OMNI Blog

John Rule memorial Saturday

 in Current Events

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

 in homeless

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

 in Dick's Newsletter 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

 in WAR WATCH WEDNESDAYS

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 […]

We Must Be Relentless in Humanizing Palestinians -from Yes Magazine

 in Current Events

The fragile ceasefire could end at any moment. Most of the world sees that the bombing campaign is not a real solution to peace in the Middle East, but some parts of the Israeli government cling to violence as the only way. The humanity of both sides is lost in the firefight. “… A decade ago, analyst Norman Solomon pointed out … how Time Magazine defined “collateral damage” as “a term meaning dead or wounded civilians who should have picked a safer neighborhood.” That descriptor can easily be applied today to Gaza, a minuscule and densely populated strip of land […]

COP 28 Opens in Dubai

 in Climate

The Climate Moment …. What’s happening around the world about climate? Selected moments from the collection of Reevaluation Counseling leader Russ Vernon-Jones and shared by local Omni member Dorothy Marcy With great fanfare and angst on all sides the new COP – the Conference of Parties on climate change – gather this week. The clock is ticking on the enormity of the task and the potential for real action. There is great concern that this crucial meeting will be marred because the fossil fuel industry has forced itself into a leadership role in the organization of the COPs. This years […]

OMNI CLIMATE MEMO MONDAYS, #155, NOVEMBER 27, 2023

 in Climate Memo Mondays

Compiled by Dick Bennett.   https://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/2023/11/omni-climate-memo-mondays-155-november_30.html Continued: What’s stopping USA from reversing rising temperature, or at least from slowing it down? People who whitewash and delay consensus and public education of the UN IPCC Reports by recommending additional study of the Assessments.     Example: Steven Koonin.  Unsettled? What Climate Science Tells Us, What It Doesn’t, and Why It Matters.  BenBella, 2021.  IPCC Assessments report the conclusions of thousands of scientists in peer reviewed publications; these conclusions are then reviewed by governments and corporations, which can alter the Assessment reports in “Summaries.”   Koonin admits that “the IPCC’s ‘Summaries for Policymakers’ are heavily influenced, […]

OMNI CLIMATE MEMO MONDAYS, #155, NOVEMBER 27, 2023

 in Climate Memo Mondays

https://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/2023/11/omni-climate-memo-mondays-155-november.html What’s stopping USA from reversing rising temperature, or at least from slowing it down?  (A frequent subject in CMM.) Fossil Fuel IndustryPolitics of War, “Cold” and Hot.Religion: US Evangelicals.Overpopulation and still growing. What should each of us do to become an insurgency? Fossil Fuel IndustryJeremy Brecher.  Against Doom: A Climate Insurgency Manual. “…lays out key elements of a far-reaching global-scaled, pragmatic, people-powered strategy to topple the power of the fossil fuel industry and the institutions behind it.”  David Solnit. Politics of National Rivalry, Russophobia, War.Loveday Morris and Vanessa Guinan-Bank.  “Germany Seeing Return to Coal.”  Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (8-7-22).    [ It’s politics]:  […]