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Rolla Peace News July 31, 2018 |
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Dear Friends: http://tomsager.org/Peaceletters/peaceletter073118.html In this newsletter is: 1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: THURSDAY, AUGUST 2, 2018 2. BELIEFS CREATE REALITY 3. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) a) Three New Ratifications To Treaty On The Prohibition Of Nuclear Weapons b) Amazing Spiders! c) Your House Is On Fire And Your Children Are Gone d) More On Russia e) Pakistanis Reject US Wars At The Polls f) Super-Wealthy Investment Moguls Prepare To Bail Out Of Human Race 1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: THURSDAY, AUGUST 2, 2018 We vigil for peace in front of the Rolla Post Office THIS THURSDAY, AUGUST 2, 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 near 90. 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. BELIEFS CREATE REALITY Niels Bohr once said “Some things are so serious you just have to laugh at them.” Lee Camp has taken that concept and run with it, in his article “American Society Would Collapse If It Weren't For These 8 Myths.” It will make you laugh, but don't let the serious truths escape you. We have been sold a bunch of beliefs that have basically stolen every right we had as American citizens. Among the myths that Mr. Camp exposes are “We have a democracy,” “We have an independent media that keeps the rulers accountable,” “The police are here to protect you. They're your friends,” “If you work hard, things will get better.” And four others — but as he says, there are lots more that could be added. He left out a few that I think are key: “There isn't enough for everyone,” There is plenty for everyone. As Mr. Camp stated, the wealth of one man (Jeff Bezos of Amazon) could end world hunger for years and still leave him with more money than could be spent in a lifetime. The money we spend on war in a year could do the same. It's a matter of who is diverting the flow of abundance to uses that do not benefit the whole. “[North Koreans, Iranians, muslims, blacks] are our enemies.” Our only enemies are the people who have brainwashed us into believing these myths. “Nature and other living beings are there for the benefit of humans, and have no other reason for being.” Nature is busy asserting her sovereignty right now in California, Indonesia, Hawaii, and myriad other places around the globe. But as long as the majority of people believe these things, this is the kind of world we will have. Maybe it's time to start examining our long-held beliefs and decide whether or not they are really serving us. 3. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) a) Three New Ratifications To Treaty On The Prohibition Of Nuclear Weapons b) Amazing Spiders! c) Your House Is On Fire And Your Children Are Gone d) More On Russia e) Pakistanis Reject US Wars At The Polls f) Super-Wealthy Investment Moguls Prepare To Bail Out Of Human Race THREE NEW RATIFICATIONS TO TREATY ON THE PROHIBITION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS July brought three new ratifications to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons — all from our good neighbors to the South: Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Uruguay. That brings the total to 13, 37 shy of the 50 ratifications needed for the treaty to go into force. Kudos to all three nations. Viva Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Uruguay! AMAZING SPIDERS! Arctic wolf spiders appear to have an awesome method of fighting Climate Change. In cold weather one of their favorite foods is springtails, a crustacean that eats fungi that grow on dead organic matter. The fungi cause the dead organic matter to decay, releasing carbon dioxide and methane, both powerful greenhouse gases. So in cold weather, the fungi have free reign; and in this way, the spiders contribute to the warming of the arctic climate.“twas an elderly mother spider However, as the weather warms, they turn to cannibalism, eating each other and allowing the springtails to flourish and eat the fungi that would otherwise release greenhouse gases. Thus in warm weather, the spiders contribute to cooling the arctic climate. Nature is full of complex feedback mechanisms like this. We mess with Nature's checks and balances at our own peril. And this little tale of a species that turns to cannibalism to control a warming climate should serve as a warning to another species that appears totally unable to control its behaviors that leads to rampant Global Warming. I find this research by Amanda Koltz of Washington University in St. Louis extremely exciting, although I must take issue with one comment she made: “Everyone loves to hate spiders.” Personally, I find spiders very attractive in spite of having almost lost a finger to a brown recluse bite. I think Don Marquis who wrote the poem quoted above might have agreed. On completing this poem, Don Marquis's archy continues: YOUR HOUSE IS ON FIRE AND YOUR CHILDREN ARE GONE“i will admit that some It seems that wildfires get worse every year. Sometimes I hardly think that they are worth reporting on any more.“Ladybug, ladybug, fly away home. This year is no exception. Long hot dry spells spawn wildfires. Much of Europe in on fire, from Greece, where deadly fires swept through a fashionable resort town on the Aegean, to Sweden, where unprecedented wildfires burn north of the Arctic Circle. California is on fire again. The deadly Carr fire in the northern Sacramento Valley spawned a fire whirl, often referred to as a firenado, where the fire burns so hot it picks up burning debris in a rotating column of air similar to a tornado. Small fire whirls are not uncommon; but fire whirls that, like the one spawned by the Carr fire, can uproot large trees and last for an hour are extremely rare. Atmospheric scientist, Neil Lareau, remarked, “it’s not a coincidence that this is the record [hottest] July for the northern Sacramento Valley, embedded in a broader trend, and we’re going to keep seeing that.” As of July 8, the US had lost over three million acres to wildfire. But, wait for October. Last year, California's most devastating fire on record, the Tubbs Fire, occurred in October. Wildfires devastate our forests releasing stored carbon into the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is a potent Greenhouse Gas and warms the climate further creating the conditions for yet more wildfires which cause more warming. MORE ON RUSSIA Here's an interesting addendum from the Southern Poverty Law Center to the snippet I wrote on Russia last week. Apparently far right-wing hate groups in Russia and the United States are working together to advance their common cause. So why aren't left-wing groups in Russia and the United States working together for Peace? Why am I hearing so much about Russian meddling in our elections instead. Consider: If Russia was indeed responsible for helping Wikileaks publish the Democratic National Committee emails showing much wrong-doing by corporate Democrats, then they did us a great favor. We, the people, have a Right to know what shenanigans the leaders of our political parties are up to. Actually, Julian Assange and Wikileaks have denied that Russia was their source for these emails. I stand by my conjecture from last week (which the SPLC article appears to support): Our rapprochement toward Russia is simply the beginning of the realignment of global alliances in the modern world, and likely will not presage a turn toward world peace. PAKISTANIS REJECT US WARS AT THE POLLS Famous former cricket star, now politician, Imran Khan's Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party was the big winner in Pakistan's parliamentary elections. Likely, the PTI will be able to make enough alliances with smaller parties to be able to form a new government for Pakistan. Khan is a strong critic of US wars and has written: “We became a U.S. proxy for a war against the Soviet Union when it entered Afghanistan and we allowed the CIA to create, train, and arm Jihadi groups on our soil and a decade later we tried to eliminate them as terrorists on U.S. orders. The time has come to stand firm and give a strong response to the U.S.” I agree. Countries should not have to fight proxy wars for one another. Matter of fact, countries should not have to fight wars at all. SUPER-WEALTHY INVESTMENT MOGULS PREPARE TO BAIL OUT OF HUMAN RACE This article by Douglas Rushkoff describes a Q&A with five hedge-fund operators where they grilled him on how best to survive the upcoming collapse. One CEO “explained that he had nearly completed building his own underground bunker system and asked: 'How do I maintain authority over my security force after the Event?'” (“The Event” here refers to collapse due to war, climate change, social unrest, disease or other factors.) Rushkoff notes that these sorry excuses for human beings “were preparing for a digital future that had a whole lot less to do with making the world a better place than it did with transcending the human condition altogether and insulating themselves from a very real and present danger” — a danger which they had done much to create themselves. In closing, Rushkoff opines, “Being human is not about individual survival or escape. It’s a team sport. Whatever future humans have, it will be together.” This is a very important article. Please read it. 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: near 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 |