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Rolla Peace News March 7, 2017 |
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================================= Dear Friends:In this newsletter is: 1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: THIS WEEK, THURSDAY, MARCH 9, 2017 2. HEALTH CARE FOR THE WEALTHY — BUT NOT FOR YOU! 3. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) Lessons Unlearned
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We vigil for peace in front of the Rolla Post Office THIS THURSDAY, MARCH 9, 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 high 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. HEALTH CARE FOR THE WEALTHY — BUT NOT FOR YOU! Another attack on the working class, the poor, the elderly, and the disabled citizens: The Republican plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act and replace it with what promises to provide less coverage for fewer people, at a greater cost, to essentially destroy Medicaid and exhaust the Medicare trust fund. Read it and weep! Donald Trump thinks it's “wonderful.” He would, given that it puts more money in the pockets of the people he cares about (wealthy individuals and corporations), and puts more financial burdens on the ones he doesn't care about (the rest of us). The fact that this plan completely negates many of his campaign promises to the working people who voted for him doesn't seem to bother him at all. And why should it? He obviously believes he can't be held accountable; he doesn't even bother to be a good liar. This is only one of the disastrous Republican attacks on the people and the planet, and probably not the most dangerous — but it still needs to be dealt with. It will impact the health and financial well-being of a large percentage of American citizens — and in many cases, whether they live or die. If you want to read about it, here are a few links: http://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/03/07/gop-plan-targets-poor-sick-elderly-while-providing-tax-cuts-wealthy http://www.commondreams.org/views/2017/03/07/trumpcare-wrong-you-its-toxic-prescription-health-care http://www.commondreams.org/views/2017/03/07/republican-house-horrors-offers-terrifying-healthcare-vision 3. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) LESSONS UNLEARNED On Sept. 11, 2001 I was driving to St. Louis while the twin towers were going down in flames. I remember thinking as we approached St. Louis how clear the air was — not as I expected at all. Later I learned that the probable cause of the unexpectedly clean air was that all air traffic had been grounded. On hearing about the twin-towers, my first thought was maybe we will learn from this. Maybe we can start getting along with other peoples and treating them as we would wish to be treated. Maybe we will lift the sanctions on Iraq so that the Iraqis can live again. Sadly, no lessons were learned — just the opposite. 9/11 became an excuse for perpetual war. Injustice, oppression and inequality increased at home and abroad. So, here we are, 15 years later, mired down in perpetual wars which we are, to be charitable, simply not winning. You would think we would learn a lesson from this. Maybe, arrogantly throwing our weight around and picking fights is not a productive policy. Maybe a kinder gentler policy would be more productive. Sadly, the lessons of the past 15 years have not been learned either. The new administration promises more war, more injustice, more oppression, and more inequality. This time we are going to win, we are told. Where have I heard this before? I think of 2003, George Bush and the “mission accomplished” stunt. I think this is the way it has been for every empire since the dawn of history. Lessons unlearned. I had hoped that America could be different. Here is an article by Ramzy Baroud that is pertinent to the discussion above; but if you don't get around to reading it, here are a few important lines: “The colonizer, oppressor, invader is always blind to his crimes. He sees only the violent reaction — however minuscule — of the people whom he subjugates.” “the identity of the American Muslim is, at its heart, a political one, concerned with human rights, justice and equality, with Black Muslims playing a tremendous role in confronting, challenging and clashing with the ruling White elitist order that controlled the US from the beginning.” “According to the New America Foundation, alleged ‘Jihadists’ killed 94 people in the US from 2005-2015, during which time the US also killed nearly 2 million Muslims in their own countries.” [and, I might add, killed 300,000 of our own through gun violence.] I hope that I have whetted your appetite for reading the entire article. ================== 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 ### |