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Tag Archives: As I see It

What about before?


One of the erstwhile members of Congress has taken issue with the Olympic teams uniforms and their manufacturing origin. This may seem a humorous happenstance or maybe just poor judgement but look at the country of manufacture on a great quantity of goods used in America. This Country has  been crunched by the outsourced manufacture of hard goods, clothing, footwear and more with no squawks from the Congress who purport to look after the American people. Could it be that as long as no one important speaks up, its OK?  Did anyone consider the consequences of having the clothing made somewhere other than the USA? I would imagine Mr. Lauren (Ralph) gave it no thought as where the merchandise would be produced as he may have used this source before to produce his own goods. So I say What about before when clothing made outside the U.S. was beginning? I personally do not like the way Chinese made Levis or wranglers fit. I am not so thrilled with certain shoes either, my size is 8 in most shoes or 9 in Chinese or Bangladesh.

What It’s Really About.


Pondering the current Presidential race with all of  the related blurbs, opinions and statistics, I think I understand the assorted opinions and  misconceptions that are everywhere. We as a country are reduced to the sum of our stereotypes. This is one of the few countries that aside from our native Americans have no true national origin. Contrary to popular opinion we are a heady mixture of the rest of the world. We are the product of  influences from every ethno-religious faction on the planet.  This Presidential campaign has brought out the worst in us more so than the last when Mr. Obama won the office. We expected bigger changes than we have received and the fence walkers feel vindicated even thought their understanding of how government works is flawed.  Why do we accept less than ideal results from  a White office holder but not a person of color? History will show that the fault in this failure  extends back to  our Congress no matter who is in the oval office but has grown bitterly worse due to the color of the office holders skin. The Congress has failed us more than any Oval Office holder. We have let our innate,perceived and learned biases influence our judgement as surely as if we had that behaviour  injected by a needle. To accept or tolerate this behaviour in any form should not be in our National DNA since that DNA is all of us. If we accept the tacit Racism employed by our Congress can we trust their judgement on issues that affect us all?

Fast Food Is Not!


After many visits to several fast food operations locally, I have concluded that fast food is not so fast.To begin with it is a off-putting exercise in just placing your order.Initially you are assailed with a recorded message to get you buy a supersize, specialty item or a full meal. When you tell them what you want it usually takes two (2) times to get your order across correctly (hopefully). Once you accomplished that feat, you go to the pay window and there your order is verified. You then move to the window where you receive your order after answering the question verifying your order. Overall this process appears simple except in the establishments where you can “have it your way”. Once embarking on the road to “having it your way”, chances are your order will be wrong at least 1/2 the time. Once have determined that your order is wrong , you have to go into the store and get it corrected. You will then receive a multitude of pardons for the mistake while your stomach growls. The conclusion I have reached is fast food is not and the chance of having it your way is sure to create chaos in the establishments routine and increasing the chance of an error in your order. Now to discuss the workers, I have noticed that many of the workers are incompetent and zombie like.All of then save a few suffer from the ability to clearly communicate with the customer. It is like dealing with someone who would rather be elsewhere, doing some thing different.

The Head Start Saga


Most of us are familiar with the “Star Wars” saga. I have observed an activity which parallels the Star Wars story in some part. A Non-Profit in Springfield, IL hired a retired state worker to administer one of its many programs. This person, through some machinations much like those of the Senator from “Naboo,” rose to the position of COO within six months. Once in that position, the real personality emerged in the form of the “Dark Maiden”. This new seemingly omnipotent entity has almost singlehandedly gutted the Head Start Program. This has been accomplished by firing tenured teachers and other seasoned workers. There are also the cases of health issues in the buildings that have caused grievous harm to teachers and children. Unfortunately, the “Union (Freedom Fighters)” does not have a hero to lead them, and the fear of the “Dark Maiden” lays heavily over the Head Start program like a blanket. The underlying problems are as deep and pervasive as gas leaking from a broken line. The costs to run the program have been subverted to legal fees to fight the Union instead of using those same funds to improve the program and services to its clients. To date, over 30 workers have been eliminated with one poor excuse or another while the Non-Profit is still racking up huge legal fees to the detriment of the program. The general public is unaware of the extent of the problem as the “Evil Empire” has taken great pains to contain all information that would illuminate their process. Yet, there are still other forces at work that might at some point expose the true nature of this beast.

Orphans


In thinking about the number of celebrities who have adopted orphans outside of the United States, I am moved to think what about the orphans in the United States? What is the attraction for importing orphans rather than reduce the number in our own country? Would it not serve this country’s interest by adopting some of the many orphans here? As a matter of practicality folks who are able should be in the forefront to adopt in this country and not outside of it. As I see it there is less fanfare in adopting here than in another country and certainly these adoptions would be of more benefit here. These celebrities generate large amounts of personal money through their work in their medium and other large amounts for causes they believe in yet they take the odd route of adopting outside the country that they reside in. Their help in adopting may not necessarily greatly reduce the orphanage head count but it certainly would assist in helping some of the neediest here at home.

Give Me Some Space


A former law enforcement officer offered a recent comment on rivers who drive illegally close to the rear end of another moving vehicle. I was a school bus driver for a while and one of the items taught was the safe driving distance between vehicles. We were taught to allow enough space between your vehicle and the one in front of you so you can see the rear wheels on the pavement. This distance allows you to safely move around a vehicle that may have stopped due to an accident or a stall. I use this practice daily to insure there is enough distance to stop or go around if necessary. I completely understand Mr. belle’s annoyance with this practice of “bumper hugging” as it is dangerous and against the law. These “bumper huggers” appear to be involved in other activities other than driving ( I have personally observed some of these folks on cell phones or occupied with something in the backseat), which is a full time job when you are behind the wheel. I do understand that the police cannot deal with these types of potential traffic accidents but maybe the “huggers” can police themselves and give more space to the vehicle in front of them. This is common sense and common courtesy.