Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

> Sorry, didn't know my answer to your rhetorical question mattered to you
> at  all.  I have no idea from which country the gasoline I buy comes
> from.  My  guess is it's a combination from Venezuala, Saudi Arabia,
> Mexico and maybe  even Texas (God bless Texas).  Maybe two drops of my
> 30 gallon tank come  from the UAE.  Who the heck knows?  IT's a silly
> question and you know it.
No, Howard, it is not a silly question.  It is intended to underscore the
concept that ignorance of where a commodity comes from is no excuse.  I'd
suspect that quite a high percentage of the gasoline you use comes from
the Middle East--perhaps not the UAE specifically, but as I believe you've
said in your own posts, the slave trade is a problem in a great many of
the Middle Eastern countries, not just the UAE.  And I'm sure a raped and
beaten 5-year-old camel jockey in Saudi Arabia or Qatar hurts just as
surely as does one in the UAE.  I just want to know if you are as diligent
in finding out where the commodities you use come from as you are about
endurance hosts, when it comes to suggesting boycotts, and if you are
willing to do the same thing for the commodities which do the most to line
the pockets of the very people you are opposing here.

> I will say that if they made an electric
> truck that pulled my horse trailer  I'd buy one in a heartbeat.
I agree.  I'd like to see us develop a whole lot of alternatives to lower
our dependence on foreign oil--as well as develop what oil reserves WE
have.  There are positive implications to lowering our importation of oil
in addition to not funding the slave trade.  Where do you think the
sheihks GET the money to buy little kids, Howard?  From us, at the gas
pumps.

> Comparing me buying gasoline in downtown Daytona Beach, Florida, or
> Bybee,  Tennessee (God bless Tennessee), to doing direct business in the
> endurance  market with slave traders is a bit absurd, even for you,
> Heidi.  I'm sure  you see the analogy but I do not.  You did much better
> matching Hitler with  the slave traders.
See the above.  I don't care where in the USA you buy your oil--you are
most likely buying foreign oil, and funding the very thing you seem to
think we might impact by boycotting an endurance ride.  Believe me, they
don't ask us to participate in the rides for our entry fees.  They get
their money to buy little kids right out of your pocket and mine.  Talk to
your congressman about getting past the anti-drilling lobbies and the
lobbies that have prevented some truly marvelous technologies from
replacing much of our oil use.

> I really have no idea where you stand.
I stand in favor of actively being involved, so that we CAN make a
difference to the victims.

> Your arguments are getting to
> the  point where I'm starting to wonder where your paychecks come from.
Funny you should ask.  Part of my paycheck comes from the local school
district, where I work with special needs kids.  Some of those special
needs kids have been raped and abused, just like the camel jockeys.  And
while they may not technically be slaves, at the ages at which many of
them are abused, they have no more choices than the camel jockeys do.  We
just had a family of girls move away to live with a grandmother
(hallelujah!) in which all of the girls (youngest was in kindergarten when
they left) had been sexually abused by a series of their mother's
boyfriends.  One boyfriend walled off half the house and made them sleep
on one side while he cooked meth on the other side.  (We got a conviction
on that one.)  I've mopped up the kindergartener's tears while she
described "this daddy" breaking her mother's fingers--God knows what he
did to the child herself, and that was probably too personal and painful
to talk about.  My case load this year is downright pleasant compared to
some years--I only have one child in an abusive home setting, and his main
problem is being kept up all night by the raucous partying so that he
comes to school exhausted.  Mild stuff, compared to some of the others in
past years.  Some of my paycheck also comes from our local alternative
high school--where we REALLY get to reap what is sown by abusive homes, in
many cases.  I know enough about abused kids to come home in tears some
nights--and I'm a pretty tough old broad.  But I can't cry in front of the
kids--I have to BE THERE for them.

> I really  do not understand you at all.  Do you wish to see them
> continue in our sport  at all if it's proven they are slave traders?
Howard, define "they."  The UAE?  The country is not guilty--specific
corrupt people in positions of power are guilty.  Do I wish to punish an
entire country for the atrocities committed by a few in power?  No.  Do I
wish to see convicted individuals host rides and come to rides?  No--but
in order to get the knowledge to convict them and in order to provide
empowerment to the people in the UAE who would also like to stop the
practice, I would hope that many of us have the guts to continue to go
there, and to purport themselves with principle and dignity, and to
illustrate how THIS country ideally treats its women and children.

> You really want contact with  them and to allow them to continue
> dictating the rules of the game to the  FEI endurance
> (because with them "you get a free ride") as we have been doing in the
> past?
If I lived closer to you, Howard, your suggestion that I'm in this for any
sort of a "free ride" might earn you an old-fashioned solution--as they
used to say about people who stepped off the mark here in the Old West,
they "became shot."  On the contrary, Howard, I'm not looking for a free
ride--and although many have accepted funds from the UAE, I don't think
the "free ride" is their incentive for doing what they do.  As for
allowing them to dictate to FEI, I've already talked about what we need to
do to put an end to that.  If we are going to deliver ultimatums, we must
also provide options.  That means putting our money where our mouths are,
and funding WECs in other nations--including our own.  FWIW, Howard, at
one time, I actually had put together the beginnings of a prospectus for
approaching one of our major motor companies to fund a WEC.  I got shunted
aside.  But then I have a bad habit of having ideas before their time--so
perhaps someone else will take that idea forward and make it a reality.  I
hope so.

>   Would you go over there and work directly for them as a vet (no
> license
> required in the UAE)?  Would you take their money knowing now that they
> peddle in camel jockey young boy flesh?
Again, who is "they" Howard?  Would I work in the UAE?  Philosophically, I
have nothing against doing so, although I have no desire to do so, either.
But again, there are people there, and there are people...  Would I want
to work for one that is peddling camel jockeys?  Again, Howard, that is
downright insulting.  Would I work for an innocent party who simply
happens to BE a citizen of the UAE?  If I were so inclined to go there
(which I'm not), you betcha.  Being of a particular nationality is not an
indication of guilt.  Criminals come in all flavors and nationalities--and
so do good and caring people.  Remember that, when you tar and feather any
specific nationality.  Remember my analogy about Nazi Germany?  The
majority of Germans were good and caring people, caught up in a corrupt
regime.  I would hate to think that I would hold someone's German-ness
against them just because Hitler was a dangerous lunatic.  Just like I
don't hate Iraqis because Saddam was a dangerous lunatic.

> I"m sorry, I don't mean to make that personal but you're right, I have
> no  idea where you stand on this issue at all.  Your posts cloud the
> original  topic to the point I just don't know what you are talking
> about anymore.   Maybe, that's your goal.  Cloud the issue to the point
> where we can no  longer see what it is we were originally looking at.
No, Howard, I'm not trying to cloud the issue--I'm actually trying to get
some of you to see it with more clarity.  I'm glad you care--I just hope
that you'll do a bit more deep thinking about what would actually happen
(or not happen) if we follow your advice and boycott, as opposed to what
we might be able to do if we stay involved, keep our eyes open, deport
ourselves with dignity, provide moral support and a good example for those
in the UAE who WOULD try to enforce their laws (obviously SOMEBODY put
them on the books, after all), and keep our principles firmly in place
throughout.

> This is just too important.
I agree, Howard--far too important to stay home and not be involved.

Heidi



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