CliffyWorld

The German authorities said Friday that they had asked all German producers of the blood thinner heparin to check whether their ingredients came from China, after allergic reactions to the drug there were linked to two Chinese suppliers.

In cases where China did supply the raw ingredient, manufacturers were asked to test for any irregularities. The German authorities recalled the suspect heparin on Wednesday after receiving reports of allergic reactions in about 80 patients.

Heparin manufactured with Chinese ingredients has been linked to 19 deaths in the United States. Federal drug regulators there said sophisticated tests had found what might be a counterfeit ingredient in the heparin associated with the deaths and serious allergic reactions in more than 700 patients.

Much of the world’s heparin originates in China, where the raw material for the drug is gathered from pigs. In the first half of last year, China exported heparin to 42 countries and regions, according to Chinese officials. China exported the most heparin, about 13 tons, to Germany.

The suspect heparin in the United States was made by Baxter International, with ingredients from a Chinese company called Changzhou SPL. The discovery that the ingredients for the German-made heparin came from two different Chinese plants has led investigators to suspect that the problem may lie farther back in the supply chain.

The German authorities identified the two plants as Changzhou Quianhong Bio Pharma Company, and the Yantai Dongcheng Biochemicals Company. Both are among the top 10 Chinese exporters of heparin, according to a report last September by the China Chamber of Commerce for the Import and Export of Medicines and Health Products. Officials in the sales departments of both Chinese companies said that they were unaware of the problems in Germany.

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If you leave a slice of bread or a piece of fruit out for a couple of weeks they will become moldy. Most likely you will throw them away. But what about people who have been left out too long and become moldy. Do you throw them away as well?

Let's look at Gloria Steinem as an example. Her career started as a Playboy Bunny back in 1963. After experiencing some sort of revelation she became a hardcore feminist. As years moved on Ms. Steinem got back into the spotlight by authoring several books on feminism along with taking on the role as Ms Magazine's consulting editor.

Steinem had been a long time critic of the institution of marriage but tied the knot twice. Her late husband, David Bale, faced deportation charges for overstaying his visa, but his marriage to Steinem earned him conditional residency. After his passing she married David Bale, father of actor Christian Bale. The wedding was performed at the home of her friend Wilma Mankiller, formerly the first female Chief of the Cherokee Nation.

Playboy Bunny to Feminest, critic of marriage but married twice, the latter one by the female chief of the Cherokee Nation. Is she moldy enough to throw out yet? Nope.

Let's move to the present, March 2, 2008, Austin Texas. While speaking to a group of Hillary Clinton supporters, Steinem blurts: "Suppose John McCain had been Joan McCain and Joan McCain had got captured, shot down and been a POW for eight years?" and took a look at possible questions the media would ask Ms. Joan McCain about her fault in being captured as a prisoner of war. She also asked: "'What did you do wrong to get captured? What terrible things did you do while you were there as a captive for eight years?" and in closing said "I mean, hello? This is supposed to be a qualification to be president? I don’t think so."

The CliffyWorld mold meter now indicates it's time to throw her away.

Moving closer to the garbage pail is Joy Behar from ABC's "The View" who defended Steinem in a recently aired episode. She is also displaying signs of mold.

Hanoi Jane made an appearance on The Today Show recently. Although discarded years ago for mold, she sneaked out of the dumpster to tell us during a live broadcast that the vagina is also called C**T. Meredith Viera could have scored high ratings for NBC had she rammed a bar of soap into Jane's mouth. Too bad for Jane, soap doesn't get rid of mold.

Moldy people should be discarded. They are a disgrace to all the soldiers and veterans who have put their lives in front of ours defending everything that is sacred.

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Come Saturday, March 1st New Jersey drivers chatting on hand-held cell phones are subject to a traffic stop and a summons carrying a $100 to $250 fine.

Studies showed that drivers who were speaking or listening had more difficulty maintaining a steady speed, keeping a constant distance between themselves and other vehicles, and staying in the proper lane. People are as impaired when they drive and talk on a cell phone as they are when they drive intoxicated at the legal blood-alcohol limit of 0.08 percent. Other studies report that almost 30 percent of teens admit text messaging while driving.

CliffyWorld applauds the upgrade status to this New Jersey law and hopes that more states follow suit. Next on the books nationwide should be the elimination of shaving, putting on makeup, pets on lap, beverage drinking, eating, reading the paper, using laptop and combing and brushing hair.

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Starbucks closed all it's retail stores for 3.5 hours today for an employee training session. It seems that over the past several months Starbucks has taken a hit with a depreciated stock value and loss of revenue. The big-wigs at the corporate office think that 3.5 hours of employee training will set them on an upward trend.

Let's figure this out using some common sense. Starbucks recently raised prices an average of 11 cents per cup. Due to the many complaints from customers and the negative publicity the price was reinstated. Apparently caffeine addicts can go elsewhere for their fix, not what Starbucks believed they would do. My dad once said " in the world of big business, nobody is your friend. For as little as a penny difference in the price of a product a retail purchaser will always go with the better deal." But, its not just the price of the goods, it also the quality of the product. Starbucks coffee in my opinion is not a great tasting coffee. It has a strong burnt flavor that I and many don't care for.

So, what makes Starbucks coffee so appealing? Marketing, marketing, marketing. Target an audience of kids with a lot of free money (no rent, mortgage, utility bills, college tuition and car loans to pay) or young designer crazed individuals, provide Internet access, give your coffees tongue twister names and charge $3.00 to $8.00 a cup to create a suave feeling and you've got a hit.

For what it's worth, a cup of coffee at a diner costs around a $1.50 and they will refill your cup as many times as you want them to and stop when you convulse. They will serve it to you while your sitting down relaxing perhaps eating a slice of warm apple pie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Add about $3.50 for the latter. When you're done, they will clean off your table, ask you if everything was alright and thank you for coming. At Starbucks, you wait in line to order your over-priced strong burnt coffee, go to another line and wait until they hand it to you, pay $6.00 for cold apple pie without the ice cream, carry your coffee to a table that has another line of people waiting to add cream and sugar then circle for a clean table to stand by. When done you make sure to throw your own garbage away in the trash receptacle and go back to the ordering counter and drop a buck in the tip cup just to be cool.

What major business boost could possibly come out from a 3.5 hour training session? Maybe they will all learn how to give a bigger smile or figure out a way to refill the cream and sugar containers faster.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why Starbucks profits are going down. Lousy expensive coffee, the lack of customer service, the high cost of multiple store locations within a small territory and competition like McDonalds, Dunkin' Donuts and your local deli or diner.

Just think that if just shutting down a company's operation for a 3.5 hour training session raises profits, why not do it at General Motors, The Airline Industry, The New York Times and the U.S Government?

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While researching American products manufactured in China, I came across a very interesting company named Shenzhen Rong Lian Industrial Co., Ltd. According to their company website "Shenzhen Rong Lian Industrial Co., Ltd. are a professional erotic products manufacturer, with the right to import and export products of sex toys & healthcare products. Our main office of work and factory are situated in Shenzhen, with a secondary office based in Hong Kong. As a manufacturer, we have built a strong and well seasoned Research & Development team of professional engineers and technicians." Can you imagine having a job as a professional engineer or technician working at this company? They must all be pretty exhausted at the end of the day.

Scanning the product line I became proud to see that Americans were setting the standard for some of these "toys."
Here are two of them:

No other country had any toys named after them by this company. Not even France nor Italy shared in the lust. Looking deeper at the company website I found a list of quality certifications that apply to each product they make. A majority of the certificates indicated delivery was to Russia. So, in conclusion, we have sex toys made in China bearing American names being shipped to Russia. I guess that's why there was a movie called "From Russia With Love."

You just can't make this stuff up!

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