It has been reported that the U.S. military was in Puerto Rico for an “emergency response.” This is what the military needs to do instead of bombing and killing people. Think of how many friends we could create by helping those who are suffering from natural disasters, setting up alternative energy sources, digging wells, and building sanitation buildings, schools and hospitals. It’s been nearly two months since Hurricane Maria first hit Puerto Rico, creating a humanitarian emergency. Today, only 44.5 % of the population has electricity, and nearly 13 % of the island still doesn’t have access to clean drinking water, and the U.S. has the means to correct this. Sad!Recently, the House overwhelmingly approved the nearly $700 billion National Defense Authorization Act of 2018 that aims to boost war outlays by $80 billion—an amount that critics noted would easily cover the costs of repairs for Puerto Rico and free public college tuition that are dismissed as too expensive. World Food Program warns that 150,000 children in Yemen could starve to death in the coming months if the U.S.-backed Saudi coalition continues to block food and medicine from entering Yemen. Save the Children says 130 children are already dying every day in Yemen. The US-backed Saudi blockade deprives 2.5 million Yemenis of clean water
The total spent on war since 9/11 is $6.5 Trillion or $3,386 for every person in the U.S. Think of all the lives that could have been saved and all the good that could have been done in the world with this amount of money that was wasted and will continue to be wasted. The Pentagon admits that it is impossible to conduct an audit on the military. We need to use our resources to help, not harm, the world. Rather than taking away life by doing illegal and immoral armed invasions in countries of the world we should be making life easier for people to be good. The real reason for the U.S. invasions is greed; not, as the media claims, to preserve freedom. The U.S. has always invaded other countries so as to more easily get the resources of oil, precious metals, etc. from other countries. America has invaded 70 countries, sometimes more than once, since 1776. It is responsible for 1.3 billion global avoidable deaths in the period 1950-2005. Christ came to give peace, not war; to save all, both friend and enemy. ---Counter Currents, 7/5/13 ---Don Timmerman
“Until we love our enemies, we’re not yet Christians.” ----“Blessed Are the Meek: Christian Roots of Nonviolence” by Thomas Merton
DON’S JOKES
A little boy’s dog died. Mother tried to console him by telling him that he is with God now and is having a good time. The boy asks, “What would God do with a dead dog?” What did the farmer say to the sheep? “Hey, ewe!”
A woman reading a book on sex in a library. A man asks,” Is that interesting? “Oh, Yes”, she said. “I read that the best lovers are Polish and Indian. By the way, what is your name?” He said, “Little Horn Kowalski.”
A little girl walked into a meat store and said, “I’d like a turkey for my grandma.” “Sorry,” said the clerk, “We don’t do exchanges.” Why can’t the owners open their lollipop store? They can’t get a licker license. What do you call a caveman who wanders aimlessly? A Meanderthal. The woman went to the mortuary to say goodbye to her husband in his casket with his toupee very nicely in place. She was very pleased and asked how much she owed him. He said, “Just give me a quarter for the nail.” My sister gave herself a mudpack, and she looked great for days. Then the mud fell off. A gardener went to the doctor saying, “Doc, you got to help me. I have a cabbage growing out my ear.” The Doc asked, “How did that happen?” He said, “Darn if I know. I planted carrots.”
INTERESTING FACTS
Former President George W. Bush and the Republicans cut taxes for the wealthy twice and "relaxed" financial regulations. This created the second greatest financial collapse in American history.
The U.S. has over 10.2 Million moms and kids living with ZERO income. That is because states only provide cash welfare to 23 out of 100 poor families. Arizona, Arkansas, Illinois, Georgia, Texas, N Dakota, Indiana, Louisiana, and N. Carolina spend as little as 5-12% on cash for poor families. They spend over half of their TANF funds on Adoption and Child Protective Services..---Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Mother Warriors Voice . .
Some 73% of women who sought abortions say they cannot afford a baby, yet federal welfare states diverted $30,000,000 to fund anti-abortion programs since 2011. .----In These Times, Dec. 2017
The most terrorizing of white-on-white crime are mass shootings. Whites commit 73% of mass shootings, and they usually attack their own privileged white people, but they are never referred to by the media as “terrorists”. ---Pat Gowens of Mother Warriors Voice
In 1996, Australia stopped the shootings in the country by passing common sense law to prevent gun violence: 1} Uniform laws across all the states based on a system of licensing. 2) A ban on civilian possession of assault weapons, military and nonmilitary. 3) Mandatory background checks for every gun sale with definite checks on domestic violence. Gun sellers would be prosecuted if this was not done. 4) Registration of all firearms. 5) a huge buy-back. About a million guns were removed from Australia. ---Democracy Now
Studies have found that the mentally ill are no more likely to become violent than a person without an illness. Only 1% of violent acts committed by psychiatric patients involved killing a "target".--Liza Gold, Georgetown U.
Today, U.S .immigration jails incarcerate 380,000 to 442,000 a year. Some 70% of these are held at for-profit jails. Last year, one corporate group earned $2.2 billion from incarcerating immigrants receiving $165 per person per day from the feds. ----CIVIC President Trump’s wives were immigrants, proving once again they’ll do jobs Americans won’t. Ha!
Please Support DACA recipients. Call Senators Ron Johnson and Tammy Baldwin’s offices every Monday until the end of 2017 to ask them to support Senate Bill 1615. School Sisters of St. Francis are planning a weekly visit to Sen Johnson’s office to voice support for this bill. The U.N. says nearly 200 million people are victims of modern slavery or child labor around the globe. In 2016, 40.3 million men, women and children were victims of modern slavery. Nearly 1 in 10 children, or 151.6 million people, are victims of child labor.---WSWS.org, 11/20/17
In the U.S. three men own more wealth than the bottom half of the country ---Care2Daily News 11/19 . The Forbes 400 together own $2.68 trillion in wealth, more than the GDP of Britain. ---Institute for Policy Studies
On 9/11 those 19, 15 of whom were from Saudi Arabia, had U.S. drivers licenses issued by many different states. All 19 found safety in the U.S. They learned to fly in the U.S., not in Afghanistan or Iraq. ---Ann Jones, author of Kabul in Winter: Life without Peace in Afghanistan
Some of the dictatorships who are supported by the U.S. taxpayer are Bahrain, Brunei, Cambodia, Djouti, Egypt, Jordan, Libya, Oman, Quatar, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, United Arab Emirates. The U.S. gives military aid to 36 of the 49 dictatorships in the world. Israel and Egypt get the most foreign aid and weapons from the U.S. taxpayer. ----TruthOut, 9/23/17
The company, Whitefish, was in charge of getting electricity on in Puerto Rico. Whitefish has been charging the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) $319 an hour for each worker.--- New York Times
The biggest killer of humans in the world is pollution. The 2nd largest city in Zambia has been home to lead mining for over 80 years and is now considered the most polluted place on earth. ---:The Lancet Commission
Number of states where legislation was proposed this year to protect drivers who strike protesters: 6 States
Minimum percentage of inmates in local U.S. jails who have been homeless: 15%. Pets in the U.S. consume more food products than people in all but 4 countries. Acres of U.S. land that has been contaminated by military munitions disposal: 40,000,000 acres. Percentage of Americans who spend more than 90% of their lives indoors or in vehicles: 92% ----Harper’s Index
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We are still raising funds to get a better, less dangerous, truck to pick up donations; and give them to our guests and others who come to us for help. We thank all those who have already given so much! We especially thank Chris, born 62 years ago on Dec. 25 like someone else we knew, and Jim who do most of the pickups for Casa. Have a great celebration of Christ’s birth!
Dec. 7 - Vigil at ICE at noon at Broadway & Knapp Sts. We pray for the immigrants who are separated from their families, and welcome all to our country. There are no illegal people. We are all God’s people.
Dec. 14 ----Vigil at M.U. ROTC at Noon at 15th & Wisconsin Ave. No More War!
Dec. 21 ----Anti-Gun Vigil at Noon at Brew City Shooters Supply on 43rd & Lincoln. Buying gun means you intend on doing violence since the purpose of a gun is to maim or kill. Join us to stop proliferating guns.
Thanksgiving was an unusually beautiful warm day. In the morning I went for a walk at Hawthorn Glen. Something touches and heals my soul when I trod on earthen paths. I was surrounded by bare leaved trees, except for the oak that had held on to their leaves as they rustled overhead in the wind. I need that connection to earth when the tension in our world overwhelms me. I know that in the afternoon I was going to enjoy a lovely dinner with family. I also knew that children, mothers and fathers were dying of starvation in another part of the world. How does one reconcile these two facts? Thanksgiving is now over, and I hear ads constantly telling us what to purchase for others this Christmas. Christmas is a time to celebrate a prophet, Jesus Christ, not to celebrate profits for businesses. Again, the tension increases in me. I know that there are many people fleeing persecution and death. Families, refugees, migrants are trying to find a place that will take them in, and give them rest. It reminds me of the birth of Jesus. Mary and Joseph were searching for a place and found a stable. Someone opened her/his heart to them in their plight. I will have to take many walks in the woods to ponder and pray on our society, my own part in these contradictions and strive to live in that tension, to speak and work for a more just and loving world, to remember what Jesus told us, “I have come to bring a new message; that you love one another.” It is a simple, but hard, message which does not allow us to forget or not help our sisters and brothers around the world. Peace, Roberta
The total spent on war since 9/11 is $6.5 Trillion or $3,386 for every person in the U.S. Think of all the lives that could have been saved and all the good that could have been done in the world with this amount of money that was wasted and will continue to be wasted. The Pentagon admits that it is impossible to conduct an audit on the military. We need to use our resources to help, not harm, the world. Rather than taking away life by doing illegal and immoral armed invasions in countries of the world we should be making life easier for people to be good. The real reason for the U.S. invasions is greed; not, as the media claims, to preserve freedom. The U.S. has always invaded other countries so as to more easily get the resources of oil, precious metals, etc. from other countries. America has invaded 70 countries, sometimes more than once, since 1776. It is responsible for 1.3 billion global avoidable deaths in the period 1950-2005. Christ came to give peace, not war; to save all, both friend and enemy. ---Counter Currents, 7/5/13 ---Don Timmerman
“Until we love our enemies, we’re not yet Christians.” ----“Blessed Are the Meek: Christian Roots of Nonviolence” by Thomas Merton
DON’S JOKES
A little boy’s dog died. Mother tried to console him by telling him that he is with God now and is having a good time. The boy asks, “What would God do with a dead dog?” What did the farmer say to the sheep? “Hey, ewe!”
A woman reading a book on sex in a library. A man asks,” Is that interesting? “Oh, Yes”, she said. “I read that the best lovers are Polish and Indian. By the way, what is your name?” He said, “Little Horn Kowalski.”
A little girl walked into a meat store and said, “I’d like a turkey for my grandma.” “Sorry,” said the clerk, “We don’t do exchanges.” Why can’t the owners open their lollipop store? They can’t get a licker license. What do you call a caveman who wanders aimlessly? A Meanderthal. The woman went to the mortuary to say goodbye to her husband in his casket with his toupee very nicely in place. She was very pleased and asked how much she owed him. He said, “Just give me a quarter for the nail.” My sister gave herself a mudpack, and she looked great for days. Then the mud fell off. A gardener went to the doctor saying, “Doc, you got to help me. I have a cabbage growing out my ear.” The Doc asked, “How did that happen?” He said, “Darn if I know. I planted carrots.”
INTERESTING FACTS
Former President George W. Bush and the Republicans cut taxes for the wealthy twice and "relaxed" financial regulations. This created the second greatest financial collapse in American history.
The U.S. has over 10.2 Million moms and kids living with ZERO income. That is because states only provide cash welfare to 23 out of 100 poor families. Arizona, Arkansas, Illinois, Georgia, Texas, N Dakota, Indiana, Louisiana, and N. Carolina spend as little as 5-12% on cash for poor families. They spend over half of their TANF funds on Adoption and Child Protective Services..---Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Mother Warriors Voice . .
Some 73% of women who sought abortions say they cannot afford a baby, yet federal welfare states diverted $30,000,000 to fund anti-abortion programs since 2011. .----In These Times, Dec. 2017
The most terrorizing of white-on-white crime are mass shootings. Whites commit 73% of mass shootings, and they usually attack their own privileged white people, but they are never referred to by the media as “terrorists”. ---Pat Gowens of Mother Warriors Voice
In 1996, Australia stopped the shootings in the country by passing common sense law to prevent gun violence: 1} Uniform laws across all the states based on a system of licensing. 2) A ban on civilian possession of assault weapons, military and nonmilitary. 3) Mandatory background checks for every gun sale with definite checks on domestic violence. Gun sellers would be prosecuted if this was not done. 4) Registration of all firearms. 5) a huge buy-back. About a million guns were removed from Australia. ---Democracy Now
Studies have found that the mentally ill are no more likely to become violent than a person without an illness. Only 1% of violent acts committed by psychiatric patients involved killing a "target".--Liza Gold, Georgetown U.
Today, U.S .immigration jails incarcerate 380,000 to 442,000 a year. Some 70% of these are held at for-profit jails. Last year, one corporate group earned $2.2 billion from incarcerating immigrants receiving $165 per person per day from the feds. ----CIVIC President Trump’s wives were immigrants, proving once again they’ll do jobs Americans won’t. Ha!
Please Support DACA recipients. Call Senators Ron Johnson and Tammy Baldwin’s offices every Monday until the end of 2017 to ask them to support Senate Bill 1615. School Sisters of St. Francis are planning a weekly visit to Sen Johnson’s office to voice support for this bill. The U.N. says nearly 200 million people are victims of modern slavery or child labor around the globe. In 2016, 40.3 million men, women and children were victims of modern slavery. Nearly 1 in 10 children, or 151.6 million people, are victims of child labor.---WSWS.org, 11/20/17
In the U.S. three men own more wealth than the bottom half of the country ---Care2Daily News 11/19 . The Forbes 400 together own $2.68 trillion in wealth, more than the GDP of Britain. ---Institute for Policy Studies
On 9/11 those 19, 15 of whom were from Saudi Arabia, had U.S. drivers licenses issued by many different states. All 19 found safety in the U.S. They learned to fly in the U.S., not in Afghanistan or Iraq. ---Ann Jones, author of Kabul in Winter: Life without Peace in Afghanistan
Some of the dictatorships who are supported by the U.S. taxpayer are Bahrain, Brunei, Cambodia, Djouti, Egypt, Jordan, Libya, Oman, Quatar, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, United Arab Emirates. The U.S. gives military aid to 36 of the 49 dictatorships in the world. Israel and Egypt get the most foreign aid and weapons from the U.S. taxpayer. ----TruthOut, 9/23/17
The company, Whitefish, was in charge of getting electricity on in Puerto Rico. Whitefish has been charging the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) $319 an hour for each worker.--- New York Times
The biggest killer of humans in the world is pollution. The 2nd largest city in Zambia has been home to lead mining for over 80 years and is now considered the most polluted place on earth. ---:The Lancet Commission
Number of states where legislation was proposed this year to protect drivers who strike protesters: 6 States
Minimum percentage of inmates in local U.S. jails who have been homeless: 15%. Pets in the U.S. consume more food products than people in all but 4 countries. Acres of U.S. land that has been contaminated by military munitions disposal: 40,000,000 acres. Percentage of Americans who spend more than 90% of their lives indoors or in vehicles: 92% ----Harper’s Index
********
We are still raising funds to get a better, less dangerous, truck to pick up donations; and give them to our guests and others who come to us for help. We thank all those who have already given so much! We especially thank Chris, born 62 years ago on Dec. 25 like someone else we knew, and Jim who do most of the pickups for Casa. Have a great celebration of Christ’s birth!
Dec. 7 - Vigil at ICE at noon at Broadway & Knapp Sts. We pray for the immigrants who are separated from their families, and welcome all to our country. There are no illegal people. We are all God’s people.
Dec. 14 ----Vigil at M.U. ROTC at Noon at 15th & Wisconsin Ave. No More War!
Dec. 21 ----Anti-Gun Vigil at Noon at Brew City Shooters Supply on 43rd & Lincoln. Buying gun means you intend on doing violence since the purpose of a gun is to maim or kill. Join us to stop proliferating guns.
Thanksgiving was an unusually beautiful warm day. In the morning I went for a walk at Hawthorn Glen. Something touches and heals my soul when I trod on earthen paths. I was surrounded by bare leaved trees, except for the oak that had held on to their leaves as they rustled overhead in the wind. I need that connection to earth when the tension in our world overwhelms me. I know that in the afternoon I was going to enjoy a lovely dinner with family. I also knew that children, mothers and fathers were dying of starvation in another part of the world. How does one reconcile these two facts? Thanksgiving is now over, and I hear ads constantly telling us what to purchase for others this Christmas. Christmas is a time to celebrate a prophet, Jesus Christ, not to celebrate profits for businesses. Again, the tension increases in me. I know that there are many people fleeing persecution and death. Families, refugees, migrants are trying to find a place that will take them in, and give them rest. It reminds me of the birth of Jesus. Mary and Joseph were searching for a place and found a stable. Someone opened her/his heart to them in their plight. I will have to take many walks in the woods to ponder and pray on our society, my own part in these contradictions and strive to live in that tension, to speak and work for a more just and loving world, to remember what Jesus told us, “I have come to bring a new message; that you love one another.” It is a simple, but hard, message which does not allow us to forget or not help our sisters and brothers around the world. Peace, Roberta