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The Donald Trumps NAFTA Boondoggle  May 27, 2020

Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Politics, Politiocal Philosophy, Uncategorized.
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For years labor leaders, America Firsters, and just about anyone who paid attention have railed against the unfair, job killing, economy destroying one-sided giveaway Bill Clinton and Progressive Democrats foisted on America.

NAFTA allowed and by providing economic incentives encouraged large multi-national corporations to outsource not only jobs but also production.  American automobile manufacturers led the way and became the prime example of the offshoring movement.  Back in 1994, when NAFTA first descended on the American worker like a plague, the average American autoworker earned about $36 an hour in today’s dollars. The average Mexican autoworker, meanwhile, earned just $6.65 per hour.

Once NAFTA opened the gates to unlimited and untaxed imports from Mexico taking advantage of this cheap labor U.S. auto companies began moving their production to Mexico.  The numbers working in auto factories in Mexico tell the story.  Back in the pre-NAFTA days Mexican auto factories employed about 100,000.  By 2016, after NAFTA that figure grew to 767,000.

This astounding growth cost many American workers their jobs. The number of Americans working in the American auto industry fell from about 1.1 million in 1994 to 940,000 in 2016. And their average wages dropped to about $28 per hour.  This drop in pay was forced on the unions when the companies threatened to outsource even more jobs if workers didn’t accept the loss of pay and benefits.

Between 1993 and 2014, the U.S.-Mexico trade balance swung from a $1.7 billion U.S. surplus to a $54 billion deficit. Economists such as Dean Baker of the Center for Economic and Policy Research and Robert Scott, chief economist at the Economic Policy Institute, argue that the consequent surge of imports from Mexico into the U.S. coincided with the loss of up to 600,000 U.S. jobs over two decades.

Then Came Trump.

After a long delay of more than a year caused by Nancy Pelosi and the impeachment lynch mob the House finally passed the United States Canada Mexico Agreement (USMCA).  The Senate quickly followed suit and President Trump signed the new and improved trade deal replacing the job killing NAFTA.  This is the upgrade 21st-century America needs.  The USMCA strengthens labor protections, creates jobs, and discourages U.S. firms from outsourcing American jobs to Mexico.

Trump’s USMCA combats this exporting of America’s industrial base in several ways.

First, the trade pact stipulates that Mexican factories paying employees at least $16 an hour must account for half of all car parts by 2023.  High tariffs will be placed on cars sold in America that don’t meet this threshold.  This wage requirement is almost like a poison pill for Mexican auto imports since the wages of autoworkers south of the border don’t come anywhere close to this amount.

Second, USMCA also calls for a minimum of 75% of vehicle parts must be manufactured in either the United States, Mexico, or Canada.  This is an increase from the 62.5% required by NAFTA.  If this goal is not achieved there will be stiff tariffs on the incoming parts and the vehicles.  This will encourage US manufacturers to buy American instead of from foreign sources with lower labor costs.

Just these two aspects of Trump’s USMCA will increase the production and sale of cars more nearly made in America than the current situation where autos tend to be international projects sold with American name brands.  It has been estimated this could result in as much as Thirty-four billion dollars of investment in American auto manufacturers, which in turn would bring investments in construction and wages.  Some have said these two changes alone might result in as many as 76,000 new U.S. automotive jobs over the next five years.

And adhering to Trump’s well-known negotiating style of crafting win-win deals, USMCA wouldn’t just help Americans.  One of the requirements of the pact is that Mexico guarantees the right of their workers to unionize for collective bargaining.  It also requires the establishment of what Americans have come to see as basic rights for working people, but which are innovations in the Mexican economy.  Such things as independent agencies to rule on labor disputes, an end to both gender and racial discrimination, and child labor.

These types of actions will finally start to level the playing field.  And as Mexican wages and benefits rise to more nearly American standards companies will have fewer incentives to move their purchasing or manufacturing south of the border.  Also, as the Mexican economy begins to provide a living wage to more and more of its citizens less and less will have a reason to come north.

Unions march in lockstep to the democrat drum.  They contribute money and manpower to the Democrat political machine.  They’ve complained loudly and continually about NAFTA since before its passage and every day through its entire blighted reign as a drag on the American economy.  Finally, someone stepped into the breach and fought the good fight to end this bad deal.

Trump has done it.  After more than a year of holding it hostage to their impeachment/coup attempt Nancy Pelosi and her minions finally passed it.  The President signed it.  Now let’s see if the union bosses will admit which side of their bread is buttered, or will they bite the hand that feeds them?  Whatever the bosses do I’m betting a large percentage of union members will shake off their pre-programmed allegiance to bi-coastal elites, the permanent bureaucracy, and their media megaphone.

Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, Global Studies, and Religion.  He is the Historian of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com  © 2020 Contact Dr. Owens drrobertowens@hotmail.com   Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens or visit Dr. Owens Amazon Page / Edited by Dr. Rosalie Owens

 

 

Trump Trade Deals   February 26, 2020

Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Politics, Politiocal Philosophy, Uncategorized.
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President Trump campaigned on his ability to revoke, revise, or replace the bewildering myriad of trade deals previous administrations negotiated which worked primarily to the benefit of everyone except US.  Finally, after twenty-eight years of politicians selling American workers and entrepreneurs out President Trump is putting America first.

A case in point:

After dragging their feet and the nation through their impeachment/election campaign ploy the House recently passed the United States Canada Mexico Agreement (USMCA).  The Senate quickly followed suit and President Trump signed the new and improved trade deal replacing the job killing NAFTA.  This is the upgrade 21st-century America needs.

This is such an obvious improvement that even normally virulently anti-Trump labor leaders led by the AFL-CIO’s Richard Trumka have come out in support of the new deal.  In an op-ed for CNN Trumpka said, “Because of our patience and perseverance, the USMCA now includes strong labor rights and a viable mechanism to enforce them. … We also secured a separate enforcement mechanism that allows for inspections of factories and facilities that don’t live up to their obligations. This was an important priority for the labor movement because it ensures that working people in all three countries have greater protections under this new agreement. … The deal isn’t perfect, but that it is a far cry from the original NAFTA, and that is a huge win for working people in North America.”

United Steelworkers President Thomas Conway said, “The revised deal is better than the original USMCA and certainly better than NAFTA. It should be adopted. The leaders of all three countries must diligently enforce the provisions, however, and we intend to hold them accountable to ensure that workers, the environment and consumers are protected.  …  Outsourcing won’t end as companies continue to search the globe for places where they can profit off of the hard work of others, spoil the environment to improve their balance sheets and raise prices for basic needs. The fight for fair trade won’t end with this agreement, but it’s an agreement worth passing.”

And it isn’t just labor leaders expressing their appreciation for the types of trade deals President Trump is working to secure, which replace the giveaways previous administrations imposed on us that transfers American wealth overseas.

Lori Wallach of the left-wing Public Citizen organization which tracks globalization’s impact on American workers, referred to USMCA saying, “It sets the floor from which we will fight for good trade policies that put working people and the planet first.”  When comparing Trump’s USMCA to former President Obama’s failed Trans Pacific-Partnership (TPP) Wallach said, “The unusually large, bipartisan vote on the revised [USMCA] shows that to be politically viable, U.S. trade pacts no longer can include extreme corporate investor privileges or broad monopoly protections for Big Pharma and must have enforceable labor and environmental standards, in contrast to the 2016 Trans-Pacific Partnership, which never got close to majority House support.”

Breitbart News sums up the situation this way, “Decades-long free trade deals, NAFTA, and China’s entering the World Trade Organization (WTO) eliminated about five million American manufacturing jobs and 50,000 U.S. manufacturing plants since 1994.  American manufacturing is vital to the U.S. economy, as every manufacturing job supports an additional 7.4 American jobs in other industries.”

John Binder of Breitbart added, “Free trade advocates, such [as] former Vice President Joe Biden, claimed at the time that NAFTA would create a million U.S. manufacturing jobs in the first five years.  Instead, nearly a million American jobs have been certified by the federal government as being lost directly due to NAFTA, according to data gathered by Public Citizen.  These are only the U.S. jobs that the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program recognizes as being lost to free trade and does not indicate the actual number of jobs lost.”

Moving from the general to the specific let’s look at an example of how one American entrepreneur looked at the USMCA agreement and why he thought it was so vital to his industry and his state.

Before the passage of USMCA Jason Wilburn, president of Foerster Instruments, a manufacturer of equipment for the nondestructive testing of materials and components, along with other manufacturers from around the country converged on Washington to tell lawmakers to support and ratify the United States-Mexico-Canada trade agreement.  In an editorial published on Triblive.com Wilbur stated, “Just like the unseen parts used to make automobiles and airplanes work, the contributions of the Keystone State are often experienced — even if not always seen — every day around the world. The products manufactured in Pennsylvania help make the world function, but all of that could slow down if a critical trade agreement with our North American neighbors is not approved by Congress.”

While saying previous agreements providing for free trade throughout North America have been beneficial Wilburn added, “NAFTA is now more than 25 years old and in need of an update. That’s why the leaders of the U.S., Canada and Mexico negotiated a new and modern agreement to replace it.”  He went on to “explain the importance of tariff-free trade to my business and how the USMCA would build on previous trade deals and provide less onerous requirements to ship manufactured goods to our North American neighbors.”  In addition, the small manufacturer from Pennsylvania made this ringing cry for a level playing field, “that, without tariff-free trade across North America protected by a strong trade agreement, our state’s manufactured exports to Canada and Mexico could be hit with as much as $1.7 billion in extra taxes.  Costs like that are enough to devastate any business.  As a result, many of Pennsylvania’s manufacturers and the workers and communities they support would lose sales as competitors from Europe and Asia swoop in on our missed opportunity, steal our business and, along with it, the American dream.”

Ending his well-stated and impassioned plea for the passage of USMCA as the House dithered away the year in its relentless efforts to impeach President Trump Mr. Wilburn wrote this, “We need to cut the red tape and the arduous regulations that make it harder to do business. The USMCA does this for small manufacturers.  If the USMCA is ratified, businesses like mine will be able to continue doing what we do best: create highly sophisticated components and provide constant innovations in products to our global customers.  That’s good for Pennsylvania and it’s good for our country.”

And there you have it. President Trump works tirelessly to make America great again.  Now it’s up to us to see through the fog machine of artificial scandals and baseless charges and cast our votes to keep America great.

Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, Global Studies, and Religion.  He is the Historian of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com  © 2020 Contact Dr. Owens drrobertowens@hotmail.com   Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens or visit Dr. Owens Amazon Page / Edited by Dr. Rosalie Owens

 

How Many Nails Does it Take to Seal a Coffin November 11, 2015

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How many lopsided trade deals does it take to teach a nation they are being sold down the river? Apparently it takes one more than we have.

After months of secrecy President Obama has the chutzpa to throw the thing online and challenge people to read it. Saying “Along with the text of the agreement, we’ve posted detailed materials to help explain it. It’s an unprecedented degree of transparency — and it’s the right thing to do.”

Sounds great doesn’t it? How open. How accessible. Give it a quick read and let’s get on with the job of selling out our heritage for a bowl for oatmeal.

The next time you have a few moments free between jobs why not give it a go. It is only 5,544 pages containing 2,056,560 words which is according to the Daily Caller:

  • 18x longer than the King James Bible
  • 77x longer than the Affordable Care Act
  • 63x longer than the entire Harry Potter series
  • 73x longer than the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy
  • 06x longer than the entire Game of Thrones series
  • 33x longer than the entire works of Shakespeare
  • 65x longer than the New Oxford American Dictionary 3rd Edition

Just take a little break from trying to make ends meet while you compete with workers around the world making ten dollars a day and make a decision about whether we should take another bite of the free trade apple. Of course no matter what you decide the twin headed party of power in Chicago on the Potomac is going to shove this give away of American jobs and prosperity down your throat.

TPP is an agreement between the United States and 11 other countries – Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam. China is not a party to this treaty.

According to Public Citizen:

The TPP would expand the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) “trade” pact model that has spurred massive U.S. trade deficits and job loss, downward pressure on wages, unprecedented levels of inequality and new floods of agricultural imports. The TPP not only replicates, but expands NAFTA’s special protections for firms that offshore U.S. jobs. And U.S. TPP negotiators literally used the 2011 Korea FTA – under which exports have fallen and trade deficits have surged – as the template for the TPP.

In one fell swoop, this secretive deal could:

Although it is called a “free trade” agreement, the TPP is not mainly about trade. Of TPP’s 29 draft chapters, only five deal with traditional trade issues. One chapter would provide incentives to offshore jobs to low-wage countries. Many would impose limits on government policies that we rely on in our daily lives for safe food, a clean environment, and more. Our domestic federal, state and local policies would be required to comply with TPP rules.

So if the stagnant or falling wages of the last few decades have left you feeling as if you haven’t given enough hold on because the DC Leviathan is about to ask for more.

I would now make a plea for everyone to call their senators and congressman but does anyone believe that would make a difference. This is just another milestone on the road to the 3rd world by those who seek to fundamentally transform America. Then along comes Hillary, the nail in our coffin.

Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion. He is the Historian of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com © 2015 Contact Dr. Owens drrobertowens@hotmail.com Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens / Edited by Dr. Rosalie Owens

September 13, 2014

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Amnesty With Open Borders Equals National Suicide

Our President has made no secret of what his end game is.  Remember him with Joe the plumber?  He just wants to spread the wealth around.  He is perhaps not an avowed socialist but he is certainly an announced one.  Yet he has won two elections one way or another and he is coordinating the end game of the Cloward-Piven Strategy  This is not a conspiracy…it’s a strategy….and it breaks my heart that as America dozed on the couch watching the game these Progressives have turned the American dream into a nightmare.

Now the Southern border has been all but erased by a pre-arranged catastrophe. What does America’s Community Organizer in Chief say in response to Republican reticence in voting millions to pay for lawyers to argue against our own laws? He tells us he is going to unilaterally grant amnesty through executive edict to millions if not tens of millions while holding the door open to millions more. Of course he will wait till after the2014 midterms are over so that his party can campaign against amnesty while planning to grant it afterwards.

Does the GOP move to block this unconstitutional act of national suicide? Do they mount a national campaign to harness the vast majority of citizens who want to save America for Americans? No, the congressional Republican leaders let everyone know they are for amnesty too.

How can they not know that amnesty for millions of undocumented democrats is suicide for the GOP? Call it executive action. Call it comprehensive immigration reform. Call it anything you want. Amnesty under any other name is amnesty and amnesty with open borders is a siren call to the tens of millions who haven’t already come to come now. Our leaders are actually working on a plan to merge the United States with Canada and Mexico into a new super state of North America. Our children and grandchildren will grow up in a third world hellhole that was once the land of the free and the home of the brave.

My question is….How can the GOP be so stupid….or…Why are Democrats smarter than Republicans?

I was a fourth generation Republican who cut my teeth in Nixon’s first presidential campaign, worked for Goldwater, Reagan, and all the following place holders until the impeachment debacle and the explosion of government growth and spending under Hastert, Lott, and Bush. When the Republican Senate refused to impeach President Clinton for crimes he later admitted and when they then became Democrat Lite as the party of power and profit, I mailed my membership card to the party that was no longer the Grand Old Party of my great grandfather and became an Independent.

For most of my life I was a party man: accepting some things I didn’t agree with for the greater good of electing a party with a platform I could agree with. However, once it became apparent that as far as the budget went we had elected the foxes to watch the hen house that the conservative social agenda received a tip-of-the-hat during elections followed by no action, and that the only victims of the impeachment were those who brought the charges the scales fell from my eyes. Once I saw that the Republicans had lost their moorings and were swilling at the public trough, I realized the platform we conservatives battle so hard for and hold so dear is merely a mirage held in front of social and fiscal conservatives to keep them loyal to a Party captured by the Progressives.

Back in the Dream Time, when my mind was still locked in the glow of Ronald Reagan and all his example and message meant to America even then I wondered, “What’s wrong with these leaders of ours? Why do the Democrats always seem to outsmart them at every turn?”

Even Reagan, the best of the best, was hoodwinked by Tip O’Neal in the amnesty bargain: we would grant amnesty and then seal the border. The problem is the illegal immigrants got the amnesty, however America’s border was never sealed. He also signed several tax deals with the Democratic majority. We the People lost many deductions in exchange for lower rates. The deductions never came back even though the rates started rising again as soon as the Gipper said good night and George the First forgot to read his own lips.

George Bush the Elder was out maneuvered by the Progressives so many times that 20% of his base ran to Perot opening the door for Clinton and the first attempt to ram national health care down America’s throat. That time they overplayed their hand and the last great strategist among the Republicans, Newt Gingrich, was able to sell a Contract with America and bring the first Republican majority in Congress in 40 years.

Newt kept the promises and brought some fiscal sanity back to Washington. Within a few short years the Republican led Congress ended welfare as we had known it for generations and balanced the budget. Unfortunately the Party of Lincoln then nominated someone who campaigned as if he had voted for Lincoln. The 1996 Republican campaign would have had to improve several thousand percent to make it to dull. Suddenly, with an assist from the Corporations Once Known as the Mainstream Media, it was Clinton who had been dragged kicking and screaming to the benefit and spending cutting table who was the author of everything positive Congress had accomplished. The Republicans had been outmaneuvered and outsmarted again.

According to every one of the serial re-counts Bush the younger won Florida and legitimately the presidential race of 2000. Yet, to this day people talk of him being selected not elected. After the dastardly deeds of 9-11 the rhetorically-challenged George captured the hearts of America and the admiration of the Western world by taking a bullhorn and talking to a crowd at ground zero. Yet by fighting and winning America’s first preemptive war and then losing the peace through the lack of planning he soon lost the PR campaign which led to the Pelosi-Reid Congress and eventually absolute triumph of Progressivism in 2008.

The Progressives immediately took the reins of single-party rule and imposed their radical agenda to transform America into a Nanny-state based upon the re-distribution of wealth. This wanton destruction of the traditional American society based on limited government and free enterprise sparked a vast rebellion in the silent majority and the resulting teanami of 2010 brought a Republican majority back to the People’s House and an expanded minority to the Senate.

And what was the first thing these political savants did? They struck a deal that anyone who was paying attention could see was tailor made to save the discredited Obama presidency and set the stage for him to follow in Mr. Clinton’s footsteps taking credit for anything good the recent election might have made possible. What were these so-called leaders thinking? They turned the victory of the grassroots into capitulation by the elites to the elites. Not did they sign a deal that extended uncertainty and raised estate taxes, they gave the Administration cover for a stealth stimulus filled with pork designed to help re-elect the President.

So, “Why are Democrats smarter than Republicans?” The answer is they aren’t. It isn’t a matter of intelligence it’s a matter of people with dedication to something larger than themselves as opposed to people with dedication to seeing themselves as something larger than they are.

The leadership of the Democrats are committed radical Progressives. They have a long term agenda to transform America into a socialist welfare state with an unlimited government, and they never lose sight of that goal. They’re willing to commit political suicide, or more accurately they’re willing to encourage their followers who do not inhabit safe seats to commit political suicide. They never take their eyes off the ball. They’re constantly pushing to move closer to the goal line even if it’s one inch at a time.

By comparison the leadership of the Republicans is composed of professional politicians. They’re pragmatists who do whatever they have to do and say whatever they have to say to retain their seats, their power, and their perks. They believe the inside the beltway press who tell them how visionary they are to compromise, losing sight of those back home in fly-over country who instead believed the campaign promises and expect their representatives to stand up for principles.

The outraged public may rise up and throw out the democratic majority of Harry Reid. They may increase the majority for John Boehner. What will be the result? Will America reject the creeping socialism that is sapping our energy and subjecting us to the rule of bureaucrats and their regulations? Will America get back on track?

No, in the unfolding amnesty debacle the Party of Lincoln once will once again choose to be on the receiving end of Pickett’s Charge instead of behind the spit-rail fence chanting “Fredericksburg! Fredericksburg!” as their enemy wastes itself in a senseless charge against an immovable barrier. Once again the leadership of the right will embrace the left, reaching across the aisle in a bi-partisan enactment of America’s Día de Muertos to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion. He is the Historian of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com © 2014 Contact Dr. Owens drrobertowens@hotmail.com Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens / Edited by Dr. Rosalie Owens

 

 

Tomorrow Begins Today February 25, 2011

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Today America’s leaders, ignoring the example of Dr. Kissinger, have abandoned realpolitik. Otto von Bismarck, the Iron Chancellor who united Germany coined the term.  In its original German it means “the politics of reality.” According to the tenets of realpolitik, foreign policy has only one purpose: the security of the state.  Instead our leaders have subverted it to crusading for the touchy feely advancement of causes and ideologies.

The recent visit of Hu Jintao, the President of Communist China, revealed the fruits of this strategy.  Prior to his arrival he demeaned the status of our currency and announced that he will not compromise over trade deals radically skewed in China’s favor.  And why should he?  He, along with the rest of the world, have taken their measure of  our current leadership and they know even if they don’t receive the infamous bow they will receive the deference reserved for everyone except our traditional allies.

Our trade policies force us to open our markets while those of our trading partners are blocked by fees and regulations.  Our foreign policy is littered with wars we aren’t allowed to win and we won’t stop fighting.  Our once dominate high technology has been given away or stolen.  Our once predominate industrial base has been shipped overseas. And our once prevailing credit surplus has been changed into the biggest debt in History.  This is the record of the last twenty years, and a record that reminds me of an old song, “Once I built a railroad, I made it run, made it race against time.  Once I built a railroad; now it’s done. Brother, can you spare a dime? ”

Ronald Reagan emerged through the ridicule and derision of the establishment to take realpolitik to its logical conclusion: engineering the destruction of the Evil Empire and the absolute ascendancy of the United States.  Since he left the scene our Presidents have led a steady advance to the rear. The North American Free Trade Act ( NAFTA) opened the flood gates as co-called free trade gutted our industrial base.  Social engineering and the colossal spending it requires have bankrupted us.

Are we to be the generation that drops the ball?  Each generation of Americans has bequeathed to their posterity a land stronger than they received.  We were handed the unquestioned leadership of the world and after less than two decades we have frittered it away.  If we are to reverse the slide we must make the decision that from this day forward we will chart a new course.  From this day forward we will face reality and do the hard things necessary to reclaim our greatness and preserve the heritage of America for our children

What are the solutions to the seemingly unsolvable problems we face?  They aren’t hard; mostly they’re just common sense.  Government and people stop over spending and live within your means.  Lower or repeal all taxes.  Cut the regulations on everything.  Abandon so-called free trade and seek equitable trade.  End the wars.  Quit being the policeman of the world.  Bring our troops home.  Seal the borders.  Admit that Social Security has been a ponzi scheme since day one.  Realize that all the money we’ve paid into it over the years has been flushed down a rat hole. It isn’t there.  Now Figure out a fix with that in mind.  Drill baby drill and approve a few permits to build some new refineries while you’re at it.  And if we must buy oil quit buying it from people who hate us in areas where they don’t want us.  Instead buy our oil from Mexico.  This would pump money into our neighbor’s economy instead of Al Qaeda’s and perhaps our neighbor’s citizens might want to stay in their own country.  Quit apologizing for our past and put America first.

If we’re to have a tomorrow we must make today count.  We must live each day as a day worth living for each day lived is one less we have to live, and there are only so many days.  Today is the day to make tomorrow happen.

Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion for Southside Virginia Community College. He is the author of the History of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com View the trailer for Dr. Owens’ latest book @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ypkoS0gGn8 © 2011 Robert R. Owens dr.owens@comcast.net Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook.