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Rolla Peace News July 25, 2017 |
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================================= Dear Friends:In this newsletter is: 1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: THIS WEEK, THURSDAY, JULY 27, 2017 2. MCCAIN: HERO OR HYPOCRITE? 3. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) a) They've Given Me A Number For A Name b) What Ever Happened To Murphy's Law? c) Antarctica's Loss
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We vigil for peace in front of the Rolla Post Office THIS THURSDAY, JULY 13, 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 high 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. MCCAIN: HERO OR HYPOCRITE? Since his well-publicized diagnosis of brain cancer, Senator John McCain has been the subject of much media attention. Some media pieces, like this Washington Post article, read more like a funereal eulogy, as if the man was already dead. But there are other impressions of the Senator that are not so flattering, that portray him as an ambitious, self-serving war-monger, giving chapter and verse to support their claims. Here's one that was prompted by reading the above WaPo article. An even more revealing essay was published in Rolling Stone Magazine in 2008. This one shares anecdotes from people who knew him, worked with him or served with him in many phases of his life, and the picture isn't pretty. It's a long one, but interesting reading. One might say that bringing these things up against a man who is seriously ill is mean-spirited. I would agree, except that Senator McCain's life-threatening diagnosis might be expected to make him more compassionate, instead is hell-bent on getting back to the Senate to cast his vote with those other politicians who want to make sure that a poor person with brain cancer will not be able to get the top-notch treatment that McCain surely is receiving. And that, I think, answers the question I posed in the title. 3. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) a) They've Given Me A Number For A Name b) What Ever Happened To Murphy's Law? c) Antarctica's Loss THEY'VE GIVEN ME A NUMBER FOR A NAME No, this snippet is not about prison; it's about school. If you are thinking, “same difference,” you may not be so far from right. Steven Singer points out that our students are increasingly known by a number, their score on a standardized test. Schools are increasingly becoming places with neither joy nor discovery; but “a lifeless environment devoid of hope.” Singer details the increase in middle school child suicide which has risen along with our stress on standardizing testing, doubling in seven years. But things could be worse, and may become worse, if we continue down our current path. South Korean children are among the highest achievers on standardized tests. They also have one of the highest child suicide rates. “High stakes testing is child abuse. We should not emulate other nations’ scores especially when they come at such a cost. The fact that we don’t engage in the worst abuses of Asian schools should be a point of pride, not jealousy. We should cherish and nurture our children even if other nations sacrifice theirs on the altar of competition and statistics.” I agree: here's a cartoon of mine from seven years ago, back in the days of No Child's Left Behind. It's only gotten worse. WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO MURPHY'S LAW? “If anything can go wrong, it will.” —attributed to Ed MurphyIn this article, John Acheson talks about facing up to a worst-case climate-change scenario. Yes. Great idea. It's good to be prepared for the worst. The problem is we've been hearing for over a decade that if we don't act now, we won't be able to prevent catastrophic climate change. We're still hearing it. Ok, if what they say now is correct, then they have been wrong for the last nine years. So, why should we believe them now? Yes, let's have a little honesty please, everyone. It's fine to have an opinion. But pleeeease, don't sugar-coat your opinions and don't state them as fact. We are already experiencing catastrophic climate change. It's here. So instead of talking about how to avoid it, let's talk about how we might live with it and limit it. Wouldn't that be more productive? As a starter, lets talk about ending war and putting a big chunk of our bloated war budget into preparing for and limiting catastrophic climate change. There would be an added benefit here. The US military is surely the world's biggest consumer of fossil fuels and producer of greenhouse gases. ANTARCTICA'S LOSS Antarctica just lost a chunk of ice the size of the State of Delaware That's one helluva skating rink. And when it melts, as it surely will, it will add to the already rising sea level. Catastrophic climate change is today, not tomorrow. 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 ### |