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Rolla Peace News January 3, 2017 |
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================================= Dear Friends:In this newsletter is: 1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: THIS WEEK, THURSDAY, JANUARY 5, 2017 2. BUEHLER PARK – CITY OPTS TO BUILD ANIMAL SHELTER ON LIONS CLUB DRIVE 3. A LITTLE GOOD NEWS 4. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) a) Netanyahu Throws A Temper Tantrum b) ISIS and Alabama c) Iraq Water Project — Good For People, Good For The Environment d) Inter-Generational War Injuries
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We vigil for peace in front of the Rolla Post Office THIS THURSDAY, JANUARY 5, 2017, (and all subsequent Thursdays until peace is established) from Noon to 1:00 PM. Please try to join us. The temperature is predicted to be in the 20s. If you do not feel comfortable standing with us in front of the Post Office, please consider driving by and showing your support for our message by honking your horn and flashing a peace sign. 2. BUEHLER PARK – CITY OPTS TO BUILD ANIMAL SHELTER ON LIONS CLUB DRIVE At its Jan. 3 meeting, the Rolla City Council chose to designate the newly purchased land on Lions Club Drive adjacent to the Rolla Rural Fire Department as the site for Rolla's new animal shelter. While it appears that this puts an end to the proposal to build an animal shelter in Buehler Park, Buehler Park is still under consideration as a location for a dog-park, in spite of there being plenty of room for a dog park on the land designated for the new animal shelter. If you have not already done so, Please sign the petition; and ask your friends and family to sign too. Your phone calls and emails have been very helpful. Please keep them coming. Contact the City of Rolla and ask them not to build a dog-park in Buehler Park: (573)426-6948, citycouncil@rollacity.org. For more information click here. Thank you for your help in preserving Buehler Park as the lovely little park that it is for all local residents and visitors to enjoy. 3. A LITTLE GOOD NEWS Perhaps inspired by Bernie Sanders, and with his enthusiastic support, Governor Cuomo of New York is initiating a program of free tuition at all New York state and city colleges and universities for low and middle-income students. Students whose families make less than $125,000 a year will qualify for the program, called the Excelsior Scholarship. Cuomo states, “A college education is not a luxury—it is an absolute necessity for any chance at economic mobility.” And Bernie Sanders says “Our job is to encourage every person in this country to get all of the education they can, not to punish them for getting that education.” It's nice to hear something good, among all the bad news coming our way these days. Paul Buchheit thinks that one of America's less endearing character traits — our intense competitiveness and need to be first and best — may stand us in good stead, as it dawns on us that China is beating us in the race toward solar and wind power. Of course, we're not exactly racing that way — more like being dragged kicking and screaming into the future of renewable energy — but Buchheit feels it's inevitable that we will be forced to convert, and is hopeful that once convinced of the necessity, that competitive strain will get us going for it in a big way. I hope he's right. 4. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) a) Netanyahu Throws A Temper Tantrum b) ISIS and Alabama c) Iraq Water Project — Good For People, Good For The Environment d) Inter-Generational War Injuries NETANYAHU THROWS A TEMPER TANTRUM In response to a UN Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlements in Palestine as illegal under international law (passed 14 to 0 with the United States abstaining), Netanyahu vows even more illegal settlements and lambasts Obama as having orchestrated the “gang-up” on Israel. Israel also threatens to sanction France, China, New Zealand, and the 11 other countries voting for the resolution. Sadly UN resolution 2334 does not specify any sanctions against Israel should it continue to flout the UN, as Netanyahu has threatened. And sadly, Netanyahu thinks Israel is above international law, and should be allowed to continue to bully and abuse Palestinians and steal as much of Palestine as he wants. ISIS AND ALABAMA Last month the State of Alabama “cruelly and excessively violated the bounds of human decency ... when it knowingly inflicted torturous pain during Ronald Smith’s botched execution.” Smith heaved, struggled for breath, coughed, and talked during his painful 34 minute ordeal. Smith had asked to be executed by firing squad believing it would be less painful than lethal injection; but the State of Alabama refused his request. In Smith's case, the jury had sentenced him to life in prison; but the judge overrode the jury, and converted the sentence to death by lethal injection, in accordance with Alabama law. Now I've heard that ISIS is the baddest of the bad and they torture prisoners to death in all sorts of gruesome ways. I'm wondering where they might have learned to do such awful things. Maybe they learned in Alabama, which has by far the highest per capita death sentence rate in the United States, with the judge overriding a life sentence imposed by jury in almost 25% of death sentence cases. IRAQ WATER PROJECT — GOOD FOR PEOPLE, GOOD FOR THE ENVIRONMENT I've been working with the Veterans for Peace Iraq Water Project , supplying water purification units to Iraqi schools, hospitals, and other institutions, for 16 years. But this week I learned something new about the Iraq Water Project: Every water filter we install is equivalent to one half million plastic bottles of water — so not only does the water project provide clean drinking water to thousands of people, it keeps millions of plastic bottles out of the waste stream — good for people; good for the environment. INTER-GENERATIONAL WAR INJURIES War is even more expensive than you might think. Battlefield toxics like agent orange and depleted uranium can affect the unborn or yet-to-be-conceived children of exposed soldiers and civilians alike. This article by the Virginian-Pilot and ProPublica explores inter-generational injuries, the cost of which may dwarf costs to the current generation. ================== Rolla Peace News is distributed by email once a week on Tuesday evenings (except on rare occasions) and is posted on the web at http://tomsager.org (click on Grassroots Rolla: top of rightmost column).If you don't wish to get notices of peace events in the Rolla area, let me know and I'll take you off this list. If you want to be added to this list, let me know. Wage peace, Helen helenm (at) fidnet.com ### |