My resolution: spend less

Photo by stopnlook, Flickr Creative Commons.

One of the first books that I borrowed from the library in 2008 was Judith Levine's Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping. Levine's experiment was not about giving up a Bloomie's addiction or facing a shoe-buying habit. She was focused on not buying anything that wasn't a necessity. Like Q-tips, the newest gadget, the stuff that collects dust in closets and dresser drawers.

Her experiment got me to thinking about consumption, extreme consumerism (think trampling death on Black Friday) and the global economy. But it also made me consider how much money I spend on personal indulgences. I concluded that I could create a more disciplined definition of a 'necessity.'

I'm pretty low-maintenance to start, but there are still a number of things that I buy that I could ... um ... not buy.

How many Jamba Juice smoothies do I need in one week? Why not walk to the store down the street instead of hopping in my car (saving money, helping the environment and alleviating city congestion)? Or why not read a library book (like Levine's) and skip the movie rental?

So I upheld my own "rethink-consumerism" theme during the holiday season when I decided to have a consumption-free Christmas. The consumption-free thing worked and my family and friends are still speaking to me.

I bring all of this up because it's New Year's Eve. And it's not just any New Year's Eve. It's the last day of 2008 - a year that brought America the worst economic crisis since The Great Depression. It seems like a good time to take inventory and get rid of any unnecessary spending.

So my resolution (and apparently I'm not alone in this) is to spend less in 2009; to get creative. Maybe I'll plant some of my favorite vegetables instead of buying them every week.

And I'm spending less not just for the sake of hoarding money. But because mindless spending is bunk.

If I'm REALLY successful in 2009, maybe, like Levine, I'll forgo all non-essential spending in 2010. Okay. Let me just focus on 2009.

Anyway, Happy New Year!

Happy holidays from the President, uh, -elect

Since none of you really care what your actual President (what's his name? Oh, right. Bush!) is up to this Christmas Eve at Camp David, here's the holiday message from your Hawaii Five-O President-elect Obama.

By the way, Happy Winter Solstice, Happy Hannukah, Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy New Year and Merry whatever else I forgot.

Note to Bratz: Don't eff with Barbie!

Photos by Picklepud, Flickr Creative Commons

I called my cousin from a toy store several years ago to find out which Barbie doll her six- and eight-year-old daughters wanted for Christmas.

Don’t get me wrong. I hated Barbie, with her distorted and unrealistic ultra-thin body. It took every ounce of my energy to go to the store to buy my sweet baby cousins the doll that represented everything that was wrong with how we socialize (program) our little girls.

Then why was I there?

Because my little cousins' puppy-dog eyes were irresistible and I promised myself that one day I would sit them down and explain to them that they were programmed, that Barbie is bunk, that their bodies, faces, hair are beautiful and they are not objects, etc., etc.

But my cousin informed me that Barbie was out that year and The Bratz dolls were in.

“What are Bratz?!” I asked.

My cousin told me to look around. I’d find them.

And find them I did. As much as Barbie got under my skin, I was unprepared for the reality of The Bratz.

My reaction when I laid eyes on them? “WTF?!”

Bratz storm the scene with fishnets and pouty lips


















They are skinny, scantily clad, pouty-lipped, tiny-nosed, oversized-head having, eight-pounds-of-makeup-wearing fashion dolls with ridiculously large eyes.

What’s worse, the original four dolls – Jade (the one “who keeps things lively”), Yasmin (“a girl who likes to show, not tell”), Cloe (“who knows she’s going to be a superstar someday”) and Sasha (“who has a little bit more edge in her fashion sense and in her life in general”) – are teenagers. Ultra-sexy teenagers with fishnets and midriff-baring tank tops. Because Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan and their lot just weren’t enough.

Anyway, my little cousins weren’t the only girls who wanted Bratz dolls that year or in the years since the doll’s 2001 debut. By 2005, Bratz sales reached $750 million a year. Their sales have declined significantly since then to about $300 million, but Barbie sales (down 15 percent) and overall fashion-doll sales (down 6 percent) were declining during that time as well.

The new fashion-doll on the block had Barbie fuming. Because at their peak, the Bratz were expanding to more than 40 different types of dolls, were selling tons of products (think lunchboxes, backpacks and movies) and were making a huge dent in Barbie’s market share. And that’s just in the United States. In other parts of the world like Australia and England, the Bratz have been increasingly outselling Barbie.

So the Bratz slumber party didn’t last very long. For the first time since she strutted on the scene in 1959, Barbie, the most popular fashion doll in America, had some actual competition. And MGA Entertainment, the Van Nuys, California-based maker of the Bratz, would soon find out that you don’t eff with Barbie.

Barbie v. Bratz Background: A Hot Mess

El Segundo, California-based Mattel, the maker of Barbie, has argued from the beginning that it owns the rights to the Bratz because Bratz designer Carter Bryant actually worked for Mattel until 2000 and designed the Bratz doll while he still worked for them.

So in 2004 Mattel said “Oh, HELL no!” and sued Bryant and in 2006 expanded the complaint to include MGA Entertainment and its CEO Isaac Larian.

Mattel’s Complaints? Copyright infringement, misappropriation of trade secrets and violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (a set of federal laws that punish criminal activity by business enterprises).

The battle didn’t stop there. MGA Entertainment argues that Mattel started buying up all the doll hair on the market to lock out MGA and in 2002 Mattel came out with the “My Scene” Barbie (which looks an awful lot like the Bratz doll. I mean, nobody’s stupid).

So in 2005 MGA Entertainment said “Oh, no they didn’t!” and sued Mattel.

MGA’s Complaint? Serial copycatting.

Four-year catfight ensues. Claws were out. Hair was flying. Hems were ripped.

This summer a jury awarded Mattel $100 million (they asked for $2 billion) because Bryant was still under contract with Mattel when he designed the Bratz doll.

And this month a federal judge barred MGA Entertainment from making the Bratz dolls (effective immediately), from selling the dolls (effective in February) and also ordered MGA to remove the dolls from store shelves and transfer all remaining supplies of the dolls and associated products to Mattel.

Ouch!

Moral of the story is …

MGA Entertainment has since filed a notice of appeal. So the catfight continues. And who knows? The two companies might come up with an arrangement.

But in the end, no matter which fashion doll is the winner, all the little girls who are programmed to believe they must be thin, super-sexy, boy-crazy divas like Barbie and the Bratz are the losers.

In 2007, the American Psychological Association Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls wrote a report that said:

“Bratz dolls come dressed in sexualized clothing such as miniskirts, fishnet stockings, and feather boas. Although these dolls may present no more sexualization of girls or women than is seen in MTV videos, it is worrisome when dolls designed specifically for 4- to 8-year-olds are associated with an objectified adult sexuality. The objectified sexuality presented by these dolls, as opposed to the healthy sexuality that develops as a normal part of adolescence, is limiting for adolescent girls, and even more so for the very young girls who represent the market for these dolls.”

So I learned my lesson. This year my baby cousins (who are several years older and over the Bratz) will get books.

Want to improve U.S. healthcare? Better get to work!

Health and Human Services Secretary-designate Tom Daschle says he wants Americans to help him with healthcare reform.

He and President-elect Barack Obama are calling on Americans to lead their own local gatherings in the coming weeks to discuss healthcare reform and to pass along their thoughts, concerns and ideas to the Transition's Health Policy Team.

The team "will gather the results of these discussions to guide its recommendations for the Obama-Biden administration."

It will be interesting to see to what extent the local discussions are actually incorporated into those recommendations.

If you're interested, sign up here. If you want to know more, watch the video.

But before I go, I must take a moment to discuss Sen. Daschle's glasses in the video. Uh, I've never seen him wear these particular glasses before. I'm not sure if it's a lighting or color correction issue, but I think the glasses would look better on a woman. Just a thought.

Let’s support human rights in Darfur

I’ve intended to write this post for a while. I think I’ve been avoiding it because I never knew where to begin, and thinking of Darfur makes me want to scream.

But, as I've been saying for the past few days, today is International Human Rights Day and the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. So, I just have to go for it.

It’s been more than five years. 450,000 people are dead. 2.5 million people have been displaced. And those are conservative estimates from the organizations tracking the ongoing genocide.

UNAMID and aid workers are repeatedly overpowered and attacked. The International Criminal Court prosecutor announced that he was requesting an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir in July on charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, but it will be another month before ICC judges rule on the request.

International, human rights and non-governmental organizations have written numerous reports on the condition of the people of Darfur. The latest report from Human Rights Watch and others debunks the myth of cooperation by the Sudanese government – a myth that has been propagated by the Sudanese government.

I’ve recapped all of this for two reasons.

First, if there is anyone out there who doesn’t know what’s going on in Darfur, I just wanted you to know that it’s been this bad for this long.

Second, if there is anyone out there who does know what’s going on in Darfur, I just wanted to say WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? GET ANGRY! GIVE A DAMN! DO SOMETHING!!!!

Go here, here, here and here if you want to help.

And just for fun, here’s an Amnesty International music video distributed today in honor of human rights.

Dignity and justice for all of us

Keeping with the theme of “dignity and justice for all of us,” the United Nations plans a day of events Wednesday to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights will be distributed to several activists, including one given posthumously to Benazir Bhutto.

Holler At Your Girls continues its commitment to blog about human rights by publishing the final 10 articles of the declaration below. (Article 23 made me think of our tough economic times.)

And before I forget, December 10th will not only be a day for human rights, but also a day for gay rights activists to show the world what they're made of. Check it out here.

Article 21. (1) Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives. (2) Everyone has the right to equal access to public service in his country. (3) The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.

Article 22. Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.

Article 23. (1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment. (2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work. (3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection. (4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.

Article 24. Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.

Article 25. (1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control. (2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.

Article 26. (1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit. (2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace. (3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.

Article 27. (1) Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits. (2) Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.

Article 28. Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized.

Article 29. (1) Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible. (2) In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society. (3) These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Article 30. Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.

Always time for human rights

As I mentioned yesterday, Human Rights Day is on the horizon, and the time to think about human rights is always right now. So here are articles 11 – 20 in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

By the way … I thought of California’s Proposition 8 when I read Article 16.

Article 11. (1) Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence. (2) No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.

Article 12. No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.

Article 13. (1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state. (2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.

Article 14. (1) Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.(2) This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Article 15. (1) Everyone has the right to a nationality. (2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.

Article 16. (1) Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution. (2) Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses. (3) The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.

Article 17. (1) Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others. (2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.

Article 18. Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

Article 19. Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

Article 20. (1) Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association. (2) No one may be compelled to belong to an association.

Time to think about human rights

This Wednesday, December 10th is Human Rights Day. But more than that, it is also the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Holler At Your Girls and many other bloggers have pledged to promote the day by blogging about human rights.

So to commemorate the upcoming anniversary, we will be publishing the articles of the historic declaration over the next couple of days (see articles 1 - 10 below).

I hope that when you read the declaration you will consider some of the places in our world where the articles could be put to good use (Darfur, Myanmar/Burma, Congo and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, come to mind immediately).

Article 1. All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Article 2. Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.

Article 3. Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.

Article 4. No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.

Article 5. No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Article 6. Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.

Article 7. All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.

Article 8. Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.

Article 9. No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.

Article 10. Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.

An unwelcome welcome center

Capitol Hill's new visitor center opens today in DC almost four years behind schedule and hundreds of millions of dollars over budget. Yes, hundreds of millions of dollars over budget. The initial cost was estimated to be $71 million. The final price: $621 million.

Are you kidding me? $621 million for a welcome center? Does this welcome center include universal healthcare? Can I include one more question mark in this paragraph before it gets annoying?

Apparently, since 9/11, the scope of the project changed due to an increase in security measures, says Spokesperson Sharon Gang. But according to the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, the outrageous costs were also due to, surprise surprise, wasteful contracts and a lack of congressional oversight. Sounds familiar.

It reminds me of how awkward I feel when I see grand, ornate churches that were built by the poor, for a religion that is supposed to take care of the poor. Is that what god really wants? Would Jesus care if the nails in his hands are made of gold? He might prefer some sort of foam, actually.

Recently, I visited the NASA Goddard Space & Flight Center in Maryland and I was initially shocked the campus was so ugly and drab. I felt like I was at the Los Angeles Community College or something. I expected NASA to look really futuristic and sleek, with bathroom faucets that turn on when you put your hands under it. Wait, that's not that cool. They have those at the movie theaters now. But then I actually felt relieved that our tax dollars weren't going to expensive, beautiful buildings or marble floors imported from some remote village in Italy where only donkeys can carry the marble from the top of the mountain to the lowlands.

A $621 million Capitol Hill visitor center is the kind of thing that makes an ordinary tax payer feel confused and hopeless. Oh, and by the way, the opening ceremony? Closed to the public.

The message in Forté's commuted sentence

When President Bush pardoned 14 people and commuted two sentences on Monday night, the hip-hop community’s ears perked up.

John Forté, a rap artist and producer for The Fugees’ 1996 Grammy Award-winning album “The Score,” was on the commuted sentence list and is expected to be released December 22, when he will begin his five-year probation.

The 33-year-old Brooklyn native was nabbed by authorities at Newark Airport in 2000 and was convicted the next year of possessing 31 pounds of liquid cocaine (read: street value $1.4 million) with the intent to distribute, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 14 years.

Carly Simon (whose son befriended the elite Phillips Exeter Academy graduate) and Republican Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch (who wrote President Bush on Forté’s behalf) are among the musician’s supporters.

But they are not the only people heartened by Forté’s upcoming release. Joining them are sentencing reform advocates who see presidential clemency as a time to look at the bigger picture.

“For us it helps underscore just how insane these sentences are,” said Julie Stewart, founder and president of the non-partisan non-profit Families Against Mandatory Minimums.

“John was serving 14 years for a first offense for which he was remorseful, which was abhorrent behavior, which was not part of his regular lifestyle,” Stewart added. “It was a crazy sentence.”

While Stewart told me she was happy with Forté’s upcoming release, she added that President Bush’s commutations highlight the underlying problem that still needs to be addressed – mandatory minimum sentences.

“Repeal all mandatory minimums,” Stewart said. “Make the sentences make sense. We’re trying to make that happen by giving the courts the discretion that has been taken from them in the cases that carry mandatory sentences,” Stewart said.

In other words, the (federal or state) legislature needs to get out of the way.

Oh, yes. I almost forgot.

For those of you who have no idea who Forté is or for those of you who would like a trip down memory lane, listen to Forté ‘s “Ninety Nine (Flash the Message).”

Obama's address: Cool factor 2, Specifics 0

I'll definitely give President-elect Obama cool points for having a weekly address available on YouTube. I'll also give him kudos for adding a section to the right of the video on the Change.gov page for people to share their thoughts. I'm even happy that the Change.gov site will send me a weekly reminder with a link to the video (because Lord knows I won't remember to check in with Obama every week).

BUT ...

(you knew it was coming) ...

Give me some actual information, please! He spent nearly four minutes talking about how his economic team is developing a "bold plan" to create jobs, but adds "we'll be working out the details in the weeks ahead."

So why am I watching your almost four-minute video? It ain't THAT cool. One minute will do, thanks.

Black Chrome

You can’t tell by looking at me, but anyone who knows me well can tell you that I love motorcycles. And as soon as I learn to ride (don't laugh) I intend to travel this great country on my Sportster.

So you can imagine how excited I was when I learned that the California African American Museum has an exhibit that looks at the African American contribution to motorcycle aesthetics, technology and culture in post-World War II America.

I met with the history curator for the exhibit, which runs through April 12th, and I found that not only did African Americans shape American motorcycle culture, but there’s also a special place for African American women within that culture. There’s hope for me yet.