The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, John Kerry, has been vacationing in Idaho at one of several luxurious getaways owned by his wife, Teresa, who inherited an estimated $700 million from the Heinz ketchup fortune controlled by her late husband. 

One can almost visualize Mr. Kerry snickering in the lap of luxury provided to him by the extraordinary wealth generated for his wife by the worldwide business operations of H.J. Heinz Company, which basks in its self-styled reputation as "the most global U.S.-based food company." 

After all, in March 2001, 10 days after Heinz revealed it would not meet its quarterly financial targets, the company announced that it would be cutting 1,900 jobs. Most of the job cuts would come from shutting down all tuna operations in Puerto Rico, whose nearly four million residents are U.S. citizens. 

OMED: When we saw the story in the Washington Times, the excerpts above caught our attention.  This is because of an earlier email we received from an Oregon Magazine reader, Camber Bybee, who lives in Beaverton.  Here is part of that email.

Kerry does not like offshore companies: Oh Really? 

Just came across a bit of information regarding Kerry and his claim of the Bush administration sending jobs abroad. Well, it seems that the Heinz Corporation (the original source of his wedded financial bliss) has 79 plants where it manufacturers products and 57 of the 79 are located in countries outside of the U.S. How many U.S. jobs are lost here? 

There are Heinz factories located at: Taipei,Taiwan (makes Heinz baby foods), Dublin, Ireland; Paris, France; Dovarmenez, France; Lisbon, Portugal; Madrid, Spain;  Milan, Italy; Monguzzo, Italy; Athens,Greece; Warsaw, Poland; Pudliszki, Poland; Wodzislaw, Poland; Miedzychod, Poland; Moscow, Russia; Georgievisk, Russia; Cairo, Egypt; Tel Aviv, Isreal;  Haifa, Isreal; Elst, The Netherlands (and 6 other plants there); Brussels, Belgium;Turnhout, Belgium;  Dusseldorf, Germany; Seesen, Germany; Rovereto, Italy; Chateaurenand, France; North York, Canada; Wheatley, Canada; Caracas,Venezuela; San Jose, Costa Rica; Johannesburg, South Africa; Gaborone, Botswana; Harare, Zimbabwe; Cheguta, Zimbabwe; Wellington, South Africa; Melbourne, Australia; Republic of Singapore; Auckland, New Zealand; Tokyo, Japan; Guangzhov, People's Republic of China (makes infant cereal); Qingdao, People's Republic of China (makes infant foods, ketchup,mayonnaise & puree); Inchon, South Korea (makes Heinz products and StarKist); Bangkok, Thailand; Mumbai, India; Jakarta, Indonesia; Surabaya, Indonesia; Manila, Philippines; Wanchai, Hong Kong. 

OMED: We don't recall Senator Kerry mentioning Heinz during his outsourcing rants.  Perhaps it's because his wife might cut off his allowance if he did.

By the way, we're against the hypocrite, Kerry, not outsourcing.  Hong Kong, one of the smallest major cities on Earth, became one of the richest places on Earth by outsourcing. Hell, everybody who works in a Japanese auto plant located in America has a job created by outsourcing.. 

And, in the end, as a brilliant fellow named Jesus Christ once said, it is better to teach a man to fish than to give a man a fish.  By building up the economies of foreign nations, we reduce the number of communist revolutions, raise the lifestyle of the poor and both cut back the need for foreign aid and increase the potential market for the stuff we do still make in America -- the best of which is technological innovation.

It would dramatically improve our economic future if this fall voters outsourced John Kerry.