Signs of the Times

My granddaughter's boyfriend was laid off from his job at
a body shop near Atlanta. People are cashing insurance
checks, he said, and not getting their autos repaired.

The same thing is happening in this area. I started
noticing all the crumpled fenders, dented doors,
crooked bumpers. I've seen plastic over broken-out
windows and wired-on tail lights. The driver of that
Neon with the bashed-in side could use the check to
make two mortgage payments, and the car still gets
her there and back. Or maybe she used it to buy gas.
As I write, the best price per gallon here is $3.81, still
hovering around $4.00 at some stations.

Chattooga has the highest unemployment rate of all North
Georgia counties, over 14% as compared to the state's
slightly over 5%. Foreclosures in the legal section of the
local paper are at a record high for the past year.
Factories have closed, the county's largest employer, a
textile mill, laid off 200 last spring.

One bright spot: the United States Department of
Agriculture (USDA), in cooperation with the local
school board, has been providing free meals for
children throughout June and July. Any child 18 or
under can get one free meal a day at various locations
staffed by volunteers. After school starts in August,
children can get free lunches at school.
At least the little children are eating every day.

Another War?

Shell, BP, Exxon, and Total are signing a no-bid contract,
supposedly for service and technical support in the Iraqi
oil fields. Supposedly for a period of two years.

Sounds like they're getting a toe hold in the country that
threw them out after Saddam Hussein nationalized the oil
36 years ago. The four western oil companies had
combined into the Iraq Petroleum Company to exploit
Iraq's oil for more than fifty years, until the industry was
nationalized in 1972.

Blood on the oil, or no blood for oil, has been the theme of
signs carried in every protest against the war, and, according
to a report in The Independent, UK, many Iraqis "are
convinced that the hidden purpose of the US invasion was to
take over Iraqi oil" but, the report continues, "the Iraqi Oil
Minister, Hussein Shahristani, has said that Iraq will hold on
to its natural resources. 'If Iraq needs help from
international oil companies, they will be invited to
co-operate with the Iraqi National Oil Company [Inoc],
on terms and conditions acceptable to Iraq..."
(The Independent 20 June 2008)

The photo accompanying this news report shows a U.S.
soldier guarding Iraq's oil fields. He seems to cast a
shadow over possibilities of the war's end.
Representatives of the Big Four have expressed
concerns about security and stability, even as they
are eager to return to the oil fields.

Their presence will be the excuse for continuing the
U.S. occupation of Iraq. Senator Obama has wavered in
his commitment to end the war, and completely reversed
his position on wiretapping.

The Bush/Cheyney team of butchers are eager to invade
Iran and Congress seems unprepared to prevent them. It
is up to the people to say No! Not another illegal war!
Emergency actions are planned for New York City and in
cities across the country on August 2nd. Details at
www.stopwaroniran.org