Thanks to jezebel.com for posting proof of why women’s magazines are dangerous. Take a look at the Photoshop of Horrors on the retouching of a picture of Faith Hill.

Lips.

They need protection in the winter. I slather on ChapStick application after ChapStick application. After a few days of this gooey attack, my lips are not only still painful, flaky and cracking but the lip balm seems to have melded with the lip tissue to generate a sort of unattractive wet dander. I reapply my balm. Things can’t get much worse after a piece of lip tissue from my upper lip latches onto a piece of tissue on my bottom lip in mid-conversation.

I always thought winter was just nasty to lips. But my blame might have been misdirected. What exactly was I putting on my lips?

Blistex. ChapStick.

A friend recently pointed out that these brands all contain petrolatum. As it turns out lip balms like ChapStick use this petroleum-based ingredient, derived from the same crude oil that is used to make gasoline and grease. Petrolatum forms a coating that suffocates the lip tissue and since tissue needs to breathe to thrive, the layers of lip skin were actually rotting right there on my face. In front of everyone.

On the same friend’s recommendation, I switched to Burt’s Bees Lip Balm, a product that promised all-natural oils. It’s been several days of slathering and the lip dander has not reappeared. For me, the results speak for themselves. I searched for an informed opinion on the matter from a medical professional but came up with nada. OK, so it’s possible that chapped lips aren’t quite newsworthy. But shouldn’t the fact that a product we buy to fix a problem is blatantly making it worse ruffle more than a few feathers?

**I did find a Pub Med abstract citing that acne is caused by ChapStick making contact with the skin surrounding the lips. I’m anxious to find out what its doing to our lips.

There’s also been a study by the Economic Policy Institute on the actual link between wages and prices. Their conclusion: “Wal-Mart does a lot right. It has expanded productivity by being more efficient and leaner than many other companies. Many of the benefits shoppers accrue from Wal-Mart’s expansion could be preserved even if the retailer had to meet the expectations of its critics regarding fair worker compensation. Defenders of the company too often set up false dichotomies such as low prices vs. high wages when in reality, better compensation for workers won’t negate Wal-Mart’s competitive edge.”

Whether you want to stop a Wal-Mart from being built in your community, prevent an existing Wal-Mart from expanding, or hold a Wal-Mart accountable for its actions in your hometown, Battle-Mart is here for you.

Here’s your battle plan!

-Kayne West, “Diamonds”

The truth about diamonds:

1.) Diamonds aren’t rare.
De Beers controls the market so that they are perceived as rare. The Department of Justice have charged De Beers with violating U.S. antitrust laws and as a result they now have a reduced presence in the United States. The Atlantic reveals De Beers’ past.
2.) Why are Diamonds the symbols of love?
Because De Beers marketed them as such in their “A Diamond is Forever” campaign. Now that women are not solely striving towards marriage, De Beers (as the Diamond Trading Company) has started a “Diamond Right Hand Ring” campaign, in hopes of trying to convince career-minded single women they deserve to celebrate their independence and power with a piece of jewelry. See how tradtions start? In marketing departments!
3.) Diamonds fuel horrific wars in Africa.
A Stanford University piece cites that Sierra Leone has suffered terribly as a result of its civil war and fight over diamond control. Rebels committed heinous crimes against humanity in the form of murder, rape, and mutilation. The war over diamonds between 1991 and 1999 claimed over 75,000 lives, caused 500,000 Sierra Leoneans to become refugees, and displaced half of the countries 4.5 million people. The Sierra Leone economy was being cheated out of millions in their natural resource of diamonds.

in brief: China, dormitories, buckets, no visitors, 15-hour days, barbed wire, guards

Read the article here.

Foxconn factory senior vice president James Lee, responds: “It’s hard to understand for many westerners but it’s true that many of our workers are willing to work overtime to make more money. We don’t force them to work overtime and won’t allow them to work overtime for more than 20 hours a week.” Apple is currently investigating the sweatshop allegations.

Remember the time when it was fashionable to be a clear liquid in the mid 90s? There was clear pepsi, clear gas. Now, the trend seems to be organic or all natural. Even Wal-mart has gone organic. 7-Up now claims to offer a “100% Natural” version of their soda pop. Yet The Center for Science in the Public Interest reports: Although 7-Up removed several artificial ingredients from the drink, at least one remains: high fructose corn syrup. High fructose corn syrup isn’t something you could cook up from a bushel of corn in your kitchen, unless you happen to be equipped with centrifuges, hydroclones, ion-exchange columns, and buckets of enzymes.

In response, the CSPI and Sugar Assoication are petitioning the FDA to regulate the definition of what can be labeled ‘natural.’ Until then, read the fine print and keep your high-fructose corn syrup radar in high gear.

A quick survey of your Mutual Fund site “Holdings” link is the first step towards socially responsible investing. Without any major research, I knew I was uncomfortable with investing in Exxon, Altria (Philip-Morris) and Monsanto even if my paltry investment couldn’t even take the CEOs to lunch.

Socialfunds.com contains a list of socially responsible funds but read the descriptions carefully. Quite a few of these are associated with religious organizaitons.

The company must think that a person buying a halter top is long over due for being reminded that god so loved the world that he gave his only son, as John 3:16 describes.

USA Today called Forever 21′s founder, Don Chang “deeply religious.” Perhaps he’s not so confident that the patrons of his hip yet affordable clothing line would be so accepting of his evangelicalism or else he would have used a larger font.

For 17 years, Britain has published The Ethical Consumer, a shopping magazine of a different breed. Unlike its American counterparts, Ethical Consumer will never be mistaken for a retail catalog. It’s more along the lines of our Consumer Reports, heavy with serious research and consumer activism. Yet instead of Consumer Report‘s emphasis on getting the most bang for your buck, Ethical Consumer focuses on another kind of value – the bigger picture. There is a similiar mission to Britian’s New Consumer magazine.

This web site was a response to the existence and lack of the above magazines in America. It occurred on the same day I discovered that a meager mutual fund that I had inherited listed Exxon Gas as the company I was primarily investing in. A few months prior, I came back from shopping to discover that my shopping bag had a bible verse printed on it.

With two harmless acts, I had backed two movements I did not support: the Gas Industry and Evangelicalism. It’s time to demystify the process. The products we buy are only the visible tips of giant icebergs whose practices threaten to sink us. Somehow the desire to look underwater at what lies beneath has fallen out of practice. This site seeks to inspire the need for such exploration as well as show how simply it may be done.