A FUN-LOVING GENERAL

"General Mattis will be questioned closely by the US Armed Services Committee during confirmation hearings into his nomination as the next commander of US Central Command. His remarks in 2005 when he spoke of having fun killing the Taleban are likely to be raised. ... A no-nonsense Marine, General Mattis stood up in front of television cameras during a speech in California in 2005 - when he was a lieutenant-general - and said: "You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women about for five years because they didn't wear a veil. You know that guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it is a lot of fun to shoot them ... It's a hell of a hoot. It's fun to shoot people." (Times, 10 July) RD

PROFITABLE CARNAGE

"Russia has exported $5.3 billion worth of weapons-related production in the first six months of 2010, the head of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC) said on Wednesday. "With a plan for $9.5 billion, we have delivered $5.3 billion in [weapons-related] production in the first six months [of 2010], which constitutes 56% of the plan," Mikhail Dmitriyev told the Engineering Technologies International Forum 2010 in the town of Zhukovsky near Moscow. In 2009, the figure was $8.5 billion." (Ria Novosti, 30 June) RD

Who did win the World Cup?

This is an article taken from the Socialist Party's blog today,called Socialism or your money back. ( SOYMB) I think it should be available here.

 

The 2010 South Africa World Cup now has a winner, Spain, but just who really won the cup? SOYMB reads about the profits generating by this "sporting" event.

What they paid: ESPN paid $100 million for broadcast rights; Univision paid more than three times that amount - $325 million - for the same coverage.
What they get: The advertising dollars that accompany an average of 125 million viewers worldwide per match, and the almost 1 billion people who will watch the final on July 11. 715 million people watched the 2006 championship game and in light of increased viewership this tournament, that number is supposed to be well-surpassed with forecasts that the match will "draw the biggest audience of any sporting final in history."
What it cost them: Adidas signed a whopping $351 million deal with FIFA in 2005.
What they get: Adidas predicts sales of their World Cup-related merchandise to top $1.89 billion; they've already had record sales of $1.9 billion in their soccer category (a 15% increase from soccer-related sales in 2008 and a 26% increase from the 2006 World Cup) and they reported a 26 percent increase in soccer product sales in the first quarter of 2010.
What it cost them: Visa signed a $200 million sponsorship deal with FIFA in 2006.
What they got: No MasterCard allowed! Spending on Visa cards by visitors to South Africa was up by 65 per cent in the first three and half weeks of June, compared with the same period last year. The head of Visa sponsorships worldwide said, "In some markets, it might take a year for us to feel a difference. Inside SA card turnover by foreign visitors has risen 50% already." Leading up to the tournament, Visa registered more than 14,000 independent merchants across 186 malls and street precincts around South Africa.
What it cost them: Coca Cola paid $500m (£290m), for the period from 2007 to 2012.
What they get: Unit case volume up 3% this quarter.
What it cost them: Emirates Airlines were in a $195 million sponsorship deal
What they get: According to the Financial Times, Emirates estimated that its sponsorship deal would allow it to reach 2 billion people. "To get the same kind of exposure online that we get from the World Cup sponsorship... would cost about $3bn," an Emirates spokesman told Business Day a Johannesburg daily.
What it cost them: $305 million was the price for Sony to sponsor soccer events including the 2010 and 2014 World Cups.
What they get: Sony has been able to preview its new 3D technology in fan parks and shopping malls throughout the country, also taking over the centre of Sandton's Mandela Square, 'where fans can "live" the experience of watching football through its impressive technology.'
What it cost them: Budweiser spent between $10 - 25 million in annual fees for 2007 - 2010
What they get: Official World Cup beer and the only one sold at stadiums and official fan sites. Nielsen data showed Budweiser had a 25 percent jump in online searches in the week ending June 19th, and this number has been increasing weekly. Nielsen also found four main World Cup sponsors, including Budweiser, generated a 55% higher "net likeability" than commercials from other non-official World Cup advertisers, and they also scored 16% higher on brand recall.
What it cost them: Between $10 - $25 million was McDonalds outlay for being sponsors
What they get: McDonald's South African branch expects a revenue growth of 20%, thanks to the World cup publicity. Last month, McDonald's noted a 4.8% increase of sales worldwide.
What it cost them: FIFA costs were $1.2 billion
What they get: The federation predicts revenue of $3.2 billion leading to a "surplus" of a sweet $2 billion for the 2010 World Cup

And for the football teams - What they get: Spain , the winners of the 2010 World Cup will pocket $30 million, and the Dutch runners-up get a check for $24 million. Every team who played in the World Cup finals will receive at least $9 million: $1 million as a contribution to preparation costs, and $8 million even if they're eliminated at the group stage. Total prize money amounts to $420 million - a 60 per cent increase from 2006's $261 million prize pool, and almost three times as much as the $154 million in 2002.

And finally for the South African people, SOYMB leaves the final words to the Landless People's Movement
"Billions of rands have been spent on stadiums and other costs for this World Cup yet we remain in shacks and without electricity. They said 'Feel it, it is here' but we have not felt anything other than the pain of poverty worsened with the pain of repression. The money that should have been spent on upgrading our communities has been wasted. The tournament will be over on Sunday and we will still be poor."

It didn't take a result predicting octopus to realise that !

LET 'EM FLY COPTERS

The arrogance of the Russian ruling elite is prodigious but even by their standards this takes a bit of beating. "As Moscow residents sweltered in an unprecedented traffic snarl-up, the governor of the region around Moscow offered an unusual solution on Friday: buy a helicopter. "I fly in a helicopter. (You) should also buy helicopters instead of cars -- then you do not need roads," Moscow Region governor Boris Gromov told journalists, the RIA Novosti news agency reported." (Yahoo News, 2 July)This crass statement brings to mind Marie Antoinette's reputed statement on hearing that the lower orders were rioting because of the lack of bread "Let them eat cake". In Marie's defense she probably never said such a thing, but Boris did and he should remember Marie's fate. RD

Banking crisis - who pays the price ?

“I get up in the morning crying and go to bed crying.You go in to work and you hope you won’t tear up. But somebody does, nearly every day.” The problem? Fear, says Jane. “We are all scared. We are all afraid of getting paid off. Maybe because of the way the building is, the fear just seems to move across the room. But they are disciplining us for everything, including clerical errors and timekeeping.” The building is open-plan. “When someone cracks up, we all see it,” she explains. “You’ll hear the sobbing and see her pals huddle around her." Middle managers, she keeps stressing, are just as scared as their employees.

Jim McCourt, who runs the Inverclyde Advice and Employment Rights Centre, says he has seen a lot of stressed-out RBS workers since 2008. "I have been doing this job for 15 years and I have never seen any company that is so unnecessarily brutal.”

From the Herald

DEVOLUTION, BENEFITS, HANDOUTS?

 

In an article By Eddie Barnes in today's Scotland on Sunday he say's

John Swinney hints at the end of benefits for all.

Every government, be it Scottish, English or what ever, must look after the interests of their capitalist class and the Scottish one is no different. The benefits handed out since devolution could be in jeopardy. Like any other reforms used to attract votes, they can be withdrawn in a slump crisis, no doubt available for future promise in another election. This is an excerpt from the article

 

"FREE personal care for the elderly is among the benefits facing the axe in Scotland as a result of multi-billion pound cuts to budgets, with public sector chiefs warning they can no longer afford to provide universal state payments to the middle classes.

Amid warnings from Scottish ministers today that the days of extra spending are over, council chiefs have spelled out bluntly that "universal benefits" must be cut, with cash focused solely on the poorer sections of society.

It could spell the death knell for a series of benefits handed out by ministers since devolution, such as free bus travel for pensioners and free personal care. The stark warning follows a report by the Scottish Government's chief economic adviser, Dr Andrew Goudie, last week which forecast that the £30bn budget will be cut by £5bn by 2015.

Ministers are awaiting the findings of an independent budget review group, which will report at the end of this month, offering options on cuts. The group was set up by finance secretary John Swinney to examine how best to cut back on spending.

Public sector chiefs have told the group that it must include a "recognition" that some policies, especially those based on universality, such as free personal care, may not be affordable in the future. Fife Council chief executive Ronnie Hinds told Scotland on Sunday: "Efficiency savings are not going to be enough. They will act for considerably less than half of what will have to be required. It is going to come down to hard political choices."

 

PAYDAY LENDING COMPANIES LEAVE ARIZONA

Governments get into debt and must service that debt or their credit rating in the international world will diminish, they immediately tell the working class that  it is our debt and proceed to diminish our wages, either directly if they can or indirectly by inflation for example. This can lead in some cases of workers going to lending companies who charge charging fees that can amount to interest rates of more than 400 percent on an annual basis. In Arizona, State law now caps the annual interest rates for loans at 36 percent. Of course, workers in debt can't claim it's our debt, like the government does, so, as one worker explains,

"I see the places popping up all over town. I can't believe that so many stores can be so profitable with these loans. The Armed Services made all of these kinds of businesses "Off limits" for members of any military service. We also have "title loan" stores. They loan a max of $1500 on late model cares that have to be paid off. So if you miss a payment, your $10,000 car gets repoed for a $1500 loan against it? That's how they make millions too. This maybe a needed industry, sure, but charging 4 or even 5 hundred percent is just not right, no matter what your views. People can judge and say " Get a job, etc, etc, etc" but this industry preys on people who can least afford it, and by nature are forced to the cess pool for financial help. As a country, we can't even agree 9 million unemployed people deserve help with unemployment benefits!"

From a socialist's point of view, this is an opinion shared by most workers, it's wrong, it is not a needed industry, if production for need replaces production for profit that industry will disappear along with money and private ownership of the means of production.

poverty and disability

The charity Contact a Family, which supports and advises families who have a child with a disability, said the impact of the global recession meant families who were already under strain were now at "breaking point".

The charity asked 88 families in Scotland about their financial situation as part of a UK-wide survey.
A total of 19% said they had gone without food to try and make ends meet, while 14% said they had sacrificed heating. Three-quarters missed out on days out, while two-thirds said they did not go on holidays. Nearly half - 46% - said they had fallen behind with loan payments, with 24% saying they needed to borrow money for basic household goods.
42% admitted borrowing money from family and friends to pay for groceries, household goods and heating. Meanwhile 44% of those surveyed said they feared their future financial situation would get worse. The charity said there were a number of reasons why families with a child with a disability were likely to suffer financial hardship, but a key reason was the difficulty of juggling caring and work.

"Time and time again research shows that families with disabled children have an above-average risk of living in poverty. Steps must be taken to address this imbalance..." Ellenor Anwyl, director of Contact a Family Scotland said

Food for thought

G8/20 notes
That 'democratically elected leaders need the kind of billion dollar security that was used in Huntsville and Toronto makes a mockery of the whole system.
If there was ever any doubt that the police are the natural enemy of the working class, it was dispelled by the 20 000 in riot gear and guns drawn (at the American Embassy), the mass sweeps and arrests (900) of even innocent bystanders, and the allegations of abuse, strip searches, and threats.
If there was any doubt that the government and the legal system work for the capitalists class, it was dispelled by the Ontario government's passing of a law, in secret, giving police search and arrest powers for the weekend of anyone within five metres of the wall. Turns out, after the fact, it is unconstitutional and could only apply inside the compound, anyway.
For socialism, John Ayers

Food for thought

According to the Toronto Star editorial (19/06/10), poverty is not on the agenda of the current federal government, so an NDP MP backbencher has introduced a private members' bill to obligate the government to eliminate poverty by setting targets for short term (1-3 years), medium term (4-7 years) and long term (8 years and more). Care to guess how long the 'more' will take? Obviously he has no understanding of how the system that he was
elected to run works. Just a short distance from the $1.1 billion G8 summit in Huntsville,
Ontario, First Nations people are commemorating the signing of a one-hundred-year-old treaty that ceded 100 000 square kilometers of their land to the British Crown for a few tools, life in poverty on the reserve, and $5 per head per year 'for as long as the sun shone'. Don't think there's any inflation on that payment either!
In "The High Price of Cheap Bananas", (Toronto Star, 5/06/10), Sonia Furstenau tells us that in the banana industry, parents and their children as young as 8 years work 10- to 12-hour days for $1.50 per day, and are exposed to toxic and cancer-causing chemicals and dangerous conditions. Injured or sick workers are given no compensation or medical care. Price competition in the global north has resulted in this race to the bottom. Her answer, predictably, is to buy fair trade products, not to blame, and work for, the end of the system responsible.
According to a study by the Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development  (OECD), it cost the major economies of the world $7 trillion to dig out of the global economic crisis, 2008-2010. It is mind-boggling to think what could have been achieved with that kind of money. Then again, it never would be put to the benefit of the workers in a profit society. John Ayers

Bushmeat trade threatens Pygmies' existence

Mbuti pygmy men carrying hunting nets and spears as they await the day's hunt outside the town of Epulu, Congo. The pygmies' traditional practice of hunting bushmeat has become a commercial endeavour, staged not for subsistence, but to feed growing regional markets.

Erasing its ancient past

THE ITURI FOREST, Congo — They emerge from the stillness of the rainforest like a lost tribe of prehistoric warriors forgotten by time — a barefoot band of Mbuti Pygmies wielding iron-tipped spears.

The men come first, cloaked head to toe in coiled hunting nets shaved from the liana vine. Then the women, lugging hand-woven baskets filled with the same bloodstained antelope their ancestors survived on for thousands of years.

And waiting anxiously in the middle of their smoke-filled hunting camp: a horde of village traders who've come to buy as much bushmeat as the Mbuti can bring.

Time has long stood still in the innermost reaches of northeast Congo's Ituri Forest — a remote and crepuscular world without electricity or cell phones that's so isolated, the Pygmies living here have never heard of Barack Obama or the Internet or the war in Afghanistan. But the future is coming, on a tidal wave of demand for game meat that's pushing an army of tall Bantu traders ever deeper into Africa's primordial vine-slung jungles.

It's a demand so voracious; experts warn it could drive some of Africa's last hunter-gatherers to eradicate the very wildlife that sustains them, and with it, their own forest-dwelling existence.

Over the last few decades, that existence has been vanishing at astonishing rates across the continent, as forests are ripped apart amid soaring population growth and legions of Pygmies are forced into settled lives on the outskirts of society.

One place — Congo's Okapi Wildlife Reserve — was supposed to be a bulwark against the onslaught, a place where commercial hunting is banned. But an Associated Press team that hiked two days to join one Pygmy band found the thriving bushmeat trade penetrating even into the protected zone.

Here — where water is still scooped from glassy streams and drunk pure from curled leaf cups, where Pygmies still scamper up treetops to savor the golden delight of raw honeycomb — lies a frontline where this continent's future is slowly erasing its ancient past, one antelope at a time.

Scottish sheep no longer radioactive

Remember the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear reactor in 1986 , now the last Scottish sheep farm affected by it has been released from movement restrictions imposed by the Food Standards Agency Tests last month revealed the levels of radioactivity in Scottish sheep have finally dropped below the safety limits allowing the FSA to lift all restrictions on the movement, sale and supply of sheep.

Initially 73 areas in Scotland were under restriction. In April 2009 there were still 3,000 sheep at five farms in Stirling and Ayrshire under restriction but over time the radioactivity levels have continued to decline. The final Scottish area was removed from restrictions on 21 June 2010 but England and Welsh sheep farmers remain affected.

In North Wales 330 holdings and approximately 180,000 sheep remain within a restricted area and a further eight holdings in Cumbria are also still under restriction.

In wake of the revelations of gross and grotesque safety infringements by nuclear companies in the 70's and 80's, many though that nuclear's goose was cooked, and that public opinion was irreversibly set against its comeback. Such optimists underestimate the power of creeping propaganda by the state and overestimate the collective memory of the public. Socialist Courier thought this would be a timely reminder that nuclear fission is a rather reckless way of raising some steam to turn turbines to produce electricity.

Food for thought

Remember PCBs? First used in 1929 in products such as inks, lubricants, paints, electrical equipment until it was discovered that exposure could cause cancers, birth defects and developmental problems; they're all gone now, right? Wrong. A 22 000 tonne mound in west Toronto is still sitting there, largely forgotten, along with 22 other sites in Ontario. It's probably too expensive for any company to dispose of the problem without affecting its bottom line.
The Global Footprint Network has announced that September 20th. Is 'Earth Overshoot Day', i.e. the day that humans will have consumed our allotment of the earth's resources for the entire year, and from there, we will be in ecological deficit for the rest of the year. Is it correctable? Fifty years ago, we only consumed half of the world's yearly allocation, and by 2030, we'll be taking double the allocated amount. These four points show why we must get rid of the dirty wasteful system that is capitalism. NOW!

John Ayers

Food for thought

One thing the G8 did not do was work on the most pressing problem of climate change. Although Canada, as host, was allowed to set the agenda, PM Harper, a well known denier of climate change, chose to 'see no carbon, hear no carbon, and speak no carbon' (Toronto Star). Obviously, making sure profits continue apace is more important.

It's a certain bet that BP will face numerous law suits re their horrific oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Are they worried? Probably not. Exxon Corp. was fined over $5 billion for the Valdez spill in Alaska, but after 20 years of legal battles engaged by Exxon, they paid just $500 million, or four days' profit. John Ayers

old age , same old story

The average Scottish male will be able to claim just five years of the state pension before he dies, under the new government plans to raise the retirement age.

ALMOST seven in ten British adults believe they will have to work beyond their pension age to give themselves a comfortable retirement, a new study has revealed.
In 2005 just 52 per cent of workers said they would have to work longer and 82 per cent planned to retire ahead of the state pension age. In 2005 the average male worker planned to retire at 60 years, with women targeting 59. But while a third of people would like to retire between the ages of 61 and 65, according to the latest report, 29 per cent now believe they will not be able to give up work until they are at least 66.

After a lifetime of toil many workers look forward to the comfort and leisure of old age. Alas, for many it is just another of capitalism’s illusions. Research published by Aviva yesterday showed that many people over 55 are likely to struggle to fund the lifestyle they want in retirement. In socialism every member of society, including the old, would have free access, as a matter of right, to what they needed to live and enjoy life.

It's a sad society

According to the Depression ­Alliance Scotland, 16% of Scots will be diagnosed with depression at some point in their lives.Around one in 10 Scots is believed to be taking antidepressants at any one time, but the figures show some areas are more likely to dispense them than others.

People in Glasgow are 50% more likely than those in Edinburgh to be prescribed antidepressants. The NHS handed out mood-enhancing medicines 1,145,381 times in Greater Glasgow and Clyde last year, compared to 521,944 in Lothian.

Dumfries and Galloway, Lanarkshire and Ayrshire and Arran were the next biggest users relative to population.

WHAT RECESSION?

As the British government announces massive cuts to deal with the economic recession it is interesting to note that recession or not the owning class still manage to spare a few coppers for their art collections. "Last week was one of the biggest ever in the world of of London's art auctions, with the recession failing to stop records being broken at the Impressionist/Modern evening sales at both Sotheby's (22 June)and Christie's (23 June)" (Observer, 27 June) A Picasso went for over £34 million, a Manet for over £22 million and a Klimt for just under £19 million. It is nice to see that our betters are not letting an economic downturn affect their appreciation of artistic merit. RD

HERE TODAY, TOMORROW?

Arnold Schwarzenegger and his wife Maria Shriver are seen arriving for his swearing in of 38th Govenor of California in Sacramento, on November 17, 2003, six years later, he has few friends left in California's Republican Party.

TERMINATORS AND TERMINATIONS!

The socialists' point of view is, "capitalism can't be run in everyone's interests, no matter how popular the elected candidate may be", only the terminating of the capitalist system can solve the economic problems the working class endure, is again demonstrated with this article.

ANAHEIM, CALIF. — When Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina, the Dream Team of the California GOP, joined hands at a rally celebrating their primary victories this month, there was one broad-shouldered Republican conspicuously missing from the scene: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Organizers said the actor-turned-politician declined an invitation to the event. The truth is, he would not have been welcome. After nearly six years in office, Schwarzenegger has few friends left in either party. The state budget deficit hovers around $20 billion; his approval rating has sunk below 25 percent.

"We thought he was going to be a great governor, but he has been a great disappointment," said Geneviève M. Clavreul, a Republican activist.

As candidates in races across the country try to position themselves as the politician with the least political experience, Schwarzenegger's troubles in California illustrate some of the possible downsides of outsiderdom. Like Whitman, the GOP's candidate for governor, and Fiorina, the party's Senate nominee, Schwarzenegger came to office as a non-politician who would solve problems with unconventional ideas.