Goodbye American Worker

I'm sure you are aware of all the latest news about China's involvement in American businesses. I could write for a week and still not give a complete list of products that China is making for the U.S. or the U.S. companies that they are buying a controlling interest in or taking complete control. I thought I'd highlight a few of the latest ones along with links to more information so you can read at your leisure.

 
One of the largest partnerships, with China becoming more involved in the business, is with General Motors. I've always bought mostly GM vehicles all my life but I guess I'll switch to Ford until they sell out to China. But I can at least honestly say that I've never bought a new car made by a foreign automaker.

Here are the links you really need to read and pass along to your friends: 

Is that our country going up in a puff of smoke??

General Motors and China

Another purchase of an American company by China is the announcement that it will buy AMC Entertainment Holdings, a major U.S. cinema chain, for $2.6 billion in China's biggest corporate takeover in the United States. The deal will create the world's biggest movie theater operator.
China Grabs Cinema

One of the latest news items involving China and the U.S. is the story that all of the 2012 Olympic team's clothes are being made in China! Yep, good old Ralph Lauren is somehow involved in the decision to allow that to happen. Of course he justified it as any businessman would do by double-talk, and going on the offensive, acting as though the people who questioned him about it are trying to make a story out of nothing.
Olympic Clothes

All of the above examples are, to me, simply a huge embarrassment to our country and it shows the sad state our country is in by giving more and more jobs away, and having a communist country owning more of our country every day. This latest story bout the Olympic uniforms is still being debated on TV and talk shows and a large number of Americans are actually upset over it. Although, like all similar stories, it will die out in a week and no one will care any longer.Not that anything will change because of people's protests about it. Even though I hate the fact that our athletes will be wearing clothes made by Communists and the fact that they are actually not even an attractive uniform, I was intrigued by a letter to the editor in my local Tampa Bay Times, in the July 18, 2012 edition. It was written by Mike Tardif from St. Petersburg and he writes:

"Why are we acting like such hypocrites about Chinese-made U.S. Olympic uniforms? Where were you when you first heard about the uniforms? Driving in your Japanese-made car? Listening to the news on your Chinese-made radio as you were cooking in the kitchen with your Chinese-made appliances? Or maybe you saw it on the evening news, viewed on your Chinese or Japanese-made TV. I could go on, but why, due to the worst corporate tax structure in the free world, have we let this happen? Maybe it is about time we not only demand the U.S. Olympic Committee buy American but we start with ourselves." 

Now let me admit right away that I also buy Chinese goods as well as items from other countries. But it is almost impossible not to. I have a TV, computer, printer, telephones, radios, appliances, clothes, and my vehicles likely have parts made out of the U.S. But, I am forced to buy those things if I want to function. I do make a conscious effort to check labels whenever I shop for anything and I do buy American if I can find the product I need made by an American company. 

I'm sure we'll never get back to the days when everything we bought was made in the USA, but I can at least try the best I can to buy American and I will always continue to bring it to people's attention that we all should try and buy American whenever possible. But I'm sure it's too late to change much of it because most people just look at the price and buy at the lowest price possible. And when your socks are made by a kid making 50 cents a day you'll buy a dozen pair.....

Drill or Bill?

I just finished reading an article in the latest edition of "AMAC Advantage", the magazine of the Association of Mature American Citizens. It was titled, "Mr. President, Let Us Drill". It explained that America has huge quantities of fossil fuels and they have fueled our factories, homes, highways and hospitals since their first use. It further stated that we have vast amounts of untapped forms of fuel that hold promise for generations to come. 

Here are some stated facts:

- The amount of oil that is technically recoverable in the U.S. is more than 1.4 trillion barrels, with the largest deposits located offshore, in portions of Alaska, and in shale in the Rocky Mountain West. When combined with resources from Canada and Mexico, total recoverable oil in North America exceeds 1.7 trillion barrels.

- That is more than the world has used since the first oil well was drilled over 150 years ago in Titusville, Pennsylvania. To put this in context, Saudi Arabia has about 260 billion barrels of oil in proved reserves. The technically recoverable oil in North America could fuel the present needs in the U.S. of seven billion barrels per year for around 250 years.

- Only about 2.2 percent of America's offshore acreage and less than 6 percent of federal onshore lands are currently leased for production because of restrictions in the form of federal bans and much of our future potential supplies of fossil fuels exist under lands owned by the federal government. Here are some areas that the federal government could open to oil and gas development: 
            - 10.4 billion barrels of oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and 8.6 trillion            
               cubic feet of  natural gas.
            - 86 billion barrels of oil in the outer continental shelf of the lower 48 states and 420
                trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
            - 500 million barrels of oil in the Naval Petroleum Reserve-Alaska
            - 25 billion barrels of oil in the outer continental shelf of Alaska. 
            - 90 billion barrels of oil and 1.669 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in the geologic   
                provinces north of the Arctic circle.


   - There is enough natural gas in North America to last the U.S. for over 175 years at current rates of consumption.

- North America recoverable coal could provide enough electricity for the U.S. for about 500 years at current levels of consumption.  

- The U.S.has 486 billion short tons of recoverable coal out of a total resource base of more than 10,320 billion short tons of in-place resources.  The Powder River Basin, which also covers parts of Montana, is one of the world's richest deposits of low-sulfur coal.

- To put it in a nutshell: 
            > OIL - We have enough oil to fuel every passenger car in the U.S. for over 430 
                            years.
                         - We have almost twice as much as the combined proved reserves of ALL
                            OPEC nations. 
                         - We have more than six times the proved reserves of Saudi Arabia.

             > NATURAL GAS - Enough to fuel homes heated by natural gas in the U.S. for
                                                 857 years.
                                              - Enough to provide the U.S. with electricity for 575 years at
                                                 current levels.
                                              - More natural gas than all of the next five largest national proved
                                                 reserves; Russia, Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkmenistan.

            > COAL - Provide enough electricity for about 500 years at coal's current level of
                              consumption for electricity generation.
                           - More coal than ANY other country in the world.
                           - More than the combined total of the top five non-North American             
                              countries' reserves: Russia, China, Australia, India, and Ukraine.


Folks, we have more combined oil, coal and natural gas resources than any other country on the planet! We have enough energy resources to provide reliable and affordable energy for decades, even centuries to come. But a scarcity of sensible government policy has led to soaring fuel prices and high unemployment rates. 


The solution is simple: Drilling equals jobs and affordable energy rates. By allowing hard-working people in the Gulf of Mexico to ply their trade, we can save 25,000 jobs. By allowing production in a small portion of ANWR, we can create over 250,00 jobs. 
By lifting the ban on new offshore drilling, we can create 1.2 million jobs.
We must increase domestic energy exploration, expedite the permitting process, and remove the bureaucratic red tape and barriers on job creators. 
Producing domestic energy will create jobs across the country, increase revenue to the federal government, and reduce our dependence on foreign oil. 

Can we start the process now or do we have to wait until gas at the pump is $10 a gallon?

Check out: DrillBabyDrill.com

*Data, and research provided by the Institute for Energy Research.

I Can Be Social, But Without A Computer....

This may not actually fall under the topic of losing our America but I use this blog to vent about things that bug me. Lately I have been experiencing frustration about "social networking". A computer-age term used mostly by the media in referring to web-sites such as Twitter, Facebook and the like. 

I'll tell you up front that I fell into the hype at the start-up of Facebook. My friends were signing up and more importantly, my family was also. Since my children and grand-children live in Kentucky and we live in Florida it was a great way to see pictures and keep in touch with the things going on in their lives. But as I soon found out, the price of that pleasure was that I had to wade through the musings of everyone else that were in my friends and family circle. And that even went farther by getting to see comments of their friends and family if they replied to something. You know how it works. And yes, I know you can 'filter' what or who you see but that is not always so easy to do. 

There was a period of time where it seemed like every time I signed on to Facebook something had been changed and I had to figure out how to locate what I was looking for or how to change a setting that Facebook decided  on their own to change. That still happens to some extent today. The rammed-down-your-throat use of "Timeline" is just one example. 

Of course I could go on and on but I only wanted to make a quick point about an article I read in the Tampa Bay Times by Ross Douthat a few days ago titled "The Facebook Illusion". He said that there were two grand illusions about the American economy in the first decade of the 21st century. One was that housing prices would keep going up and up. The second was the idea that in the age of Web 2.0, we were well on our way to figuring out how to make tons of money on the Internet. 

Douthat explained that the first idea collapsed along with the housing prices and the stock market in 2007 and 2008. But the Web 2.0 illusion survived long enough to cost credulous investors a small fortune in Facebook's disaster of an initial public offering. 

Bloomberg Businessweek declared the IPO "the biggest flop of the decade" after five days of trading. Why did I get pleasure by reading that? I totally agree with Douthat when he says that Facebook has always struck us both as one of the most noxious social networking sites, dependent for its success on the darker aspects of online life: the zeal for constant self-fashioning and self-promotion, the pursuit of virtual forms of "community" and "friendship" that bear only a passing resemblance to the genuine article, and the relentless diminution of the private sphere in the quest for advertising dollars. 

He goes on about the commercial limits of the Internet and how it has created a cultural revolution rather than an economic one. Twitter is not Ford Motor Co. and Google is not General Electric. And except when he sells our eyeballs to advertisers for a pittance, we won't all be working for Mark Zuckerberg someday.

I know that a lot of people that might read this love Facebook, or at least cannot imagine life without it. I'm not trying to change that. I'm not even telling you that I am closing out my account and having nothing to do with social networking. But I can tell you I am very close. I now try to quickly sign on and scan most of the comments and search only for new pictures of the kids and what is going on in their lives. I can block out most of the harping and complaining and the high game scores people have reached. I can skip over the two-sided conversations that people have that used to conducted over a telephone (remember those?) or rarer yet, in person. 

Yes, I can hear you saying I am a little hypocritical by using the Internet to vent my frustrations about an Internet related topic. But by not posting my Blog and expressing my opinions I'd have to be calling everyone on their phones. And my call would likely go to their voice-mails because they were away tending their virtual crops. All the while keeping their fingernails clean.

  

I'm Not Chicken To Say It......

I know I mostly mention things on this blog relating to how I think we are losing a lot of our America to foreign companies and lack of concern by our American businesses and even from our politicians. But once in a while I like to talk about something nice and uplifting. I usually do this by writing about a business that still makes things in our country and has no foreign connections. 

This post is one of those 'nice' ones and, I must admit, selfish on my part. I am raving about my favorite restaurant, Chick-fil-A. (Heretofore referred to as 'CFA'.)  I almost said my favorite "fast food" restaurant but I think it deserves a better title like 'quick service'. And that's what it is, even at a lunch rush. Every CFA I've ever seen at lunch time is packed with cars around the building and numerous people inside in line. But, unlike other fast-food restaurants, they move the people through and get the orders out! I can tell you from personal experience that if the same amount of cars and people were at other food places (and you know which ones I mean) I would NOT get in line or go there. I've had my nightmare stories about those places.

I won't make you read a lot of details about the company but I'll just highlight a few things.  
The company actually started in 1946, when Truett Cathy opened his first restaurant, The Dwarf Grill, in Hapeville, Georgia. He is credited with inventing Chick-fil-A's boneless breast of chicken sandwich. In the early 1960's he pioneered the establishment of restaurants in shopping malls with the opening of the first Chick-fil-A at a mall in suburban Atlanta in 1967. Since then, Chick-fil-A has steadily grown to become the second largest quick-service chicken restaurant chain in the United States, with over 1,500 locations in 39 states and Washington, D.C. (The 'first largest' chicken place is NOT for me. After getting a chicken breast that still had a heart beat 20 years ago, I've NEVER ate there again! He should have been busted down to Private!)

Now I'll tell you why I love the place so much: The food is great! It's that simple. I've never had a bad meal at any CFA across America! The other following reasons are icing on the cake: 

-The employees are the best I've ever seen at ANY restaurant. They always welcome you, they always take your order quickly and accurately, they are always neatly dressed and clean looking and the best of all,  they always thank you!

-The building is always clean on the outside and especially on the inside. There is always an employee, usually a manager, walking around with a towel and cleaning liquid, wiping tables, cleaning windows and doors and just picking up any customer left-over garbage. And I mean EVERY store. In every city and state that I've visited. The overall look of the building is pleasing and modern and blends in to the local architectural theme. No bright glowing arches here.

-I believe in the company ethics and love that they try and hire local students. They are very active in their local community with fund-raising, charities, providing college scholarships and their WinShape Foundation. (Read more about that online). 

- They are closed on Sunday. Every store. Period. 

I cannot say any of the above about any other fast-food place, including the Clown, the King or the Pretty Little Pig-tailed Girl....
Yes, I must admit that a lot of times when I get a craving for CFA, it seems to be a Sunday. So for a moment I'm disappointed that I won't be eating a piping hot CFA Spicy Chicken sandwich, but then I feel good knowing they are closed on Sunday allowing their employees to attend church or just be with their family. 

So there you have it. My rant about an American company that I love and that I love to eat! Yes, I can admit unabashedly that if someone from CFA happens to read this and wants to promote good will and reward kissing-up by sending me a few freebie coupons, who am I to complain? And if they don't? Not a problem, I'll always be a loyal customer and promoter of their company. 




On an unrelated note: I ran across an online business that has an interesting product. Not everyone will like their products or views but there is a market out there for them. I've added them to my 'Great Links'. Check it out at: Republican Posters. 

Troubled Bridges Over Our Waters.....

I don't need to write much about the subject of this post. The attached link to a video from ABC News says it all. A perfect example of what this blog is all about, exposing idiotic crap like this....

Chinese Bridges In America

Is This Kosher??

I had a cold. Not the first time for that. I hate it. Takes forever for me to feel better. I'm a big baby. There, I've laid it all out for you. However, this time I didn't want to wait to get better and I sure didn't want to get worse. 


I heard from my sister-in-law that she too had a cold and felt bad. She said she went to her family doctor and got a "Z-Pack". She took a couple of pills and felt much better within a day. Then I heard a couple of other people mention a Z-Pack and even someone on TV. So, knowing that it work for Sissy and if it was mentioned on TV then it had to be true, I thought that I deserved one also. 

I just happen to have a beautiful young niece that got tired of not having a job and went to school and became a doctor. I am not a dummy and my brain said, " I want a Z-Pack. I have a free doctor in the family. Why am I still sitting here talking to myself?"

So after I couldn't get pity from my niece I knew I would have to use guilt. I mentioned I was sick. Getting sicker. Would probably die soon. I never used her medical services before. I'm her uncle for Pete's sake! It worked. She must have figured the best way to get rid of me was to call in a prescription for a Z-Pack. I was happy. I was going to live.

I made it to the pharmacy without having to stop at any red light. Yes, some were red but I said I didn't stop. The prescription was filled pretty fast and I took the first dose while driving out of the lot. The next morning... better. The next day... more better. Today... bestest. And I still have two doses left. I love this stuff. But all of this is not what I want to blog about. This is called the "setup".

So I get home and looked closely at the box. My new friend, Azithromycin 250mg tablets.

Then as I always do, I looked to see where this great stuff came from. And I saw that it was "Manufactured for: TEVA Pharmaceuticals USA, Sellersville, PA." Ahhh, the good ole USA. But then I noticed above the "manufactured for" was a "Manufactured In"......


And there it was. "Manufactured in ISRAEL by TEVA Pharmaceutical Ind. LTD., Jerusalem, 91010, Israel".


!!!! My new wonder drug that probably saved my life was not even made in the USA!! Oy vey!! As much as I hate not buying American made products when I can I now can't even get my cold taken care of by a drug made in our own country. And we all know Americans can make some great drugs. Not to mention the great pharmaceutical drugs we make.


So now what do I do? I took the first dose not knowing they were made in a foreign country. I already paid my money for the pills. So I guess I'll have to finish the rest of the dosage. Then in the future I'll have to see if I can get this again by a company making it here in our country. Either by an established pharmaceutical company or some guy named Ray Ray on the south side of town. 

Hey, I have nothing against the Israelis. I love their UZIs and their salt. But I'd rather buy my drugs from an American.  At a pharmacy or down the street from a school yard.

I Just Can't See It....

I have a funny story I must share with you. It's one of those stories that even though it is about a serious subject, you can't help but smile and shake your head.
Recently I went for my tri-annual eye exam. (Yes, I usually wait until I can't see if the light is red or green before I make an appointment). 

You need to know that I am in the VA health system and I get my medical care at the VA hospital in Bay Pines, Florida. So I made my appointment and arrived on time. As usual, I didn't have to wait long before I was called back for my eye exam. I was seen by a wonderful doctor. She was probably gave me the most thorough eye exam I ever had. 

My prescription had indeed changed and I was given a new, stronger prescription. As everyone knows that has ever had an eye exam, you get your eyes dilated during the exam and when you leave your eyes are still very dilated. So much so that you need to wear sunglasses to shield the brightness outside.

Of course I never thought ahead and did not take a pair of sunglasses with me. As I was about to leave the doctor asked if I had any and after I said I did not she reached into a drawer and handed me a pair of thin plastic sunglasses. The were very large, almost like the size you see older people wearing in Florida. They made me think of them as disposable glasses. But they worked. They helped shield me from the Florida sun since my pupils were the size of a quarter.

As I unfolded them and started to put them on I looked at the earpiece and saw something that made me shake my head in disbelief. "Made in China" was printed right on the ear piece! Yep. The United States Veterans Administration oversees the health and care of all of our nation's veterans and after getting your eyes examined you are given a pair of sunglasses that are made in China! Not in the U.S. Not in any city in our country. 

I found that to be ironic and funny at first. But the more I thought about it the more I serious I got. I now most of the things we are forced to buy in this country come from other countries other than our own. I do not like that. I hate that. I have no control over that. Except I still try to buy things that are made in the USA, even though it is difficult at times.

But what bothers me about this is that this is a government agency that you would connect with our military. And then they give you a product that was not even made in our own country. Sad. We can not find any manufacturer in the US that can make a cheap pair of sunglasses that are going to be given to our veterans? And since it is paid for with part of my tax dollars, I don't even care if the cost was higher. Pay it! And product that is doled out by any federal agency should be made in America. Period. No question about it. All of a sudden it's not a funny story anymore....

Made In The USA

Those are a dozen of my favorite letters, especially when they are in that exact order. M-A-D-E-I-N-T-H-E-U-S-A. I can honestly say that I look at the packaging of almost everything I buy and look to see where the item was made. I may not be able to get everything I need from manufacturers in the U.S. but I try.

 And from time to time I like to share with you companies that are still making things right in our own country. One such company is Mag Industries headquartered in Ontario, California. I know, it may not sound like an American city but I'm telling myself that the city was founded by Mr. Ontario.

The story of its founder, Anthony Maglica, is very interesting and in order to keep this post short, you can click on his name to be linked to the company's history. In 1979 he introduced the 'Maglite' flashlight.

If you are a police officer or firefighter or other emergency worker, then you know all about Maglite. It changed the portable lighting industry forever. I used a Maglite for my entire law enforcement career and can attest that they are simply the best flashlight you can get. Not just for their durability and reliability, but because they are still only made in America. I used a rechargeable Maglite for many years on third-shift and sometimes it went most of the shift without getting recharged and it always worked whenever I needed it.

The company employs about 850 people and is expanding its manufacturing plant to keep up with the demand for their products. Read more about their commitment to being an American company at this link: 'Commitment'.

If you really want to be impressed, go to their "Timeline" page and start looking at their history from the beginning until now and just look at the donations they make to so many charities and worthwhile events. You have to be impressed. I know I'm proud of their history and the fact that they are another example of a great company still not outsourcing their products to another country in order to save a dime.

Do you want to see how tough and dependable these flashlights are? Go to their "Amazing Stories" link and read what actual users have to say about their products.

If you are in the market for a dependable flashlight that you can rely on then please consider buying a Maglite. You'll be getting a great product and you'll be supporting an American company.

Can You Hear Me Now???

Mom

 

Let me set up this story for you. My mother is 82 years old and is living in a wonderful extended care facility in St Petersburg, Florida. She's been there for about 3 years and she simply loves it. With the medical care requirements being so technical and her needing attended to all through out the day, it would be impossible for her to get that same amount of care and attention at any other location.

Bon Secours Maria Manor

She has all the comforts of home including TV, refrigerator, three hot meals a day, all in bed, a roommate and plus plenty of interaction with other people. Oh, and a telephone. A "land line". Through Verizon.

 

We selected the very basic home package the company had; Local calls only, no long distance. That works fine, all her kids and family lives locally and any friend that lives far away always calls her. She is allowed 30 outgoing calls a month. That might sound low but she'll go for a week or more without calling anyone, we all call her. Incoming calls are unlimited. 

Even if she went over her allotted 30 out-going calls she would just have to pay a small charge for every call over the 30. That has never happened.

She gets all this service for $11.99 a month. Sounds like a good deal huh? I have the monthly bill sent to me and I make the payment. The average bill is usually $22.26 each month..... Let's recap. The phone plan costs $11.99 each month. I pay $22.26 each month. Why?

Because of "Taxes, Fees and Other Charges". That's what the section of the bill says right below the heading that says "Current Charges Subtotal..$11.99".

Here is the breakdown for those "Taxes, Fees and Other Charges":

Taxes, Government Surcharges and Fees
Federal Excise Tax..................................   .55
FL Local Communications Services Tax.....  1.21 
Fl State Gross Receipts Tax.....................    .46
Telecommunications Relay Service...........    .11
County 911 Funding Fee..........................    .50

Verizon Surcharges and Other Charges and Credits
Federal Universal Service Fee....................  .94
Federal subscriber line charge................... 6.50

Total taxes, Fees and Other Charges........ $10.27

An Example of A Verizon Bill, Not Mom's

So $11.99 for the phone service and $10.27 for the taxes and fees, for a total of $22.26. Wow. The taxes and fees are almost as much as the entire charge for the phone service!


And does any consumer really understand what those taxes and fees actually are for? I don't. "Telecommunication Relay Service"? "Gross Receipts Tax"? "Communications Services Tax"? How about the "Universal Service Fee"? Does that actually cover the entire universe? And the largest charge of all, the "Federal Subscriber Line Charge"? When did I "subscribe"? And what did I subscribe for? Magazines? 

To be fair, I know that there has to be taxes and fees for certain things in this world. I can understand the "County 911 funding fee". As a retired law enforcement officer I must admit I am quite fond of the 911 system and 50 cents a month doesn't bother me. But the remaining fees really bug me. I'd rather pay a 7% state sales tax on the phone service or even a 10% total tax to be split by the state and federal government, even though I can't figure out why our federal government is getting a penny for a service that is being sold by a private company.

So take a peek at you next phone bill and see how you are being charged. And if you ever find out how I can "unsubscribe" to the Federal subscriber line, please let me know.

Are We All Just Crazy.....

My wife and I spent almost 3 weeks at our cabin in western Kentucky and I really just wanted to point out something that simply amazes me whenever I see it.

While taking a day-trip on our vacation we were in Bowling Green, Kentucky.This was back in late August. Gasoline prices for the area we were in, including the area around our cabin, was averaging about $3.59-$3.69 per gallon. When we got to Bowling Green and were on on of the main streets looking for a White Castle, I noticed there must have been a half-dozen gas stations within a 3 block area.
All of the stations were selling their gas for $3.69 and one advertised $3.68 per gallon. Then, in the middle of all these stations I saw a Raceway station with its huge sign advertising their gas for $3.44 per gallon. I'll let that sink in....... Go ahead, go back and read that again, I'll wait......

All of the stations were selling their gas for $3.69 per gallon and the Raceway was 25 CENTS cheaper per gallon! (I should have added about 10 exclamation points to show my amazement).

Now you would think my next comment would be that the Raceway had cars backed out onto the street waiting for gas and the other stations were empty. But I can't say that. Sure, Raceway was doing a good steady business and I filled up there also but all of the other stations had customers also. Lots and lots of people were paying the extra 25 cents per gallon and not using Raceway.

Please, can anyone out there explain to me why that would happen? I also saw that same scene at one other location while on our trip and it also involved another Raceway. It is mind boggling why people would pay more money for gas than they have to.

That's a perfect example of why we are paying whatever prices the oil companies want to charge us. Gas prices have been falling every week for the past couple of months, but only by a penny or two every other day. When gas prices rise they jump by 8-10 cents a gallon or higher EACH day. You NEVER see them fall that fast.

So please do me a favor and if you are one of those people that would pay even a nickel more for gas than a station a block away from you, please tell me why. And if you are one of the people that paid 25 cents more for gas in Bowling Green, please tell me you escaped from a mental home so I won't think you are just a stupid fool.

How Sweet It Is......

You may have noticed that most of my posts on this blog usually deal with examples of how we are losing control of our own country. Crooked politicians, crooked-greedy bankers and wall street hot shots, greedy over-priced oil companies, and the outsourcing of jobs and products manufactured in our country.

Well, on occasion, I come across positive articles about things that are still being produced in the USA and I love to share that information. Anytime I can knowingly buy a product that is made here I make sure I purchase that product.

Without going into too much detail about my eating habits and my cholesterol level I want to share with you a wonderful sweet. It is Creme de Pirouline, a 'rolled wafer' made in the USA by the Peter DeBeukelaer Corp., Madison, MS. I am enjoying the chocolate hazelnut version and I must say it is a great tasting, light dessert that you always have room for after any meal. The advertising on the cute tin they come in says, "Indulge in the swirl of life". 

According to their website, "the DeBeukelaer family has been baking premium Belgium Biscuits and Wafers since 1860. Their bakers still follow the same critical standards and traditions of our forefathers. With all that history behind the name, when we put DeBeukelaer on the package we promise it will be delicious and consistent every time." 

It's always a pleasant surprise to pick up an item in the store and see the "Made in the USA" logo with a picture of our flag. So whenever I see that proudly proclaimed on any package I make sure I buy their product and pass along the information to my family and friends. 

Check out their products and their website at Pirouline.com . That's pronounced, 'peer-o-lean'. If you have an extra minute, drop them a quick comment to just say thanks for keeping their company in America.

How Can You Argue With This?

I came across this following letter to the editor that I believe came from the Iosco County News Herald in Michigan on June 9, 2011. Even though you could come up with dozens of other comparisons, this article pretty much sums up the mess we have made in our country. Click on the article to see it full size.

*******

I received a comment about this post and I couldn't reply to it in the comment box because it wouldn't accept that many characters. So I'll add it to the post now:




1) "if the congress lies to us its just politics" you vote for them, if you don't like them vote them out. if you don't like the candidates get active in the primaries. if you don't like money in politics organize for campaign finance reform. don't just be bitter and complain.
**How can you vote them out if the people that don't think they lie outnumber those that do?
2) "if we dislike a black person, we're racist and if a black dislikes whites it's their 1st amendment right" not going to comment besides saying that really isn't very subtle.
**You can't dislike someone because of what they say or do and it have nothing to do with their race??
3) "the government spends millions to rehabilitate criminals" maybe in sweden. **You can't even accept something when it's completely factual. Look at any prison in THIS country and see what money is spent on rehabilitation programs.
4) "you can teach that homosexuality is OK" (god forbid!) "you better not use the word God in the process" (why would you? and of course you can, you just can't encourage religion)
**'Why would you'? maybe because a lot of people believe God says it is a sin. Who encourages religion in public schools? By reciting the Pledge of Allegiance?
5) "you can kill an unborn child". well no you can't if it hasn't been born you can't possibly kill it. the guy's complaining about terminating a pregnancy. if only he was so compassionate about what happens to people _after_ birth.
**This is probably your most ridiculous statement of all. So as it is growing inside a woman for months, with a heartbeat and brain activity it is NOT alive?? It has to come outside the body to be killed? Please tell me you are writing from a mental hospital.
6) "its wrong to execute a mass murderer" the government poisons criminals to death all the time so that's just a flat-out lie.
**We actually agree on something! Yes, execute murderers! The closest a criminal gets to being poisoned is by eating their meals.
7) "we don't burn books in America" of course not. "we now rewrite them" another lie.
**I haven't seen a pile of books being burned for decades. Pretty sure he is referring to the rewriting of Huckleberry Finn as one example. Plenty more to come I'm sure.
8) "we got rid of the communist and socialist threat by renaming them progressives". nonsense. communists were defeated in the cold war. progressives are as american as apple pie. who got women the vote? progressives. who passed civil rights? progressives. who passed ss and medicare/medicaid? progressives. what was teddy roosevelt, the biggest alpha male pro-american president of all time? a progressive.
**"Communists were defeated in the cold war"? Someone forgot to tell China, Cuba, Laos, North Korea and Vietnam that they were defeated.
"[we] have no problem protecting the 38th parallel in Korea" nope. it's that whole thing about not wanting the north to start a god awful conflict with the south.
**He's not saying we shouldn't be in Korea for that reason, he's saying we don't put enough effort to protect our borders.
9)"you can have pornography on TV or the internet". yes, that's called freedom, that's called liberty. "you cannot put a nativity scene in public" not if you're the government, no. ever seen muslims get away with put up their stuff in similar situations? nope.
**So a city or county, that wants to display a nativity scene can be told no? By who? A select small group of people who don't believe in God? And it is OK? You agree with that? I didn't know Muslims had a 'similar situation' like nativity scenes or Christmas.
10)"it's wrong to use an animal" some people might think that, they might have compassion or something terrible like that, but apparently no one cares. animal testing is alive and well, hope that makes you feel better.
**He IS saying that there is plenty of animal testing, and there is more protesting about that then using a fetus for testing! Yes, it's alright to have compassion for animals but how about a little more for a baby? Oh, wait, they aren't alive because they aren't 'born' yet according to you.
11)"give [money] to those who don't want to work" since bill clinton did welfare reform welfare basically doesn't exist anymore, so no not true (again).
**You're off your medications aren't you?? Welfare "doesn't exist anymore"??? Free health care, food stamps, housing, extended unemployment payments, etc., aren't forms of welfare? Just because they quit referring to it as "waiting for my welfare check" doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
12)"raises our taxes" obama cut taxes 18 times, you just didn't pay attention.
**He's not referring to specifically Obama, but to tax raises in general to offset certain crisis's. As to Obama's 18 tax cuts: Many are renewals of tax breaks that already existed. Others are expansions of previous breaks. And every time a measure gets renewed, the Obama administration is counting it as yet another tax cut. If extensions or expansions aren't double counted, the list comes out to 14 tax breaks -- and only FIVE are still around.
13)"parenting has been replaced by ritalin and video games" i think he's trying to say he'd prefer it if parents beat their kids more? not sure.
**Could it be that he is saying parents should be spending actual time with their kids at home, at a dinner table, at a homework table, reading to them at bedtime, playing with them outside in fresh air?? Or I guess to you it just means beating them. A reflection of your buried childhood memories?
14)"we still have freedom of speech but only if we are being PC". let's see: muslim? peter king will start a congressional hearing. hate muslims? you have free rain to provoke an international crisis that kills god knows how many people. hate gay people? you can protest with your despicable signs at funerals and antonin scalia and clarence thomas have no problem with it (or the rest of scotus).
**Not sure what you mean at all. It works this way: If one group can protest their beliefs then another group can protest theirs. Even if you don't agree with it or if it is despicable.


Thanks for the comments jatkins. Now go take your meds.

Spinning Out of Control.....

Below is an article published by The Washington Times. If you need further proof that we are losing our America then read this slowly:

"Air Force Buys Chinese Planes"

The Air Force Academy recently purchased 25 advanced trainers from Cirrus Aircraft for its powered-flight program, an integral part of the cadets pilot training.

After Cessna, the Minnesota-based Cirrus Aircraft is the worlds second- largest manufacturer of single-engine general aviation aircraft. The new planes, known as T-53A trainers, come with sophisticated avionics and the most advanced flight safety and recovery design and systems. They are custom-designed for the Air Force based on Cirrus SR20 model.

The deal is worth $6.1 million. Delivery is already under way and is expected to be completed by 2012.

One problem is that Cirrus Industries Inc., the aircraft maker’s parent company, is 100 percent owned by the Chinese communist government. It was purchased by the Chinese in March 2011 for a reported $210 million.

The sale was not blocked for national security concerns by Congress or the Obama administration, even with opposition from Rep. Chip Cravaack, Minnesota Republican, who stated in a letter to the Treasury Department in March that the sale could compromise U.S. national security. Despite alarms coming from several sides, the sale was finalized by the end of June.

Only days after the purchase was completed, the new Chinese owners received the aircraft order from the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. The Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece newspaper Peoples Daily on Tuesday called the transaction “revolutionary” because it marked the first time the U.S. Air Force ordered an entire set of aircraft from China for military training equipment.

Cirrus was sold to a Chinese firm called China Aviation Industry General Aircraft Co. Ltd., or CAIGA, a subsidiary of China Aviation Industry Corp., a government-owned conglomerate formed in July 2008 under direct orders from the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. With seemingly unlimited financial resources from the newly rich Chinese government, China Aviation Industry Corp. is the Chinese company with the most state-owned banks loan guarantees, more than $50 billion in 2009 alone. It was created with the goal of gobbling up the worlds general aviation assets during the historic global financial downturn.

Reporting on the significance of the Cirrus deal, the government-controlled English newspaper China Daily said “the acquisition of Cirrus will be an important step for [China Aviation Industry Corp.s] global expansion plan, which aims to set up R&D, sales and service centers in China, the U.S. and Europe. The company currently has its manufacturing base in Zhuhai, Guangdong province.”

That's right folks, the U.S. Air Force has ordered planes to be built by the Chinese communists! I actually had to research this and I found out that it is all true. I guess the next step is to buy all of out White House phone equipment from them and have their technicians install it all...... 

Want more proof? Click on this link: Company Merger

 

They Have Their Cake and Cheat It Too......

My wife and I recently took a three week vacation out wets and we visited a number of national parks and landmarks throughout 20 states. I mention that only to show you that I have a pretty good idea of gasoline prices in a lot of different areas of this country. Prices for the most part averaged about $3.74 per gallon, with the lowest being $3.48 and the highest at $4.04. 

Near the end of our trip we visited friends and family in the northern Kentucky area. We arrived on a Monday and the local gas prices were mostly $3.65 per gallon. Now, I have lived most of my life in the Florence, Ky area which, for many years, has had a "weekend price hike". Somewhere near the end of the week gas stations across the board raise their prices. Not by a penny or two but by 10-15 cents per gallon or more. Then, toward the beginning of the new week they drop back down but not as fast as they rose.

On Wednesday morning during my visit the prices were still around $3.65 but by late morning all the local prices were now $3.95! ALL of them! A 30-cent jump out of nowhere. To make it even more suspicious,  it seems that when these large increases occur, every station somehow manages to have the exact same price. During normal times most stations have a couple of cents differences and you can pick and choose which station you want to use. But not on these weekend price hikes. They all somehow happen to be the exact same price. This has been going on in this area for many, many years. Locals even know to get their gas early in the week. BUt since Florence is loacted on I-75 and is the main corridor for north-south traffic to many states, travelers must pay a premium.

We left there on Thursday morning with a half tank of gas and I was determined not to pay the gouging prices. I drove south and every station in the Florence/Boone County area was staying at $3.95. We continued into Kenton and Grant counties and the prices were still at that price, minus a cent or two. To show you how much of a rip-off it really is, once we traveled south to the Lexington area we saw prices dropping into the $3.80's and $3.70's. I pulled off at an exit just north of Berea, Kentucky and the price was $3.85. I was  still steamed at the gouging rip-off and told my wife I would go one more exit and then I'd have to pay whatever it cost since we were almost empty. I got off at the first Berea exit and saw a Shell station that had a price of $3.55 per gallon! Yes, 40-cents cheaper than the northern Kentucky area! Can someone explain that to me? 

It just shows you that we are getting ripped off every day not just by the oil companies but by the station owners as well. The price of a barrel of oil during our travels did not increase but actually decreased some during our travels. It also did not increase during our stay in the Florence area. Yet, gas jumped 30 cents within one hour on a Wednesday morning. When will we stand up together and stop this gouging? If no one had bought an ounce of gas from Wednesday and all through the weekend how fast do you think those prices would have fallen? 

Give my plan a try. STOP buying ANY gas from Exxon/Mobile. Period. Use any other station. Watch the prices fall like a rock.

Here We Come America!

I know it's been a long time since I added a new post but it seems like I can never get the free time to sit and write. Plus, with all the crazy things that are still happening in this country I'd be writing a dozen posts a day to keep up with it all. 

But I'm about to jump right out into the heart of this country and see how things are going. My wife and I are leaving Friday for a three week vacation. We're heading out west and will be stopping at almost a dozen National parks and other landmarks. 

Thankfully, all of those places are still owned by us (Americans) and haven't be bought by the Japanese or Germans.

I'll try and post some details during the trip and I'll write in detail after we return home. We'll be driving an American made Dodge van, converted into a Roadtrek RV by our Canadian neighbors. 
So look out America, here we come!