CRAIG CLINE – I’m a “baby boomer†— one of about 76 million American children born during the demographic post-World War II baby boom — between the years of 1946 and 1964. If you’re a baby boomer, too, this message is especially for you. We have patriotic work to do… again.
Health and the Nuclear Gamble
ROBERT F. DODGE, MD – The world has anxiously watched the events in Japan unfolding this past few weeks after the horrific earthquake, tsunami and subsequent nuclear disaster. The feelings are magnified out of a sense of helplessness in aiding the victims in Japan mixed with concerns for potential effects and implications to our own health and communities. In assessing the devastating effects of natural disasters, we must pause as we consider the potential for catastrophic effects of manmade disasters, specifically from nuclear power plants.
Dangerous Plumes of Disinformation Spewing from Meltdowns
JOHN LAFORGE – Well-reported plumes of radiation have spread to California and beyond from the wrecked six-reactor complex at Fukushima, Japan. What’s worse in terms of citizen awareness, clouds of disinformation are circling even faster.
Beauty in the Bleakness: A Letter from Sendai
LETTER FROM SENDAI – This inspiring letter was received by an OPW member from a friend in Sendai, Japan.
Is the World Headed Toward Peace?
KENT D. SHIFFERD – With the 20th century having been the bloodiest in history, and with bombs falling in Libya, explosions in Iraq, Hamas rockets falling on Israel and a seemingly endless war in Afghanistan, the answer to the question above seems an obvious “No!†However, if you take the long view and look at some trends that have been going on more or less unnoticed for a couple of hundred years, it could well be a “maybe.â€
What Can Afghanistan and Pakistan Teach Us About Nonviolence?
DAVID SWANSON – I may soon have an opportunity to meet with nonviolent activists in Afghanistan, an area of the world we falsely imagine has earned the name “graveyard of empires” purely through violent resistance. I was educated in the United States and learned in some detail about the lives of several morally repulsive halfwits who happened to have “served” in various U.S. wars, assaults, and genocides. But I was never even taught the name Badshah Khan. Were you?