The Senate Appropriations Committee is slated to vote this week on more funds for the Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW) program. The U.S. should be leading the charge in destroying existing nuclear weapons, not making more of them.
Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson is on the committee. Please take two minutes to contact Nelson's office and encourage him to vote against the funding.
The Nebraskans for Peace web site has good background info for talking points in your letter/phone call to Nelson.
Send your feedback to Nelson's office by calling (202) 224-6551 or (402) 391-3411 and/or emailing senator@bennelson.senate.gov.
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Two months from today (inshallah), I'll be getting on a Morocco-bound plane with my fellow Peace Corps trainees. Still doesn't feel real, and I suppose that until I get on that plane, it won't. Too afraid of having the (Berber?) rug pulled out from under me again.
The Darija (Moroccan Arabic) lessons have me thoroughly intimidated. I just keep looking and listening, in hopes that eventually the strange shapes and sounds will begin to make sense.
More inspiring is the book I'm currently reading, "Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations ... One School at a Time." While the narrative journalism style (by a ghostwriter) is more than a bit overwrought, the idea of a slacker creating first a single school in remote Pakistan, and then an entire institute devoted to creating educational opportunities in areas where none have existed ... with a special focus on making sure girls have equal access to schooling ... well, it's providing me with plenty of ideas for projects and collaborations.
I've been waffling lately about my mission in Morocco. Not really a "developing country anymore, is it? And the outline for my program is so vague as to sound as if I won't really be "doing" anything. (Anything except teaching English, that is, and I further have to wonder how English is going to help the average underpriviliged Moroccan youth.)
But if so many rural people are living in poverty, and especially if I have a chance to help improve the futures of girls and women in a society that currently devalues them, then I have to believe it's a worthwhile mission.
Meanwhile, with slightly more disposable income than I'd anticipated for my summer sans employment, I just booked one last flight to Tucson, Aug. 12-19. Need to get my desert survival skills up to snuff, dontcha know. We hope to make a side trip down Mexico way in celebration of Miz K's birthday.
How fortunate I am to be living this life.
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Quote of the day:
There is a candle in your heart, ready to be kindled.
There is a void in your soul, ready to be filled.
You feel it, don't you?
-- Rumi
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3 comments:
Woot! Woot! I get to spend my b-day with Miz B! We're going to get my tattoo (finally!) and then head on down to Mexico for a few days. Splendid!
forgot to add...i wonder if you can find some folks in L-town that speak Darija????
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