Category Archives: Palestine

Books - by Chuck Fager, Hard-Core Quaker, Iraq, Islam & Muslims, Other War Notes, Palestine, Passing the Torch(es), Quakers, Religious Issues & Conflicts, Remarkable People, Remember . . ., Signs of the Times, War & Peace

Tom Fox – Quaker Peaceworker Murdered in Iraq March 10, 2006

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March 10: Remember Tom Fox

March 10 — how could I forget? How dare I fail to remember?

Nineteen years and four months ago, John Stephens and I began a blog site called freethecaptivesnow.org , as both a personal vigil and a community service, compiling and posting nightly updates of reports — or mostly the lack of reports — about the fate of four peaceworkers kidnapped in Iraq. They had been taken in Baghdad, and one of them, Tom Fox, was a Quaker and a friend of both John and me.

Continue reading Tom Fox – Quaker Peaceworker Murdered in Iraq March 10, 2006 →

45, AFSC, Bible Study, Cross-Generational Issues, Democracy, Democrats, Ecumenical & Interfaith, Election 2024, Harris-Walz, Israel/Hamas War, Palestine, Quakers, Republicans

Wednesday Night at the DNC: Having Some Church & a Quaker/Interfaith Vigil

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A 2019 (pre-Covid) survey of U.S. protestant pastors showed that nine out of ten held some kind of services on Wednesday evenings.

The pandemic likely reduced that number, but for many churches, it’s still a thing. And if you kept up with the extra-long speakers list for DNC Day 3 (my copy listed 37 names, but still missed a few), it would hardly be a surprise to find a sprinkle of Wednesday churchgoers among them.

Maybe that explains why, when the midweek marathon adjourned after midnight, amid all the hubbub, I had heard, not one but two homilies  from the podium (and maybe missed a few others).

Outside media, with its pronounced secular tilt, hasn’t seemed to notice. I couldn’t find any news coverage of these two speeches (other than YouTube videos).

So as a public service, they are excerpted & summarized below. Continue reading Wednesday Night at the DNC: Having Some Church & a Quaker/Interfaith Vigil →

"Dog Days" Diversions, 45, Abortion, Arts: Cartoons, Cat, Election 2024, Harris-Walz, Israel, Israel/Hamas War, Military Matters, Palestine, Politics—U. S., Population, Tim Walz

“You DO Need a Weatherman” — DNC Protest Forecast (& Cartoons)

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Note: The weather forecast below is real, though I’ve jiggered the format. And reposting it is a bit whimsical, but not a joke.

Among the most effective and non-brutal “crowd control” techniques for events like the coming DNC are: rain (especially with thunder & lightning); and sweltering heat (especially with lakeside humidity). Either one holds down turnout, “dampens” or wilts activist enthusiasm, and discourages media attention, all without swinging a baton or tossing a pepper gas shell.

But this week, the Chicago weather gods are on the side of the insurgents. I’m still expecting, as explained in this earlier post, that the police (and federal backups) will be (at least initially) more professional and skillful in dealing with protests; though anything could happen, and weather can change . . . .

But here’s the data, and some provocative images, to help pass the time til the big party starts.

Continue reading “You DO Need a Weatherman” — DNC Protest Forecast (& Cartoons) →

Accountability, Congress, Corruption, Current Affairs, Democrats, Fish, Israel, Military Matters, Palestine, Politics—U. S., Remarkable People, Republicans, Vietnam, Wisdom

Communist Champagne for Christmas, and Congressman Pete MCloskey — A Tribute to My Former Boss on Capitol Hill

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A Weekend Read:  Pete McCloskey, GOP congressman who once challenged Nixon, just died at 96. 


[NOTE]: Pete made a lot of impact, against the Vietnam war, for the (then-new) environmental movement, and in other ways helped save and enrich the lives of many people, both far away and in the USA. 

One  American he changed was me.

The big impact started with champagne for Christmas. But first, some background from the Associated Press:

May 8, 2024
Pete McCloskey, Back in the Day

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — Pete McCloskey — a pro–environment, anti–war California Republican who co–wrote the Endangered Species Act and co–founded Earth Day — has died. He was 96.

A fourth–generation Republican “in the mold of Teddy Roosevelt,” he often said, McCloskey represented the 12th Congressional District for 15 years, running for president against an incumbent Richard Nixon in 1972. He battled party leaders while serving seven terms in Congress and went on to publicly disavow the GOP in his later years.

He died at home Wednesday, May 8, according to Lee Houskeeper, a family friend.

Continue reading Communist Champagne for Christmas, and Congressman Pete MCloskey — A Tribute to My Former Boss on Capitol Hill →

Death & Dying, Gaza, Hamas, Israel, Israel/Hamas War, Jews & Judaism, Mass killings, Palestine, Religious Issues & Conflicts, Saudi Arabia, War & Peace, War Notes

Gwynne Dyer: Cease-fire?

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Israel, Hamas and the elusive cease fire

GWYNNE DYER — PUBLISHED: 7 MAY 2024

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Hamas did not need a ceasefire. It had already demonstrated that Israel could not eradicate it. It had achieved its primary goal of wrecking the anti-Iran alliance that was brewing between Israel and the major Arab Gulf states. And it doesn’t care about how many Palestinians get killed; they are all “martyrs” for the cause.

So why would it have agreed to a ceasetire that isn’t permanent?

Continue reading Gwynne Dyer: Cease-fire? →