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Overtime
OVERTIME--December 2003 issue
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Dedicated to reflecting the collective wisdom of enlightened workers.
Linda Featheringill
4651 West 41st Street, Down
Cleveland, OH 44109
(216) 661-0794
lfeatheringill@hotmail.com
December 2003
Volume 4, Number 7
Greetings!
Winter is coming to Cleveland. Since October and November were remarkably windy, I shudder to think about temperatures well below freezing and winds of 30 miles per hour (about 50 km/hr). Do you think that climate change might change wind patterns, or even cause increased air movement?
This month I decided to share with you some of the things that I have been mulling over and fretting about. This fit of openness and honesty resulted in the comments in the first article and the last one. If you disagree with me, I’d love to hear from you. Hope you are comfortable and cozy during the coming month.
--LindaFeatheringill
Nine-eleven
Many or perhaps even most historians in the US believe that President Roosevelt knew in late 1941 that a Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was imminent and gave orders that would leave that naval base unprotected so that the US would have a good reason to join World War II.
Today, there is a rumor floating around that members of the US administration knew that the attacks of September 11, 2001 were imminent and they gave orders that would allow those attacks to take place so the US would have a good reason to go to war in Afghanistan.
The first time this rumor came to my attention, it was being promoted by right-wing commentators. At that time, most Marxists in the US thought it could be true, but they didn’t have any real evidence so they generally kept quiet.
Since then, a few liberals have taken up the rumor and some socialists have decided that there is enough evidence to at least openly discuss the question. Other folks, who consider themselves to be middle-of-road, are pushing for an investigation. And, for what it’s worth, at least some ordinary citizens in the US think that the Bush administration allowed the 9/11 attacks to happen.
What do I think? I don’t know. I’ve read some of the arguments and I still don’t know what to think. I have lots of questions but very few answers.
There are some things that bother me. For one thing, these accusations are coming from a variety of sources and the accusers aren’t all using the same evidence. It looks as if several individuals or groups have studied different sets of evidence and reached the same conclusion.
Also, procedures have been in place for several to use military planes to intercept any airplane that airlines and/or air traffic controllers thought might have been hijacked. Several such interceptions took place in the few years just before 2001. But on 9/11, these procedures were not put to use until after the damage was already done, although there was ample notification from the airlines that something was wrong.
Another thing that bothers me is that the US intelligence community (including the CIA, FBI, NSA, and the rest of the alphabet) has been much too willing to admit to being inept.
This is out of character. These agencies are mainly staffed with and led by hyper-macho guys who usually don’t like to be made to look foolish. I wonder if they have chosen to look stupid in order to hide something worse. And if they are hiding something, what is it?
Who in the administration would be guilty of such a thing? Who knows? President Bush is so dim-witted he probably isn’t aware of half of what the US government is doing. He’s also lazy and probably doesn’t want to do the work necessary to keep up with everything. Vice-President Cheney is smart and hardworking and undoubtedly has a better grip on things. If the accusations are true, he is probably culpable. Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld is a hands-on manager and it is likely that he was involved. Also, such a thing could not have happened without the cooperation of a lot of underlings. If these accusations are well founded, there are a lot of guilty people.
Again, I don’t know what the truth is. You are welcome to draw your own conclusions.
[L.F., Ohio, USA.]
This and that
I didn’t know where the article on four possible futures that was featured in the November issue came from. I have since found out that it came from mediafilter.com. - L.F.
John Stuart Mill is reported to have said, "Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid, it is true that most stupid people are conservative."
Cheapskates
By Neal Wilgus
When American soldiers
are killed
Rumsfeld and his cronies
tell us that
their prayers go out
to the loved ones.
What a bargain
for the cronies!
The soldiers
and loved ones
pay the ultimate price
and the cronies
toss off a couple
of prayers
that cost them
exactly nothing.
What a racket!
Wanna buy a bridge?
The oldest fish in captivity
Rome may be the Eternal City but San Franciso could be home to the eternal fish. On Tuesday, aquarium officials at the Steinhart Aquarium honored an Australian lungfish, aptly named Methuselah after the Old Testament’s millennia-old character.
Methuselah arrived at the aquarium in 1938 as a fully grown adult. That makes it at least 65 years old and the oldest fish in captivity, aquarium officials said after having researched collections at the world’s other aquariums.
The Australian lungfish is rare even in its native waters. An ell-like fish with large scales, lungfish are thought by scientists to be the "missing link" between fish and amphibians because they also breathe air.
Methuselah, who is 3 feet [almost a meter] long and weighs about 40 pounds [18 kg], is known for its sly grin. "It probably comes from the wisdom of the ages," said John McCosker, emeritus director of the aquarium.
[CNN.com, November 19, 2003.]
Ode to Spring
By Gogglesworth [Australia]
Yes! The hungry mosquitoes are out in force
Signaling that spring has arrived.
All together now, everybody sing:
"All things bright and beautiful
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful,
The Lord God made ‘em all."
The little bastards!
Political porn
I hear that a pornographic movie is being made about the recent California recall and election. Now the question is, should people who take politics seriously be offended? Or, should people who take porn seriously be offended?
I saw a porno film once and didn’t like it, but this one might be worth a look.
[L.F., Ohio, USA.]
The Famous Nigerian Money Scam
[You’ve heard of these email letters that entice the reader to "invest" a little money in return for a big return later. I even received one once. That one wanted me to send them the access codes to my checking account so they could transfer their money and thus get it out of the country. Yeah, right. But this one [contributed by Gogglesworth in Australia] is a little different and is kind of cute because of the blatant come-ons. Apparently, several people have fallen for such propaganda. I guess there really is one born every minute. - L.F.]
Hello,
How are you my dear? I saw your contact on Internet and pick interest to write you. I am a female student from University of Nigeria, Lagos. I am 25 yrs old. I’d like any person who can be caring, loving and home oriented. I will love to have a long-term relationship with you and know more about you. I would like to build up a solid foundation with you I the time coming if you can be able to help me in this transaction.
Well, my father died earlier two months ago and left I and my junior brother behind. He is a king, which our town citizens titled him before he died. I was a princess to him and I am the only person who can take care of his wealth now because my junior brother is still kid and my mother is not literate enough to know all my father’s wealth. He left up to USD 20,350,000.00 dollars (Twenty Million, Three Hundred and Fifty Thousand US Dollars) with a security company in Europe and I don’t know how to and what I will do to invest this money somewhere abroad, so that my father’s kindred will not take over what belongs to my father and our family, which they were planning to do without my present because I am a female as stated by our culture in the town. That is why I felt happy when I saw your contact because I strongly believe that by the grace of God, you will help me invest this money.
I am ready to pay 10% of the total amount to you if you help us I this business and another 10% interst of Annual After Income to you, for handling this business for us, which you will strongly have absolute control over.
If you can handle this project sincerely and also willing to assist me in lifting this fund, kindly reach me and I will link you to my legal representative for further discussion. Please, note that this transaction is 100% risk free and I hope to commence the transaction as quick as possible, as soon as I here from you.
Yours sincerely,
Princess Florence Esien
The race to the bottom continues
Some companies that left the US and flocked to Mexico, attracted by low wages, are now moving to China, where wages are even lower.
The average wage for a Mexican maquilladora [employed at the US/Mexico border] worker is $2.08 an hour, although many of them make only about half that. The average wage in China is $0.50 per hour. In India, the average wage is $0.36 per hour.
If it bleeds, it leads
When one turns on the Radio, Television or reads Newspapers, there are always repeated similar headlines. What makes the news "worth reading" has to do with some death somewhere, a death that in sane conditions would have not taken place. The news could also be about war, crime, accidents, poverty and or some other sort of evil. You could hear, for example, that terrorists have attacked and that thousands of people including children and the disabled are reported to be missing (to avoid the "impolite" language of saying are reported to have died).
"The army in X has overthrown the government and so many people are expected to be displaced or dead."
"The war in Z has left many dead, thousands of houses and other property destroyed. Many thousands of people are displaced and homeless and are in need of relief food and other basic needs. An impending disaster is likely due to the overcrowding and lack of sanitation."
What presently makes news worth listening to or reading is always bad news. Many print and electronic media profit heavily from such headlines. There are individuals, groups and governments who are quick to sponsor and fund war and crime because in the present insane profit-driven society, crime and war pay.
The arms and ammunition industry (if at all it is an industry anyway) profit from the sale of weapons that are meant for human destruction. Most governments, especially in poor and developing countries, spend much of their resources and borrowed funds on strengthening their defence and protections at the expense of their citizens.
The physical and mental energy, the financial and material resources that are spent in countering the effects of the market system by charity groups could be wisely spent in giving the world’s population a scientific socialist education - an education that opens the minds of people and gives them an understanding of the world we live on. It is this scientific socialist education that is the only intellectual energy that will end the market system (Capitalism) and its evils, such as mentioned earlier.--Weijagye J.K.Tukwasiibwe.-Uganda
ECOLOGY
The only way we can preserve the earth is to grant every living entity what it needs to thrive and take from it only what it can afford to give.
Warmer oceans, higher water
A giant ice shelf the size of Scotland is melting rapidly in the Antarctic, scientists warned today [October 31]. Two sections of the Larsen ice shelf collapsed in 1995 and 2002. Now satellite measurements have confirmed that it has thinned by as much as 18 metres more than usual in the past decade - because of a warmer ocean.
The report comes a day after a University College London report in the journal Nature confirmed a 40% thinning of the ice in the Arctic Ocean in the past 30 years. Andrew Shepherd of Cambridge University and colleagues from university CollegeLondon, Bristol, and the Antarctic Institute of Argentina, report I the journal Science that they have been mapping changes in the Larsen shelf, on the east of the Antarctica peninsula, since 1992.
The shelf covers approximately 27,000 square miles and is on average 300 metres deep. Its faster rate of melting is releasing an extra 21 billion tones of icy water into the oceans each year. This is equivalent to eight times the annual flow of the river Thames.
[The Guardian, October 31, 2003.]
The refugee problem has just begun
The number of people seeking refuge as a result of environmental disaster is set to increase dramatically over the coming years. Ironically, given current attitudes, we in Britain will resist accommodating them and yet they will have become refugees as a direct result of the way we in the west live. Global warming - more than war or political upheaval - stands to displace millions. And climate change is being driven by our fossil fuel-intensive lifestyles.
Although they have no official status, environmental refugees are already with us. They are people who have been forced to flee their homes because of factors such as extreme weather, drought and desertification. There are already more of them than their "political" counterparts - 25 million, according to the last estimate, compared to around 22 million conventional refugees at their highest point in the late 1990s. By 2050, mostly due to the likely affects of global warming, there could be more than 150 million.
According to one study, at least five small island states are at risk of ceasing to exist. Sea level rise in the rage expected by the inter-governmental panel on climate change would devastate the Maldives. Without real international legal protection, their people could become resented minorities in Sri Lanka, itself threatened, or India, with its own problems.
On the small South Pacific island of Tuvalu, people already have an ad hoc agreement with New Zealand to allow phased relocation. Up to 10 million could be displaced in the Philippines, millions more in Cambodia, Thailand, Egypt, China, across Latin America - the list goes on.
The causes and consequences of climate change - who is responsible and who gets hurt - are now well understood. Actively disregarding that knowledge would be intentional behaviour. Current US energy plans, for example, will increase greenhouse emissions 25% by 2010.
This is a question of justice in adaptation to climate change. Environmental refugees need to be recognized and the problem managed before it manages us.
[From an article by Andrew Simms for The Guardian, October 15, 2003. Both of these articles were contributed by P.E.N., Colchester, England, UK.]
Economic worries
For the first time in the whole postwar period [after World War II], the US economy and even the stock market have slumped against a backdrop of the most aggressive rate cuts by the Federal Reserve and the most rampant money and credit growth ever. The forces depressing the US economy this time are radically different from those that fueled past recession.- Kurt Richebacher
The Fed is now in what I call a"death struggle" to stave off the forces of deflation [the opposite of inflation]. Part of the problem is the bursting of the great stock market bubble. Part of the problem is the rise of the Chinese low-cost manufacturing colossus. Part of the problem is the many years of monetary inflation that has been sponsored by the Fed and, most recently, by the greatest inflationist in all US history, Alan Greenspan. - Richard Russell
An economic boom engineered by money and credit expansion cannot last.
Nevertheless, the monetary authorities continue an aggressive policy of loose money. They maintain interest rates at artificially low levels, monetize government debt and pump money into the banking system. So far, this easing has failed to re-ignite the boom. A titanic struggle exists between the free-market forces of contraction and the government-sponsored forces of expansion.
The government’s economic solution is to try and get people to go further into debt. Think about how insane that is. Despite the fact that debt levels are currently astronomical, the only policy the Fed offers is more credit creation.
Easy money always leads to bad business decisions and too much speculation. The bust or depression cleanses the system. However, the Fed attempts everything in its power to forestall this correction because they believe it will be too painful. This brand of monetary policy courts disaster. It’s no more than raw inflating and monetary debasement. It promises to ruin the dollar.
The litany of our problems - low savings, falling profits, huge deficits, meager capital spending, too much debt, over-consumption and inflating - coexist with new geopolitical risks. If this helps provoke a faltering dollar, it could literally sink the American economy. There’s a real chance of a financial crisis of such enormous magnitude that it dwarfs anything in history. The pieces are in place for a panic and crisis. The more you look at today’s economic scenario, the worse it gets.
[Investment Rarities, no date. Contributed by S.B., Maine, USA.]
CONSUMER CREDIT September 2003
Released November 7, 2003
In the third quarter, consumer credit growth - at 6-1/2 percent at an annual rate - was higher than in the second quarter owing to a larger increase in nonrevolving credit. In September, consumer credit rose at an annual rate of 9-3/4 percent.
One more thing to worry about
The prolonged heatwave has devastated crops across Europe, leaving some countries facing their worst harvests since the end of the second world war.
The searing weather, especially in central and eastern Europe, has forced countries that usually export food to import it for the first time in decades. Several, including Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania, are experiencing rising food prices and the UN is warning that this will have a severe impact on economies.
According to the U’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), wheat output in the EU is expected to be millions of tones down on last year, with much greater losses in southern Europe than in the north.
France has been severely hit and is expected to lose more than 20% of its grain harvests. Italy is expected to lose 13% of its wheat, Britain 12 %, and other countries 5-10%. In Britain, one immediate effect is likely to be 7p rise in the price of a loaf, retailers said.
In Ukraine, once known as the breadbasket of Russia, the wheat crop fell to 5m tones this year, a 75% decrease on normal years. In Moldova, harvests are down 80%.
According to the FAO, which has sent a mission to assess the emergency, losses are being compared to those of 1945, the worst harvest in memory.
[J. Vidal and H. Stewart, The Guardian, September 6, 2003. Contributed by P.E.N., Colchester, England, UK.]
Neocon 101
"Neoconservatives" are those people who support and participate in such groups as the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) and Project for a New American Century (PNAC).
The original neoconservatives were a group of liberal intellectuals who became disenchanted during the 1960s and 1970s. By the 1980s, most of them had joined the Republican Party and considered themselves conservatives.
The liberals they left behind dubbed the converts "neoconservatives (or "newly formed conservatives"). Recently, that title has been shortened to "neocons."
The younger neocons have never considered themselves liberals.
Beliefs, or Political Stance
Some neocons take liberal positions on domestic issues, while others don’t. Actually, some conservatives are more"liberal" on domestic issues than others. The really significant position of a neocon, however, is in the area of foreign policy.
Most conservatives hold a "me first" or at least an "us first" position on foreign policy. They differ on how aggressively to support that position. Conservatives want to be better than anyone else. They prefer to pursue this goal by ignoring other people and other countries. They want to pursue their goals unfettered by laws or legal agreements. The conservatives try to get around laws and agreements, but they will resort to force if they feel they need to.
The neocons have a type of nationalism that looks like they are afraid, as if they were in danger of being wiped out. They act like they want to be safe and in order to do that they have to control the world, by any means necessary. Neocons try to win by direct confrontation, by verbal or physical force. They really believe in military conflict and preemptive strikes. They prefer to destroy the sources of obstruction - whether that is individuals or nations - rather than negotiate.
The neocons dream of a world where the US is unchallenged and immune to threats. They want to impose the US system on the rest of the world. This would of course make life simpler for the US but they believe it would be better for the rest of the world, too. Neocons seem to visualize a sort of "Pax Americana" in which the US polices the world and squelches anyone or any group that threatens that peace.
[From Christian Science Monitor, November 14, 2003]
I think the neocon plan for the world is very dangerous. Military confrontations do not bring peace; they bring more conflicts. If the idea of preemptive strikes is seen as legitimate, it will undoubtedly spread. Nobody will be safe. Besides, nobody can actually control the world. There will always be groups here and there that oppose this and that. If you are determined to squelch all opposition, achieving true peace will be impossible. The only thing such a philosophy will accomplish is constant war.
There are other dangers: Increased resentment of widespread military conflict could lead to increased anti-Americanism and increased anti-Semitism.
The reason for the anti-Americanism is plain, especially if US military personnel were used to enforce the neocon vision. The reasons for the anti-Semitism are a little more obscure.
The original group of disenchanted liberals was largely made up of ethnic Jews [as opposed to those people who actively practice Judaism]. The present-day AEI and PNAC are overwhelmingly white, Anglo-Saxon Protestants [WASPs] but people might forget that and remember instead the ethnicity of the original neocons.
There is also a visible similarity between the US neocon philosophy and that of the Likud Party of Israel. Likud’s nationalism could have originally been born out of fear. It may even be understandable. But that kind of fearful nationalism is not understandable when it is transplanted to other places. It frightens people. And frightened people look for a visible cause of the perceived threat. In this case, they might look past the current geopolitics in the Middle East and focus on ethnic Jews.
Finally, some of the more prominent spokesmen for the neocon cause are Jewish. Other prominent neocons don’t stand out as much. Vice-President Cheney [a WASP], for instance, is part of that group. He is a former member of PNAC and his wife is still a member. He has more actual power than these spokesmen, but he doesn’t talk as much about his philosophy and so might not draw as much attention from angry people.
You may say that blaming all US residents or all Jews or all anything else for the problems caused by the neocons is not logical. You would be quite right. But remember that we are talking about humans here. Homo sapiens is a primitive and poorly developed species and individuals are frequently illogical.
No matter which way you look at it, the inevitable result of pursuing the neocon dream of Pax Americana would be only trouble and more trouble.
[L.F., Ohio, USA.]
Next month: We’d love to know what you think. These are our usual classifications:
-- Open - questions, comments, tirades, etc.
-- RSVP. React to previous statements.
-- The ecology.
-- Clippings from newspapers, etc.
On the Web:
Overtime is included in the website of Socialism Marx Deleon For A Real Labor Union at:
socialismmarxdeleonforarealuion.org
[Socialism Marx DeLeon for a real union]
Money. Overtime is free, but there are expenses and any help with these would be appreciated. Please make checks payable to Linda Featheringill and mail to me at 4651 West 41st Street, Down, Cleveland, OH 44109. Contributions will be acknowledged in the next issue, or you can remain anonymous if you wish.
Finances at the end of November 2003:
Balance----------------------35.91
Contributions----------------46.00
Supplies and stationary------03.15
Copying---------------------35.29
Postage---------------------34.79
Total expenses-----------------73.23
Balance-------------------------8.68
Contributions: Anon 5.00, C. Bateman 10.00,, N. Wilgus 1.00 , S. Brooks, 10.00, L. Raymond, 20.00.
And, to Everyone, thank you, thank you, thank you. Linda Featheringill.