Sketchy Crusader Against Poor Brandishes Dildo at Council

by John Brown Memorial Abolition Campaign Friday, Feb. 13, 2015 at 7:23 PM

John Webby of Webby Candies waved a sex toy around despite objection from Mayor Helene Schneider of Santa Barbara, ranting about the homeless. Investigation implicates his business in questionable practices possibly implicated in child slave labor.

Sketchy Crusader Aga...
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Santa Barbara February 13, 2015

In an act of political theatre which has been noted to be suspiciously close the the valentine's day holiday weekend, a candy store operator new to the west coast pulled out a molded replica of a human phallus during public comment before the City Council of Santa Barbara California.

He collected time slips from others in order to subject council to an extended tirade against the homeless, whom he seemed to equate with drug dealers, as a whole, and postured as defending decency on behalf of women and children. As he became increasingly agitated, he produced a brown paper bag and announced that he would produce something "disgusting". The mayor asked him to not do so, at which point he demanded to know why not, and, disatisfied with her answer, he pulled out a brown dildo and slammed it onto the lecture.

Claiming that it was unfit for women and children to see, he nevertheless continued to display it despite the mayor twice requesting that he remove it. Ironically, the item, which had been left on a bench on the street, was not illegal to have in public, but may have violated the law by subjecting city workers to a hostile environment and constituted sexual harassment when displayed on his part in council chambers.

A vigorous exchange of comments ensued on local news blogs, much of it humorous and some of it acerbically critical of Mr. Webby, who, with his thick east coast accent, seemed markedly out of touch with the realities of west coast beach towns. He claimed that it was only Santa Barbara which had problems with lawless conduct in places, such as the vicinity of his candy business, which have multiple drinking establishments concentrated in a few blocks. And, indeed, an adult toy store and video outlet a few doors from his candy shop has been pointed out by locals as suggestively not the best site for a candy store., which is also surrounded by singles bars which are notorious for drunken conduct. While it seems possible someone may have been drunk after purchasing the sex toy nearby, Webby;s public comment seemed to equate the presence of the dildo out on a street bench with homeless youth or so called "urban nomads" whose presence of course is not entirely welcome by the petite bourgeios business class.

Investigation of Mr. Webby's business practices suggest that he may in his posture as a crusader for protecting the morals of women and children against the vile presence of street youth and iterant train hopping old timers may be something of a case study in hypocrisy.

The chocolate industry has been under growing scrutiny for the deplorable practice of human trafficking particularly of children. According to Anti Slavery International, "instead of going to school young boys are forced to spend long days hacking open cocoa pods with machetes, handling dangerous pesticides and carrying heavy loads".

A preliminary investigation reveals that Webby Chocolate does indeed traffick in chocolates which have raised the ire of the movement for labor justice. Featured prominently on Webby's racks, and on their web page, Webby sells Mo'sDark Chocolate, which is red listed on Food Empowerment Project’s Chocolate List. The FEP is campaigning for abolition of the systemic human trafficking and slavery in which over a million children are forced to labor without schooling and health care.

The chocolate industry, outside of various Fair Trade initiatives and some but not all businesses, is extremely shady, on the level of the African diamond mines and the sweatshops of Southeast Asia for exploitation of children, women and men laborers.

From their website:In recent years, a handful of organizations and journalists have exposed the widespread use of child labor, and in some cases slavery, on cocoa farms in Western Africa. Since then, the industry has become increasingly secretive, making it difficult for reporters.

SOURCES: Santa Barbara City Council meeting video
http://www.foodispower.org/slavery-chocolate/
http://www.candyblog.net/blog/category/equalexchange/
http://www.independent.com/news/2015/feb/11/dildo-wielded-during-city-council-meeting/#commenttoggle