US Electronic passports are manufactured in Thailand

[BraggSurvivor]

Give up.
It's over now.

http://washingtontimes.com/article/20080326/NATION/840186493/1001

Nothing is sacred if there's a buck to be made. Do any Americans care about the USA nowadays? Or is a nation of immigrants only loyal to where their ancestors came from. On TV you see American flags by the dozen; national anthems at the drop of a hat; Bush with his "this great nation" and guys either saluting or hand over the heart and, it seems, it's all for show.

I'd keep Bush away from Putin if I were an American who cared, there must be some.

[canid]

half of everything else of ours is made in thailand, china, taiwan, etc. does this really supprise you?

even many of our flags are made overseas.

[Rick]

Bragg - I saw this on the evening news a couple of nights ago. The thing you are forgetting is the flags are made in China.

We posted at the same time.

[BraggSurvivor]

half of everything else of ours is made in thailand, china, taiwan, etc. does this really supprise you?

I can understand a rubber ducky, but a Passport?

[BraggSurvivor]

Bragg - I saw this on the evening news a couple of nights ago. The thing you are forgetting is the flags are made in China.


LOLOLOLOL!!!!

Hilarious!

[canid]

old glory..?

as long as they're not contaminated with toxic manufacturing residues, i'm not getting up in arms over it. i do understand your indignation though.

[Catfish]

It's getting harder and harder to find goods that aren't made in China. And not just cheap crap from WalMart either.

[BraggSurvivor]

I agree Catfish, the exact same thing is happening up here.

[Rick]

Customs.

"Sir, is this your name?"
(Me looking over passport) "Well, I don't know. I don't speak Thai."
"Fair enough. Next!"

[crashdive123]

What???? Now when you go through customs you have to wear a coat and thai?

[Rick]

Uh, you probably dress that way in the park all ready. So, what's the big deal?

[Rick]

Get it? Huh? Get it? Coat and Thia?

[canid]

i think he was Trang too hard.

[crashdive123]

太辛苦？肯定是你，並不意味著我嗎？

[Ridge Wolf]

Give up.
It's over now.

http://washingtontimes.com/article/20080326/NATION/840186493/1001

Nothing is sacred if there's a buck to be made. Do any Americans care about the USA nowadays? Or is a nation of immigrants only loyal to where their ancestors came from. On TV you see American flags by the dozen; national anthems at the drop of a hat; Bush with his "this great nation" and guys either saluting or hand over the heart and, it seems, it's all for show.

I'd keep Bush away from Putin if I were an American who cared, there must be some.

The Bush administration is a secret organization... unlike most other administrations in the past.. This information in the link doesn't surprise me in the slightest. Over the years I have become so disenchanted with the American politic that I have become a kibitzer and observer... one of the reasons I study and practice outdoor and other forms of survival... is because of that disenchantment. I am just one man.. I have an opinion.. it doesn't matter. I live with it.

[Rick]

Now THAT'S funny!! Crash, not you Ridge. We posted together.

[canid]

i can't display those characters, apparently.

[Rick]

You don't need to. You'd have to read.....something foreign even if you did.

[canid]

我提出這種指責實在。但中國人嗎？

and yes, i know that rick.

[canid]

damnit, chinese isn't a language, i forgot. oh well, you get the drift.

[Rick]

How do you spell sticking my tongue out?

[crashdive123]

Accusatory? Not you!

[Rick]

"You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? Then who the h*ll else are you talkin' to? You talkin' to me? Well, I'm the only one here. Who the fug do you think you're talking to? Oh, yeah? Ok?"

[canid]

one word:
schitzophrenia

heck, a round for everybody for that matter.

[crashdive123]

我提出這種指責實在。但中國人嗎？

and yes, i know that rick.

Actually Rick step out of the cab and ---- say hello to my lil friend.

[GVan]

American auto makers make their parts in Mexico for $0.80 per hoour.

I left 4-1/2 quarts of blood in the mud of Vietnam in 1970 while my wife's and daughters' braziers are constructed there.

China is communias dictatorship which wants the U.S. destroyed or subjegated. Yet we keep sending all our money there.

Washington borrowed 2.5 trillion dollars to make war on Iraq from China.

What can we do, short of making a large garden in our dack yard, raising our own protin, and pulling out our parents 1940's-50's American bicycle, and having our loved ones sew our clothes for us from 100% natural American union made cloth.

[Rick]

GVan - I've posted on this before. Global trade is just a natural extension and I'm a bit hard pressed to fully understand the overall reluctance. We traded within the clan. An arrow head for a piece of flint. We traded within a city. A loaf of bread for a sack of grain. We traded between villages, between counties, then between states. No one says we should buy Arizona or Ohio. So international trade became the next logical step.

We would not have as efficient of vehicles as we do today if the Japanese and not pressured the auto industry with vehicles that had closer tolerances and better gas mileage.

Is it okay to have my product manufactured in the next state because I can pay less and not be bothered with a union but not okay to have my product made in Mexico? If I reduce my overhead then I can keep my prices lower. And we have to calculate in the caveat that "Japanese" cars are made right here in America by American workers. What do we tell them?

I appreciate your position and I'm certainly not harping at you personally. I just want folks to see both sides and give it some thought so they can make an educated decision.

Who knows, maybe some day we'll be saying buy Earth....

[Aurelius95]

Did anyone read the book, The World Is Flat? It used to be that call centers were located in India because it's cheaper. Now, the Indians are outsourcing their outsourcing to Maylasia and the Phillippines because it's cheaper for them! The point of the book is that someday, most manufacturing will be done overseas because it's so much cheaper. But that will cause major problems in the US.

[Rick]

I'm not certain why it would cause major problems. We migrated away from manufacturing and into the service industry a decade ago. The private non-good producing industries account for approximately 70% of total economic activity in the United States. These non-good producing industries include retail trade, wholesale trade, and the service industries.

Source: http://www.census.gov/econ/www/servmenu.html

[BraggSurvivor]

The only problem that I see is quality control and safety. Outsourcing X3 or whatever could create major problems.

Sending nuclear warhead trigger components to ..........

[nell67]

Bragg,I dont think we need 3x outsourcing for that one.....

[GVan]

For some reason my post was cut into half.

I'm not truely against global traid, I'm just against 8.5 million americans out of work and homeless as a direct consequence of globalization.

We are told today that we're a service nation. Well service nation, here's your new service industry phrase for the day;..."Would like fries with that?"

We became strong as a manufacturing nation.

[Excalibur]

so when terrorists raid a passport factory in thialand they now have LEGAL documents to bring a nuke into the US oh this is rich some things just SHOULDNT be outsourced

[Alpine_Sapper]

so when terrorists raid a passport factory in thialand they now have LEGAL documents to bring a nuke into the US oh this is rich some things just SHOULDNT be outsourced

Just because the circuitry is manufactured elsewhere doesn't mean the passport is legal. It still has to be activated and all the information for the individual assigned. THAT process has not been outsourced, and is, if I'm not mistaken, closely overlooked by DHS and just about any other three letter acronym you can come up with.

[trax]

ah ha, it all thais together now.

[Excalibur]

well I know a little of computers, one thing is on the internet you can find anything and if you cant find what you want, activation codes, programming ect. or you can find out who knows it doesnt take much heck up till a year ago an Iraqi national owned the security company incharge of a large military instalation wouldnt be hard to get "help" from some one like that or just average joe that wants $$$$. Plus any electronic device can be hacked with time and patience, now where did I leave my Electronic ID

[Alpine_Sapper]

well I know a little of computers, one thing is on the internet you can find anything and if you cant find what you want, activation codes, programming ect. or you can find out who knows it doesnt take much heck up till a year ago an Iraqi national owned the security company incharge of a large military instalation wouldnt be hard to get "help" from some one like that or just average joe that wants $$$$. Plus any electronic device can be hacked with time and patience, now where did I leave my Electronic ID

While I agree with the generality of what you are saying, and I see it daily doing forensics on e-commerce servers that have been compromised, I don't believe they have found a way to compromise the new passports yet. Nobody has busted that encryption yet, and it's going to take a team of people with doctorates in encryption algorithm's, and a very large server farm to bust it. I'm not saying it can't be done, but I am saying it hasn't been done yet. As a matter of fact, if you've been following the news about the Maliki army and Al Qaeda, you may have noticed that they've set up a safe haven on the border lands of Pakistan specifically to recruit US, Canadian, and European extremists, because it's much easier to sneak in a terrorist who can legally enter the country already. In other words, we had to find a way around the blasted electronic passports the US started using, since we can't forge 'em anymore. Oh, and the fact that they're going for blond haired blue eyed troops tends to make it easier to get them in under the radar.