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Rolla Peace News January 23, 2018 |
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Dear Friends: format was positive; so here it is in .html format again. If this doesn't work for you, I'll go back to plain text next week. Let me know. If you are having trouble reading this, it is posted at http://tomsager.org/Peaceletters/peaceletter012318.html In this newsletter is: 1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: THIS WEEK, THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 2018 2. BEWARE THE NORWEGIAN MENACE 3. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) a) Fourth Ratification Of Treaty To Abolish Nuclear Weapons: Viva Mexico! b) Taxing Junk Food: Viva Mexico! c) On The Septically Challenged (“Shithole” To You, Mr. Trump) 1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 2018 We vigil for peace in front of the Rolla Post Office THIS THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 2018, (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 50s. 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. BEWARE THE NORWEGIAN MENACE President Trump would like to see Norwegian immigrants flocking to our shores, instead of poor people of color from “shithole countries.” He should be careful what he wishes for. He won't get them, but what would happen if significant numbers of Norwegians came here and established citizenship? Ann Jones's article, while somewhat tongue-in-cheek, describes in detail what our country could be like, if overrun by the Viking hordes. All Norwegians have access to free education, including post-graduate degrees, paid parental leave for both parents, care for the disabled and elderly, excellent public transportation, and free universal health care. In contrast, in the U.S., students come out of college with crippling debts, nursing home care is expensive and substandard, and healthcare costs are through the roof, even for simple, non-complicated procedures such as a normal childbirth. Average cost for an uncomplicated delivery in the U.S. is over $32,000 — in Norway, it is free. Norway also has a very low infant mortality rate compared to the U.S. If you are a poor person of color or have mental illness, and can't pay, this is what could happen to you here. You could get dumped on the street in your hospital gown. It wouldn't happen in Norway, but it's fairly common in this country, where health care is just another profit center. There's good reason why Norway is called the “happiest country on earth.” They won't be knocking on our door any time soon. Ann Jones says jokingly that Trump might want to build a wall on the East Coast to keep them out. After all, their world view includes everything he and his supporters hate. Then again, “If he and his Republican supporters in Congress decide to build that East Coast wall after all, they might be able to get the Norwegians to pay for it — not to keep them out, but to keep us in.” 3.THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) a) Fourth Ratification Of Treaty To Abolish Nuclear Weapons: Viva Mexico! b) Taxing Junk Food: Viva Mexico! c) On The Septically Challenged (“Shithole” To You, Mr. Trump) FOURTH RATIFICATION OF TREATY TO ABOLISH NUCLEAR WEAPONS: VIVA MEXICO! Last week Mexico, joined Guyana, The Holy See (Vatican) and Thailand, becoming the fourth country to ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Only 46 more ratifications and this International Treaty goes into effect! This is a huge event! Small and medium sized nations standing up to big nation nuclear terror. But our “fake-news media” totally ignored it. You won't find this story in the New York Times or the Washington Post or Fox News or Breitbart or even Common Dreams (virtually nowhere in the United States except Rolla Peace News). Donald Trump thinks Mexicans are “rapists,” “criminals” and “drug-dealers” and wants to build a wall to “protect” us from Mexicans. It was (and still is) all over the fake-news media. I think we should be inviting Mexicans to come live here. Maybe they could teach us how to live in Peace without nuclear weapons. The Pentagon not only refuses to get rid of their nuclear weapons: they want better nukes. The problem they say with nuclear weapons is that they are too big and destructive to use. Apparently, they want mini-nukes that might only kill 100,000 people, like the ones they used 70 years ago at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. TAXING JUNK FOOD: VIVA MEXICO! While searching the US fake-news media (in vain) for news about Mexico ratifying the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, I ran across this article from VOX on how Mexico is one of only two countries in the world (the other is Hungary) that taxes junk food; and it seems to be helping to produce better health outcomes. So here's an idea for Rolla. We have a municipal health and recreation center that is running around $300,000 annually in the red. A lot of people in Rolla object to their taxes supporting an institution that produces better health outcomes; so here is my plan. Place a special tax on McDonald's and other purveyors of junk food and use the proceeds to fund memberships for those who can not afford. We win triple: more exercise, less junk food, better health! Incidentally, The United States has the highest prevalence of obesity in the “developed” world. ON THE SEPTICALLY CHALLENGED (“SHITHOLE” TO YOU, MR. TRUMP) Last month I discussed a report by Philip Alston, United Nations special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, on his visit to the United States. Here are two short excerpts: “In Alabama, I saw various houses in rural areas that were surrounded by cesspools of sewage that flowed out of broken or non-existent septic systems. The State Health Department had no idea of how many households exist in these conditions, despite the grave health consequences. Nor did they have any plan to find out, or devise a plan to do something about it.” “Neglected tropical diseases, including Zika, are increasingly common in the USA. It has been estimated that 12 million Americans live with a neglected parasitic infection. A 2017 report documents the prevalence of hookworm in Lowndes County, Alabama” 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: near the 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 |