iPod Touch as an example

I have been wondering about something lately. I own an iPod Touch, which by the way is a terrific device. It is made in China, engineered however in the good old USA. From what I can tell, this device appears to be assembled via robotics. What I don't understand is this. What is the financial benefit of assembling a device in China, especially when the device is made without the benefit of manual labor? I mean, the lead times are longer due to shipping and US Customs. There are the packaging costs and repackaging costs and distribution and domestic shipping costs. As for an import tariff, I cannot find one listed for an iPod or Computer or Cellphone imported into the USA. If this is so, why is it so? If anyone can show me what the tariff is, I would be grateful. I just don't get it. There is something missing here. Some loophole that allows a company to ship manufacturing jobs overseas and make a larger profit otherwise must exist. The numbers just don't make any sense if you look at the actual costs to manufacture this product. Believe it or not, Dickies aren't even made in the USA, yet you pay for the name. Can you believe that Hanes cannot manufacture a t-shirt in the USA for a low price? Of course they can, so why not? Even if the cost to produce were say $.25 more per t-shirt, I would gladly pay an extra $.50 per shirt to buy American, would'nt you?

Unemployment Benefits Drug Tests?

"Welfare and unemployment beneficiaries would have to pass a drug test to qualify for programs under an amendment offered Tuesday by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah). ".

Well folks, this is something I can agree with. There has been a bit of an uproar over Sen. Hatch suggestion, but it is consistent with every single requirement each state has, to receive benefits you must be willing and able to work, to be employable.

It has been my experience, tho anecdotal, that over 50% of applicants who have been offered jobs at the local Wal-Mart failed their drug tests. Not 50% of all applicants, 50% of those who were actually offered a job.

I disagree with the idea that those who fail the drug test under this proposed law be given free drug counseling. My preference would be to deny their claim and have them come back 90 days later and take the test again. This is a simple matter of personal responsibility. It is a person's choice to use drugs. If you use drugs and are unemployed, you are not eligible for benefits because you are not employable thereby giving a state a reason to deny benefits. It seems to me that requiring a drug test does not need a special law since the requirement to be employable is already part of the statutes.

Israeli Massacre on the high seas.

I am appalled that the world has not come down on Israel for her illegal and immoral attack on a Turkish ship on the high seas bringing humanitarian aid to the blockaded residents of Gaza. All politics aside for one moment, lets look at legalities. The ship was Turkish flagged, meaning it is essentially Turkish soil. The ship was in international waters. The ship carried no arms or terrorist equipment. No soldiers or Freedom fighters. This was a humanitarian aid ship. The attack on a Turkish flagged vessel is illegal under international law.

Much has been made by the left leaning press that the Israeli commandos were 'defending' themselves. What a joke!!! They were attacking the ship, the crew and folks onboard were the ones defending themselves against an illegal attack by the Israeli!! What were the commandos defending themselves against? Pipes? Being tossed overboard by the folks defending their ship? I saw a plastic chair thrown at a commando. I am not aware of, nor has it been reported that the folks on the vessel shot at or killed any of the commandos, yet 9 people on a humanitarian mission were killed.

Hundreds were taken prisoner and most deported, the ones not deported will be thoroughly investigated, probably tortured and either released or put on trial. Put on trial? For what crime? No crime was committed. The ship had not passed through the blockade, it was still many miles away.

Now, why is there a blockade in the first place? Because the people of Gaza exercised their right by democratic vote to choose a government Israel does not approve of.

Back off Israel!!! These are human beings who deserve the same rights and privileges the rest of the world should have, even Israel. You don't blockade a whole people because you don't like the government they elected. It is an act of war to do so.

PS. Let us not forget the Israeli mindset. The consider themselves the 'chosen ones'. Jewish history as recorded in the Old Testament shows the Jews as the masters of genocide and ethnic cleansing. I asked a minister once why the Jews could justify the murder of men, women and children since clearly if violates the Ten Commandments. If was explained to me that since they are the chosen ones, that all other races and people were inferior to the Jew and therefore not considered, for this purpose as as human as the Jew. The rules as defined by the Ten Commandments are only to be used by Jews with Jews, not non-Jews. Interestingly enough while the Jews were enslaved by the Egyptians, they were not slaughtered enmasse as the Jews would have done. Does this suggest that the Egyptians were more civilised in their treatment?