China Update!!

China has been sending tainted items to the United States. Related news this week:

U.S. health officials say they will stop imports of five species of fish from China because of concerns the seafood is contaminated with potentially dangerous antibiotics. (from Voice of America)

Tainted toothpaste that entered the United States from China last month was distributed more widely than the discount stores that carried them, a newspaper reported Thursday.
About 900,000 poisonous tubes have been found in hospitals for the mentally ill, prisons, juvenile detention centers, and some hospitals serving the general public, the New York Times reported. (CNN Money.com)

As mentioned below (see The Century of China) , America is putting itself at risk by importing from China and aiding their economy and, thus, the buildup of their military. Now, it is becoming more and more clear that there are health risks from importing Chinese goods. Why? Because the quality of Chinese goods is not very high due to the fact that they pay almost slave wages and, in some cases, have been accused of using slave labor in their manufacturing sites. The solution: Buy American. I know this is not easy, but I make the effort and buy American whenever possible. In doing so, I am helping to save American jobs. If more Americans were label conscious we could reduce Chinese imports, affect the Chinese economy and make it more difficult for China to build up their military.

This Week's Good Book - The Echoing Green: The Untold Story of Bobby Thomson, Ralph Branca and the Shot Heard Round the World

This is a good sports book about the people involved in one of the most famous sports moments of the 20th Century. The author goes into detail regarding the event and the lives of those involved. One twist in the story was the NY Giants stealing signs in 1951 at the Polo Grounds. None other than Leo Durocher is behind the "legal cheating" that takes place. This one home run marked the two principles, Ralph Branca and Bobby Thomson, forever. There are many familiar baseball names in this book. Many of them were players whom I recognized as managers later in their career. If you like baseball you will enjoy this book. 512 pages. Published in 2006 and available at Amazon.com.

Fly the Flag!

July 4th is one of my favorite holidays. I love this time of year. The picnics, family activities, reunions, fireworks, parades, etc. I consider myself to be rather patriotic. I mean this in the most inclusive sense. Even though I have disagreements with the way things are going in our government, I believe that ours is the best system. I believe in America. Now, there are those who may think that you can't be patriotic AND criticize the government, but they are not true believers in the First Amendment and our wonderful freedom of expression. (See the Quote of the Week.) One of those freedoms of expression is to fly the flag. I have a modest collection of American flags. On holidays I fly 5 of them at a time from the overhang of my garage. In order, they are: The Bennington Flag (has the "76") , The Betsy Ross Flag (stars in a circle), The Star Spangled Banner (15 stars), a 48-star flag and a 50-star flag. I encourage everyone to fly a flag on July 4th. Flags are inexpensive and easy to put up. I have a 5' x 8' flag that was flown over the U.S. Capitol on my birthday in the year 2000. It comes with with a certificate and is a nice keepsake. You can make arrangements online with your congressman to have this done for you and the cost is very reasonable. Happy Birthday America!

This Week's Good Movie - The Mission

Robert De Nero, Jeremy Irons and Aidan Quinn star in this historically accurate film about the Spanish and Portuguese in South America around 1750. Irons is a priest who ventures into the jungle and starts a mission among the natives. De Nero is a slaver who has a conversion and almost fanatically helps Irons. The missions are a safe haven for the natives who are subject to being enslaved by the Spanish and Portuguese. The church cedes the land to the Portuguese and the mission and its people are in danger of being captured or killed. There is great scenery, music and acting in this film. If you like De Nero or Irons or Quinn or you like history, this movie is well worth the rental. The DVD has a good feature on how the movie was made and the transport of a native tribe to the shooting location. I watch this film at least twice a year.

Why Don't Kids Play Anymore?

When I was growing up, you would ride your bike down the street and find kids playing football and baseball in their yard and basketball in their driveway. When was the last time you saw kids doing this? Think about it. Today, the kids are either indoors with computer games (That's what they call playing now.) or at an organized activity. This is a huge change in the way kids play. Now, mom drops junior off at the organized activity and then goes on her shopping trip. I coached my son in youth soccer. I figured that I would donate some of my time, since my son was in the activity. (When he decided he didn't want to play soccer anymore, we let him quit, although not in the middle of a season.) I found that it was so easy for parents to drop their kids off at soccer practice and be on their way, never helping in the activity. Let someone else take care of my kid.

Today, many kids are terribly overscheduled! Mom ferries the child to 3 activities the same day, after a long day at school. We must have the kid in hockey, swimming, martial arts, music lessons, dance lessons, basketball traveling team, pee wee football, etc...etc...etc. This is what I call activity day care. Have these parents ever asked their child what they want?

The result of this is that kids are denied a simple developmental activity...PLAYING. Kids need to interact with their peers and not have adults intrude 24/7. Kids learn to get along better when they play. Nowadays, kids in sports have learned to blame the referees and coaches for misfortune. Intrusive parents have taught kids that winning is the only thing that is important. When surveyed, kids report that the number one thing they want out of sports is fun. Winning is far down the list. However, parents make sure the kids have fancy uniforms with their names on the back and shower them with trophies. Is this appropriate for young kids?

Heck, we never had those problems. We made our own teams, coached ourselves and refereed our own games. If we didn't have 9 guys for a baseball team, we made do with less and adjusted our rules. "No hitting to right field cuz we don't have a right fielder." Everyone was welcome to play. We didn't hand-pick "traveling" teams with the best players. The only traveling we did was to the front yard or to the field behind the school. But we always made it home for dinner or before the sun went down. No one ever went home blaming the ref or ump or coach. We just had fun.

It's time to let kids be kids again.

The Century of China

The 20th Century was arguably the American Century. It began with McKinley/Roosevelt and the ascension of American power displayed when Teddy Roosevelt sent the Great White Fleet around the world in 1907. America's intervention in WWW-I and WWW-II was the difference in saving democracy as an institution.

Many years ago my father predicted that China would be the world power with which America would have to contend. His prediction is coming true. China is rapidly increasing the strength of its armed forces to the point that it will be able to flex its muscle around the world and firstly in the Taiwan Strait.

How does a country become a military power? Countries can only become a military power by first becoming an economic power. The Soviet Union did it, but they bankrupted the country in doing so and most of the country was 3rd world economically. Look at 3rd world countries like Libya and Iraq. In Libya (oil and natural gas) Khadafi flexed his muscle until the U.S. put him in his place. In Iraq, Saddam Hussein became an egomaniac thug with his oil reserves providing the money. These tinhorn dictators would have never been heard from had it not been for energy reserves as their bankroll.

So now we have China, a huge economic power. China is a far cry from the isolationist days of Mao. The number one reason that China is an economic power is America. China received Most Favored Nation Status from the U.S. and now our country is flooded with Chinese goods., thus making China an economic power. Every time you buy an item made in China you are contributing to the loss of American jobs and also to the military might of China, a military that America will have to confront some day.

This Week's Good Movie - Dr. Zhivago

Dr. Zhivago was written by Boris Pasternak in the Soviet Union. The text was smuggled across the Iron Curtain and published in the west where it won rave reviews. The setting is Russia in the years prior to and shortly after the October Revolution. The movie has all the elements of a classic film: romance, history, scenery, music and fine acting. Omar Sharif as Zhivago, the idealistic young physician/poet and Julie Christie as Lara, the vulnerable young girl, are thrown into the turmoil of World War I and the Russian Revolution. Survival and love become their focus as events beyond their control swirl about them. Rod Steiger does a great job playing the evil, yet practical Komarovsky. The film does an admirable job of showing the hypocrisy of the communist system. I recommend this film for anyone who loves history and who just loves great films!

This Week's Good Book - Alas Babylon

Alas Babylon, by Pat Frank is one of the first post-apocalyptic novels of the nuclear age. It concerns a small town in central Florida after a nuclear attack on the United States. I remember a TV version and it scared the heck out of me. Many years later, I searched for the book and made it a priority to read it. It begins by describing the aftermath of nuclear blasts. Although the town is not directly hit, it is affected in terms of the lack of utilities, the elimination of local government and a decline in civility. This is a scary and depressing reality. However, the book becomes more readible as the characters develop a strong sense of survival and community. This book will alert you to the realities of nuclear war while inspiring you. About 300 pages from Amazon.com.

Moderate - A Lost Label

Whatever happened to the "moderate" American? In this polarized political climate there seems to be a need to label everyone who expresses a viewpoint. Liberal or Conservative in various degrees seem to be the stock labels for us nowadays. This makes it easier to discuss issues since we now know what the other person is thinking based on the label. Of course, they couldn't possibly hold a view that is not verbatum from the liberal or conservative talking points that we get from talk radio or cable TV. When we use labels as a crutch, we leave no room for independent thinking. We assume this person has a conservative or liberal view on all issues. How simplistic!

Suggestion: Avoid labeling people and just listen to what they have to say. And, if you must use labels, add a third label to your list: MODERATE. There are many more moderate Americans than the talk shows would like you to believe. If people would think for themselves and stay away from labels, the talk shows would go off the air.