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Steven Kurlander: American textile growth an Olympic hurdle
Washington's jingoist reaction to Olympic uniforms scandal fails to address lack of U.S.-made garments.
Published in The Sun Sentinel on 7/19/2012
"What's really embarrassing - and sad - is not so much that the Lauren uniforms - highlighted by hideous French berets, double-breasted blazers and blinding white slacks - were manufactured by Chinese laborers, but how our Washington continues to fail to address the really significant issue highlighted by this debacle: our dependence on importing our clothes from overseas."
Yet, even if Bloomberg is right, I don't want him or any government leader to limit
 | | Does it really matter that our Olympic athletes are wearing foreign-made clothes when all of America, including every member of Congress, does the same every day? |
by Steven Kurlander
The torrent of patriotic indignity continued to stream from Capitol Hill this week over the revelation that the American Olympic team's uniforms, which were designed by American Ralph Lauren, were produced in China.
Democratic Lawmakers in Congress on Monday introduced a bill titled the "Team USA Made In America Act" that would require all U.S. Olympic team uniforms worn on the opening day of Olympics to be made in America. The bill was introduced even though the Olympic Committee apologized and Lauren had already promised to provide American-made uniforms at the next Olympics.
"I look forward to the quick passage of this patriotic jobs bill so that the United States never finds itself in this embarrassing situation again," said one of the bill's sponsors, Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey.
On Tuesday, Rep. Tim Murphy (R-Pa.) sent a letter to the Olympic Committee urging them to buy American. "The Olympic Committee's decision to use uniforms made in China, which has notoriously violated international trade agreements to the detriment of American manufacturing, is especially galling when 23 million Americans are out of work or looking for more work," the letter stated.
Wow. Doesn't that jingoistic "buy American" and anti-China lingo titillate your patriotic spirit and make you want to shout, "Hooray for the red, white and blue!... Keep Reading
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Cousin Casey Kurlander: Marissa Mayor leaves Google to become Yahoo's New CEO
 By Casey Kurlander
By now I'm guessing that we have all heard the biggest news story out of Silicon Valley- Marissa Mayer has been hired as the new CEO at Yahoo.
The second-biggest news story seems to be the fact that she is six months pregnant. Good for her, but what I'm really interested in is who she is, what she accomplished at Google and what we can expect from her at Yahoo. Surely she has her work cut out for her, so what changes can we expect from the company in the upcoming future?...Keep Reading
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 Click & Post Your Opinion: Did Congress go overboard in criticism of Chinese-made Olympic uniforms?
Cartoon: Chan Lowe: Outsourcing jobs
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