After a long absence from stores, you can once again buy Westinghouse light bulbs and television sets and air conditioners and even vacuum cleaners.

They bear the famous "W" logo that Westinghouse Electric Corp. introduced almost 50 years ago and even carry the company's well-remembered slogan, "You can be sure if it's Westinghouse."

But those products have nothing to do with the old East Pittsburgh Works or even the company that Western Pennsylvania residents thought of as "Westinghouse."

CBS Corp. owns the Westinghouse trademarks and lets other companies rent them for a fee. ... Pittsburghers -- unless they own CBS stock -- don't see a cent ...

The "Westinghouse Electric" nuclear business [remains] an institution that Pittsburghers can remain proud of. About 40 percent of the world's nuclear power plants are using technology that was developed here in Western Pennsylvania.

But the consumer gadgets that also bear the "W" logo are a mixed bag. CBS isn't particularly picky about who rents the trademarks. Some of the products bearing the "Westinghouse" label are good. Some of them are garbage that do nothing to help Westinghouse's legacy.

Seeing "Westinghouse" logos stuck on chintzy plastic junk imported from China and Taiwan must grind the gears of thousands of ex-employees still living in the Mon Valley. It's uncomfortable, like watching a punch-drunk prizefighter, years past his prime, who doesn't realize that he's embarrassing himself by stumbling around the ring.

Cartoonist Rob Rogers does "Rob's Rough," an early look at his work and his creative process, exclusively at PG+, a members-only web site of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.