Still Political -- BUY AMERICAN!

Mr. Fribble was trying to do me a favor, I know, but he ordered some dish towels and tea towels from a catalog. Twenty-five pieces for less than seven dollars. Ah, you're already nodding, huh?

If they had all been white, I would have been happy. Some were white, some were beige and some were -- dark red! I washed them all together. Some are now beige, dark red and PINK. They bleed pink into the dishwater. The fabric isn't all that great. They were made in Pakistan.

I told him I would rather spend three times as much for fewer AMERICAN towels. Why? Because so many jobs have gone overseas. Around Knoxville, there used to be a place called American Knitting Mills -- long gone. A Levi factory -- gone. A sock mill --gone to Mexico. The list could go on and on. The farms around here used to produce some cotton, but other states depended on it. The working mills in the South are now few and far between.

I'm a quilter, and in the past I've used a lot of bleached and unbleached muslin. Roclon was my favorite brand, and I got it by the bolt at Jo-Anne's. The last bolt I bought was labeled in very small type "Made in China" and it was not up to my standards. But there is NOTHING else available!

I'm going to be looking long and hard at labels from now on. I'm going to think many times before buying goods from other countries. I want our jobs back! I want our quality back! I don't care if it costs more, I'll just do with less.