+' Rolla Peace Newsletter, May 9, 2017

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Rolla Peace News

May 9, 2017

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Dear Friends:

          In this newsletter is:

1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: THIS WEEK, THURSDAY, MAY 11, 2017
2. WHO WOULD JESUS KILL?
3. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org)
          a) Sleeping Beauty
          b) Thunderbolts Of A Pitiful Jupiter
          c) Flying Mother Nature's Silver Seed To A New Home

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1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: THURSDAY, MAY 11, 2017

We vigil for peace in front of the Rolla Post Office THIS THURSDAY, MAY 11, 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 70s. 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. WHO WOULD JESUS KILL?

Robert Dodge, a practicing family physician, puts this question to the Republicans who voted for the latest version of Trumpcare, a likely death sentence for many thousands of Americans who will no longer be able to afford health insurance. Undoubtedly, most if not all of these Republicans consider themselves Christians; but they aren't. A Christian is one who follows the teachings of Christ. I think we can all agree that what was done to us last week was not a Christian act. I am acquainted with atheists who are better Christians than these bozos.

Health care, of course, is just part of it. Every way that the government has to protect people and/or the planet is now under fire: Education, food supplements, environmental regulations, work safety provisions, free speech — Trump and his cronies have them all in their sights, and Congress is supporting the devastation. Worst of all, endless war continues, and looks to be expanding. My last car had a bumper sticker that asked “Who Would Jesus Bomb?” I thought it might provoke some useful conversations with people who maybe never thought about it that way. It didn't. Either nobody “got it,” or they just didn't care.

This article by Lauren McCauley will inform you as to exactly what the House Trumpcare bill is doing to us. Not a happy read!

3. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org)
          a) Sleeping Beauty
          b) Thunderbolts Of A Pitiful Jupiter
          c) Flying Mother Nature's Silver Seed To A New Home

SLEEPING BEAUTY

If you missed the Russian National Ballet's performance of Sleeping Beauty last Tuesday, you missed one of the most exciting performances ever to come to Leach Theatre. I was entranced from start to finish.

As these gorgeous dancers enchanted us with their skill and dexterity, I couldn't help but think of their friends and family back home who are targeted by gigatons of nuclear weapons on hair-trigger alert. Isn't it time to replace Mutually Assured Destruction with Peace, Friendship and Disarmament?

Here's a commemorative image for the performance.

THUNDERBOLTS OF A PITIFUL JUPITER

This article by John LaForge really says it all. No to nuclear disarmament; yes to more nuclear weapons testing and development. While our military establishment stands ready to use nuclear weapons, our political establishment (along with all the other nuclear weapon states except North Korea) boycotted the March UN sponsored conference on nuclear disarmament. Our “leaders” hate the thought of mutually verifiable nuclear disarmament so much they refuse to even discuss it.

US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, declared that “The United States is the moral conscience of the world.” Ummmm, how do you spell H-Y-P-O-C-R-I-S-Y. The moral conscience of the world? Try Bhutan, Standing Rock or the Marshall Islands.

The title of this snippet comes from Joseph Conrad's “Heart of Darkness.” When Mr. Kurtz is taken aboard Marlowe's steamboat, sick and dying, Conrad describes his weapons, “two shot-guns, a heavy rifle, and a light revolver-carbine,” perhaps the late 19th Century equivalent of nuclear weapons as “the thunderbolts of that pitiful Jupiter.”

Amazing how, all experience to the contrary, so many people cling to the belief that heavy weaponry can bring peace and security.

FLYING MOTHER NATURE'S SILVER SEED TO A NEW HOME

Apparently Stephen Hawking believes that in 100 years planet Earth will be uninhabitable by humans and we have just a century to get off of Earth and find a new home, or else face extinction. In fact, a new upcoming television series will be discussing space travel and livable planets.

From anyone else but Stephen Hawking, I would dismiss this as new age malarky; but you have to take Stephen Hawking seriously.

Well sure, we could travel through space and maybe find habitable planets; but our military is more interested in putting weapons in space than in finding a new home for humanity. We could do lots of wonderful things if our “civilization” wasn't so intent on fighting wars and supporting a handful of greedy leeches at the top. Maybe we could even rehabilitate planet Earth and there would be no need to travel the Universe looking for a new home.

I guess I'm a Centrist. I don't believe extinction of humanity on planet Earth is assured; nor do I believe that it's possible to maintain our unsustainable “civilization.” I'm still betting on collapse with humanity hopefully returning to a prehistoric-like state rather than going extinct. As Albert Einstein famously said: “I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.”

The title of this snippet comes from the Neil Young song, After the Gold Rush.

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Wage peace,

Helen
helenm (at) fidnet.com

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