Letterbox - Miscellaneous Letters on Several Topics

Dear Watchers:

Lately, the U.S. Army has been having some trouble recruiting kids to fight their bloody wars. Don’t believe me? One look at their Lynden Fair compound will convince. An entire corner of the fairgrounds has been taken over, Saddam’s-palace style, and filled with $5 million worth of equipment. Teenage girls in “army strong” shirts peddle fake dogtags, a chance to drive a bomb-squad robot, free pushups and a full-screen wargame opportunity to “waste some Taliban.” Ask some of these Lynden girls if they want to join the army, and they will tell you no. They were recruited by a different outfit: a national talent-search “production company.”

As someone who was recently in the army, the Lynden fair sickens me. Perhaps the board of rich, business-owning white men running the fair (including a car-dealer and more than a few farm owners) thinks it is okay to let community kids kill digital Taliban at their event. Perhaps the army’s $5 million of taxpayer money, touch-screens, free digital identification cards and a host of attractive carnies doesn’t set off their ethics alarms.  But it shouldn’t surprise anyone. Who, if not the poor minority youth from Lynden, will fight for the cheap oil, which sustains Jerry Chambers Chevrolet and the local mega-farm?

At any rate, the army’s efforts to recruit are coming off as only increasingly desperate. As it stands the mighty army recruiter is only a small step up from the traveling ring-toss carnie. “Step right up, step right up, be the first to win a four (or 30) year commitment!” The thin veneer of vague recruiter promises seems to be wearing mighty thin these days, but not too thin for the Northwest Washington Fair.

Dear Watchers:

Bottled water at $6 a gallon's just plain wasteful when it comes to effects bottled water has on our budgets, natural resources and environment.

Seems America’s appetite for bottled water requires more that 1.5 million barrels of oil for the plastic, of which they’re made, annually; which is enough oil to fuel some 100,000 cars for a year! This together with the water going for about $6 a gallon based on $0.95 for a 20-ounce bottle of Dasani, gets one into taking a look at alternatives.

As the current energy crunch illustrates the importance of conserving all our natural resources, yet for each gallon of water that is bottled, an additional two gallons of water are used in processing. Reading here, you’re probably in the company of all those now slightly uncomfortable remembering water bottles purchased and casually tossed out in thoughtless convenience.

It’s time to take a stand and pledge to break our bottled water habit for good! For the good of our budgets, natural resources and environment.

From now through October 30, take the pledge to Break the Bottled Water Habit, and encourage your friends and family to do the same. Get in the habit of using containers with which you’re comfortable and filling them from your personal filter!

And, with the Personal Container Habit in place, you’ll have money for wanted items, less plastic in the recycle and community landfills, while conserving natural resources in our environment!

Reference: New American Dream, Issue No. 55, Sept. 2, 2008.

Dear Watchers:

Starting at about the end of July or early August, there has been a protest in front of the hospital in Bellingham from 9-3, five days a week. Protesters often dress in bright blue and have a long sign in large black letters saying, “Shame on St. Joseph Hospital for hurting our workers.”

The hospital has put a gag order on its workers, asking them not to talk about the protest. However, the hospital is the largest single business in Bellingham and the public should know what the protest is about.

There is a major construction project under way at the hospital in Bellingham but the protest is not about wages. Carpenters are being paid the standard wage in the state of Washington. Instead it is a regional protest at more than a dozen operations, including Bellingham, where the contractor Kirtley-Cole and its subcontractors are working.

In other words, the Bellingham protest is support for other carpenters who are being mistreated. The Carpenter’s Union does not have a union/non-union issue with Kirtley-Cole. It does have an issue with Kirtley-Cole for failing to meet standard wages and other benefits. It is said that wages paid to carpenters are as low as $12 per hour, mostly paid to Latinos, some who may be illegal immigrants.

Whether those people worked for Kirtley-Cole and its subcontractors was not stated. There have been a number of lawsuits. As long as Kirtley-Cole continues to pay substandard wages to any of the carpenters and craft workers, the Carpenter’s Union will do whatever is lawful to protest including displaying a large banner and sending protestors to the jobsite.

Dear Watchers:

Sarah Palin is the Republican Vice Presidential candidate, the running mate of John McCain. Picking her was very sudden and the Republicans have declined to discuss how she was chosen. The brother of a friend of mine said she would be replaced as McCain’s running mate within 10 days.

The main problem is that she has a propensity for firing people who disagree with her or otherwise offend her. When she was Mayor of Wasilla, a small town 45 miles from Anchorage, Alaska, she soon fired the Chief of Police, the Financial Director, the City Planner and other department heads. The Police Chief sued for damages but failed. He said she disagreed with his opposition to a law that would allow residents to carry concealed weapons and to allowing bars to stay upon until 5 a.m.

As Governor of Alaska she fired a state employee who refused to fire her brother-in-law, also a state employee, who divorced her sister. This time there are allegations that the Legislature of Alaska has ordered an investigation of that case and that Palin has hired a lawyer. Aside from that she is a common Republican who opposes gays, is not pro-choice on abortion and wants to teach in creationism (intelligent design) in schools.

I wrote this because the press repeatedly has said that she has a pregnant 17-year-old daughter, but has scarcely mentioned the forgoing information which I think the general public should know before they vote for a president.

Much of the foregoing information is from The Wall Street Journal, which is not widely read by the general public — but there is plenty more on the Internet.

Dear Watchers:

A letter in the September issue of Whatcom Watch commented that hydrogen for fuel cells is extracted from natural gas.

A new method, reported in the May 8, 2008, issue of Science Daily has been developed by scientists at the Leibniz Institute of Catalysis in Rostock, Germany.

They demonstrated controlled extraction of hydrogen from formic acid at room temperature, which is introduced directly into fuel cells. An activated charcoal filter purifies the hydrogen for use in the fuel cell. Formic acid is nontoxic and easy to store.

For additional information about the technology and the amine and catalyst used in the process see: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080507105630.htm.