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Rolla Peace News September 8, 2015 |
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================================= Dear Friends:In this newsletter is: 1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: THIS WEEK, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2015 2. HELEN IS ON VACATION THIS WEEK 3. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) a) Climate Refugees b) Dumbing-Down America c) Long-Term Solitary confinement Comes to an End in California Prisons ================================ 1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2015We vigil for peace in front of the Rolla Post Office THIS THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 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 around 80. 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. HELEN IS ON VACATION THIS WEEK Helen will be back next week. I'll be trying to fill her shoes in the meantime. —Tom 3. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) a) Climate Refugees b) Dumbing-Down America c) Long-Term Solitary confinement Comes to an End in California Prisons CLIMATE REFUGEES “My mother prayed that I would be a man of some renown,If I were to modernize this famous Woody Guthrie song from 80 years ago, I might change the second line of the couplet to “But I'm a climate refugee as I go ramblin' 'round.” I can still remember, back when I was in high school studying a unit on the 1930s. When we got to the section on the Great Dust Bowl, our teacher remarked, that couldn't happen again because we are so much wiser now and know so much more. Really, Mr. B? Take a look around you — the west coast of North America, the entire Middle East, and to a lesser extent, Europe, are baking while low-lying ecosystems are flooding. As some commentators have noted, the refugee crisis with Europe being inundated with refugees from the Middle East is climate driven. Large areas of Africa and the Middle East, once the “cradle of civilization,” are fast becoming unlivable due to climate change. Climate disruption brings conflict in its wake, as fewer resources are available. If climate disruption is not effectively managed, we get War. War gobbles up tremendous quantities of resources and contributes to further climate disruption. And where does climate change come from? The greed and stupidity of capitalists and politicians who consistently choose short-term profits over long-term environmental health and stability. And, voila! We have hundreds of thousands, probably millions, fleeing war, poverty and climate change. As Kathy Kelly sagely put it, “Earth's military crisis, its climate crisis, and the paralyzing economic inequalities that burden impoverished people are linked” . But, the word linked is deceptive. Kathy's three crises feed one another, in an endless spiral, leading eventually to — Collapse. And what's the solution in the United States, Israel, and to a lesser extent, Europe? Build walls and other barriers to keep climate refugees out. Recommendation: Listen to Woody Guthrie's dust-bowl ballads. Also reread John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath. We are reliving the dust-bowl years with a vengeance. And what happens when all the climate refugees come streaming out of California and our low-lying coastal cities like New York, Washington, Houston and Miami? DUMBING-DOWN AMERICA For the 10th straight year, SAT college entrance scores are down, demonstrating the total failure of high-stakes testing regimes like No Child Left Behind and its successors: Race To The Top and Common Core. But high-stakes testing can't claim to be the only factor. SAT scores correlate extremely well with family income. Thus impoverishment and income inequality must also be considered an important factor in the dumbing-down of children in the United States. Well, no matter. We can always get good students and professionals from China, India, the Middle East and elsewhere, while we feed our own children a diet of television, violence and incarceration. How much longer this can continue is anyone's guess. Also new on the education front: The Supreme Court of the State of Washington has ruled that publicly funded but privately operated [charter] schools are unconstitutional. This deals a big blow to Wall Street's ongoing takeover of public education. Let's hope that other states, including Missouri, will follow suit. LONG-TERM SOLITARY CONFINEMENT IN CALIFORNIA PRISONS COMES TO AN END Prison inmates, represented by the Center for Constitutional Rights have won a landmark victory in a federal suit against the governor of California. In a settlement agreement, California has agreed to sweeping prison reforms including the abolition of indeterminate long-term solitary confinement as a punishment. Some inmates have been in solitary for more than 20 years. I am still of the opinion that our system of criminal injustice has been so arbitrary, corrupt and abusive, that there is really no just alternative but “to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound.” ================== 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 ### |