Articles about quality of U.S. goods are 'bunch of bull corn'

When I read a recent story written by Charles Duhigg and Keith Bradsher in The New York Times, it made my blood boil:

The headline read, "For Apple 'Made in USA' is a relic of a bygone era." The story went on to say that "... the flexibility, diligence and industrial skills of foreign workers- have so outpaced their U.S. counterparts that 'Made in the USA' is no longer a viable option for most Apple products."

What a bunch of bull-corn!

The New York Times Apple story goes on to say, "Apple employs 43,000 people in the United States and 20,000 overseas."

That's 20,000 jobs that could be American jobs!

Earlier, this by Bradsher appeared with the headline, "U.S. and China on Brink of Trade War Over Solar Power." The story went on to report that "... a new American Trade Group was formed this week, representing buyers and installers of solar-energy systems. It argues that any new Commerce Department restrictions on Chinese solar panels would slow the adoption of clean energy technology in the United States and could cost thousands of American jobs..."

You have probably read the solar panel story about how Solyndra and other U.S. manufacturers of solar panels were put out of business by cheap imports from China. The Trade Group's claim that imports create American jobs is, of course, ludicrous on its face. There are companies in this country that profit greatly from buying cheap products from China, products that used to be made by American workers.

In some of our stores it is now difficult to find merchandise made in the U.S. Those Chinese products that were once less expensive than the ones made in the U.S. are now going UP in price, now that the American manufacturers have effectively been put out business and closed their factories.

What can we do? Buy American whenever possible. Pick up the item; examine it closely and you will see if it is made here or overseas. If it is cheaper than a comparable U.S. product, when you buy the cheap one think of your neighbors going to the unemployment office. And the day may come when YOU will be in the same line.

August Galiano

With all the squabbling going on about water and water rights, shouldn't the United States be focusing more on perfecting the process of turning saltwater into fresh water? Today's technology allows us to turn salty ocean water into drinking water, so why aren't we doing more in that field?

The process is called desalination, and it is being used more and more around the world to provide people with needed fresh water. It's true that most of the United States has - or can gain access to - ample supplies of fresh water for drinking purposes. But what about the future? As our population continues to grow, shortages of fresh water will occur more often. Wouldn't it be prudent of us to come up with a solution beforehand?

There are several processes used to desalinate water, including distillation, electrodialysis, freezing, ion exchange and reverse osmosis. The most promising approach appears to be reverse osmosis, in which pressure is applied to saltwater to force it through a special membrane. Only pure water passes, leaving concentrated seawater behind. The cost is about $2 per 1,000 gallons. This process is now used by a plant in Tampa Bay, Florida, that produces 25 million gallons of drinking water a day.

I think it would behoove us to be ahead of the curve on this. After all, water is the most precious of our commodities, and it's one thing we can't live without.

Jerome Hall

Thank you for the harder Sudoku puzzles in The Leader. The challenge, time and frustration I used to spend reading Lynn Ashby is being put to better use and infinitely more rewarding.

K. Skrivanek

Finally, the powers-that-be have decided to put an end to the revolving-door policy of sending illegal immigrants back to Mexico without any punishment.

The U.S. Border Patrol reports that the combination of more agents and new technology has led to a 80 percent drop in the number of apprehensions from 2000 to 2011.

Because of this, the Border Patrol has begun imposing more serious penalties on almost everyone it catches, from Texas to California. Consequences can be harsh, including felony prosecution or being sent back to Mexico but to an unfamiliar border city hundreds of miles away from where they entered the U.S.

Now, if we can just find a way to deal with the millions of illegal immigrants already living here. Giving them a way to first attain legal status and later U.S. citizenship sounds reasonable.

Mike Booth

Thanks to the generous efforts of Houston-area residents, thousands of hurting children worldwide had the opportunity to experience the joy of Christmas. Residents joined Operation Christmas Child, the world's largest Christmas project of its kind, to pack 39,712 shoe boxes with toys, school supplies and necessity items. These gift-filled shoe boxes are making their way - or have already made their way - into the hands of needy children in 100 receiving countries.

On behalf of our community, I would like to thank the volunteers at local collection sites and everyone who packed an Operation Christmas Child shoe box gift. For many of the children receiving these boxes, the simple shoe box will be the first gift they have ever received.

Although Houston-area drop-off locations are closed until November 2012, gifts are received throughout the year at Samaritan's Purse, 801 Bamboo Road, Boone, N.C., 28607.

Those who would like to get involved year-round in helping children in need through Operation Christmas Child may call 817-595-2230 or visit www.samaritanspurse.org/occ.

Thanks again to everyone who participated in this project. A simple gift, packed with love, can communicate hope and transform the lives of children worldwide!

Mark Cooper
Texas Regional Director
Operation Christmas Child

In the South, if you want to zing someone without the appearance of malice, you simply preface your remarks with "bless his/her heart."

Bless Lynn Ashby's heart. In his annual prediction, his "bless their heart" zingers are as follows:

• January - Dan Quayle, Conservative.

• February - Newt Gingrich and Gov. Rick Perry, both Conservatives.

• March - Ron Paul, Libertarian.

• April - Glen Beck, Conservative and Ron Paul (again).

• May - Gov. Perry (again) and John Boehmer, Conservative, along with the Koch Brothers.

If you're sensing a trend here, raise your hand and shout out "I do, I do."

• June - the Tea Party and Mitt Romney, Conservative.

• July - again, Gov. Perry and Ron Paul.

• August - Sarah Palin, Conservative.

• September - Perry again, followed by Bill O'Reilly, Herman Cain and Michelle Bachmann, all Conservatives.

• October - Sarah Palin (again).

• November - Glen Beck (again).

• December - back to the Koch Brothers.

Now, let me balance out Ol' Lynn with my "bless their hearts" predictions as follows:

• January: Bill White accuses Gov. Perry of having too much hair, says "it rots the brain."

• February: Mayor Parker calls citizens "whiners," and says "if you use $18.53 worth of water and your bill is $52.44, you should be thankful you live in a progressive city that chose me as their Mayor."

• March: Nancy Pelosi sends IRS $6 million more than assessed, saying "We're not taxed enough."

• April: Warren Buffet sends IRS $36 billion more than assessed, and calls Pelosi a "tightwad."

• May: Hillary Clinton realizes an overnight profit of $3 million on a $100 investment in pork bellies, then proclaims that "capitalism still stinks."

• June: ABC, CBS and NBC lose ratings race to Fox News, claiming Americans are "dumbed down" by Fox.

• July: Obama says July has too many days; he keeps the 31st but eliminates the 4th.

• August: Bill Maher slams Tim Tebow, saying "I swear to God I can't stand him."

• September: Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals disenfranchises San Francisco, calling the city "too conservative."

• October: U.S. Senate abolishes Halloween, saying "nobody is gonna' be spookier than us."

• November: U.S. Attorney General Eric Holden assigns an extra club wielder to each polling place, saying "two is just not enough."

• December: Bill Clinton gifts Monica Lewinski with a check and a new blue dress, with a proviso she can't reveal.

Happy New Year!

Kenneth C. Graham

The pro-business group, Greater Houston Partnership, wants to legalize Houston-area undocumented workers. The Partnership is attempting to tantalize a broke City of Houston, claiming it would generate about $1.4 billion annually in lost tax revenue if illegals were identified and taxed. Indeed, the Pew Hispanic Center says the savings could be even higher.

Are these organizations considering the results of a recent audit report exposing the more than $4.2 billion collected by ITIN tax filers in child credits? Low-income filers are eligible for $1,000 per child in tax credits. Many payroll employees reveal in anecdotal blogs how illegal aliens often use stolen IDs and claim the maximum number of dependents. That's a real cash cow.

Then, there are the infrastructural costs of supporting illegal aliens in overpopulation, quality-of-life issues, education costs, incarceration, uninsured driver insurance premiums borne by silly law-abiders, welfare and hospital costs estimated at about $8.9 billion by a FAIR-2010 special report on Texas outlays.

More importantly, though, is the simple fact that these cheap-labor lobby groups step out with such nonsense before even offering to reimburse the taxpayers for the decades-long, illegal alien labor supply subsidies we, as taxpayers, have already supplied them. The mind-blowing arrogance is further exacerbated by the fact that what they are really doing is selling out the birthright citizenship of our progeny.

Our nation is not for sale, Greater Houston Partnership!

Elizabeth Theiss

After reading about how Houston's homicide rate is the lowest its been in decades, I have a theory that others have already expounded upon: the drop can be attributed to the growing numbers of citizens who are licensed to carry concealed weapons. Since the bad guys don't know who is armed and who isn't, they face the possibility that their potential victims will fight back - and that spooks them.

And more often than not these days, victims are fighting back. Over the past year or so, many articles have appeared in our local newspapers telling of homeowners/business owners who have: (a) shot at and chased off intruders trying to rob them or steal from them; (b) shot and wounded said intruders; or (c) shot and killed said intruders.

I say "bravo" to Texas for allowing its citizens to carry concealed weapons because it gives us another tool to help fight crime.

Jimmy Briscoe

I am glad to hear some of our City Council members have finally realized the urgency of ensuring that buildings should be built at least 30 or 40 feet from surrounding homes. I agree with Councilwoman Clutterbuck that this decision has been delayed too long and is urgently needed to protect some neighborhoods from further erosion.

I hope they have included the new foundation height in the new ordinance and do not permit garages on slabs to be considered a residence's first floor, thereby making a two-story a three-story, violating deed restrictions in some neighborhoods. And I hope they inform the permitting department of new rulings.

It has been difficult to witness the practically unrestricted building that has certainly changed the character of some neighborhoods. Stricter implementation of building codes should be a part of the City's responsibility and should not be left up almost entirely to the many individual homeowner associations. I still maintain we need zoning, not little individual cities, and we need more uniformity.

I just wonder how many people in Houston have ever seen the books of City Ordinances. It doesn't look like any have ever been rescinded; they just keep adding new ones, some of which actually have been needed. Some libraries have copies of all the City Ordinances, and one library told me they are available on computers.

Well, I hope everybody has enjoyed the holidays, so good luck and good health in our new year of 2012.

M.B. Savage

Regarding Garden Oaks resident Alex Martinez running for president ("Taking a stand, Dec. 15"), the poor guy doesn't have a snowflake's chance in a Houston August. But I wholeheartedly, vehemently agree with every single plank in his platform.

J. Reynolds

I have just read an article in The Wall Street Journal with the headline, "Slow Sales Dogged (GM's) Volt Before Fires." In addition to the battery fires, the article reported that the auto maker's battery-powered Volt has been hampered by production delays, distribution problems and questions about whether Americans really want electric cars.

I have several observations. First and foremost, there were no serious damages or injuries resulting from the failure of the Volt's batteries. The Volt fires were concerned with batteries made for General Motors by "LG Chem" in South Korea. They were not made in the U.S. (There's a lesson right there).

Also, most new designs have problems that are worked out. For example the Toyota Prius, an excellent product that required a testing period, is now one of the most popular high-mileage vehicles.

As for those "slow sales" reported by the WSJ, at $41,000 a crack, who is surprised that sales are sluggish? Contrast this with the substantial subsidy enjoyed by some of the foreign competing vehicles, where the foreign government helps the manufacturer move product by subsidizing many of the costs of production on a permanent basis. Why don't we do the same?

Somewhere in the future, through a stroke of good fortune, we may awake to realize that we are in a war with the rest of the world. And "pussy footing around" just isn't going to cut it!

August Galiano

It happened again today. I was driving eastbound in the center lane on the Katy Freeway, going with the traffic flow at about 65 miles an hour, when I ran upon a vehicle that was probably going about 40 or 45. Luckily I was on my toes and I had room to swerve around it.

As I passed by, I glanced over and there was the driver, a woman in her 40s or 50s, her eyes front and center as she calmly yacked away on her cell phone, not paying a bit of attention to what was going on around her. As I glanced in the rear view mirror, I observed other cars swerving around her, too.

You can't tell me that talking on the cell phone or texting is not a dangerous past-time. Is talking on your cell while on the road really that important that you risk your life and the lives of others around you? Unless it's a real emergency, can't you put off using the phone until you get to your destination? Is talking with your bud/family member/client while behind the wheel worth getting injured or worse? And while we're at it, simply putting on your turn blinker does not magically protect you from hitting someone, or from getting hit. I see people all the time put on their blinker and then immediately drift over to the next lane, without checking their rear view mirror to see if the person in the vehicle behind them was looking or acknowledged them.

And why, oh why, do you have to come to a full stop or near full stop while making a simple turn? That's not how you learned it in driver's ed, was it? It seems to me that we were told to take our foot off the gas as we make the turn. Not take your foot off the gas, put on the brakes and come to a complete stop, and then turn.

With the way people drive Ñ and I haven't even hit upon the speed at which some drivers motor down the road Ñ it's a wonder there aren't more wrecks and injuries on Houston streets and freeways. And with more and more people moving here, the situation is only going to get worse.

Doug McCain

I read with interest the story in our daily newspaper about America's record-setting deportations of illegal immigrants. According to ICE officials, we gave the boot to almost 400,000 of them last year and more than half of them had criminal records.

Those of us who support legal immigration should be quite pleased with the news, but there's just one problem - and it's a rather large one. There was no news of what happens to these deportees once they leave our soil.

Considering our country's porous borders, I have a feeling that most - if not all - of these ne'er-do-wells have already made their way back to the good ol' USA, where they're happily enjoying the good life, courtesy of the American taxpayer.

Jimmy Briscoe

Well, here we go again. The City of Houston is cutting another crony 380 agreement to further another developer's project that will negatively affect the Heights. More traffic, more noise, more crime.

These 380 deals effectively make us taxpayers unwilling partners in these real estate ventures. Our city leaders seem hellbent on promoting commercial development whether the local community wants it or not. As with the Heights Walmart and the Ashby high-rise, it appears that residents are increasingly on one side and and our elected officials are on the other, along with the business interests.

This 380 arrangement is becoming so common, cozy and accepted that you should expect it to bring further commercialization to a block even closer to you in the near future unless we make our opposition clear to city hall.

Mary Johnson

This school year, superhero ALUMINUM CAN MUSIC MAN is encouraging recycling at Helms Community Learning Center.

ALUMINUM CAN MUSIC MAN encourages everyone at the school, located at 503 West 21st, to take their aluminum cans and scrap metal to C&D Scrap Metal at 25th and Durham and tell them, "These are for Helms." The proceeds from all cans that are donated will go directly to support recycling education at the elementary school.

For information about ALUMINUM CAN MUSIC MAN, visit his secret lair online at www.aluminumcanmusicman.blogspot.com.

Mike Tauser

Thank you, Mr. Lynn Ashby, for your column in the Sept. 22 Leader about our Department of Homeland Security on down to our Texas government's senseless, mind-numbing administration of those funds. Otherwise we wouldn't know about more wasteful spending of our tax dollars.

I wonder how other states managed - or got - those funds. And right below your column there is a heading, "Program to discuss possible cuts to Social Security and Medicare." Kind of makes you sick, doesn't it?

M. Savage

For years now, the homeowners living near Lutheran High North High School have had to put up with various parking and noise issues coming from the school's sports fields located at West 34th and Alba in Garden Oaks.

These were small issues and LHN did it all it could to be a good neighbor. Now, it seems, LHN is leasing out the fields on the weekends to various sports teams and has forgotten how to be a good neighbor. These sports teams show up in mass numbers, with DJs playing extremely loud music, and there's no police supervision. Recently the music-playing has lasted until 9:30 p.m. on a Sunday night. E-mails to Mychal Thom, LHN's Head of School, have gone unanswered. Show some respect LHN to neighbors who have been here longer than you have.

M. Meyer

Did you know that those empty aluminum cans and scrap metal people have can help promote recycling education at one of the schools in this neighborhood?

When someone takes their cans and scrap metal to C&D Scrap Metal at West 25th and Durham and tells them, "These are for Helms," the money from those cans and scrap metal will go to Helms Community Learning Center at 503 West 21st, where it will be used by teachers for recycling/earth-friendly education projects.

Anyone with questions about this project may contact me directly at aluminumcanman@yahoo.com or visit my Secret Lair at www.aluminumcanmusicman.blogspot.com.

Aluminum Can Music Man
(aka Mike Tauser)