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Rolla Peace News December 29, 2015 |
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================================= Dear Friends:In this newsletter is: 1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: THIS WEEK, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2015 2. A MISINFORMED ELECTORATE 3. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) a) Open the Prison to ALL Them That Are Bound b) Everybody Knows That the Plague is Coming c) Yet Another Year of Climate Records
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We vigil for peace in front of the Rolla Post Office THIS THURSDAY, DECEMBER 31, 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 in the 30s. 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. A MISINFORMED ELECTORATE Here is an excellent essay by Robert Parry in which he enumerates ways in which the public's lack of reliable information and the propaganda brainwashing we are constantly bombarded with enable the politicians and the corporations to pursue actions which are in the best interest of no one except the very few, very rich. And really, in the long run, not in even their best interest, if they care at all about their children and grandchildren. Parry mentions several domestic and foreign policy issues, posits what seem like reasonable and viable solutions, and then relates why none of these reasonable and viable solutions are going to happen. I think his analysis of the Presidential campaign issues and candidates, and the Middle East situation, are very astute. And he knows that the American public is not being told the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, about any of it. However, I can't agree with his implication that if the people were reliably informed, they would or could change the course this country is on. We have gone too far in allowing our rights to be taken away, our wealth skimmed off, and our fears amplified. We already don't have a democracy any more, and the electorate, besides being deluded and brainwashed, is discouraged and apathetic. If you want an even darker view of things, read Chris Hedges' fire and brimstone rant. I can't argue with most of what Hedges says. We are accelerating down a slippery slope toward totalitarianism, what Hedges calls "repressive dystopia," and the tools we thought we had to change it don't work any more. The fact that such a civilization is unsustainable is small comfort, when you think of what will be left when it collapses. We have to start thinking outside the old political paradigm — or as Albert Einstein is quoted: “We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” That's our challenge — to create a process that works for everyone, and start living it. I wonder what that would look like? 3. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) a) Open the Prison to ALL Them That Are Bound b) Everybody Knows That the Plague is Coming c) Yet Another Year of Climate Records OPEN THE PRISON TO ALL THEM THAT ARE BOUND “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;”I think I have quoted these two verses from Isaiah more than any other verses of scripture. Yet, when I advocate to “the opening of the prison to [ALL] them that are bound;” I seem get these what-planet-did-you-come-from stares. Here's some of the latest from our system of injustice: Clarence Moses-EL walked free last week after spending 28 years in prison, convicted of rape solely on the strength of a dream. Police officers in Dotham, Alabama have charged that their colleagues have been planting guns and drugs on Black suspects for at least 20 years. In a Kafkaesque move, the Pentagon has been deliberately planting administrative roadblocks to prevent the release of those which it has “cleared for release” from the Guantanamo hellhole. And oh yes, Wall Street is making a killing [pun intended] on private for-profit prisons. The more prisoners, the more money. In fact we have a quota to fill. And if you happen to be one of the unlucky over 2.2 million people incarcerated in the United States, you might be thrown down the stairs and then kicked and beaten to death. So, dear reader, after reading the five short recent articles above, tell me why we should not follow the prophetic words of Isaiah and proclaim “the opening of the prison to [ALL] them that are bound;” Note that the above does not even begin to address the summary execution of mostly Black victims by law-enforcement personnel. The tally is well over 1,000. Here is a summary of the year 2015 to-date. EVERYBODY KNOWS THAT THE PLAGUE IS COMING “Everybody knows that the plague is coming.A seminal moment in my life came some 20 years ago when I read Laurie Garrett's “The Coming Plague.” Garrett made me realize just how close to apocalypse we are. Here's a couple of short articles from this past week on the subject of epidemic disease: In the wake of climate disruption, cases of microcephaly, a birth defect in which babies are born with small underdeveloped brains, linked to the zika virus have increased from 147 last year to 2700 this year in Brazil. According to Brazil's Health Ministry, “This is an unprecedented situation, unprecedented in world scientific research.”. Driven by corporate agriculture's greed and overuse of antibiotics, we appear to be entering a post-antibiotic age, as organisms are fast acquiring immunity to our most important antibiotics — faster than we can develop new ones. YET ANOTHER YEAR OF CLIMATE RECORDS 2014 was the warmest year to date since record keeping began; but 2015 is off the charts, and with only a few days to go, will beat 2014 by leaps and bounds. Take a look at the NOAA graph near the bottom of this article by Erica Spanger-Siegfried. As Spanger-Siegfried explains: global warming is like walking up the stairs; but then add El Nino. It's like standing on your tiptoes as you walk up the stairs. Not only does El Nino warm the Earth; but a warmer Earth may contribute to a longer stronger El Nino. 2015, which saw droughts and megafires in the North American West and Indonesia, ends with “biblical” floods in South America and England, unseasonable tornadoes in the Mid-West, and a heat wave in Australia. So tell me again how anthropogenic global warming is a liberal hoax. We've been having our very own flooding and tornadoes here in Missouri which is now under a State of Emergency. Here's some sage advice from the Red Cross on dealing with flooding: # Listen to area radio and television stations and a NOAA weather radio for possible flood warnings and reports of flooding in progress or other critical information from the National Weather Service (NWS)To which I would add, demand a complete and immediate end to all wars and a quick transition from fossil-fuel and nuclear energy to non-polluting renewables beginning now. If we don't, climate disasters will only get worse. ================== 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 ### |