When people use food stamps for special costly items, they are called “selfish.” When the U.S. military cannot account for $21 trillion of taxpayer money it does not matter because we need people who kill to “make us safe”. When we give billions to bail out farmers it’s called “unfair”. When we give billions to bail out banks, “it’s good for the economy”. When we give trillions to billionaires it is “good for America”. But when we need money for the homeless, refugees, insurance for the sick and dying, food for the starving or social security for the elderly, suddenly “ Oh my God, it’s a handout.” We Catholic Workers refuse to pay federal taxes since 60% of the tax money goes for war, weapons and violence. If we want peace, how can we pay for war? -Don Timmerman
“Let them demonstrate all they want, as long as they pay their taxes.” Alexander Haig, former Sec. of State
“No Christian theologian or writer prior to Constantine justified killing or Christian participation in the military.” ---Ronald J. Sider, PhD in Yale
“As you press on for justice”, be sure to move with dignity and discipline, using only the weapon of love.” - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “Revolution does not start with a group. It begins from the heart.”—Shahla Khan
“ What’s wrong with being old at heart, I’d like to know? Wouldn’t you like to be loved by people whose hearts have practiced loving others for a long time?” ---Susan Moon
DON’S JOKES
If we were meant to eat meat we would have fangs in our mouth. Everything with fangs eats meat. When was the last time you saw a lion stalking a rhubarb? Women will never be equal to men until they can walk down the street with a bald head and a beer gut, and still think they are sexy. We have a strange custom in the house. The food has names there. Yesterday, for example, I got me a sandwich out of the fridge, and its name was “Michael”. One night a teenage girl brought home her new boyfriend to meet her parents. They were appalled by his appearance; leather jacket, motorcycle boots, tattoos, more piercings than they wanted to count and an attitude to go with it. Later, the parents pulled their daughter aside and confessed their concern. “Dear,” said the Mother, “He does not seem very nice.” The daughter replied, “Oh please, Mom. If he wasn’t nice, would he be doing 500 hours of community service?” I pulled into a parking lot with my dog in the back of the car. When I got out, I yelled at the dog “Stay, Stay!” Someone in the car next to me yelled out the window of her car, “Why don’t you just put it in park? ” One day my Dad got really angry with me. I dropped one of the Flintstone glasses we had. He in anger said, “Why can’t we keep anything nice in this house?”
INTERESTING FACTS
Families of schoolchildren gunned down in the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre may now sue Remington Outdoor Co Inc, according to a Connecticut court. This is a setback for gun makers long shielded from liability in mass shootings.---Reuters
For 2019 the US Congress passed a military defense budget of $717 Billion , 31 Billion dollars more than President Trump requested. I guess it is a gift for not accounting for $21 Trillion of taxpayer money in the past. The U.S. military has been leading a lavish life, spending $4.6 million on food items such as crab and lobster tail in the final month of the fiscal year 2018, ---OpenTheBooks, (a non-profit that seeks to bring transparency to the federal budget)
An investigation by Reveal showed that at least 16 young immigrants, as young as nine, and in need of mental or behavioral health treatment have been sent by the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) to "off-the-books" facilities outside the network of federally-funded detention centers in violation of U.S. law.---Common Dreams, 3/19/19
More than 2,200 migrants detained in government facilities have reportedly been recently quarantined amid an outbreak of mumps and other communicable infections. Reuters reported that a total of 2,287 migrants in U.S. detention facilities were quarantined around the country. ICE officials have been notified of 236 confirmed or likely cases of mumps among detainees in 51 facilities over the past 12 months. ---CLG, 3/14/19
It has been 65 years since the US exploded the massive Castle Bravo atomic bomb over the Marshall Islands, a crime from which the region has never recovered. Meanwhile, heightened conflict between India and Pakistan, and the failure of the Trump-Kim meeting to produce denuclearization, reminded the world that the possession of nuclear weapons anywhere is a threat to our survival everywhere.---Beyond Nuclear International
Human trafficking is the 2nd-leading crime in the world, including the U.S. An estimated 1.3 million children go missing in the U.S. every year, and 33,000 remain missing at any given time. If a missing or homeless child is not recovered within the first 48 hours, there is a 1 in 3 chance they will be trafficked or solicited for sex.---Patch, 2/4/19
Nasrin Sotoudeh — a human rights lawyer in Iran who was facing criminal charges for defending women’s rights and speaking out against the death penalty — has just been sentenced to a prison term totaling 38 years and 148 lashes.---A.I.
A Senate investigation revealed that the military gave millions to the NFL and other leagues for PR help. This accelerated a post-9/11 trend of more patriotic displays at football games.---Emmanuel Charles McCarthy
America is experiencing one of the greatest public health crises in its history with up to 110 million people potentially exposed to drinking water contaminated with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS. A major source of the chemical contamination comes from the aqueous film forming foam (AFFF) used in routine fire-training on military bases. The military allows the poisons to leach into the groundwater to contaminate neighboring communities which use groundwater in their wells and municipal water systems. The Pentagon assumes no liability and refuses to pay for cleaning up the contamination it has caused. --- TruthOut, 2/ 3/19 In Iraq the U.S. military burned 200 tons of waste each day. -NPR The munitions industry is the only industry in the U.S.. that is still being permitted to burn hazardous waste to the open air. ---Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger
There is about a quarter of a million tons of highly radioactive spent fuel in 14 countries. The majority of this
independent back-up power.---Greenpeace
At just one checkpoint in Arizona, up to 6,000 Americans cross the border everyday for health care. Unlike the Trump administration that seeks to build a wall between the countries, Los Algodones, Mexico welcomes Americans seeking dental care. 74 million people in the US have no dental insurance. Dental work in Mexico is on average two-thirds less than in the US, and customers may save 80 percent or more on some costly operations..----Truthout
Amnesty International is accusing the United States of covering up civilian casualties in its secretive air war on Somalia. For years, the Pentagon has claimed no civilians were being killed in U.S. airstrikes, but Amnesty found that at least 14 civilians were killed, and eight more were injured, in just five airstrikes. The overall civilian death toll is likely to be far higher.---TruthOut, 3/21/19
NOTES FROM 21ST STREET: As I sit at my desk today I am thinking of the tragedy in New Zealand. On March 15th, 50 people were killed at two mosques in Christchurch New Zealand. A lone gun man with a semi-automatic weapon and a hate filled heart committed the mass killing. The Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was truly saddened sand promised to do something about the availability of semi-automatic weapons, assault rifles and high capacity magazines. The government is now putting into action a ban on these military style weapons with a buy back program. It will cost between $100 million to $200 million to do this. Yet the people and the government are actively putting this into effect. Australia had previously put into effect such a plan with the result of no mass shootings, a drop in suicides and a lower homicide rate. I am encouraged by such actions. I have a photo above my desk with 20 beautiful, smiling 6 & 7 years old children along with 6 adult staff from Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT. They were killed on December 14, 2012. Where are our courageous government leaders who will implement banning assault weapons of all kinds? The N.R.A. is a powerful lobby group in Washington D.C. who advocates against any gun control. They have the blood of innocents on their hands. I look up at the photo, praying that our monthly anti-gun vigils, the letter writing, the advocating for nonviolent actions will ease the guilt I feel when I look at their beautiful faces. May we all work to bring this about. Peace, Roberta
Thurs., April 4---Jericho Walk at 9 a.m. to protest separation of families and detaining of immigrants at ICE, Knapp & Broadway.
Call 414-643-1620 for Prayer Vigil and other events.
Sat., April 13 ---No Money for War and Weapons vigil at Noon at 51st & Silver Spring Dr. If you oppose war, why do you pay for it? Over 60% of Fed. Taxes go toward doing violence to others.
Thurs., April 18 ---No Guns Vigil at Noon at Brew City Shooters Supply, 43rd & Lincoln, at Noon. There was at least 1 deadly mass shooting a month in 2018. ----AlterNet, 1/29/19
April 21 ---Easter Sunday. Christ showed in action what he meant by rising up through loving one’s enemies.
Thurs., April 25 ---- ANTI-ROTC VIGIL at Noon at Marquette U, 12th & Wisconsin.
From 2000-2017, 17 Jesuit Catholic Colleges and Universities have received $164,916,522 in U.S. military contacts. No Christian school should teach war and violence or be paid by the military to be on their campuses.
“Let them demonstrate all they want, as long as they pay their taxes.” Alexander Haig, former Sec. of State
“No Christian theologian or writer prior to Constantine justified killing or Christian participation in the military.” ---Ronald J. Sider, PhD in Yale
“As you press on for justice”, be sure to move with dignity and discipline, using only the weapon of love.” - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “Revolution does not start with a group. It begins from the heart.”—Shahla Khan
“ What’s wrong with being old at heart, I’d like to know? Wouldn’t you like to be loved by people whose hearts have practiced loving others for a long time?” ---Susan Moon
DON’S JOKES
If we were meant to eat meat we would have fangs in our mouth. Everything with fangs eats meat. When was the last time you saw a lion stalking a rhubarb? Women will never be equal to men until they can walk down the street with a bald head and a beer gut, and still think they are sexy. We have a strange custom in the house. The food has names there. Yesterday, for example, I got me a sandwich out of the fridge, and its name was “Michael”. One night a teenage girl brought home her new boyfriend to meet her parents. They were appalled by his appearance; leather jacket, motorcycle boots, tattoos, more piercings than they wanted to count and an attitude to go with it. Later, the parents pulled their daughter aside and confessed their concern. “Dear,” said the Mother, “He does not seem very nice.” The daughter replied, “Oh please, Mom. If he wasn’t nice, would he be doing 500 hours of community service?” I pulled into a parking lot with my dog in the back of the car. When I got out, I yelled at the dog “Stay, Stay!” Someone in the car next to me yelled out the window of her car, “Why don’t you just put it in park? ” One day my Dad got really angry with me. I dropped one of the Flintstone glasses we had. He in anger said, “Why can’t we keep anything nice in this house?”
INTERESTING FACTS
Families of schoolchildren gunned down in the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre may now sue Remington Outdoor Co Inc, according to a Connecticut court. This is a setback for gun makers long shielded from liability in mass shootings.---Reuters
For 2019 the US Congress passed a military defense budget of $717 Billion , 31 Billion dollars more than President Trump requested. I guess it is a gift for not accounting for $21 Trillion of taxpayer money in the past. The U.S. military has been leading a lavish life, spending $4.6 million on food items such as crab and lobster tail in the final month of the fiscal year 2018, ---OpenTheBooks, (a non-profit that seeks to bring transparency to the federal budget)
An investigation by Reveal showed that at least 16 young immigrants, as young as nine, and in need of mental or behavioral health treatment have been sent by the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) to "off-the-books" facilities outside the network of federally-funded detention centers in violation of U.S. law.---Common Dreams, 3/19/19
More than 2,200 migrants detained in government facilities have reportedly been recently quarantined amid an outbreak of mumps and other communicable infections. Reuters reported that a total of 2,287 migrants in U.S. detention facilities were quarantined around the country. ICE officials have been notified of 236 confirmed or likely cases of mumps among detainees in 51 facilities over the past 12 months. ---CLG, 3/14/19
It has been 65 years since the US exploded the massive Castle Bravo atomic bomb over the Marshall Islands, a crime from which the region has never recovered. Meanwhile, heightened conflict between India and Pakistan, and the failure of the Trump-Kim meeting to produce denuclearization, reminded the world that the possession of nuclear weapons anywhere is a threat to our survival everywhere.---Beyond Nuclear International
Human trafficking is the 2nd-leading crime in the world, including the U.S. An estimated 1.3 million children go missing in the U.S. every year, and 33,000 remain missing at any given time. If a missing or homeless child is not recovered within the first 48 hours, there is a 1 in 3 chance they will be trafficked or solicited for sex.---Patch, 2/4/19
Nasrin Sotoudeh — a human rights lawyer in Iran who was facing criminal charges for defending women’s rights and speaking out against the death penalty — has just been sentenced to a prison term totaling 38 years and 148 lashes.---A.I.
A Senate investigation revealed that the military gave millions to the NFL and other leagues for PR help. This accelerated a post-9/11 trend of more patriotic displays at football games.---Emmanuel Charles McCarthy
America is experiencing one of the greatest public health crises in its history with up to 110 million people potentially exposed to drinking water contaminated with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS. A major source of the chemical contamination comes from the aqueous film forming foam (AFFF) used in routine fire-training on military bases. The military allows the poisons to leach into the groundwater to contaminate neighboring communities which use groundwater in their wells and municipal water systems. The Pentagon assumes no liability and refuses to pay for cleaning up the contamination it has caused. --- TruthOut, 2/ 3/19 In Iraq the U.S. military burned 200 tons of waste each day. -NPR The munitions industry is the only industry in the U.S.. that is still being permitted to burn hazardous waste to the open air. ---Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger
There is about a quarter of a million tons of highly radioactive spent fuel in 14 countries. The majority of this
independent back-up power.---Greenpeace
At just one checkpoint in Arizona, up to 6,000 Americans cross the border everyday for health care. Unlike the Trump administration that seeks to build a wall between the countries, Los Algodones, Mexico welcomes Americans seeking dental care. 74 million people in the US have no dental insurance. Dental work in Mexico is on average two-thirds less than in the US, and customers may save 80 percent or more on some costly operations..----Truthout
Amnesty International is accusing the United States of covering up civilian casualties in its secretive air war on Somalia. For years, the Pentagon has claimed no civilians were being killed in U.S. airstrikes, but Amnesty found that at least 14 civilians were killed, and eight more were injured, in just five airstrikes. The overall civilian death toll is likely to be far higher.---TruthOut, 3/21/19
NOTES FROM 21ST STREET: As I sit at my desk today I am thinking of the tragedy in New Zealand. On March 15th, 50 people were killed at two mosques in Christchurch New Zealand. A lone gun man with a semi-automatic weapon and a hate filled heart committed the mass killing. The Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was truly saddened sand promised to do something about the availability of semi-automatic weapons, assault rifles and high capacity magazines. The government is now putting into action a ban on these military style weapons with a buy back program. It will cost between $100 million to $200 million to do this. Yet the people and the government are actively putting this into effect. Australia had previously put into effect such a plan with the result of no mass shootings, a drop in suicides and a lower homicide rate. I am encouraged by such actions. I have a photo above my desk with 20 beautiful, smiling 6 & 7 years old children along with 6 adult staff from Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT. They were killed on December 14, 2012. Where are our courageous government leaders who will implement banning assault weapons of all kinds? The N.R.A. is a powerful lobby group in Washington D.C. who advocates against any gun control. They have the blood of innocents on their hands. I look up at the photo, praying that our monthly anti-gun vigils, the letter writing, the advocating for nonviolent actions will ease the guilt I feel when I look at their beautiful faces. May we all work to bring this about. Peace, Roberta
Thurs., April 4---Jericho Walk at 9 a.m. to protest separation of families and detaining of immigrants at ICE, Knapp & Broadway.
Call 414-643-1620 for Prayer Vigil and other events.
Sat., April 13 ---No Money for War and Weapons vigil at Noon at 51st & Silver Spring Dr. If you oppose war, why do you pay for it? Over 60% of Fed. Taxes go toward doing violence to others.
Thurs., April 18 ---No Guns Vigil at Noon at Brew City Shooters Supply, 43rd & Lincoln, at Noon. There was at least 1 deadly mass shooting a month in 2018. ----AlterNet, 1/29/19
April 21 ---Easter Sunday. Christ showed in action what he meant by rising up through loving one’s enemies.
Thurs., April 25 ---- ANTI-ROTC VIGIL at Noon at Marquette U, 12th & Wisconsin.
From 2000-2017, 17 Jesuit Catholic Colleges and Universities have received $164,916,522 in U.S. military contacts. No Christian school should teach war and violence or be paid by the military to be on their campuses.