New Mattel toys, with bright lead paint and magnets that can be swallowed!

[MiniMandaRuth]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070814/ap_on_bi_ge/toy_recall



Um... er... fuckfaces? What the shit are you doing? If you want to give the public reliable toys that won't kill them or give them cancer or some friendly thing like that, here's a new one for ya... Make 'em in the good ol' US of A. I know, I know... it might affect your megabillion dollar profits by paying legal factory workers good wages and giving them nice little things called benefits, but you will effectively all but banish the fear of children being harmed by the dolls and action figures they love to put in their mouths to see what they taste like. Mmmmm.... barbie.

Who am I kidding? I'm prolly just as fucked up as the rest of my generation, what with our hippity hop and our video games and our pants that hang down so damn far you can see more than just our coin slot. I still got a few hot wheels tires rolling around in my gut and I'm pretty sure that barbie shoe I swallowed when I was four isn't helping much. But at least they didn't contain LEAD PAINT. Jeebus.

If you have the factories here, you can actually make sure that the workers AREN'T 13 year-olds that are forced to work for twenty cents a day. If you have the factories here, you can (God forbid) RAISE the standard of living! *GaspShock*. If you have the factories here... oh my god I might drop dead, you can help the struggling economy by providing old-fashioned factory jobs for the lower and middle class. The kind of jobs that America was built on! Oh, but no. If you paid your workers more than twenty cents an hour... say, about 13 or 14 dollars an hour (Which really still isn't enough to live on), and provide benefits, you might have to sacrifice your weekend in Milan and your midnight flight to Paris! Oh, and don't forget about that lovely little trip that you want to take to Japan to learn about new exciting toys that you can make your workers sweat over!

I'll sit down now. I'll go back to my local target where all the boxes read 'Made in China' or contain the blood, sweat, and tears of a ten-year-old that works seventeen hours a day and pick out a nice Polly Pocket for my friends sister, who doesn't know the difference between an apple and a telephone pole and if she chews on the damn thing, probably never will. You can fly to Mexico on your luxury jet to your marble and crystal palace, enjoying tiny dogs and fruit drinks named after places you don't even fucking know exist.

Sincerly yours,

MiniMandaRuth.

[alstephenson]

1. Nice rant, my dear!

I couldn't agree more!

[MiniMandaRuth]

8. You're welcome.

I'm glad people agree with me.

[Deb]

2. I can't believe how cheaply toy companies sold their good name

and reputation. Generations of children helped them earn that and now they kill the customer?

I am so thankful that we had an attic to save every toy my kids grew up with during the 80's. Forget that new garbage, I'll be digging in the attic for my grandchildren.

[MiniMandaRuth]

9. I'm not planning to have any kids,

and this is one of the reasons why. I know it's a weird thing to think about, but it makes sense to me.

BTW, I do have a bunch of toys that I have saved over the years... and I still play with them. Good for you to save the toys!

[mikeytherat]

3. Like minds:

Open Letter to Mattel:

So, how's that outsourcing going, fellas? Still reaping those savings? No? Well, I guess huge, multiple recalls, a big hit to your name and brand equity, the reality of children gnawing on lead-laced toys (sniff...sniff..are those lawsuits I smell?), and the enduring image of childrens' cherished toys taken away and destroyed contributes negatively to the old bottom line.

Penny wise, pound foolish.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=1582906&mesg_id=1582978

mikey_the_rat

[MiniMandaRuth]

10. *clapclapclap* Bravo, sir, bravo.

[Donnachaidh]

4. PLEASE please please -- if you know someone with these toys

BEG them to get their kids checked for lead levels. Lead poisoning can do permanent damage. If they don't have insurance have them contact their county health department, to see if there is free testing.

[MiniMandaRuth]

11. I don't know any little kids around here,

but I will post a message on my myspace to make sure that anyone who does have younger siblings can.

[KitchenWitch]

5. Fantastic rant!

You are awesome.

[MiniMandaRuth]

12. thank you!

You're awesome, too, if I might add.

[InternalDialogue]

6. You can shoot the shit with the best of them!

K&R




:kick:

[MiniMandaRuth]

13. That might just be one of the best compliments I have recieved all my life.

To hell with that 'You're beautiful" or "You can sing wonderfully"

I'm gonna tuck this one under my belt and run with it! Thanks, ID.

[Karenina]

7. Pots, pans (no teflon), appliance boxes

hand-made-in-America stuffed friends and wooden toys. BACK TO MONO I SAY!

[MiniMandaRuth]

14. I still have my teddy bear (Still snuggle with him, too)

and personally, old fashioned wooden cars rock my socks off.

[porphyrian]

15. Here are some good toy-buying tips...

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/38326

[MiniMandaRuth]

16. OMG.

'If one of your children is killed playing with a chemistry set, make a game of it by challenging your surviving children to reanimate him or her.'

Now I want to go gain three hundred pounds so I can tattoo this on my stomach and then wear a bikini top to the beach so idiots are forced to read it.


Thank you for enhancing my life.

[porphyrian]

17. Don't thank me, thank The Onion.

;)

[MiniMandaRuth]

18. But you showed it to me.

Man, I haven't felt this happy since my friend chucked free strawberry applesauce at my head.

[porphyrian]

19. That's good, right? -n/t

[MiniMandaRuth]

20. Yeah. That strawberry applesauce is delicious.

And it was free!

[porphyrian]

21. I just want to know where they grow strawberry apples, and why some of them are enslaved. - n/t

[Vidar]

22. Bravo and recommended.

[MiniMandaRuth]

23. thanks!

[me b zola]

24. Thank you!

This entire debacle is not about China, it's about American companies looking for slave labor and to skirt regulations. It's about "free trade". It's about the devaluation & degragation of the American worker.