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Compare this to the heartland of America, where we punish the people who kidnap, rape, and murder young girls instead of banning a type of thought. Here's an item about Dru Sjodin's killer being convicted this week to show how it's supposed to be done.

I just bought a pair of New Balance shoes, and I only buy NB athletic shoes because they still make some in the USA (check the inside label, because they also make some models abroad).

I do too, but mostly because they're not total ripoffs and they come in size 15. However, I don't think I'd pay a premium for them relative to other shoes with equivalent satisfaction ratings and build quality.

I'm also a bit of a woodworker/tool junkie, and I refuse to buy tools made in China. I'll settle for Japan, Europe or Mexico if USA isn't available. But nothing from Taiwan, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, etc.

Congratulations, there's a young girl in Thailand that's being sold into sex slavery because she or her parents can't get a job at the local tool plant. BTW, that computer you just typed your post on? Lots of it came from China, Malaysia, etc. Hypocrisy? You're soaking in it!!

The only people to blame are consumers. Demand something else and you'll get it. Settle, and you get sweatshop labor. "Free Tibet" isn't just a bumper sticker slogan. If you really cared about it, you would change your ways.

Sweatshops are better than fuckshops. Or starvation. Frankly, I consider it a moral imperative to buy products made in developing countries. The fact that it fucks over unionized labor is just sweet, sweet icing on that cake.

BTW, you think that SUV of yours is American-made? HARDLY.. More like Hecho en Mexico... Try a Toyota if you want American made (and to thumb your nose at greedy unions)...

If people kick the shrub out, the US will stand a better chance at ratifying the Kyoto accord and remove the wasteful SUVs from the roads.

Bzzzzt. Wrong. (unless you're not referring to John Kerry being Bush's replacement)

As reported in the IHT and other news sources, John Kerry has made a point that he will not be getting the US back into Kyoto. This should come as no surprise. As a senator, he voted against allowing the department of the interior to fund implementation of the Kyoto protocols. On the campaign trail, he has made a point that he will fix the current rising gas prices. As the Kyoto protocols are widely estimated to cause a huge increase (as high as 30%) in national gas prices, implementing the protocol would while lowering gas prices, or even keeping them where they are, would be impossible.

(On a side note, though I hate to use the f-word here (flip-flop), in his 2003 document John Kerry's Comprehensive Vision for a Clean Environment, A Stronger Economy, Healthier Communities, his campaign claims "Dropping out of international implementation of the Kyoto Protocol was foolhardy then, and it is even more obviously foolhardy today.")

There is a popular feeling that goes something like "Bush single handedly killed Kyoto." This is absurd. Clinton couldn't get it ratified in 1997 because everyone in congress, including people from his own party (yes, even John Kerry), refused to even consider voting for it. In fact, it was only signed because Al Gore disregarded the resolution of the senate he was supposed to be in charge of. Bush's decision to not re-submit the treaty to congress for ratification was, frankly, a formality; there is no way he could have gotten congress to ratify it, even if he supported it (and he clearly doesn't).

Though I would love to see green house gas emissions get lower, the fact remains that the Kyoto protocol, as it stands, would be economic suicide for the United States, and odds are essentially zero we'll ever see it ratified

There is no place on this planet that we have not found bacterial life,

Not so, according to this.

You know ... I'm really suprised that people still try to make counterfeit money since the penalties are so stiff, and usually are crappy copies.

I think that a credit/debit cards are the future, and that physical money is on the way out. However, that smacks against my privacy ... since it would be tracable.

The problem is that there is no good ANONYMOUS way to purchase things without currency.

I also posted this in the Maryland article, but I figured I may as well post it here too:

I live in North Dakota, and I recently saw an article about how the move toward the Diebold voting machines in the state has been put on hold because of the recent publication regarding the lack of security, etc. I think it's good that states are taking it slow and making sure it's done right, rather than just rolling out the first thing that comes along.

I live in North Dakota, and I recently saw an article about how the move toward the Diebold voting machines in the state has been put on hold because of the recent publication regarding the lack of security, etc. I think it's good that states are taking it slow and making sure it's done right, rather than just rolling out the first thing that comes along.