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Rolla Peace News June 30, 2015 |
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================================= Dear Friends:In this newsletter is: 1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: THIS WEEK, THURSDAY, JULY 2, 2015 2. JULY 4 VIGIL AT ENTRANCE TO LIONS CLUB PARK 3. SCIENCE, GMOS AND OUR FOOD 4. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) a) Why am I Still Here? b) Child Endangerment c) The New Barbarian Pirates ================================ 1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: THURSDAY, JULY 2, 2015We vigil for peace in front of the Rolla Post Office THIS THURSDAY, JULY 2, 2015, (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 high 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. JULY 4 VIGIL AT ENTRANCE TO LIONS CLUB PARK On Saturday, July 4, 2015, we will have our annual vigil on the sidewalk at the main entrance to Lions Club Park off of Hwy 63 from 6:00 to 7:00 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. SCIENCE, GMOS AND OUR FOOD Ever since I first heard about GMOs, I had a feeling that this was not a good thing; but I didn't have the kind of hard evidence to argue against those who supported the concept. Now, after reading Dr. Vandana Shiva's article, I know why they are bad for humans, our food supply, and the planet. GMOs have been sold to the people, using bad science and just plain lies — the motivation, as usual, being the hunger for money and power over others. Dr. Shiva shows us that the living soil and ecosystems that provide us with food have an innate intelligence and interconnectedness that allows the farmer who understands and works with them to produce more and better food than the agribusiness model of chemicals and toxins that destroy the soil and produce “food” that is not nourishing, and in some cases is itself toxic to humans. Dr. Shiva says “It is not an intelligent species that destroys its own future because of a distorted and manipulated definition of science.” This is exactly what we are doing. If you want to know the truth about GMOs and industrial agriculture, I urge you to read this article. She ends with a quote from Einstein: “Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe.” And if you want examples of how we are being lied to by Big Agriculture, read this one. 4. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) a) Why am I Still Here? b) Child Endangerment c) The New Barbarian Pirates WHY AM I STILL HERE? “Why am I still here?” asked Moath al-Alwi who has been held in Guantanamo since 2002 without charge or trial. “I wonder now,” he writes, “if the U.S. follows any rule of law at all: the Geneva Conventions or even its own Constitution. Where is the freedom and justice for all that it so proudly boasts to the world?” Read al-Alwi's letter here. Al-alwi is not unique. Abdul Rahman Shalabi and Tariq Ba Odah are among the 52 inmates cleared for release but still held captive under horrendous conditions. The obvious solution is to give Guantanamo, including all the prisoners, back to Cuba from which we stole it over a century ago. I have confidence that the Cuban people will administer to all 116 inmates, the justice which the United States is apparently incapable of. CHILD ENDANGERMENT In one more horrendous incident, Philadelphia transit cops assaulted a man holding a toddler for alleged failure to pay for a $2.25 train ride. It appears he was first accused of not paying for a ticket for the child, until the transit cops figured out that children under four are permitted to ride free, after which they changed the charge to not paying for his own ticket, which the man denies. But things could be worse. Last May, in Habersham County, Northwest of Atlanta, a SWAT team raided the Phonesavanh home based on a tip that an informant had bought methamphetamine there. Habersham County's finest threw a flash-stun grenade into the crib of 19 month old Bounkham “Baby Bou Bou” almost killing the toddler, who has required $1 million of surgery. “Law Enforcement” allegedly argued in court that it was the child's fault for getting in the way of the grenade. No illegal drugs were found in the raid. No criminal charges have been filed. With the spate of police murders we have experienced recently, Bill Quigley has compiled the 15 best excuses for murder, from “He was Dancing in the Street and Walking with a Purpose” to “It Was an Accident.” Read them here. THE NEW BARBARIAN PIRATES In the early 19th century, the young United States, tired of paying tribute to the Barbary States, built a navy to protect its ships in the Mediterranean and win more favorable terms from pirates off the Barbary Coast. Today the United States pays over $3 Billion annually in tribute to the State of Israel and the New Barbarian Pirates as they plunder ships in the Meditarranean. The latest outrage is the attack on the Marianne of Gothernburg in International Waters, in which Israelis tasered non-violent activists attempting to bring aid to Israel's 1.8 million captives in Gaza, held in horrendous conditions without adequate supplies of potable water in the world's largest open-air prison. In 1967 the New Barbarian Pirates attacked the USS Liberty, killing 34 and wounding 170. They did not succeed in their goal of killing everybody on board the Liberty. Rather than fight back, then president Lyndon Johnson chose to pay an annual tribute of $3 Billion to Israel. Every United States president since Johnson has continued to pay tribute to Israel. But some people (although not the government) of the United States are fighting back. The United Church of Christ with 1.1 million members voted to divest from companies profiting from human rights violations arising from the Israeli occupation of Palestine. ================== 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 ### |