OMNI Blog


Saturday Gaza Protest

Sat Dec 16 – 11:00-1:00 – Court House Dickson and College Omni folks, we are invited to join the protests against this terrible situation in Gaza that’s simply not acceptable. Saturday – tomorrow – please bring a poster that expresses your feelings and stand with those who call for ceasefire and an end to the bitter carnage. This situation does not help Israel. It’s time for peace.


GAZA ANTHOLOGIES # 13December 16, 2023

Compiled by Dick Bennett for a Culture of Peace, Justice, and Ecology. (#1: 3-3-08; #2 Nov. 16, 2012; #3 Nov. 17, 2013; #4 May 31, 2014; #5 July 28, 2014; #6 August 30, 2014; #7 April 8, 2015; #8 May 13, 2021; #9, October 15, 2023; #10, October 23, 2023; #11, Nov. 4 and Nov. 7, 2023; #12 , Nov. 16, 2023).http://omnicenter.org/donate/ Jam the Phone Lines Today.”  12-4-23  .https://www.palestineinamerica.com/blog/A%20Palestinian%20you%20should%20know:%20Ahmad%20Abuznaid Support RefugeesUNRWA USA National CommitteeATTN: Nahed Elrayes, Emergency Fund for Palestine RefugeesPO Box 18697Washington, DC 20036 SourcesOn foreign policy, US mainstream media (The Washington Post, CNN) mainly reports the government’s point […]


OMNI WAR WATCH WEDNESDAYS, #156, DECEMBER 13, 2023

— Compiled by Dick Bennett    https://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/2023/12/omni-war-watch-wednesdays-156-december.html GAZA in The NationThe December 18, 2023 number provides five articles entirely or partly about the eradication of Gaza and demands for a ceasefire. D. D.  Guttenplan (for The Nation).  “Stop the War.”  “An immediate cease-fire remains the essential first step…”Mohammed El-Kurd.  “The Right to Speak for Ourselves.”  “Palestinians are denied the freedom to tell our own story.”Atef Abu Saif.  “A Month in Gaza.”   “Life and death under the bombardment.”Spencer Ackerman.  “Forever Wars. The ‘rules based international order’ is all about US hegemony.”Elie Mystal.  “Biden on the Brink.”   The “Trump would be worse” argument isn’t […]


OMNI CLIMATE MEMO MONDAYS, #156, DECEMBER 4, 2023

https://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/2023/12/omni-climate-memo-mondays-156-december.html Doing What’s Within Our Power Where We Are to REDUCE REDUCING POPULATION GROWTH, Making Our Families SMALL,Milton Saier, Jr.  “Save the Earth; [If You Already Have a Child] Don’t Give Birth.”  Free Inquiry (April/May 2023).  The article concludes:  “The human population now exceeds eight billion and is expected to reach ten billion in thirty years.”  [This statement is supported by a citation from the UN, footnote #11. ] “This fact alone guarantees suffering and premature death over much of the globe, not just for a few but for billions of people. . . .It seems that only with a […]


John Rule memorial Saturday

Saturday Dec 9, 2023 – 1:00 pm – Omni Center Long-time Omni people remember John Rule as the poet on the corner of our table on the square, or reading his work at Open Mic. John passed peacefully on Oct 25. His partner of the past decade Ruth Francis, passed just one week before him. His dear wife Margaret passed in 2009. John and Margaret lived for many years in a moss-covered fairy-tale cottage in the deep Arkansas woods. There’s lots to remember about him. John’s granddaughter Sarah K. Moore and his family invite Omni friends to join them for […]


Homeless Solutions: Patching the Cracks in the broken system

Homelessness is a complex system of needs and greeds that can’t be fixed with a few patches. But that’s were we are right now. We do what we can and learn from the experience. A group of concerned Omni folks and friends are holding meetings about solutions to this very wicked problem bubbling up over our area, and a newsletter about their work will be launching in January. If you’d like to receive the Homeless Solutions Post to find out what solutions are emerging, please drop a note to omni@omnicenter.org and say “put me on the “Solutions” list. More inspiration: […]


“PEARL HARBOR DAY,” COLONIAL PACIFIC WORLD WAR II ANTHOLOGY #9, December 7, 2023

Compiled by Dick Bennett for a Culture of Peace, Justice, and Ecology. TEXTS “What Happened After Pearl Harbor Is a Reminder of the Danger of Stereotypes and Conspiracy Theories” BY CHRISTOPHER MCKNIGHT NICHOLS AND CAMERON GIVENS.   lIFE (DECEMBER 7, 2023 ). https://time.com/6343399/pearl-harbor-conspiracies-crises/ In the two months since the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel, the U.S. has witnessed an outbreak of antisemitic and anti-Palestinian and Islamophobic episodes. These incidents have been a painful reminder of how some Americans, in the aftermath of national or international crisis, tend to project blame onto entire identity groups, regardless of individual actions or beliefs. Such crude stereotyping has often relied […]


OMNI WAR WATCH WEDNESDAYS, #155, DECEMBER 6, 2023

https://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/2023/12/omni-war-watch-wednesdays-155-december.html Gaza Decimation: New Book by Finkelstein Usaid Siddiqui.  “Book Review: Gaza: An Inquest into Its Martyrdom.”  The New Arab.  28 Feb., 2018. Norman Finkelstein’s work is an incisive guide to Gaza’s destruction, offering crucial analysis rarely found in the western media, writes Usaid Siddiqui. A July 2017 Amnesty International report raised the alarm over Gaza, calling attention to the deteriorating conditions in the besieged territory, which was witnessing the rapid collapse of its health system, and what it described as “crisis point”.  In unambiguous terms, the report singled out Israel’s “brutal land, sea and air blockade” responsible for the mass suffering of […]