Shocked? Not.

Today's Washington Post carries an item about a new bill in the Maryland General Assembly. It would require manufacturers and retailers to identify the species and country of origin of the fur used on any such products sold in Maryland.

The lawmaker introducing the bill is quoted as having said a lot of people he'd talked to were "shocked" to know Real Fur is being passed off as Fake Fur in certain imported clothing sold by leading manufacturers and retailers here in the USA.

Shocked?? Please...anyone who buys cars, houses, furnishings, groceries, gasoline, clothing, medicines, appliances, TV's, automobiles, computers or clothespins, for that matter, is familiar with how consumers are routinely cheated today. It doesn't take that many downsizings of quantity and quality and upsizings of price for consumers to stop being "shocked" at today's immoral corporate practices at home and across the planet.

I salute the Maryland lawmaker for introducing a bill that potentially helps spare raccoon dogs in China from falling victim to scurrilous U.S. trade practices. I would agree with all such efforts anywhere around the globe. But I do urge lawmakers not to deal in claims of shock and amazement; consumers know today's realities defy it.