• IS TALK RADIO THE TRUMP/REPUBLICAN SECRET?

    By John M Repp, WWFOR Pacific Call Editor Asking the question “how did Trump get 74 million votes?” requires a look at the mass media in the United States. Many know about the FOX news channel on television, but too often overlooked is conservative talk radio. There are two recent books out about talk radio as well as articles by the book’s authors. (Paul Matzko The Radio Right: How a Band of Broadcasters Took on the Federal Government and Built the Modern Conservative Movement (2020) and Brian Rosenwald Talk Radio’s America: How an Industry Took Over a Political Party That Took Over the United States (2019) Many white collar workers are not aware of talk radio’s existence because they do…

  • The American People Are United on Key Policy Goals

    The American People are United on Key Policy Issues by John M Repp There has been so much corporate media commentary lately about the huge divisions running through our political landscape. Republican, Democrat; conservative, liberal; urban, rural; black, white; high-school educated, college-educated; male, female; coastal, heartland and more. There is an element of truth to all this. What is left out is what many Americans agree on. Americans agree that we should tax the wealthy. Americans agree we need Medicare for All.  Americans agree we need a Green New Deal.The legislation to enact a Green New Deal includes the right to a good, living-wage, union job with full benefits. In the last forty years, with neoliberal policies, unions have been…

  • What are we going to do about those 74 million people who voted for Trump?

    by Jean Gant Delastrada WWFOR Fall Retreat Coordinator This question came up over and over at the WWFOR 2020 Fall Retreat – What’s Next?  Moving Into the Great Turning Rev. Dr. Emma Jordan Simpson, the Executive Director of FOR-USA, emphasized that people need to talk about the hard issues with others in their communities and in their families, regardless of their politics.  Bill Moyer, from the Backbone Campaign, talked about new ways for activists to impact our society, beyond holding up signs saying what we want and believe in. Dr. Karen Johnson, equity and social justice consultant from Olympia,asked “Are You Next?”, and gave a dynamic call for us all to work together with Black Lives Matter for racial justice.…

  • Celebrating a Historic Step Toward the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons

    by Mona Lee    This is a historic time of celebration for Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action and other organizational members of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN).  On October 24, 2020 Honduras became the 50th nation to ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (Note: it was passed in July).  With that, the treaty will enter into force on January 22, 2021. Ground Zero will celebrate this event during its annual Martin Luther King birthday weekend activities January 15-17.    The passing of this Treaty marks a significant milestone in a long effort to abolish nuclear weapons. 75 years ago, in response to World War II and the horrific nuclear destruction of Hiroshima and…

  • Why We Should Care About Yemen

    by Mary Anne Mercer Basic facts: Yemen is a country of some 30 million people, located at the heel of the boot of the Arabian Peninsula. It’s a country with a rich cultural and religious history. For over 2000 years, what is now Yemen was the center of a series of powerful kingdoms that controlled commerce in the luxury goods of the time —frankincense, myrrh, and spices. The first cup of coffee was brewed in Yemen, and the port of Mokha was once the center of the coffee trade. As described in both the Bible and the Quran, the famed Queen of Sheba ruled the area nearly 1000 years BCE, at the time of her famed visit to the wise…

  • Why We Should Care About Yemen

    by Mary Anne Mercer Basic facts: Yemen is a country of some 30 million people, located at the heel of the boot of the Arabian Peninsula. It’s a country with a rich cultural and religious history. For over 2000 years, what is now Yemen was the center of a series of powerful kingdoms that controlled commerce in the luxury goods of the time —frankincense, myrrh, and spices. The first cup of coffee was brewed in Yemen, and the port of Mokha was once the center of the coffee trade. As described in both the Bible and the Quran, the famed Queen of Sheba ruled the area nearly 1000 years BCE, at the time of her famed visit to the wise…

  • SHORT ITEMS for Pacific Call October 2020 Vol 4 issue 5

    SHORT ITEMS for Pacific Call October 2020 Vol 4 issue 5 WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR VIOLENCE AT RECENT DEMONSTRATIONS by Black Lives Matter activists since George Floyd’s murder? Trump is trying to blame antifa. But there are reports that racist white provocateurs have infiltrated some demonstrations and broken windows, looted stores and thrown things at the police. This is a new tactic by white racists. They are making Black Lives Matter demonstrators seem violent. And, it must be said that 93% of the demonstrations have been peaceful. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/05/nearly-all-black-lives-matter-protests-are-peaceful-despite-trump-narrative-report-finds See the links below for the reports on right-wing infiltration of Black Lives Matter demonstrations: https://www.washingtonpost.com/p olitics/2020/06/22/who-caused-violence-protests-its-not-antifa/ Here is a quote from the Washington Post article of June 22, 2020. “Roughly 80…

  • Confessions of a Racist

    Confessions of a Racist by Marjorie Prince I am a racist. Racism is not a condition that I chose, but I am and have been a participant in and beneficiary of a society built on racism. My continuing job is to become anti-racist in word and deed. Confession of sin is not the end of racism but is a crucial first step in becoming anti-racist. James 5:16 tells us to “confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed.” John 1:9-10 teaches that “if we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not…

  • A Federal Job Guarantee or a Universal Basic Income

    by John M Repp Where there is no vision, the people perish. (Proverbs 29:18) We need to reimagine a better America to get beyond the overlapping crisis we face in this summer of 2020, a pandemic, massive unemployment, uprisings protesting police violence and an approaching election. I want to discuss two ideas for reform: A Federal Job Guarantee and the Universal Basic Income. After the financial crash and recession of 2008-2009, it took 10 years before the American economy got back to what conventional economists said was “full employment”. But even then, there were millions of people who were not working full time as well as millions who were discouraged about finding work at all. A Federal Job Guarantee is…

  • Testing, Testing and More Testing

    by John M Repp  In early April of 2020, a friend of mine from Germany emailed me that she and her husband were shocked at the stories they were seeing coming out of the United States. She was shocked at our incompetence in the face of this pandemic. She thought we would be competent if nothing else. After all, we were one of the nations that helped defeat the Nazis and rebuilt her country after World War II. Dominique Moisi, a political scientist from France, has said it more forcefully: “America has not done badly, it has done exceptionally badly.” America has some of the world’s best scientists, but many of our political leaders are not listening to them. The…