In this month's contribution to my newspaper column I decided to do something a little more light-hearted.  As luck would have it, an appropriate topic came up at an opportune moment, and my subject was set.  Here is what I wrote for today's Juneau Empire.

The only thing I failed to mention in the article was the point that the helium bore a "made in the USA" label (although the package of balloons that came with the helium were actually made in Columbia).  Even in Wal-Mart, it's possible to find American products, although the helium is the only thing I've found in there that so far that bears that distinction.

I also bought several thermometers there for a dollar each.  I wanted them to monitor the temperature in various parts of our house now that most of the electric heaters are in place and operational.  The thermometers came from China.  The thermometer section actually had about a dozen different styles and prices to choose from, and every single one of them came from China.  As for the ones I bought, I went through about twenty of them to find four in which the temperature showing agreed with the more expensive ones on display: the lot of them varied in displayed temperature by as much as ten degrees!

We've had an unusual early autumn so far.  We've had our usual run of rain, but we've also had some unusual breaks in the rain where the sun comes out and the clouds go away.  Usually, our rain breaks consist of solid overcast this time of the year.  Yesterday was clear and sunny. 

Becky, Michael, and I took advantage of yesterday's weather and went to the beach at Auke Bay.  It was gorgeous.  We spent most of the time playing civil engineer: damming and rerouting the water from a creek that flowed down the beach on its way to the bay.  I started the game by building a dam, but Becky chimed right in and started digging canals to divert the water behind the dam.  Michael liked the game too, though he was just as happy to march through the canals as he was making them.

It's raining again today, and should continue to do so for a few more days.  Luckily, I don't live on a schedule, and we can take advantage of the sunshine when we get it. 

Posted at 9:59 AM YDT

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Sheryl opened the Juneau newspaper this morning and saw an opinion piece under the caption "My Turn" written by a familiar author. They changed the headline I offered, but this time I like theirs better:

Buy American; it matters
People in the United States ultimately suffer from perception that foreign goods are cheaper, better
by MICHAEL WITTIG

Recent recalls of Chinese products are a reminder of one of the dark truths about a global economy: Americans buy from abroad because of a perception that foreign goods are cheaper. Unfortunately, all Americans ultimately suffer because of this belief.

American industry cannot compete against emerging economies on a cost-only basis. Overseas labor is cheap. Benefits such as health insurance, workman's compensation and retirement drive up the cost of American products, while many foreign manufacturers do not pay for these things. Ensuring workplace safety and protecting the environment also make American products more expensive, whereas many foreign companies operate in a regulatory vacuum, endangering the lives of their own employees while poisoning the global environment.

Another dark truth about the global economy is that consumers have more control over international trade than governments. As such, Americans are mostly to blame for our current trade imbalances in energy and consumer goods.

America imports two-thirds of the oil we consume because we buy over-sized, inefficient vehicles and because we do not take energy conservation seriously. Promises of energy independence by our politicians are outrageous lies.

America has a huge trade deficit because we buy products on the basis of cost without regard to where these products come from, resulting in the loss of American manufacturing jobs. Again, political promises to bring jobs back home mean nothing.

Our corporations are not blameless either. In the quest for greater profits, many companies have closed factories and moved manufacturing operations to countries with lower wages and a less restrictive regulatory climate. The CEOs and stockholders gain a little, while America loses a lot.

American industry has a responsibility to ensure that American product quality is second to none. While domestic product quality on the whole continues to improve, some domestic products are still inferior in quality and efficiency to their competition, particularly in the automotive industry. When American products are inferior to foreign products, they can't compete either here or abroad.

In truth, most American products are of equal or superior quality when compared to the competition, and just as often the price difference between American and foreign products is small. That small price difference is how America has achieved the quality of life we have so far enjoyed. That quality of life is now in danger because of the choices we make every time we walk into a store.

The outsourcing of manufacturing jobs over the last couple of decades exacerbates yet another problem: a lack of domestic products in our stores. All too often, we are forced to buy from abroad because there are no domestic alternatives on the shelves. Even when American products are available they are often difficult to find in many retail outlets, especially in the larger discount chains.

We need to put pressure on our retailers to put American-made products on the shelves and to put them in places where consumers can see them. If retailers are unwilling to do this voluntarily, legislative efforts mandating equal shelf space for American products could compel them to do so. Such legislation would not inhibit free trade, but would level the playing field for American entrepreneurs struggling to find a market for their products. As long as retailers leave American products off the shelves, American manufacturing jobs will continue to disappear and our ability to buy American will diminish even further.

What we really need is a nationwide, "read the label, compare the quality" campaign encouraging all Americans to look at the country of origin of all the products we buy, something that many Americans do not do today. American consumers need to know how many of the things we buy come from outside our borders. We should be able to put foreign-made products beside their domestic counterparts so that we can compare the quality and compare the price. Our American way of life would be greatly enhanced if we were able to see how little extra it really costs to buy American, and more of us would be able to live the American dream.

Just a little something to think about while we figure out how to dispose of all the defective junk we bought from China.

• Michael Wittig is a stay-at-home parent and long-term Juneau resident. He writes a monthly Neighbors column, "At Home with the Kids."

Posted at 11:02 AM YDT

Updated: Thursday, August 30, 2007 11:05 AM YDT

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I [Michael] sent a letter off to our congressional delegation yesterday, expressing to them my sentiments on the Iraq war.  Here it is:

****** 

I have come to the conclusion that it is time to get our military and our money out of Iraq.

Before the Iraq invasion, Colin Powell stated that it would take 500,000 men to take and hold Iraq.  Rumsfeld disagreed and determined to enter with fewer than 150,000.  While that was more than ample manpower to defeat the Iraqi military, it was inadequate to provide security after the occupation, as witnessed by the looting of Iraqi museums and government offices directly after the invasion.  Poor planning on our part deprived the Iraqis of their national heritage and of the records necessary to investigate abuses (and claims of WMD) by the Hussein regime.

The current troop “surge” may be helping Baghdad (or at least stabilizing the level of violence), but violence in other parts of that nation is rapidly escalating.  We have never been able – will never be able – to provide security for all populated areas in Iraq, nor can we patrol their roads in between the cities.

As a result, much of the money we are spending on Iraqi reconstruction is given to insurgent groups in exchange for the safe passage of goods.  AMERICAN TAXPAYERS ARE FINANCING THE INSURGENCY!

Bring our service personnel home.  Stop all payments for reconstruction.  Our national humiliation over this outrageous situation will only be compounded by our continued funding of their corrupt government and the insurgents.  Our national security is being further endangered with every bribe paid to insurgent groups.

Politicians want their constituents involved in the political process.  I am ready, and I will do everything in my power to support good policy, and to defeat any politician who promotes failure.

******

Of course, I am under no delusions about Alaska's congressional delegation: they will probably do nothing to bring the troops home, and good luck cutting off funds for the Iraqi government.  Still, I sent the letters off to both senators and our lone house member (although the house has little to say on the matter if I remember my high school civics class correctly).

I think everybody should write to their government representatives. This was my first (and hopefully last) letter to Don Young, but I have written both of my senators (Ted once and Lisa two or three times) about various issues not related to foreign policy.  My previous letters to Lisa have been neutral and balanced, my letter to Ted was in praise of his bill to raise CAFE standards to 40mpg.  In the past, I have received thoughtful written responses back from them each time I've commented on the issues.

It will be interesting to see how they justify funding the insurgency.

Posted at 7:55 PM YDT

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The fireweed blooms are off of most stalks around town, although there are still a few blossoms at the top of the plants in our back yard.  There are leaves on the ground too, just a few, but enough to notice.  Sheryl goes back to work tomorrow.

It is the end of summer.

The summer went out in fine style.  All last week we had glorious weather, sunny and warm (for here) with cool nights.  Our creeks both went dry again and remain so despite the little bits of rain we've seen in the last two days.  The mosquitos have been pretty tame as well, as mosquitos go.

This is the first full summer we have spent in Juneau since Sheryl and I got together, in fact the first summer I've stayed put since 1999 (when I began the MAT program).  We had a lot of things on the agenda, which was part of the reason for remaining in town (although we did not get as much done as we planned to), and we're also trying to economize now that we've got an expensive mortgage.

Luckily, the two loans we have on this place are fixed rate, so the recent meltdown in the sub-prime market (for those folks who follow that sort of thing) hasn't affected us.

Not a whole lot of news here, given the low profile we've maintained this year.  The kids are both doing fine.  Becky continues to make outstanding progress: she's been out of diapers through the summer (since her birthday when we told her that four-year-olds don't wear diapers), her language is developing exponentially both in vocabulary and in putting ideas into words ("I put on my shoes, we go to the store, we buy some candy, then we come home!").  She hasn't quite started telling stories yet, but that can't be far off at this point as her ability to pretend is quite well developed.  Michael is also talking more and more, mostly in single words (though he does say phrases like "boat in the water"), but he can identify a wide range of items and is using names now like "Daddy" and "Bucket" (Becky), and he uses gestures to fill in the blanks.

I am playing the guitar more regularly too.  I still have minimal feeling on one side of my damaged finger and on a couple of chords I can't tell if it is landing correctly until I hear the notes (or don't hear them, as the case may be), but at least my wrist is giving me minimal trouble now and I can play every chord I did before the injury.  I retrieved my song list from an old computer file, removed many songs I can't remember any more (or don't want to remember in a few cases), and added some new songs.  Today the list stands at 256 songs that I feel are doable, but I keep remembering songs that either never made the list or that I've learned since the last time I put it together (back in '92), so it's possible I may wind up somewhere around 300.  Once upon a time I had over 600 songs on the list, but it's been over fifteen years since I've sang many of them, and my memory has its limits.

I have also started singing as half of a duet again, with a woman I've known for over ten years (we did an opera together in 1997 and have been in a couple of other shows together).  I don't know what will become of our duet, but the bars are supposed to go smoke-free in January and I've been feeling somewhat nostalgic about the old days with Ray and Annie, and Sheryl is all for me doing something outside of the house to keep my sanity.  As if my sanity were really in jeopardy (it isn't, or I don't think it is).

And, of course, I am still working on the Mozart Fantasy.  For several months I quit looking at the sheet music and concentrated on playing the parts I had committed to memory, and gradually built up my speed and accuracy.  Now I am back into the score, committing the last three pages to memory, and I've been quite surprised at how quickly I've been accquiring the rest of the piece.  For some time I've had the notion in my head that I wanted to have the entire piece memorized by the first anniversary of beginning it, although I harbored significant doubt about how realistic that was (the page of 32nd notes was very intimidating).  Now I believe I'll accomplish my goal well within the year (mid-October is when I started it, according to the blog), but as always, fluency lags well behind memorization.  I have also started working on Mozart's Sonata in C-major (the most popular of Mozart's works), which gives Sheryl and the kids a little relief from the Fantasy.

And that's about it. Now we go into another school year, and watch autumn creep in.

Posted at 8:48 PM YDT

Updated: Sunday, August 19, 2007 9:23 PM YDT

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Yep, that's right, it's the third Wednesday of the month.  Actually, I [Michael] found myself somewhat annoyed when I saw my column in this morning's newspaper.  They changed the headline.  Originally, I titled the work "Autism and the Blame Game", but the newspaper headline was "Autism's Source: Chemicals?"

I think their change of headline was a bad choice because it immediately prejudices the reader, and because my original headline was an integral part of the beginning and end of the piece, but there's nothing I can do about it now except gripe.  There: I have just griped.

They also ran the article in a single column, so a scan of it (my practice until now) would make for a rather tall picture.  So, rather than scan and paste, I'll just post the text this month.  And I'll leave my original headline on it too.

  Autism and the Blame Game

  At Home With The Kids

  By Michael Wittig

  I may be to blame for my daughter’s autism.

  Last year the Israeli army released a study in which men over 40 were found to be almost six times as likely to father autistic children as men in their twenties.

  Or maybe it was my wife. Another study, released in July of this year, suggests that women who live near agricultural areas where pesticides are used produce offspring with higher incidences of autism.

  Perhaps the pharmaceutical industry is to blame. Some people claim their children became autistic after getting immunizations in which mercury was present in trace amounts, pointing to a 1998 case study (this study was later retracted, but the premise remains popular).

  There are many published studies claiming to have found autism links. Personally, I believe most of these studies have merit, but they all miss the point.

  The Autism Society of America claims that one in every 166 children born today is autistic. They also claim this number has been increasing, although some of the increase is probably due to an increased awareness of autism spectrum disorders in our society.

  I accept the premise that autism rates are on the rise, and I have my own theory as to why: we live in a world dependent upon chemistry.

  We use pesticides to deter insects and other pests from eating our crops in order that we may have enough food to eat. We feed hormones to livestock to speed their growth rate or increase their milk production. We add preservatives to processed foods to prolong their shelf life. We vaccinate our population to control the spread of disease, and use medicines to limit the impact of diseases we do contract.

  Without these chemicals most of us would die from disease or starvation, if we were lucky enough to be born at all.

  Chemicals drive our industries and create products we buy and use every day. These industries and many of their products add chemical pollutants to our air and water. People also use chemicals of all sorts, often improperly and to excess, causing more pollution in our environment.

  New chemicals come into use daily. Occasionally, chemicals are banned from use because their harmful effects become readily apparent. Unfortunately, the harmful effects of many chemicals are not readily apparent, and interactions between chemicals often cause unintended consequences.

  Mankind has always been exposed to chemicals, but the complexity and concentrations of chemicals to which we are exposed surged during the past century, especially within the last fifty years.

  This is the same time frame during which autism rates have been rising.

  All my life, I have been exposed to chemicals. The same thing is true of my wife. The same thing is true of every last one of us. Every year we add to our lives, we add more chemicals into our bodies.

  Is it so much of a stretch to imagine that a lifetime of exposure to many chemicals increases the risk to our unborn children? Is it hard to believe that young children in a chemistry-dependent society are at a greater risk from these chemicals?

  This is my autism theory. I have no proof other than the circumstantial evidence provided here, but I have seen many other theories presented with less evidence and accepted as fact.

  If this theory is correct, what are the prospects for my children, for all our children? What of their children? Is there anything we could do to reduce the risks to them?

  We could choose to buy organically grown foods, or at least wash the fresh produce we buy. We could avoid meat from animals tainted by added hormones, or fed with pesticide-treated feeds (most store-bought meats). We could cut out processed foods laden with preservatives. We could filter the water we drink.

  We could also encourage our children, and all people who want to have children, toward an active lifestyle. Exercise increases the body’s metabolism, and flushes toxins from flesh and bone.

  Lifestyle changes like these may or may not reduce the risk of autism, and some of these changes would be difficult for many people. Then again, wouldn’t taking better care of ourselves be better than playing the blame game?

Posted at 7:50 AM YDT

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