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Rolla Peace News November 22, 2016 |
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================================= Dear Friends:In this newsletter is: 1. PLEASE NOTE: NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: THIS WEEK ONLY, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2016 2. BUEHLER PARK – UPDATE – YOUR HELP IS STILL NEEDED 3. A TASTE OF THINGS TO COME 4. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) a) Registries b) Climate Denial
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We vigil for peace in front of the Rolla Post Office THIS WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2016, due to the Thanksgiving holiday. (otherwise, 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 50s. 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 – YOUR HELP IS STILL NEEDED The Rolla City Council held its final meeting of November without discussing the proposed Rolla dog-park. If you have not already done so, Please sign the petition; and ask your friends and family to sign too. Your phone calls and emails have been very helpful. Please keep them coming. Contact the City of Rolla and ask them not to build a dog-park in Buehler Park: (573)426-6948, citycouncil@rollacity.org. For more information click here. Thank you for your help in preserving Buehler Park as the lovely little park that it is for all local residents and visitors to enjoy. 3. A TASTE OF THINGS TO COME If what is happening to the Standing Rock water protectors is any indication, we are about to kiss the First Amendment goodbye. It's getting pretty ugly where the tribes and their supporters are standing, with concussion grenades, rubber bullets, sound and water cannons. How does it feel to be blasted with cold water in sub-freezing temperatures? The water protectors have faced that, and worse. A 13-year-old girl was shot in the face with rubber bullets, and a woman who was hit by a concussion grenade may lose her arm. Hundreds of people have been injured in the attacks on the camp, some seriously. Through it all, the people have remained nonviolent and respectful, standing for the water, the earth, and all of us. If this violence is allowed to continue, it bodes ill for any future protests against the environmental outrages that are sure to follow Trump's ascension to the presidency. The issue for the folks on the other side of the barricades, i.e. Energy Transfer Partners (and others of their ilk in similar situations) is purely financial. In this case, financial support for the project appears to be wavering, and if President Obama calls a halt to the construction, President Trump may not be able to start it back up. (It's interesting to note that Trump has personal investment in this pipeline.) Worldwide, the fossil fuel industry has shown that it has little regard for the earth or the people and other living things that inhabit it. They also appear to have little regard for elected “leaders,” or for the laws of the land, as they seem to do what they like and are not held accountable. One thing is certain, if we the people fail to halt this race to destruction of the planet, our grandchildren aren't going to have much of a life. 4. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) a) Registries b) Climate Denial REGISTRIES It seems that with our president-elect calling for a registry of all Muslims; some non-Muslims are vowing that in solidarity they will register as Muslims. Others are calling for a National Registry of White Men, claiming that “statistically speaking, white men pose the greatest threat to domestic security for all American Citizens.” I'm glad to see that so many of my fellow citizens are finally catching up with me. I've been a registered, card-carrying, dyed-in-the-wool white male Muslim for 15 years. For those non-Muslims who are considering registering as Muslims, might I suggest that you could easily become a Muslim – then you wouldn't have to lie to the authorities when you go to register. It's easy, rewarding, and a far stronger act of solidarity than simply vowing to register as Muslim. Contact your local Mosque if you are interested. Actually, I've been a registered white male for almost 75 years. When my mother registered me as a white male, I'm sure she thought it was for life. I don't think she understood that 75 years hence, a simple medical procedure could change one's sex and skin color. I'm often asked how I came to be Muslim. I left my former religion in late 2001 when it endorsed as “regrettable but necessary” bombing the crap out of Afghanistan and hiring brutal thugs to destroy on the ground what couldn't be destroyed from the air. I spent the next six months trying to decide what I was; while a voice inside me kept saying, “You're Muslim.” Listen to your inner voices. Maybe they will tell you what you really are. CLIMATE DENIAL There are two kinds of climate denial: The first is outright denial as in, Global warming is a Chinese hoax. The second is that if we do x, y and z immediately, we can hold global warming in check and go on living our lives pretty much as we have been. Both are wrong — dead wrong. We are already in the early stages of Collapse. Unlike previous collapses, this one will be global in extent and affect everybody. Here's the latest: In spite of the end of the 2015 El Nino event, October, 2016 is still tied for third warmest October on record after 2015 and 2014. 2016, which has set so many climate records already, is still on track to be the warmest year on record. Here we are in late November and Rolla has not yet experienced any serious cold weather. In spite of 24-hour-long nights, the arctic is still melting. This is unprecedented. The survival of our species is not at all certain. We should be discussing how to avoid extinction; not how to continue with business as usual. After having done little for the climate in eight years, Obama now proposes a “bold” plan to combat climate change which will almost certainly be ignored by his successor. Meanwhile, he turns a blind eye, ignoring atrocities committed by the Dakota Access Pipeline against non-violent water-protectors. (see Helen's article above.) ================== 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 ### |