Evacuees Need Clothing? "Let Them Wear Knockoffs"
This just in from the Dept of Homeland Security website — the Customs arm of the Dept of Homeland Security is delivering $17 Million worth of clothing seized because it was “in violation of trademark laws.” That is to say, these clothing are fakes, knockoffs of famous brands like Adidas, Ralph Lauren, Louis Vuitton, and other popular consumer names.
From the DHS website: “Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement - U.S. Customs and Border Protection(CBP) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) trucks delivered several thousand items of clothing to Hurricane Katrina evacuees in Jackson, Miss., Houston and San Antonio, Texas. The clothing, seized in violations of U.S. trademark laws is worth estimated at over $17 million.”
One of the problems of clothing like this is it's not just got fake brands, it's shitty apparel. It falls apart quickly. As Bruce Sterling described this phenomenon in a recent Wired article:
“They say you can't understand people until you've walked a mile in their shoes. I just walked across Belgrade in a brand-new pair of Nikes. Now I understand something: The citizens of this city are the vanguard of a new phase of capitalism. They're busily subverting conventional multi-national commerce and creating a dark parallel process - call it black globalization.
My new shoes look authentic, but they're a scam of ominous sophistication. The insole logo is silk-screened on; my socks erased the Nike swoosh in a single afternoon. The stitching is coarse and sloppy - the pull tab at the heel ripped loose the first time I tried to use it. The sporty soles are slippy, not grippy. The tag proclaims MADE IN KOREA, although the product is almost certainly a fake churned out by a Chinese factory. Adding insult to Nike's injury, the phony barcode denotes a pair of Reeboks.”
So, while FEMA is actively turning away donations of decent clothing being offered by people all across America, DHS is rushing them all the fake, crappy apparel they have on hand. It must strike the guys in Customs as very funny: “And ye shall know them by their phony baseball caps and pirated pants.” Other good jokes, “Hey whaddaya mean you're not from New Orleans. You tell me you bought that Louis Vuitton on Rodeo Drive?”
I should also point out that all of these counterfeit goods are, in ordinary times, a total liabiility. When I worked for Louis Vuitton at an LA lawfirm, we paid big, big storage bills on “millions of dollars worth” of Vuitton luggage we'd seized. That was a drag on the system. We couldn't give it away, or give it to charity, because that would defeat the purpose of seizing it — to keep poor people from sporting wealthy people brands. We couldn't burn it because it was an environmental hazard. So we stored it. The people at DHS are very clever, because this is going to free up a lot of storage space.
The knee-jerk Republican said in a recent TV interview with ABC affiliate WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh, “you have people who don't heed those warnings and then put people at risk as a result of not heeding those warnings. There may be a need to look at tougher penalties on those who decide to ride it out and understand that there are consequences to not leaving.”
This might be the most outrageous statement ever to come out of the Republican party. So many residents of New Orleans are poor and lack the means to even get a bus ticket out of town, let alone the information of any warning. Rick Santorum has a love of punishment and a hatred of goodwill and charity, and he has demonstrated just how far right one is capable of being.
Especially in wake of a disaster with more than three times the casualties of September 11, Rick Santorum's comments are akin to Nazism, fueled by racism, and he deserves to be censured. Let's show Rick Santorum a “harsher penalty” for being an ideological whack job--support his challenger, Bob Casey Jr., in 2006.
Copied from http://www.democrats.org/a/2005/09/another_republi.php Posted by Derrick on September 7, 2005 at 01:05 AM
Cargo Pants Woman
From the DHS website: “Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement - U.S. Customs and Border Protection(CBP) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) trucks delivered several thousand items of clothing to Hurricane Katrina evacuees in Jackson, Miss., Houston and San Antonio, Texas. The clothing, seized in violations of U.S. trademark laws is worth estimated at over $17 million.”
One of the problems of clothing like this is it's not just got fake brands, it's shitty apparel. It falls apart quickly. As Bruce Sterling described this phenomenon in a recent Wired article:
“They say you can't understand people until you've walked a mile in their shoes. I just walked across Belgrade in a brand-new pair of Nikes. Now I understand something: The citizens of this city are the vanguard of a new phase of capitalism. They're busily subverting conventional multi-national commerce and creating a dark parallel process - call it black globalization.
My new shoes look authentic, but they're a scam of ominous sophistication. The insole logo is silk-screened on; my socks erased the Nike swoosh in a single afternoon. The stitching is coarse and sloppy - the pull tab at the heel ripped loose the first time I tried to use it. The sporty soles are slippy, not grippy. The tag proclaims MADE IN KOREA, although the product is almost certainly a fake churned out by a Chinese factory. Adding insult to Nike's injury, the phony barcode denotes a pair of Reeboks.”
So, while FEMA is actively turning away donations of decent clothing being offered by people all across America, DHS is rushing them all the fake, crappy apparel they have on hand. It must strike the guys in Customs as very funny: “And ye shall know them by their phony baseball caps and pirated pants.” Other good jokes, “Hey whaddaya mean you're not from New Orleans. You tell me you bought that Louis Vuitton on Rodeo Drive?”
I should also point out that all of these counterfeit goods are, in ordinary times, a total liabiility. When I worked for Louis Vuitton at an LA lawfirm, we paid big, big storage bills on “millions of dollars worth” of Vuitton luggage we'd seized. That was a drag on the system. We couldn't give it away, or give it to charity, because that would defeat the purpose of seizing it — to keep poor people from sporting wealthy people brands. We couldn't burn it because it was an environmental hazard. So we stored it. The people at DHS are very clever, because this is going to free up a lot of storage space.
Rick Santorum Is A Total Jerk
Add PA Senator Rick Santorum to the list of right wing idiots who have blamed the victims of this tragic event.The knee-jerk Republican said in a recent TV interview with ABC affiliate WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh, “you have people who don't heed those warnings and then put people at risk as a result of not heeding those warnings. There may be a need to look at tougher penalties on those who decide to ride it out and understand that there are consequences to not leaving.”
This might be the most outrageous statement ever to come out of the Republican party. So many residents of New Orleans are poor and lack the means to even get a bus ticket out of town, let alone the information of any warning. Rick Santorum has a love of punishment and a hatred of goodwill and charity, and he has demonstrated just how far right one is capable of being.
Especially in wake of a disaster with more than three times the casualties of September 11, Rick Santorum's comments are akin to Nazism, fueled by racism, and he deserves to be censured. Let's show Rick Santorum a “harsher penalty” for being an ideological whack job--support his challenger, Bob Casey Jr., in 2006.
Copied from http://www.democrats.org/a/2005/09/another_republi.php Posted by Derrick on September 7, 2005 at 01:05 AM
Where'd You Get Those Jeans
I wonder if any of the clothing companies whose brand names were on the knock offs noticed a slump or jump in sales in the weeks and months that followed. Maybe FEMA just helped out with some marketing.Cargo Pants Woman