KB

Ok maybe I'm getting old but can you guys please talk in plain english........so I know what I'm getting myself into. Ken

Very nice ideed Ape and that view........well it looks more like the kind of place people dream of retiring to. Ken

What strikes me here is that they must first be attacking your computer to get your Email list and if that's the case you have been earmarked for individual attention. Ken

I do play on Stars but prefer PokerRoom.com, I usually play with funny money but could be talked into a small stakes table. Ken

Admin has been notified and will fix it on his next visit. Ken

Yeah but look at the one above, they were using bicylces to chase them.......took 4 years to catch one didn't it? Ken

Mercedes Benz cars are named after Mercedes Jellinek, an Austrian girl. About a quarter of the world still drives on the left, and the countries that do are mostly old British colonies. There are more than 16,400 parking metres in Manhatten, New York. Traffic jams are nothing new. In 45 BC, Rome banned all vehicles from within the city -- and in other cities vehicles, including horses, were allowed only at night... because of traffic jams. The city with the most Rolls Royce's per capita is Hong Kong. On average a human being spends two weeks of their entire lives waiting for traffic lights to change. On Oct. 22, 1999, White Lightning Electric Streamliner, an electiric car owned by Dempsey's World Record Associates, achieved a record speed 245.951 m.p.h. at the Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah, USA. The car was driven by Patrick Rummerfield (USA). The first cars did not have steering wheels. Drivers steered with a lever. The New York City Police Department used bicycles to pursue speeding motorists in 1898. The first speeding ticket was issued in 1902. In 1916, 55 percent of the cars in the world were Model T Fords, a record that has never been beaten. The first gas gauge appeared in cars in 1922. In 1923, 173 new inventions by women for cars had been reported. Among these inventions were a carburetor and an electric engine starter. The first car radio was invented in 1929. Buick introduced the first electric turn signals in 1938. The Peanuts characters were first animated in 1957 for a Ford Fairlaine automobile commercial. Most American car horns beep in the key of F. The automobile is the most recycled consumer product in the world today. In 1906, the horse-drawn traffic in New York City moved along at an average speed of 11.5 miles per hour. In 1978, a survey showed automobile traffic in New York City averaged only 7.9 miles per hour. Felix Wankel, automotive engineer and inventor of the rotary engine, never had a driver's license. Ken

Well of course the easy option would be to buy only the best quality replica bags and we all know where they come from don't we. Ken

@eddhead no one else can decide what's right for you, however I do hope that not buying replica's and participating in our forum are two different issues. It's been a long time since my last purchase but I'm still here for the people and would like to think you can see your way clear to do the same. Ken

Don't know where you are Nick but in Australia Mothers Day is Sunday week, I seriously doubt any dealer will promise to deliver in that short time. Ken

Oh come now Rod did you see who wrote that report? Let alone the fact that it is based on stories the seeped out and not hard facts. That aside I will state once last time that yes it is possible that child labor can be involved in some small way with the finished product we buy, however thats not the topic here the topic is that the OP has linked these kids that were resuced with the rep trade and the fact is there is not one shred of evidence to support this. The guys supporting this viewpoint have to face the fact that the pen on the desk in front of them, the calculator, the stapler, maybe even the computer, these are what the kids were working on. Ken

@ eddhead please understand that I am in no way trying to influence your decision but the fact is you have taken this press release and coupled it with the rep trade, that is hypothetical at best as there is not the slightest suggestion that the kids were in the employ of replica manufacturers and yes it would have been stated. We have seen before, and this will become more common as the Olympics move closer, China takes every opportunity to show the west that they are tackling and cleaning up the rep trade (wasn't an agreement signed between China and the USA on this late last year?), the simple fact is these kids were not making reps, in the Aussie papers the reports stated the simalarities between these kids and the child slaves rescued from the brick factories last year! I have not at any point denied the possibility of child labor in the rep trade, in China of course it's possible, but to many in this thread are just assuming that because the rep traders are dark/gloomy/evil they were the ones that kidnapped these kids. The fact is that working for the rep trade in China is not a frowned on career choice, the contacts that you make with the factories are all young straight out of university who are headhunted by rival rep makers just as in any normal business, if Chinese customs stop their items they actually are expected to return the goods not destroy them, last year police raided my suppliers bag factory after charging them and fining them they returned all their machinery and told them to set up somewhere else. So yes there is a high level of acceptance in the east that many in the west just don't understand. Ken

Just one final thing this has now reached the Aussie papers and as in the OP's reference there is no metion of the replica trade, I think it would be fairly safe to assume that whilst there may in fact be cases of child labor within the rep trade somewhere, these kids were working for legitimate manufacturers. Ken

But this is the whole point that I have been tring to make....Yes the possibility is there that child labor works on our watches in some way but this possibility is equal to any product that we buy from stores that is made in china. @Teddyboy it is nice to have that belief but I doubt that it would be fact, a store like walmart will have very strong social responsibilities within the borders of the good old USA, they will also have strong social responsibilities anywhere they present in the western world, but lets face it they would not go to the expense or time of tracking each and every part/process of every product (thousands) that they buy from China. Ken

Now theres the kicker, I seriously doubt that he is like this in his own kitchens, most likely the is an element of showmanship being added to these programs. Ken

@Teddyboy I am sure the purchasing officers of large western department stores do in fact send representitives to look over the factories they deal with just as a precaution to anything getting out to western media, however thats all they would check as it's the lowest price possible that they want, They would have little or no concern if somewhere down the line some of the parts that make up their product is actually the result of child labor. Ken

Ha they let all the bad words slip on Aussie TV Ken

The point is that it has only been assumed that this is linked to the rep watch industry because the raids took place in Gaungdong (didn't someone point out this is China most populous city?), to my knowledge the center of the rep industry is in fact Gaungzhou and whilst reps are made all over China I am sure the legitimate manufacturers in Gaungdong far exceed the illegal ones. Also there are in fact many backroom operations which mainly assemble watches but factories are in fact needed to make cases and such, not many people would have a CAD in the kitchen. Ken

There a couple here on our board.........hit the search button newbie Ken

Sorry but they look like gen watches to me, have you purchased any? Ken

And yet every time we see a media release of a bust on a rep watch manufacturer they are always consenting adults they are hauling off to the police station. Ken

Aint it a bitch when you can't swear here I can but I wont, but I will say Ramsay is my favourite TV personality at the moment I just love his 'In your face' attitude. Actually if I ever had a mental picture of the Bricktop of old it would have been just like Ramsay. Ken

No my point is that in China external controls for even legitimate factories are close to non exsistant, that is I am sure there are many rules and regulations but it is the enforcement of those directives that is lacking, this is why China is the hub of the worlds replica industry in the first place. So in short yes many legitimate goods that come from China can pass at one point through the hands of child labor to suggest otherwise is to only fool ourselves. Ken

@eddhead whereas I fully agree that child labor, let alone forced labor, is abhorent regardless of where ever it happens in the world there are two main points that strike me with your original post (1) Child labor has been rife in China and many other countries for a long time, there is nothing new about this article (2) The unfortunate reality is that you cannot link this to the replica industry alone and must take the broad view that anything that comes from China can (and many will) be tainted by child labor, your large department stores such as Walmart and Tesco are far more worried about end price than these domestic issues. If they, for example, buy say a teddy bear from a certain manufacturer they need (due to western media) to assure it has none of the issues with their company, they don't however need to check where the material for the product come from. Ken