HOW U.S. BUDGET WORKS
by John M Repp The Federal government, according to the Constitution, creates the money we use in our nation’s economy. Since we no longer have to back the money with a limited supply of gold, the government can print as much as it needs. If it prints too much, we get inflation. If we have inflation, we can tax people and companies, pulling money out of the economy and thus lowering prices. However, if there are just a few companies in each economic sector, which is the case now, they can keep the prices high. They cooperate against us rather than compete with each other. Part of the recent inflation was just so. We need a Federal Job Guarantee at…
Thoughts on some recent nonviolent occupations in Seattle, and a grand strategy for 2025-6
by John M Repp Nonviolent occupation is one of the methods of nonviolent action, specifically number 173, that Gene Sharp mentioned in the second volume of his book The Politics of Nonviolent Action (Boston, Ma. Porter Sargent Publishers, 1973). He lists 198 methods that have been used throughout history and agrees that new ones can be created in the future. In The Seattle Times of March 16, 2025, the headline on the front page told of a young man, Antonio Mays Jr., who was killed during the CHOP, Capitol Hill Organized (or Occupied) Protest of 2020. In the wake of the murder of George Floyd, there was an occupation of an 8-block area on Capitol Hill from June 8 to…
The Amazing Story of Uruguay: A Successful Transition to Renewable Energy
by John M Repp Uruguay has a lot of Pampas, the extensive treeless plains, like its neighbors Brazil and Argentina. Thus, agricultural products, especially beef, and some wood products were mainstays of their exports. Now those grassland plains have some new additions: white wind turbines and glistening solar panels. Uruguay does not have any oil or coal like its big neighboring countries. As Uruguay started to develop, in the age of modern industry, after 1825, they had to buy oil and coal on the open market. The volatility of the oil price caused problems for them. In an extreme example from recent times, in 2001 they could buy oil for $20 a barrel, but six years later, on July 3,…
The January 2025 issue of our newsletter The Pacific Call is out!
A new issue of our newsletter The Pacific Call is out! Thanks to editor John M Repp and to all the contributors. There are 10 pages full of information – with 8 articles about local, national, and international topics. The full issue can be viewed as a pdf at https://wwfor.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Jan2025PacificCall.pdf and links to the individual articles are available here, https://wwfor.org/category/the-pacific-call/.
The Election of Trump
By John M Repp The victory of Trump in the recent presidential election has been a shock for many people. How could anyone vote for a pathological liar, a convicted felon, an adjudicated sexual abuser, climate change denier, and a man who attempted to overthrow the Federal government and change the result of an election? Why did the voters reject Kamela Harris, an intelligent, honest, woman with a successful record as a public prosecutor? Is there something I don’t understand about our nation? Michael Tomasky, an editor of The New Republic, published the article entitled “Why Does No One Understand the Real Reason Trump Won?” on November 8, 2024. His answer is “the right wing media.” Specifically, “Fox News (and…
Letters to the Editor from Our Readers and a Letter from the Editor of the Pacific Call
Letter to the Editor, Cascadia Daily News, week of Dec 11, 2024 Editor, The 2024 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Nihon Hidankyo. Nihon Hidankyo is a Japanese grassroots movement initiated in 1956. It is dedicated to eliminating nuclear weapons. Japanese citizens known as hibakusha, or “bomb-affected people” have been speaking out for 75 years to tell us to not forget. Delegations attend international conferences and events to promote nuclear disarmament. They share firsthand accounts of the destruction and horror. Nuclear weapons are certainly a topic our current world leaders speak to in their use of threats and violence. We hear of it with the news of the Russia-Ukraine War; North Korea/South Korea conflicts; the concern of Iran’s nuclear program; and Israel…
Climate Change and Our World in the Next 25 Years
By John M Repp (written November 4, 2024) On September 26, 2024, hurricane Helene made landfall and then on October 9, 2024 hurricane Milton made landfall, both coming up from the Gulf of Mexico. They killed hundreds of people and destroyed many people’s lives and property. 2023 was the hottest year on record and the greenhouse gas percentages in our atmosphere is higher than at anytime humans have been alive on this planet. Nature magazine is a peer-reviewed scientific journal, the oldest in the United States. Peer-reviewing is where many scientists read the article, discuss it and check for it errors. It is one of the best ways to try and find the truth. In a recent article in Nature,…
How the Campaign Against the Trident Submarine Base in the Northwest Began
direct quotes from page 26 and 27 of the new comic book “Move Beyond Nuclear Weapons” “The campaign against the Trident submarine in the Northwest began in 1975, when Californian Bob Aldridge warned his friends in Washington state and British Columbia that the nuclear arms race was about to take a dangerous, new direction, and that we in the Pacific Northwest were going to be part of it. Robert C. (“Bob”) Aldridge began working for Lockheed (now the largest corporation in the “military-industrial complex”) in 1957. For years, he designed submarine-launched missiles, thinking that he was helping to preserve the peace by working on America’s invulnerable deterrent force. In 1970, he began working on plans for a new Trident missile…….and…
The Nobel Peace Prize and The Real Nobel Peace Prize: A Selective History
by Jean Buskin On Nov. 27, 1895, Alfred Nobel signed his will with instructions that the bulk of his considerable fortune be dedicated to a fund created to award 5 prizes yearly including a peace prize “to the person who has done the most or best to advance fellowship among nations, the abolition or reduction of standing armies, and the establishment and promotion of peace congresses.”1 On Jan. 12, 1991, the U.S. Senate took a roll call vote and passed the Joint Resolution to “authorize the use of United States Armed Forces” in Iraq 52-47. Senator Al Gore of Tennessee was among the Yea votes.2 On Oct. 12, 2007, then former Senator and former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, was…
Western Washington Fellowship of Reconciliation’s Fall Conference
WWFOR was honored to have keynote presentations by Cindy and Craig Corrie at our annual fall event, Nov 23, 2024. The Corries are parents of Rachel Corrie, a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement which provides nonviolent accompaniment and witness in Palestine. Rachel was killed in 2003 trying to prevent demolition of a Palestinian house in Gaza. Cindy and Corrie have since been leaders in the organization named after their daughter, the Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice. They spoke on “Working for Justice, Searching for Peace: Israeli and Palestinian Peacemakers.” Cindy started out with a gracious acknowledgement of the importance of FOR to them over the years, and talked about the international reaction to Rachel’s death, and then…
