SOMEWHERE TO LAY MY HEAD

"The 'Alcova' is a modern twist on a traditional design. The combination of sleek, straight lines and swanky fabric works in such a way that other beds of a similar shape just don't match up. Designed by Antonio Citterio, it is available in black brushed oak, grey oak or light brushed oak. The bed includes a storage unit with a hinged base.Price: From £6250." (Sunday Independent, 18 April) RD

Food for thought

Under Capitalism – When the lead smelters came to Jiyhuan, China, the
workers rejoiced for the new jobs, the infrastructure upgrades, the new
cultural hall, and the new basketball stadium. The lead smelters also
brought lead poisoning. Jiyhuan's blue skies have gone, its fruits and
vegetables are stunted, its children and workers poisoned. The story
details the medical troubles of worker, Li Yingfu who had half of his
stomach removed. The follow-up story reported that he had died.
- In India, ten-year-old Muna gets up at dawn to go to the field to
collect melon-size rocks to take to the crushing machine to make gravel
for the new roads that are part of India's 'economic miracle'. He works
fourteen hours a day at this back-breaking work for about 90 cents. It is
estimated that India has 60 million working children. Amazingly, Thomas
Chandy, head of Save the Children India has a solution – the World Bank
SHOULD demand that contractors hired to build roads financed by them do
not buy gravel from quarries that use child labour! Some solution, but
when you can only think in capitalist terms, what is to be done? Totally
bleeping useless! John Ayers

SAFETY REGULATIONS?

"The West Virginia mine where at least 25 workers died Monday in an explosion was written up more than 50 times last month for safety violations. Twelve of the citations involved problems with ventilating the mine and preventing a buildup of deadly methane. Federal regulators and members of Congress said they would examine the safety history of Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch coal mine south of Charleston, the site of the worst U.S. mining accident in a quarter-century. Meanwhile, rescue efforts were set to continue Wednesday to find four missing mineworkers." (Washington Post, 7 April) RD

NO HOUSING PROBLEM HERE

"On Avenue Road in St John's Wood, London, known as "Millionaire's Row", a crane towers over a £21m development of only two new homes. Blenheim House Construction is building the luxury residences with double-level basements that include swimming pools and underground car lifts. There is little outward sign of recession here. In recent years City bankers and the international wealthy have colonised this area, turning a historically affluent and cosmopolitan suburb into an even more economically exclusive place to live. It has become a prime location for a group once courted by a government enamoured by wealth creators but now bearing the brunt of political criticism and higher taxes. The purchasers of the Avenue Road homes are unlikely to be troubled unduly by the increase in stamp duty or an increased rate of income tax of 50 per cent." (Financial Times, 7 April) RD

MONEYMAKING GONE MAD

"Ryanair has confirmed that it is pushing ahead with its controversial scheme to charge passengers for use of toilets on its aircraft, meaning spending a penny on a flight will soon cost as much as a pound. The no-frills airline is working with Boeing to redesign the cabin and develop coin-operated toilets on 168 of its planes. Not content with charging passengers for use of the facilities, the airline is also looking at reducing the number of toilets on board, leaving just one available cubicle for up to 189 passengers. To use the remaining toilet on board, passengers would be forced to part with either £1 or 1 euro for each visit. Stephen McNamara, spokesperson for the airline, told TravelMail: 'By charging for the toilets we are hoping to change passenger behaviour so that they use the bathroom before or after the flight. That will enable us to remove two out of three of the toilets and make way for at least six extra seats on board." (Daily Mail, 6 April) RD

OWNING CLASS ARROGANCE

"That's my question for Bob Rubin and Charles Prince, both formerly of Citigroup, when they testify before the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission on Thursday. Though first I'd put it this way: How'd you guys make so much money running Citigroup into the ground and leaving it a ward of the state? Prince earned at least $120 million for running Citi for four years, during which time $64 billion in market value vanished. Rubin made at least $115 million (plus stock options) between 1999 and 2008, before the feds had to inject $45 billion and then guarantee $300 billion of the firm's liabilities to keep the place afloat. Rubin told the Wall Street Journal in November 2008 that he was worth every penny -- and then some. "I bet there's not a single year where I couldn't have gone somewhere else and made more," he said. (Washington Post, 8 April) RD

FOR A WATCH?

"..La Rosee's fair was made by the Superocean II - what he tactfully describes as a "less expensive" Breitling - a well-made, stylish, and youthful-looking diving-type watch for about 2,300 Euros....Offered in the sporty Type XXII, this is a breakthrough movement for Breguet that starts at the sensible, if hardly giveaway, price of 13,000 Euros..But Patek's showstopper was a split-second chronograph in a steel case, priced at more than 335,000 Euros." (Newsweek, 12 April) RD

NO OLD BANGERS HERE

"The fastest road-going Ferrari in history, the 599 GTO, is set to be unveiled at the Beijing Motor Show later this month, aimed at the company's most exclusive customers...Only 599 examples of the new GTO (which stands for Gran Turismo Omologato, a designation last used by Ferrari in 1984) will be built, with prices expected to be around £300,000 ...The Beijing motor show opens to the public on April 27 by which time Ferrari is expecting all GTOs to be accounted for." (Daily Telegraph, 9 April) RD

Food for thought

Ken Gallinger writes an ethics column for the Toronto Star. He wrote
that Hell did not exist. He received a letter of reprobation saying that
we are not talking about Santa Claus. Gallinger replied, in his column, "
Speaking of Santa, have you ever noticed how much the words Santa and
Satan have in common? The jolly old elf and the prince of hell share more
than the appearance of their names. Both are fictional characters used to
shape the behaviour of compliant people. Santa moulds the behaviour of
children with the promise of toys for the good and coal for the nasty.
Satan has been used to mould the behaviour of adults (and, shamefully,
kids) with the promise of an eternity of fire and damnation for whatever
activities mother church deems unacceptable…homosexuality, condoms,
witchcraft, whatever." (Fearing Hell Does Not Make it Real – 27/Feb/2010)
Good points! John Ayers

Food for thought

The "socialist" government in Portugal has just brought down its
austerity budget that includes pay cuts for civil servants, to restore
investor confidence in the country while deflecting trade union action
over the cuts. So this so-called socialist government is forced to do what
any political party would do for the capitalist class.

On the religious front, the Texas School Board, dominated by the
Christian-fundamentalist right, has voted to re-write the history books by
emphasizing people like Newt Gingrich, Stonewall Jackson, Joseph McCarthy, et al,
and in the process overturning a broad array of long-standing tenets and beliefs about US history…dropping references to Latino heroes
and justifying the red-baiting, anti-Communist extremism that overran
large tracts of the US body politic during the 1950s…" (Oakland Ross,
Toronto Star, 21/March/2010). Orwell's Ministry of Truth is alive and well
in the Deep South! John Ayers

Who owns the North Pole - part 21

A new report prepared for the U.S. Congress on the growing importance of the Arctic in global affairs has highlighted the "potential emerging security issue" created by diminished ice, increased ship traffic and looming resource competition on the Northern Hemisphere's polar frontier.It underscores the "major jurisdictional question" over the status of the Northwest Passage, the disputed sea route through Canada's Arctic islands that's viewed as an "international strait" by the U.S. but as "internal waters" by the Canadian government.
The report quotes the U.S. navy's top oceanographer warning that American navigation through several "strategic choke points" in Arctic waters, including the "narrow passage" south of Canada's Queen Elizabeth Islands, is "vulnerable to control or blockade by adversaries.
"...the Arctic is also increasingly being viewed by some as a potential emerging security issue," the report states. "In varying degrees, the Arctic coastal states have indicated a willingness to establish and maintain a military presence in the high north..."

Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon on Thursday accused the Russians of "playing games" with a plan to deploy paratroopers to the North Pole this spring , adding that the Arctic is of "strategic importance to the future of Canada."

The Times reports that in 2008, Shell paid $2 billion for exploration licences in the remote Arctic Sea to the north of Alaska.Since then, the company has been waiting for government permission to drill and has been embroiled in a legal dispute with environmental groups. However, Shell said it had received a government permit yesterday allowing it to drill in Chukchi, the sea between northwest Alaska and northeastern Siberia. It is believed to hold 15 billion barrels of oil and 76 trillion cu ft of gas, according to US government figures. Shell signalled that activity could begin within ten weeks.

CATHOLIC COVER-UP

"The head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales presided over a child protection system that allowed a pedophile priest to continue abusing schoolboys despite repeated complaints from victims, an investigation by The Times has discovered. The Archbishop of Westminster, the Most Rev Vincent Nichols, chaired the church's child safety watchdog in 2001-08 while Father David Pearce was repeatedly investigated by church officials and police. Despite a High Court ruling in 2006 awarding damages to one of his victims, Pearce remained a priest at Ealing Abbey, West London, where he groomed and assaulted one final victim before his arrest in 2008." (Times, 10 April) RD

MARKET MADNESS

Some of Adolf Hitler's sketches and watercolours come up for sale in Shropshire next week and, though art experts are agreed that the works might just scrape a C grade at GCSE, they are tipped to bring in close to £100,000. .... As one collector put it recently: "Sell gold, buy Hitler." (Times, 10 April) RD

THE POLITICS OF WAR

"George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld covered up that hundreds of innocent men were sent to the Guantanamo Bay prison camp because they feared that releasing them would harm the push for war in Iraq and the broader War on Terror, according to new documents obtained by The Times. The accusations were made by Lawerence Wilkerson, a top aide to Colin Powell, the former Republican Secretary of State, in a signed declaration to support a lawsuit filed by a Guantanamo detainee. It is the first time that such allegations have been made by a senior member of the Bush Administration." (Times, 9 April) RD

CAPITALISM IN ACTION

"Charities are demanding an urgent rethink of government housing policy after a Guardian investigation found that almost half a million homes are lying empty in the UK enough to put a roof over the heads of a quarter of the families on council house waiting lists. The startling picture of neglect (we estimate that more than 450,000 properties have been empty for at least six months at a time when there is an acute housing shortage) was pieced together using information gathered from local councils under the Freedom of Information Act." (Guardian, 4 April) RD

TAX DODGERS INC.

"As you work on your taxes this month, here's something to raise your hackles: Some of the world's biggest, most profitable corporations enjoy a far lower tax rate than you do--that is, if they pay taxes at all. The most egregious example is General Electric. Last year the conglomerate generated $10.3 billion in pretax income, but ended up owing nothing to Uncle Sam. In fact, it recorded a tax benefit of $1.1 billion. Avoiding taxes is nothing new for General Electric. In 2008 its effective tax rate was 5.3%; in 2007 it was 15%. The marginal U.S. corporate rate is 35%. (Forbes.com, 1 April) RD

THIS SPORTING LIFE

"Thousands of homeless people are being forced off the streets of South Africa to hide the scale of poverty there from World Cup fans. More than 800 tramps, beggars and street children have already been removed from Johannesburg and sent to remote settlements hundreds of miles away. And in Cape Town, where England face Algeria on June 18, up to 300 have been moved to Blikkiesdorp camp where 1,450 families are crammed in a settlement of tin huts designed for just 650 people. Johannesburg councilor Sipho Masigo was unrepentant. "Homelessness and begging are big problems in the city," he said. "You have to clean your house before you have guests. There is nothing wrong with that. (Daily Mirror, 28 March) RD

Edinburgh and Glasgow Branches’ Day School.

Capitalism isn’t working for you ,is there an alternative?


Discussions

1pm The basic cause of present day problems, Speaker Vic Vanni Glasgow

Left wingers have blamed the greed of bankers. Right wingers have blamed everything from an act of God to the misjudgements of the Labour Party. In the USA some have blamed the "socialism" of Obama. We analyse the basic economic cause of the boom and bust nature of capitalism.

2.15 The failure of Reformist solutions, Speaker, John Cumming Glasgow

Over the last hundred years we have heard the claims from Conservative, Liberal, Labour and Communist politicians that they could solve the problems thrown up by capitalism but all have failed miserably. We review this failure and show its cause.

3,35pm The Socialist Alternative, Speaker Paul Bennett Manchester

The failure of capitalism to meet the needs of the majority has led many to look for alternatives. We look at two strains of thought on the subject of alternatives. Firstly, the various anarchist movements who see the problem being that of government and so seek an alternative without government. Secondly, the Zeitgeist Movement who see money as the problem and seek a society without money.

Community Central Halls, 304 Maryhill Road, Glasgow Saturday 8th May from 1pm till 5pm All are welcome to this meeting which is free of charge. During the afternoon free light refreshments will be available.

Food for Thought

More than 300 homeless women give birth in Toronto each year, in the
shelters or on the streets. Just wondering if they would qualify for the
'severe cases' extra diet supplement! Ah, the futility of reform.
- On the economic front, (if 'front' sounds like a war, it's because it
is) good news continues to be tempered with bad. As General Motors,
Oshawa, announced the future recall of 500 to 600 workers, Magna, a giant
auto parts maker whose president takes home a salary counted in the tens
of millions, announced the slashing of its Canadian workforce by 2,700
which means its total workforce has shrunk 35% since 2005.
- In Sudbury, Ontario, the workers of Vale Inco steelworks are into their
eighth month of a strike against the new Brazilian owners who bought the
company in 2006 for $19.4 billion and who insist they are losing money
there, and workers will have to be more 'flexible', i.e. accept wage and
benefit cuts. The workers, who have filed 4 900 grievances since 2006,
rejected the latest offer by 88%. to 12%. John Ayers

THE PRICE OF COAL

"Twenty-five miners are now known to have died and four are missing in an accident at a West Virginia coal mine. The worst mine disaster in the US since 1984 was caused by an underground explosion at Upper Big Branch, about 30 miles (50km) south of Charleston. It happened at about 1500 (1900 GMT) in a chamber 330m (1,000ft) below ground, mine owner Massey Energy Company said. .... Massey Energy says on its website that it has a safety record that is above the national average, with three fatalities in the last 12 years. But federal inspectors have fined the company more than $382,000 (£251,700) for serious violations at the mine over the past year." (BBC News, 6 April) RD