julia

Greetings Friends:
Another year has passed and it's time once again for the National "Buy Nothing Day", Friday, November 23. The day after "Thanks"giving is traditionally the biggest shopping day in America. It's the kick-off of the Holiday shopping "season" and retailers nationwide will be offering
bookoo bargains.

This is a International effort in response to one of Naomi Klein's previous works, No Logo.

This November 25th, environmentalists, social activists and concerned citizens in as many as 65 countries will hit the streets for a 24-hour consumer fast in celebration of the 15th annual Buy Nothing Day, a global cultural phenomenon that originated in Vancouver, Canada.

Let's show other Americans and the world that it's not through shopping we should feel better about ourselves, as this admin would like us to think, such as after September 11.

http://adbusters.org/metas/eco/bnd/

__________________
The candidate does not speak for the campaign.

Black_Knight

I'll make sure to honor it by buying everything on the 24th

jdanton

I must be ahead of the curve. I have made a tradition of staying out of the stores the day after Thanksgiving all my life.

My good friend does free lance video, and has on several occasions worked at Toys R Us in NYC on this infamous shopping day. It was a very long day, each time, and the management at Toys R Us treated the video crew very well for their "cooperation". Last year this enabled my friend to have a Wii game held for my grandsons.

What was the cooperation you ask. Every year there are some incidents of violence between adults over toys that simply don't have enough in stock, like the wii game last year, the cabbage patch dolls of years ago, and other things.

Doors would open at 6, and the lines start forming at 3 AM.

The video people agree to not tape the fights.

__________________
Author: Memoirs of a Sleepless Mind, a book you CAN judge by its cover.

bengalcat

People are just plain stupid. There are so many huge sales that already started and will continue until Christmas. I can't believe people are so brainwashed into thinking that the day after Thanksgiving is when they will get the best prices. No thanks, I'd rather be in my warm bed!

itsmeeeeeee

i wouldn't get caught dead anywhere near a store the day after thanksgiving... unless it's a hardware store - and i don't mean for presents!

cheapseats

Christ...Christian.

Money...Moneyian.

I begin from the premise that America is not a Christian nation. Talk is cheap. Money walks.

Here is the bottom line in a Moneyian nation: if the Powers That Be are making money doing things the way they're doing them, there is no motivation to do them differently...none.

Powers That Be are as powerful as they are in no small part because they disavow costly intangibles like health, welfare, safety, environment...all the Good Stuff that would constitute stewardship of people and places, but erode the profit margin.

Almost anyone could make bundles of bucks if they operated in the same All-Bets-Are-Off-Ends-Justify-The-Means-Devil-May-Care-Take-No-Prisoners manner as do many of our Corporate Giants.

Yes, yes, by all means, buy nothing on the 23rd. Buy less and less and less. Buy one gift for children, adults agree amongst themselves that they'll skip Christmas gift-giving this year. It is unseemly to exchange holiday gifts connoting merriment and good cheer when we are blowing people to smithereens. It really is.

I heard a toy/buy/spend commercial on the radio that concludes with a fondly encouraging, "It's time for childhood." No dice. You cannot blow six moms and nine kids to hell and gone in Iraq, and then say it's time for childhood here. That was who was taken out in one of our Strikes Against Insurgents-Who-Live-There...six moms and nine kids. You know what six moms and nine kids is? It's a play date.

They hate us for our freedoms, you say? Which freedoms would those be? I have received an official BOARD WARNING ISSUED at the New & Improvised Bill Maher Board...without any elaboration as to what crossed which arbitrary line, practically ensuring that I will cross it again, which will be grounds for banning...and they hate us for our freedoms?

I am much more inclined to think they hate us because, no matter the death and destruction, no matter the danger and disease, no matter the suffering and starvation, Americans go shopping. So long as bombs rain on strangers, so long as children other than our own come home in flag draped coffins that the media is not free to show, Americans go shopping.

It was the wife of a Republican who said it, so it must be okay...right? JUST SAY NO.

After towers of high finance, the Pentagon, Capitol Hill and the White House, I cannot think of a target more emblematic of the seemingly impossible rift between the West, American-Style and Middle East, Fanatic-Style than the ubiquitous shopping mall.

ciaobox2007

Yeah, good idea, why would we want to stimulate our flegling economy anyway?

It is so true that shopping sucks on that day though.

cheapseats

We do NOT have a "fledgling" economy.

And, indeed, why WOULD you want to stimulate our failing economy? Are you imagining that a robust round of buying shit that no one needs will fix it? A solid round of sales at Toys R Us and Macy's, and we're good to go?

I draw your attention to the mortgage crisis. Buying shit you can't afford on easy credit, THAT'S the root of that crisis, irrespective even of unethical lending. Unethical lending FED on people's determination to buy what they couldn't afford. So we'll bail everyone out and urge them to run up their credit cards instead. Juggle the numbers, rob Peter to pay Paul, creative accounting, sleight of hand, smoke and mirrors...whatever it takes to be able to present some figures that no one understands, "proving" that things are better than anyone is experiencing.

Strong holiday sales, and George Bush will be RIGHT THERE reminding us that we are great and life is good.

Some CAN afford to go shopping, of course. They DO have money. That is why they are so lackadaisical about all the people who are getting killed and all the people who are suffering...because they're alive and well and have money to go shopping.

We very much need to get this straight: This war will not end, we will occupy Iraq for the rest of most of our lifetimes, tens or hundreds of thousands more will die...we don't keep careful count because they are not, after all, American...the vast majority of Americans will remain impoverished and uneducated, homelessness will increase, also crimes of desperation...NOTHING WILL CHANGE WITHOUT INCONVENIENCE.

There is a point at which, if America means to dig its way out of this hole, Americans will have to inconvenience themselves. Some Americans are going to be hurt. Many more are being hurt, and killed, by the status quo.

OldManOnFire

How many people do you suppose can buy a house for cash??

How many people do you suppose can buy a new automobile for cash??

How many people do you suppose can pay cash for their college education??

How many people do you suppose can pay cash for all their health care needs??

These are rhetorical questions since it's impossible to know the answers. But MY guess is maybe 1% of the population have the readily available cash for these expenses and others. This leaves 99%, or at least a gigantic majority of Americans, who are dependent on some form of credit.

If we can buy something on credit, and everything goes just fine, then credit is a success story. If things do not go fine, and we abuse our credit situation, and we get in trouble, etc., it's a doom and gloom story. Fortunately, about 80% enjoy a success story and 20% end up in doom and gloom.

Now most of us feel sorry about this 20%, but I'll bet that 15% no matter how much trouble they get into, they will do it all over again. If this is true, then those that we should feel sorry about are the 5%. Further, if only 5% are being hurt by credit issues--is this really a big issue??

Look at all the insurances we pay which are just like credit except we make the payments in advance of the purchase!

Yes, I feel sorry for the few people who got caught up in the mortgage issues, or continue to have credit issues, but over the past sixty years since WWII, credit has given people a wonderful life and has helped drive the economy to where it is today.

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Did you know both our problems and the solutions can be found simply by looking in our mirrors...and...Never confuse the extraordinary stuff I think and write with that of a well-balanced person...

jdanton

Hey! I bought my grandkids one of their favorite gifts at my local hardware store.

Horseshoe magnets; plastic coated in different colors. They enjoyed seeing what things they stuck to and which ones they didn't.

Small flashlights are always fun for kids, too.

I like to go around saying, "I'm doing my Christmas shopping at Robert Hall this year." (anyone remember those ads?) when I'm reminded Robert Hall went out of business many years ago, I respond, "Exactly."

__________________
Author: Memoirs of a Sleepless Mind, a book you CAN judge by its cover.