A 14-year-old Australian boy was arrested in Bali recently for possessing a small amount of Marijuana. The media in Australia reported that the police routinely set people up in the hope that thousands of dollars in bribes will be paid for the release of those caught. Victims of this corruption have reported that they have been through it themselves. It is widely considered that this is what happened to this boy and the media reported that witnesses saw it happen to him.

He is now in a hellhole prison reportedly containing a pedophile and of course murderers and all the other usual suspects (pardon the pun). This is an adult prison of course because minors are treated no differently in Indonesia. It could take months to go to court if no bribes are paid quickly and if convicted he will be there for potentially 6 to 12 years.

So here is how the scam works. A guy comes up to you in Bali for example, the best place to find this scam every day, and he makes up a story that he needs to go to the toilet and he asks you to hold something for a short while. If you take it, he leaves the area and the next minute the police are right in front of you. Bang, you are arrested because what you are holding contains drugs. That is just one example of how the scam occurs but there are others.

The police only make a few hundred dollars a month from their wages so to make a lot more money they engage in extortion, bribery and so on. This is well documented so there is no need to doubt any of it and you can observe it yourself if you go there. It is not just drugs (the bribe you pay for your release is around ten thousand dollars) but motoring offenses usually as well. Here, they just make up any reason to ask for a bribe and it costs you much more if you take it to court so do not drive around there or ride a motorbike there.

There are countless methods of extortion and bribery in Indonesia so I will leave it at that where examples are concerned. The point I want to make is that you as a responsible consumer and in this case a responsible traveler should avoid countries like Indonesia. If you live in Australia just go to Queensland or northern Western Australia because it is almost the same. If you live in America just go to Florida or Southern California. There is really no need to go anywhere outside these locations or western European countries.

If you do go to Bali especially, remember this:

• a) Criminals associated with the police work in the airports and can insert drugs in your luggage and point you out to the police later. Take very little luggage with you when you go there in the first place and always lock your bag. If when you pick it up at the airport you see that it has been tampered with leave it and flee immediately (the police will be right behind you).
• b) Criminals work with the police on the street to set people up for drug possession in the hope that a bribe will be paid for their release. Sometimes the criminal is a beggar “selling” you something (containing drugs) or sometimes they just ask you to hold something for a moment.
• c) Police investigations are usually fictional accounts of what happened. You can be convicted based on this or be put to death in the case of drugs.
• d) Governments around the world know that all this happens. Sometimes they use it to their advantage and sometimes they do not. So do not rely on your government to help you if you are caught in Indonesia because some have knowingly helped Indonesian police to set up foreign citizens despite the death penalty. The Australian government for example could have Schapelle Corby returned to Australia literally overnight if they wanted to but they choose not to. Her family cannot afford the bribes so she has become a zoo attraction in exchange for money by prison authorities. She is not facing the death penalty but nevertheless this could happen to you or your child.
• e) Avoid driving or riding a motorbike in Indonesia.
• f) If you are asked for your papers the police will say the papers are not in order. Argue continuously until they drop their bribery attempt (they sometimes do so you might be lucky).
• g) Keep away from nightclubs where many foreigners are gathered.
• i) There is no trial by jury in Indonesia, only by corrupt judges and so you know the outcome before the trial even starts. Never risk it by not paying the bribes!
• And of course, never use a credit or debit card in a hotel if you can help it because some of these contain corrupt staff as well.

Ultimately it is best to avoid travel to Indonesia. Support your local economy first by traveling there instead of supporting criminals overseas.

It is largely a fashion want that these seals are killed for not a genuine need around the world. Sometimes the pups are shot while other times a hackapik is used. Animal rights groups have witnessed what they describe as the cruelest hunt ever earlier this year in Canada (so many violations of the regulations). This inhumane treatment must end and you as a responsible consumer can help. It starts with ignoring the spin from hunters and the government because almost all of this is proven nonsense (more about that shortly).

Then, never, ever, buy clothing or other products made of seal fur. The European Union banned products made from seal fur in 2009. However there is an exemption for trade in fur from subsistence hunts. It has to stop entirely, no exceptions! This applies to all countries that import fur products, including seal fur products.

In addition to boycotting retailers that sell seal fur products there are other actions you can take also. Do not travel to any country conducting a seal hunt at given times of the year. It will not hurt their tourism industry all that much but lower tourist numbers sends a message just the same.

Then use the media to get your point across. Use social networking sites, especially the Facebook and Twitter of your favorite Canadian celebrities for example, to post an anti-hunt message. If you are a business owner, do not buy goods or services from Canadian companies or those of other countries that conduct seal hunts. Do not buy advertising time from television networks during times when shows filmed in Canada are airing.

There are other ideas you can probably think of too and you can post them in a comment post below if you like. Responsible consumerism gives you the right to exercise your free choice. Take advantage of it! The market for fur seal is very small around the world. Only ignorant fools buy seal fur products and they need to be educated in responsible consumerism.

Governments in countries that conduct mass seal hunts will have you believe that there is a market for seal fur. They say that it is humane to kill hundreds of thousands of seals and that there are even regulations on how to kill them (these are often not followed). They will tell you that it is to protect fish stock but the fish they mention are not part of the diet of seals. So this is all mostly a lie!

What these governments are trying to do is open up a market for a dying industry. Animal rights groups have clearly failed over the years to stop this happening. The onus then is on you and everyone you know to spread the word to boycott any aspect of this industry that you can think of.

Seal hunters that have admitted they do it for the sport and members of governments that openly condone this industry should be imprisoned ideally, along with those that buy seal fur products. We can only dream about that but we can collectively make the right choice to boycott buying, traveling to those countries and then spread the word online and in your local community. It is your right!

We have all heard that dogs like German Shepherds and also cats are skinned alive in China for the trade in fur (as well as for the carcass to be boiled alive for food). Yet retailers continue to offer fur clothing consisting of mostly canine fur to ignorant fools that buy it. The owners and management of these retailers and their customers that buy real fur clothing should ideally be imprisoned so the message gets through. However, you as a consumer can do your part by boycotting these disgraceful retailers.

There is a boot being sold in Australia that is called the “Mugg Boot”. Some of these visibly contain a canine-like fur on the outside. You can easily tell if the item of clothing you are considering buying contains real canine fur. The hair is longer and thicker and more coarse in it’s feel.

As for other items of fur clothing, you will find that it mostly contains rabbit or fox fur but some of it is canine fur and even feline fur. The label will not tell you that, it will say “raccoon fur” instead. Australian retailers blame the government for not stopping the importation of these fur clothing items at Customs inspections. The government denies any wrongdoing.

So with such incompetence all round, the onus is on the responsible consumer then to spread the word online or anywhere else to boycott any retailer they suspect of offering real fur clothing items. And of course you should never, ever buy these items in the first place. As more retailers stop selling fur clothing out of fear of repercussions, as several did earlier in the year in Australia, one day the trade in fur in Australia, just as in other countries, will drop significantly. That is the aim in the end.

Ultimately this can also extend to boycotting travel to China or buying products or services from Chinese businesses in your local area and beyond. But where fur is concerned, just ask yourself this: Would you like your pet dog or cat to be horrifically skinned alive, pain and mental anguish and all, just so some ignorant person who does not deserve to be alive can wear the pelt on their clothes?

Further reading

Australian fur trade using cruel raccoon dog from China in clothes and ugg boots, By Robert Burton-Bradley, news.com.au, October 03, 2011.

The Chinese Fur Industry | PETA.org

Donald Trump said last month in Australia that the price of Australian natural mineral commodities (uranium, iron ore, gold, oil and natural gas being the most in demand) should be significantly increased when selling to countries like China. The theory here some people thought is that the Australian manufacturing industry could be saved. There may be some cons to this idea but there are some pros also and the latter is what I would like to comment on here.

Most Australian mining companies and land should always remain in the hands of Australians. If the current pattern of selling off everything in Australia continues so foolishly and cheaply then no one can be surprised when other countries rip off Australian companies and landowners later (you cannot trust that it will not happen). Natural minerals resources and a small amount of land should be sold at the highest price now.

“Greed is good” one movie character (“Gordon Gekko” below) once said and there are some circumstances when it is good. If it saves the manufacturing industry for example and therefore the livelihoods of millions of workers then it is good greed. The market price should always be significantly higher than the natural price (the full cost of bringing natural minerals to market) for those that have a huge demand for what they need to buy. That in turn raises prices for the goods the buyer creates. It also creates a more level playing field so people buy locally instead because there is no need to go offshore if the price is similar.

What better country to start doing all this than Australia? It is one of the world’s biggest producers of natural minerals and it has vast areas of unused land. Yet some of this is largely being almost given away for free. Unbelievably stoopid! Successive Australian governments are extremely greedy and always look for ways to increase taxes to burden citizens that cannot afford it. They could instead be trying to screw the business world more, like Donald Trump says Australian mining companies should do to China. Put the prices up, create that level playing field, save local jobs and greedily grab more taxation revenue (without an unnecessary “carbon tax”). It really is not that hard!

Firstly, your personality contributes to weight gain or loss. No weight loss program can control that even though they offer a small amount of helpful ideas in that area. Weight loss requires long term dedication, better lifestyle choices, exercise and a healthy diet over the long term.

If you have bad habits they need to be broken permanently. If you do not cook at home then you need to find the time to. All of this is just common sense and there is plenty of similar advice out there.

Secondly, and this is the main reason, weight loss programs are designed to fail. They prey on the vulnerable for the sake of profit. If they actually worked then the weight loss companies would go out of business quickly, yet they are still around so think about it.

Oh sure they have a few successes and use those people in their advertising but then you read months later that those people have put the weight back on again. These programs are not a long term solution so they fail. Avoid them and spend your money on fruit and vegetables to create healthy meals at home and get plenty of exercise.

Never, ever, sign up to a weight loss program that offers minimal advice and also dietary foods. They are a waste of money and the failure rate is very high!

A man cannot make an even remotely complimentary comment to a woman in the workplace unless it is specifically about her job performance. Woman can get away with anything, though, and that is fine by most of us. Sure it is discrimination towards men but it is disguised as a “sexual harassment” policy to protect women mostly.

We think of them as such weak beings. However, we hold beauty pageants which are nothing more than a way of degrading women. You have to laugh at society’s double standards sometimes.

Here are a few more examples of the double standards. When Justin Timberlake exposed most of one of Janet Jackson’s breasts at the Super Bowl several years ago there was talk of fining TV networks for indecency. Then there are billboards and TV ads that push sexuality and attract complaints.

You cannot use a female’s sexuality without causing a stink and you can ask Gisele Bundchen about her new Hope ads. These lingerie ads are considered to be sexist because she is wearing the lingerie whilst giving her husband in the ad some bad news in the hope she will get away with what she did. It treats men as dumbasses rather it than being overly sexist towards women.

So these are a big no no but beauty pageants are okay? I do not think so! If you are a business owner and wish to send the right message you would avoid advertising your company’s name and products or services during beauty pageants. These events are just an excuse to find the dumbest women around and turn them into sex objects.

There are some reasonably intelligent women who have done well out of a brief career in beauty pageants but they were smart enough to use them very briefly as a stepping stone only. All the other women end up being degraded and laughed at as bimbos with some level of beauty and a reasonably good body to look at. It is a largely superficial entertainment form.

Why not go for full equality and have a beauty pageant consisting of lesbians? How about one for gay guys, too? Oh heck no, society would not be interested in that but gay and lesbian people deserve the same rights as the rest of us. So due to society’s double standards, it is a good idea as a responsible consumer of media advertising to avoid buying ad time on television networks on days when beauty pageants air. The same goes for other media as well. It sends the community a message that you and your company do not condone this degrading treatment of women.

Beauty pageants are a dinosaur from the past and the world has moved on as it should. A woman’s beauty does not need to be appreciated by having her run around a stage in a swimsuit. How does that show the inner beauty that women have in abundance? It does not at all. These pageants do not even show “real” women of a slightly larger size; they only showcase unrealistic body images.

You and your company can help society to continue to move on from this nonsense by taking a stand against this by not buying ad time in the media when beauty pageants are on. The time will come when we will see the last of these dinosaur-age events and hopefully it will come sooner rather than later!

I do not mean to sound like some sort of whacko but seriously we all know that the final nail needs to be placed firmly in the coffin of this type of bizarre and laughable spectacle.

Related news at the time of posting the above article

Swiss TV axes beauty pageant as viewers turned off, AAP, Sept 30, 2011 (the local pageant no longer fits their entertainment profile)

In a related story, I went to a leather products maker to get him to make a genuine leather belt for my trousers. I was sick of the poor quality, inferior leather imitation ones in most retail department stores. So the guy made one up and I picked it up a week later. I was expecting cowhide but got what is commonly referred to as buffalo hide and he told me that is what it was.

That is really goat or pig hide and you can see that in the folds near the holes which will crack within 6 months. I still bought the belt from the guy because I can tell that it will last longer than the department store ones but it is annoying when people give you something other than what you ask for and pay for. Needless to say I will not be going back to that guy or others in small stores like that.

Now, “buffalo hide” is what some leather furniture is made of. Retailers often call it “high grade” which is a load of nonsense. They even proudly mention it on their web sites. Those retailers are the ones to avoid. Buffalo hide is not suitable for regular wear and tear and so if you buy a cheap “leather” lounge that is made of this then the kids will have it wrecked in no time just from jumping on it regularly.

So the trick is to ignore claims of “high grade” leather and look at what the grain of the leather actually is e.g. vinyl with some corrected grain leather on the top – most furniture retailers offer junk made from this poor quality rubbish at a rip off price that leaves them laughing all the way to the bank.

The real deal is called full-grain leather in aniline or semi-aniline finish. If you want the real genuine leather with the expensive price to go with it then this is the grain to look for. And make sure there is no vinyl on the back with just the full-grain leather on top (a trick many use in furniture construction so they squeeze more profit out of suckers). Anything other than this at a cost of several thousand dollars is just plain rubbish that you are being ripped off for so avoid any retailer that sells poorer quality junk at the cost of full-grain leather furniture.

Full-grain leather retains the top layer of the hide with all its imperfections. It offers the best breathability and durability. As you would expect then, a patina will develop over time showing all the natural signs of aging that you will not get from lower quality leather. It is a great investment then that can last many years. You probably should use a protection cream because of that but at least you will not need to use shoe polish or other outrageous tricks like many shonky furniture manufacturers and retailers do all so often (then they can say that you scratched it when you got it home).

Be careful what you buy when it comes to leather furniture and avoid the crooks that just rip you off with false claims.

You have to love greed sometimes. It presents a perfect opportunity to do the opposite where some examples are concerned and you can still make loads of money by doing the right thing instead of the wrong thing. Well, here is an example and it concerns the Pharmacy Guild of Australia and dietary supplements brand Blackmores.

The two struck a deal recently. Basically it means that owners of the majority of the pharmacies in Australia will “encourage” their employees (i.e. threaten to fire them if they fail to comply) to recommend Blackmores products exclusively when providing certain genuine prescription products.

According to The Age, “Blackmores chief executive Christine Holgate described the arrangement as delivering “the Coke and fries” with prescription medicines to generate “new and important revenue” for community pharmacies.” Now, there is nothing important about revenue from the dietary supplements of any brand because they are not proven to be beneficial. So basically these companies are selling more rubbish you do not need just to make more money.

If a pharmacist recommends one brand over others then they are not likely to be giving their customers the full set of information about comparable brands and what they offer. That is exactly the reason that this site exists to point out to people: they have the right to all the information they can get in order to make an informed choice. This deal between Blackmores and the Guild represents up to a third of all prescriptions that are filled in Australia each year. So there will be opportunities that will arise out of this where information presentation is concerned.

If I was interested in owning a pharmacy I would not join the Guild (it is not legally required). I would therefore offer all of these rubbish products to suckers that want them but I would offer more information about what they all do. Therein lies an opportunity for new web sites to take advantage of too. They can offer information on all of the brands and even the pharmacies that do not recommend just one brand.

In this way, consumers can make an informed choice and not support the greed of one company and its partner in crime, and instead support everyone else with some of their disposable income. That is what being a conscious consumer is all about, I believe!

The reason is simply to do with irrigation. Cotton growing requires massive amounts of water, as do nearby wineries and the like too of course in countries like Australia. So when you have one of the world’s largest river systems (the River Murray) running right past your ranch then why not take advantage of it?

Sounds great in theory to use that water, even though it is unsustainable in the long term, but the poor folk downstream end up with a dry river during regularly occurring drought periods. More importantly though, the damage to the ecosystem is significant. So although it is all well and good to pursue ethical standards in some respects, it does not cover everything and this ecosystem damage is a major example. I will give you an example of the type of damage I am talking about here.

When you bleed a river dry, it causes soil salinization and a degradation of soil fertility. Soil is a good carbon sink but if it is degraded then so to is that capacity for carbon storage, adding to the greenhouse effect. There is also a huge increase in sulfuric acid in the soil. Sulfuric acid increases when iron pyrite are exposed by the dry river bed and reacts with the oxygen in the air. So if you need plenty of that for car batteries then you know where to go. It is not helpful to the wildlife though, because it can kill much of the fish that is left in any water remaining and that has flow on effects from there.

Now, before you throw in the towel and buy a normal cotton product, just remember that there are very few organic cotton growing regions in the world and Australia’s production, for example, is fast coming to an end because it is not viable. Also, not a lot can be done currently about the damage cotton production causes, via either method (organic or normal). It does show though, that it is not all ethical like it is made out to be, in this respect at least. Organic cotton production ensures that pesticides do not end up in the riverways but the huge irrigation requirements still cause just as much damage anyway.

The significant reduction in the use of pesticides is what the organic cotton industry has the public focusing on in selling what it offers rather than what I have mentioned here. This is something to remember when buying a cotton product because it is more than just ensuring that no pesticides or slave labor are used. There are benefits to organic cotton of course and these will probably be discussed in an upcoming post here so you get the other side of the story.

As it turned out the labeling was false and the product was removed. This is an example of something good that can come out of the public speaking out and choosing not to buy a product.

Asia Pulp and Paper was the supplier of the paper and they are supposedly not known for environmentally friendly practices or good labor force practices, either for that matter. Their practices also allegedly infringe on endangered tigers living near the forests they chop down.

The moral of the story is always do your research before you buy. If you see a paper manufacturer listed as the source on the packaging, find out what exactly they do and how they do it more importantly. Then research the impact that all this has on the surrounding environment and flora and fauna and make your choice to buy or not based on these facts.