CASA CRY OCTOBER, 2016
Pope Francis has said,“Climate change is a problem that can no longer be left to our future generations. I would say to you now or never. Every year the problems are getting worse. We are at the limits. If I may use a strong word I would say that we are at the limits of suicide.”
No one knows this better than the Lakota members of the Standing Rock Reservation who are nonviolently resisting the $3.8 billion dollar Dakota Access Oil Pipeline. If completed, the pipeline will greatly contribute to climate change and will pump 450,000 barrels of fracked crude oil per day directly upstream of Standing Rock’s water source. This pipeline is being built in violation of treaties and without an environmental impact statement.
In response to the Dakota people’s nonviolent direct actions, private security guards have been allowed to brutalize, without warning, anyone resisting the pipeline. Members of the Lakota tribe have been beaten, maced, thrown to the ground, and attacked with dogs. Pregnant women and children trying to protect their lands have been sent to the hospital after dog bites. Meanwhile Homeland Security has removed medical trailers and water tanks. Local police, the National Guard, and the FBI have allowed this brutality to continue, even to the point of illegally putting up road blocks to stop anyone from entering the camp. Civil liberties have been thrown out the window, all in the interest of getting cheaper oil.
So far, we’ve experienced about 1 degree Celsius of warming globally, and the impacts are frightening. Species are dying. Glaciers are melting. Clean water is harder to find. Some places are facing severe droughts while others have massive flooding. The number of climate-related refugees is increasing. Melting of the artic is releasing methane at a dangerous rate and this is magnifying climate change. Soon we will have many more wars fought over dwindling resources. All of the world’s problems will magnify as climate change gets worse. The poor will, of course, suffer the most. But we can slow the effects if we act now.
Recently several environmental organizations released documents showing that the Exxon Mobil corporation knew about climate change half a century ago. In response, Congress decided to investigate the environmental groups, not ExxonMobil. We cannot rely on our government to slow climate change. We need to follow the example of the Standing Rock Reservation and do it ourselves
“Safeguard Creation,” Pope Francis has told us. “Because if we destroy Creation, Creation will destroy us! Never forget this!” Please join people in your area who are taking action against climate change. If you need help finding local groups, you can go to 350.org or contact us and we will connect you with others. -Mikel
JOKES
A teacher gave a test on soft drinks. It was a pop quiz. Our house is so dirty that people wipe their feet before leaving. What do you call a fake noodle? An impasta. If you borrow money, borrow it from a pessimist. She never expects to get it back.
I have a fear of speed bumps, but I am slowly getting over it. If lunatics could fly, this place would be an airport. Did you hear about the cannibal who was expelled from school? He was buttering up his teacher.
Why does piglet always smell so bad? Because he is always playing with Pooh. A guy walked into a café to have a bowl of chili. The waitress said that the last bowlful went to the guy seated next to him. He looks at the guy and says, “I am so hungry, could I have some of yours?” He responds, “Yes, take as much as you want.” The guy starts to eat the chili, and halfway finished, he hits something with his spoon. “It’s a mouse!” he cries, and he vomits into the bowl. The other guy says, “That’s about as far as I got too.”
INTERESTING FACTS
Russia accused the U.S. of supporting ISIS after a U.S. airstrike killed 62 Syrian troops. Israel has 200 nukes all pointed at Iran, according to former US secretary of state Colin Powell in a leaked email that has Washington on edge. ----CLG, 9/16/16
A massive sinkhole leaked more than 200 MILLION gallons of RADIOACTIVE water from a fertilizer plant into Florida's main source of drinking water ----9/17/16 The mainstream U.S. media is treating the U.S.-led airstrike that killed scores of Syrian troops as an unfortunate boo-boo, ignoring that the U.S. and its allies have no legal right to operate in Syria at all. (RSN) Some half a million Syrians have been killed, and an additional 5 million fled the country.
In a major victory for farmworkers, California Governor Jerry Brown has signed legislation requiring paid overtime for hundreds of thousands of farmworkers across California. ----U.F.W.
Israel and the United States have signed an agreement to provide Israel with the largest military aid package ever in American history—$38 billion over the next decade. --- ADL
The total cost of the F-35 war plane program will exceed $1.1 trillion. A pilot’s helmet alone costs $600,000. Despite the many problems and immense costs, the F-35 program is so intricately linked to the military-industrial complex that efforts to rein it in have been fruitless. Major global politically connected aerospace companies involved: In addition to Lockheed Martin there’s Pratt & Whitney, Northrup Grumman, Britain’s BAE Systems and Norway’s Kongsberg Gruppen. Then there’s the complex network of 1,300 smaller suppliers that are providing everything from the wiring to software code. And there are the American jobs hanging in the balance: More than 130,000 people in 45 states are employed by the F-35 program, according to Bloomberg, making it the most striking example of a U.S. defense project becoming so ingrained into the fabric of the U.S. economy that trying to stop its excesses becomes politically unpopular and economically painful.----Salon 9/14/16
News reports from Yemen show that Saudi Arabia is using U.S.-supplied white phosphorus in its ongoing bombing campaign. White phosphorus can burn flesh to the bone, and it is illegal to use it under U.S. law.-----Democracy Now, 9/20/16
A new report from Brown University estimates that Washington has squandered nearly $5 trillion since September 11, 2001 on the wars launched under the pretext of fighting terrorism. Some of these numbers are also quantifiable, and appalling, from the over one million Iraqi lives lost to the US invasion of 2003 to the more than 12 million refugees driven from just the four countries laid waste by US wars: Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and Syria. In addition, there are the nearly 7,000 US troops killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, along with roughly an equal number of private contractors, as well as the 52,000 officially listed as wounded in combat and the untold hundreds of thousands more suffering from traumatic brain injuries, PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) and other mental health problems resulting from multiple deployments in dirty colonial-style wars. It is estimated that the U.S. will spend at least $1 trillion between now and 2053 paying for vets with medical and disability issues. In addition to these costs, the report estimates that, unless Congress changes the way that it is paying for the wars, even without their continuation, cumulative interest on war appropriations made just through FY2013 will amount to a staggering $7.9 trillion by 2053. . Another report issued two years ago by Harvard University conservatively estimated that the cost of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars amounted to $75,000 for every American household.----WSWS.org, 9/14/16
More than 3.5 million refugee children have no school to go to. The crisis grows more acute as children get older; while half of refugee children are able to attend primary school, only about 20 percent are able to attend secondary school, and only 1 percent are able to attend university.-----Democracy Now, 9/15/16
Prisoners from U.S. prisons are protesting solitary confinement and forced prison labor. Prison labor is a $2 billion a year industry that employs nearly 900,000 prisoners while paying them a few cents an hour in some states, and nothing at all in others. Some 20,000 prisoners are on strike now. ---Care2Daily News
Arthur Johnson has spent the past 37 of his 64 years alive in solitary confinement. Over a span of four decades, he’s been shuttled from one correctional institution to another—often without notice, Until very recently, his home of three years was the Restricted Housing Unit at the State Correctional Institution at Frackville, Pennsylvania.--- The Daily Beast 9/16/16
At least 58 oil producers have filed in bankruptcy this year. A year ago, 44 oil companies filed for bankruptcy. ---Salon, 9/15/16
“I killed so many people in the underground that only heroin helped me not to think about it. The heroin was supplied by the military, a fact not generally known by the American public. I’m still haunted by taking the life of a boy directly in front of me. He was no older than 14.” ----Milton Brown, U.S. Veteran ----N.C.R., 11/20/15
NOTES FROM 21ST STREET: Don and I hiked at Copper Falls State Park in September. There had been a terrible storm earlier in the summer. The storm had caused great damage in north central Wisconsin. Highway 13 south of Ashland is still closed because of road damage from the storm. I was preparing myself for quite a bit of damage at Copper Falls. As I hiked the trails I was amazed that the large pine trees were still there in all their majesty. The huge trees cling to the rocky cliffs above the river and waterfalls. Their huge roots covered the rocks as the smaller tendrils from the large roots went deep into the crevices and cracks of the rock. This reminds me that in this time of turmoil in our world we too need to go deep into our souls to reach for the timeless strength that is given to each of us to work for peace and justice. The storms that come along won’t destroy us as long as our strength comes out of the deep well of love that is within each and everyone of us. Just like the huge, majestic pines, if our roots go deep in we too can add beauty and life to this world we all share. Peace, Roberta
HOUSE NEEDS: Laundry soap and size 4 diapers. Thanks much!
NOTE
THURS. OCT. 5 ---VIGIL AT ICE BUILDING, Broadway & Knapp Sts., to stave off the deportations, detentions and separations of families conducted by the U.S. government. It starts at Noon
.
THURS. OCT. 12 ----VIGIL AT BREW CITY SHOOTERS SUPPLY, 43rd & Lincoln Ave., Noon to 1 p.m. Guns are made to do violence. Those who own guns show that they are willing to do violence to another. We need to teach nonviolence to our people
.
THURS. OCT. 19 ----VIGIL AT R.O.T.C. on the campus of Marquette U. on 15th & Wisconsin Ave. from noon to 1p.m. No Christian institution that chooses to follow Christ’s command to love all people, even enemies, cannot, at the same time, teach that violence and war are acceptable and needed by society. Study war no more! Be faithful to the gospel!
TUES. OCT. 24 ----VIGIL TO STOP DRONE KILLINGS from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. at Volk Field, Mauston WI. We will gather at the wayside between 3:00-3:15 for introductions and to review the plan for the vigil. To get to the vigil, take the Camp Douglas exit off Interstate 90/94 between Mauston and Tomah. When you exit take County Rd. C to the northeast. You will see the base straight ahead, but follow County Rd. C to the right and within a few blocks is a picnic wayside where you can park. The wayside is now closed for the winter, but you can legally park on the side of the road. There are no bathrooms available during the winter months. Call Joy at 608 239-4327 or Bonnie at 608-256-5088
Pope Francis has said,“Climate change is a problem that can no longer be left to our future generations. I would say to you now or never. Every year the problems are getting worse. We are at the limits. If I may use a strong word I would say that we are at the limits of suicide.”
No one knows this better than the Lakota members of the Standing Rock Reservation who are nonviolently resisting the $3.8 billion dollar Dakota Access Oil Pipeline. If completed, the pipeline will greatly contribute to climate change and will pump 450,000 barrels of fracked crude oil per day directly upstream of Standing Rock’s water source. This pipeline is being built in violation of treaties and without an environmental impact statement.
In response to the Dakota people’s nonviolent direct actions, private security guards have been allowed to brutalize, without warning, anyone resisting the pipeline. Members of the Lakota tribe have been beaten, maced, thrown to the ground, and attacked with dogs. Pregnant women and children trying to protect their lands have been sent to the hospital after dog bites. Meanwhile Homeland Security has removed medical trailers and water tanks. Local police, the National Guard, and the FBI have allowed this brutality to continue, even to the point of illegally putting up road blocks to stop anyone from entering the camp. Civil liberties have been thrown out the window, all in the interest of getting cheaper oil.
So far, we’ve experienced about 1 degree Celsius of warming globally, and the impacts are frightening. Species are dying. Glaciers are melting. Clean water is harder to find. Some places are facing severe droughts while others have massive flooding. The number of climate-related refugees is increasing. Melting of the artic is releasing methane at a dangerous rate and this is magnifying climate change. Soon we will have many more wars fought over dwindling resources. All of the world’s problems will magnify as climate change gets worse. The poor will, of course, suffer the most. But we can slow the effects if we act now.
Recently several environmental organizations released documents showing that the Exxon Mobil corporation knew about climate change half a century ago. In response, Congress decided to investigate the environmental groups, not ExxonMobil. We cannot rely on our government to slow climate change. We need to follow the example of the Standing Rock Reservation and do it ourselves
“Safeguard Creation,” Pope Francis has told us. “Because if we destroy Creation, Creation will destroy us! Never forget this!” Please join people in your area who are taking action against climate change. If you need help finding local groups, you can go to 350.org or contact us and we will connect you with others. -Mikel
JOKES
A teacher gave a test on soft drinks. It was a pop quiz. Our house is so dirty that people wipe their feet before leaving. What do you call a fake noodle? An impasta. If you borrow money, borrow it from a pessimist. She never expects to get it back.
I have a fear of speed bumps, but I am slowly getting over it. If lunatics could fly, this place would be an airport. Did you hear about the cannibal who was expelled from school? He was buttering up his teacher.
Why does piglet always smell so bad? Because he is always playing with Pooh. A guy walked into a café to have a bowl of chili. The waitress said that the last bowlful went to the guy seated next to him. He looks at the guy and says, “I am so hungry, could I have some of yours?” He responds, “Yes, take as much as you want.” The guy starts to eat the chili, and halfway finished, he hits something with his spoon. “It’s a mouse!” he cries, and he vomits into the bowl. The other guy says, “That’s about as far as I got too.”
INTERESTING FACTS
Russia accused the U.S. of supporting ISIS after a U.S. airstrike killed 62 Syrian troops. Israel has 200 nukes all pointed at Iran, according to former US secretary of state Colin Powell in a leaked email that has Washington on edge. ----CLG, 9/16/16
A massive sinkhole leaked more than 200 MILLION gallons of RADIOACTIVE water from a fertilizer plant into Florida's main source of drinking water ----9/17/16 The mainstream U.S. media is treating the U.S.-led airstrike that killed scores of Syrian troops as an unfortunate boo-boo, ignoring that the U.S. and its allies have no legal right to operate in Syria at all. (RSN) Some half a million Syrians have been killed, and an additional 5 million fled the country.
In a major victory for farmworkers, California Governor Jerry Brown has signed legislation requiring paid overtime for hundreds of thousands of farmworkers across California. ----U.F.W.
Israel and the United States have signed an agreement to provide Israel with the largest military aid package ever in American history—$38 billion over the next decade. --- ADL
The total cost of the F-35 war plane program will exceed $1.1 trillion. A pilot’s helmet alone costs $600,000. Despite the many problems and immense costs, the F-35 program is so intricately linked to the military-industrial complex that efforts to rein it in have been fruitless. Major global politically connected aerospace companies involved: In addition to Lockheed Martin there’s Pratt & Whitney, Northrup Grumman, Britain’s BAE Systems and Norway’s Kongsberg Gruppen. Then there’s the complex network of 1,300 smaller suppliers that are providing everything from the wiring to software code. And there are the American jobs hanging in the balance: More than 130,000 people in 45 states are employed by the F-35 program, according to Bloomberg, making it the most striking example of a U.S. defense project becoming so ingrained into the fabric of the U.S. economy that trying to stop its excesses becomes politically unpopular and economically painful.----Salon 9/14/16
News reports from Yemen show that Saudi Arabia is using U.S.-supplied white phosphorus in its ongoing bombing campaign. White phosphorus can burn flesh to the bone, and it is illegal to use it under U.S. law.-----Democracy Now, 9/20/16
A new report from Brown University estimates that Washington has squandered nearly $5 trillion since September 11, 2001 on the wars launched under the pretext of fighting terrorism. Some of these numbers are also quantifiable, and appalling, from the over one million Iraqi lives lost to the US invasion of 2003 to the more than 12 million refugees driven from just the four countries laid waste by US wars: Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and Syria. In addition, there are the nearly 7,000 US troops killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, along with roughly an equal number of private contractors, as well as the 52,000 officially listed as wounded in combat and the untold hundreds of thousands more suffering from traumatic brain injuries, PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) and other mental health problems resulting from multiple deployments in dirty colonial-style wars. It is estimated that the U.S. will spend at least $1 trillion between now and 2053 paying for vets with medical and disability issues. In addition to these costs, the report estimates that, unless Congress changes the way that it is paying for the wars, even without their continuation, cumulative interest on war appropriations made just through FY2013 will amount to a staggering $7.9 trillion by 2053. . Another report issued two years ago by Harvard University conservatively estimated that the cost of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars amounted to $75,000 for every American household.----WSWS.org, 9/14/16
More than 3.5 million refugee children have no school to go to. The crisis grows more acute as children get older; while half of refugee children are able to attend primary school, only about 20 percent are able to attend secondary school, and only 1 percent are able to attend university.-----Democracy Now, 9/15/16
Prisoners from U.S. prisons are protesting solitary confinement and forced prison labor. Prison labor is a $2 billion a year industry that employs nearly 900,000 prisoners while paying them a few cents an hour in some states, and nothing at all in others. Some 20,000 prisoners are on strike now. ---Care2Daily News
Arthur Johnson has spent the past 37 of his 64 years alive in solitary confinement. Over a span of four decades, he’s been shuttled from one correctional institution to another—often without notice, Until very recently, his home of three years was the Restricted Housing Unit at the State Correctional Institution at Frackville, Pennsylvania.--- The Daily Beast 9/16/16
At least 58 oil producers have filed in bankruptcy this year. A year ago, 44 oil companies filed for bankruptcy. ---Salon, 9/15/16
“I killed so many people in the underground that only heroin helped me not to think about it. The heroin was supplied by the military, a fact not generally known by the American public. I’m still haunted by taking the life of a boy directly in front of me. He was no older than 14.” ----Milton Brown, U.S. Veteran ----N.C.R., 11/20/15
NOTES FROM 21ST STREET: Don and I hiked at Copper Falls State Park in September. There had been a terrible storm earlier in the summer. The storm had caused great damage in north central Wisconsin. Highway 13 south of Ashland is still closed because of road damage from the storm. I was preparing myself for quite a bit of damage at Copper Falls. As I hiked the trails I was amazed that the large pine trees were still there in all their majesty. The huge trees cling to the rocky cliffs above the river and waterfalls. Their huge roots covered the rocks as the smaller tendrils from the large roots went deep into the crevices and cracks of the rock. This reminds me that in this time of turmoil in our world we too need to go deep into our souls to reach for the timeless strength that is given to each of us to work for peace and justice. The storms that come along won’t destroy us as long as our strength comes out of the deep well of love that is within each and everyone of us. Just like the huge, majestic pines, if our roots go deep in we too can add beauty and life to this world we all share. Peace, Roberta
HOUSE NEEDS: Laundry soap and size 4 diapers. Thanks much!
NOTE
THURS. OCT. 5 ---VIGIL AT ICE BUILDING, Broadway & Knapp Sts., to stave off the deportations, detentions and separations of families conducted by the U.S. government. It starts at Noon
.
THURS. OCT. 12 ----VIGIL AT BREW CITY SHOOTERS SUPPLY, 43rd & Lincoln Ave., Noon to 1 p.m. Guns are made to do violence. Those who own guns show that they are willing to do violence to another. We need to teach nonviolence to our people
.
THURS. OCT. 19 ----VIGIL AT R.O.T.C. on the campus of Marquette U. on 15th & Wisconsin Ave. from noon to 1p.m. No Christian institution that chooses to follow Christ’s command to love all people, even enemies, cannot, at the same time, teach that violence and war are acceptable and needed by society. Study war no more! Be faithful to the gospel!
TUES. OCT. 24 ----VIGIL TO STOP DRONE KILLINGS from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. at Volk Field, Mauston WI. We will gather at the wayside between 3:00-3:15 for introductions and to review the plan for the vigil. To get to the vigil, take the Camp Douglas exit off Interstate 90/94 between Mauston and Tomah. When you exit take County Rd. C to the northeast. You will see the base straight ahead, but follow County Rd. C to the right and within a few blocks is a picnic wayside where you can park. The wayside is now closed for the winter, but you can legally park on the side of the road. There are no bathrooms available during the winter months. Call Joy at 608 239-4327 or Bonnie at 608-256-5088