It's wonderful when others respect the right to vote in our nation...
a couple of members of the Black Panther party are intimidating voters outside a polling place in a Philadelphia neighborhood. One of the men is a certified poll watcher. The other man was seen carrying a nightstick and was later escorted away from the polling place by police officers.
Is this what Obama meant by 'community defense service?'
You want change, you got it...
I need to start a pool as to how quickly Obama will re-cant on his tax cut pledge...which Bill Clinton did fairly quickly after winning the 1992 election, noting that he had inherited such a bad economy, he just couldn't cut taxes now. Well, Obama is inheriting much, much worse in terms of the total picture...so, what's it going to be.
I say it happens before Thanksgiving...
We had moved home...living in my parents house awaiting our own home to be completed. That afternoon, I had a scheduled meeting with the escrow company to sign off on the papers for the house. 
I woke up like any other morning and got ready for work...my mother and father were reading the morning newspaper and I flipped on the TV to catch the latest before heading out the door at around 7:30am...and there it was; the World Trade Center was on fire...seriously on fire.
And then I saw the 2nd plane hit the building and I instantly said, 'We're at war.'
I went to work and listened to the radio and learned of the horrors that were unfolding in Washington DC and in Pennsylvania. I felt empty...I felt strange.
I went for a walk...there were no airplanes in the skies. It was dead quiet.
We went for that appointed meeting with our escrow company and after sitting down and looking at the first page of the document, I asked that we come back another day, so I didn't have that date as the anniversary of my mortgage.
Don't forget...
Then came the campaign's disclosure that Palin's unmarried 17-year-old daughter, Bristol, was pregnant. The father is Levi Johnston, who has been a hockey player at Bristol's high school, The New York Post and The New York Daily News reported in their Tuesday editions.
I find this whole flap somewhat laughable...and now especially so, since it was a hockey player who did the dirty deed.
The Canucks could probably use this guy up front as he obviously knows how to shoot for goal.
UPDATE; And a beautiful mullet too...
Levi Johnston, an 18-year-old self-described "f---in' redneck,"
Obama's money quote
"It's not about black versus white. It's about the past versus the future."
There is something creepy about electing a guy with the name 'Hussein' during these times in our lives. He may have all the sound bites and such...but...yeeesh...just gives me the heebie jeebies.
But then...who else is there but a bunch of tax and spend knuckleheads on both sides of the aisle.
Finally, Fred shows up...from The Weekly Standard.
I'm suffering from debate fatigue, but there were a few good moments in tonight's debate, and none more impressive than this sudden awakening by Fred Thomspon (video below), who I think emerged as the evenings clear winner. I hadn't noticed Thompson using cue cards in the earlier debates, so maybe that was the key here. Regardless, he clearly came ready to play, and for the first time he seemed a bit desperate--almost like he wants to be president.
It's been 6 years and the war on terror continues. Many people will post their remembrances to what happened on that fateful day. I think there are plenty of others that had far closer experiences to that day than I. I just woke up to it on the news, just like many others on the west coast at that time. The one thing I remember vividly, were the beautiful blue skies we had that day and the days after...and there were no airplanes in the skies.
I'd rather just leave you with this. The war continues and the bad guys are still after us...
Get your wallets out. John & Rebecca are running for the Cure in Vancouver...dedicate it to Stevo's tai-tai and little hero.
It's not about the money...its about the amazing work that this money goes to do. It helps research new treatments that Stevo's Tai-Tai and hero received. The race is also about people getting together and just...you know...being together.
Miss Teen America contestant...Miss South Carolina:
And people wonder why America gets a bad rap around the world.The news is filled with actions and reactions to Mattel's 'total' recall of thousand upon thousands of toys that were apparently made with lead paint and contained some small parts. Although I am not in the toy industry, my job centers around the very problems that Mattel finds itself in today.
First, buying product from China/Hong Kong/Taiwan companies is a risk that any company or entrepreneur takes upon themselves when they get into the import/export racket. If you are a one man operation, you are relying an awful lot on a quick look-see of the operations, and then the ability of the managers of the factory you are purchasing from to do the right thing and provide you the exact product you have bought.
For a large corporation with billions in revenue and assets, you would think this would be an easy task. But, the toy business is cut-throat in this region and those factories are often squeezed very tight in order to maintain profit margins for their buyer. The task is just as difficult for them as it is for the small guy. The difference is...the larger corporation has the resources to put behind the product process to monitor and ensure its products are being built to its specifications.
In Mattel's statement, they said this:
"We have immediately implemented a strengthened three-point check system: First, we're requiring that only paint from certified suppliers be used and requiring every single batch of paint at every single vendor to be tested. If it doesn't pass, it doesn't get used. Second, we are tightening controls throughout the production process at vendor facilities and increasing unannounced random inspections. Third, we're testing every production run of finished toys to ensure compliance before they reach our customers. We've met with vendors to ensure they understand our tightened procedures and our absolute requirement of strict adherence to them," said Jim Walter, senior vice president of Worldwide Quality Assurance, Mattel.
Reading this statement, I am assuming that none of these protocol's were in place currently and that these are all new; 'We have immediately implemented...' That is scary...and it brings me back to why I live in China in the first place...to do exactly all the things that Mattel has apparently not been doing in the first place with the company I work for.
To expand a little further with what Mattel was or wasn't doing with its product, you have to look at the supplier. Remember I mentioned the single entrepreneur who had to trust he was getting what he was buying...in a way large corporations are held to the same sort of standard. You can put in plenty of processes and procedures to ensure your products are being made with only approved materials from approved vendors in approved facilities. But, if the supplier wants to get around that, they will. Business is built on the honor system. And, with a completely corrupt system that is China and much of SE Asia, it is difficult to follow along sometimes.
Example...if the supplier is really getting squeezed by the buyer to hit a target price for his goods...he has a choice, meet the price or refuse the orders. Refusing the orders could shut his factory down and he could lose thousands. Accepting the lower price, puts pressure on him to earn his thousands. Two thirds of the cost of any product is materials...the supplier will look to that for cost savings. By substituting where he can from lower cost vendors, he can effectively make his money, while his buyer is left clueless (provided they don't have a rigorous testing regimen for their materials and suppliers).
Unfortunately when you listen to the business pundits and the talking heads of the media, they tend to focus on the business practices as though you are doing business in the USA with another USA company. China didn't get to be the fastest growing economy in the world by sitting around following the rules. People have one thing in mind here...make money...period. It doesn't matter how they get there. The risks of getting caught substituting cheaper material is so much smaller than the money made from doing it...so they will do it.
I dread the day that this sort of thing happens to me on my watch...but it will...I know it will. My job here is to keep alert to my product and the processes and ensure that we have all our bases covered so it doesn't happen. Apparently, Mattel didn't do that and now they are paying for it.
