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Rolla Peace News

June 21, 2016

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Dear Friends:

          In this newsletter is:

1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: THIS WEEK, THURSDAY, JUNE 23, 2016
2. JULY 4 VIGIL FOR PEACE AT ENTRANCE TO LIONS CLUB PARK: 6:30-7:30pm
3. CALIFORNIA: NO MORE NUKES
4. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org)
          a) Flying the “Friendly” Skies
          b) Over 84 Million Refugees ... and Counting
          c) Close the Bases, End the Wars, Bring the Troops Home

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1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: THURSDAY, JUNE 23, 2016

We vigil for peace in front of the Rolla Post Office THIS THURSDAY, JUNE 23, 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 90s. 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. JULY 4 VIGIL FOR PEACE AT ENTRANCE TO LIONS CLUB PARK: 6:30-7:30pm

On Monday, July 4, 2016, we will have our annual vigil for Peace on the sidewalk at the main entrance to Lions Club Park off of Hwy 63 from 6:30 to 7:30 pm. This is the final day of the Lions Club carnival. Please try to join us.

As always, we vigil only on the sidewalk and stay off Lions Club property while vigilling. Unless you have family members at the carnival, please do not park on Lions Club property while vigilling

3. CALIFORNIA: NO MORE NUKES

The last nuclear power plant remaining in California, the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant, is scheduled to be shut down when its current operating license expires in 2024-25. PG&E plans to replace this nuclear power source with “renewable energy, energy efficiency and energy storage.” PG&E also commits to getting over half its electricity from renewable sources by 2031. This is good news, not only because of the earthquake risk and the age of the plant, but because it shows that even a mainstream utility company believes that renewable sources of energy are viable and can be cost effective. I'm pretty sure that if PG&E didn't think they could make money with renewables, they wouldn't be committing to such a big stake in them.

4. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org)
          a) Flying the “Friendly” Skies
          b) Over 84 Million Refugees ... and Counting
          c) Close the Bases, End the Wars, Bring the Troops Home

FLYING THE “FRIENDLY” SKIES

William Astore gives a short history of bombing and concludes that what air power provides is “not victory, but carnage, terror, rubble — and resistance”. Yup, 15 years after the US invasion of Afghanistan and 13 years after the invasion of Iraq: plenty of carnage, terror, rubble and resistance; but no victory in sight.

For a somewhat longer treatise on bombing read Sven Lindqvist's History of Bombing.

OVER 84 MILLION REFUGEES ... AND COUNTING
“The world hemorrhages. Refugees flow from its wounds.”
— Robert C. Koehler

Nope, no victory, but plenty of refugees — over 65 million fleeing from war and persecution and another 19+ million uprooted through climate change (referred to in this article as “natural disasters.” There are more refugees now than ever before — and half of them are children.

Meanwhile countries most responsible for creating refugees close their borders and grow more and more antagonistic and xenophobic.

CLOSE THE BASES, END THE WARS, BRING THE TROOPS HOME

The United States maintains hundreds of overseas bases which provide “plenty of carnage, terror, rubble and resistance” for the local populations.

In Okinawa some 65,000 rallied to close US military bases on their island and held signs reading “Murderer Marines. Out of Okinawa,” and “Our anger is past its limit.”

Earlier this month over 5,000 Germans formed a human chain around Ramstein Air Base in protest of its use in the global drone war. Peace activist Reiner Braun said, “The chain is not complete but it is a sign! Ramstein needs to be shut down.”

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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: 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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