The Empathetic Concern (EC) scale assesses the tendency to experience feelings of sympathy and compassion for those in unfortunate circumstances.

Example:

I often have tender, concerned feelings for people less fortunate than me

In one of the early episodes of the popular Showtime series, Californication, the womanizing main character, Hank Moody (David Duchovny), addresses this very problem.

http://youtu.be/BFrcGoTfakA?t=22s

…I probably won’t go down in history, but I will go down on your sister. And 3, while I’m down there it might be nice to see a hint of pubis. I’m not talking about a huge 70’s Playboy bush or anything. Just something that reminds me that I’m performing cunnilingus on an adult.

At first glance, this is an honorable and righteous priority. However, this little PR-brag is a little misleading. Strengthening compliance, i.e. making sure everyone follows the standard rules, is not really the problem here.

The real problem is that the standards in Bangladesh and other poor countries are almost non-existent. The standards that are in place vary widely. This problem is compounded by the fact that many companies, like Wal-Mart, insist on making their own inspections based on their own standards instead of working with the country to create unified standards and train inspectors. The results of these audits are rarely made public.

Strengthening compliance implies that there are reasonable, effective standards already in place, and that their are mechanisms for holding the factory owners and retailers legally responsible. Neither of these things are true, mainly because huge U.S. retailers have fought against it the whole way.

After 4 separate racial profiling incidents were reported in the same week back in October, NY’s AG announced that an investigation will be opened.

Enlarge

Enlarge

This is true on many levels, but relates specifically to Judge Preska, who refused to recuse herself from the case, despite the fact that her husband is, or was, a client of Stratfor’s and had his email information hacked.

The standard for judicial recusal – where a judge willing steps down from ruling on a case – the appearance of partiality and has nothing to do with real partiality. In other words, rules are in place not to test the personal relationships of judges but to ensure that those relationships do not erode public trust in the judicial system. See more about these principles here

The Judges response:

Upon review of the record, Defendant has failed to carry his substantial burden of showing that a reasonable observer, with knowledge and understanding of the relevant facts, would “entertain significant doubt that justice would be done absent recusal,” Lauersen, 348 F.3d at 334. Finding otherwise on a record as suspect as here would only encourage supporters of this defendant—or other defendants—to allege unsubstantiated conflicts of interest against any of my brothers and sisters of the Court until no judge remained qualified to hear his case. Therefore, accepting Defendant’s invitation for recusal in this case would actually undercut the very policy Defendant prays this Court to sustain-namely, promoting public confidence in the Judiciary. Accordingly, Defendant’s motion to disqualify is DENIED.
(emphasis added)

In other words, the Judge believes there is no evidence of partiality – which is wholly irrelevant – and also believes that granting this request would only prompt Hammond defenders to request every other judge to recuse themselves, thereby making the public even less confident in the court system. This is an outlandish rationalization, to say the least.

In November of 2012, Hammond was denied bail (court transcript here; ruling starts at page 54) by District Judge Loretta Preska. The possibility of a 37-year sentence, combined with Hammond’s ‘lack of regard for legal authority,’ make him a flight risk, according to Preska.

According to a Department of Justice report:

The impact of pretrial bail decisions has been shown to affect post-conviction sentencing decisions and can even influence the outcome of a case. Research has shown that offenders who are detained during pretrial proceedings are more likely to be convicted, are less likely to have their charges reduced, and are likely to have longer sentences than those who were released before trial (Phillips, 2008).

This is not the first time Hammond has had run-ins with the police regarding his political activism and civil disobedience. The consequences of these actions – a lengthy arrest record – is something Hammond has fully accepted since the beginning, saying “if you want to play the game, you have to pay”.

• Arrested with 200 other protestors at the 2004 RNC convention. The mass arrests were later ruled as unconstitutional by a federal judge.
• Chicago police arrested Hammond and 2 others for reportedly defending themselves from anti-gay aggression after getting into an altercation with anti-gay provocateurs during a 2004 gay pride parade.
• Arrested during a small anti-war protest in the Wicker Park area of Chicago in 2005
• Again in 2005, he was arrested with 25 others in Toledo for violating a court injunction which made it temporarily illegal to protest against a neo-Nazi rally taking place in town. Hammond criticized leadership in Toledo, saying:

There were outrageous media reports – planted by Bill White of the NSM – that we were planning to ‘attack’ the Nazis, and that we were transporting weapons…The idea that we were here for violence is preposterous…We are friends who happen to share a belief that neo-Nazi philosophies of genocide and racism are dangerous and should be opposed

• Arrested in 2006 for hacking the website of Protest Warrior, a conservative “hacktivist” group which aimed to disrupt liberal protesting and targeted liberal groups for hacking.
• After breaking up a restaurant gathering organized by Holocaust denier David Irving, Hammond was arrested with 4 others.
• In 2010 he was arrested with another group tearing down a Chicago 2016 banner at Daley Plaza, in protest to Chicago’s 2016 Olympics bid.

The numerous arrests bring to mind an important question regarding Hammond’s character: what kind of person puts himself at the mercy of the law for the benefit of the public year after year?

See the data on U.S. apparel imports – by free-trade group or by country – here.

According to a 2011 study from the Center for American Progress on global wage trends for apparel workers:

• Among the top four apparel exporters to the United States, prevailing wages in 2011 for garment workers in China, Vietnam, and Indonesia provided 36 percent, 22 percent, and 29 percent of a living wage, respectively. But in Bangladesh, home to the world’s fastest-growing export-apparel industry, prevailing wages gave workers only 14 percent of a living wage.
• In 5 of the top 10 apparel-exporting countries to the United States—Bangladesh, Mexico, Honduras, Cambodia, and El Salvador—wages for garment workers declined in real terms between 2001 and 2011 by an average of 14.6 percent on a per country basis. This means that the gap between prevailing wages and living wages actually grew.
• Garment workers in Mexico, the Dominican Republic, and Cambodia saw the largest erosion in wages. Between 2001 and 2011 wages in these countries fell in real terms by 28.9 percent, 23.74 percent, and 19.2 percent, respectively.

In other words, the poor workers in countries like Taiwan actually had the nerve to demand a living wage. Can you believe that?

Whenever workers refuse to continue being exploited by multi-national, billion $ per year corporations, there are generally two things that happen:

• The corporations fire everyone, pack up, and move to a place where poor people aren’t so vehemently opposed to being exploited. This is what happened to Hong Kong.
• However, if wage demands still amount to the cheapest labor around, corporations usually stay put, and just bankroll State oppression against any progressive labor movements. A lot cheaper in the long run apparently…This is what’s currently happening in Vietnam, while protests in Bangladesh continue to grow more violent.

Recently, police killed atleast one worker and injured hundreds more in Cambodia – where all the former Hong Kong manufacturers moved to – as protests reached a boiling point.