[Jewelry making - Article 01010] - Re: [Orchid] Expanded sanctions on Burmese gems

[David Phelps]

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    This is an issue I have struggled with since the 60's. There are no
    easy answers. When I buy gold, some of it might have been stolen from
    an Egyptian King's tomb 4000 years ago, or it might have come from a
    strip mine in Colorado that is now filled with cyanide, or it might
    have come from a Native American miner's pan in Alaska. Darned if I
    can tell the difference, and the people that I buy it from have no
    idea where it's from either. 

    Same with stones. Unless you actually see the stone come from the
    Earth and physically cut it yourself, you really don't have knowledge
    of where that stone comes from and who was involved in it's trip to
    you. Just like our customers, we are required to trust those with
    whom we do business. This also requires that they trust their sources
    and that those people in turn trust their sources. Sure, to a degree
    you can have a lab determine where a stone is from, but how much does
    finding out cost, and is it really something you would do on a daily
    basis? And even if you go to those lengths, how do you know who dug
    the rough from the ground and whether their motivation was to avoid a
    beating or to get a pay check? 

    The only thing that we who live in freedom can do that has any real
    and lasting effect is to vote for and elect people that do not take
    money or favors from governments, companies or individuals that
    participate in or condone behavior such as we have most recently seen
    in Burma. Our politicians that turn a blind eye to such crimes
    against humanity so they can keep their campaign coffers full are
    just as much to blame as the slave drivers wielding whips. Both
    accept blood money as bribes, and will continue to do so until the
    majority of free people stop them. 

    Pay attention to where the politicians you support really get their
    financing and to whom they owe allegiance. If you haven't been
    active in politics and what has happened in Burma and similar
    atrocities around the world are an important issue to you, study up,
    and vote accordingly. Don't take other people's word for whom to vote
    for, especially the politicians themselves. They might let their
    ideology interfere with the truth. Find out for yourself, and be
    honest with yourself. If you don't, you have no room to complain.
    This is the blessing and the curse of being free. 

Dave
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