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Rolla Peace News February 14, 2017 |
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================================= Dear Friends:In this newsletter is: 1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: THIS WEEK, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2017 2. BUEHLER PARK: ATTEND PARKS & REC. OPEN HOUSE FEB. 28 3. HOW THE LEFT WENT WRONG 4. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) a) Poet's Corner b) Ten Years Of Peace Vigils And Going Strong c) Ozark Action Coalition d) Update On Yemen Raid e) One Down — Many More To Go — Who's Next?
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We vigil for peace in front of the Rolla Post Office THIS THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 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 60s. 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: ATTEND PARKS & REC. OPEN HOUSE FEB. 28 Please attend the Rolla Parks and Recreation Dept. open house on Tuesday, Feb. 28 at the Centre at 12th and Holloway — all day long. Parks and Recreation personal will be available from 10-12 and 5-7. This is our best opportunity to vote and comment against building a dog-park in Buehler Park. 3. HOW THE LEFT WENT WRONG In 1997, Richard Rorty, a liberal philosopher, made a prediction: “Members of labor unions, and unorganized unskilled workers, will sooner or later realize that their government is not even trying to prevent wages from sinking or to prevent jobs from being exported. Around the same time, they will realize that suburban white-collar workers — themselves desperately afraid of being downsized — are not going to let themselves be taxed to provide social benefits for anyone else.Sound familiar? Rorty died in 2007, but his words have come back to haunt us. Sean Illing's essay explains Rorty's theory of the fall of the left and the rise of the right — which you may or may not agree with — and adds his own analysis. Rorty appears to believe that the focus of the left changed radically in the 1960's, largely due to the Vietnam War. This war caused many to completely lose faith in government and the democratic process, which they then largely abandoned, leaving the field open for the radical right to gain political power. Those of us who were around in the 60's can remember what it was like. Rorty's theory leaves out an important factor: The hippie movement/love revolution, which was influential in moving the left away from the political process. The hippies wanted to create a new kind of society that included everyone, feeling that only a completely new perspective would be able to make a world that worked for all. They were right in believing that the political system would not work to the benefit of all the people. It never has, and still doesn't. Illing quotes Walt Whitman on democracy: “Democracy is a great word, whose history, I suppose, remains unwritten, because that history has yet to be enacted.” In other words, democracy is an ideal we have strived for, but not yet achieved. The way things look now, we are not going to get there any time soon. I've only touched on a small part of what this article is about. It's somewhat long, but very interesting and thought-provoking. Anyone who considers him/herself left of center, socially or politically, will find a lot to think about here. And we badly need to think about it, given the current situation. Please read! 4. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) a) Poet's Corner b) Ten Years Of Peace Vigils And Going Strong c) Ozark Action Coalition d) Update On Yemen Raid e) One Down — Many More To Go — Who's Next? POET'S CORNER A reader sends in the poem: Let America Be America Again by Langston Hughes, very appropriate today, with the Muslim Ban and so many other acts of racism. Here again is Robert Frost's Mending Wall which a reader sent in a few months ago — also very appropriate today with the imminent construction of a multi-billion dollar wall on our southern border. And one of my favorites, Sedition by Edmund Vance Cook, which I include especially for Ed Snowden who may soon be rendered back to the United States to be tortured. And here is my book of creature poems for children, recently updated to include the Elephant, Monster Mothers and other creature poems. TEN YEARS OF PEACE VIGILS AND GOING STRONG Thanks to all who came by our Thursday Noon Peace Vigil last week and wished us well as we completed ten years of weekly Peace vigils. This Thursday starts year eleven for us. Not much “Peace on Earth” in sight; but we are in this for the long haul. Please consider joining us, Noon to 1:00pm every Thursday at the Rolla Post Office. OZARK ACTION COALITION Rolla now has an umbrella organization for progressive causes. Not much interest in Peace there, but YOU could change that by joining and becoming active for Peace. UPDATE ON YEMEN RAID After botching the recent Yemen raid, missing its stated target, killing a bunch of women and children, and getting navy seal, Ryan Owens, killed, Donald Trump's press secretary, Sean Spicer, declares raid a success. He further declares that anyone who says otherwise (including John McCain) is disrespecting Owens, who died due to the brutality, stupidity and incompetence of what passes for “leadership” in the belly of the beast. Spin doesn't get much higher and faster than this. ONE DOWN — MANY MORE TO GO — WHO'S NEXT? “History does not repeat itself; but it delights in patterns and symmetries” —Stephen KinzerI'm seeing lots of patterns and symmetries between Donald Trump and Richard Nixon. Michael Flynn is gone. Who's next? What about Trump? I think he's on his way out already, after less than a month in office. He's just too much of an embarrassment; and he doesn't take orders. But before you break out the champagne, think about what might come next. ================== 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 ### |