A Great Drinking Bottle that's made-in-the-USA

I found a simple, great product recently that I want to recommend. After reading this story about the dangers of BPA-plastic I had been looking for water/drinking bottles that were BPA-free and not made in China. For safety reasons I'm not buying anything that comes in contact with my food if it's made in China. I finally found it at Sports Authority. It's made by the Nalgene company which makes all its products in the USA. The bottle is well made, sturdy, not top heavy, just the right size for a hand, easy to clean, and BPA-free. Not expensive either. Although I paid $10 for it at Sports Authority I now know that it can be ordered from Nalgene's online store here for less than $7.

Security Theatre

The Christmas Day attempt by the Nigerian to blow up a NWA jet was a serious matter, there's no argument about that. But I think the cable news networks have milked everything out of the story they could get or create. You'd think, judging by the airtime they have given the story, that nothing else is going on in the world.

But even worse than the over coverage has been the way they have covered it. The networks have fed right into the terrorists hands and the security theatre industry by scaring the public and grilling politicians over why they let the Nigerian on the plane. Whether designed to or not the result will be politicians that, in their futile attempt to avoid any accusations of laxness in protecting the public, will support extreme measures that will make it even more inconvenient to travel and choke off even more business and tourism to America. Which is, by the way, the goal of the terrorists.

And then you have your homeland security industry that has blossomed since 911. They have dispatched their lobbyists to appear on cable news to warn that if we don't drastically increase the funding for the homeland security sector we will be sorry. Just as an example, just now I watched CNN interview Tom Blank, who was identified as the former deputy director of TSA under President Bush. Mr. Blank proceeded to inflate fears and call for increased funding for security as the solution. What Mr. Blank nor CNN did not mention at all was that Mr. Blank is now a lobbyist for several homeland security product manufacturers and lobbying groups. This is what is known as a potential conflict of interest and CNN should be ashamed for not informing its listeners. In fact, 94 former Bush Administration Homeland Security appointees are now working for the security industry. If you turn on your tv now you can see them on every cable news program trying to scare you to death.

Getting Our Asians Mixed Up

I used to have a boss that went to Japan one time and learned how to say "konnichiwa" or "hello" in Japanese. Thereafter, every Asian visitor to our company was greeted by him with a hearty "konnichiwa" and complements about Japan. Now to a Vietnamese or a Taiwanese etc. this can be a bit put-offish. To a Korean or a Chinese person it can be irritating for historical reasons. No matter how many times I told my boss he continued to do this, innocently trying to be hospitable but in fact embarrassing everyone except himself. It's as if an American visitor to Japan were greeted with a sombrero-wearing Japanese shouting "hola!" and stories about his recent visit to Mexico.

Along the same vein I noticed this advertisement for a West Peavine massage business that features a drawing of a Japanese geisha but says 100% of the massage staff are Korean. Might as well have a picture of Frida Kahlo.

China Says "Merry Christmas" in its own way

On Christmas Day China gave one of its own citizens an 11-year jail sentence for calling for democracy. China thought that by sentencing Liu on Christmas that the world would be too distracted to notice. But Western Governments, and only Western Governments, objected. Read about it here.

On Oral Roberts

I used to work for Oral Roberts. He passed away this week at the age of 91. When I knew him he was still engaged with his university and would occasionally pop in at his Evangelical Association that I worked at. He was always friendly - friendlier than his son Richard was.

I'm probably one of the few people that can say that they ran over Oral Roberts' mail box and got away with it (so far). I was just learning to drive the stick shift work van when I knocked over the mailbox in front of his house after delivering tomatoes to him. I propped the mailbox back up, at least well enough that it would stand until someone tried to open it to get the mail. I had dreams about Mr. Roberts stopping to get his mail and being a bit nonplussed when the whole thing fell over.

Before I went to work for Oral Roberts I had to sign an agreement to not write about my experiences there. But surely the statute of limitations has expired by now. Among my memories of my work there are going to the room everyday where all the incoming mail was processed by women who opened envelopes from around the world and seeing stacks of multicolored foreign paper money from all corners of Earth, taking the shredded letters and data to incinerators for disposal, and the huge warehouse full of Bibles and publications in many languages. And of course going to the airport to pickup Mr. Roberts' suits that had been flown in from California.

The most fun I had was spending a few minutes in the wall behind the one-way mirrored glass at the base of the Prayer Tower and watching visitors standing outside preen in front of the golden mirrors. As they got up close to the glass to inspect their makeup I would rap the mirror from my side and scare the poor person - who no doubt thought God was chastising him/her for their vanity.

The university that Oral Roberts started is doing well now. It is out of debt and has 3,000 students - the largest evangelical university in the world. My father wanted me to go there after high school but I objected after the admissions counselor told us I'd have to shave off my sideburns. I should have had those sideburns bronzed and preserved.

Yesterday I was across the street from his university again and noticed how quiet the campus was the day after his passing.

What About Me, Me, Me?

I've mentioned before how disgruntled I am that the building where I have my class has Fox News permanently locked in on their lounge tv. Unfortunately, it's the only place in the building to sit and rest between classes so I try to block it out but no matter how much I try the nattering nabobs' of negativity (remember Spiro Agnew?) get through and cause unwanted cranial friction. Now I have an added source of irritation.

Yesterday I was trying to listen to a speech on healthcare that President Obama was giving when a pasty guy behind me started mumbling and hissing. He edged forward to get beside me. Then with a conspiratorial look at me he said "what he's not telling you is that if he gets his way all of us with insurance are going to suffer so he can give everyone else insurance. But he's not gonna tell you that! Oh nooooo." He expected me to give him one of those brotherly "I know what you mean" nods. Instead, I bit my tongue, narrowed my eyes and turned my back on him.

What I wanted to say was something along the lines of, "I'll bet you consider yourself to be a Christian (95% probability in Peavine) don't you? I'll bet that when the preacher talks about being your brother's keeper you at least mutter amen, don't you? Maybe you even tithe 10% (95% improbability). Well what about all your fellow Americans that don't have insurance because they can't afford it, can't get it or have been canceled by their former insurers? Why can't you share your good fortune with those people? Do you even know what it's like to have no insurance and no healthcare?

I won't belabor the debate over healthcare here but even if I had to pay a bit more so everyone could get healthcare I'm happy to do it. Consider it tithing - and a tithing that would be more useful than giving the money to many tv preachers and churches. As it happens, the Congressional Budget Office says I might not even have to pay more for my insurance, but even if I did have to, I'd gladly do it if it helped get 30 million other people some basic healthcare and save thousands of lives a year.

Not That Fox News

This past weekend we went to see the movie "The Fantastic Mr. Fox", a stop-motion film featuring a fox (George Clooney) and his addiction to chicken theft and how it clashes with his familial responsibilities. It's quirky, creative and very funny. It's not just for children - in fact it's really for adults. A much better bet than 2012.