New Political Ideas in Old Political Leaders

This article was posted last year just before Obama's inauguration day.
It is refresh yourself last year at this time the political battles.

New Wine in Old Wineskins

The inauguration of President Elect Barack Obama is about to take place on January 20, 2009 in Washington, DC. It


seems that many people are expecting this occasion to make history. The questions that are presented here to raise awareness are: (a) what history will be made? and (b) how will the Obama Administration be different from any other presidential administration? While it seems many Americans are willing to put all their belief in another administration that talks about change, utopia, globalization, one world order, or new world order, these are concepts and ideas of old political leaders throughout century. What do these concepts and ideas mean to the people in America? How will "change" help those who are not sure how to make change? In addition, think of the American people that fear "change."

It sees that President Elect Barack Obama has not really thought about the "change" to take place in America. If the President Elect Obama had a clear concept and idea of the change needed, he would not be so quick and willing to nominate the same political leaders that have ran this country in the last 20 years or so. Perhaps President Elect Obama should have refused to keep giving power to those old political leaders who refer to themselves as the "anointed elite."

There is an old proverb that warns us not to put new wine into old wine skins, which holds the same similarity of trying to put new political ideas into old political leaders who hold steadfast to their old political concepts and ideas.

A word of wisdom to the President Elect Barack Obama, the history you will make is forged by its framers and designers, and your administration will be different because you will be the one that will be used to help strengthened the "anointed elite" agenda, a plan to get the American people to welcome in full force of government intrusion. The Obama Administration is the entrance of dictatorship with martial law.

Apple’s No 1 but there’s blood on your iPhone

Published: Friday, May 28, 2010,

By Venkatesan Vembu | Place: Hong Kong | Agency: DNA


An epidemic of suicides, including three more unconfirmed deaths on Thursday, at a factory in southern China that assembles Apple iPhones and iPads, among other branded electronic goods, has reinforced the darkest stereotypes of Chinese sweatshops, and prompted a global campaign for a boycott of Made-in-China consumer electronics.

Reports and photographs of the latest alleged deaths — including a ‘double suicide’ — surfaced on Chinese web sites on Thursday, but were swiftly deleted by censors. If confirmed, they could take the number of suicides at Foxconn’s sprawling factory in Shenzhen since January to 14. Two other workers survived suicide attempts.

Labour activists told DNA most of the dead were young migrant workers from rural China, who worked for up to 60 hours a week, for a pitiful minimum wage, at a “military-style” disciplinarian workplace in an unfriendly city without access to social benefits and no sense of community.

Most of them jumped to their death from their dormitories.
“Foxconn workers told us they had no avenues to channel their workplace stress,” says Debby Chan, project officer at Students & Scholars Against Corporate Misbehaviour (Sacom), a non-profit organisation that campaigns for workers’ rights. Free trade unions are disallowed in China, including at the factories of Foxconn, a Taiwanese-owned Fortune 500 company and the world’s largest electronics manufacturer, which has factories in many countries, including India.

“On the production line, workers have to stand all day and complete a task every seven seconds, and cannot talk to one another,” says Chan. “And in their spartan dormitories, which they share with 10-12 others, they don’t have friends. They live in an atmosphere of alienation and isolation.”

Working conditions at Foxconn may be drawing particular attention, but they are by no means unique to the company, says Geoffrey Crothall, communications director at China Labour Bulletin, an NGO that promotes Chinese workers’ rights.

“The same factory system and the same problems can be found at companies across southern China and in the coastal areas.”
In fact, Crothall reckons, similar suicides at other factories may be going unreported. “The reason why this Foxconn factory gets so much attention is, firstly, because it is connected to major international brands, including Apple.” Additionally, he adds, the mainland Chinese media has been focussing on it because the company is Taiwanese-owned.

Taiwanese administrators’ disrespect for mainland Chinese workers, and management strategies aimed at creation of only short-term jobs are critical reasons underlying the spate of suicides, according to Li Qiang, executive director at China Labour Watch.

Sacom is coordinating with global NGOs to observe June 8 as a “global day of remembrance” for the suicide victims at Foxconn and to urge consumers to boycott Apple iPhones, “which come with the bloodstains of economically exploited Chinese migrant workers”.

Crothall sees the consumer boycott call as “a valuable attempt to raise global awareness of the events at Foxconn” but suggests an alternative approach.

“Apple should get actively involved in the problems of Foxconn, and if additional costs are to accrue from giving better wages to workers, Apple could pass them on to consumers — who then have the choice whether or not to buy the product.”

IPhone Maker in China Is Under Fire After a Suicide

Published: July 26, 2009

SHENZHEN, China — When a closely guarded prototype of a new Apple iPhone went missing at a huge factory here two weeks ago, an internal investigation focused on a shy, 25-year-old employee named Sun Danyong.

Mr. Sun, a college graduate working in the logistics department, denied stealing the iPhone. But he later complained to friends that he had been beaten and humiliated by the factory’s security team. On the night he was questioned, he sent an anguished text message to his girlfriend.

“Dear, I’m sorry. Go back home tomorrow,” he wrote, according to a message she later posted online. “I ran into some problems. Don’t tell my family. Don’t contact me. I’m begging you for the first time. Please do it! I’m sorry.”

Soon after, in the early-morning hours of July 16, Mr. Sun apparently jumped to his death from the 12th floor of an apartment building in what his employer, Foxconn Technology, says was a suicide.

Apple and Foxconn, one of the world’s biggest manufacturers of consumer electronics and a major Apple supplier, issued statements last week expressing sorrow for the death. Foxconn said it suspended one security officer, pending a police investigation, and that the company was now considering counseling services for its employees.

The Apple statement said: “We are saddened by the tragic loss of this young employee, and we are awaiting results of the investigations into his death. We require that our suppliers treat all workers with dignity and respect.” The company would not comment further.

The local police bureau declined to answer questions about the case. But reports of the apparent suicide have set off a firestorm of criticism of Foxconn’s treatment of Mr. Sun, labor conditions at its factories and the pressures Apple places on suppliers to abide by the culture of secrecy that surrounds its development of new products.

The case also underscores the challenges that global companies face in trying to safeguard their designs and intellectual property in the hotly contested smartphone market, particularly here in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, an electronics manufacturing center known for piracy and counterfeiting.

Apple’s popular iPhone is already widely imitated and counterfeited in China. And there are regular rumors on Chinese Web sites about new Apple prototypes leaking out of Chinese factories.

“When you outsource to a third party, you lose some control,” says Dane Chamorro, general manager in China at Control Risks, a global consulting firm. “And if you’re outsourcing to China, it’s going to be even more challenging. There’s going to be a bounty on every design.”

Labor rights groups say the worker’s death should compel Apple to improve conditions at its supplier factories in China and prevent worker abuse.

Foxconn, part of Taiwan’s Hon Hai group, has also been sharply criticized because of suspicions about unduly harsh treatment of the worker.

Foxconn, which produces electronics for some of the world’s best-known brands, like Sony and Hewlett-Packard, operates a cluster of sprawling factories in southern China. One of its Shenzhen campuses has nearly 300,000 workers.

But some labor rights activists say the company treats employees harshly, routinely violating labor laws.

In an e-mail message on Thursday, China Labor Watch, which monitors Chinese factories and is based in New York, blamed Mr. Sun’s death on “Foxconn’s inhumane and militant management system, which lacks fundamental respect for human rights.” The group said it published an in-depth study of Foxconn last year, detailing its abuses.

James Lee, general manager of China operations at Foxconn, defended the company’s labor practices in a lengthy interview on Friday, and also said the company would strive to improve management of its facilities.

“It’s very difficult for the company to defend itself against such charges,” Mr. Lee said of complaints from labor rights groups. “You’re welcome to look at how employees are treated here.”

A reporter toured two of the company’s campuses in Shenzhen on Friday, including the one where Mr. Sun worked. The campuses were so large they contained retail stores, banks, post offices and high-rise dormitories with outdoor swimming pools.

The reporter was not allowed to see manufacturing lines because the company said it had to protect trade secrets.

西藏國歌

Free Tibet.

西藏国歌 - Tibetan National Anthem

Free Tibet.