No one is talking about the olympics(china...)

[Trek420]

It's complex, it's the Olympic torch and games not the Chinese torch and games. I feel sad for athletes, if they skip these games to compete in a less controversial locale may not be competitive 4 years from now. To ask someone who's trained and suffered and dreamed of competing in these games to just skip this one or and athlete who knows this may be the last Olympics they'll be competitive to go to the next one ...

As for the human rights aspect who is it that said something like "let he who is without sin cast the first stone"? Our record in this country, not too good. But I think we've come far.

My hope is that China will take this opportunity while the whole world is watching to say something like "we're working on it". That's what I will be watching for a sign of.

I hope this discussion won't become a whole Box Store Bad vs Fair Trade Good thing that we've sometimes had And Chinese people need jobs too but if any of you think your job can not be outsourced .... think again.

It's surprisingly easy to buy stuff made in USA or just ABC (that's Anywhere But China) often it's just reading the label and picking the item next to it.

Read the labels if this matters to you.

[bmccasland]

What they said.

If we really want to make a point, we need to change our buying habits. Does anyone remember when Walmart used to advertise having goods "made in the USA"?

And I remember the older generation refusing to buy goods made in Japan because of Pearl Harbor, or my Jewish friend in high school that wanted a VW Bug, but his dad wouldn't let him have one because it was a German company and they'd lost realtives in the death camps.

If we really want to make an impact, we, the nation, needs to vote with our wallets.

Let the athletes compete. The Moscow Olympic boycot proved nothing.

[Cindyloo]

As for the human rights aspect who is it that said something like "let he who is without sin cast the first stone"?

That would be Jesus who said that.

As for the olympics, I have no idea how China was chosen in the first place.

[Trek420]

That would be Jesus who said that.

Oh right, right, silly of me to forget. But seriously I remember in Jr. High doing a book report on a book about the internment of Japanese American Citizens during World War II and being told by my history teacher "where did you read this fiction? This never happened!!! " This would have been about '70 so only a few decades later.

As for the olympics, I have no idea how China was chosen in the first place.

Money? Could it have been money?

But let's keep this on a positive note. And since this is not a regional board there are folks on the board who don't have easy access to local business shopping options. We've got ourself into this mess where for some saying "buy local from local businesses" is not an easy option.

Politics aside I think it does not make sense to ride my bike to the store .... to buy stuff flown or shipped from overseas. But how do you find local and or greener stuff?

[tulip]

Politics aside I think it does not make sense to ride my bike to the store .... to buy stuff flown or shipped from overseas. But how do you find local and or greener stuff?

Baby steps. Start looking. Start looking at labels. Start looking around at local shops and markets. I recently needed a skillet. I found a cast iron skillet at a junk shop, cleaned it up, seasoned it, and it's ready for my french toast. That's just one example of a baby step.

Start by asking ourselves how much STUFF do we actually need? And then decide what we can do, and act on that. It's not all or nothing. It's small acts that do make a difference.

[Brandi]

All you can do is try to be a good shopper who reads labels. And if you can't afford the US made product then try and maybe find something else. I don't know? Even though I think we should ban the games, who are we to say anything. It makes me sad to say that. But our government hasn't been to nice to people either. I know families who are struggling so hard right now. Yet we can spend billions on how an apple is shipped from farm to store. it has never made much since to me.