Go ahead and have that eggnog

Hello blog followers.Thanks so much to those of you who have purchased tree ornaments from us, please know that you are helping to keep us safe and warm this winter. A couple of things here that overlap, being ; spending money during the holiday on a local, completely USA made product ( the glass ornaments I use are made by what has to be one of the last manufactures of holiday decorations in the country, Krebs of New Mexico) and a documentary I recently viewed, Invisible Empire, A New World Order Defined. Actually there is another layer to this post, a piece I reposted on Facebook the other day about the factories that employ, no employ isn’t the right word, enslave people, often children, to make the plastic toys that will be under many many trees this month. Way back when Troy and I were kids, we were happy to search through the Sears “wishbook” and speculate about what we might be able to ask Santa for. I remember considering many different choices and circling my favorites, Easy Bake oven, Barbie Dream house, chemistry kits or a new bike. We usually got one large gift, a few other smaller items, some candy and pajamas or a winter coat. We were happy with what we got and spent the day playing with our new toys, wearing the new clothes or hand knit slippers and having dinner with the family. The big difference between those days and now is that back then the toys came from factories here in the USA, Kenner, Ideal and Mattel to name a few. Kid’s parents went to work in those factories, and bought other American made product with the money they earned. I am sad, to say the least, that things have gotten so out of hand. Children will be unwrapping tons of plastic goods not made here, but in China, which is a fact of life that we have gotten used to. I hate the look of amazement on the faces of young people when I share my memories of American made toys, for it seems that many of them can’t remember a time when everything available for sale in a store wasn’t imported. I was horrified to view a video clip of conditions in China which showed children complaining about the hours they were forced to work in factories creating toys for Disney and McDonald’s but even more dismayed when only 2 facebook friends “liked” the post, both of them men, by the way. Don’t blame me, but if I had shown a picture of a dog wearing a Santa suit manufactured in one of these factories, I bet I would have received many comments about how cute it was. I am not a big holiday celebrator anyway, but I have had a problem with the massive onslaught of plastic toys from China since my own son was a small child. Anyone remember the poisonous paint scare a couple of years ago? Did you think about it when you were shopping? Were you aware that a percentage of toys we buy are made by children enslaved in factories overseas? Does it bother you enough to not make a purchase? Are you angry at me for ruining the spirit of the season, and your holiday cheer?
This leads me to the documentary, Invisible Empire, A new World Order Defined. Perhaps I should give us a break from the conspiracy theory and just relax with a nice eggnog instead. Call me paranoid, but the new holiday, Black Friday just won’t let me forget to use my critical thinking. Spending seems to be the biggest holiday activity of importance now. According to NPBN statistics broadcast this morning, when any of us spend $100 at a local business, it brings $58 back to the local economy whereas the same amount of money spent at a chain or big box, only returns $33. I personally doubt that $33 amount, thinking it is probably lower. But forget the local economy for a minute, forget the ethical conundrum of using child labor for our own holiday pleasure. What has happened in China can and is happening here in the good old US of A. It is happening so slowly and we are being conditioned to accept it as a marvelous thing to be able to buy so much stuff for so cheap. How wonderful that we don’t have to bother with parking in downtown, locally owned stores buying goods that provide jobs for other Americans. The mega-corporations that own those Big Box stores have been planning the demise of small town shopping for decades for one reason, it makes them a shit-load of money. I’m not talking about some well-to-do executives who will be sipping the finest champagne on New Years while, we will be lucky to afford a 12 pack of Bud light. I’m talking about The Bilderberg group again, the people who see themselves at the top of that pyramid depicted on the back of the quickly vanishing dollar bill. Anyone still shopping with dollar bills? Probably not because your credit card is a much more efficient way for “them” to keep track of you and your address, bank account and income level, and match it up to who you used to be before you got in line for a microchip to be implanted under your skin.
Ok, roll your eyes and call me a crazy conspiracy theorist but what do you think the people of China were thinking a few decades ago? “ I can’t wait until they build that new factory so I can send my kids there to work as slaves to make toys for unsuspecting Americans?” I have often wondered what goes through the minds of those people as they scramble to make their quota of Micky Mouse plastic sunglasses or maybe I am dating myself here. It is probably Little Mermaid pocketbooks now that fall apart just like mommy’s does when she tries to make the mortgage AND pay for gifts under the tree because she no longer has a job!
As a nation we spend more time watching football than investigating our government’s support of things like NAFTA and it’s local and far reaching global effects. We spend more time watching the food channel than we do thinking about the chemicals that we are forced to eat everyday in the form of additives and pesticide, put there so that someone, somewhere can again, make a shit-load of money! If one person watches this documentary or any of the information I link to, this blog will be worth the time I took to write it because one more person will be thinking about what is REALLY happening to this country, slowly but surely by design. I’m sorry to ruin your day or your holiday spirit but I felt it only fair to not keep this to my paranoid little self. If it leaves you wondering how to celebrate your holiday I do have a suggestion. Seek out people who need and deserve a hug, some of your time, a visit from a friend. Give yourself permission to leave the guilt behind about not spending enough on someone’s gift and replace it with the knowledge that you have given of yourself and your time, something that won’t enslave a child living in a dorm halfway around the world. And educate yourself. Again, don’t agree with me if you want, after watching the documentary.Go ahead and have that eggnog, you might need it, but please don’t look the other Way.