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Rolla Peace News May 21, 2019 |
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Dear Friends: http://tomsager.org/Peaceletters/peaceletter052119.html In this newsletter is: 1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: THURSDAY, MAY 23, 2019 2. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) a) Quiz Time: What Does the City of Rolla Have in Common With the State of Nevada and the Countries of Cuba, Rwanda and Bolivia? b) Testosterone and Sports c) Testosterone and Power d) Bernie Sanders on War and Regime Change e) Two Second-Warmest Months in a Row f) Upheaval: Jared Diamond's New Book g) My Column 1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: THURSDAY, MAY 23, 2019 We vigil for peace in front of the Rolla Post Office, THIS THURSDAY, MAY 23 FROM NOON TO 1:00 PM (and most subsequent Thursdays until peace is established). Please try to join us. The temperature is predicted to be in the 80s. 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. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) a) Quiz Time: What Does the City of Rolla Have in Common With the State of Nevada and the Countries of Cuba, Rwanda and Bolivia? b) Testosterone and Sports c) Testosterone and Power d) Bernie Sanders on War and Regime Change e) Two Second-Warmest Months in a Row f) Upheaval: Jared Diamond's New Book g) My Column QUIZ TIME: WHAT DOES THE CITY OF ROLLA HAVE IN COMMON WITH THE STATE OF NEVADA AND THE COUNTRIES OF CUBA, RWANDA AND BOLIVIA? Answer: All of the above have legislatures that are 50% or more female. It makes a big difference. In Nevada, bills that deal with women's health and safety are increasingly being placed at the top of the agenda instead of dying in legislative limbo. Here in Rolla, I am reminded of how almost 10 years ago, a male dominated power structure censured Donna Hawley and charged her with felony assault on a healthy 200+ pound male. One city councilman who carried a firearm to council meetings and had problems with anger management even left a threatening message on her answering machine. I don't think this could happen now that the Rolla city council is 50% female. There is a huge difference between 17% and 50%. I think we would all be much better off if legislative bodies at every level were 50% or more female. TESTOSTERONE AND SPORTS Governing bodies in the sports world have long claimed the right to dictate to athletes, particularly minorities, how they must behave. (Jim Thorpe, Muhammad Ali, and Colin Kaepernick all come to mind immediately.) However, the IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations) really outdid itself when it ruled that Caster Semenya must submit to therapy to lower her level of testosterone if she wishes to defend her title in the 800 meter run. Semenya has a naturally high level of testosterone. The IAAF claims that this gives her an unfair advantage over women with lower testosterone levels. Maybe the IAAF is not aware that all champion athletes have a gift that few others possess. Gifts like Semenya's come directly from God. But the IAAF places itself above the Almighty — a terrible sin. TESTOSTERONE AND POWER I shouldn't be too hard on the IAAF. I think they are really on to something here. Suppose we demand that all politicians and political leaders must lower their testosterone levels before taking office. The halls of power definitely suffer from too much testosterone. Perhaps, if we decrease the testosterone levels in Washington, we wouldn't be fighting so many idiot wars all the time. BERNIE SANDERS ON WAR AND REGIME CHANGE The New York Times, which has a long history of cheerleading for idiot wars, tried to paint Bernie Sanders as being anti-American for having participated in a 1985 demonstration in Managua against the US funded Contra War and brutal US sanctions against Nicaragua which were responsible for 60,000 deaths. Bernie fired back: No wonder the power elite is doing everything possible to prevent Bernie from becoming president.“I strongly oppose U.S. policy, which overthrows governments, especially democratically elected governments, around the world. So this issue is not so much Nicaragua or the government of Nicaragua. The issue was, should the United States continue a policy of overthrowing governments in Latin America and Central America? I believed then that it was wrong, and I believe today it is wrong. That's why I do not believe the United States should overthrow the government of Venezuela. My experience in Latin America, indeed, throughout the world, is that those of us who come in Peace and Friendship are welcomed. It is those in high places who foster War, Regime Change and Economic Bullying who are not. TWO SECOND-WARMEST MONTHS IN A ROW According to NOAA, March and April 2019 were both the second warmest March and April respectively since record-keeping began. The 12-month running average for carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increased from 409.25 ppm in March to 409.50 ppm in April. Climatewise, statistics are not looking good. UPHEAVAL: JARED DIAMOND'S NEW BOOK I've been a fan of Jared Diamond's ever since I first opened GGS (Guns, Germs and Steel), almost 20 years ago. Diamond has a knack for explaining difficult concepts so even I can grasp them. For example, in GGS he explained, without resorting to racism or racist explanations, why “western civilization” had been able to dominate the world for five centuries. In this interview about his new book, Upheaval, he opines that our global civilization has a 49% chance of collapsing before 2050. I've always felt that Diamond was an optimist — still do. MY COLUMN I promised last week I would stop writing so much — a promise not kept. Reading and writing about the news is addictive. I found it hard to stop. I'll try harder this week. I suppose there are worse addictions I could have had instead. 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: at 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 |