CALLING FOR CONVERSION

An aerial view of Bath Iron Works (BIW) shipyard in Maine

I was out at the Advent vigil at BIW today.  It was about 10 degrees though felt much colder with the breeze coming off the river.  There were 10 of us there for the second to last of the weekly Advent season vigils.

One of the vigilers, a long-time local person, said that she felt the workers "get our message" but they are just in a place of fear where they worry about maintaining their comfortable lifestyle.  Many of the workers are driving in "style" as they leave the shipyard in their big V-8 pick-up trucks.  A very high percentage of them drive such rigs.  They don't come cheap and it must cost well over $100 to fill the gas tank these days.  That in itself could make you feel like you were walking on a tightrope.

I had an email this morning from a guy who is predicting major economic collapse for the US in the coming year.  He says that the military empire will quickly fall as a result.  The US would not be able to afford the bases or the price tag of the high-tech space directed control and domination program now in place.  There is no doubt that the one trillion a year cost of this US war machine is unsustainable.

Already we see unemployment insurance, food stamps, Head Start and other vital programs being trashed in order to keep the sinking war machine afloat.  Pretty soon, no matter how they try, there won't be $$$$ left to keep the Pentagon humming at its current rate. (This of course is one key reason why the US is corralling the NATO allies to help pay for the expanding offensive war system.)

My sign today depicted a high-speed rail system with the words "Made in Bath" and was painted by a local artist friend.  We know that the studies show that if we built rail at places like BIW we'd create twice the jobs that we currently get from building weapons for endless war.  You can see one such study here.

There will be a national conference call next Monday, December 16 at 7:00 pm to talk about growing interest in the conversion effort across the country.  The state of Connecticut this year created a conversion commission to plan for the inevitable.  I will be on the call.  Here is the info about it:

Join Jobs Not Wars Conference Call

Monday, December 16^th at 7:00 pm EST; 4 pm PSTCall-in number: 559-726-1300; Code 463900#