Not to play Devil's Advocate or to suggest that your points aren't valid, but to present some thoughts from the other side...
How many other coffee companies have a better record than Starbucks for Fair Trade coffee? One? Two? Your local, in town only coffee house? Do any of the big commercial sellers in US grocery stores (ie. Maxwell House, etc.) buy ANY Fair Trade coffee at all?
Starbucks has committed money to certain coffee growing regions, such as Mexico, and made it possible to grow coffee as an alternative to growing drugs.
When people say Starbuck's is socially responsible, it usually means that they pay their US employees a not too bad wage for the work (no offense, but Barista != Rocket Scientist) and they actually have benefits such as health insurance and stock plans that apply to their employees. Frankly, it seems to me that they put Wal Mart and other companies to shame in terms of benefits for low wage employees.
Re:Only /slightly/ off-topic
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Hopes Rise for RIM
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· Score: 2, Interesting
"Crackberry" refers to the device. The term is used because so many of the users act like crack addicts - they can't go anywhere without their Blackberry and they stop whatever they are doing (talking, eating, etc.) the second the freakin' thing vibrates to let them know they have email because that email is far far more important than any other person they might be interacting with at the time. Some of the criticisms could be directed at cell phone users too because they often exhibit some of the same characteristics. People that get a Blackberry act like they can't live without it. Personally, I hope I never get one and at present, my company sees little value in it because we have cell phones they use to reach us 24x7 in emergencies.
There IS a difference between Creationism and Intelligent Design. Intelligent Design does NOT necessary imply that God did it, but that some intelligence did it. A good article rebuking the points that so many people like you make is at:
http://www.ornery.org/essays/warwatch/2006-01-08-1 .html
I won't tell you who the author is because if you knew beforehand, you'd never read it. People like you argue that there is no difference because of your prejudiced attitude against religion, especially Christianity. You're just a typical, know-it-all British twit to me. By the way, we don't need or want your bitchslapping as the US courts seem to handling the controversy quite well and frankly, I think your precious country is going to Hell in a handbasket a lot quicker than mine is.
Why do so many people on Slashdot and elsewhere have the idea that "fascist" is a useful term to describe anyone you don't agree with? The Chinese government may be a lot of things, "evil" is one term that comes to mind, but they definitely are not fascist. Communism and fascism are not the same thing. It's like the people here who insist that the current US government is fascist simply because they don't like Bush. Has everyone forgotten what the word actually means?
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Not to play Devil's Advocate or to suggest that your points aren't valid, but to present some thoughts from the other side...
How many other coffee companies have a better record than Starbucks for Fair Trade coffee? One? Two? Your local, in town only coffee house? Do any of the big commercial sellers in US grocery stores (ie. Maxwell House, etc.) buy ANY Fair Trade coffee at all?
Starbucks has committed money to certain coffee growing regions, such as Mexico, and made it possible to grow coffee as an alternative to growing drugs.
When people say Starbuck's is socially responsible, it usually means that they pay their US employees a not too bad wage for the work (no offense, but Barista != Rocket Scientist) and they actually have benefits such as health insurance and stock plans that apply to their employees. Frankly, it seems to me that they put Wal Mart and other companies to shame in terms of benefits for low wage employees.
"Crackberry" refers to the device. The term is used because so many of the users act like crack addicts - they can't go anywhere without their Blackberry and they stop whatever they are doing (talking, eating, etc.) the second the freakin' thing vibrates to let them know they have email because that email is far far more important than any other person they might be interacting with at the time. Some of the criticisms could be directed at cell phone users too because they often exhibit some of the same characteristics. People that get a Blackberry act like they can't live without it. Personally, I hope I never get one and at present, my company sees little value in it because we have cell phones they use to reach us 24x7 in emergencies.
There IS a difference between Creationism and Intelligent Design. Intelligent Design does NOT necessary imply that God did it, but that some intelligence did it. A good article rebuking the points that so many people like you make is at: http://www.ornery.org/essays/warwatch/2006-01-08-1 .html
I won't tell you who the author is because if you knew beforehand, you'd never read it. People like you argue that there is no difference because of your prejudiced attitude against religion, especially Christianity. You're just a typical, know-it-all British twit to me. By the way, we don't need or want your bitchslapping as the US courts seem to handling the controversy quite well and frankly, I think your precious country is going to Hell in a handbasket a lot quicker than mine is.
Why do so many people on Slashdot and elsewhere have the idea that "fascist" is a useful term to describe anyone you don't agree with? The Chinese government may be a lot of things, "evil" is one term that comes to mind, but they definitely are not fascist. Communism and fascism are not the same thing. It's like the people here who insist that the current US government is fascist simply because they don't like Bush. Has everyone forgotten what the word actually means?