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Rolla Peace News September 20, 2016 |
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================================= Dear Friends:In this newsletter is: 1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: THIS WEEK, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2016 2. BUEHLER PARK UPDATE 3. WHY STANDING ROCK MATTERS 4. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) a) Your Friend's Enemy's Enemy's Friend May Be Your Best Friend or Your Worst Enemy b) What Happened To The Clinton Landslide? c) Protest Is In
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We vigil for peace in front of the Rolla Post Office THIS THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2016, (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 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. BUEHLER PARK UPDATE I've updated the Buehler Park website. Your phone calls and emails are still needed. Lots of new photos posted. New article posted. 3. WHY STANDING ROCK MATTERS The face-off happening at Standing Rock over the North Dakota pipeline may be one of the most important choice points the human race has ever experienced. Since the movement largely headed by indigenous people defeated the Keystone pipeline, the oil moguls were desperate to get this one through, and are obviously willing to bypass both legality and common decency to win. We have to decide, as a nation, and ultimately as a species, whether we are going to let the corporate rulers continue to deplete our resources and despoil our environment for their own profit. At stake here is the possibility of contamination of the entire Missouri River, as well as the Mississippi, into which it flows. Pipelines are not fail-safe — note the recent gasoline spill from a pipeline in Alabama. The North Dakota pipeline is planned to go right underneath the Missouri River. Aside from that, if the pipeline goes through, there will be even more fracking to supply the low-grade crude oil that the pipeline will carry, and everywhere there is fracking, the water table is in danger of pollution. The Sioux at Standing Rock, and the many people who have joined them, are standing against the desecration of their land and water. They know that if they are defeated, everyone's land and water will be at greater risk. Native Americans have been slaughtered, interned, oppressed, and their territories taken from them, for centuries. The relatively small and worthless (to the whites, anyway) parcels that they were given back by treaty have been continually encroached upon by any corporate interest group who felt there might be money to be made there. The Standing Rock Sioux consider themselves protectors of the land that is left to them. They are calling on their fellow humans to protect the Earth from the rape and pillage being conducted by corporate society. No one would maintain that the pre-Columbian Native Americans had a perfect society, but they did know how to live sustainably on the land — and we whites, apparently, do not. Here are a couple of good articles that give a bigger perspective on the situation: http://commondreams.org/views/2016/09/20/indians-and-cowboys-2016-version-old-story-new-planet http://commondreams.org/views/2016/09/17/learning-standing-rock-sioux 4. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) a) Your Friend's Enemy's Enemy's Friend May Be Your Best Friend or Your Worst Enemy b) What Happened To The Clinton Landslide? c) Protest Is In YOUR FRIEND'S ENEMY'S ENEMY'S FRIEND MAY BE YOUR BEST FRIEND OR YOUR WORST ENEMY In the chaos of the Middle East, the United States gave ISIS an enormous boost by bombing Syrian troops surrounded by ISIS near the Deir al-Zor airport in eastern Syria. Taking advantage of the unexpected assistance, ISIS quickly overran government positions and now threatens to overrun the airport. Needless to say, as a result, the tenuous ceasefire in Syria has fallen apart. US Central Command claims it was all a mistake; but didn't they claim the bombing of the Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz was also a mistake? The US military in the greater Middle East appears totally out of control, lashing out wildly, and willing to bomb anyone or anything on a whim. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE CLINTON LANDSLIDE? Remember how all the “smart guys” were saying a month ago that Clinton would win in a landslide? Looks like Clinton's landslide has evaporated faster than a Middle East victory. Depending on which poll (if any) you want to believe, you could say either Clinton or Trump is ahead by 5 points. Me? I'll be unhappy with the results no matter who wins. I'm still backing Bernie. I think Chris Hedges summed it up the mood of the electorate best when he said, “Popular revulsion for the ruling elite ... is nearly universal.” For what it's worth, here, again, is my take on Trump and Clinton. PROTEST IS IN People generally don't protest in huge numbers unless things get really, really bad; but today, “Popular revulsion for the ruling elite ... is nearly universal.” So we have protests North Dakota North Dakota to Florida to Germany and many places in between. While these protests all seem to have a different focus; they are similar in that they are all protests against the excesses of a totally corrupt ruling elite. Here in Rolla, a few of us still hold vigils for peace every Thursday at Noon in front of the Rolla Post Office. Join us. ================== 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 ### |