Real Thought

While there are riots in Germany over the upcoming G8 summit with “anti-globalization” protesters turning violent, I thought now would be a good tome to examine the darker side of globalization. Forget the “outsourcing” of jobs, forget the loss of productivity, what I am talking about is the very real danger of poisoning. First contaminated pet food, using an ingredient from China cause a number of deaths in pet animals and led to a massive pet food recall and now the FDA has issued a warning for American consumers not to use toothpaste manufactured in China due to possible contamination with diethylene glycol, a poisonous chemical used in antifreeze. Perhaps it is time for the United States to reexamine its free trade policies.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not some nutjob who wants to return to the days of protective tariffs and trade wars. I am a committed free trade libertarian, but I believe that we all have to realize that free trade only works in an ideal in which all countries have the same standards when it comes to product safety.  Clearly this is not the case now.One could even make the argument that China really doesn’t care about product safety. It is clear that the Chinese have no regard for the consumers of products that are produced in China as long as those producers are overseas. At least fifty people have died in Panama in the last year because of the contaminated toothpaste.

As we here in the United States buy more and more products made in countries where labor costs are low and we search for ever and ever lower prices on consumer goods, we should remember that other countries do not have the same product standard what we enjoy and that many of these products can be dangerous, if not deadly.

Perhaps we should restrict our free trade with others until we know that the American public will remain safe.

Today is the day in which about a quarter of the world’s population celebrates Christ’s resurrection.  This is the day which marks the most singular event in the history of the world.  This is the day which fuels our belief in God, the sacrifice of his only begotten Son and life eternal.

Jesus died so that I and everyone who believes in him may be freed of the burden of sin and have life eternal.  Today, he rose from the dead and showed us that death could be conquered and that there was nothing to fear.  For that act and that act alone, I owe God my faith and thanks until the day I die.

Happy Easter.

What the hell has happened to the British? Once the Blessed Isle commanded the largest modern empire in the world. The sun never set on the British Empire. There is a great scene in John Boorman’s semi-autobiographical film, Hope and Glory in which the school marm instructs the class that all of the “pink bits” on the world map are British. Now all of that is a faded memory. The Labour government has decided to mothball half the British fleet and grovel to a semi-literate crackpot in Iran for the release of captured sailors and Marines. Once upon a time, this would have been a cause for war. Now? An excuse to debase an entire nation. On top of that, British teachers are now staying away from “controversial topics” like the Holocaust and the Crusades for fear of offending their Muslim students. What happened to the country which stood alone against the entire might of the Third Reich? Where is the country which spawned Drake, Nelson, Montgomery and Churchill? I think I’ll go watch Zulu and remember a time when the Brits had some pride to go along with their arrogance.

So, it appears that many of the 2008 presidential hopefuls have created MySpace pages.  Evidently, Barak Obama, Hillary Clinton and John McCain have pages as do John Edwards, Al Gore and others.  As I have said before, my training is in Political Science and to be quite honest, I find the benefit of having a MySpace page for a presidential candidate dubious at best.  It has been shown that for years the people who vote the most consistently in this country are middle class, white males between the ages of 28-75.  I believe that this is the demographic which all candidates should be trying to influence; yet we have candidates wasting time and resources creating MySpace pages.  I will venture a guess that the demographic for MySpace is largely female, below the voting age, with some underage males and pedophiles thrown in.  I know that most of my students, who are 12 and 13, find MySpace incredibly boring.  Perhaps all these candidates have forgotten that the voting age in the United States is eighteen or perhaps they are trying to capture the pedophile vote.  Doesn’t anyone THINK before they act in the political arena any more?  Or is it that this current crop of candidates is so starved for attention and success that they will try anything to get elected?  God help the republic if the latter is the case.

Matthew Bigg, writing for Reuters, makes that claim. According to his story, “Post 9/11, Islam flourishes among blacks”, Bigg says that, “Islam is growing fast among African-Americans.” He then goes on to state that African Americans remain “undeterred” by the “increased scrutiny” of Muslims after September 11th and that Islams appeal comes from its discipline and devotion to God and its “affinity with people who are oppressed.”

According to Bigg, Islam is the fastest growing religion among Black Americans and that increasing numbers of African Americans see Islam as a “legitimate alternative” to Christianity. Bigg says that this is “according to imams and experts.” He goes on to quote Lawrence Mamiya, a professor of religion at Vassar, who says that there may be as many as two million African American Muslims but also said that there are no precise figures. Bigg then reports that conversion to Islam is seen as a way to connect with an African heritage, that it is a way to protest America’s need to fight wars to maintain its economic status and that it is a way to fight injustice and “European imperialism”.

Let’s look critically at Bigg’s claims, shall we? First, does Islam have an affinity for the oppressed? That is very much open to debate. I am not sure that women, Christians, Jews and other non-Muslims who live in Muslim countries would share that view. In fact, a very strong case can be made that Islam is a very oppressive religion and highly intolerant of those who wish to live outside its strictures. After all, homosexuality carries the death penalty in many Middle Eastern countries. So does advocating any other religion other than Islam. So does having sexual relations out of wedlock. I would argue that these are not the positions of a religion which has an affinity for the oppressed.

Now, as far as bing a protest against imperialism, well that simply shows a complete and utter lack of historical knowledge. Islam began as a warrior faith, it was initially spread through conquest; first of Arabia, then of the Middle East and North Africa and finally of Asia Minor, Spain and Eastern Europe. Rather than being anti-imperialist, Islam has been, from its very founding, a religion which seeks world domination by conversion and, if that fails, conquest. If that is not imperialist, I don’t know what is.

As far as Islam being part of an “African” heritage, that claim also crumbles under critical examination. Islam was founded in Arabia and replaced many of the native African religions, both in North and sub-Saharan Africa. Islam is a relatively recent phenomenon in Africa, only spreading to Africa in the Medieval and early modern periods. Islam is as African as lutefisk. In fact, Coptic Christianity, Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity, Roman Catholicism and Judaism have much longer histories in Africa than Islam. Let us not forget that Saint Augustine was African.

Finally, there are the claims that Islam is the fastest growing religion among African Americans and that it has around two million African American adherents. There are no “precise figures” to support this claim. It is based on the statements of “imams and experts”. Well, you can search the Internet and find out how many Southern Baptists there are in America, how many Lutherans, Presbyterians, Jews, Catholics, Sikhs, Hindus and Buddhists. With no precise figures there is simply no way of knowing how many African American Muslims there are. None. All that these “imams and experts” have done pull a figure out of thin air. I could make the claim that there are three hundred thousand Martians on Earth. I don’t have precise figures, but I am an “expert” on Martians. Would my claim be a lead story for Reuters? I doubt it.

Now, I have no doubt that some form of Islam is gaining popularity among African Americans. I am sure that many in the African American community see Islam as a religion which provides the structure which many of them feel will help cure many of the ills in the African American community. Honestly, so could Christianity or Judaism or Rastafarianism, if the teaching of those religions were actually followed. That is the rub.

Last night my Sea Scouts and I helped work a crab feed for the Boy’s and Girl’s Club of Napa.  We get a healthy donation to do this so that the organizers don’t have to worry about it.  Basically we place the crab in the buckets, help clean up the kitchen, empty trash and then clean up after the event.  Typically the crab feeds in Napa are ticketed at $50 per person and draw an upper middle class crowd.  You know, middle management types, teachers, attorneys, bankers, business owners, generally the people who don’t have to worry about paying the bills and are comfortably well off.  These are the people who drive Priuses and are concerned about “global warming” and other “progressive issues.”

What concerns me is the amount of food that is wasted at these events.  Half loaves of bread that are drenched in spilled wine, half empty buckets of crab left out on tables for several hours, gallons of wine in opened and partially drunk bottles, half finished portions left on plates, you get the picture.  The amount of food that is wasted is appalling not to mention the mess these people leave behind.  It took about twelve of us about two hours to complete the clean up.  Wine and beverages were left everywhere, the bathrooms in the hall were TRASHED and in general the hall looked as though a herd of rhinoceroses had been through the place.  Not that there was any excuse for this.  There were abundant trash cans and recycling bins through out the hall and I know that these people would never tolerate that level of waste in their own houses.  These are the people who believe that “An Inconvenient Truth” is a great movie and I am sure that they are sympathetic to the plight of the Sudanese in Darfur, but it all rings hollow to me as I am disposing of enough wasted food to feed the needy for a couple of days at least.  It makes me wonder how many of those “socially conscious” people out there are really just hypocrites.

It is time for the almost daily updates on consumer habits leading up to Christmas. According to Reuters, sales have been down to start the holiday spending season. Perhaps there is a reason for this. I am old enough to remember when the Christmas shopping season started the day after Thanksgiving. That was the purpose of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, to let people know that the Christmas season had begun. Most stores didn’t decorate for Christmas until the day after Thanksgiving, close to the traditional start of Advent.

Now, of course, stores start Christmas shopping season in October, sometimes skipping Thanksgiving all together. Much like professional sports in which the “season” for a sport has been extended to absurdity, stores have extend the traditional shopping seasons the same way. “Back To School” sales often start before the end of the previous school year. “Spring Sales” often begin in the dead of winter and “Summer” sales often begin during the first few days of spring. Anyone for a bikini in March?

I realize that all of this has been done in order to lure consumers into parting with the fruits of their labor, a practice which I hardly condemn, but the negative is that traditional “shopping days” have lost almost all use and an indicator of sales. Add internet shopping sites and the traditional start of shopping season dates are about as quaint as Grandma’s flat iron, now used as a doorstop; they are still recognized but are hardly useful.

As for me, well I have some shopping to do, mostly on the net and through local merchants.

“Environmental activist” Laurie David is going on tour with Sheryl Crow to change the way “middle America” thinks about global warming and environmental issues according to a report from Reuters. According to Mrs. David, wife of Larry David, we middle Americans are simply not doing enough to halt global warming. She and Ms Crow are going to head across country in a bio-diesel tour bus to convince average Americans that they need to do more to save the planet.

In case you didn’t know, Mrs. David is the producer of “An Inconvenient Truth”, the Al Gore scare film about global warming. Her husband was the creator of “Seinfeld” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and is a Hollywood heavy hitter. These seem to be her only qualifications as an “environmental activist”.

According to Mrs. David, “The rest of the world is so much more engaged on this issue than the United States…We’re the biggest cause of global warming pollution now and we are doing the least about it and that is not acceptable.” Now, I take exception to that statement. I would argue that the United States has been a leader in curbing pollution and certainly does a better job of it than say India, China, Russia, Brazil or even Mexico. Obviously, Mrs. David has not heard of the massive pollution problems those countries face or simply doesn’t care about them.

Yes, the United States does consume a huge portion of the world’s energy and yes we do create a great deal of pollution but this is because the United States produces more than any other country and has a higher standard of living for a greater number of people than any other country. All of this comes at a cost and that cost is the consumption of energy and some pollution. Perhaps Mrs. David should start closer to home, after all the film industry is one of the top polluters in the Los Angeles area.

What really bothers me is not Mrs. David’s ignorance of true environmental matters, however, it is that a group of the wealthy, living detached from the everyday world of the middle and lower classes, should deem it their mission to try to change the lifestyle of the classes beneath them. Does Mrs. David really believe that the average American is not concerned about environmental issues? As fuel and water and consumer prices go ever higher, does she not believe that the market will cause the “average” person to use less resources or seek less costly alternatives? Does she really believe that we are all that stupid? Is this any less of an insult than Marie Antoinette’s alleged statement that the French peasants should eat cake? I don’t think so.

Here again, we have someone with a huge amount of money, which she did not earn and too much time on her hands. Mrs. David can afford to buy “environmentally friendly” products, many of which are in reality no more environmentally friendly that standard products, because her husband has had the luck and talent to make huge sums of money in the entertainment industry. Ms Crow has huge sums of money because she has had luck and talent also; but money, luck and talent do not experts make. In reality, most people in this country are too busy working for a living to worry if the toilet paper that they use is made of post consumer waste as Mrs. David does. They have children to provide for, food to buy, bills, mortgages and tuitions to pay. Perhaps they can be forgiven for not wondering if using organic and recycled products will really help conserve resources.

As for Ms Crow and Mrs David, I have a few final suggestions: first, the American public is not as environmentally unaware as you think. Second, give up the bus. Even a bus running on bio-diesel creates waste heat which contributes to global warming and spews particulates into the air. Third, if you really want to make a statement, give up your lavish lifestyles. Perhaps Mrs. David can sell the house in Malibu, overlooking the Pacific, and buy a nice, snug four bedroom place in Iowa. I am sure that the heating and cooling costs will be less. Perhaps Ms Crow could do the same. If the Hollywood types would tend to their own wasteful lifestyles first and then talk to the rest of us, maybe we would then listen. Right now, Mrs. David and her ilk sound similar to the French aristocrats on the eve of the Revolution to my ears.

I realize that I left off with a relatively short list and some incomplete information, so here are a few other things I like and and some further information.

First, Zippo lighters. I forgot to mention that I have one that my father in law gave me that was manufactured in 1960 and still works every time. Also, should your lighter ever need repair, Zippo will fix it for free. Period. Not bad for something that can be purchased for under $20.

Next, Craftsman tools. How can you argue with a wrench or socket or screwdriver that will be replaced for free if it ever breaks?

Third, Rival crock pots. There is nothing better for stews, chili, corned beef or pot roast. I am using one that was made in the 70’s and it still works great.

Fourth, Swiss Army knives. I have always traveled with one and I own at least three now. They simply are the best “multi tool” out there. One word of caution, do not succumb to the temptation of buying the model which has everything on it. It is too large and unwieldy. Get several smaller ones instead, you will be happier.

Finally, Waring Blendors. In a day and age where small appliances are seen as “throw away” items, Waring still makes the best. Forget about having 37 million cycles and speeds, how can you go wrong with “On, Off, Pulse” and a motor that causes the lights to dim when you turn it on? Give me an appliance with no more than two buttons any day of the week.

Remember when things used to be made well? You could buy a certain brand of object and know that it would function well, be reliable and hardly ever wear out? Well, here is a list of items I still think are some of the best in their respective areas:

1. Zippo lighters. They are a classic American icon and last forever. They rarely, if ever fail to work and there is that unique sound they make when you flip them open. There is nothing like them in the world.

2. Dell Computers. Whatever Michael Dell does to run his company, it should be taught in every business school in America. Yes, I know that a lot of the assembly and tech support has been outsourced, but, I have NEVER, EVER had a problem with a Dell.

3. Lodge Cast Iron Pots and Pans. You can inherit them from your great grandparents. ‘Nuff said?

4. Kitchenaid stand mixers. Power tools for the cook. Get one, NOW!

5. Stihl Chainsaws. Always dependable and built like a tank. Forget the others, get a Stihl.

6. Ticonderoga pencils. I do a lot of work with pencils in my profession and without a doubt Ticonderogas are the best.

7. Garmin GPS. Sure Trimble and Magellan are good, but if you want a reliable, easy to use GPS with excellent customer support, get a Garmin.

8. Maglite flashlights. I have dropped them, run over them, submerged them and they still work like a champ.

9. Henckels knives. Well made, well balanced and last forever. I use these more than any other kitchen tool.

10. Coleman camping stoves. I have a Coleman 2 burner white gas stove that is pushing 25 years old and it has yet to fail me even though I give it minimal maintenance.

11. Cross pens. I own several and find them to be the smoothest writing, most comfortable, stylish pens you can get for the money.

Yes, Virginia, there are still items out there which perform their intended function, day in, day out. All you have to do is look.