Nebraskans for Peace

Cool website. The Nebraskans for Peace group produce the Cat Lovers Against the Bomb calendar I have loved all through 2009.

I was browsing through lovely calendars at a huge bookstore recently and was distressed to see they were ALL printed in China. Then I checked the back of my wonderful CLAB calendar and saw it was printed in Nebraska. By union workers.

So I've ordered my calendar for 2010. I don't know if it will have different peace-related facts on the pages from those that inspired me in 2009, but it will have different kitties, I'm fairly sure.

Today's tidbits:
The Wounded Knee massacre was this day in 1890. A good reminder that we Americans must resist the sin of pride and work to make all the todays and tomorrows better than our yesterdays.

On this day in 1996, the 36-year-old war in Guatemala ended with the signing of a peace treaty. Guatemalaa continues to pay in painful human terms for that war. I wrote about this last March 11. An excerpt:

Suffrage 18 & universal , except members of Active military, who are confined to barracks
GDP (gross domestic product) $49.73B $
GDP/person $5400
Life expectancy @ birth 69.99
Infant mortality (per 1000 births) 28.79
Literacy 69.1%
%GDP spent on education 2.6

Wow, the military is DISENFRANCHISED! Sad. The infant mortality sucks. Life expectancy is pathetic. Ditto literacy, GDP/person, and percent GDP spent on education.

How much longer will Guatemalans pay the price of that war? Considering that the southern states of the USA still pay for the costs of the Civil War, I fear the price of war will be more painful and more incalculable than ever before in my recognition.

On a more cheerful note, I will appreciate the calendar even more this year. Hope you do too

Peace, y'all

Molly

If peace begins with me, we're in trouble

Peace eludes me. Guess I can chalk it up to holiday stress, or at least hide behind tht very plausible pretext. Oh well, I can do good even if I don't feel good. And pray for better times.

Peace, y'all

Molly

Wow, I just found something I wrote on 12/28/08 and I want to share it.

The earth rotates on its axis,
and also travels around the sun.
Since there is no beginning or end (we pray),
the calendar is quite arbitrary.

Every day, and every moment
Start the future
From this moment on—
live as you want to live.

It isn't very poetic but I like the idea of the continuation of time and the cyclic nature of time, and that every moment is the beginning of the future.

I'm trying to hold off a cold, (or is it just severe allergies?) don't feel bad enough to surrender to the sheets but don't feel well enough to proceed at my usual pace, either. I wish my illness wasn't so ambiguous, but then again I had better be careful what I wish for! In truth I am deeply grateful to God for the health and wealth I enjoy.

Thankfulness is a wonderful state of mind.

Peace, y'all

Molly

Our new vietnam

Yes, it's easy to contrast Vietnam against Afghanistan. But the similarities are more important.

We don't belong there.

We can't win.

Our continued presence costs too much in life, good will, and money.

Al Queaida is not in Afghanistan.

We can't win a war on terrorism via conventional military.

We were welcomed years ago but we have outworn our welcome and the longer we stay there, the more blood will flow, the more Americans will die, the more Afghans will die, the more money we'll waste, and the more enemies our presence there will foster.

We must get out.

Peace, y'all

Molly

Truth and integrity

Yes, I am thinking about the hard stuff. I am glad I have never been asked to submit to a drug test. I am clean and think my word on this should suffice.

Cat Lovers Against the Bomb (thanks, Nebraskans for Peace) reminds me today is anniversary that in 1999, the US Senate rejected the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, 48-51. Dark day. Not a moment of our nation's history I am proud of.

Peace, y'all

Molly

Nobel Peace Price

I am shocked our president has won the planet's greatest honor. I think it's too soon, and would rather have seen him receive this award when he has done more for world peace.

Still, I am proud of our president. I am hopeful he will fulfill the promise this enormous honor represents. Wish more would support him and we could move forward rather than have little pissing matches about death panels and the like.

Peace, y'all

Molly

Afghanistan

It is a beautiful fall day and I am thinking about Afghanistan. Why must we be there at all? It is wrong. Our nation has an absolutely dismal record for nationbuilding. Let the Afghans determine their own government. If it isn't as open as ours, that is regretable but far better than to kill and maim, disrupt, instill fear and hatred. We need to get out of there.

I heard on NPR some comparisons between the now 8-year war in Afghanistan with our nation's entanglement in Vietnam. I clearly understand the differences - size of our force, size of the "enemy" force, proxy war vs not a proxy war. All true. Also true is that the longer we stay, the more lives, money, and good will we waste. We cannot win and the longer we stay, the more hatred of our nation will fester.

How about this. Instead of sending thousands of soldiers, what if we sent thousands of engineers and laborers and nurses to help rebuild the country? Build roads, water treatment plants, schools, clinics. That's a plan I could get behind.