Organizers and Leaders: Start Here

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Comment by amy oconnor 17 hours ago

Thats fantastic..yes they could, we could and we will pay her, eventually

Comment by Bob Shultis 17 hours ago

Yep, our gain, their loss. She's tops in her class and is very interested in engineering.

Hmmm- think our alternative energy industry could use a bright young engineer? Now we just need our economy to be able to pay her!

Best regards,
Bob

Comment by amy oconnor 17 hours ago

no - i should have clarified...the gov't and not the people, sorry

congrats on your adoption (thats a shame, too.too many unwanted girls there, not enough babies here)

Comment by Bob Shultis 17 hours ago

I agree completely!

I hold nothing against the Chinese as a people. My wife and I adopted our oldest daughter from China, the adoption day was 10 years ago this coming Monday. We were in China for 10 days and it was a wonderful experience. The Chinese people were friendly, efficient, and very accomodating. I was incredibly impressed.

However, my opinion is reserved for the Chinese people, not the Chinese government. Although I should probably thank them, if their policies had been less harsh we wouldn't have our daughter. However, when you fly into Kennedy or LAX you are not met by airport security behind a glass barrier with an automatic weapon by their side, as we were. And this was before 911. Yes, their government is out to protect and promote itself. Yes, they don't "play fair" when it comes to international trade. Yes, wages and working conditions contribute to their "competitive advantage", but not the quality of their products.

Amy is right, we need an effort similar to the one put forth in 1941-1943, to overhaul our manufacturing base. The war this time isn't military, it is economic, and the time line is equally short. If we don't get this done in the next 2-5 years, maximum, we will be a second rate economic power in the new alternative energy economy. Our Congress needs to "get it"- NOW!

Not sure if anyone has read Lester Brown's book, "Plan B3.0". It's an excellent book that clearly calls out the challenges we face, not only as a country but as participants in a global society.

Best regards,
Bob

Comment by amy oconnor 17 hours ago

" North Korea's nuclear weapons program, the economy, climate change, human rights and Afghanistan as among the top issues for the China swing."

I'm going to look for a press release when he returns and write them if I do not see enough about climate change, the economy, and import/export.....

Comment by amy oconnor 18 hours ago

I
We have already gone down this road on this site, been there, did it and got the T-Shirt - This is the fact, plain and simple; If we do not rebuild OUR Manufacturing base again, we will not recover from this tremendous hole that we are in. Make things...make Anything...But especially try to make Green Things !!!!!!

This isn't like 1939 - We are involved in 2 conflicts and we STILL cant get out of this because we have not revved up our plants to make tanks, armory, ammo, etc They wanted to privatize it all and guess what, they did and our military and the American people LOST....we can barely make cars that are affordable and get so-so mileage so we cannot drive down the cost. We are still buying foreign-designed cars because we cannot compete. We couldn't get thru to the automakers even when they were flying into DC on the verge of bankruptcy...he has to put together a Task Force of the best and brightest ; financial - Gates, Buffett, Pickens etc - engineers, builders, contractors, and Green Tech?Energy experts...look for a way to start building things again - that the average American can afford and will buy. Build and/or open Vocational Schools to train out of work people how to make and install solar panels, wind turbines, energy efficient appliances, NG conversion kits, filling station workers, desalination plants....the Possibilities are endless if we put our heads together...For America only, Protect #1 First

Comment by Richard Barnard 18 hours ago

Obama is preparing to go to China as we speak. Is he going to talk about human rights? Is he going to humiliate us and ask for additional money? What do you think he is going to do while in China?

I agree with everything you said William.

Richard Barnard

Comment by James Tracy 18 hours ago

Bravo William, I agree.

Comment by William Engwer 18 hours ago

I apologize if any of you think I’m beating a dead horse, but I wonder how anyone who’s worn a United States military uniform, or who is concerned for the planet or human rights can want to collaborate with the Chinese in the foreseeable future. Remember Vietnam? Mainland, Communist China was North Vietnam’s primary means of support during that era, and the source of the NVA’s weapons, ammunition and technical support. They were the enemy. They have no love for the West, and see us as a fat chicken to be plucked, nothing more, to feed their economic development while they rape their own environment. This is the same China that has a long record of human rights abuses, the same China that sold shiploads of lead-painted toys to American children, the same China that sold its OWN children milk with its apparent protein content boosted with a nitrogen-bearing chemical used in plastics and contributed to the deaths of some and the illness of thousands. We’re not talking Taiwan here, we’re specifying mainland China. I have some Taiwanese products, tools and electronics, that compare favorably with similar offerings from Japan, but every Chinese product I’ve dealt with so far has been crap. Crap tools, DVD players, motorcycles, shirts, the list is long and varied. Should we have any reason to believe that Chinese photovoltaics, you know, SOLAR PANELS, are going to be any better?

China has a long history of environmental abuses too. Where do you think all the old American computers go for disposal? To China, and they’re none too careful about what happens to the chemicals inside them that we don’t want to deal with. That’s only the tip of this particular iceberg. They burn a LOT of coal, with no real effort to make it “clean”. The government is corrupt and self-serving, so many environmental policies are simply sidestepped with bribery. And China has no respect for the intellectual property rights of other countries. Western patents are not respected in China. Research it for yourselves

The only reason I can see to buy-in technology from the Chinese is that we’re just too fat and lazy to make our own stuff here anymore. It’s so easy to go for the short-term, take-the-money-and-run profits, like the guys who brought the American economy to its knees, that some people think profit is all that matters anymore. I disagree. America needs to invest in her own manufacturing base again, and now would be a good time to start. Widespread importation of foreign energy products will do nothing but cripple American business and capital incentives to make our own, and will make us just as dependent on bought-in technology as we already are on foreign oil. .William Engwer

Comment by Bob Shultis 19 hours ago

Right on, Amy! I'm doing this for my kids even more than I am doing it for myself. US companies and products must come first, as long as they present a viable solution.

Best regards,
Bob

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