Food for thought

The Irving shipyard in Halifax has won the contract to build twenty-one Canadian combat ships for the navy. The accompanying photograph in the Toronto Star article shows the workers pumping their fists in the air. Those shipyards that lost out will have to pare down or close. Such is the nature of capitalism, for every winner there is a loser. Even the winners soon become losers. An employee of the Saint John shipyard tells how when the yard closed down the last time that the work ran out in his yard, "A lot of guys got divorced and lost homes and houses. A lot committed suicide." And we have to rely on the production of killing machines to gain a livelihood.

The house to house battle in Fallujah, Iraq in 2004 polluted the city with the use of white phosphorous by the American troops to light up the city. The chemical rained down on the houses. It has resulted in a staggering rise in birth defects -- 15%. Compared to a global average of 6%. There are no support systems for the care of these children.

At the peak of the Iraq war, there were 505 US bases and 170 000 troops in Iraq. The equipment left behind is staggering -- 26 000 trailers (housing units), worth $124 million, 89 000 air conditioners worth $18.5 million, 900 vehicles worth making a total of $350 million. The waste of war in equipment is staggering to say nothing of the human and infrastructure costs.

The war was all about giving the Iraqis freedom and democracy (?). The Toronto Star of December 17 reports on the protest against ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) wherein Senators and corporate executives are wined and dined at the best resorts so that the corporate world can tell the senators what legislation they should be enacting. Corporations such as AT&T, Wal-Mart, GlaxoSmithKline, UPS, Pfizer, Bayer, Verizon, amd Koch industries meet the senators to 'provide public and private sector workers members with a unique opportunity to work together to develop policies and programs that effectively promote the Jeffersonian principle of free markets, limited governments, federalism and individual liberty'. A spokesperson says it creates the best agenda for taxpayers to create jobs and increase the overall standard of living. Some two thousand state legislators belong the organization that has created an arsenal of 800 'model' bills that get tabled about one thousand times a year. Most of them, of course oppose climate change legislation, privatize prisons and schools, rollback workers' rights, limit voting rights, and promote tax breaks for the wealthy.

In addition, a recent book -- Republic Lost -- How money corrupts Congress and how to stop it -- by Lawrence Lessig, it states the less than one per cent of Americans contribute to political campaigns and members of Congress spend a phenomenal amount of time pursuing these elites -- between 30 and 70%. Some democracy the Iraqis have gained! John Ayers