+' Rolla Peace Newsletter, October 10, 2017

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Rolla Peace News

October 10, 2017

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Dear Friends:

          In this newsletter is:

1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: THIS WEEK, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2017
2. WHY MOST PEOPLE DON'T CARE ABOUT WAR
3. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org)
          a) The Wars Come Home
          b) Nature Bats Last: Flood And Fire
          c) “On The Path Toward World War III”

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1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: THURSDAY, October 12, 2017

We vigil for peace in front of the Rolla Post Office THIS THURSDAY, OCTOBER 12, 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 70s. 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. WHY MOST PEOPLE DON'T CARE ABOUT WAR

This is something we wonder about, as we stand for peace at the Post Office, now into our 11th year. Andrew Bacevich gives some convincing reasons in this thoughtful article:

One point he did not mention is that there are people who do care, but are too paralyzed by depression and hopelessness to act. From the many positive responses we get from passers-by, it's obvious that people do care and are appreciative — but still, there are only 4 of us who regularly show up, and the youngest of us is 75.

Another reason people who care don't become peace activists is the plethora of worthy causes competing for their attention. Animal rights, gender equality, LGBT rights, education, poverty, hunger and famine, racism, environmental disruption and climate change all deserve support. But war, and especially American war-for-profit and addiction to violence, contributes to all these other problems, directly or indirectly. As President Eisenhower once said, “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.”

Finally, with the specter of nuclear war looming larger and larger, none of those other things will matter once the nukes are in the air. As I have said before, Earth has millions of years left in which to recover, and probably some forms of life will survive, but humans may not be among them.

3. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org)
          a) The Wars Come Home
          b) Nature Bats Last: Flood And Fire
          c) “On The Path Toward World War III”

THE WARS COME HOME
“We are living in a time that's so extreme that if it doesn't drive you mad, you are not sane.” --Hamza Yusuf (Game of Wars )

“We have met the enemy, and he is us.” --Walt Kelly (Pogo)
Well, the stats are in. Stephen Paddock killed 58 in last week's shooting spree in Las Vegas and wounded hundreds before killing himself. People who knew him expressed surprise that he would do such a thing. After all, he was just like us, or at least what many of us would have liked to be: wealthy, successful, retired, real estate tycoon, high-rolling gambler.

What struck me about this killing was:
1. It was obviously premeditated — meticulously planned to the smallest detail.

2. The killing doesn't appear to have been for religious, political or ideological reasons. Paddock held no apparent grudge against his victims, either as individuals or as a group. For all intents and purposes, his victims were just like himself. He doesn't appear to be any less sane than the rest of us. He just appears to have decided to kill a bunch of people and then meticulously carried out the act.
In this, the Paddock massacre appears to differ from most recent mass killings. The mass murder that I find most similar is the 2015 crash of Germanwings Flight 9525. Here, Andreas Lubitz, apparently considered sane enough to be first officer on a commercial flight, locked the pilot out of the cockpit and set the autopilot for the plane to crash into a mountain killing 150 including himself.

After the fact, investigators found reasons to believe Lubitz may not have been completely sane. And I'm sure information will surface about Paddock which might lead one to conclude that he wasn't entirely sane either.

How do you protect against such massacres? Well, airplane pilots, retired accountants, real estate tycoons, gamblers and gun-owners might all be considered suspect. But, the chances are that the next such mass-murderer will have an entirely different profile.

Lubitz used his position as an airline officer to kill. Paddock used his arsenal of firearms, legal under US law, to kill. What's next? A dirty bomb? Sarin? Anthrax?

I think the problem is the violence, so inherent in our society. In a country fighting war after war after war in which millions die directly and indirectly; why would one hesitate to kill a mere 50 or 150, or even 1,500 people?

If we wish to proactively stop the next Lubitz or Paddock, we had better start right now in building a more peaceful society. Although many would agree, I don't see any progress toward ending our addiction to War and Violence.

NATURE BATS LAST: FLOOD AND FIRE

This week, a fourth hurricane, Nate, came ashore in the US near the mouth of the Mississippi. Nate caused serious devastation in Central America, and less serious devastation on the US Gulf Coast.

The Western US continues to burn. This weekend 17 wildfires sprang up out of nowhere in northern California, fed by the dry brush and fanned by 50 mile-per-hour winds. Thousands of Santa Rosa's 175,000 inhabitants have been evacuated. Many of these fires are yet to be contained, with high winds forecast for Wednesday and Thursday.

With Nature on the rampage at home, it is hard to envision any reason to be fighting wars halfway around the world.

“ON THE PATH TOWARD WORLD WAR III”

Senator Bob Corker made news this week by claiming that Donald Trump was risking putting us “on the path toward World War III.”

Some might add: Ask an Afghan or an Iraqi or a Syrian. They might tell you that World War III started years ago — and indeed, Senator Corker, for them it has. Having brought devastation to these places, what would make one think that we here in the United States could avoid similar devastation? (see above two snippets)

In response to a Trump insult, Corker quipped, “It’s a shame the White House has become an adult day care center. Someone obviously missed their shift this morning.” Nice ripost, Bob! I could say the same about the Senate that just put us farther along the path toward World War III by voting 89 to 8 to increase military authorizations by $80 billion to $700 billion, well over twice the budgets of China and Russia combined.

Bob, I deeply appreciate your joining with seven other senators, including Bernie Sanders, in voting Nay on this military authorization bill.

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Wage peace,

Helen
helenm (at) fidnet.com

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