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Rolla Peace News August 25, 2020 |
Dear Friends:Editor's note: Please send in your work. I think readers would love to see more variety in this newsletter.In this newsletter is: 1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: THURSDAY, AUGUST 27, 2020 2. ROLLAITES DEMONSTRATE IN SUPPORT OF THE US POSTAL SERVICE 3. GLOBAL STRIKE FOR THE CLIMATE: SEPTEMBER 25 4. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) a) California Burnin' (On Such a Summer's Day) b) China's Floods c) No Such Thing as a “Good War.” 1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: THURSDAY, AUGUST 27, 2020 We vigil for peace in front of the Rolla Post Office, THIS THURSDAY, AUGUST 27, FROM NOON TO 1:00 PM (and most subsequent Thursdays until Peace is established). Please join us again this Thursday in saying NO WAR AGAINST IRAN or any other country. 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. Note: Since there are so few of us, generally 2 or 3, no need to cancel; but let's maintain social distancing. 2. ROLLAITES DEMONSTRATE IN SUPPORT OF THE US POSTAL SERVICE As part of a nationwide action to save the Postal Service, Rollaites demonstrated in support of their Post Office for 90 minutes last Saturday. I've posted photos and some pertinent quotes from Benjamin Franklin, the first Postmaster General of the United States on my website. Andrew Sheeley gave us a very nice write-up in the Phelps County Focus. 3. GLOBAL STRIKE FOR THE CLIMATE: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 25 Friday, September 25 will be the date of the Global Strike for the Climate. If no one organizes a more ambitious project for Rolla, we intend to move the Thursday vigil to Friday on that week to coincide with the Global Climate Strike. Last year we had a great turnout. Photos are posted here (scroll down). 4. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) a) California Burnin' (On Such a Summer's Day) b) China's Floods c) No Such Thing as a “Good War.” California Burnin' (On Such a Summer's Day) After a relatively light fire-year in 2019 during which little more than 1/4 million acres burned, fires have returned to California with a vengeance in 2020. This year's fires in California are on track to burn more acreage than in any previous year. 2018, year of the Camp Fire which killed 85 and wiped out the town of Paradise, holds the record with close to 1.9 million acres burned. California fires have already burned over 1.4 million acres during the 2020 fire season which is just getting underway. But there is a silver lining to every cloud. Wall Street investors have learned how to turn a handsome profit from even the worst disaster. The Baupost Group hedge fund has already made a cool $3 billion off these California fires which have displaced at least 100 thousand people. China's Floods This years flooding in China appears to rival floods chronicled in folk lore and religious scripture (Gilgamesh flood, Noah's flood, Turkey's Gift to the People [Diné], for example). The Three Gorges Dam on the Yangze is in trouble. Let's pray that it holds, since if that dam goes it may well precipitate the greatest flood the modern world has ever seen. China is no stranger to flooding. The 1938 Yellow River Flood which was deliberately caused by the retreating Guomindang Army killed a 1/2 million or more people. And here in the United States, a monster derecho storm leveled trees and houses and wiped out much of Iowa's corn crop. And as I write, Hurricane Laura bears down on the coasts of Texas and Louisiana. No Such Thing as a “Good War.” In researching the history of the Post Office, I was reminded of these two sayings of Benjamin Franklin, who was our very first Postmaster General: This is doubly true today when it is so necessary for the world to come together in the face of climate disasters, emerging diseases, nuclear weapons and other collective threats to humanity. And Franklin had a saying for this too:“There never was a good war or a bad peace.” “We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.” 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, Tom yushasager (at) yahoo.com |