Happy Thursday

Just a brief note, and I do promise to get things going again here, Real Soon Now.

Saw a report yesterday out of Knoxville, Tennessee.  Lovely area, lived there twice, miss it every day.  Wonderful people, largely.

Largely, but not all.  Some notable exceptions.  One stood out in the news yesterday.  Seems a fellow was running a company that has government contract for military boots.  Some of use remember the canvas-sided boot worn in Viet Nam era.  I find it to be comfortable, but mine all wore out long ago, which took some doing.  Anyway, it seems this guy was now operating the firm that makes the current equivalent.  There are some requirements in the contract, as anyone who has ever done business with government at any level, certainly the feds, knows.  One of which was,in this case, the products be made in America.  But they weren't.  Coming from our "good friends" in China.  So he's in A Lot Of Trouble, as are several of the officers of that company.
The news agency mentioned all of that. Oddly, I saw no mention of the potential risk to military personnel we are now wearing this sub-standard gear.   An army travels on its feet as well as its stomach, so this approximates sabotage.  Doubt that anyone will hang over it.  Too bad.

sticking my head in the door 31 December 2015

that will be about the last time to show 2015 as a current date.  I guess that will substitute for progress.

The intention is to get this site back on track in the coming year(s).  Sorry for the mess.

Happy New Year to all.

VERY brief update

some things have been going on, well behind the scenes here.  One by-product of that has been the virtual hiatus on this site for the last year and long delays before that.
I am hoping -- not swearing to but hoping --to get things back on a more even keel in the near future.
There is some change going on in the world, the terms "re-shoring" and "in-shoring" are now, occasionally being heard, something I would not have predicted back when I was trying to get this whole thing going.  So there is some change, positive change.  And some change that is less so.
Be back soon, I hope.

a new resource Saturday, 4 January 2014

just making a newly discovered resource more widely known, perhaps

check out Still Made in USA

A Brief Note -- Sunday, September 29th, 2013

Sorry that things have been so disarrayed recently.  Hopefully, that will be changing soon.  It is Sunday evening.  Lord willing, this is our last night in Lower Alabama.  Again, Lord willing, this time tomorrow we will be on the highway progressing towards the Greater Cleveland area.  This has been a very very rough month or two, as we make some substantial changes in our lives. Having been away from virtually our entire extended family for more than 20 years, it's like Going Home.  Sort of.  Not sure my real Home is on this earth anyway, but will be nice to see family again.
So come back soon, we hope to have things more in order as possible.

Brief word 1/1/13

been on hiatus.
back shortly

another one gone

Most people know the name Briggs & Stratton.  Among other things, they make small-horsepower gasoline engines for lawn mowers, portable generators, and such.  Good name, good brand, good reputation.
And pulling the rug out like so many others.
It was announced yesterday that they are reducing their involvement in the operation in Auburn, Alabama to the tune of some 250 jobs.
And moving the work to  China.
Some may regard this as progress.  I am not one of them.  Nor, I suspect, would be those directly affected, or their neighbors, families, and others.

Brief Word

this blog has been in an unplanned hiatus for too long. I will be changing that in the near future, Lord willing, as some aspects of our life even out. Stay tuned, there is much to see on this matter.

A Different Kind of Che Shirt

A Different Kind of Che Shirt

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Brief Note Oct 18

Sorry for the long gaps in posting. Out of hours in the week, sorry. Hope to be doing more on this subject soon.

To tide over, check out the site at MadeInUSA

Today's Entry Drywall with updates on 11 April

Drywall. Gypsum board. Sheet rock. You may know it under other names, but most of us know what it is, it is part of the system of the walls in your home, and, probably, your office, church, and the like. Places where people are. Some pretty good makers in this country, names like US Gypsum, Certainteed, Georgia-Pacific and others.

But, alas!, someone decided to bring some in from the ChiComs. Nothing like enriching the People's Liberation Army, the ''silent partner'' in so many of these ventures. With predictable results. Those who were complicit in the slaughter of some 67,000,000 of their fellow countrymen will not quibble about safety for a bunch of gwailos in the US.

And so we have this. People in the US seeing damage in their residences as a result of the fumes given off by ChiCom gypsum board. Good article here.

How's that Globalism doing? Still think that Free Trade is always good??

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Updated:
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While I loathe CNN, you know the story about a blind pig. Here's their story on it.\
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Updated 11 April. An AP story in the Washington Examiner on the same issue.

Perhaps this story has ''legs'', perhaps some people are starting to realize the extent of the issue.
While there is plenty of blame to go around, my 'favorite' villains (after the Democrat Party, the AFL-CIO, and other boils on the nation's butt) are the MBA's and CPA's that have far far too much influence in most companies. They've done more damage than several earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and hurricanes combined.
Yes, the ChiComs do this all the time. Tell me again, please, why we buy anything from these murderous heathen illegitimati.

More Mexican Candy

Milton Hershey would be spinning in his grave.

Seems that Hershey is shutting down another U.S. plant, this one in Reading, Pennsylvania, and moving it to Monterrey, Mexico. Monterrey is one of those ''armpits of the world'' places. Hope you really like all those NAFTA Peppermint Patties and 5th Avenue bars that are to be made there. You can have them, but I won't be buying them. Not even one.

Hershey used to be a great outfit and the products were great. I will not buy them any more, not any.
Here's the link.

More On Candy From Mexico (that you thought was American)

For once, USA Today had a semi-good story here. Subject is candy. A rather topical story, it being Valentine's Day and all, and a lot of us, wishing to stay married and intact, sought the candy route.
Guess most people thought that Hershey candy was still made in Hershey, PA. It isn't, it's gone the Mexico route. Thanks, NAFTA.
And Brach's, which moved there in 2003.
And they are not alone.

In some ways, I can't blame them. A good bit of the reason, I hear, is the cost of sugar. Seems the the sugar cartel (probably not an entirely accurate term, but not totally inaccurate either) has purchased enough votes in the Congress to ensure that foreign sugar has such high tariffs that the cost per pound of sugar in the US is about twice that in the rest of the world. Sugar, obviously, and the price thereof, is a major concern of candy makers. Mexico is a bit more sensible.
By the way, the next time some nitwit starts to grumble about the use of high fructose corn syrup as a sweetener, now you know why so many food processors prefer to use it: it's less expensive. This is what happens when you get the federal government involved in trading votes for cash and being involved in matters that are, strictly speaking, NONE of the federal government's business.

More ChiCom junk - Virii in photo frames

Story is here in SF Gate, Popular photo frames carry risk of infection, a story of ChiCom products that have the potential that, when either directly plugged into your PC or if you are using a flash drive back and forth, to infect your PC.

Don't you just love what the butchers of Tien An Men Square continue to provide us?

An Overlooked One -- Fake ChiCom medical items

I know this is an old one, dating to 2007 in fact. But I'd overlooked it, until my Beloved Elder Daughter was diagnosed with Insulin-Resistant Diabetes. She has to test a LOT. To find that the test strips, some sold under the Johnson & Johnson label, were fakes put out by the same evil butchers that gave us Tien An Men Square, is a shock.

I will remember this the next time some flak is reciting all the benefits of unlimited global free trade. Only works, when it works at all, when morals and standards are equal. Clearly, this is not the case with the ChiComs.

More ChiCom Melamine and contaminated honey too

Got to just love those ChiComs, don't you? I mean, the same fine folks that slaughtered some 67,000,000 of their own people in the name of 'Liberty, Equality, Fraternity', ooops! Sorry, that was ''Arbeit Macht Frei'', oops again, it was ''Share the Wealth Around'', was that it? Sounds like an Obama campaign slogan. Or a Mugabe or Chavez or Castro one.
Anyway, these fine folks are embroiled in yet another scandal involving the adulteration of foodstuffs with highly toxic materials like melamine. Go ahead, read up on it.

Ain't all this 'Globalization' wonderful? Sure does improve everything.

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UPDATE:

Almost overlooked this one.
What do you think about contaminated honey coming in from the ChiCom illegitimati?
Check this one out.
By the way, this gets briefly into a part of the problem. Product from the ChiComs may be ''transshipped'' via another country before coming here. That intermediary nation may then be shown on what little labeling there is as being the nation of origin. Fun, huh? By the way, some of that contaminated honey, it is rumored, may be showing up in places like Wal-Mart.

Industrial Chemicals in Chinese foodstuffs

The headline itself says a lot:

China sets melamine levels for milk products

This says a great deal to me.
Question: does this mean that the ChiComs, those 'nice agrarian reformers' so beloved by Bill Ayers and the other terrorist companions of Barack Obama, the ones who slaughtered some 67,000,000 of their own countrymen AFTER seizing power, have now determined to protect the food supply? Or. more likely, have they simply decided to pretend that they are doing so? Or , possibly, are they setting MINIMUM levels of industrial poisons to be slipped into the food products sold to stupid gwailo foreigners, as well as some of their own excess - and therefore expendable - population?
Think this doesn't affect you? Think again. You have no idea whatever of the nation of origin of some of the ingredients of the products, including vitamins and processed foods, that you stick into your mouth daily. You really don't.

Ain't globalization wonderful?

And one for contrast, ball gloves by Nokona

There's not much more that needs to be added. This is a story of a company that we should support. They make baseball gloves. In Texas. As in ''in the USA''. You will find in the story that most of Rawlins' and Wilson's gloves are made ''in Asia''. Parse that as you will.

Next time you are considering a purchase, you may want to consider what you buy.

This has some further information.

Just a brief update

Yes, things have been, ummm ''interesting'' around here. Sorry for the very long interlude and I promise we'll be back on this as soon as possible.
In the meantime, you may want to look back on this story. Just in case you forgot.

Stopping by

Sorry for the break in posting. We will be back on a regular basis, soon.