Tag: Christmas

Merry Christmas, happy Hanukah, and etcetera to everyone at Docudharma.  Peace on earth and good will to all.  

Okay, so yesterday was Christmas and much merriment was had by all. Except, as the media were determined to remind us, by Palestinian Christians suffering persecution by Muslim extremists. While the persecution certainly exists, it is plainly a sideshow to the Israeli occupation, which not only persecutes but kills Palestinians of all religious persuasions. It’s perfectly egalitarian in that sense: men, women, children, Muslims, Christians – no Palestinian is safe. But that story doesn’t fit with the “evil Muslims taking away Christmas” or the “war on terra” memes, and has therefore been marginalised.

In any event, ’tis the season to be jolly, so let’s look at the bright side: this will all be over within a year, as agreed upon at Annapolis. Both sides will work tirelessly and sincerely to achieve a final settlement. The Palestinian Authority will make real attempts to crack down on militant groups while Israel will freeze all settlement construction and dismantle all outposts, and will in no way attempt to use the structure of the roadmap to delay and obfuscate progress, as it has done in the past. Good, now that’s sorte – huh?:

OTB (2007)

Merry Christmas Dharmaniacs!

More pics below…   (w/ apology to dial-up connections)

I’ve written about the real War on Christmas- in Iraq. Well, the New York Times has this, today, from Baghdad:

Inside the beige church guarded by the men with the AK-47s, a choir sang Christmas songs in Arabic. An old woman in black closed her eyes while a girl in a cherry-red dress, with tights and shoes to match, craned her neck toward rows of empty pews near the back.

“Last year it was full,” said Yusef Hanna, a parishioner. “So many people have left – gone up north, or out of the country.”

In a safe neighborhood, in the midst of the relative calm of the current relative downturn in violence, this is still less than a Merry Christmas.

Iraq’s Christians have fared poorly since the fall of Saddam Hussein, with their houses or businesses frequently attacked. Some priests estimate that as much as two-thirds of the community, or about one million people, have fled, making Sacred Heart typical. Though a handful have recently returned from abroad, only 120 people attended Mass on Monday night, down from 400 two years ago.

But, of course, that was in a safe neighborhood. Elsewhere, the violence continues, irrespective of religion or season. The Washington Post reports:

Gunmen stopped a minibus driving north of Baghdad on Monday and abducted 13 Iraqi civilians inside, Iraqi police reported. The mass kidnapping was a renewed tactic that has grown increasingly rare as violence has ebbed in Iraq.

An ominous sign?

(more)

“Happy, happy Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions of our childhood days, recall to the old man the pleasures of his youth, and transport the traveler back to his own fireside and quiet home!” – Charles Dickens

Peace and Love,

Mike and Joanna

In keeping with the dd policy of being able to post any damn thing…and because I’m spending the night snuggled on the sofa with hot chocolate and Dickens…and don’t really care how horribly unsophisticated of me it might be, to post this passage entire…from the original Christmas Carol…

All hail the three wise men:

(Cross-posted at Daily Kos)

Santa, honey, last year you left a wonderful CD for me, a two-disc set, “The Very Best of Eartha Kitt,” which includes not one, but two, versions of “Santa, Baby.” Now Santa, you know Eartha had something to say, sort of a “let’s get real talk,” so leave a little time for a chat as you sweep by for cookies and milk tonight.

An honest chat. It doesn’t have to be long. I know you’re busy. I’ll be truthful and I’ll keep it short, I promise. (I’m too mature for sweet. We’ll let it go at that.)

I’ve thought long and hard about this gift business, and I almost sent word for you to skip my house this year. We give too much business, anyway, to the corporate lords. But something stopped me from mentally telegraphing that message to you.