What keeps me up at night, v. 1.

NAIROBI, Kenya (McClatchy Newspapers) Sept. 30 – The U.S. Africa Command, the Pentagon’s first effort to unite its counterterrorism, training and humanitarian operations on the continent, launches Wednesday amid questions at home about its mission and deep suspicions in Africa about its intentions. U.S. officials have billed the new command, known as Africom, as a [...]

Hot dawg.

(Still catching up from my weekend away…)
Question for you:
What’s the difference between a Philadelphia hot dog and a New York hot dog?
Answer:
You can eat a Philadelphia hot dog at the ballpark  in OCTOBER!
Playoffs start Wednesday against Milwaukee.
Phillies in four, at the most (I don’t want to get cocky and predict a three game sweep, not [...]

R.I.P. Paul Newman.

Yeah, the world is going all to pieces, but this is what’s on my mind today:
I hate it when folks I admire leave us.  That’s happened more than a few times lately.
I have always been a fan of Paul Newman.  He was my favorite “movie star” when I was a kid, and he was my [...]

Friday peace (baby) blogging.

Baby and …

baby and …

Kelly’s baby (Henry!) and …

baby and big brother.
Listen to the babies.
(Next blogger edition: next Friday.  Send me your pics!!!)

Hiatus-ing, and a thank you.

Posting will pause here for a week or so while I dig out from under my work.  I’m already falling behind, and that isn’t good.  The real busy time hasn’t even really started yet.
Nothing new here till at least next Monday, EXCEPT for this week’s Friday Peace Blogging.
I have a Quaker retreat coming up this [...]

We interrupt this hiatus to bring you breaking news:

John McCain thinks you’re stupid.
John McCain “suspended” his presidential campaign today so that he could don his fighter jock outfit, fly back to Washington, and solve the current economic crisis, maybe all by his ex-POW self.  John McCain wants us to think that this makes him look “presidential.” 
And John McCain wants you to believe [...]

Supreme Court stays execution of Troy Davis.

   JACKSON, Ga. (AP) September 23 – The U.S. Supreme Court gave a reprieve to a   Georgia inmate less than two hours before his scheduled execution Tuesday for the 1989 slaying of an off-duty police officer.
Davis’ Family and advocates of 39-year-old Troy Davis have long urged he deserves a new trial as seven of [...]

Annoying Sarah Palin.

Do Yourself A Favor – Read a Book by Leonard Pitts
Of course, we all have questions for Sarah Palin:
Does she actually think living across the Bering Strait from Russia constitutes foreign policy expertise? Does she really take the parable of Adam and Eve as literal truth? How, exactly, does one field dress a moose? And [...]

Guess who’s coming to dinner?

Oh, the Corporate Radio Gasbags are gonna have a field day with this.
Quakers, Mennonites to dine with Iranian president
(Winton-Salem Journal) September 20 – Keepers of Protestantism’s pacifist traditions will showcase just how far they’ve come from their humble roots in Europe’s persecuted peasantry when they share an intimate dinner in New York on Thursday with [...]

Which side is McCain on?

NOT on the side of organized labor.  And Joe Biden knows it.  And now you do, too.
CASTLEWOOD, Va. (AP) September 20 - Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden said Saturday that Republican John McCain has helped President Bush destroy regulatory safeguards for the middle class in general and the labor movement in particular.
Biden, a Delaware senator, [...]

What we’re up against, v. 2.

Nothing here surprises me.  It just makes me sad.  And aggravated.
Poll: Racial views steer some Democrats away from Obama
WASHINGTON (AP) September 21 — Deep-seated racial misgivings could cost Barack Obama the White House if the election is close, according to an AP-Yahoo News poll that found one-third of white Democrats harbor negative views toward blacks [...]

“Supporting Our Troops.”

by Steve Almond
(Boston Globe) September 18 – Perhaps the most insidious byproduct of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has been a reflexive sanctification of the military. To put this in bumper stickerese: Support the Troops.
Well, I have an ugly confession to make: I don’t support the troops – at least not unconditionally. When somebody [...]

People Have the Power, v. 7.

These kids make ya proud.
GJP Protests Defense Contractors at [Boston College] Career Fair
(BCHeights.com) September 18 – A group of 20 Boston College students stood out from the throng of suited undergrads who crowded Conte Forum during Tuesday’s career fair. Those students, clad in “Who Would Jesus Bomb” T-shirts and kneeling silently, were protesting the presence [...]

Very cool Saturday sounds.

Roy Hargrove: “I Remember Clifford.”
Yeah…

Friday peace blogging, special edition, v. 3.

Abbe (white helmet) and …

sherry and …

konagod and …

Jeff*, The Liberal Curmudgeon, and …

elle (and son) and …

Bill and …

Debs and …

Kathy and …
YOU?
Still accepting peace pics from y’all.  Send ‘em to my email (“About Me”).

(*: Note that in the interest of promoting peace, I’m even willing to forgive Jeff his Mets hat.  THIS time.)

Just. Wrong.

Big Brother and Big Bird by Jeff Dufour and Patrick Gavin
(dcexaminer.com) September 18 – When it comes to securing the homeland, who better to help you sleep at night than various characters from the popular children’s show, “Sesame Street” … ?!?
Seriously.
 
In a move that will make Bush administration detractors bring back those duct tape jokes [...]

The Thing about Obama…

…that drives me crazy. 
Pay attention to the part on bold print, where Sen. Obama tries to explain himself.
Obama won’t repeal “don’t ask on his own.
WASHINGTON (AP) September 17 - Democrat Barack Obama said if elected president he would not try to repeal the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on his own.

Obama said in [...]

The Political Meme.

Borrowed from Fran, Jaliya, and DCup:
1.) What is your name (nickname, whatever you’re comfortable sharing); your age (range); gender, occupation; income bracket (range); how you identify (gay/straight/whatever)? married/single/divorced? kids (how many)?
David, aka QuakerDave.  Fifty, and proud of it.  Male.  Public school teacher.  None of your business (sorry).  Straight, but not narrow.  Married for 27 years.  Two [...]

Hockey Moms for Truth.

Enjoy the snark.

Happy Constitution Day!

I’m kind of swamped at work this week, so I don’t have time to construct an original essay about this day or this document, even though there are many, many things I could say, even if I am “an anti-American radical.”  This piece will have to do, and it does express something I have been feeling [...]