But Earl Gray is still ok though, right?

Still playing catch upon all things internet and news, and just came across this on my not-dead-yet delicious account.

And then there’s the wage issue. On the premise that a rising tide floats all boats, Darjeeling’s prestige in the tea market should be building wealth for the area’s residents. Not so much, Kane writes. Despite the high price fetched by Darjeeling in the U.S. — a box of Twinings Darjeeling tea bags fetches $5 for 100 grams, or about $25/pound — workers on the ground get paid very little, than $1.50 per day for their long hours among the tea bushes. And lest you speculate that $1.50 per day amounts to a decent wage in India, Kane adds this:

The majority of tea laborers are women, who pick all the leaves by hand, leaving them little opportunity to pursue other work. Families often remain on a plantation for generations, unable to earn enough money to leave; and children often start work at a young age, forgoing school to help the family make ends meet.

So rather than pull workers out of poverty, Darjeeling’s tea industry generates a kind of permanent indentured-servant class.

The article also mentions the devestation tea plantations are doing to the local enviroment, and, sadly, the fact that “fair trade” doesn’t often mean much:

Unhappily, simply buying tea labeled Fair Trade doesn’t much affect conditions on the ground in Darjeeling, either. According to Kane, “Even those plantations labeled as Fair Trade by the Fair Trade Labeling Organization (FLO) and receive a premium price for their product rarely pass on these profits to laborers.”

The whole thing is worth checking out.

 

 

 

cool

delicious still exists.

I have something like 2000 bookmarks over there, and I had been avoiding clicking over because the thought of finding them all blanked out made me a little too depressed.  Apparently the leak was false? Guess so.

…adding that the holiday season and general malaise seems to have shut me out of internet current events.  Bizarre feeling.

Sigh

So the longer piece I was gonna post needs editing and citations and stuff.  And that’s way too hard for me right now.  I mean, I’m planning on doing it, and I’ll work on it this afternoon, but there is a possibility that I won’t finish today, and I won’t be around in the pm, so i figured I’ll post one or two links.

No ones’ reading this thing, so I don’t feel the need to go back and write out a definitive statement on Wikileaks.  If you (the theoretical you, that is) read a little I’m sure you’d already assume that I’m a cheerleader for them, and you’d be right.

So let me just jump right to posting this link, which is an excellent discussion of some of Assange’s writing.  You should certainly listen to zunguzungu and click through to read it for yourself, but be forewarned:  it’s harder to track down the 2nd half of the essay than it sounds.  I assume you can dig it out of the internet archive, but I haven’t managed to yet.

Anyway, the whole discussion is the most subversive thing you’ll  read in a minute, not only in intent, but in the depth of Assange’s (and zunguzungu’s) observations.  Both sound right to me.

While you’re over there, you should probably check out this too.

On the subject of Tunisia, and following from zunguzungu, check out  Jillian C. York, and her excellent coverage of the events there.  I’d start here, personally, but that might have something to do with my distrust of technophilia.

Both blogs are new discoveries for me, and I’m very happy to have found them.  Not that two academic types are at all impressed by the approval of some foul mouthed schmuck from Brighton, but whatetever.

More later, the cat is demanding attention.

Boo

Wonder if I remember how to add links and post pictures and stuff.

Not going to bother to find out now, too lazy.  It’s Saturday morning after all, a time the lawd set aside for sleeping in a little, drinking coffee, and avoiding the pile of dishes in the sink.  Constructive stuff should be done only in dire circumstances.

Think I will post some more here, though.  I’ve missed this a bit.

Of course, since the election of Obama I haven’t bothered to read the news much.  I assume after his inauguration he swept into power, closed down Gitmo, nationalized the big banks, wwithdrew our forces from Iraq and That Other Place, and assigned each and every American citizen their own gold vomiting unicorn, right?   Mine must still be on order.

So I have few ideas for posts, and I’ve typed out a few more longish rants lately that have no home, so there may be some more stuff up in the next few hours, right after I brave the cold for more cigarettes and coffee.  Addiction will make you do crazy things.