In this trendy and hap world, everything has been labeled, tagged, designed and stylized to suit the requirements and preferences of the users. CDs are also not left behind. For the convenience of the users, CD cover design has been given importance as the label printed on them and the design elements tells about the data present in them. With the growth of the CD industry, CD copying units are also on the rise as far as their market is concerned.

Once the proper cover design is prepared, next important step in CD publishing is the proper CD label printing. If label has not been printed on the blank space provided on the cover design then the CD will look shabby and improper. To make sure that the printing is done aptly, first a Sample label is published and is shown to the client for his all important feedback. Once the client approves the design and label, then only it is used further for all the CDs to be published for the client.

CD cover design acts just like the cover page of a magazine. It is the first thing which a buyer of the CD observes. Therefore, it is very important to know what all should be included and what all be excluded while designing the cover of a CD. The front cover of a CD has the picture of the artist if it’s an audio or a video CD. If it’s a Cartoon film CD then it will have the Cartoon character’s image printed on the cover. It has the title, genre, and the CD company logo printed on it.

The back cover of a CD consists of lists of the contents present in the CD. If it’s an Audio CD then it will have the track name along with the artists involved in the singing and composition of the track. The extreme right side of the back cover has the track duration. On a video CD, the imprints of the film’s or television serial’s poster is printed on the front cover and the back cover has the film’s or the serial’s summary printed on it. CD label printing team has to work in coordination with the cover designing team as the two are inter- related.

CD copying is one of the major and final steps of CD publishing. After the finalization of the design and label of the CD, one has to make appropriate number of copies so that the CD must have proper circulation of the discs in the market.

Back in March I published an article here at Article Base titled “How to Use Magick Spells to Positively Affect the Presidential Election – and Why You Should”.

The new Republican Vice Presidential nominee, Sarah Palin, is a perfect example of what NOT to do with magic!

Just so you know I’m not making this up (truth really is way stranger than fiction), the source for this information is an alternet.org article titled “A Look Inside Sarah Palin’s Pentecostal Church” by Bruce Wilson.

To wit:



“Sarah Palin’s churches are actively involved in a resurgent movement that was declared heretical by the Assemblies of God in 1949. This is the same ‘Spiritual Warfare’ movement that was featured in the award winning movie, “Jesus Camp,” which showed young children being trained to do battle for the Lord. At least three of four of Palin’s churches are involved with major organizations and leaders of this movement, which is referred to as The Third Wave of the Holy Spirit or the New Apostolic Reformation. The movement is training a young “Joel’s Army” to take dominion over the United States and the world….? The beliefs and manifestations of the movement include the use of ’strategic level spiritual warfare’ to expel territorial demons from American and world cities….? “The World Prayer Center … is often referred to by those familiar with the Third Wave as the ‘Pentagon for Spiritual Warfare.’…? Wagner [founder of the World Prayer Center]?and his group also claim that the Queen of Heaven [whom the article earlier states they believe “to be one of the most powerful demons over the earth”] is?… the god of Mary veneration in the Roman Catholic Church.? Following [a] … prayer excursion …, one of the lead prayer intercessors … reported that there had been dramatic results including, ‘…an earthquake had destroyed the basilica of Assisi, where the Pope had called a meeting of all world religions; … and Mother Theresa died in India, one of the most famous advocates of Mary as Co-Redeemer.’”



?

?

Anyone is free in the United States of America to practice any religion.? Using the tools and techniques of that religion to attempt to cause death and destruction is, however, the blackest kind of magic.? Praying for someone to die, as these people apparently did with Mother Theresa and Princess Diana, or praying for earthquakes, floods, and other natural disasters, is black magic.? For those of you who aren’t familiar with the film “Jesus Camp,” it portrays a “Christian” (Dominionist) summer camp where children of all ages were being taught that the United States government is evil, and they were given hammers to smash upside-down white porcelain teacups to destroy that evil.? Any juxtaposition with the campers’ trip to Washington D.C. at the end of the movie, standing in front of the great big upside-down white teacup that is the Capital dome, was, I’m sure, intentional.? Taking a symbolic action on something that is used to represent something similar (such as smashing a teacup meant to represent the Capital dome) is a form of sympathetic magic.? In this instance, because the intention was destruction, it is again the blackest form of magic.

Any ethical and moral person should be outraged at such activities.? Any true-believing Christian should be doubly outraged that these black magicians are running around calling themselves Christians.? Any red-blooded American should be horrified that a woman deeply connected to such a hate-mongering, anti-constitutional group is being put forward to be the next Vice President, and by implication possibly the next President, of the United States.

This is NOT the sort of woman we can afford to have in the Vice President’s office.? When, not if, McCain dies of old age in office (in the unfortunate circumstance that he is elected), this woman would have her finger on the nuclear trigger.? And if she won’t stop short of praying for an earthquake to destroy the Pope at the basilica of Assisi, what’s to stop her from aiming a nuclear missile right at the Vatican?

I’m used to these right wing fanatics taking aim at paganism.? But when they start threatening my 76-year-old Catholic mother, it becomes personal.

We have to get the word out about how dangerous a McCain/Palin administration would be to our civil liberties, for this country, and for the world.? I have a bullet point list of all the reasons such an administration would lead us straight to Armageddon and the Apocalypse.?? Consider taking a look at my own article referenced earlier, to find out the correct, positive way to use magick to influence a political election.? And please do read the full Alternet article, also referenced above, to find out just how bad this really is.

A Google search for “fair trade jewelry” will bring up numerous companies, many of which sell ethnic jewelry produced in small villages in the developing world. The ‘fair trade’ concept draws the socially responsible shopper, yet the third party labeling organization, Fair Labeling Organization (FLO)- of which Transfair USA is a member – does not currently list jewelry as a category certifiable as fair trade. Apart from that, some large players in the mainstream jewelry industry are beginning to tout concepts such as “fair trade diamonds and gold.” So how does one make sense of these jewelry claims, especially as they relate to the $150 Billion plus mainstream jewelry industry?

Investigating the Self-Proclaimed Fair Trade Jewelers

‘Global Exchange’ comes up number one on Google in the organic, unpaid listings for the “fair trade jewelry” search. The Transfair logo at the bottom of their website would lead a shopper to believe that their jewelry, like the coffee they sell, is third party certified.

In the context of their claim, I emailed them, asking about the source of their precious metal and the environmental safeguards for their manufacturer’s; proper ventilation and disposal or toxic chemicals used in the manufacturing of the jewelry they sell. Finally, sterling silver is supposed to be .925% silver. Imports out of small villages in developing countries are notorious for labeling as sterling silver jewelry which has less silver content than real sterling silver.

Global Exchange wrote back explaining that that what qualifies as fair trade jewelry is that their jewelry is made in a village by small scale artisans and fair working conditions, which they monitor. They could not answer questions about the environmental practices of these small manufacturers and did not monitor sterling content.

This application of the term “fair trade” to jewelry by Global Exchange is backed by a fair trade concept that exists outside of FLO. Global Exchange also referred me to the Fair Trade Federation (FTF), of which they are a member. FTF’s website FAQ pages lists jewelry as a “fair trade” product. I interviewed Carmen Iezzi, the executive director of FTF, which helped me understand that FTF has nothing to do with products: only businesses that sell them – a subtle distinction probably lost on the average person.

Global Exchange, at least, has some history behind their ethical stance; there are many small and large companies and stores using the “fair” and “eco” label around jewelry with more questionable accountability.

Though “fair trade” jewelry is helping some villagers in the developing world, it is a negligible niche market in the mainstream jewelry industry as a whole, which does over hundred and fifty billion dollars annually.

The Difficulty of Fair Trade in the Main Stream Jewelry Industry

Taking the concept of “fair trade” jewelry out of the village and into the mainstream global jewelry market (think gold, diamonds, bling bling) is like banging that old square peg into a round hole. At present, the industry is totally commodity based and price driven, somewhat like lumber or oil. Fair trade is just not part of the paradigm.

Consider the general conditions required for a fair trade item which is fairly straight forward: coffee. The beans are organically grown often in farms that work collectively, fostering entrepreneurship which translates into broader community prosperity. Third party certification assures a level of integrity that the ethical consumer buying at Whole Foods feels good about.

To translate the same concept into a jewelry product, one would have to factor in labor and environmental practices in the sourcing of precious metal and gemstones. Mining and development of the raw material – metal refining and gemstone cutting – are additional steps. Manufacturing a finished product presents another process with its own labor and environmental issues. Plus, there is a wide range of jewelry products, from toy rings to the high end. Attempting to come to an agreed upon criteria of what is ethical with such an elaborate, disparate supply chain is daunting.

The Ethical Sourcing Movement in the Mainstream Jewelry Industry

Meanwhile, a small segment of passionate, dedicated people in the mainstream jewelry industry are attempting to define “ethical sourcing”, with the ultimate aim of some kind of agreed upon criteria leading to true, third party Fair Trade Jewelry certification. This is going to be a long process.

To that end, the first Ethical Jewelry Summit was held in late October of 2007 in Washington DC. Fair trade oriented suppliers, NGOs, Manufacturuers, Miners from all over the world as well third party certification groups like TransfairUSA came together to start this process.

The jewelry industry derives most of its revenues from diamonds, precious and gemstones and precious metal. The ethical sourcing movement has attracted the interest of governments, large corporations and the World Bank, where the Washington meeting took place.

Most raw materials in the jewelry industry are sourced from small scale mining and efforts are under way to bring ethical practices to this sector. FLO’s early efforts focus on ARM (Association For Responsible Mining). Some companies, such as the Rapaport Group and Columbia Gem House, have taken strong initiatives on their own, extrapolating the fair trade concept to apply to gemstone sourcing. However, precious metals and gems in themselves do not make up an entire piece of jewelry.

Though a finished piece of jewelry could be analogous to a fair trade chocolate bar which may have parts that are independently certified, we cannot have ethically sourced jewelry without addressing manufacturing which has its own labor and environmental concerns. Fair trade concerns items that are produced in developing countries. Unlike coffee, mainstream jewelry cannot be easily manufactured in a developing world village because it requires a huge initial investment in equipment and raw materials.

Apart from companies that source their manufactured products from ethical factories, the most notable experiment in this regard is taking place in South Africa in a project called, Vukani-Ubuntu. The project essentially trains people from local townships into the mainstream jewelry trade, providing training, mentoring and equipment. It is heavily supported by government and NGOs. But according to Lores Mares, CEO of the South African Jewelry Council, one of the most difficult challenges is bringing the product to a market.

Jewelry is strictly a commodity that is heavily cost driven. This ethical sourcing concept does not bring added value because the market is undeveloped. My anecdotal research shows that the progressive, green shopper who buys from Patagonia does not feel at ease with a typical jewelry sales person. Winning the progressive ‘eco’ demographic back will not be easy. Yet those in the mainstream jewelry world who are involved, are sincere and heavily driven by humanitarian concerns – with the possible exception of the larger corporations who may be joining to polish their blood diamond, dirty gold image.

Though millions of websites reference “fair trade

jewelry,” the designation is, at this point, too ambiguous for all but a few main stream jewelry manufacturers to use. The consumer interested in ethically sourced jewelry needs to look for detailed information as to sourcing, labor and environmental practices. At present, transparency is often more valuable to the consumer than any ‘fair trade’ designation.