Fishy Huh

Asked why the Balikatan humanitarian mission was held in Bicol, Kenney said, “This is a sovereign nation and you have to ask the Armed Forces of the Philippines because they are the ones which decide (the venue of) this exercise.”

The Child's Silent Cry for Peace

I was enjoying my day off from work though I was at the office. While I was killing time, I went to watch television and I was channel surfing when I saw Discovery Channel's two-part special - Indochine: A People's War in Colour. I really was dumbstruck by the presentation. I believe the first part was during the French colonialism and war against Japanese while the second part, the one I was able to watch, was under the Americans. It (2nd part) retold the Vietnamese peoples' struggle, anguish, patriotism and hate against the Americans, sharpened by past experiences with the French and Japanese. The Vietnamese people were primarily led by the VietCom thru influence from the North. While the pictures and the footage were rolling, on the background, you will hear the explanations and accounts of first-hand witnesses along with the narrator. Very disturbing pictures were shown, of slain VietCom (though it was emphasized in the documentary that the Americans along with Australians, New Zealanders, and South Koreans, have branded all South Vietnamese as VietComs even before arriving), people forced to leave their houses, villagers living underground, children laughing, learning and anguishing, and a lot more, mostly disturbing and outrageous.

There was even this part wherein a first-hand medical person was narrating how they moved underground just to be able to operate. They'd never leave their patients and let them die alone.

One witness recalls how the South Koreans and some Vietnamese (those who have waged war against their own people) raped their women and did "more outrageous things." Depicted as well were how captured VietComs were tortured and forced to confessions (eventually killed we could guess).

Furthermore shown were slow motion videos of jets as they dropped bombs on all houses that lay on it's path. These air raids were authorized by then U.S. President Lyndon Johnson. A witness recalled how one of their shelters with five women in it was bombed. Only one woman was recognizable. There was that one woman who was hugging her dead child very hard that that they were unable to separate them.

It was really morale boosting how the Vietnamese retaliated against the U.S. and foreign forces, of women fighting, especially those women on the North whose husbands were fighting in the South. The Vietnamese had their share of violence of course, when they have these American pilot captives, whom they as well punished, before their authorities, though the citizens wanted to kill them right there and then, fueled by anger, by anguish of their loved ones lost. How they as well tortured those pilots through solitary confinement, physical torture and hunger. I however, don't know who did the worse evil when it came to torturing their captives.

One man witness even recalled how she got his wife's letter only after 2 years, and all he can do by then is kiss it because the writings were unreadable. It was so because the letters have to be hand carried by soldiers from the South through Cambodia and Laos before they reach their destinations in the North. That means going through rivers and everything.

But even after the Americans and all its allies left beaten, the war continued in the South, this time preventing the Communist North from taking over totally, which eventually the North was able to do later on.

What really touched me most was the crying child at the end of the documentary, with bombs exploding in the not so far background behind him literally. It was the most silent yet loudest and hardest message, or more of an appeal to all people. Stop this selfish fights. END WARS!

PEACE!!!

Racism in Hong Kong?!

Filipinos protest Hong Kong writer's maid column

By MIN LEE,Associated Press Writer AP - Monday, April 6

HONG KONG - Hundreds of Filipinos marched through central Hong Kong on Sunday to protest a newspaper column denounced by the Philippine community as representative of racism they say is endemic in the Chinese territory.

Hong Kong columnist Chip Tsao made a public apology earlier this week, saying he had not intended to insult Filipinos with what he characterized as a satirical article poking fun at Hong Kongers' poor treatment of their maids.

But hundreds of Filipinos still protested Sunday in the Central financial district. Marching peacefully, many wearing red T-shirts, they carried signs that said "No Chip shots at Filipinos" and "We are workers, not slaves."

About 130,000 Filipinos work as maids in wealthy Hong Kong to help support their families back home. They make a minimum monthly salary of 3,580 Hong Kong dollars ($462).

In the article published last Friday in the weekly HK Magazine, Tsao wrote he was so angered by the Philippines' claim on the disputed Spratly Islands, which China also claims, that he summoned his Filipino maid to give her a lecture.

Calling the Philippines "a nation of servants" that shouldn't challenge China, he wrote that he would be forced to fire her in the event of a war between the two countries.

Protest organizer Eman Villanueva said Tsao's column was an example of larger racism toward ethnic minorities in Hong Kong.

"This is also beyond Chip Tsao because Chip Tsao's article is just a symptom. It's not the main problem. The problem is racism. The problem is the unfair treatment of ethnic minorities in Hong Kong," Villanueva told Hong Kong's Cable TV in an interview.

Tsao said Sunday he had no further comment.

Filipino activists criticized the article and the Philippine government put Tsao on an immigration blacklist.

"He targeted and insulted the Philippine people, the Philippine nation and in particular Filipino domestic helpers in Hong Kong," Villanueva told The Associated Press in a phone interview.

Philippine Foreign Affairs spokesman Ed Malaya said Sunday the Philippine Consulate in Hong Kong has recommended that the ban on Tsao visiting the country be lifted after he apologized and "indicated interest to visit the country some day."

___

Associated Press writer Jim Gomez in Manila contributed to this report.

RAMBO

It was sunny morning when I left our office in Daraga and boarded a jeepney going to Legazpi City. Preoccupied with lots of things for the day, I did not give a glance to the mother and son going out of an elementary Christian school, and boarding the same jeepney where I was in. Until I saw the printed at the back of the mother’s shirt.

Considering the kind of vocation I have chosen, I found the words so fitting to me that even though I had a hard time deciphering due to my eye difficulty, I hastily took out my phone and began typing and saving them in the outbox folder.

After that tiring day, I immediately showed my saved message to a colleague. And to my greatest shock, those were the words of a fellow Albayano. Though I neither met him in person nor worked with him, I still call him a fellow.

These were the words in red, printed on the back of the shirt of that woman:

“If the bullets of my enemies will
trigger them to be happy so be it… in
my 21 years..."

Rambo

I thought that that the Rambo printed on the woman’s shirt was the famous action movie protagonist from David Morrell's novel First Blood, who demonstrated heroism through raging bullets and fierce fight scenes as portrayed by Sylvester Stallone on its big screen version. I thought those words were from one of his movies. But I was wrong.

On the other hand, the author of those words was also famous. He is Rei Mon Guran. He is ‘Ambo’ to his family and ‘Rambo’ to his friends.

Rambo was a second year political science student of Aquinas University of Legazpi. He was the Provincial Spokesperson of the League of Filipino Students (LFS) in Albay and an active member of UCCP's Christian Youth Fellowship.

Sad to say, he is now dead.

He just turned 21 last 30 July 2006, a day before he succumbed to four gunshot wounds – two in the head, one in the body and another in the hand, while onboard a bus on his way to school. The outrageous killing of Rambo was accomplished ten days after churches and religious organizations held the Human Rights and Peace Summit. Two more activists were killed on the same day. Four months before, 19 March to be exact, when a very good friend of him, Cris Hugo, was extra judicially killed too. Adding to their number are five more Bicolano youth killed in a span of two years, totaling to the number of seven youth, extra judicially killed!

On Tuesday, 31 July, will be the first year death anniversary of Ambo. Still there is no justice for Rambo’s death.

Will it still be served? That is our question.

We have to be realistic on these pressing issues. The summary killings of activists I believe were done by the state itself through the military and their agents. And sadly, they were done with impunity that not even a single case was solved.

The Permanent People’s Tribunal (PPT), headed by Prof. Phillip Alston, the Special Rapporteur of the United Nations Human Rights Council on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, pronounced that the RP President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and US President George W. Bush were liable to these extrajudicial killings of activists. In spite of this, the government has continued being obstinate on the issue and idle to prove to the international community that the verdict of the PPT is misguided.

Worse, the killings continued. And fear lurked in the hearts of many. And many more succumbed to that fear. So that gone is the many who fight for their rights. But then, there are still few who’s unafraid. Few who continued fighting for the advocacies that has been fought for by our ancestors, none other than real liberty.

I personally believe that as long as the perpetrators are being protected by the government, clear answers will always be impossible, and justice will never be served. Ever.

But still, we want justice and real freedom. And if we will lurk in the corner of our houses because of the fear that bullets would hit our borrowed bodies, nothing we shall attain.

In all kinds of liberation, blood is a necessity. Even man, when finally liberated from the chains of sin, has to sacrifice a fellow man’s blood – Christ himself. The same thing is happening in the country. In our continued search for liberation, many men have to offer their blood to attain liberty. And proud are those chosen to take part in this sacrifice. However, I am not saying that things have to be as brutal as to drain society of patriotic blood. It is animalistic and outrageous reaction of a threatened and guilty government with its sins against its people. Killing summarily its critics is the government’s last resort of survival. Unfortunately, it was wrong. For every man’s life taken extra-judicially, is an army of patriotic men bathed in that one Man’s blood.

Much to our and the international communities’ dismay, the Arroyo government continued denying its involvement in the killing of more than 863 Filipinos and forced disappearances of 197 more. It has resorted to saying that the perpetrators of the said killings are also from the line of the activists. Such ignorance! Those were the same allegations that the Jews threw to Christ when He cast out demons and evil spirits from many people during His time. They called Him Beelzebub (name of the leader of the devils), for He can cast away evils. And He said to them “… every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and a house divided against a house falleth. If Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? Because he say that I cast out devils through Beelzebub. And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your sons cast them out?”

Funny is the government for pointing Beelzebubs and sowing confusion to the people. Where is the state’s transparency and truthfulness when it deprives the people of the truth that it must give without any prejudice of doubt, protected by the Philippine Constitution itself in Article III, Section 7? But what the government is doing is the exact opposite.

And now, these acts of the state (though how animalistic they may be) will be legalized and justified with the implementation of the Anti-Terrorism Law or the Republic Act 9372 euphemistically titled as the Human Security Act of 2007. This law slaps our human rights in both faces most especially our civil liberties.

They have been saying that this law is toothless. Yeah, for them, for this is a State Security Act. Now, our fear would be the number that will be added to the anthill of victims of human rights violations. Last 20 July, a Martial Law was unofficially declared all over the land. Lady Justice was not only blindfolded but now, she was also gagged and chained! However, in spite of this looming danger, many are still dumb, deaf and blind. Their reason: “why should we be afraid if we have nothing to fear about?” Crap! Such selfishness! They are collaborating with this fascist government in violating human rights for a temporary liberty. They indirectly consent to the commission of crimes against humanity. And they, according to Sir Benjamin Franklin, “who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither Liberty nor safety”. Would you allow a person to be stripped off of his rights when you know that that person also deserves the same right as you do? And you know you can do something to prevent that, yet you chose not to do something? Well, threefold of Rambos will be added to the list of killed patriotic youth if we do nothing.

This government of ours will do everything to silence the people especially we —the youth. The final words of the President in her recent State of the Nation Address (SONA) were disturbing, suggestive and warning when she said:

Uulitin ko: Hindi ako sagabal sa ambisyon ninuman.

But make no mistake. I will not stand idly when anyone gets in the way of the national interest and tries to block the national vision. From where I sit, I can tell you, a President is always as strong as she wants to be.

There is only one question that we have to ask ourselves. It is: For whom are we? If we say we are for the people, then be for the people and only for the people. Our interests should be always for the benefit of the people. No many buts and ifs. If you are for the government, then be for the government. It is either left or right. In this existence, there is no gray area, no neutrality. When will we ever make a stand? When we are the next victim? Let us never forget the words of Pastor Martin Niemoeller in Nazi Germany:

"In Germany they [the Nazis] came first for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up."

Rambo's Death Anniversary

"If the bullets of my enemies will
trigger them to be happy so be it, in
my 21 years..."

These are the words of Rei Mon Guran,
a former student of Aquinas Unviersity
of Legazpi and provincial spokesperson
of the League of Filipino Students in
Albay.

Former, because he is dead.

Those are the words of sadness and
preparation for death but full of
courage and patriotism. As a fellow, I
definitely understand the feeling of
Ambo when he uttered those words,
words that seem to pierce every
colleagues soul and being.

And in his first year anniversary, I
again Hail him as a Hero of the youth
in the modern times, when humanity is
experiencing the greatest repression
from their co-humans, worse than
before, when men were still
uncivilized.

He was not alone though, for there are
863+ more and 197 nowhere to be found
and many still epected to follow,
depending upon the hands of those
thinking of themselves as gods.

Hail to these heroes. One thing is
sure, their blood won't be wasted.

For soon, is real liberation.

YOUTH FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF CIVIL LIBERTIES (YACL)

YOUTH FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF CIVIL LIBERTIES (YACL)

Concept Paper

Civil liberties are freedoms that completely protect the individual from government. Civil liberties also set limits for government so that it can not abuse its power and interfere with the lives of its citizens. Common civil liberties include freedom of association, freedom of assembly, freedom of religion, and freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and additionally, to due process, to a fair trial, and to privacy. They are basic rights given to every man of the world. However, there are times when these civil liberties are blatantly disregarded by the government.

In the present regime, the Arroyo government continued to implement rules and policies that benefit foreign interests and not of the Filipino people. And most of the times, violations of the civil, political are committed and human rights of the Filipino people were disregarded. The needs of the youth, most especially, were not given sufficient attention. The Philippine Constitution itself recognizes the importance of the Youth in a strong republic. In Section 13 of the Article II, it says that “the State recognizes the vital role of the youth in nation-building and shall promote and protect their physical, moral, spiritual, intellectual, and social well-being. It shall inculcate in the youth patriotism and nationalism, and encourage their involvement in public and civic affairs.” And no less than the National Hero Jose Rizal called the youth as “the hope of the fatherland”.

Even the simplest duty of the government to the youth was disregarded like better, accessible and free education and even social services to the youth. When in fact the Philippine constitution says that the government must give education the highest budget allocation, the Arroyo administration allots the national budget to debt servicing and militarization, leaving Education as the third priority.

In public elementary and secondary schools, the ratio of teachers to their pupils is 1:60. In general, there is a constraint of 25, 000 classrooms, 15 million books and 39, 000 teachers. From 27% last 1960, the national budget for education for 2002 reached only 12%. The tuition fee in the University of the Philippines, the premier state university, increased by 300%! Each year, SUCs are forced to increase their tuition fees because of the lack of subsidy from the national government. Worthy to mention here too is the program of the government to privatize SUCs, which will give unimagined burden to the already burdened Filipino nation.
The same trend is happening today. The students’ criticism on the government intensified and became a serious issue. When students protest against these atrocities being done to them, the government’s answers are riot policemen, barricades, tear gas, fire trucks and imprisonment. When the youth and students joined legal youth organizations that fight for the rights of the youth and the students, the government started tagging them as communists, front of NPA and so on. The persecution of activists started and the US-Arroyo government is behind the persecution.

These atrocities were intensified when George W. Bush, President of the United States of America, declared the worldwide “war on terror” after the 9/11 bombing, with the Philippines as second in line. The present regime intensified the militarization of many areas all over the country. It implemented dangerous and deadly regulations like the Oplan Bantay Laya I and II, Calibrated Preemptive Response (CPR, or the “no permit, no rally” policy), Executive Order 464 (that prevents cabinet members, police and military generals, senior national security officials, and "such other officers as may be determined by the President" to attend congressional hearings unless the President gives permission to those who will attend the said proceedings) and the Presidential Proclamation 1017 (the declaration of the Philippines under a State of National Emergency last 2006).

Because of this counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism strategies of the present regime, the human rights group Karapatan has recorded over 863 cases of extrajudicial killings and 197 cases of forced disappearances and abductions, whose victims were innocent citizens – youth and students especially, and members of legal organizations being tagged by the government as fronts of communists; not spared too are human rights activists, church people, journalists, lawyers and judges, who were known critics of the present regime’s puppetry and atrocities, and numerous other human rights violations. This is an ironical picture of her promise of an empowered youth and nation when she assumed power thru the people’s uprising during the EDSA People Power II.

Even the Bicolano youth were not spared from the claws of the US-Arroyo regime. To date, there are already 7 youth victims of extrajudicial killings in the Bicol region alone, namely:

Cris Hugo, 20 years old student of Bicol University and regional spokesperson of the League of Filipino Students (LFS), a progressive national organization, shot dead on March 19, 2006 by two unidentified motorcycle-riding men. He has reported to have been receiving death threats from military since 2005.

Rei “Mon” Guran, 22-years old student of Aquinas University, shot dead on July 31, 2006, while onboard a bus. He was an active member of the Christian Youth Fellowship, and provincial spokesperson of LFS in Albay.

Joel Asejo, a Bicol University Student and an active member of Tau Gamma Phi and a member of Anakbayan in Daraga, Albay. He was shot dead while in a beach in Sto. Domingo, Albay.

Farly Alcantara, 23 years old and member of the League of Filipino Students, who was shot dead last February 15; the killing happened during the visit and investigations on the political killings in the Philippines by Philip Alston, the UN Special Rapporteur on Extra-judicial, Summary or Arbitrary killings.

Roberto “Jun-Jun” Bagasbas (26 yrs. old) and Ronilo Brezuela (16 yrs. old), KABATAAN PARTYLIST Poll watchers abducted and killed while doing their duty during the canvassing of votes in Capalongga, Camarines Norte. People from the military told the residents the next day that the victims were killed in a “legal encounter” with the armed left though they were known in the community as non members of communists.

The seventh youth killed in Bicol was under Karapatan’s reported but undocumented case, but it was confirmed by Karapatan-Camarines Sur that the youth killed was a member of Suara Bangsamoro, one of the five progressive partylists who joined the 2007 election; reports said that he has 57 gunshot wounds all over the body.

Considering the widespread civil, political and human rights violation being experienced by the Bicolano youth, the voice of unity and patriotism is once again heralding in the wilderness. There is a dire need of a unified Bicolano youth.

Responding to the need and duty of a unified Bicolano Youth, we are convening the Youth for the Advancement of Civil Liberties (YACL). This alliance aims to unify the Bicolano youth in particular and other sectors who are with the youth and their advocacies like the Church, the Academe, the Media and the Bicol Movement Against inHuman Security Act, the Regional multi-sectoral alliance against HSA, whose initiative is to secure and protect the civil liberties of the Bicolano youth.

We believe that the Church, has been a prime advocate of the youth’s rights ever since. The Church also creates public opinion which is an important medium to reach out to the greater number of the Region’s youth populace.

In the same manner, the Academe plays an important role in this advocacy. They can be our venue to enlighten and awaken the intellectual sectors of the society of the real face of society and their effects on the youth and the students. The Media, being the most influential factor of any society will be the medium for the dissemination of information and of our being critical to the present atrocities being experienced by the Bicolano youth as a whole.

Objectives of the YACL

· To unify the different youth organizations to protect the civil liberties of the youth;

· To rekindle the youth’s passion for human rights advocacy and justice;

· To gather support from the various sectors;

· To educate the youth on the real situation of the youth in the country;

· To mobilize the youth, personalities, individuals, and groups for the upholding of the civil liberties of the youth;

· To unite individuals to adhere with this advocacy to prevent the further trampling of our right;

· To enrich network of youth civil, political and human rights defenders and advocates, local and international alike.

Organization Initiators:

Kabataan Partylist

National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP)

Student Christian Movement (SCM)

College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP)

Act Now to Defend Human Rights and Morality (AND-HRM)

League of Filipino Students (LFS)

Bicol University - University Student Council (BU-USC)

“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, eserve neither Liberty nor safety.” -- Benjamin Franklin

What Your Supermarket Won't Tell You

While I was surfing the net, I read this one in one of Yahoo!'s Featured Articles from SmartMoney.com. Please read through it, because you might find helpful tips on how we can survive in this not-so-loose economy. Happy reading!

What Your Supermarket Won't Tell You

by Jim Rendon
Thursday, January 8, 2009provided by

1. “Feel the squeeze? Actually, so do we.”

When the economy slows and businesses begin to feel the heat, grocery stores are often exceptions to the rule. That’s because when consumers cut back on frills like eating out, they tend to make even more trips to the supermarket. Still, all bets may be off in the wake of the crash of 2008.

Citi Investment Research analyst Deborah Weinswig forecasts falling same-store sales growth at many of the major chains in 2009; for one, she sees top performer Kroger experiencing a decline in same-store sales growth, from about 5 percent in 2008 to 4 percent in the coming year. Meanwhile, supermarket chain Supervalu forecasts its own flat sales growth through 2009.

Even the big-box stores—now established contenders in the grocery industry—are facing tough headwinds in the wake of the market meltdown. Weinswig says she expects dips in same-store sales growth for BJ’s Wholesale Club, from 11 percent in 2008 to under 7 percent in 2009, and a drop from 8 to 6 percent growth over the same period for Costco. Bottom line, “it’s tough to pass through higher costs when consumers have such a laser-like focus on price,” says Mitchell Corwin, a senior equity analyst for Morningstar.

2. “You’re getting less for the same price.”

When Linda Edwards, a nurse in East Windsor, N.J., picked up her usual $4.99 jug of orange juice at Shop Rite this summer, she was surprised to discover that it contained 7 ounces less than it normally did. A few months later she noticed her Skippy peanut butter and chicken strips were also lighter but not any cheaper. “Everything seems to be shrinking, but my family hasn’t shrunk,” says the single mother of five boys. A spokesperson for Unilever, which owns Skippy, says reducing product size is one way the company is coping with higher food and fuel costs.

Manufacturers know that in a tight economy, consumers are driven away by price hikes, so they quietly shrink products, hoping a few ounces here or there won’t be missed, says Alexia Howard, a senior research analyst for Sanford C. Bernstein. But it’s starting to backfire, says Ben Popken, editor of Consumerist.com, who says he’s getting more complaints from readers about shrinking products. “People are really sensitive to any decrease in their purchasing power,” he says. Popken recommends checking the unit price between brands to see whether you’re paying the same price for less food.

3. “We jack up prices where you’re least likely to notice.”

When times are tough, super-markets know vigilant shoppers notice even tiny changes in the price of foods like milk, cereal, bread and cheese. In fact, there are about 500 such products, and stores raise prices on these staples at their own peril.

So how do markets deal with rising food costs? They tinker with the price of the roughly 45,000 items people don’t buy regularly enough to have a fixed idea of their cost—tacking on 3 to 4 percent to specialty products like, say, gourmet pasta sauce or fresh-squeezed juices, without consumers noticing. “There’s an opportunity to make some margin back on those items,” says Jim Hertel, managing partner of Willard Bishop, a consultant for the industry.

But don’t expect the savings to be passed on to you when costs come down. Many manufacturers lock in prices well in advance, and they often hold off on bringing prices back down to make up for the resulting losses, says Howard. One way to be sure you’re getting the best deal when prices drop: Stick to basics. Products like coffee and meat are likely “to reflect their underlying costs more quickly than most other foods,” Howard says.

4. “You can’t always believe our nutrition claims.”

It seems people are more concerned with their health these days, but nutrition labeling on most foods can be tough to decipher. Hoping to bridge the gap, grocery chain Hannaford Bros. developed a program called Guiding Stars, which posts nutrition ratings of one to three stars on the shelf tags of some products. “We’d like to see the FDA adopt the program nationally,” says Bruce Silverglade, legal affairs director at the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

Sounds great, but according to a Government Accountability Office report, the FDA hasn’t randomly checked the accuracy of nutrition labeling in over a decade, and of those products it has tested due to obvious red flags, more than 20 percent had errors. (An FDA spokesperson says random sampling isn’t necessary; the FDA tests products according to guidelines set by its Office of Regulatory Affairs.) With so little oversight, consumers can’t fully trust manufacturers’ nutrition labels or any ratings system based on that data.

“It’s the manufacturer’s responsibility to provide accurate information—that’s all we can use to assess products,” says Julie Greene, director of healthy living for Hannaford Bros.

5. “We won’t take your coupons.”

The Sunday paper used to be the source for grocery coupons. But now they’re increasingly available online, from sites like Coupons.com as well as manufacturers’ and supermarkets’ own Web pages. The problem is, they aren’t always easy to use. Over 10.6 million Internet coupons were redeemed last year, according to Carolina Marketing Services. While that amount is expected only to increase, it’s still a fraction of all coupons redeemed, and many stores are still unfamiliar with them.

That’s what 61-year-old retiree C.J. Shearrer discovered when he printed out about $30 worth of coupons and took them to a Wal-Mart in Midwest City, Okla. Shearrer says the manager told him the store didn’t accept online coupons; only when he showed him a printout of Wal-Mart’s coupon policy, says Shearrer, did the manager agree to take them. (A company spokesperson says Wal-Mart accepts one Internet coupon per item per customer, as long as it’s legitimate and scans at the register.) Stephanie Nelson, founder of information site CouponMom.com, suggests doing what Shearrer did: Bring along a copy of a given store’s coupon policy, which should be found on its Web site.

6. “Our loyalty cards help us cater to our biggest spenders...”

Many supermarkets offer shoppers loyalty cards that get scanned at checkout for savings on specially marked products. But saving money isn’t what these cards are really about. Whenever you use your card, stores record your purchases in vast databases that contain years’ worth of your purchasing information. That means they know what you buy year after year, how often you shop and when a coupon influences your purchases. And they use

this information for everything from promoting new products to deciding what to stock.

More important, stores tap this data to target customers who buy lots of groceries on a regular basis. Woolf says that as much as 65 percent of a store’s sales are derived from these core shoppers, who make up just 12 to 25 percent of its customers. Loyalty-card programs allow stores to cater to these folks by sending them free samples, offering special bargains other shoppers don’t get and structuring discounts to reward them for their regular, expensive shopping trips. “Those customers who contribute more profits, you look after them better,” says Woolf.

7. “...but they’re not always your best bet for big savings.”

Stores that use these loyalty programs want you to think you’ll save big by participating. But that’s not always the case: Wal-Mart, which has no such program, undercuts competitors on price, and most stores without these programs match their regular prices to competitors’ discounted card prices. In many cases, these retailers may even be able to offer lower prices than stores with elaborate loyalty-card programs, says David Livingston, managing partner with industry consultant DJL Research. “Loyalty-card programs do add an expense for stores,” Livingston says. “And stores can offer the same bargains without the card programs.”

In the end, what do consumers get for handing over their data? It depends. According to Stephen Hoch, a marketing professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, loyalty-card discounts really just shift higher prices onto those without cards. And even the best rewards don’t always amount to much. Supermarkets have a tight profit margin of about 2 percent, making it “hard for supermarkets to give customers big rewards,” says Hoch.

8. “Big sales may not mean lower costs for you.”

Supermarkets know you want bargains. And they’ll use bargains to get you through the door, via promotional flyers and advertised discounts. But the key is to make sure they don’t give away too much once you get inside.

How do they do it? For starters, atmosphere. Supermarkets know the first thing you see when you walk in sets the tone for your shopping trip. If it puts sale items or highly discounted products near the entrance, it can create the impression there’s real value to be had, whether that’s the case or not, says consultant Hertel. That’s also why space at the end of aisles is often used to display a small number of sale items. Stores know that you’re likely to buy lots of other products while you’re shopping—many of which will not be on sale or will be store brands—helping to cover the discounts on promotional items. Indeed, studies show that supermarkets have been effective at limiting giveaways, says K. Sudhir, a professor at the Yale School of Management. “Stores want to create the perception that customers are getting a good deal,” he says. “But they don’t want everyone to get the lowest prices.”

9. “We may carry local produce, but we’re no farmer’s market.”

When former Chicago software engineer Michael Morowitz wants to buy strawberries, he waits until summer and looks for those grown locally. “Strawberries shipped to Chicago in February are never going to be as good as those grown nearby in June,” says Morowitz, who runs The Local Beet, a Web site about locally grown food in Chicago. Like Morowitz, more people are looking for goods from nearby farms as a way of getting better, fresher foods and supporting local growers, not to mention cutting down on pollution from transportation. And supermarkets have heard the call—so much so that megaretailer Wal-Mart now touts locally grown produce.

But it’s not as clear-cut as it sounds. For one thing, there’s no agreement on what local means. For example, Wal-Mart defines local produce as that grown within the same state, but in a large state like California, that doesn’t mean much. Also, it’s tough for big chains to find enough local farms to fulfill their needs, and smaller farms can struggle to keep up with a large chain’s demands, says Julia Stewart, a spokesperson for the Produce Marketing Association. In the case of Wal-Mart, some of its local suppliers are the same massive farms that normally provide its produce. “It just makes for a positive press release,” Livingston says. A Wal-Mart spokesperson says the company works with farms of many sizes and doesn’t preclude its local farmers from selling their produce elsewhere.

10. “We’re experts in human behavior.”

Marketers know a lot about how you shop and what’s likely to make you pick up a product. For example, stores have discovered that shoppers are more comfortable staying to the right as they move through a store, says Ron Larson, associate professor of marketing at Western Michigan University. How much difference does it make? According to market-research firm Sorensen Associates, shoppers moving counterclockwise spend
$2 more per trip than those who go the opposite direction.

How to avoid getting psyched out by savvy marketing? Know what you want to buy before you enter the supermarket. Livingston recommends planning meals for the week and sticking firmly to your list once in the store. Also, grab the smallest cart that will hold all your items, and heed the old saw “Never shop when you’re hungry.”

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