In a message dated 10/1/04 2:09:50 AM, warmerwagen@YAHOO.COM writes:

<< You can't find metric around here and that big slotted
screw is an old idea- they don't even have that in
SAE. >>

This is a sad time in the Land of the Free and, unfortunately, it ain't gonna
get better.  I mourn the passing of our fastener industry just like I am
saddened by those long rows of boarded-up brick buildings in Massachusetts which
used to be abuzz with the activity of shoemaking.  I didn't ask for this glut
of cheap dreck from the Pacific Rim to clog our markets; did you?

It's true that about all you can find anymore is Phillips head screws or else
that wretched abomination, the combination head.  The slotted screw head may
be an old idea, but it is a far better idea in almost any venue except an
assembly line.  Just compare a screw made in this country, if you still have any,
to what the P-Rim has to offer.  The junk screw is ill-formed with soft edges
at the head circumference and with a poorly formed driver recess.  It is sorta
like a Play-Doh version of what a screw should be.

I wish I could just blame those self-serving bastards in Washington for this
sad state of affairs.  After all, they have their hands on the handwheel of
the floodgate which controls cheap imports.  But, the merchants who saw a way to
cash in on shoddy merchandise are also accountable.  They stocked their
shelves with junk that they could sell at two-for-one prices while still making a
higher percentage on the markup, then they used the specious excuse that they
were just yielding to the pressures of the market while they incrementally
inflated the prices of the junk they proffered to that of quality goods.  I guess
in the end, I have to blame the dumb-ass, American consumer for swallowing
this bill of goods just to crowd their lives with a bunch of poorly wrought
trinkets.

I'm voting for Kerry for a lot of reasons.  High on the list is because there
is a chance he won't send my kid (or yours) on a pointless forced march to
his death.  Also, because he might be speaking the truth when he says he wants
to arouse from his coma the greatest industrial giant the world has ever known.
 I suggest you do the same.

George