 home
archives
last week
feedback
Rolla Peace News March 14, 2016 |
|
================================= Dear Friends:In this newsletter is: 1. VOTE TOMORROW, TUESDAY MARCH 15 2. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: THIS WEEK, THURSDAY, March 17, 2016 3. HILLARY ON THE DEATH PENALTY 4. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) a) Where Do the Candidates Stand on Important Issues of War and Peace b) From Our Readers: Something There is that Doesn't Love a Wall c) February Broke All Climate Records
================================
Tomorrow (Tuesday, March 15) is the Missouri presidential primary. Please vote. We think our best shot at a more peaceful, just world, is to elect Bernie Sanders president. 2. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: THURSDAY, MARCH 17, 2016 We vigil for peace in front of the Rolla Post Office THIS THURSDAY, MARCH 17, 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 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. 3. HILLARY ON THE DEATH PENALTY A black man who was incarcerated for 39 years for a crime he did not commit, including time on Death Row, asked Hillary Clinton how, in view of his and other similar experiences, she would defend her stance on continuing the death penalty. She responded that while she disapproves of its use in most cases, especially at the state level, she feels it should still be reserved for crimes such as “The plotters and the people who carried out the attacks on 9/11, but a very limited use of it in cases where there has been horrific mass killings. That is really the exception that I still am struggling with, and that would only be in the federal system” The big problem with this, especially in the kind of federal system we would have under a Clinton presidency, or a Republican presidency, is that there is no way to ensure a fair determination of what constitutes a crime bad enough to deserve the death penalty. Consider the executions by drone that our government authorizes, without any legal process at all. I would expect it to be used against people like Edward Snowden, who has been called a traitor by our government. If there is a death penalty, it's going to be used, and the states which are most attached to it are going to want to keep it. How it could be kept reserved for federal cases is something she did not explain. Bernie Sanders had this to say during a February debate: “...this is what I believe, and for a couple of reasons.There is yet a third reason, perhaps even more important, that no candidate has mentioned. If you believe that there is any purpose at all to life, you probably will concede that at least part of that purpose is to learn and grow as a human being, or as a soul. There are people who have done terrible things and been imprisoned, sometimes under sentence of death. While in prison they have educated and rehabilitated themselves and gradually become wise enough to see that there are other paths than the one they chose that got them in such trouble. These people could be valuable and productive citizens if released to continue their lives. This can't happen if they are killed. The death sentence is for revenge, pure and simple. It is not cost-effective, and it does not deter people from committing crimes. If you are a Jew or a Christian, the commandment, “Thou shalt not kill” is not really open to interpretation. It says what it means. And if you are not, it's still a good rule to go by — and that goes for governments, too. 4. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) a) Where Do the Candidates Stand on Important Issues of War and Peace b) From Our Readers: Something There is that Doesn't Love a Wall c) February Broke All Climate Records WHERE DO THE CANDIDATES STAND ON IMPORTANT ISSUES OF WAR AND PEACE? Trevor Timm suggests five foreign policy questions which the presidential candidates are mostly silent on. They are: 1. The INVASION of Libya (not Hillary Clinton's emails)Since the media won't ask these questions, We, The People, must demand answers. FROM OUR READERS: SOMETHING THERE IS THAT DOESN'T LOVE A WALL A reader writes in: “I have thought since high school that 'Mending Wall' is a fine poem. Recall it was banned by the communists from collections of Frost's poems after the Berlin wall went up. Frost had a way of saying important things in a way that did not sound important. Sometimes, this is a very effective way of getting through to people.”Yes, wonderful poem, and very pertinent to last weeks snippet on walls. “Before I built a wall I'd ask to knowAs subtle as the verses of Ezekiel I quoted last week are blunt: “Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: In my fury I will let loose stormwinds; because of my anger there will be flooding rain, and hailstones will fall with destructive wrath. I will tear down the wall you whitewashed and level it to the ground, laying bare its foundations. When it falls, you shall be crushed beneath it. Thus you shall know that I am the LORD.”FEBRUARY BROKE ALL CLIMATE RECORDS Many locations had virtually no winter this year. In Alaska, they had to haul snow to Anchorage by rail in order to run the famous Iditarod dogsled race. February 2016 was 1.35 C degrees above the 1951-1980 average, breaking the previous record set last month. Note how this ties in with the Ezekiel prophecy in the snippet above. ================== 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 ### |