June 2018
We signed onto this letter sent to the Iranian people. Voices for Creative Nonviolence and Code Pink were asking people to sign onto this letter, which we appreciate.
Dear Friends, We, the undersigned, apologize for Donald Trump’s reckless, baseless, and dangerous decision to pull out of the Iran nuclear agreement and we pledge to do everything we can to reverse that decision. We are ashamed that our government has broken an agreement that was already signed not just by the United States and Iran, but also by France, Britain, Germany, Russia and China, and then approved by the entire UN Security Council in a unanimous vote. We are ashamed that our government has broken a deal that was working, a deal with which Iran was complying, a deal that was making our entire world safer and could have moved our nations closer towards the path of friendship.
Unlike our president, we believe that a deal is a deal. Unlike our president, we want to resolve the conflicts in the Middle East, not escalate them. Unlike our president, we want our nation’s resources to be dedicated to enriching people’s lives, not enriching the weapons makers. Unlike our president, we want to live in peace and harmony with the people of Iran.
We understand that our nation already has a dreadful history of meddling in the internal affairs of your country. The 1953 coup that overthrew your democratically elected government was unconscionable. So was US support for Iraq’s Saddam Hussein when he invaded Iran in 1980, including selling him material for making chemical weapons that were used against you. The 1988 shooting down of an Iranian civilian airliner, killing all 290 passengers and crew, was unconscionable. So, too, are the decades of covert actions to overthrow your government and the decades of sanctions that have brought such needless suffering to ordinary Iranians.
We understand that the US government has no business interfering in your internal affairs or in the Middle East in general. We should not be selling weapons to nations guilty of gross human rights violations or sending our military to fight in faraway lands. With all the flaws in our own society--from massive inequality and racism to a political system corrupted by monetary influences--we should clean up our own house instead of telling others how to govern themselves. Please accept our hand in friendship. May the peacemakers prevail over those who sow hatred and discord.
*********
“But I am sure that God did not intend that there be so many poor. The class structure is of our making and our consent, not God’s. It is the way we have arranged it, and it is up to us to change it. So we are urging revolutionary change…….As you come to know the seriousness of our situation ---the war, the racism, the poverty in the world ---you come to realize that it is not going to be changed just by words or demonstrations. It’s a question of risking your life. It’s a question of living your life in drastically different ways.” ---Dorothy Day
“Everybody wants to save earth; nobody wants to help Mom do the dishes. “ ---P.J. O’Rourke “Emily was a selfish old woman in her own way. She was very generous, but she always wanted a return. She never let people forget what she had done for them “---Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles “Most of us think, If I help them what would happen to me? The truly great people ask, If I don’t help them, what will happen to them?” anonymous
DON’S JOKES
I have enough money to last me for the rest of my life…..unless I have to buy something. Do you think that when they asked George Washington for his I.D. he whipped out a quarter? Eve said to Adam, “Maybe it won’t count if we juice it.” If Christ saw the world today He would probably say, “You know, when I said to go forth and multiply I kind of figured that you’d take a break now and then.” Just after Jesus and the disciples had finished the Last Supper, Jesus asked, “Did we save some room for the last dessert?”
Note On door: “Out to lunch. If not back by 5 p.m., out to dinner as well.” What do you call a sleeping bull? A bull dozer.
Nobby read Harry a story from the newspaper. “There were 15 Brazilian monkeys killed in a plane crash yesterday.” “That’s terrible,” says Harry, “just terrible, but remind me again how many is in a brazililan?” Mommy, what is a garbage disposal? “Shut up, child, and just keep chewing.” Melania had a very emotional wedding. Even the cake had tiers. We had so much rain lately that the trains do not have brakes. They have anchors. Your waist is bound to expand when you reach middle age. That’s why the roman numeral for forty is XL. Dick doesn’t mind going to work in the morning. He just really hates the eight hour-wait to come back home again. What do large organizations have in common with mating elephants? All the decisions are made at a high level, there’s a lot of trumpeting and screeching involved, and it takes two years to see the results. Two silk worms had a race. It ended up in a tie. Harry and Meghan thought about naming their child “Brexit”.
INTERESTING FACTS
It would cost taxpayers $7.7 billion to administer the work-to-eat initiative. The cost of food stamps (SNAP) would cost $9.1 billion. ----Congressional Budget Office It is clear that U.S. military intervention foes not help the populations where it occurs, and the hypocrisy is pretty clear in the way the Administration wants to ban refugees from these countries yet uses humanitarian need as an excuse to use military force. The U.S. airstrikes in Syria are dangerous, but they are not new. Since 2004, U.S. coalition bombings in Iraq and Syria have allegedly killed more than 6,000 civilians. -----In These Times
Turkish news reported that there are 10 military bases in northern Syria that look like they are permanent. The U.S. military also has built a base in Ghana and a permanent base in Israel where U.S. and Israeli Forces are stationed. -----The Internationalist
All of the top 100 news papers in the U.S. favored the decision to conduct U.S. airstrikes on Syria on April 13. Not one opposed it. ---FAIR The current military budget is $786 billion ($586 billion for Dept. of Defense and $182 billion from military portion from other departments ) The Pentagon paid $71 for a metal pin that costs only 4 cents; $644.75 for a gear smaller than a dime that sells for $12.51; and $1,678.61 for another tiny part that sells for $7.71, A 2011 study by the Government Accountability Office found that $70 Billion worth of cost overruns by the Pentagon were caused by management failures. ---NukeWatch The Pentagon cannot account for $21 Trillion which approximates the total U.S. debt. ----Global Research
Percentage of US counties in which food stamps don’t cover the cost of three meals a day : 99 Percentage of black American men born into the wealthiest quarter who remain in that bracket as adults : 17 Of white American men : 39
Portion of trauma patients at hospitals nationwide who are admitted for gunshot wounds : 1/25 ----Harper’s
Milwaukee Police Department (MPD) made more than 350,000 unjustified pedestrian and traffic stops between 2010 and 2017, targeting black and Latino residents.
Iran was ordered by a U.S. court in New York to pay more than $6 billion to victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, despite the fact that most of the plane hijackers were Saudis, not Iranians. ---CLG, 5/9/18
Trump COMMANDED the Pentagon to arrange a ridiculous military parade that will cost taxpayers a whopping $3O MILLION. -------AlterNet, 5/15/18 The Air Force is now offering $5,000 for any help with the return of a box of grenades that the 91st Missile Wing Security Forces team lost in its travels between two nuclear weapons sites in North Dakota. The box apparently fell off the back of a truck.---- Rachel Maddow
During fiscal 2016, ICE spent $3.2 billion to identify, arrest, detain and remove undocumented immigrants, according to the Department of Homeland Security. ICE handled some 240,000 of the roughly 450,000 total deportations that took place last year. (Customs and Border Patrol was responsible for the rest.} ----CNN The prison industry's giants - Corrections Corp. of America and GEO Group are planning more prisons for immigrants. There are 215 sites now. ---CBS
***********
Thurs., June 7 ----Vigil to stop deportations and separation of families outside ICE, Knapp & Broadway,, starting at Noon
Thurs. June 14 ----No More Guns Vigil at Brew City Shooters Shop, 43rd & Lincoln at Noon. The purpose of a gun is to do violence to another. Those who sell guns are accomplices of those who kill with a gun. The government holds accountable those who sell drugs, but sellers of guns walk away free.
Every Saturday at Noon we join Peace Action in a Stand for Peace. June 9 at Highway 100 & Bluemound, June 16 at King & Locust, June 23 at Oakland & Capitol, and June 30 at National and Greenfield. We must voice our opposition to the 6 wars the U.S. is now fighting and killing thousands of people..
**********
This spring, like every spring, I thirst for a sighting of green. I look at the trees as leaf buds ripen a blush of green appears. My heart gives thanks. I walk in Hawthorne Glen, a small secluded wooded area, looking for new colors. Leaves start to emerge, the most delicate flowers appear out of the duff on the ground, the White Blood root, then they yellow fan lily, then the pink spring beauty, the yellow Marsh Marigold, the Purple Violet, then the green Jack in the Pulpit, the Virginia Blue Bells, then the beautiful white Trilliums. As I watch the small wooded glen fill with color my heart is overflowing with gratitude. I feel that nothing could be more a testament of God’s love for us than the appearance of these fragile, gentle signs of spring. Yet another wonder is about to happen, the flowering trees in yards and boulevards burst into bloom. Some are so filled with blossoms that you cannot see their branches. My heart is filled to overflowing, that such beauty is given to us after a long, hard winter. Thanks, many thanks to our Creator. Peace, Roberta
We signed onto this letter sent to the Iranian people. Voices for Creative Nonviolence and Code Pink were asking people to sign onto this letter, which we appreciate.
Dear Friends, We, the undersigned, apologize for Donald Trump’s reckless, baseless, and dangerous decision to pull out of the Iran nuclear agreement and we pledge to do everything we can to reverse that decision. We are ashamed that our government has broken an agreement that was already signed not just by the United States and Iran, but also by France, Britain, Germany, Russia and China, and then approved by the entire UN Security Council in a unanimous vote. We are ashamed that our government has broken a deal that was working, a deal with which Iran was complying, a deal that was making our entire world safer and could have moved our nations closer towards the path of friendship.
Unlike our president, we believe that a deal is a deal. Unlike our president, we want to resolve the conflicts in the Middle East, not escalate them. Unlike our president, we want our nation’s resources to be dedicated to enriching people’s lives, not enriching the weapons makers. Unlike our president, we want to live in peace and harmony with the people of Iran.
We understand that our nation already has a dreadful history of meddling in the internal affairs of your country. The 1953 coup that overthrew your democratically elected government was unconscionable. So was US support for Iraq’s Saddam Hussein when he invaded Iran in 1980, including selling him material for making chemical weapons that were used against you. The 1988 shooting down of an Iranian civilian airliner, killing all 290 passengers and crew, was unconscionable. So, too, are the decades of covert actions to overthrow your government and the decades of sanctions that have brought such needless suffering to ordinary Iranians.
We understand that the US government has no business interfering in your internal affairs or in the Middle East in general. We should not be selling weapons to nations guilty of gross human rights violations or sending our military to fight in faraway lands. With all the flaws in our own society--from massive inequality and racism to a political system corrupted by monetary influences--we should clean up our own house instead of telling others how to govern themselves. Please accept our hand in friendship. May the peacemakers prevail over those who sow hatred and discord.
*********
“But I am sure that God did not intend that there be so many poor. The class structure is of our making and our consent, not God’s. It is the way we have arranged it, and it is up to us to change it. So we are urging revolutionary change…….As you come to know the seriousness of our situation ---the war, the racism, the poverty in the world ---you come to realize that it is not going to be changed just by words or demonstrations. It’s a question of risking your life. It’s a question of living your life in drastically different ways.” ---Dorothy Day
“Everybody wants to save earth; nobody wants to help Mom do the dishes. “ ---P.J. O’Rourke “Emily was a selfish old woman in her own way. She was very generous, but she always wanted a return. She never let people forget what she had done for them “---Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles “Most of us think, If I help them what would happen to me? The truly great people ask, If I don’t help them, what will happen to them?” anonymous
DON’S JOKES
I have enough money to last me for the rest of my life…..unless I have to buy something. Do you think that when they asked George Washington for his I.D. he whipped out a quarter? Eve said to Adam, “Maybe it won’t count if we juice it.” If Christ saw the world today He would probably say, “You know, when I said to go forth and multiply I kind of figured that you’d take a break now and then.” Just after Jesus and the disciples had finished the Last Supper, Jesus asked, “Did we save some room for the last dessert?”
Note On door: “Out to lunch. If not back by 5 p.m., out to dinner as well.” What do you call a sleeping bull? A bull dozer.
Nobby read Harry a story from the newspaper. “There were 15 Brazilian monkeys killed in a plane crash yesterday.” “That’s terrible,” says Harry, “just terrible, but remind me again how many is in a brazililan?” Mommy, what is a garbage disposal? “Shut up, child, and just keep chewing.” Melania had a very emotional wedding. Even the cake had tiers. We had so much rain lately that the trains do not have brakes. They have anchors. Your waist is bound to expand when you reach middle age. That’s why the roman numeral for forty is XL. Dick doesn’t mind going to work in the morning. He just really hates the eight hour-wait to come back home again. What do large organizations have in common with mating elephants? All the decisions are made at a high level, there’s a lot of trumpeting and screeching involved, and it takes two years to see the results. Two silk worms had a race. It ended up in a tie. Harry and Meghan thought about naming their child “Brexit”.
INTERESTING FACTS
It would cost taxpayers $7.7 billion to administer the work-to-eat initiative. The cost of food stamps (SNAP) would cost $9.1 billion. ----Congressional Budget Office It is clear that U.S. military intervention foes not help the populations where it occurs, and the hypocrisy is pretty clear in the way the Administration wants to ban refugees from these countries yet uses humanitarian need as an excuse to use military force. The U.S. airstrikes in Syria are dangerous, but they are not new. Since 2004, U.S. coalition bombings in Iraq and Syria have allegedly killed more than 6,000 civilians. -----In These Times
Turkish news reported that there are 10 military bases in northern Syria that look like they are permanent. The U.S. military also has built a base in Ghana and a permanent base in Israel where U.S. and Israeli Forces are stationed. -----The Internationalist
All of the top 100 news papers in the U.S. favored the decision to conduct U.S. airstrikes on Syria on April 13. Not one opposed it. ---FAIR The current military budget is $786 billion ($586 billion for Dept. of Defense and $182 billion from military portion from other departments ) The Pentagon paid $71 for a metal pin that costs only 4 cents; $644.75 for a gear smaller than a dime that sells for $12.51; and $1,678.61 for another tiny part that sells for $7.71, A 2011 study by the Government Accountability Office found that $70 Billion worth of cost overruns by the Pentagon were caused by management failures. ---NukeWatch The Pentagon cannot account for $21 Trillion which approximates the total U.S. debt. ----Global Research
Percentage of US counties in which food stamps don’t cover the cost of three meals a day : 99 Percentage of black American men born into the wealthiest quarter who remain in that bracket as adults : 17 Of white American men : 39
Portion of trauma patients at hospitals nationwide who are admitted for gunshot wounds : 1/25 ----Harper’s
Milwaukee Police Department (MPD) made more than 350,000 unjustified pedestrian and traffic stops between 2010 and 2017, targeting black and Latino residents.
Iran was ordered by a U.S. court in New York to pay more than $6 billion to victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, despite the fact that most of the plane hijackers were Saudis, not Iranians. ---CLG, 5/9/18
Trump COMMANDED the Pentagon to arrange a ridiculous military parade that will cost taxpayers a whopping $3O MILLION. -------AlterNet, 5/15/18 The Air Force is now offering $5,000 for any help with the return of a box of grenades that the 91st Missile Wing Security Forces team lost in its travels between two nuclear weapons sites in North Dakota. The box apparently fell off the back of a truck.---- Rachel Maddow
During fiscal 2016, ICE spent $3.2 billion to identify, arrest, detain and remove undocumented immigrants, according to the Department of Homeland Security. ICE handled some 240,000 of the roughly 450,000 total deportations that took place last year. (Customs and Border Patrol was responsible for the rest.} ----CNN The prison industry's giants - Corrections Corp. of America and GEO Group are planning more prisons for immigrants. There are 215 sites now. ---CBS
***********
Thurs., June 7 ----Vigil to stop deportations and separation of families outside ICE, Knapp & Broadway,, starting at Noon
Thurs. June 14 ----No More Guns Vigil at Brew City Shooters Shop, 43rd & Lincoln at Noon. The purpose of a gun is to do violence to another. Those who sell guns are accomplices of those who kill with a gun. The government holds accountable those who sell drugs, but sellers of guns walk away free.
Every Saturday at Noon we join Peace Action in a Stand for Peace. June 9 at Highway 100 & Bluemound, June 16 at King & Locust, June 23 at Oakland & Capitol, and June 30 at National and Greenfield. We must voice our opposition to the 6 wars the U.S. is now fighting and killing thousands of people..
**********
This spring, like every spring, I thirst for a sighting of green. I look at the trees as leaf buds ripen a blush of green appears. My heart gives thanks. I walk in Hawthorne Glen, a small secluded wooded area, looking for new colors. Leaves start to emerge, the most delicate flowers appear out of the duff on the ground, the White Blood root, then they yellow fan lily, then the pink spring beauty, the yellow Marsh Marigold, the Purple Violet, then the green Jack in the Pulpit, the Virginia Blue Bells, then the beautiful white Trilliums. As I watch the small wooded glen fill with color my heart is overflowing with gratitude. I feel that nothing could be more a testament of God’s love for us than the appearance of these fragile, gentle signs of spring. Yet another wonder is about to happen, the flowering trees in yards and boulevards burst into bloom. Some are so filled with blossoms that you cannot see their branches. My heart is filled to overflowing, that such beauty is given to us after a long, hard winter. Thanks, many thanks to our Creator. Peace, Roberta