"Dont Do Stupid Stuff" coffee mug sold by The Columbian - Chinese made

I'm sure many of you have heard of, and or bought, the coffee mug
designed by Lou Brancaccio over at The Columbian that sends a strong
message to any elected officials and or movers/shakers here in Clark
County that, well, do "stupid stuff". The mug features the slogan
"Dont Do Stupid Stuff" in bright red. It costs $10, and can be bought
at The Columbian offices on W 8th St, here in Vancouver - or (I
believe) online.

The mug is made in China. While I have no giant beef about "buying
Chinese" (in fact, the Golden Dragon at Stapleton and E 4th Plain is
delicious, and cheap), I do believe strongly that The Columbian, and
Lou, made a mistake in ordering the mugs from Chinese manufacturers.
I'm not sure if The Columbian is aware the mugs are made in China -
I'm hoping they went through a LOCAL broker of printed mugs that gets
Chinese supplies?

At any rate, The Columbian needs, IMHO, to get off the MSG with
regards to these iconic mugs they're selling like hotcakes and turn to
at least American mug makers, if not someone local that makes mugs. I
can't believe there isn't a single potter in Clark County who would be
THRILLED to receive the work.

I don't need to get into why its morally repugnant to buy things made
in China, not to mention the economic and political repercussions the
American love of buying things made by Chinese has - including Chinese
control of 20% of US Treasury debt due to our huge trade imbalance in
their favor. We have said imbalance mainly because a) the Chinese
basically have most of our former consumer goods manufacturing work,
and b) the Chinese on average make around $1 an hour to create these
mugs, living in overcrowded conditions under authoritarian
regulations. I am assuming, of course, that The Columbian, and Lou,
took these considerations into account when looking into getting mugs
printed.

The mug has been so popular it sold out in a few days, and The
Columbian had to reorder. Nearly every major elected official, and
those seeking to curry favor with the newspaper, have been seen with
one - most recently (which is where I found this info out) an elected
official, who shall remain anonymous, posted a pic of theirs on
Facebook. While cost of mug (now $10) would certainly be higher if
manufactured in USA or locally, wouldn't doing so be worth it for The
Columbian to provide economic help and move away from questionable
support of underpaid Chinese labor and Chinese control of dollar debt?
Why on earth wouldn't they want to do such a thing?

Again, as Lou says, "don't do STUPID stuff". Hey, Columbian staffers -
DONT DO STUPID STUFF, like getting your mugs made in China.

I'm cc'ing Lou Brancaccio on this blog post - Lou, you should be aware
this email constitutes a public post on my blog,
ovancouvria.blogspot.com. O Vancouvria! - read, follow, share,
discuss.

--
*Shea Michael Anderson*
1923 Harney St, Vancouver WA 98660

*360 991 5206, 360 852 7414 (msgs)*
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