Jokesters
1. Even before Hamas won in the January 2006 general elections, Israel had been further tightening the screws to the Palestinians in Gaza. The summer 2005 Israeli settler pullout was a relief: Gaza had been…
Author: Mark J. Chmiel
From Guatemala to Gaza
1. It was Ash Wednesday 1983. In a darkened sanctuary with some lighted candles, an unfamiliar Catholic priest and several other people entered the sanctuary and sat in the front row. The people wearing bandanas…
Wonderful To See Babies Burning: On Howard Zinn’s “The Bomb”
City Lights Open Media Series has done the U.S. people a service in publishing historian Howard Zinn’s The Bomb, a two-part pamphlet that is a contribution to critical thinking about war, and about one of…
Higher Law
Review of Steven V. Mazie, Israel’s Higher Law: Religion and Liberal Democracy in the Jewish State. Published first in Journal of Church and State, 2006. “Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East.” This…
What Catches the Attention (And What Doesn’t)
A friend recently said about a group of doctors she knows: “They talk all about Lady Gaga but nothing about the wars we’re in.”
Book Recommendation: Gideon Levy
I highly recommend Gideon Levy’s new book, The Punishment of Gaza. Reading it reminded me of something Noam Chomsky wrote in 1996: “Those who came to be honored much later as the Prophets received rather different…
Iraq: Remembrance & Responsibility
My friend Laura Weis shared this quotation with me, and I want to share it with you. We all need to reflect on one fact that has been almost completely expunged from the U.S. consciousness:…
You Asked, “When Can I See You?” The Answer Is…
10 minutes after you wake up At 9:30 p.m. on the 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th of each month By the tower in 88 degree heat A January walk up the avenue after the sidewalks…
Dostoevsky Wrote, “Beauty…
..will save the world” I don’t know about “save” But, yes, beauty & friendship & community & solidarity & loveshine may get us through the next week Hedy Epstein and Sandra Tamari, on the occasion…
Two Quotations I Culled from a Book I Was Reading
1. “I don’t care if I fall as long as someone else picks up my gun and keeps on shooting.” –Che Guevara 2. ” Love is the most important ingredient in nonviolent work.” –Cesar Chavez