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Rolla Peace News January 3, 2022 |
Dear Friends:Editor's note: Please consider writing for our newsletter. It's always very exciting to be able to publish submissions from our readers.In this newsletter is: 1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: TUESDAY, JANUARY 4, 2022 2. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) a) A People's Vaccine: A Gift to the World b) Saddam's Revenge c) “Ban This Book” (Revisited) 1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: TUESDAY, JANUARY 4, 2022 This week only, because of expected cold weather on Thursday, we vigil for Peace in front of the Rolla Post Office on TUESDAY, JANUARY 4, FROM NOON TO 1:00 PM. Next week we will return to Thursday vigils. Please join us this Tuesday in saying NO MORE WARS — LET PEACE PREVAIL. The temperature is predicted to be in the 40s. If you do not feel comfortable joining 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. Note 1: Since there are so few of us, generally 2 or 3, no need to cancel; but let's maintain social distancing. Note 2: In case of inclement weather, vigils may be canceled or terminated early. 2. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) a) A People's Vaccine: A Gift to the World b) Saddam's Revenge c) “Ban This Book” (Revisited) A People's Vaccine: A Gift to the World Maria Elena Bottazzi and Peter Hotez at Texas Children's Hospital have developed a vaccine against COVID-19 with a few million dollars of private money. They do not intend to make a penny off their vaccine. They are giving it away, patent-free, a gift to the world. There are already plans to produce their Cobervax vaccine in India, Indonesia, Botswana, and elsewhere. Hotez opines that if they had received even a fraction of the billions of dollars that Pfizer and Moderna received in public money, maybe the whole world would be vaccinated by now and there would be no omicron variant. It is really nice to know that the medical profession is not completely subservient to Wall Street, and there are still some who put people before profit. Kudos to Bottazzi and Hotez. Saddam's Revenge Hey, anybody out there in readerland remember Saddam Hussein, former Iraqi strongman and CIA asset? Iraq was one of the first casualties of the end of the Cold War. As president of the sole remaining military and economic superpower, Bush, the Elder, enticed Saddam to invade Kuwait and then turned against him and totally destroyed Iraq. On his way out, Saddam burned and spilled copious quantities of Kuwaiti oil. Much of the pollution was ignored and has now become almost impossible to clean up. Saddam was captured after the 2003 US invasion of Iraq and executed a few years later. To paraphrase William Shakespeare: Oh Saddam, thou art mighty yet! Thy spirit walks abroad and turns our swords In our own proper entrails. “Ban This Book” (Revisited) “Read! In the name of your Lord, Who created (everything that exists)Under Oklahoma Senate Bill 1142, upon receiving a written request from just one parent objecting to a book that includes discussion of “sexual perversion, sex-based classifications, sexual identity, or gender identity,” a school district would have 30 days to eliminate all copies of the material from circulation. After 30 days, a parent could collect $10,000 per day from the school district for as long as the book in question remains in circulation. Well, any book that uses words like girl, boy, woman or man would certainly be fair game. What's left? Maybe we could even ban this article about fireflies glowing for sex. This brought to mind Alan Gratz's delightful story, Ban This Book, which I highly recommend for children and advanced grown-ups. Here's a short speech the school librarian gave to the School Board:Fourth grader, Amy Anne Ollinger, finds that her favorite book has been removed from the school library. One parent, Mrs. Spencer, has requested its removal, along with other books. Amy fights back and starts running a library of banned books out of her locker. After the principal closes down her library, Amy realizes that once you ban one book, you can ban them all. She and her friends find reasons to request the removal of every book in the school library. Then, with a little research, she discovers that Mrs. Spencer used to read some of the banned books when she was a kid in school. Censorship is a slippery slope. One easily ends up banning (classifying) videos of our troops shooting up civilians in Iraq, and meting out draconian prison sentences to those who disclose such wrong-doing in high places.“It's our job as educators to expose our children to as many different kinds of books and as many different points of view as possible. That means letting them read books that are too easy for them, or are too hard for them. that means letting them read books that challenge them, or do nothing but entertain them. And yes, it means letting students read books with things in them we might disagree with and letting them make up their own minds about things, which is downright scary sometimes. But that's what good education is all about.” When one resorts to censorship, one has already lost the battle. There is no better way to attract readers than to ban a book. A reader sends me this list from the American Library Association of the top ten “challenged” books of 2020. 
“And I thank you, I thank you for doing your duty. Rolla Peace News is distributed by email once a week on Tuesdays (except on rare occasions) and is posted on the web at http://tomsager.org (click on Rollaites for Peace: near the top of rightmost column).Wage peace, Tom yushasager (at) yahoo.com |