U.S. Team Warned About Soccer Balls

AP via Newsday ^ | June 6, 2002, 4:59 PM EDT | LEIGH STROPE

[Jean S]

Sen. Tom Harkin is urging the U.S. soccer team competing in the World Cup to make sure it is playing with balls not made with child labor.

"I am personally asking the U.S. World Cup team ... to insist that the next game they play, they play with soccer balls that are certified 'not made with child labor,'" Harkin, D-Iowa, said Thursday at a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing.

[Always Right]

I thought this was gonna be a plot about putting bombs in soccer balls or something....

[B Knotts]

This just reminds me of another story:

"I still remember the lullabies I heard as a child." Then, without missing a beat, the vice president sang in a bravely off-key voice, "Look for the union label."

That will always be a classic!

[bert]

........soccer balls .....

There is a Mom on a Rush commercial who had a son injured in college soccer... Isn't that what he got....Soccer Balls ?

[browardchad]

Thanks for the laugh!

[WhyisaTexasgirlinPA]

How long will it be before Harkin blames the big Corporations for starving these Pakistani children by pulling their business away........it's all about Corporate greed according to liberals - they don't really care how they package the message, as long as Corporate America gets the blame......

[SteamshipTime]

That's right. I want my footballs made by union jobbos making $15 an hour plus benefits rather than children trying to escape backbreaking labor in dysentery-infested rice paddies.

[Principled]

They're paying way too much for those balls. They should hire Mexican truckers.

[1rudeboy]

I think Earnie Stewart (US) got Soccer Balls during the Portugal game. Bruce Arena had him sit for the second half.

[RayBob]

You know, that's one talented 3 year old! Sewing soccer balls at three! My daughter is six and she still uses sippy cups!

[onedoug]

Sorry, but I just can't let Harkin go by without mention of his Stolen Valor in claiming to be a fighter pilot during the Vietnam War when all he flew was cargo, and - if I correctly recall - had never even set foot in-country. Such a...man, really has very little to say, that should matter, about anything.

[mountaineer]

I have yet to meet the 3-year-old who had the manual dexterity and patience to sew anything, let alone leather soccer balls. (Of course, next we'll be hearing from the "use only artificial leather/save the cows" crowd, fresh from their victory over NCAA basketball).

[Mean Daddy]

Harkin's an ass. He had his lips locked on Klintoon's willy. Support Republican Greg Ganske and get this jerk out of Washington.

[gitmo]

This just reminds me of another story:

"I still remember the lullabies I heard as a child." Then, without missing a beat, the vice president sang in a bravely off-key voice, "Look for the union label."

That will always be a classic!

Didn't it turn out that he was an adult before the song had been written?

[DrDavid]

Global March Against Child Labor, an India-based international coalition, has accused FIFA, soccer's governing body, of ignoring children who are exploited by the manufacturers of soccer balls in such countries as India, Pakistan and China.

Now, lets see. Is it evil capitalist countries or the nice communist/socialist countries that exploit child labor?

[B Knotts]

Yes, he was a "child" of 27 when that jingle came out.

[gitmo]

Well, most kiddies go through a lying phase. With proper discipline, they soon grow out of it.

[Pappy Smear]

Look out for soccer balls? That sounds painful. Not nearly as bad as my tennis elbow.

[Dog Gone]

"I am personally asking the U.S. World Cup team ... to insist that the next game they play, they play with soccer balls that are certified 'not made with child labor,'" Harkin, D-Iowa, said Thursday at a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing.

Who exactly would certify that? Do we need a new government agency that has worldwide investigative powers and who will conduct surprise searches in foreign countries? Sort of like the Iraqi inspectors that we don't have anymore?

Great idea, Tom.

[ChocChipCookie]

"I am personally asking the U.S. World Cup team ... to insist that the next game they play, they play with soccer balls that are certified 'not made with child labor,'" Harkin, D-Iowa, said Thursday at a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing.
..."and while you're at it, make sure the ball is made only of leather from cows who have died of natural causes."