Tens of Millions Now Employed In US At Sweatshops

Photograph taken in a 'sweatshop' c.1890 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Sweatshop Defined:  A place where people work long hours for low pay in poor conditions.

B:) A shop or factory in which employees work for long hours at low wages and under unhealthy conditions.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sweatshop

From Wiki

More recently, the anti-globalization movement has arisen in opposition to corporate globalization, a process by which multinational corporations move their operations overseas in order to lower their costs and increase profits. The anti-sweatshop movement has much in common with the anti-globalization movement. Both consider sweatshops harmful, and both have accused many companies (such as the Walt Disney Company, The Gap, and Nike) of using sweatshops. Some in these movements charge that neo liberal globalization is similar to the sweating system, arguing that there tends to be a "race to the bottom", as multinationals leap from one low-wage country to another searching for lower production costs, in the same way that sweaters would have steered production to the lowest cost sub-contractor.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweatshop

Today we see a new format emerging throughout the entire United States. With ObamaCare however, the hours are not long on a single job as corporations downsize how long they will allow workers to actually work during any given week.  The conditions in the work environment may be clean, but the wages are ridiculously low and not in the least bit a living wage.  More and more workers are depending on two, three and even four jobs just to try and scrape by anything that resembles a living and are still barely clinging on.

  McDonald's, Wal Mart, K-Mart, Sears, Burger King, Lowe's, Home Depot, and plenty of other places can now be considered modern day sweatshops as not one of them pay the majority of their workers anywhere close to a living wage.  Most of the workers in these locations are part time, little to no benefits, making barely above minimum wage which comes no where close to a living wage.

A living wage allows for a person to pay their rent or mortgage, car payment, insurance, medical expenses, clothing costs, food, utilities,  furniture expenses, and also allows for entertainment expenses and money left over to put into savings for a rainy day.  For a single person in the US today, the average income, outside of major metropolitan areas is around $45,000 per year and rising in order to be making a living wage.  Again, that is for one person.

Recent complaints in raising the minimum wage to anywhere between $10.00 or $12.00 per hour falls horribly short of coming close to making a living wage.  What difference does it make if you pay a person $25.00 per hour if all you are going to work them is 20 hours a week?  That is only $500.00 per week before taxes.  Rent in most areas throughout the US anymore is going to eat up half of the monthly wages leaving very little left for anyone to try and survive with.

The days of the 40 hour work week are for most, a buried memory, left in the dust of yesteryear.  Businesses are paying less and less of the benefits for employees and paying low wages to boot.  It's a mix that simply does not work.  That makes Wal Mart, Target, Subway, Chick-Fil-A and others the new modern sweatshops and tens of millions of people are stuck in the rut of these new deals.  

It's time for some new thinking about.....well.....every aspect of modern society.

English: Walmart Home Office, the headquarters of Wal-Mart - Bentonville, (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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Gloucester, VA Government Employee's Violation Mondays Is Back Again.

7:40 AM Monday, September 23rd, 2013, Parks and Recreation employee at McDonald's at the courthouse area.  McDonald's is the new Hardee's?  Looks that way.

Proof that he was going into McDonald's?  Yep, that's him heading in now.

Here comes our boy now.  He's smiling as he just got his happy meal.  Truck number 67.

7:50 AM.  Public Schools van pulls up and is ordering at the drive through.  2 people in this van.

Van number 273.  License plate number 169-938L.  Once again, same McDonald's up in the courthouse area on route 17.

Same van now in line at the drive through.

8:40 AM, Public Schools.  One male parks and goes inside to order takeout.

In the foreground is the Suntrust Bank.  Plate number 138-037L.

This picture shows that the truck is in fact parked at McDonald's.  I saw three separate vehicles here today.  Last week I saw that this is the new Hardee's stop, so this is where I focused my own time.

So if you need to find a Gloucester County Government employee, they are no longer hanging out at Hardee's they are now after those happy meals.  To reach them when they are not at their designated site just call McDonald's at the following phone number, (804)-684-4810.  Guess when we recommended that other fast food restaurants complain about all the Gloucester County employees going to Hardee's, staying away from the other fast food places, McDonald's was the one who actually complained.

  What about Burger King?  Sonic's? or Chick-Fil-A?  Why are the Gloucester employees breaking the laws just to hit McDonald's only now?  Is it that maybe these employees are being sent here to pick up breakfast for Branda Garton, Ted Wilmot or The Kiser?  Now these folks all know that this activity is illegal.  Why do they continue to break the laws each and every week costing all the tax payers untold small fortunes?  Criminals with no regard for the law.

And today of all days when county officials are having the swamp school ground breaking ceremony for the highly controversial swamp property?  Are these employees trying to make fools out of the Gloucester officials?  That really does not take much at this point does it?  Happy Meals now on wheels.  Why do officials still have jobs?  Has it become that in order to move up in the world, you have to show very high levels of incompetence?  If that is the case, the local jails are filled with people more than qualified to take over these jobs and probably do much better at them.

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Government Truck Seen At Hardee's, Photo ID.

This is a full size picture of Gloucester County government vehicle number 600 seen at the Hardee's today, July 29th, 2013 at 10:45 AM, in Hayes.  If you look to the far left, you can see the corner of the Taco Bell sign across the highway.  We cropped the other picture for vehicle identification purposes.  This is the same vehicle seen at the Hardee's at the courthouse area at 7:05 AM this morning.

  Anyone care to bet that the employees all go to McDonald's or Burger king for the rest of the week?  Maybe even Sonic's?  Send us your pictures of wherever you see them using government vehicles for personal use.  We will be happy to post them.  We can give you photo credit or keep your name off the information altogether.  Which ever works best for you.  Government employees are not supposed to use government vehicles for personal use.

 

Hardee's (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

The classic Taco Bell logo used from 1985 to 1994. It is still in use at many older Taco Bell locations. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Toilet Water Safer Than Fast Food Ice In Your Drink

English: Cover of the book Take Control of Your Health by dr. Mercola. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

By Dr. Mercola

If the thought of drinking toilet water makes you cringe, you will probably be none too pleased to find out that ice served at many fast food restaurants contains more bacteria than the water found in their toilets. As reported by the featured article:1

“Scientific tests have shown that ice from branches of McDonald’s, Burger King, KFC, Starbucks, Cafe Rouge and Nando’s all had higher levels of bacteria than samples of water taken from their lavatory bowls.

Experts say it could be due to them being cleaned more often than the ice machines... The Burger King result suggested the cause was human contamination, likely to be from a staff member failing to wash their hands.”

While none of the samples presented an immediate health risk, four of them contained high enough levels to be considered a “hygiene risk,” the laboratory warned.

And, while the study was carried out in restaurants in the UK, the results can be expected to be about the same in the US as the issue relates not to the water itself, but rather the bacterial growth that can occur in the ice machine, and/or lack of hygiene on the part of the workers.

This revelation is similar to an investigation done on lemon wedges served in restaurants, back in 2008. At that time, two-thirds of all restaurant lemon wedges were found to be contaminated with disease-causing bacteria -- including fecal bacteria. In all, 25 different, and potentially dangerous, microorganisms were discovered on the wedges.

The fact that people are not keeling over from foodborne pathogens en masse is proof that your body is equipped to handle these types of infectious assaults, but that certainly does not mean there’s no health risk.

Children, the elderly, and anyone with a poorly functioning immune system are among the most vulnerable. Ironically, regularly frequenting fast food restaurants and drinking lots of sweetened beverages is, in and of itself, a factor that will take a toll on your immune function, which could render you more susceptible to experiencing health problems from contaminated ice.

Are You Ready to Ditch Sweetened Drinks Yet?

I’ve been warning you of the many dangers of soda and sweetened drinks ever since I started this site over 17 years ago. Americans in particular get a majority of their daily calories from sugar, primarily in the form of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) in soda and other sweetened beverages. Half of the US population over the age of two consumes sugary drinks on a daily basis,2 and this figure does not include 100% fruit juices, flavored milk or sweetened teas, which means the figure is actually even higher.

Fructose (and especially HFCS) has been identified as one of the primary culprits in the meteoric rise of obesity and related health problems—in large part due to its ability to turn on your “fat switch.”

The HFCS found in sweetened beverages and most processed foods is also highly processed and has been found to be frequently contaminated with mercury. Add to that the fact that most HFCS is made from genetically engineered corn, and you have a recipe for poor health, regardless of whether you’re ingesting it from a can or a meal...

Please note that freshly squeezed fruit juices also contain fructose, which will have the same detrimental health effects as HFCS when consumed in excess, but at least it’s not processed from GE corn...

Ditching sodas and other sweetened drinks and replacing them with pure, vitalized structured water, I believe, is one of the most powerful actions you can take to improve your health and lower your risk of disease and long-term chronic health conditions.

Especially when you consider that just one can of soda per day can add as much as 15 pounds to your weight over the course of a single year, and increases your risk of diabetes by 85 percent! Fructose is also a likely culprit behind the millions of U.S. children struggling with non-alcoholic liver disease, which is caused by a build-up of fat within your liver cells. Fructose is in fact very hard on your liver, in much the same way as drinking alcohol.

How Much Sugar Do You Consume Each Day?

Around 100 years ago, the average American consumed a mere 15 grams of fructose a day, primarily in the form of whole fruit. Today, 25 percent of Americans consume more than 135 grams per day (that's over a quarter of a pound!), largely in the form of soda and other sweetened beverages. Just one 12-ounce regular soda contains the equivalent of 10 teaspoons of sugar. Similarly, one eight-ounce glass of orange juice has about eight full teaspoons of sugar, and at least 50 percent of that sugar is fructose.

Fructose at 15 grams a day is unlikely to do much if any harm and may even be beneficial for some. But at nearly 10 times that amount it becomes a MAJOR cause of obesity and nearly all chronic degenerative diseases.

As a standard recommendation, I strongly advise keeping your total fructose consumption below 25 grams per day, or 15 grams a day if you are insulin resistant, obese, or have high blood pressure, high uric acid levels, diabetes or heart disease. To get to that low a level, you would essentially need to eliminate processed foods and sweetened beverages from your daily diet, and make sure everything you put into your mouth is a whole food. You might need to limit your whole fruit intake as well. For a list showing the amount of fructose contained in common fruits, please see this previous article.

Sugary Drinks Linked to 180,000 Deaths Annually

In 2009, the American Heart Association (AHA) issued a scientific statement3 about sugar intake and heart health, pointing out that there is evidence for a relationship between the two. According to the abstract:

“High intakes of dietary sugars in the setting of a worldwide pandemic of obesity and cardiovascular disease have heightened concerns about the adverse effects of excessive consumption of sugars. In 2001 to 2004, the usual intake of added sugars for Americans was 22.2 teaspoons per day... Between 1970 and 2005, average annual availability of sugars/added sugars increased by 19%... Soft drinks and other sugar-sweetened beverages are the primary source of added sugars in Americans’ diets. Excessive consumption of sugars has been linked with several metabolic abnormalities and adverse health conditions, as well as shortfalls of essential nutrients...”

The postulated relationship between sugar intake and heart disease is undeniable at this point. Hundreds of excellent scientific articles have linked insulin and leptin resistance to cardiovascular disease much more strongly than cholesterol, and they are in fact at least partially responsible for cholesterol abnormalities. For instance, insulin and leptin resistance result in "small dense" LDL particles and a greater number of particles, which is much more important than your total cholesterol number for evaluating heart disease risk. Insulin and leptin resistance in turn are directly caused by excess fructose and other sugars in your diet.

As I reported back in April, research presented at the American Heart Association’s Epidemiology and Prevention/Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism 2013 Scientific Sessions suggests sugary beverages alone are responsible for about 183,000 deaths worldwide each year, including:

• 44,000 heart disease deaths
• 133,000 diabetes deaths, and
• 6,000 cancer deaths

Among the 35 largest countries in the world, Mexico had the highest death rates associated with sugary beverage consumption. There, the average consumption of sugary beverages was 24 ounces per day. The US ranked third, with an estimated 25,000 annual deaths4 from sweetened drinks.5 (Many might have expected the US to come in first place, but remember that American processed foods contain far more sugars than other nations, so Americans also consume a lot of “hidden” sugar in products other than beverages. This factor was not addressed in this study.) Interestingly, and quite disturbingly, the death rates associated with sweetened beverages were highest in those under the age of 45.

What’s the Healthiest Beverage You Can Drink?

Your body requires a constant daily supply of water to fuel all the various waste filtration systems nature has designed to keep your body healthy and free of toxins. Your blood, your kidneys, and your liver all require a source of good clean water to detoxify your body from the toxic exposures you come into contact with every day. Clearly, the most efficient way help your body both avoid and eliminate toxins is to provide your body with the cleanest, purest water you can find. This is easily done by installing one or more types of water filtration systems in your house.

A whole house water filtration system is ideal, as water contaminants can be even more hazardous to your health when absorbed through your skin into your blood stream, bypassing your gastrointestinal tract. I've written a large number of articles on the hazards of tap water, from fluoride to dangerous chemicals and drugs, to toxic disinfection byproducts and heavy metals, so having a good filtration system in place is more of a necessity than a luxury in most areas. There's just one water line coming into your house, so putting a filter on this is the easiest and simplest strategy you can implement to take control of your health by ensuring the water and the air in your house is as clean as possible. To learn more about different types of water and water filtration systems, please see my special report on this topic.

One of my new passions is structured water as pioneered by Victor Schauburger. Vortexing appears to be one of the best ways to produce this and I'm currently doing some research to help define this better.

Another option to consider is to bottle your own water from a gravity-fed spring. This may be one of the highest quality waters and may not require vortexing as the water is already highly structured and full of H3O2. The web site FindaSpring.com6 can help you find natural springs in your local area. As an added boon, most of these spring water sources are free. Just remember to bring either clear polyethylene or glass containers to collect the water so no unsafe chemicals can contaminate your water, and be sure to wrap them in towels to keep them from breaking during transport.

Ditching Sweetened Drinks Is the First Step Toward a Healthier Life

Remember, sweetened beverages (including flavored milk products, bottled teas, and “enhanced” water products), whether sweetened with sugar, HFCS, naturally-occurring fructose, or artificial sweeteners, are among the worst culprits in the fight against obesity and related health problems, including diabetes, heart and liver disease, just to name a few. Ditching ALL of these types of beverages can go a long way toward reducing your risk for chronic health problems and weight gain.

So what should you drink? Your best most cost effective choice is to drink filtered tap water. The caveat though is to make sure you filter your tap water. Nothing beats pure water when it comes to serving your body’s needs. If you really feel the urge for a carbonated beverage, try sparkling mineral water with a squirt of fresh lime or lemon.

If you struggle with an addiction to soda and other sweets, try Turbo Tapping. It's a simple and clever use of the Emotional Freedom Technique, designed to resolve many aspects of an issue in a concentrated period of time.

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