Burlington Coat Factory Petition.... It Warms Me Like a New Sable.

Burlington Coat Factory Stop Selling Racist Merchandise!

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To: Burlington Coat Factory

To: Burlington Coat Factory

This is a petition to hold Burlington Coat Factory accountable for the merchandise it sells to consumers across the United States of America.

In early October of 2004, my wife and I were shopping at the Burlington Coat Factory Store in Downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. We were looking through the clothing department and found three shirts produced by the vendor Red Monkey and sold by Burlington Coat Factory with the following text:

Shirt 1) “Who Flung Poo Chinese Food Delivery”

Shirt 2) “Madam Wong’s House of Tang Good Eats Guaranteed Fresh”

Shirt 3) “Get Lucky By Rubbing Buddha’s Belly”

On the first shirt there was a monkey dressed up in stereotypical “Asiatic” clothing. Both my wife and I were really disturbed by this shirt considering the fact that the shirt was blatantly exploiting Asian racial stereotypes in a demeaning manner. Can you imagine if Burlington Coat Factory and Red Monkey had marketed a shirt with a monkey dressed up like a Hasidic Jew on it and writing that said, “Jewish Kosher Deli” or conversely a monkey dressed in stereotypical cultural clothing made to look like an African-American and a statement like, “Fried Chicken Shack”? The quick answer is that you would not see shirts like that because it would be disgusting and offensive to the people caricatured on the shirt. It is unacceptable for Burlington Coat Factory to be carrying this merchandise that demeans Asians and furthermore, to be profiting from the perpetuation of racism through its marketing of racial stereotypes. The “Madam Wong” shirt is a cheap and sleazy reference to racial and hypersexual stereotypes of Asian women, and the Buddha shirt depicting Buddha with prayer beads is another illustration of the low regard this corporation holds Asians and Asian-Americans through their commodification of religious and cultural iconography.
I contacted Burlington Coat Factory via email and spoke to Mr. R. Smith on October 22, 2004. While Mr. Smith was very professional and apologetic initially, he basically took the position that he was sorry that I was offended, thus putting the onus on me. After I asked him a direct question as to whether or not it was Burlington Coat Factory’s policy to promote racism through the sale of racially charged shirts, Mr. Smith took the position that he couldn’t see how these shirts were either racially charged or offensive. He stated that Burlington Coat Factory would not be stopping the sale of the shirts.

He suggested that if I had additional concerns, I could write to the following Burlington Coat Factory agent, if you are so inclined I would suggest you do the same:

Ms. Sue Collins – Vice President of Customer Relations
1830 Route 130 North
Burlington, NJ 08016


I took the opportunity to write Burlington Coat Factory’s Vice President of Customer Relations on November 15, 2004 via domestic mail & email that was cc’ed to the following organizations.

The Organization of Chinese Americans
The Japanese American Citizens League
Media Action Network For Asian Americans
National Federation of Filipino American Associations
The Southern Poverty Law Center’s Tolerance.org Project

To date I have yet to receive any type of response from Burlington Coat Factory’s representatives.

I have since visited a Burlington Coat Factory in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania and seen the same shirts being sold and Burlington Coat Factory continuing to profit from the sale of racial stereotypes.

Burlington Coat Factory is not acting in the manner you would expect from a corporation that values its consumers. This is unbelievable, considering the fact that the retailer Abercrombie and Fitch and Target Corporation have been in the news for selling similarly anti-Asian t-shirts and the companies eventually recalled the racist merchandise.
This petition asks that Burlington Coat Factory and the leadership of Burlington Coat Factory, ensure that Burlington Coat Factory do the following:

1) Not market racist merchandise or perpetuate racism through the merchandise they sell.
2) Be held accountable for their corporate actions.
3) Train and educate staff members within the buying departments and merchandising departments to not facilitate racism by purchasing racist clothing to be sold in Burlington Coat Factory stores.
By signing this petition you are stating that you support the following:

1) Holding Burlington Coat Factory accountable for its sale of racist merchandise.
2) Removal of racist merchandise off Burlington Coat Factory shelves permanently.
3) Encouraging Burlington Coat Factory to train and educate its buyers and staff so that Burlington Coat Factory does not promote or encourage racism through its merchandise.
4) Ceasing to shop at Burlington Coat Factory until this issue is resolved.

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Hellenbach dutifully signs........

Click To Enlarge

Jim, Andy, James and Oprah

----------------- Original Message -----------------
From: Jimmy Fever
Date: Feb 2, 2006 1:51 AM

I sent an email to the op-ed section of AM NY about that James Frey controversy and they printed it in todays (Wed) paper.
Flippin' Sweet.

----------------- Original Message -----------------
From: Ol' Bill Hellenbach
Date: Feb 2, 2006 1:06 PM

Thats great. I fuckin' hate that "paper". I refuse to read it because it steals jobs from journalists by existing almost wholly on AP and Reuters wire pieces. That's why it's free, and that's why I boycott it. But that's still awesome news!

----------------- Original Message -----------------
From: Jimmy Fever
Date: Feb 2, 2006 2:29 PM

yeah, fuck them anyhow. Commie scumbags.

----------------- Original Message -----------------
From: Ol' Bill Hellenbach
Date: Feb 2, 2006 8:17 PM

I don't give a shit if they are commies or capitalists....I'm just tryin' to make a fuckin' livin' here!
And while I am on the subject...FUCK James Frey too! That fucker just made it nearly impossible to sell a memoir that makes any mention of prior drug use whatsoever. ALL the publishers are deservedly leery of purchasing such manuscripts and will be for a long time.

ps. I was told to just have any materials pertaining to said subject translated into another language and consequentially (hopefully) published in that languages native country.

----------------- Original Message -----------------
From: Jimmy Fever
Date: Feb 3, 2006 4:47 AM

I can appreciate that you are trying to earn a living by writing. I admire anyone that can support themselves through their art. I think that is what everyone is losing sight of. It's ART. A memoir isn’t an Autobiography. It's a collection of writer’s memories of his life, an account of the experiences a person lived through, translated by his minds-eye and with the artist's tongue. As far as publishers being leery of buying a memoir, I seriously doubt that an entire genre will die out. If money can be made off of something, it will see print. I am not going to pretend to trust these corporate scumbags. As far as I know, this whole controversy was a carefully orchestrated ruse. A scheme hatched in some boardroom by greedy media moguls. They could have all sat around an imported marble conference table, rubbing their hands together as they plotted to pull the wool over the world’s eyes. Everyone could have been in on it, including that damn Oprah. The only truth I can count on in this whole ordeal is that everybody attached to it is getting paid. Doubleday is selling millions of books, Oprah is getting tons of free publicity, and James Frey is practically a household name. If you ask me, Oprah is the big phony. She read this drug addict-alcoholic’s book, and was so moved by it that she chose is it as the next cog in her mighty book club empire. She sticks a stupid sticker with her name on another persons art, promotes it to the point where there is such a buzz that reporters start sticking their nose in to the authors life in a clearly malicious attempt to scandalize the guy. Instead of supporting him as the author of a book that she was so touched by, she throws him under the bus to save face. Meanwhile, Ms. Winfrey had the nation’s top fibber, George W. Bush on her show and she never once called him a liar. She damn near sucked his dick. It’s so hypocritical, it’s almost funny. Talk about a fake.
I read both of his books back-to-back in a matter of days, well before the controversy, and nothing is going to change the fact that I enjoyed them immensely. Seriously, I laughed, I cried, I read the sequel. He writes a good story. Period.
What I wrote to that rag of a paper was in response to some idiot saying that the author should be sued. The precedence that would set would be unthinkable. We can’t set our society down a path where an artist can get sued for presenting his take on the world around him. For your convenience, I took the liberty of including my letter:

"When an artist paints a landscape, do we question him about the colors he chose to use? If the sky is not painted with the exact shade of blue, do we call the artist a liar? Is the artist’s work any less beautiful if he chooses to make his sunshine a different shade of yellow?
Frey’s work of art speaks truth directly to me. The brushstrokes he has chosen to use may not be an exact representation of the colors of reality, but it tells me the truth regardless.
And that’s real."

-Jim

----------------- Original Message -----------------

From: Ol' Bill Hellenbach
Date: Feb 3, 2006 8:17 PM

Very well articulated, (not that I would have expected anything less but I didn't want to sound condescending). I agree with you 100% about Oprah. However I can't say the same for your view on the reporters at TSG.com being "obviously malicious". The website that "out-ed" Frey is one that depends solely on such investigative journalism. The only thing worse than Oprah's sucking Bush's dick would be if writers like those at TSG did not dig deep to discover the truth about scumbags like Bush. Unfortunately for Frey, he fell into the dragnet this time.
This whole thing could have been avoided from the get-go if Frey had simply touted his book as a roman à clef.

And on a personal note, I also enjoyed A Million Pieces immensely but I certainly stop short at calling him a great writer or even the book well written. When the first book came out people were calling him the next Eggers or Leroy. I had a problem with this mostly due to the sophomoric and pedestrian tactic Frey employs of repeating the same word or phrase over and over again for dramatic effect. Most learn that this is a clichéd method while attending "Poetry 101". That doesn't mean that the book was not highly entertaining -so was the film "Conair" but the director was never compared to Orson Welles.

BUT.........

He is making quite the living as a writer while my living is done with Mom. And as I have yet been paid for writing a book review, I am certainly no expert.
Your letter to the editor of AM was better written than the majority of passages in Frey’s novel.
And that's real.

Terry & The Pope

Terry....


As I grow older and jaded, I find myself becoming a reluctant soldier in a war against obviousness. We live in a country where people still elect presidents based on their moral and religious beliefs. This pains me for many reasons not the least of which is the blatancy of religion being man made and fabricated from whole cloth. While even Steven Hawking can not disprove “god” per se, it has become obvious to any thinking person that Christianity and the slew of other religions practiced by millions are nothing more than a way for people to have answers to questions that have none.
While tragic figure Terry Schiavo laid on her deathbed a shitstorm of media percolated outside the hospice that would become her living tomb. More upsetting than the fact that any of us even knew about what should have been a private family matter was the fact that everyone with a still beating heart used the tragedy as a springboard for their “cause.”
Perhaps worst of all were the Christians who quickly used their Photoshop skills to turn out such offensive material as this....


Of course a more recent photo of Terry might have elicited a different thought from those who viewed this poster. But that would have required a little more honesty on the part of the people who created it....




I particularly enjoy the woman who has managed to incorporate the colors of old glory into her spare-time-armchair-protesting. What I do find odd, is that nowhere in this whole fiasco did the mention of bulimia come up. The hot-topic and current buzz-disease would have been the one thing positively effected in the wake of this mess. A woman, who at the mercy of an overzealous, vanity obsessed society binged and purged her way into a semi-catatonic state, should be the poster child for today’s pre-disposed youth.
In the end none of it matters. We all go –hopefully- gently into the unknown abyss. Whatever the details may have been in Terry’s case, she should have been granted the honor and courtesy of a peaceful passing. Instead, thanks to right-wing religious fanatics she died within a whirling dervish of grand-standing, child frightening, selfish individuals who at this very moment weep not for a person that they didn’t even know; but for their own weak minded, and yes obvious, fears.

And The Pope....

“Now Terry Schiavo has him to help her through to the other side.” I heard it for the first time on the F train this morning. If I had started the pool that I wanted to I would have won some cash. I would have bought up all of the first boxes -the ones that would have had me the victor having heard this comment sooner than later. It’s a lovely and calming thought and in as much serves its purpose.


While I am not a religious person, I do have a deep spirituality. At the core of my soul is the age old golden rule. It says that we should treat others as we would want to be treated ourselves. As far as I am concerned this is the only unnatural human act that is worth a shot –the only rule worth abiding by. What the golden rule does that all of the religions and all of their followers seem to miss, is to lay the foundation for nothing less than a universal compassion. Most Catholics conveniently contest that this rule as well as the commandment that states “thou shalt not kill” extends only to humans. In severe circumstances such as those of wartime, this courtesy becomes constricted and only applies to other humans who think just like them. This is but one of the things that make people like George Bush a hypocrite and a simpleton, prone to painful obviousness.
However, Pope John Paul the 2nd has devoted an entire lifetime to the pursuit of peace and understanding. For this his passing will be a great loss -as is the loss of anyone who lives with such compassion.

Scared To Be An American

HOT 97's "SMACKFEST" MORE IMPORTANT THAN POVERTY, WAR AND OTHER MINUTIA.

click photo for original nonsense courtesy of the NY Post

Wow. Things used to be so much easier when I was lost in a drug and alcohol induced haze. I mean what a pretty world it was...before I up and got myself clean. My newfound clarity however comes at a steep and frightening price.
First it was the porn industry (or what then passed as an "industry") in the early 70's. There was Richard Nixon plaguing our freedom with religious right rhetoric and a passion for censoring all things fun. Even when his "anti-smut" bill and pre-legislative investigation of the effect of porn on people as it related to criminal behavior flunked in congress, he disregarded the findings of his own appointed committee and passed the bill.
Fast forward thirty years to the present day’s horrific condemnation of free-thinkers like Howard Stern, and you have a government who has succeeded in all but pissing on the Constitutional rights of anyone whose feelings differ from that of the administrations. Even the sound of it -the administration- is so eerie and foreboding as to bring to life visions of your favorite John Grisham novel. This however is not a fictitious novel written in the tradition of Sam Spade. This is real life and the world, or at least country, in which we live.
Now, New York Attorney General Elliot Spitzer has taken his cue from, who else, but the NY post. Egged on by an "investigative" piece written in last weeks paper, Spitzer has launched a formal investigation into "Smackfest", New York radio station Hot 97's contest in which two people trade face-slaps until one cries uncle. Of course all of the participants are willing and have signed consent forms. But why should a miniscule detail such as the signing of a LEGAL document drawn up by bigger and better men that Mr. Spitzer stop him from busting down the proverbial door of two consentual, tax paying citizens.
Hot 97, still reeling from a damaging series of wild west style shootouts outside their building, have promptly pulled the feature from the airwaves. In the midst of a public relations nightmare, the station surely wants to avoid any and all additional attention, particularly of the negative strain.
And as it would seem, this is all that the Gestapo-like republicans in the charge of this great city need to pounce. While the radio stations Achilles heel has been exposed by the "Fitties" and the appropriately named "Capones and Noriegas", the Spitzers, Bloombergs and Bushs' will indeed take full advantage and move in for the kill.
Short of a complete and total overhaul of the very thought process that makes people, on either side of the controversy, do the things that they do we can only sit and hope. Powerless as we are to change things, it gets frustrating enough to make me want a drink. Honestly though, is that not exactly how they would want it?
I think that I will pass on the booze this time. It seems that we might be in for the fight of, and for, our lives and I want to be prepared. Man, things were so much easier when I was living in that lovely pink haze.

-B.T. Hellenbach

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My friend Merideth added me to her blog-link-friends thingie, so I felt that I had to add something to my neglected blog.

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The Great Brother Debate '04

My brother is in the United States Army and lives in Texas. I am a N.Y. Animal. Here is an excerpt from our post-election conversations.

The Burning Blog!



From TX. to NYC:

Nov 3, 2004 06:01 AM

How bout that election ?!?!?!?! 4 MORE YEARS !!!

From TX. to NYC:

Nov 3, 2004 05:34 PM

If you would refrain from regurgitating liberal, utopian propaganda for a second, I would like to point out one of the many flaws in your thinking. I will address one for now and we can get to the rest later. I would like you to do a little research(not stem-cell). After YOUR candidate voted to engage in the very war he says is so wrong, it was he, Sen. Kerry, who voted against the money needed to get the much needed body armor...not President Bush. Now look into it (I already have) and stop getting your news from Michael Moore. ("Cause the fact is, he is a liar and he doesn't know shit.) I can't understand how you can oppose a man who is morally grounded, stands by his convictions, and is one of the best pure leaders we have ever had in that grand White House. 4 MORE YEARS !!!!!! 4 MORE YEARS !!!!!! 4 MORE YEARS !!!!!! 4 MORE YEARS !!!!!! 4 MORE YEARS !!!!!! 4 MORE YEARS !!!!!! 4 MORE YEARS !!!!!!


From NYC to TX.


Originally, I had no intention of replying to your last posting because the truth of the matter is that I am pretty indifferent to the whole shebang, but then I thought..well….nah!
So here we go soldier boy. I find it almost laughable that you would cite an assumed lack of research on my part. You see, while you have spent the last 14 years of your life getting thin and buffed by running around, taking orders from people with inflated senses of self importance on power trips, I have been sitting and getting fat….reading. While it is your job to be the “muscle” that defends this great nation, it is my job (as well as my passion) to read and research. First order of business would have to be your assertion that I have garnered my knowledge (which is ample) from watching a mediocre documentary. This is simply not true. In fact the greatest knowledge that I possess is that which I have garnered from being a thinking man – as in original thought. But as long as you bring it up, let me ask you this; do you know anything at all about libel or slander laws? I do. And one might wonder why - if Mr. Moore’s film was so filled with non-truths - the leader of the free world, a man with unlimited resources, would not pursue any libel and/or slander suits against said film maker? Hmmmmm. But of much more urgency is the fact that you use the word “Utopian” as if it is a bad thing. Are you an admitted warmonger? That would be bad on many levels not the least of which would be an intrinsic, coinciding and parallel admission of pure ignorance. Furthermore you seem to assume that Senator Kerry is “my candidate”. Did I tell you who I voted for? If so, I don’t recall but I assure you that a write in ballot on behalf of Mickey Mouse could prove no worse than the man who eventually won the election. Moving on; Are you quite certain that Senator Kerry did not vote against more military funding in Iraq long before it was made public by families of the troops that they were lacking the bare essentials needed to do the ill founded job they were mislead into performing? Are you insinuating that had he known the dire situation Mr. Bush put our brave troops in beforehand, he would have cast his gauntlet similarly? I think not. As far as the Mr. Kerry’s feelings on war, I can only cite basic common sense on the Senators behalf. After all, he is indeed someone who has been to war and knows first hand the atrocities which are inevitable when people point guns at each other and pull the triggers. Again, unfortunately, I do too. As far as morals, well….they are overrated. Morals are a relative thing. One might say that Amsterdam is the new Sodom or Gomorrah. One might also do some “research” and find that they have one of the lowest crime rates in all of Europe and a large part of the world. Filthy dirty hookers, drugs and all. Now that is what I call something worth fighting for! Don’t get it twisted. No man loves this country or the Constitution more than I…NO ONE. Unfortunately, the things that make America great i.e.: freedom, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are in grave danger when a religious zealot, without the common sense to realize that the Bible can not possibly be taken literally, is given charge.
Now it’s my turn to ask questions:
1- Do you still believe in Santa and the Easter Bunny too?
2-Why exactly are we in Iraq?
3- Since my mother and I are still having nightmares with the rest of NYC, can you tell me where Osama is and why Mr. Bush has been quoted as saying “I don’t really think about it that much?”
4- How in the hell can someone in your income range possibly side with George W. Bush? What has he done for you lately? (Two part question)
5- How on earth can you say that Bush is one of the best men we have ever had in the Whitehouse when he uses the Constitution for toilet paper?
6- Do you not see how actually stupid the man is? I don’t mean stupid as in “I don’t like him, he’s stupid!” I mean stupid as in “uneducated-failure-who-was-responsible-for-the-bankruptcy-of-3 - billion dollar companies-before-he-was (astonishingly to any thinking man) elected-to-run-the-greatest-country-in-the-world-stupid?”
7- Do you realize that you are attempting to go up against a ten time Gold medalist in Mental Gymnastics?
8- And finally, are you aware that this is just a fun little debate and that it would break my heart to think that it would affect our brotherhood in any negative way?

Ps. For your information, I reside in a very grey area. A liberal would never be as adamant regarding the second amendment as I am. My convictions however about the first part are strengthened mainly by my resolve pertaining to the second part. On the flip side I am too poor (and smart) to be a Republican.

Recent Editorial Submissions

On a warm summers night, on a train bound for nowhere, I met up with a gambler, we were both too tired to speak. So we took turns a-strain' out the window at the darkness....then we draaaaank some whiskey and he began to speak, He said.................................

To The Daily News and readers,

I am a straight man with minimal interest in New Jersey politics. These attributes (or lack thereof) however did nothing to ease the feelings of disgust I felt upon reading Mrs. Cavaliere's recent "Voicers" submission! I think that it is you Mrs. Cavaliere, who needs to "wake up" and join the rest of us here in the year 2004. You suggest that "stupid woman" Mrs. McGreevy - wife of New Jersey Governor Jim - should see a doctor for an AIDS test? For your information my dear, sweet, painfully uninformed woman, gay men are not the number one demographic living with the AIDS virus. Sadly, this burden falls upon the shoulders of heterosexual females much like yourself. Your ignorant comment was akin to the WASP-like belief that all African American men are drug dealers or have police records. Mrs. McGreevy not realizing that her husband was gay is just one more instance of something that happens more often than you think. Moreover and far more upsetting, is that a man should have to live a lie in order to save face and lead a productive life of passionate civil service without garnering the hateful, hurtful and yes "stupid" wrath of people like yourself.
">.


Then he bummed a cigarette and asked me for a light, and the night grew deathly quiet, and his face lost all expression he said for a taste of your whiskey I'll give you some advice. So I handed him my bottle, and he drank down my last swallow.....he said son I have made a life out of reading peoples faces, and if you don't mind me sayin'.............................................................

To The Daily News and Their esteemed Readership,

Arrogant, ignorant, okie warmonger George W. Bush needs to hire a new publicist. I suggest that the first order of business be to keep the first daughters off of page six and every news show on television where they are depicted smiling on their way into every ultra-hip party in New York City. What gall! How nice to know that while the sons and daughters of every hard working, voting citizen are knocking on death’s door in Iraq the Bush girls are out hobnobbing with Manhattan's upper crust. And I would guess that they are not waiting on too many lines outside these shi-shi locales. So while the girls live out their unearned and certainly undeserved fantasies and Mayor Bloomberg personally steps in to defend Mike Wallace in his police matters, George Bush and the rest of the republicans’ filibuster across town denying the existence of “two separate Americas” as put forth by the democrats. If the conflicting images of two privileged rich girls tripping the light fantastic with a personal security detail in tow and that of the death and loss plaguing the brave soldiers in Iraq are not enough to vilify the existence of two separate caste’s living under one flag, then possibly we are all as ignorant as our commander in chief.