The full page ad placed by moveon.org in the NY Times smearing General Patreus ( or General Betray - Us as he was referred to in the ad) has led me to believe that as a political entity they crossed the line. I abhorred the swift boating of John Kerry in the 2004 campaign and in my opinion moveon.org has sunk into the same gutter as the extreme right.
The beginnings of moveon.org in response to the impeachment of President Clinton held promise for an effective political entity and indeed they helped propel Democrats to power in 2006. Unfortunately the power that moveon.org has gained has resulted in their advocating extreme positions with no room for compromise or pragmatism. They are hurting the Democrats who are being held hostage by moveon.org's political contributions. It will be interesting to see how the Democratic candidates handle this issue.
9/21/07
9/16/07
9/13/07
Iraq Will Continue To Be A Mess
I did not watch Bush speak this evening! What has already been released about his speech is enough to make me shudder about his Iraq "strategy" . "The frat" president is fixing it so that we will be occupying Iraq for years. The long awaited reports about progress in Iraq are close to my Spinning September15th post. We are stuck there as long as this man is President. I have come to the conclusion that this has something to do about preserving his questionable legacy. If we leave Iraq, Iran will seize control of Iraq. Georgie wouldn't want to be remembered as the President who lost the Middle East and its reserves of oil.
A rapid pullout from Iraq will not happen unless a feasible alternative to the strategy that Bush wants to pursue is found. Could that be to aggressively pursue a political solution that will split Iraq into three autonomous states as Joe Biden proposed months ago?
A rapid pullout from Iraq will not happen unless a feasible alternative to the strategy that Bush wants to pursue is found. Could that be to aggressively pursue a political solution that will split Iraq into three autonomous states as Joe Biden proposed months ago?
9/7/07
Made In China
It seems that almost every day there is a report about the poor quality of “ Made In China” products whether it be lead paint in toys, contaminated pet food, or sub par medications. (Of course China has suddenly found problems with products made in the U.S.A..) This has resulted in a tendency to shy away from products with the “Made In China” label, which is virtually impossible. American corporations have flocked to China with its cheap labor in order to supply Americans with the low cost products they demand.
Low cost and poor product quality do not have to be synonymous. Think back to the 30’s when a purchase of a product labeled “Made In Japan” was the equivalent to buying junk. That all changed in the late 40’s when The Japanese embraced the American quality guru W. Edwards Deming whose immense contributions to revolutionizing the concept of quality in Japanese manufacturing have been well documented.
The following are excerpts from the Encyclopedia of Small Business:
“Quality circles were originally associated with Japanese management and manufacturing techniques. The introduction of quality circles in Japan in the postwar years was inspired by the lectures of W. Edwards Deming (1900-1993), a statistician for the U.S. government. Deming based his proposals on the experience of U.S. firms operating under wartime industrial standards. Noting that American management had typically given line managers and engineers about 85 percent of the responsibility for quality control and line workers only about 15 percent, Deming argued that these shares should be reversed. He suggested redesigning production processes to more fully account for quality control, and continuously educating all employees in a firm—from the top down—in quality control techniques and statistical control technologies. Quality circles were the means by which this continuous education was to take place for production workers.”
“Deming predicted that if Japanese firms adopted the system of quality controls he advocated, nations around the world would be imposing import quotas on Japanese products within five years. His prediction was vindicated. Deming's ideas became very influential in Japan, and he received several prestigious awards for his contributions to the Japanese economy.”
The turnaround in Japanese product quality became the envy of all industrialized countries (a portrait of Edward Deming hangs prominently in the lobby of Toyota headquarters). We all know the story of Japanese autos and quality.
The point of all this is that the Chinese are not stupid and they will overcome their product quality problems just as the Japanese did. “Made In China” may very well become synonymous with quality. So where does that leave the good old U. S. of A.?
Buying American for the sake of buying American will not work. The work ethic must be devoted to finding ways through American ingenuity to foster technical innovations which will make us product quality and cost leaders. The Federal government and American corporations have an obligation to help. The government needs to devote as much time and money to providing incentives for American R&D and manufacturing as it does to developing free trade pacts. American corporations need to play fair - give the innovations a chance here rather than shipping them overseas.
( Incidentally I bought a six pack of Chinese beer for $2.99. Not bad - there was not a trace of anti-freeze.)
Low cost and poor product quality do not have to be synonymous. Think back to the 30’s when a purchase of a product labeled “Made In Japan” was the equivalent to buying junk. That all changed in the late 40’s when The Japanese embraced the American quality guru W. Edwards Deming whose immense contributions to revolutionizing the concept of quality in Japanese manufacturing have been well documented.
The following are excerpts from the Encyclopedia of Small Business:
“Quality circles were originally associated with Japanese management and manufacturing techniques. The introduction of quality circles in Japan in the postwar years was inspired by the lectures of W. Edwards Deming (1900-1993), a statistician for the U.S. government. Deming based his proposals on the experience of U.S. firms operating under wartime industrial standards. Noting that American management had typically given line managers and engineers about 85 percent of the responsibility for quality control and line workers only about 15 percent, Deming argued that these shares should be reversed. He suggested redesigning production processes to more fully account for quality control, and continuously educating all employees in a firm—from the top down—in quality control techniques and statistical control technologies. Quality circles were the means by which this continuous education was to take place for production workers.”
“Deming predicted that if Japanese firms adopted the system of quality controls he advocated, nations around the world would be imposing import quotas on Japanese products within five years. His prediction was vindicated. Deming's ideas became very influential in Japan, and he received several prestigious awards for his contributions to the Japanese economy.”
The turnaround in Japanese product quality became the envy of all industrialized countries (a portrait of Edward Deming hangs prominently in the lobby of Toyota headquarters). We all know the story of Japanese autos and quality.
The point of all this is that the Chinese are not stupid and they will overcome their product quality problems just as the Japanese did. “Made In China” may very well become synonymous with quality. So where does that leave the good old U. S. of A.?
Buying American for the sake of buying American will not work. The work ethic must be devoted to finding ways through American ingenuity to foster technical innovations which will make us product quality and cost leaders. The Federal government and American corporations have an obligation to help. The government needs to devote as much time and money to providing incentives for American R&D and manufacturing as it does to developing free trade pacts. American corporations need to play fair - give the innovations a chance here rather than shipping them overseas.
( Incidentally I bought a six pack of Chinese beer for $2.99. Not bad - there was not a trace of anti-freeze.)
Benedict Is At It Again
In a speech before diplomats and representatives of international organizations on 9/7/07, Pope Benedict rejected the concept that abortion could be considered a human right and urged European leaders to do everything possible to raise birth rates and make their countries more child-friendly. (It seems to me that he and the rest of his clergy are setting a poor example as far as raising the birth rate is concerned if indeed they are truly celibate.) Organized religion whether it be Christianity, Islam, or Judaism has blown its chances on being a vehicle for determining human rights. The signals are confusing and self serving. Sectarian legislation without the benefit of religious inputs is our only salvation.
9/2/07
Spinning September 15th
September 15th is around the corner and we will soon have the long awaited report ( September Song And Dance) from General Petraeus on the status of the Iraq War. The White House has been spinning the hell out of the issue the last several weeks, so much so that we hardly need a report. The answer is that the status is fluid and the strategy is successful on one hand and unsuccessful on the other hand. Even the so called Iraqi government has joined in on the spin. Would you believe it, Al-Maliki has averted civil war! And then we have the coming anniversary of 9/11 which I'm sure will be turned into the annual opportunity to justify the Iraq War ( when will we stop politicizing 9/11). The report due on 9/15 will settle nothing. The Iraq War issue will not be settled by the military. The war will continue until the Democratic Congress decides to test the will of the electorate by taking a no nonsense approach to ending the war. I doubt that there is enough courage amongst the Senators and Congressmen for this to happen. Ultimately the Commander-In- Chief is the only one who can bring the war to an end and this will not happen for at least another sixteen months.
9/1/07
Baseball's Fashion Police
Apparently the baseball fashion police are out in full force . Terry Francona , Manager of the Red Sox incurred their full wrath while his team was playing their nemesis, the Yankees. It seems that Francona was suspected of not wearing an official uniform top under his pullover jacket and underwent a “strip search”. Pullover jackets, warm up jackets and the like have become the garb of choice for most major league managers but the commissioner’s office does not warm up to the wearing of warm up jackets. The powers to be insist that a normal uniform top must be worn under the jacket ( I suspect that the hope is that it will be so uncomfortable in the summer heat that managers will discard the warm up jackets as their uniform of choice). Why all the fuss? The commissioner office feels that the managers are showing disrespect for baseball if they do not wear the uniform top.
Now I ask you what is more disrespectful to baseball, a manager wearing a loose fitting jacket over his pot belly or a manager strutting around in a tight fitting uniform with his pot belly hanging over his belt? I’ll take the loose fitting jacket. In fact if we are talking about fashion why require mangers to wear uniforms ( Connie Mack did a pretty good job in his civilian attire)? They’re not playing ball, why can’t they dress in team sport shirts and sweaters like the NFL football coaches do? If the commissioner must go after fashion violators he should concentrate on the players. What some of them consider the proper wearing of baseball pants is ridiculous and their gold chains flopping around certainly are more of a distraction rather than a fashion statement. Of course the players have a union and a strong one at that, so lets pick on the managers.
Now I ask you what is more disrespectful to baseball, a manager wearing a loose fitting jacket over his pot belly or a manager strutting around in a tight fitting uniform with his pot belly hanging over his belt? I’ll take the loose fitting jacket. In fact if we are talking about fashion why require mangers to wear uniforms ( Connie Mack did a pretty good job in his civilian attire)? They’re not playing ball, why can’t they dress in team sport shirts and sweaters like the NFL football coaches do? If the commissioner must go after fashion violators he should concentrate on the players. What some of them consider the proper wearing of baseball pants is ridiculous and their gold chains flopping around certainly are more of a distraction rather than a fashion statement. Of course the players have a union and a strong one at that, so lets pick on the managers.
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