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Rolla Peace News

April 24, 2018
Dear Friends:

Note from webperson: If you are having trouble reading this, it is posted at

http://tomsager.org/Peaceletters/peaceletter042418.html

          In this newsletter is:

1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: THIS WEEK, THURSDAY, APRIL 26 2018
2. NEXT WEEK ONLY: PEACE VIGIL TUESDAY, MAY 1, NOON TO 1:00 PM AT THE POST OFFICE
3. BOMBS: OUR ANSWER TO EVERYTHING
4. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org)
          a) Three Women Elected To Rolla City Council
          b) Addendum To Last Week's Snippet On The War Against Sex
          c) Congratulations Senator Tammy Duckworth!

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1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: THURSDAY, APRIL 26, 2018

We vigil for peace in front of the Rolla Post Office THIS THURSDAY, APRIL 26, 2018, (and most 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. NEXT WEEK ONLY: PEACE VIGIL TUESDAY, MAY 1, NOON TO 1:00 PM AT THE POST OFFICE

Due to another commitment, we will change the vigil date to Tuesday, May 1, next week only.

3. BOMBS: OUR ANSWER TO EVERYTHING

In this article, James Russell details the worldwide damage done by our national addiction to bombing the crap out of other, less powerful countries.

It's a fact that, since World War II, none of the countries that we have bombed have attacked the United States. There has been only one attack on U.S. soil since WW II, and that was carried out by citizens of a country that we wouldn't dream of bombing — Saudi Arabia. While the attack on the World Trade Center was traumatic and cost several thousand lives, it's small potatoes compared to the number of innocent civilians killed by our bombs. Whatever the stated objectives for these bombing attacks we have made on countries such as Iraq, Syria, Libya, Afghanistan, Vietnam, to name a few, not once have these objectives been successfully realized.

Russell avoids discussing the morality of our obsession with war, but William Cohn takes it on in this short essay:

The 2018 AUMF (Authorization for the use of Military Force) gives the President complete authority to attack anyone he chooses unless a two-thirds majority of Congress votes to prohibit him. Fat chance of getting that majority from our elected representatives, most of whom are beholden to those who profit most from war. Cohn states,
“The war machine fueled by myopic greed and profit is built upon a fear factory of lies. We must ask ourselves: would we be so readily placated if there was a draft/military conscription? What does this reveal? What are we doing to stop senseless wars fought in our name? If we do nothing do we have blood on our hands? What should we be doing? What will we do?”
Think about it.

4. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org)
          a) Three Women Elected To Rolla City Council
          b) Addendum To Last Week's Snippet On The War Against Sex
          c) Congratulations Senator Tammy Duckworth!

THREE WOMEN ELECTED TO ROLLA CITY COUNCIL

Earlier this month, the people of Rolla elected three women to that former bastion of male supremacy, The Rolla City Council. A big thank you and congratulations to Ann Murphey, Jody Eberly and Tiffany Henry for successfully re-integrating our city government.

A year ago, when Susan Eudaly's retirement left Rolla without female representation on council, I gave a short presentation reminding the council that somewhere around 50% of their constituency was female. My presentation drew strenuous objections from this all-male body:

“Think about what you're saying, Tom.” —Mayor Lou Magdits

“We still represent everybody.” —speaker uncertain

“It was their choice.” —Jim Williams

“Their were five uncontested elections.” —Brian Woolley

“My wife would be happy to tell you that she's tickled to death that I'm here and she's not.” —Don Morris

Morris's comment drew loud guffaws from most members of the all-male council and a further comment from another male council member, “I got another wife that will say that.”

Apparently, not all of Mr. Morris's constituents thought his comment was funny. This April they sent him home to his wife and replaced him with Ms. Jody Eberle who garnered 59% of the vote to Morris's 41%.

You can watch a video of my presentation to Council last April here, starting at 1:27:00 and ending 1:30:10. A couple of notes:
1. The Carolyn I refer to is attorney Carolyn Buschjost who was attending the meeting as attorney for the City.

2. The cartoon I refer to pictures the 2010 all male mayor and council wearing nothing but fig leaves after they ran former council member Donna Hawley out of town, leaving threatening messages on her answering machine, censuring her for knowing more than they knew, and charging her with felony assault against a 200+ pound male who was pushing her around.

You can read about the Donna Hawley's trial here (with links to other articles about Donna at bottom).
Here's a suggestion for the ladies on council: Stick together. Form a woman's caucus. Otherwise they will turn you into rubber stamps or pick you off one at a time like they did to Donna Hawley. These men play dirty pool.

ADDENDUM TO LAST WEEK'S SNIPPET ON THE WAR AGAINST SEX

Here's an (incomplete) list of federal political sex scandals from Alexander Hamilton to Donald Trump. It includes Newt Gingrich, Al Franken, Dennis Hastert, John Conyers, Roy Moore, and many many others. Unfortunately the compiler of this list neglected to include Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas.

Here's one of my favorites: Representative Scott DesJarlais, “while running on a pro-life platform, made his ex-wife have two abortions, and tried to persuade a mistress who was his patient, into an abortion as well.” And he's still representing Tennessee's fourth district!

Two more of my favorites: Florida Rep. Mark Foley resigned amid accusations of sending sexually explicit e-mails to teenage male congressional pages and New York Rep. Anthony Weiner was convicted of sending sexually explicit photos of himself to a 15-year-old girl and was made to sign the sexual offenders register.

Bill Clinton's blow job is small zucchini compared to some of these guys.

This list makes for some pretty spicy reading; but more importantly, it makes clear that this is not just a few “bad apples.” Washington sports a culture of hypocrisy, corruption and sexual abuse that cuts clean to the genitalia. And likely this list is only the tip of the iceberg.

Oh, and the latest: Donald Trump recommended to James Comey putting journalists in jail and raping them so they'll divulge their sources. James Comey laughed.

So who the heck are these perverts to make laws about sexual behavior for the rest of us? Why don't they clean up their own act instead?

You can read the updated article in entirety here.

CONGRATULATIONS SENATOR TAMMY DUCKWORTH!

Last Monday Senator Tammy Duckworth became the first US Senator to give birth while in office. Her daughter, Maile Pearl, became the first infant on the senate floor as mother cast an important vote Thursday.

While the Senate passed a resolution unanimously to allow Senator Duckworth to bring her baby onto the senate floor; it was not without some complaining.

Senator Tom Cotton thought new parents should be exiled to the cloakroom. Orrin Hatch mused: What if we have ten babies on the floor. One pundit worried that Ms. Duckworth might “weaponize that baby to affect legislative decision-making.”

“Weaponize the baby?” Maybe that means that Maile Pearl might remind some senators that they are supposed to represent ALL their constituents, even those too young to vote. Maybe she could teach some senators that providing adequate health-care and nutrition to all babies and mothers is more important than providing more profits to the health care industry. Maybe she could teach the Senate that babies in an affluent society should have a Right not to grow up in poverty. Maybe she could teach the Senate that babies have a Right not to be torn from their mother's arms over questions of citizenship. Or maybe she could teach that children have a Right to safe gun-free schools or that teachers have a Right to a fair salary. She could even teach that babies all over the world have a Right not to have bombs dropped on them.

And if there were ten mature babies on the Senate floor, they might provide a positive example to Ms. Duckworth's less mature colleagues in the Senate, who might even start to grow up.

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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

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