Mendacity, Part 38465057384040.

There is news in the "Times" and on National Public Radio that Apple, the name behind well-designed products built by slaves, is beginning to monitor its factories in China for humane working conditions. I'd bet my MacBook Pro that the following will happen. 1) investigators will "uncover" some violations and "fix" them; 2) they will do something large and showy like provide a recreation center, employee swimming pool or hot lunch or something like that; 3) they will affirm the basic goodness of their plants and assert that their workers are well-off--especially compared to those in other less-enlightened plants.

It wasn't that long ago that pseudo-humanitarians took a day or two off from wearing their $120 Nikes because labor in the Far East was getting fucked up the ass sideways.

Of course, after the flurry of "concern," this story got pushed off the airwaves by a cat that found its way home or a newly dead pop star.

In about a month, half of New York will be sporting something green and sparkly that came all the way from China, 15,000 miles and still costs just 99-cents. When the dust and the drunken vomit have cleared, you realize that the leprechaun hats, the cheap electronics and most else of what we avariciously consume is made cheaply because we can abuse the shit out of most of the world. And most of the world is happy to take the pennies left to them.

The same is happening in our industry and just about every other.

For us to turn a blind eye, or worse, express "high dudgeon" is the height (or depth) of mendacity.