Sunday, March 20, 2016
We shall be heard
Saturday, March 19, 2016
Air Sick (1985)
Air Sick (1985)
. . . we have had a string of survivable accidents on all types of aircraft in which we believe the effects of smoke and fire have been critical for the people trapped in the fuselage . . . a lot more people have died in these incidents than should have done.(Guardian 29th August 1985)
It is on the definition of just what is an acceptable risk, however, that pilots and operators have some of their most bitter arguments, and many safety-conscious but disillusioned pilots have, perhaps unfairly, echoed Nevil Shute’s bitter comment, “of course operators are all for safety - just as long as it doesn’t cost them any money!” . . . an airline may accept a risk, because to lessen it would put one or more particular departments over the allotted budget; while if a crash occurs, it is not the operator who foots the bill, but the insurer, (Pilot Error - A Professional Study of Contributory Factors, Ronald Aupt (Ed), 1976)
The Common Sense Idea
Just as in the Arctic, the sharks are circling Antarctica. It's not just for scientists now. Although there is a treaty banning mining on Antarctica, a continent larger than Europe, many nations are getting ready by establishing bases. Russia has built an Orthodox Church there (maybe recruiting penguins for the pews!) and has blocked efforts to create one of the world's largest ocean sanctuaries. India, Turkey, China and Iran have all built or will build bases there and it's not for the sunshine. The sub heading to the title of the article in The New York Times says it all, "Nations Compete on a Continent rich in Oil, Gas, and Minerals." Since the days of the great explorations in the sixteenth century, competing nations have carved up the earth for their capitalists to benefit from the riches available and been ready to go to war for it. It's more than past due to put into reality the common sense idea that the world's resources belong to everyone on Earth. John Ayers.
Budgetary Concerns
Toronto's city council may shut down two 24-hour drop-in centres for the homeless because of budgetary concerns. One councillor said that the centres are needed for the people on the streets and council cannot let them down. Good to see someone standing up for those in need but we all have to realize that money for social programs comes from profits and therefore is kept to the bare minimum. Better to aim for a society where such needs are non existent and free access to all we need is in place for all. John Ayers.
Labour alone produces wealth
Friday, March 18, 2016
Trophy Hunting Industry
In Its Own Special Way???
Connecting the Dots
Thursday, March 17, 2016
Russia's capitalists (1985)
Russia's capitalists (1985)
The Nomenklatura is a list of the highest positions, the candidates for these positions are examined by the various party committees, recommended and confirmed. These Nomenklatura party committee members can be relieved of their positions only by authorisation of their committees. Persons elevated to the Nomenklatura are those in key positions (p 2).
What matters to the Nomenklatura is not property but power. The bourgeoisie is a class of power owners and is the ruling class as a consequence of that. With the Nomenklatura it is the other way around; it is the ruling class and that makes it the property owning class. Capitalist magnates share their wealth with no one, but gladly share power with professional politicians. Nomenklaturists take care not to share the slightest degree of power with anyone. The head of a department in the Central Committee apparatus never objects to an academician’s or a writer’s having more money or worldly goods than he, but he will never allow either to disobey his orders, (p 72)
You and your friends, Misha, would like to be airmen or arctic explorers, but with the best will in the world it is impossible because you are still children, and you can no more skip your age than I, unfortunately, can become a schoolboy again. It is not we who determine the various stages of our life, it is those various stages that determine us. And that is true not only of individual human beings, it also applies to human beings in general, to human society. Could Russia or any other country at the same stage of social development, by a mere act of will take a single leap that would put it ahead of the most advanced countries? Marx said it could not and it was obvious (p 15).
I believe the idea of a classless communist society as a free association of producers of material and intellectual goods to be a fine one (p 347).
You Can Never Be Secure
Lunatics Rule
Scottish children and inequality
Socialism - Real Liberty for Everybody
Wednesday, March 16, 2016
Welcome to the Class War
Tuesday, March 15, 2016
Crime figures
- Almost three quarters of the 688,000 crimes committed in Scotland last year were related to property.Vandalism accounted for 26%; vehicle theft 6%; personal theft not including robbery 15% and housebreaking represented 3%.
- people's perception that they could be a victim of crime continues to be higher than the actual risk - for example nearly 4% of people fear their vehicle being stolen while the risk is 0.1%
Unsolvable In Capitalisml
Lunatic Economy
Pimping for Capitalism
Monday, March 14, 2016
Socialism is common-sense
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Paternalism is a common attitude among well-meaning social reformers. Stemming from the root pater, or father, paternalism implies a patria...