Month: July 2018

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A public school district PUNISHES its LBGT students by FORCING them to read the Bible.

July 21, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

A public school district is PUNISHING its LGBT students by FORCING them to read the Bible. This is wrong on so many levels! 1. A public school district is wrong to punish LGBT students. 2. No public school district should be promoting any religion. 3. A religion’s scriptures should be a joy to read and ponder. Forcing people to read them totally destroys the value of scriptures. Such an authoritarian command paints religion as a punishment, so it is actually hurting religion. 4. The U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment guarantees freedom of religion.  Specifically, the Constitution prohibits government from imposing any […]

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Freedom of Religion Does NOT Give Permission to Hurt Other People

July 21, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

In 1993 the U.S. Congress — with broad support by congressional members of both big political parties and much grassroots support across the political spectrum — passed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) to explicitly protect people’s free exercise of religion.  This is especially important for religious minorities. Example #1:  Suppose your employer expects you to work on your holy day.  The RFRA supports your effort to exchange that work day for a different day. Example #2:  Suppose your religion expects you to wear something special on your head or grow your beard out, but your employer or some law […]

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U.S. govt’s official thinking about nuclear weapons: Utterly Bizarre and Bi-Partisan

July 21, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Do you remember “With enough shovels …”? President Reagan’s Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Strategic and Theater Nuclear Forces was T.K. Jones.  He believed we could easily survive nuclear war.  Here is what he said we should do if a nuclear attack was coming: “Dig a hole, cover it with a couple of doors and then throw three feet of dirt on top….  It’s the dirt that does it … if there are enough shovels to go around, everybody’s going to make it.” This is utterly preposterous on several grounds, including: If you are in the little hole you […]

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Climate organizing must range from global to local levels

July 21, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

This morning I attended Olympia WA’s “Zero Hour” climate rally that was organized by young person.  The main organizer is 13 years old, and she spoke briefly and capably.  All over the world — and in many U.S. locations — young people organized “Zero Hour” rallies and marches to convey the urgency of the climate crisis.  Young people mobilized to demand an end to the abuses that are curtailing their futures — and to demand sustainable solutions.  For more information see www.thisiszerohour.org –> The climate crisis is a WORLDWIDE crisis. –> Decades ago Tip O’Neill, the Speaker of the U.S. […]

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A clear, insightful and convincing explanation of why Trump cozies up to Putin

July 21, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

I have been reading a lot of articles trying to understand Trump’s bizarre behaviors.  The article at the link below was written by Thom Hartmann, who is a very savvy analyst of public affairs.  His insightful explanation of why Trump cozies up to Putin makes perfect sense.  It is consistent with other articles I’ve seen.  This article explains it very well. https://www.alternet.org/world/3-theories-explain-trumps-approach-putin-and-russia-occams-razor?src=newsletter1094505

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Practical and urgent reasons to PROTECT THE WHOLE WORLD’S CLIMATE

July 21, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Many people seem to think that the climate issue is just another add-on issue to the really important issues (economics, immigration, etc.) that keep getting our attention. WRONG! The climate crisis is a truly existential crisis — like nuclear weapons — that must be solved immediately if civilization is to survive. The climate crisis is both a symptom and a driver of other crucial issues.  The climate crisis is tied up intimately with other crucial issues such as the environment, immigration, governmental corruption, wars for oil, and other factors and consequences. The Pentagon has long recognized the climate crisis as […]

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URGENT!!! Info AND ACTION ALERT: Protect the 2020 Census from Trump’s abuse!!!

July 17, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

The U.S. Constitution ABSOLUTELY REQUIRES a census that will count EVERY person in the U.S. Presumably, it must be HONEST. But Trump is planning to distort the 2020 census for blatantly racist and highly partisan purposes. Trump is planning to add a question about citizenship in order to intimidate and undercount America’s immigrants. Read this information.  Then keep going down the page and SEND ALL FIVE E-MAIL MESSAGES. Thank you! Trump’s scheme would likely cause millions of persons to be uncounted. The census is used for figuring out how to draw lines for state legislative districts and federal congressional districts. […]

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Avoid the anti-Russia hype that promotes a new Cold War.

July 17, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Both of the big political parties — Republicans and Democrats – are stuck in their own agendas.  Neither of the big party really supports peace.  Each wants confrontation with Russia for different reasons.  Ordinary people must resist the anti-Russia hype and a new Cold War.The American people must assert that we want peace, not a new Cold War. Norman Solomon’s article at this link shows smart insights: https://www.truthdig.com/articles/climb-down-from-the-summit-of-hostile-propaganda/

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How to really STOP Trump’s horrible nominees

July 17, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Trump keeps throwing HORRIBLE, CORRUPT, and DANGEROUS nominees at us, one after another. Democratic U.S. Senators think it is sufficient to merely vote “no” to one Trump nominee after another. That is NOT ENOUGH!  We and the Senators need to actually MOBILIZE PUBLIC OPINION to PUSH BACK! Senators have a “bully pulpit” that almost all of them fail to use.  They should use their “bully pulpit” and take other actions to PUBLICLY EXPOSE the nominees’ corruption, cruelty, and horrible track records, in order to MOBILIZE PUBLIC OPINION TO PUSH BACK AGAINST TRUMP and the Republicans! Until Democratic Senators push back […]

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Smart insights to distinguish “conflict” from “abuse.”

July 17, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Someone sent me an e-mail expressing support for “Conflict is Not Abuse” from Sarah Schulman.  I searched for information about the book and found this very insightful article.  It offers smart, practical and compassionate ways out of the traps that many people — especially progressives — get into regarding how we deal with social justice issues at an interpersonal level. Rather than try to summarize her helpful insights here, I encourage you to read this information about her book: https://www.thestranger.com/books/2017/01/10/24792575/sarah-schulmans-conflict-is-not-abuse-is-a-guide-to-keeping-the-peace      

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Obama ALSO broke up immigrant families and deported many. Democrats failed to object.

July 17, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Nowadays Democrats and decent people strongly object to Trump’s cruelty in breaking up immigrant families and deporting many family members.  Actually, Obama did that too — in record numbers much higher than George W. Bush had done — but Democrats did not object when a Democratic president did. People nowadays are right to criticize the Trump regime for its extreme cruelty.  In order to be credible, we must also criticize Obama and the Democrats for their cruelty too.  Let’s stand firm on the principles of human rights, and let the partisan chips fall where they may. Pages 48-49 of the […]

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Climate denial: Three relevant news articles

July 17, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

1st article: This article reporting new data about climate denial shows that although fewer persons are outright “deniers,” many who admit that the climate is changing still think “natural causes” rather than human behavior is why the climate is changing. We need to focus our outreach strategies to help skeptical people understand the real reasons why the climate is being disrupted. https://grist.org/article/hold-on-to-your-snowballs-more-americans-accept-the-reality-of-climate-change-than-ever-before/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=daily   2nd article: As far back as 1968, the American Petroleum Institute — the industry’s largest trade association, of which Exxon is a member — received a report warning that, due to carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels, […]

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Trump wants to use “war powers” to oppose solar and wind — and to promote coal and nuclear power.

July 17, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

This information came from an excellent source of information and advocacy, Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS).  They — at www.nirs.org — and another excellent non-profit organization, Beyond Nuclear — at www.beyondnuclear.org — reliably provide information and advocacy to stop nuclear power.  Beyond Nuclear also works to abolish nuclear weapons. NIRS reported that on June 1, 2018, Trump announced what NIRS described as: “the most extreme action on nuclear power we have ever seen:  issuing an order to prevent any nuclear reactors and coal plants from closing in the coming years, and forcing Americans to pay power companies whatever it […]

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Universal Single-Payer health care is the real solution! Debunk the myths and lies about it.

July 17, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

The U.S. is virtually alone among rich modern democracies in failing to provide decent health care for all of its people.  The U.S. ranks low among these nations in many indicators of health (life expectancy, infant mortality, deaths from preventable diseases, etc.). A major reason is that while other nations regard health care as a BASIC HUMAN RIGHT, the U.S. pretends that it is a COMMERCIAL COMMODITY for private profit. The real remedy — UNIVERSAL SINGLE-PAYER health care — is explained in the “Health Care” part of my blog, www.parallaxperspectives.org.  I encourage you to read several posts about it. Please […]