THE PROBLEM ISN'T POVERTY - IT'S WEALTH

APPLE IPAD NOW MADE WITH HUMAN BLOOD

In the last decade, Apple has become one of the mightiest, richest and most successful companies in the world, in part by mastering global manufacturing. Apple and its high-technology peers — as well as dozens of other American industries — have achieved a pace of innovation nearly unmatched in modern history.

However, the workers assembling iPhones, iPads and other devices often labor in harsh conditions, according to employees inside those plants, worker advocates and documents published by companies themselves. Problems are as varied as onerous work environments and serious — sometimes deadly — safety problems.

Employees work excessive overtime, in some cases seven days a week, and live in crowded dorms. Some say they stand so long that their legs swell until they can hardly walk. Under-age workers have helped build Apple’s products, and the company’s suppliers have improperly disposed of hazardous waste and falsified records, according to company reports and advocacy groups that, within China, are often considered reliable, independent monitors.

More troubling, the groups say, is some suppliers’ disregard for workers’ health. Two years ago, 137 workers at an Apple supplier in eastern China were injured after they were ordered to use a poisonous chemical to clean iPhone screens. Within seven months last year, two explosions at iPad factories, including in Chengdu, killed four people and injured 77. Before those blasts, Apple had been alerted to hazardous conditions inside the Chengdu plant, according to a Chinese group that published that warning.

“If Apple was warned, and didn’t act, that’s reprehensible,” said Nicholas Ashford, a former chairman of the National Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety and Health, a group that advises the United States Labor Department. “But what’s morally repugnant in one country is accepted business practices in another, and companies take advantage of that.”

READ THE FULL NY TIMES STORY ONLINE>

JESUS THE REPUBLICAN?

"If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor… Haha just kidding man! Save it for retirement, or go travel, or buy an iPad, or something. The poor have enough soup kitchens and homeless shelters already."

- Jesus the Republican (Matthew 19:21)

MLK GETS TO CALL HIMSELF A CHRISTIAN BECAUSE HE DID WHAT JESUS DID

DEAR AMERICAN CHRISTIANS FROM MLK

But American Christians, I must say to you as I said to the Roman Christians years ago, “Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Or, as I said to the Philippian Christians, “Ye are a colony of heaven.” This means that although you live in the colony of time, your ultimate allegiance is to the empire of eternity. You have a dual citizenry. You live both in time and eternity; both in heaven and earth. Therefore, your ultimate allegiance is not to the government, not to the state, not to nation, not to any man-made institution. The Christian owes his ultimate allegiance to God, and if any earthly institution conflicts with God’s will it is your Christian duty to take a stand against it. You must never allow the transitory evanescent demands of man-made institutions to take precedence over the eternal demands of the Almighty God.

The end of the universe is not to be happy. The end is not to avoid suffering. But the end of life is to do the will of God, come what may.

So the greatest of all virtues is love. It is here that we find the true meaning of the Christian faith. This is at bottom the meaning of the cross. The great event on Calvary signifies more than a meaningless drama that took place on the stage of history. It is a telescope through which we look out into the long vista of eternity and see the love of God breaking forth into time. It is an eternal reminder to a power drunk generation that love is the most durable power in the world, and that it is at bottom the heartbeat of the moral cosmos. Only through achieving this love can you expect to matriculate into the university of eternal life.

Excerpts from Martin Luther King, Jr.’s, ”Paul’s Letter to American Christians“

DO APPLE, MICROSOFT AND SONY CARE? DO YOU?

For Westerners, the conditions are shocking. Workers slave away for hours on end, pulling overtime, until their legs swell or they suffer from crippling disabilities.

Our iPhones and game electronics are made by hand, probably because it's cheaper to pay a worker in China to fit, solder, and polish products than it would be to create a robot dedicated to the task. Moreover, that steady stream of redesigns would be costly—or impossible.

Yet, it's not just the cheap wages. It's the tiny dormitories stuffed with people, the cameras tracking their every moment, a State government that imprisons people for joining unions, and, according to The New York Times, banners in the factories that read, "Work hard on the job today or work hard to find a job tomorrow."

Former Apple supply manager Jennifer Rigoni asked The New York Times, "What U.S. plant can find 3,000 people overnight and convince them to live in dorms?"

Foxconn runs an entire ecosystem that's designed with one purpose in mind: make electronics quickly and cheaply for foreign clients like Apple, Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo for you and me to buy. Your iPhone, your Wii, your Xbox 360, and your PS3 are all made at Foxconn factories. But do these foreign clients really care? Do you?

With the increased focus on Foxconn and its work practices, its foreign clients, the Apples of the world, are becoming more open about their relationship with their suppliers.

Apple released a detailed report earlier this month (viewable at the link below) in which the company openly discussed working conditions and its on site audits. Nintendo and Microsoft have corporate responsibility statements of their own (also viewable at the original site). However, as this recent New York Times article underscores, Apple has gotten most of the attention and public outcry regarding work conditions at Foxconn's plants. This is due to several incidents on Foxconn's Apple product lines, including an explosion that killed two.

The explosion was caused by aluminum dust, inadequate protection, and poor ventilation. One activist group, Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior, videotaped Foxconn workers covered in aluminum dust, The New York Times reported, and sent a copy to Apple. "There was no response," said the group's Debby Chan Sze Wan. "A few months later I went to Cupertino, and went into the Apple lobby, but no one would meet with me. I've never heard from anyone from Apple at all." The explosion, later blamed on aluminum dust build up, killed 2 and injured at least 16 others. Foxconn later replaced the ventilation at this factory.

"Apple never cared about anything other than increasing product quality and decreasing production cost," Li Mingqi told The New York Times. Mingqi is a former Foxconn manager who worked at this plant who is currently suing Foxconn over unfair dismissal. "Workers' welfare has nothing to do with their interests."

One former Apple executive said that Apple has known about the labor abuses for years—and that they're still going on.

There are other stories, stories of underage workers, and stories of workers becoming injured and disfigured, even, while making Apple products. Apple, in its recent suppliers report, stated it was auditing factories. Yet, as The New York Times pointed out, half of the suppliers Apple audited continue to violate the code of conduct every single year. And Apple continues to do business with these companies.

And so does Nintendo. And so does Microsoft. And so does Sony. And so do a whole bunch of companies. If Apple is being this open about its suppliers and how it is addressing work infractions, imagine how bad conditions at on the other supply lines.

READ THE FULL STORY ONLINE >

AMERICAN JESUS?

HOW FOXCONN KILLS

Mike Daisey was a self-described "worshipper in the cult of Mac." Then he saw some photos from a new iPhone, taken by workers at the factory where it was made. Mike wondered: Who makes all my crap? He traveled to China to find out. Listen to the full broadcast online>

THE DARKER SIDE OF APPLE - FOXCONN ABUSES

We've come full circle in this tale of Chinese worker exploitation, re-reaching the conclusion that  Foxconn is still a hard place to work after hearing what it's really like from a woman who works on the inside.

Following news that a few hundred workers threatened suicide unless working conditions improved, Foxconn has experienced a month of intense scrutiny from all angles, followed by a guilt-quelling possibility that these factories provide better working conditions than anywhere else in China. But the 18-year-old Foxconn employee, whom CNN is calling only "Miss Chen,"confirms that the gadget factories are not somewhere we'd want to work.

"Foxconn employees have a saying, 'they use women as men and men as machines,'" Chen told CNN's Chi -Chi Zheng. Chen also describes all the horrors we've heard before, including a military culture with long unpredictable hours and fickle, fire-happy management. Though Apple has claimed that it "cares" about each of its workers, Chen doesn't get that impression. "Do they care about us? I don't know. At least I'm not getting any of that care," said Chen, who below sees her first ever completed iPad, after spending tedious hours fitting tablet screens.

People don't tend to stay very long at Foxconn, a source told CNN. "The attitude of management is, if you don't like it, you can leave," said CNN's Stan Grant. From the sounds of it, we can imagine why employees wouldn't like it very much. According to Chen, "Everyday is like: I get off from work and I go to bed. I get up in the morning, and I go to work. It is my daily routine and I almost feel like an animal."

WATCH THE FULL VIDEO CLIP HERE> 

The Dominion Group - We Exploit Innocent Families for Profit

ABOUT US

The “Dominion Group of Companies” is the informal identity of a number of companies founded and owned by Calvin Burgess of Guthrie, Oklahoma. These companies provide a diverse range of services and products, from office properties in the central U.S. to large-scale farming in Kenya. For over 20 years we have responded to opportunities to privatize governmental functions and projects for which state and federal agencies lacked the funding or flexibility to deliver themselves. In addition to government contracting and leasing, The Dominion Companies are involved in aircraft maintenance and modifications, lodging, manufacturing and commercial farming.

Watch this informative video to see what we've been up to lately in Kenya:

HERE

OUR HISTORY

The origin of this group of companies dates to 1977 when Mr. Burgess founded a general contracting firm. That business expanded into commercial real estate development in 1986, since which year the Dominion Group has sited, designed, built and financed over 3.2 million square feet of public and commercial properties. Active in North America, Central America and Africa, The Dominion Group pursues unique business opportunities, often with a contrarian approach to investment.

Visit our corporate website at: http://www.domgp.com/

CONTACT:

Address: 818 N. Oak

Guthrie, Oklahoma 73044

Telephone: 405.346.9852

E-mail: treya@domgp.com

Apple Q1 2012 Results Obliterate Expectations

From the Huffington Post

Apple has posted impressive quarterly earnings for the 14-week period ending on December 31, 2011.

According to a press release, the company reported a quarterly revenue of $46.33 billion, as well as a quarterly net profit of $13.06 billion, or $13.87 per diluted share, the company's best quarterly results yet.

"These results compare to revenue of $26.74 billion and net quarterly profit of $6 billion, or $6.43 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter," per the release.

The Verge reports on the company's record-shattering iPhone, iPad and Mac sales, writing, "Apple sold an astonishing 37.04 million iPhones, 15.43 million iPads and 5.3 million Macs during the quarter, which represent increases of 128 percent, 111 percent, and 26 percent from last year. That's 2m more phones sold than Samsung shipped last quarter, which is astonishing."

In a statement accompanying the news, Apple CEO Tim Cook said, “We’re thrilled with our outstanding results and record-breaking sales of iPhones, iPads and Macs. [...] Apple’s momentum is incredibly strong, and we have some amazing new products in the pipeline.”

The full article is available at HuffingtonPost.com

WWJBUY? STREAMING

POISON APPLE? NO THANKS.

BOOK REVIEW: THE REVEREND BILLY PROJECT

Perhaps prophetic, then, was the summer release of radical activist and actor Reverend Billy Talen’s latest book, The Reverend Billy Project (Michigan, 2011). Written in collaboration with both the Project’s artistic director and Talen’s spouse Savitri D. and journalist Alisa Solomon, the book is a series of reflections, journal-like entries and commentaries. But it also is a field guide to his Project’s work thus far, as much as it is an insight to the Project’s intentions and tactics. Using reflections as a starting point — and abutting each with explanations of how a certain action progressed — the writers embrace the reader’s emotions and intellect. Most importantly, by informing readers of the Project, it also functions to inform the revolt at hand.

Talen’s churches most notably define the Project, as Solomon dubs his activist and artistic venture in her editor’s notes. Presently performing as the Church of Earthalujah, and formerly known as the Church of Stop-Shopping and the Church of Life After Shopping, these experiments in social movements test the boundaries of activism. You could say he inspired the Occupy movement. Because, like the Occupy activists, Talen believes that the First Amendment gives him the right to protest – that permits need not apply. This is nothing new to Talen, who has spent the past 15 years performing as a post-theological street preacher decrying, among other things, consumerism, gentrification, and shopping, all without a permit. And like the Occupy activists in New York, who are encamped in the privately owned Zuccotti Park, Talen and the Project also extend their activism to private property, where permits rarely, if ever, apply.

If the US government works in favor of the one percent — and their interests — then the Project knows it firsthand. Take their encounter with the California Starbucks in April of 2004. A suburban California outlet of the well-known, corporate coffee shop chain became the scene for one of the Project’s public performances — leading to the exorcism of a cash register — and resulted in Talen’s trial-by-jury. Talen was found guilty by the jury for “sanctifying the cash register” — a misdemeanor in the state of California — and sentenced to three days in a Los Angeles jail. He also, by order, still cannot be within a certain distance of any Starbucks cash register in California. And why? Because his performance art and activism were viewed as a disruption of commerce by the court.

Just as Occupy activists are criticized for their tactics and vague message, so, too, were Talen and the Project in this case. As the articulate and eloquent Savitri points out, “the DA and the judge made it very difficult to talk about context, to discuss the meaning of what we were doing, the purpose.” That the court and jury misunderstood Talen is no surprise. (After all, who sanctifies a cash register to make a point about consumerism and fair trade products but anarchists and criminals, anyway?) But Savitri addresses the other point of Occupy, which is to ask: where is activism in the public square going in the twenty-first century?

Taken from the website: New.Clear.Vision

AMERICAN WEALTH FUELED BY INJUSTICE

STEVE JOBS: DO YOU BELIEVE HIM?

SOPA: THE LARGEST PROTEST IN HISTORY

Source: frugaldad.com

CREATIVE PROTEST IN RUSSIA

Police in Siberian city ask prosecutors to investigate legality of protest involving display of toy figures holding miniature placards.

Russian police don't take kindly to opposition protesters – even if they're 5cm high and made of plastic.

Police in the Siberian city of Barnaul have asked prosecutors to investigate the legality of a recent protest that saw dozens of small dolls – teddy bears, Lego men, South Park figurines – arranged to mimic a protest, complete with signs reading: "I'm for clean elections" and "A thief should sit in jail, not in the Kremlin".

"Political opposition forces are using new technologies to carry out public events – using toys with placards at mini-protests," Andrei Mulintsev, the city's deputy police chief, said at a press conference this week, according to local media. "In our opinion, this is still an unsanctioned public event."

Activists set up the display after authorities repeatedly rejected their request to hold a sanctioned demonstration of the kind held in Moscow to protest disputed parliamentary elections results and Vladimir Putin's expected return to the presidency in a March vote.

Passersby admired the display with giggles, but police took it more seriously, examining its details and writing down each placard.

"The authorities' attempt to limit citizens' rights to express their position has become absurd," said Lyudmila Alexandrova, a 26-year-old graduate student and protest organiser. "We wanted to hyperbolise this attempt and show the absurdity and farce of officials' struggle with their own people."

They are not the first. Russia's Blue Buckets group, formed to protest officials' wanton flouting of traffic rules, have run across government cars while wearing buckets on their heads, drawing the state's ire.

Voina, the rebellious art collective, won worldwide fame after painting a 65-metre-long phallus on a drawbridge in St Petersburg that, when erected, faced the city's Federal Security Service (FSB) headquarters. Its members have been repeatedly detained.

The activists in Barnaul say they have no choice but to adopt creative measures. Local authorities have refused to issue approval for opposition protests since 10 December, the first nationwide day of protest in Russia. Around 2,000 people turned out in Barnaul that day, an unprecedented number for the small city.

Police have tried to pressure them into shutting down the doll protests, organisers said. "They tried to tell us our event was illegal – they even said that to put toys in the snow, we had to rent it from the city authorities," Alexandrova said.

All authorities appear to be on high alert, as Russia prepares for its next day of protest on 4 February, one month before a presidential vote that Putin hopes will sweep him back into the Kremlin. On Thursday, the Moscow mayor's office approved the opposition's request to gather up to 50,000 people for a march through part of the city centre.

The jumpiest police were found this week in Kaliningrad, Russia's Baltic exclave. As two dozen nationalist youth took to the streets for a jog designed to promote a healthy lifestyle, carrying their traditional black, yellow and white flag, police descended upon the rally, having confused it for a gay pride parade. Gay rights remain largely unrecognised in Russia, and gay rights rallies are regularly banned. Police questioned the activists before releasing them, local media reported.

READ THE FULL STORY HERE>