There were so many things that she wanted to do, that whenever she thought it was time to begin, she couldn't because of the state she was in...

- Title Adapted from 'There Was an Old Sailor my Grandfather Knew',  by A. A. Milne.

It's been a week like that, I'm afraid. Even the poor cat has been ignored. I have been hopping from one project to another, decluttering, studying, dancing, jogging, painting and repairing my home, and loving every bit of it, but the really important things that have deadlines are starting to loom out of the mist and cackle nastily. Paperwork and such.

So I'll just leave you with a few thoughts, that do tie together:


  • Pope Francis' recent statement on War as a money-maker. Obviously, people who manufacture arms would not market peace.
  • Madeleine Rees' Statements at The Hague last month.1.776 TRILLION dollars were spent on arms last year. That's 480 years' worth of the UN's regular budget. Not that the UN is perfect, but wouldn't it be interesting if everyone stopped spending money on weapons for one year and gave the money to an existing peacemaking and mediating force:





  • Medicine manufacturers pay doctors to prescribe their drugs, and marketers come up with sneaky way to make us feel bad about speaking up about corporate abuses of power. The 'natural remedy' market, my goodness that's a clever one, dividing society into mad science deniers and drug addicted morons, both camps spending a fortune to cure themselves. 
I am all for capitalism. I like that you can sell just about any thing, any idea, any clever gadget. But maybe some checks and balances need to be put in place, like the laws that govern infant formula marketing. Of course formula companies ignore these laws whenever they can, giving free supplies to new mothers in the third world so that their breastmilk will dry up and they will have to continue buying the product and so on. But at least the laws exist there, so the 'judgy lactivist breastapo hordes' can keep bringing marketing abuses to the attention of the WHO.



Maybe similar checks and balances need to be in place in other areas where a product kills. Arms and drug manufacturing, for example. 
I haven't got the answers - but I'm seriously asking the questions. We should all be. 

Comments

Anonymous said…
Sing it, sister. It makes me so angry to see the warmongers get the money they want every budget round, but when it's time to fund schools or environmental protection or infrastructure projects...
That quote about the money spent just got my blood BOILING.
Back in the 70's I saw the same thing in poor infants in Jamaica for the same reasons before the country-wide "breast is best" campaign. The idea of corporate profits coming before their lives is obscene. This is a powerful combination of info & videos. We've lots to do...