A lot of people don’t like the military and do their best to find and pen disparaging articles on it. And that’s okay, it’s a free country. But every now and then you find an article like this one that really is quite disparaging. Army food is “cheaper than a dog’s dinner”. In the UK, not only do convicted prisoners (with a daily meal cost of £1.87) eat better than serving soldiers (with a daily meal allowance of £1.51), but so do the dogs (with a daily budget of more than £2.63). When they say It’s a Dog’s Life, if you happen to be a dog in the employ of the British Military, it takes on a whole new meaning.

Tip-of-the-hat to The Cynical Sorcerer, Tony Poshek, for demonstrating why there should be a little cynic in all of us!

Cadbury, who we know is making grandiose efforts to become synonymous with the color purple (Metro UK), is being hit with hard times. In addition to announcing jog cuts (CNN) in the 7,500 range, it has also announced that it is planning to sell its US beverage unit (that makes Dr. Pepper, Snapple, and 7-Up) because, unlike Coca Cola and Pepsi, when it comes to the US way of life, it just can’t keep up with the Jones’.

And if those sustainability issues weren’t enough, as one of the largest UK manufacturers of chocolate and confectionary, you know its likely going to be accused of sustaining the African conflicts along the Ivory Coast. The Independent has recently reported that British chocoholics (alone!) may have unwittingly helped fund African conflicts along the Ivory coast to the tune of $120M due to the large amount of cocoa purchased from the region (which amounts to 40% of global cocoa production) and the fact that significant proceeds of the sale of cocoa are being used to maintain the war chests. Cadbury is claiming their cocoa comes from Ghana, which borders the Ivory Coast on its western border, but because confectionary mixes are so secretive, a consumer never really knows. Furthermore, how do you know if the truckload you bought in Ghana didn’t just cross the border? Slippery supply issues from a social responsibility perspective indeed!

And even if I didn’t know the start and end dates, such dates are easily deducible by recent blog activity.  On the day ISM started, daily hits dropped by about a third.  Now that ISM has been over for a day, hits are up.  Way up – by over 50% relative to the norm as the hordes of practitioners lost in the glaring lights of Vegas find their way back onto the internet and back to their favorite blogs.  But I am curious – did any other bloggers notice such a significant effect on blog hits from this event?  And has any other event had such a significant effect on sourcing and procurement blog readership?

As you know, Supply & Demand Chain Executive recently announced their Pros To Know for 2007. Like Jason Busch, I think some names were missing from that list. Jason pointed out that Mickey North Rizza and Mark Hillman were conspicuously absent.

Today I make my first nomination to the Pros You Should Know – But Don’t – List. The blogger’s supplement to the incomplete Supply & Demand Executive List. That individual is Jean-Philippe Massin, former CEO of Eutilia, and editor of Strategic Sourcing | Europe [WayBackMachine]. Jean-Philippe is one of the few bloggers on the other side of the Atlantic working hard to spread the Spend Management message over in Europe and needs to be recognized for that commitment.