Follow the Money

My local newspaper in central Maine outdid itself today in shameless catering to the all powerful military industrial complex, fielding an Op-Ed piece titled "Navy's needs have priority over more local issues."

Apparently General Dynamics doing business as Bath Iron Works, the largest employer in my state, fell behind in the construction schedule of the latest nuclear capable Aegis destroyer ship. Now the Navy wants to launch the destroyer asap.

What's the rush? Profits need to start gushing into campaign coffers as election season approaches? Because of the need to dredge the river in order to get the ship from the port of Bath, Maine to the coast, local people are upset about the environmental harm to the river. Dredging prior to launching a large ship is apparently done in winter most of the time, when many of the living organisms are dormant.

I wonder where this particular destroyer is headed. Near China, I'm guessing. Maybe once the U.S. Navy has finished poured concrete over the coral reefs of Jeju Island in South Korea to build yet another gargantuan military base on other people's land, the destroyer will operate from there.

Workers coming out of the shipyards just want to keep their jobs. The big lie that building weapons systems is a good job program just keeps on rolling thanks to the mass media propaganda machine. Our senators -- one of whom is up for re-election this time, Olympia Snowe -- are often congratulated for keeping these jobs in Maine. While schools close, police and fire fighters are laid off, and the roads and bridges deteriorate.

I ran across this list of highest and lowest paying jobs in Time magazine. Is it true? I didn't fact check it but this data is probably available from the census. Hell, even if it isn't true, most Time readers will think it is, and plan their careers accordingly:

Highest-Earning Majors
* Mining and Mineral Engineering
* Metallurgical Engineering
* Mechanical Engineering
* Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering
* Electrical Engineering
* Chemical Engineering
* Aerospace Engineering
* Mathematics and Computer Sciences
* Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Administration
* Petroleum Engineering

Lowest-Earning Majors
* Health and Medical Preparatory Programs
* Visual and Performing Arts
* Communication-Disorders Sciences and Services
* Studio Arts
* Drama and Theater Arts
* Social Work
* Human Services and Community Organizations
* Theology and Religious Vocations
* Early-Childhood Education
* Counseling and Psychology

At what point will the madness of most of the first list destroy the Earth and eliminate the need for life at all? Stay tuned.

Then there's the madness of Congress genuflecting at AIPAC's annual convention, and allowing PM of Israel Netanyahu to stand in the House and utter lies, to applause. You can practically see the dollars flowing from AIPAC coffers into campaign coffers in the videos.

Meanwhile right wing goons are allowed to beat up nonviolent protesters right in the spectator seats of our own House of Representatives. And the injured protester, Rae Abileah of CODEPINK, is the one who's arrested -- at the hospital where she is in a neck brace.

Money buys a lot of river dredging, a lot of editorials puffing the MIC as the best game in town, and a lot of enforcement of the gag rules on speaking the truth.