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Rolla Peace News February 16, 2016 |
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================================= Dear Friends:In this newsletter is: 1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: THIS WEEK, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2016 2. A LITTLE DARK HUMOR 3. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) The Emperor's Naked
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We vigil for peace in front of the Rolla Post Office THIS THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2016, (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 high 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. A LITTLE DARK HUMOR You might define dark humor as laughing in the face of tragedy. David Michael Green's article does a good job of mocking the tragedy that has befallen our erstwhile democracy. Reading this could make you laugh, or it could make you want to throw up, but it's a pretty good summary of what's going on in our country. Green puts a little too much blame on the Republicans, though. If the Democrats had stayed true to their party's allegiance to the people, which is what they still claim to have, we wouldn't be in this fix. Unfortunately, they, too, yielded to the temptation of all that money, with all those strings attached. As a result, there's not much difference between establishment Democrats and Republicans, although the Democrats don't sound as totally insane. The real tragedy is that, although many people are no longer buying the establishment lies, the process has been rigged so there's not a damn thing we can do about it, short of outright revolution. Bernie Sanders has a good shot at making that happen. 3. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) THE EMPEROR'S NAKED Hans Christian Andersen's “The Emperor's New Clothes” is one of my favorite fairy tales; but, as I've pointed out before, it is an oversimplification: Before the little child, come all the wingnuts, wackobirds and conspiracy theorists who shout, “The Emperor's naked,” while nobody listens. Somehow Andersen's little child says it in the right way at the right time and in the right place, and all of a sudden everyone is whispering, “But he hasn't got anything on.” Interestingly, no one seems able to predict the right person, the right place, and the right time; but sooner or later Andersen's little child always magically appears. And Hans Christian Andersen's latest little child is ..... none other than ..... Donald Trump. In last weekend's debate, Trump called out Jeb Bush and his whole family stating: “Obviously the war in Iraq was a big, fat mistake, all right? George Bush made a mistake, we can make mistakes. But that one was a beauty ... They lied. They said there were weapons of mass destruction – there were none. And they knew there were none. There were no weapons of mass destruction.” And, “The World Trade Center came down during your brother's reign, remember that. ... That's not keeping us safe.” Some pundits think Trump's honesty will hurt his chances of winning the Republican nomination; but I don't think so. And, more importantly, I don't think Trump really cares one way or the other. Why should he? Donald, while I could never support a candidate who wants to build a wall around the United States and close down Houses of Worship, I feel that I am greatly in your debt for the wonderful things you said last weekend. So here, as a small down payment, a line you might use next time you spar with young Jeb: “I made my fortune in real estate, the Bush family inherited theirs from grandfather Prescott who made his fortune collaborating with Nazis.” And lets be mindful of the ending of Andersen's wonderful fairy tale: “‘But he has nothing on at all,’ said a little child at last. ‘Good heavens! listen to the voice of an innocent child,’ said the father, and one whispered to the other what the child had said. ‘But he has nothing on at all,’ cried at last the whole people. That made a deep impression upon the emperor, for it seemed to him that they were right; but he thought to himself, ‘Now I must bear up to the end.’ And the chamberlains walked with still greater dignity, as if they carried the train which did not exist.” ================== 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 ### |