mind that that the record was written 70-110 years after the fact of the birth*, and contradicts both itself internally and contemporaneous historic accounts externally.

*If it happened at all. Given the unreliability of ancient histories in general and the lack of non-scriptural corroborating documentation, I am agnostic on the question of the historic Jesus.