Living Today: Issues of modern living

BUY NOTHING DAY

For the ninth year, a Canadian organization known as the Adbusters Media Foundation is advocating a "Buy Nothing Day," for Friday, the day after Thanksgiving.

But the campaign against conspicuous consumption is meeting more opposition in the aftermath of Sept. 11.

"Initially, about a month ago, when we first started talking about it, we suddenly got a lot of people getting angry at us," said Adbusters director Kalle Lasn. "And we thought, 'Uh oh, things are really different this year.'"

Adbusters says too much consumption will deplete resources and eventually destroy the planet as we know it.

An advertisement for the protest on what is traditionally the biggest shopping day of the year ran this week on CNN and in other smaller broadcast and print outlets. It was rejected by ABC, CBS and NBC, as it has been in other years.

The U.S. government is promoting more shopping because of an economy that was slumping before the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and then became worse. Consumerism is seen as the engine that will get the economy going again.

Not so, Adbusters of Vancouver said Wednesday.

A statement on the organization's Web site said: "The official 'shop while the bombs drop' rhetoric is coming out of Washington and London and Ottawa without any context or caveats at all. No mention that it's a short term emergency measure that comes at a long-term expense of the planet."

The group has received the usual enthusiastic support on its Web site, but the negative response has also been spirited. One respondent said the "buy nothing" campaign showed "an utter lack of patriotism."

THE INTERNET

The Web will have at least 1 billion users worldwide by the end of 2004, according to a report by the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development.

The organization's E-Commerce and Development Report for 2001 said Asia will see the most notable growth in its Web audience, but nations on all continents will see benefits from the rise of e-commerce.

In a statement, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan cautions, however, that developing nations "that lag behind in technological innovations risk being bypassed by the competitive edge of those using the new technologies." On Tuesday, the United Nations set up a task force that's intended to help poorer nations fight the "technology gap."

(The full report is available at unctad.org.)

(Thanks to UPI's Jim Warminsky in Washington)

LADIES OF THE EVENING HAVE THEIR DAY IN COURT

The world's oldest profession has won limited approval from the European Union's highest court.

The Court of Justice in Luxembourg has ruled that a group of Eastern European women has the right to work as prostitutes in the Netherlands.

The case involved six Polish and Czech women who work as window prostitutes in Amsterdam. They were denied residence permits that would've allowed them to work on a self-employed basis, on the grounds that prostitution is not a regular job -- or a profession.

Poland and the Czech Republic are among a dozen mostly Eastern European countries seeking to join the EU. The court said that under agreements between the EU and such candidate countries, prostitutes have the right to work. The court noted that the Poland-EU agreement speaks of promoting harmonious economic relations.

The ruling observed that prostitution is tolerated and even regulated by most EU member states -- notably in the Netherlands, where brothels were legalized last year.

The court said prostitutes could work in EU countries where selling sex is tolerated -- if they have sufficient financial resources for carrying out their activity, a reasonable chance of success, and are genuinely self-employed. According to the ruling, prostitution in a self-employed capacity can be regarded as "a service provided for remuneration."

MARY KAY DIES

Legendary entrepreneur and founder of one of the world's leading cosmetic companies, Mary Kay Ash, died Thursday afternoon at her home in Dallas. She had been in fragile health after suffering a stroke in 1996.

"The world has lost one of its greatest champions of women and one of the most loving and inspirational business leaders," said Richard Rogers, Ash's son and the company's chairman and CEO.

In 1963, Ash launched her dream company in Dallas, investing her life savings of $5,000. Using the Golden Rule as her guiding principle and an innovative marketing concept emphasizing incentives, encouragement and flexibility, she turned her vision into one of the greatest success stories in the history of American business.

According to recent industry data, Mary Kay Inc. has been the No.1 brand of facial skin care and color cosmetics in the United States eight out of the past nine years.

A memorial service is planned for next Wednesday at Park Cities Baptist Church.

(Web site: marykaytribute.com)