Throw out perfectly good goods

"Change your TV, change your life"- an actual slogan. I heard it last night. I'd also like to note, before i continue, the commercials where a woman throws her perfectly good washing machine into a pool so she will need to buy a new "red" one- to enrich her life. Also the commercial where the couple throws their phones into a lake because they are tired of them.

Now i ask you, is a company encouraging the disposal of working cell phones into a lake really showing any consideration for the environment whatsoever?

In their defence: It's drama, its a joke, you're not to take it literally.. . .Fine. . ..But wouldn't this be the same argument racists use to defend themselves? The redneck who uses the word Nig*** in a joke is just kidding right? No big deal. Humour is a very effective way to soften people up to a new idea. It allows the person to convey a message, but hold on to an easy way out. That way, if someone points out the negative aspect of your message, you can easily divert blame by stating that you were not serious and that the message should not be taken lightly. Dudes who pick up lots of girls in bars use this technique constantly; joke to a girl that you want to take her home, if she laughs- you stated your intentions and she did not object. On the other hand if she doesn't find it funny- "hey relax chick, i was just joking". Guys trying to pick up chicks is pretty harmless, things like racism and environmental destruction are not.

What message are these companies softening? Well obviously they're not condoning the disposal of cellphones into lakes, this is not the intention of the ad. However, the ad is intended to convince you to throw out your perfectly good phone- from this they stand to make millions. Now if i joke to a friend that they have an ugly phone and should throw it out; the total environmental destruction from that message would be very very slight. If that message is repeated to millions of people (as happens on TV), the environmental affect is very great. I absolutely guarantee that somewhere some idiot has thrown his phone into a lake as a means of disposal and he got the idea from this commercial. Conversely, the somewhat smarter portion of the population disposed on their phones into a landfill when they tired of the colour.

The Alkaline Battery Hoax

Repeatedly disposing of everyday alkaline batteries is completely unnecessary. Its a perfect example of misleading the public in the interests of profit. The environmental effect and the wasted resources from this corporate lie are devastating. Sure there are cleaner methods of disposal being developed in some communities- but that doesn't fix the problem. Improve the product not its disposal; its like fixing a leaky faucet by improving the drain.

Common Batteries can be recharged as safely and effectively as "rechargeable" batteries.

Alkaline batteries all carry a label warning about leaks and explosions. Damaging a household battery is just about as dangerous and squishing a lemon- its a marketing tactic using fear. The technology to make a charger for regular alkaline batteries is incredibly simple. There once was a charger on infomercials, very briefly. I'm sure the company was shut down. There are plenty of people on the internet who have built their own chargers- look it up if you like. Personally, i can't be bothered to build one, nor do i have the right tools or skills- but if they had it at Canadian Tire i would buy one for sure. These are my choices: buy terribly over priced "rechargeable" batteries, or, since im often short on cash, buy the generic coppergizers and throw, throw, throw them away.

Don’t blame people, blame Walmart for employee death.

When you're in a mob, you don't have a lot of choices- its either keep moving or fall victim to a trampling yourself. Walmart is the cause of their employee's death; surely his family has already received a massive settlement to make the matter go away. Since there is no union at walmart, there is no one to argue in defense of employee safety here. This will be summed up to people being inhumane, oh and by the way it happened at a walmart (but could have been anywhere).

For a price, this mob could have been well contained and controlled, but profit is paramount to Walmart.

If you're going to whip up a frenzy, you'd better have proper barriers in place, employees trained on mob mentality safety issues and heavy, heavy security. Rock concerts do this, so do political rallies, why is walmart allowed to let an unsupervised mob form in their parking lot?

Walmart is just as responsible as the night club owners who cause death by having improper emergency exits, or the miscreant that encourages the start of a riot.

Jack Layton for Prime Minister

Conservatives are reading that heading and saying “dear god not this again”

If the liberals and NDP do form a coalition, they had better be very careful who they select as PM. Dion has already said he is stepping down; if he doesn’t feel he’s fit to lead the party- how can we expect him to lead the country? The other 3 liberal contenders were not candidates for PM. To give them the job would seem to circumvent democracy- not that we really have a democracy here in Canada.

No, the only choice would be Layton. He’s the only one who actually ran in
the election and maintains that he’s up to the job. To bad the liberals would never let it happen, they would never give up the power- even when its ill designed. That’s what Paul Martin’s government was all about.