This week has seen a lot of action in the House Transportation & Infrastructure (T&I) Committee – with both good and bad news for supporters of high speed rail.
On Monday, a roundtable in Chicago focused on the Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency (CREATE) program, while a roundtable regarding passenger and freight rail policy took place in Springfield, IL on Tuesday. Other recent meetings of the Committee have focused on California and the Northeast Corridor.
The good news is that the Illinois hearings went very well, with a variety of elected and civic leaders coming out in favor of increased federal investment in both freight and passenger rail.  The need for 220 mph trains was discussed at the Springfield meeting.
Now the bad news – these forward-looking investments are meeting significant resistance from some backward-looking legislators. Will you take a minute to tell Congress that you want faster, more frequent, and more dependable trains? Last Friday, as part of the New York roundtable, Rep. Shuster (R-PA), chairman of the T & I Committee, came out against high-speed rail, calling it “pie-in-the-sky.”  To make matters worse, he suggested that long-distance trains should not be part of the federal budget.  Rep. Denham (R-CA), chair of the Railroad subcommittee, concurred, and even advocated for shifting California’s high speed rail money to the Northeast Corridor.
We are happy to report that Sen. Durbin (D-IL) has responded with a very strong open letter, calling for Amtrak and high-speed rail expansion. (You can read the letter here.) We need to get other reps to stand up with him.
Finally, the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act, the authorization that governs high-speed and intercity passenger rail, expires this fall.  We need to ensure that reauthorization of this bill expands the system.
Congress needs to hear our voices loud and clear. Please click here to tell your congressman that you want more trains.
Thank you for all that you do.

Buy American Mention of the Week

Are you ready for Chinese pork on your plate?

By Roger Simmermaker

June 8, 2013

Every now and then, the ‘Buy American’ issue is thrust back onto the front page, as it were, of the national news outlets from the Internet and TV to newspapers and blogs. This is one of those times, and this time, Buying American has garnered national attention courtesy of a Chinese company, Shuanghui International Holding Ltd., and it’s attempt to buy a high-profile American-owned company, Smithfield Foods, Inc.

On Thursday, May 30, the day the proposed deal was announced, The Wall Street Journal featured no less than four separate articles on the issue, and on the following day, featured three stories, including one titled “USA, Inc., a Division of China Corp.”

Now even though I’m a strong Buy American proponent, I have to admit that Thursday’s Wall Street Journal article title seems just a little over-the-top, but I will say this: At the risk of seeming to whip up and fan the flames of another foreign acquisition frenzy, it should be noted that for all intents and purposes, China is and should be considered an enemy of the United States, and deals such as this should be disallowed. Hopefully, the outcome of the coming review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS) will make certain that the proposed acquisition is not allowed to proceed.

China, with all of its capitalist overtones, is still a communist country, and independent-minded Americans should desire minimal meddling from them in our economy.

I have nothing against the Chinese people. I have some great Chinese-American friends. What I am against is sales of American-owned companies to Chinese-owned companies where there may be national security or other concerns.

To quote an executive from a company that I featured in my latest book on Buying American (My Company ‘Tis of Thee: 50 Patriotic American Companies American Consumers Should Know About), “To survive, a nation must feed itself.”

I’m also against any deal if I think the Chinese company stands to drain wealth out of the United States to reward foreign owners, foreign investors, and foreign stockholders. The way that I see it, with the proposed deal for Smithfield Foods by Shuanghui International Holding Ltd. (China’s largest meat processing company), this is exactly what stands to happen.

I had no problem allowing Ford to sell fledgling Volvo to the Chinese. I saw no need to play any anti-foreign acquisition card, so to speak, at that time. I felt it was better to let Ford get the money, and let China get an inferior auto brand. What has happened since? Volvo’s worldwide sales fell 6.1 percent last year while almost every other automaker increased sales, and sales in Volvo’s home market (China) fell over 10 percent. In China, GM, VW, and Ford dominate the market, in that order. And how many Volvos do you see in America? Not many.

I also saw no reason to get into a huge uproar about China buying AMC Theaters, which they did last year. There are so many ways to watch movies these days. Netflix keeps adding subscribers, and seems to be the way of the future. If I want to go to a movie theater, I’ll simply shy away from AMC. Let China spend their planned $500 million on theater renovations. I’m betting that China will be wasting their money, except for the transfer of wealth from a Chinese company to the American workers doing the renovating in the U.S. I like that part, actually.

Then there’s also the safety concern, of course. China’s record on food and agricultural safety is horrible. China’s food industry has been rocked by health scandals the past few years. The latest occurred in March of this year when thousands of dead pigs were discovered floating in rivers close to Shanghai. But never mind, we are told. The acquisitive Chinese company says it doesn’t plan to export Chinese pork to America’s market. Actually, they shouldn’t be able to anyway since they have a ban on American beef in China, but I wouldn’t wager that they’re being straight with us here. I’m sure that they’re willing to tell us anything just to get the deal cleared, then change their minds later.

I agree with Executive Director Wenonah Hunter of Washington, DC-based Food & Water Watch, who said, “Overseas ownership can only complicate and shield potential future food safety problems from U.S oversight.” If Smithfield wants to sell itself, let’s hope an American-owned firm comes forward and expresses an interest, so that we can keep our food industry under the ownership and control of an American company.

We can’t always stop foreign-owned companies from buying our American-owned companies, land, and factories, but we can stop giving them the money with which to do it.

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Roger Simmermaker is the author of How Americans Can Buy American and the award-winning My Company ‘Tis of Thee: 50 Patriotic American Companies American Consumers Should Know About (Axiom Business Book Awards), and writes “Buy American Mention of the Week” articles for wnd.com and his website www.howtobuyamerican.com. Roger has a degree in Electronics Engineering Technology, is president of his local Machinists Union, has been a frequent guest on Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC, and has been quoted in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Times, and Business Week among many other publications.

Buy American Mention of the Week

An Old Country Store with old-fashioned values

By Roger Simmermaker

May 26, 2013

Whenever you walk into a Cracker Barrel Old Country Store restaurant, the first thing you’ll run into is the “Made in USA” display of all American-made products. And when I say it’s the first thing you’ll “run into” I mean that literally, because once you pass through the entrance doors, if you keep going straight, you will actually run right into this display of all American-made products.

Part of the motivation behind Cracker Barrel’s decision to have a made-in-USA-only section in its Old Country Store was because consumers and patrons kept “running into” souvenirs, gifts, trinkets, keepsakes, and knick-knacks made in other countries, and they made sure that the management knew that they were unhappy about it. Among the store managers I talked to, the consensus was that the company simply felt it just wasn’t right to offer so many products with the American flag or other American symbols on them that weren’t made in America. And I’m pretty sure that most conscientious and concerned Americans would agree. I know that I do!

Browsing through the patriotic-theme products of Cracker Barrel’s Old Country Store, patriotic Americans can’t help but get the feeling that they’ve walked into the right place. And if they’re Americans who express their patriotism through their consumer purchases, Americans who like to vote with their wallets, checkbooks, and credit cards every day and not just on Election Day, then Cracker Barrel’s Old Country Store really is a dream come true.

Among the terrific variety of patriotic-theme products Cracker Barrel carries in their “Made in USA” section, you’ll find:

• United We Stand and USA baseball caps
• USA polo shirts in various color designs with patriotic design collars
• Ladies summer dress in patriotic colors (one of their best sellers, I’m told)
• Land of the Free, Home of the Brave t-shirt
• Rocking chair cushion set
• 100% cotton Patriotic Flag Kit
• USA Flag pin and U.S. Angel pin (yes, you can buy American flag pins made in the USA)
• Made in America aprons and kitchen towels
• United States Constitution and Declaration of Independence scrolls
• American Pride and Freedom is Not Free, But Worth Fighting For coffee mugs
• Americana candles by Woodwick
• Lodge Logic cast iron pans
• Patriotic wall hangings
• Red, White, and Blue Charms Blow Pops (and other candies)
• Slinky Spinwheels (I just put two of these in my front garden!)
• U.S. Constitution and United States jigsaw puzzles
• Don’t Forget, God Bless Our Troops (book) and 100 American Flags (book)
• The U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence (booklet)
• Made in America jewelry (my wife just loves her new patriotic earrings from Cracker Barrel!)

You can also shop online at crackerbarrel.com, where the American-made items in the Patriotic Collection part of the online store are noted by clicking the Details tab when the product you are interested in is displayed.

If you’re sitting on the front porch of the Old Country Store, relaxing while rocking in the Official Military Rockers that line the restaurant’s gracious porch, you might notice that even they are made in USA (other rocking chairs on the porch are assembled in USA, which means that they can contain parts that are not from domestic sources).

In many ways, Cracker Barrel’s business really is synonymous with tried-and-true American values. Whether it’s treating people fairly, with dignity and mutual respect, encouraging those with the drive and talent to succeed, or giving people a fair deal at a fair price, sticking to values like these has rewarded the company with the praise and loyalty of guests. Not only do those guests crave Cracker Barrel’s home-style cooking while dining out close to home, or traveling throughout America, they also appreciate knowing that when they stop in at one of Cracker Barrel’s 600 restaurants, the experience will be, without a doubt, a positive one.

The folks at Cracker Barrel also believe that they have an obligation to operate in a culture of mutual respect in the communities where they do business. Through their Cracker Barrel Foundation, they provide support for specific community relations efforts, like their in-school Rockin’ Reader® program, Employee Resource Groups, and employee diversity education programs.

And of course, their values are now reflected in the products they offer from truly American vendors. These vendors are pleased to have the opportunity to offer their American-made products in Cracker Barrel’s Old Country Store. If you’re a Buy American advocate, one form of mutual respect is surely worth noting: an all-American business–Cracker Barrel, selling American-made products to support other American businesses, which helps to keep Americans employed and the engine of our national prosperity churning.

This kind of reciprocal and mutual relationship is one thing that’s great about the way America is moving today, because it benefits all Americans, it keeps jobs, taxes, and profits within our national borders, and it helps us continue to build a strong and proud nation.

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Roger Simmermaker is the author of How Americans Can Buy American and My Company ‘Tis of Thee: 50 Patriotic American Companies American Consumers Should Know About, and writes “Buy American Mention of the Week” articles for wnd.com and his website www.howtobuyamerican.com. Roger has a degree in Electronics Engineering Technology, is president of his local Machinists Union, has been a frequent guest on Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC, and has been quoted in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Times, and Business Week among many other publications.

Sen. Lautenberg reintroduces anti-bigger trucks bill

U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) yesterday re-introduced legislation aimed at preventing bigger and heavier trucks from traveling on federal highways.

The Safe Highways and Infrastructure Preservation Act of 2013 (SHIPA) would apply the current tractor-trailer truck weight limit of 80,000 pounds and length limit of 53 feet to the entire national highway system (both interstates and smaller highways), and maintain certain exemptions, such as for firefighting equipment.

Although most truck size and weight restrictions already apply to the 44,000-mile interstate system, the bill would extend certain restrictions to the much larger 220,000-mile national highway system, Lautenberg said in a press release. The legislation also would expand the current freeze of triple-tractor trailer operations on interstates to apply to the broader national system, close loopholes that allow the operation of overweight trucks and establish an enforcement program to ensure accountability.

Bigger and heavier trucks pose safety risks, including longer stopping distances and increased risks of rollover or trailer swaying, said Lautenberg, adding that large trucks account for a disproportionately high share of deaths based on miles traveled compared with standard vehicle traffic.

“When super-sized tractor-trailers are on the road, they are a threat to drivers and the integrity of our highways and bridges,” said Lautenberg. “Trucks play a critical role in our nation’s economy, but they also share the roads with our families, so we must do everything we can to make our nation’s highways safer and prevent tragic accidents.”

SHIPA is co-sponsored by Sens. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.). Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) is sponsoring companion legislation in the House.

SHIPA is supported by Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways, Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, the Trauma Foundation, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Consumer Federation of America, AAA, Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, Parents Against Tired Truckers and Truck Safety Coalition. In addition, the Association of American Railroads and Coalition Against Bigger Trucks long have opposed any legislation that seeks to increase truck sizes and weights.

Teamsters members are concerned about the impacts of bigger trucks on a highway system that’s already in disrepair, said Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa in a prepared statement.

“It makes no sense to cause further damage to our highways and bridges when Congress hasn’t found a way to fund the much-needed repairs to our crumbling infrastructure,” he said.

Buy American Mention of the Week

“American-made” vs. “Buy American”

By Roger Simmermaker

May 11, 2013                                           

I always get a puzzled look when I ask people (usually when giving a speech) how many like to buy American-made products whenever possible, and then follow up that question by asking how many like to ‘Buy American.’ Most folks assume I just asked the same question two different ways.

There is a difference, however, between buying ‘American-made’ and ‘Buying American’ and it’s probably bigger than most would imagine.

‘American-made’ means exactly what it says and nothing more, which is to say that a product was made in America, regardless of ownership or parts content. ‘Buying American’ is a much broader term, however, which means that a product was made in the USA by an American-owned company with a high domestic parts-content within that product. So American-made is good, but Buy American is better…much better!

Perhaps the easiest example is to compare a Toyota made in the United States to a Ford made in the United States. Toyota is a foreign-owned company that uses fewer domestic (American) parts than Ford does (based on fleet-wide averages). When you buy an American-made Toyota, after the workers are paid to assemble the car or truck (which usually takes 20 hours or less), the profits go back to Japan to reward foreign owners, foreign investors, and foreign stockholders. And the taxes on those profits are paid to a foreign treasury instead of the United States Treasury.

Ford, for example (and GM as well) has more American plants than Toyota too so it is actually easier to find that American-made Ford than it is an American-made Toyota.

But the comparison of ‘American-made’ and ‘Buy American’ certainly isn’t limited to big-ticket items like automobiles. We can start right in the supermarket where we spend more of our time and probably more of our money.

For example, Clorox and Lysol are both disinfectants that are made in America for about the same price, but only one of them (Clorox) is American-owned. Lysol, which was sold off by Kodak in 1995, is owned by the British. Irish Spring and Jergens are both made in America, too, but Jergens is based in Japan. That means that a Jergens bar of soap made in America is still a Japanese brand of soap just like a Toyota made in America is still a Japanese car.

Both Prego and Ragu are made in the USA, but Prego is the only one owned by an American company. Prego is owned by U.S.-based Campbell Soup Company, but Ragu is owned by Unilever, which is a joint venture between England and The Netherlands. Unilever owns familiar brands like Lever 2000 (bath soap), Degree and Axe (deodorants), Lipton, Q-Tips, I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter and Country Crock margarine, and Hellmann’s/Best Foods mayonnaise.

Instead of the above Unilever brands, try American-owned Arrid Extra Dry (deodorant), Arizona (tea), CVS cotton swabs (less-expensive than Q-tips), Land-O-Lakes (butter and margarine) and Kraft mayonnaise. All of these American-owned products are made in the USA just like the foreign-owned Unilever ones, and will do just as well for about the same price.

And perhaps the best example of all? Swiss Miss is American owned, but Carnation is owned by the Swiss!

My book How Americans Can Buy American lists over 20,000 American and foreign products and services like the ones listed above, so we can make smart decisions on a multitude of choices and truly ‘Buy American’ in the purest sense of the term.

Since American-owned companies pay about twice as many taxes to the U.S. Treasury compared to foreign-owned companies, you can literally double the amount of tax revenue you send to American coffers not by spending more, but by using the money you are already spending anyway.

The importance of doubling the revenue we send to the U.S. Treasury without spending an extra dime becomes more clear when we realize over 80 percent of all federal spending goes to Social Security, Medicare, education, national defense, roads, parks, and bridges, and interest on the national debt. We have to be able to pay for the things that ‘We the People’ have demanded with the use of our tax dollars. Anything less would be an unfunded mandate upon Washington, DC (and ultimately ourselves).

Also, we have to think that every time we see a foreign company buy our land, our factories, or our existing American companies, we have to wonder if we helped to fund that acquisition with our past support of buying their products. We can’t always stop foreign-owned companies from buying our American-owned companies, land, and factories, but we can stop sending them the money with which to do it.

In short, it’s easier to ‘Buy American’ instead of just buying ‘American made’ than most people might think, and unless we have some type of strong brand loyalty in a particular area, any brand will do at about the same price. So let’s vote with our dollars and ‘Buy American’ where we can and when we can, so we can keep jobs, profits, and tax revenue within our national borders where they should be.

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Roger Simmermaker is the author of How Americans Can Buy American and My Company ‘Tis of Thee: 50 Patriotic American Companies American Consumers Should Know About, and writes “Buy American Mention of the Week” articles for wnd.com and his website www.howtobuyamerican.com. Roger has a degree in Electronics Engineering Technology, is president of his local Machinists Union, has been a frequent guest on Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC, and has been quoted in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Times, and Business Week among many other publications.

Buy American Mention of the Week

Re-thinking re-shoring

By Roger Simmermaker

April 27, 2013                                           

Everyone has heard of outsourcing and offshoring, but not everyone realizes the negative economic consequences to the nation that results from the closing of domestic manufacturing plants and the shipping of those jobs overseas. Replacing American workers with foreign workers adds to our U.S. trade deficit, increases the unemployment rate, deprives our national treasury of tax revenue (workers in foreign countries don’t pay taxes to America), and puts the formerly employed Americans in unemployment lines which works to further drain our national treasury.

Perhaps still fewer Americans realize that there are ways to combat the offshoring of our jobs to other countries, either by supporting patriotic organizations that have a proven track record of fighting the offshoring trend, by simply becoming more educated about American choices as consumers, or both.

By visiting www.reshorenow.org, you can learn about and lend your support to an organization that has helped keep jobs in America by showing companies contemplating offshoring American jobs the total cost of doing so and how it might not make monetary sense. How does www.reshorenow.org sway these companies to stay in the United States?

Most companies make sourcing decisions based on solely on price, resulting in a 20 to 30 percent miscalculation of actual offshoring costs. That 20 to 30 percent is enough, when realized, to keep companies from making sourcing decisions that will ultimately be detrimental to their own bottom lines.

The folks at reshorenow.org demonstrate other factors to companies considering offshoring that they may have overlooked, like overhead, corporate strategy, inventory carrying costs, traveling costs to check on suppliers, intellectual property risks and opportunity costs from product pipelines being too long, and other external and internal business costs. They also demonstrate how offshoring often contributes to company or corporate waste and instability.

Harry Moser, founder of Reshoring Initiative (www.reshorenow.org), estimates that 50,000 manufacturing jobs have been reshored to the United States since 2010. Furthermore, a 2012 Boston Consulting Group report estimated that a manufacturing revival in the U.S. could usher in 5 million more jobs by 2020.

We can also help bring back manufacturing by being informed consumers. Just because a product is made in USA does not mean that we’re not sending American dollars to countries like China anyway.

A few years back, Frisbee maker Wham-O announced a goal to bring back 50 percent of the company’s Frisbee manufacturing to the United States from China. But here’s the catch.  In 2006, Wham-O was acquired by a Chinese company. It wasn’t until 2009 that an American investment firm in California purchased the maker of iconic American brands like the Frisbee, Slip “N” Slide, and Hula Hoop. So any American-made Frisbees purchased between 2006 and 2009 resulted in you unknowingly patronizing a Chinese company whose profits would be sent to reward Chinese owners and Chinese investors. The taxes on those profits would be paid to the Chinese government, even though you were buying an American-made product!

Haier Group is a Chinese-owned company that is best known for HDTVs and full-sized refrigerators. You may have seen some of these products in various big-box retail stores. Some Haier refrigerators are made in their Camden, South Carolina facility, which was built just over a decade ago. But as you might have guessed, when you purchase one of the company’s American-made refrigerators, the company profits are sent back to China.

We would do far better for the U.S. economy by buying American-made Whirlpool appliances instead of Chinese-owned Haier appliances. Whirlpool, which employs more American workers in the appliance industry than any other manufacturer, is the American company that prevented Maytag from falling into Chinese hands back in 2005. When Haier made a bid for Maytag, Whirlpool stepped in and snapped it up instead, keeping a valuable American company in American hands!

Since that time, Whirlpool has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in America on existing and upstart plants, factories, and distribution centers.

So by supporting the right organizations and making intelligent consumer choices, we can help stem the tide of offshoring and keep our fellow Americans working on assembly lines and keeping them out of unemployment lines.

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Roger Simmermaker is the author of How Americans Can Buy American and My Company ‘Tis of Thee: 50 Patriotic American Companies American Consumers Should Know About, and writes “Buy American Mention of the Week” articles for wnd.com and his website www.howtobuyamerican.com. Roger has a degree in Electronics Engineering Technology, is president of his local Machinists Union, has been a frequent guest on Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC, and has been quoted in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Times, and Business Week among many other publications.

All-American food and beverage

By Roger Simmermaker

April 13, 2013

There’s a lot of talk these days about how America should not be dependent on foreign oil, but what about independence from other items like the food we eat and the beverages we drink? Isn’t that just as important, if not more so because we want to ensure our food products are safe to consume? As we import more of our food products from other countries, we want to be confident that they are produced with the same level of safety as food in the United States, but this is not always the case. If we can find domestic sources for our food, then we have one less thing to worry about when it comes to our health.

When is the last time you went to the store and bought a can or package of truly American tuna? It seems that the tuna found in grocery stores is often caught off the coast of Thailand or some other distant country. Also, you may have a concern that tuna contains very high levels of mercury. This leaves tuna lovers everywhere forced to consume tuna in moderate amounts, at most.

Well, here’s some good news for all of us who have been avoiding tuna when we would rather be enjoying it. There is an American source for tuna. More good news? This American source also puts to rest any health concerns that you might have.

The company is simply, and appropriately, called American Tuna (www.americantuna.com). And in this more domestic-friendly, health-conscious consumer environment, it is finally getting the recognition it deserves.

American Tuna’s albacore is caught, canned, and distributed by American fishermen off the North Pacific coast, and the company is comprised of six fishing families from San Diego, California. Its pole caught, small albacore tuna is hand-filleted and hand-packed in BPA-free cans. Once in the can, American Tuna steam-cooks the tuna with no added water, oil, soy, or fillers of any kind. Simply stated, American Tuna is the best canned tuna you’ll ever eat.

So what steps can we as consumers take to ensure that foods like canned fruits and vegetables and beverages like apple juice comes from U.S. sources? A perfect place to start would be to pay a visit to www.usgrown.com. The mission of American-owned U.S. Grown is quite simple. It is to show consumers that they have a choice to purchase food products grown in the United States.

What is evident from the statement on its patriotic-style labels is that U.S. Grown believes that to in order to survive, a nation must feed itself. It is devoted to reviving and preserving U.S. agriculture through a campaign focused on food labeling. Its desire is to make consumer selection easier by giving consumers the ability to choose 100 percent U.S.-grown products.

More than half of all apple juice imported into the United States now comes from China. That’s up from a mere 1 percent a decade ago.

At www.usgrown.com, you’ll see canned goods like U.S. grown peaches, pears, green beans, sliced carrots, sweet peas, whole kernel corn, and mixed vegetables. You can also buy premium apple juice, from U.S. grown apples, from U.S. Grown.

If we truly want homegrown food products, we need to ask for them from America’s retailers. Only then will they see the benefits in stocking their retail store shelves with domestically grown food. Ask your local food store to carry U.S. Grown products today!

USA Coffee Company was established with the goal in mind to roast only coffee grown in the USA instead of importing coffee beans like other coffee companies do that merely roast them here. Only 1 percent of the world’s coffee is grown in Hawaii, and anyone who isn’t lucky enough to visit that beautiful state most likely doesn’t know that some of the best coffee in the world is becoming a major crop on the Hawaiian Islands.

Consumers wanting truly American coffee, here is an alert for you: if you see a coffee label that says either Kona Blend or Hawaiian Blend, take note, because in most cases that coffee will consist of no more than 15 percent Hawaiian beans. USA Coffee Company beans, however, are 100 percent grown in Hawaii.

Only American workers and American jobs are involved when you buy any of the numerous kinds of coffee from the USA Coffee Company. So if you truly want American coffee from tree to cup, the best place to go is www.usacoffeecompany.com.

When considering your liquor options, you have a choice that you might not be aware of. It’s also a great choice if you want to buy the best, buy American, and you want to stock vodka in your liquor cabinet, all at the same time. If this sounds like you, Tito’s Handmade Vodka is an absolute necessity.

Tito’s Handmade Vodka (www.titosvodka.com) is made entirely from corn (mostly from the American Midwest, but all American nonetheless) and is also completely gluten-free.

It’s refreshing to know that there is a refreshing liquor that is proudly 100 percent American and is privately owned. According to the website, this is one company that has no plans to go public, which means that the ownership will remain in American hands. Fortunately, the hands of Tito’s staff (upwards of 20 people) make the best handmade vodka around.

When Americans talk about their families, they’re not always just talking about Mom, Dad, Junior, and Sis. Often they bring their pets into the conversation too. And giving their pets food that is safe and won’t cause any long-term ill health effects is foremost on the minds of pet lovers.

If you buy your doggie treats from a company called Kona’s Chips, you’ll never have to worry about whether it has healthy ingredients again. If you want an exceptional brand of dried chicken jerky treats for dogs, Kona’s is the place to go.

The owners of Kona’s Chips started the brand in 2007 after their beautiful black Pomeranian, Kona, became ill from eating dried chicken breasts that were imported from China. So they know how important it is to produce only wholesome and healthy treats for your dog. And at www.konaschips.com, they always seem to be expanding their selection of treats and toys too.

With great American companies like these, enjoying American food and drink for yourself and all the loved ones in your life (including pets) is better for your health and for the American economy all at the same time!

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Roger Simmermaker is the author of How Americans Can Buy American and My Company ‘Tis of Thee: 50 Patriotic American Companies American Consumers Should Know About, and writes “Buy American Mention of the Week” articles for wnd.com and his website www.howtobuyamerican.com. Roger has a degree in Electronics Engineering Technology, is president of his local Machinists Union, has been a frequent guest on Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC, and has been quoted in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Business Week among many other publications.

SB29 Deceptively Labeled “Paycheck Protection” by National Special Interest Groups – is Radical Attack on Missouri Workers

(Jefferson City, Mo.) – Despite hearing testimony overwhelmingly in opposition to SB29, extremists in House Workforce Development and Workplace Safety Committee voted today to send SB29 to the Missouri House floor. This paycheck deception bill seeks to shut hardworking public workers out of the political process – and to take away their voice on the job.

Opposition to this unfair and unnecessary legislation wasn’t limited to the packed committee room, however. Voters held rallies and knocked doors to talk with their neighbors, and have sent thousands of emails, letters and phone calls to elected leaders. 

“This bill is all politics,” said Mike Louis, Missouri AFL-CIO Secretary Treasurer. “Not one Missouri worker has testified in favor of SB29, and that’s because this bill has nothing to do with helping working people. Public workers in this state have faced an uphill fight for collective bargaining rights and are 50^th in the nation in pay. It is shameful that instead of correcting the very real problems faced by the workers who care for our veterans, teach and protect children at risk from abuse and neglect, and serve so many other critical roles – politicians chose to again reward special interests on the backs of our everyday heroes.” 

Attending today’s committee meeting, autoworker Stan Stevenson from Wentzville has been knocking doors and phone banking against paycheck deception. “We vote for legislators and expect them to work for us, not CEOs and special interest groups like the American Legislative Exchange Council and Americans for Prosperity. I know they can do better – yesterday the House voted to pass a Bring Jobs Home bill that would reward companies for bringing good jobs back to Missouri. SB29 does the opposite – it is payback for the same corporations that have been shipping our jobs overseas and dodging their taxes.” 

“The out of state special interests can look out for themselves – we need our elected leaders to stop these unfair attacks,” said Natasha Pickens, state social services worker from St. Louis County. “Like all Missouri public workers who voluntarily join a union, I did so because I want a voice at work and in Jefferson City. I help families every day who are struggling in this economy – it is about time that politicians start creating jobs and quit trying to make it even more difficult to do our jobs.”

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Those naysayers among us who insist that nobody rides trains anymore should take a gander at a recent report on intercity passenger rail released by the Brookings Institute.

Once again, traveling by rail is on the upswing — big time.

The report shows that Amtrak’s total boardings and alightings jumped 55.1 percent from 1997 to 2012, which is triple the population growth over the same period and exceeds the growth in real gross domestic product for the same years.

Further, the increase was more than double the growth in domestic aviation passengers (20 percent) and even double the growth in driving (16.5 percent). Aviation and driving carry larger numbers of people, but train growth shows the changing attitudes toward train travel, Brookings said.

Other points in the report were that all segments of Amtrak’s business have shown growth.

“All 15 Amtrak long-distance routes experienced an increase in passengers resulting in their best combined ridership in 19 years,” it added.

Further, growth has been even greater on state-supported routes because capacity has been added on those routes.

The Hiawatha route between Milwaukee and Chicago, for instance, receives some financial assistance from both Illinois and Wisconsin so that it can run seven trains a day (six on Sundays) between the two cities.

For the ninth time in the last decade, the Hiawatha set a calendar year ridership record. In 2012, ridership on the line totaled 832,500 compared to 823,163 in 2011, the first year the route surpassed 800,000 passengers.

Interestingly, the Hiawatha is the busiest Amtrak corridor in the Midwest and the sixth busiest in the nation.

This is the route, of course, for which Gov. Scott Walker decided to refuse federal funds that would have extended it to Madison, under the pretense that in the long run it would cost the state too much in maintenance money. Meanwhile, Wisconsin has had to pay several million dollars for upgrades and station improvements that would have been covered by the federal funds he squandered.

The governor still believes that train travel isn’t viable.

Dave Zweifel is editor emeritus of The Capital Times. dzweifel@madison.com