Salem-News.com Holiday articles Page 1

It`s ALL a God Thing

Dorothy Day and Rachel Corrie told the stories of the oppressed. They both are dead, but as long as I can do something and have breath, I too will tell the stories I heard and try to be a peacemaker...

(CLERMONT, Fla.) - Over the last few days, Dorothy Day has come up in many conversations with local people as well as Internet connections.

Coming soon is my book review of ALL IS GRACE, A Biography of Dorothy Day, by Jim Forest who knew her as a friend and mentor.

Op Ed: `Deja Vu` For YOU, Too?
Deep Array of Desperate Situations Reflects Non-Developments Too Familiar

What Makes You Think There Are Any Positive Change Coming?

(SEASIDE, Ore.) - Long ago I learned never to look back but simply to jam down foot and keep driving... Worked fine when I had first license, in Maine, in early 30s... and I must disclose since it soon became professional habit in all I've undertaken ever since.

That may locate me deep within an undesirable wheeler-dealer category when car-contained, but for any job "in the media" and within communications at any level in all of this past half-century and more, it has been the Rule of The Day for most of us so entrapped.

UN Refugee Agency helps 200,000 vulnerable Afghans during cold winter months

As in previous years, the UN refugee agency’s assistance focuses on isolated rural places of high return.

(KABUL) - Winter is often the worst time of year for very vulnerable displaced Afghan families. But once again, UNHCR and its partners are delivering winter supplies to help these families, whether returning refugees or internally displaced, face the freezing temperatures.

As part of a coordinated response, together with Afghan authorities and other aid agencies, UNHCR will provide around 34,500 Afghan families – more than 200,000 individuals – with blankets, plastic sheets, fuel, and warm clothes such as sweaters, shawls, gloves, socks and waterproof shoes to stay warm and dry.

An atheist at Christmas: Oh come all ye faithless

For an atheist, one of the most interesting functions of Christmas is its fostering of a spirit of community.

(ALEXANDRIA, Egypt) - Christmas is inevitably a rather problematic time for atheists.

Does one sour the mood, somewhere between the turkey and the pudding, and overtly declare the entire festivity is built on the naivety and, if one’s feeling particularly spiky, the blatant stupidity of one’s ancestors?

The `gift` that continues to cause destruction - Christmas in Vietnam, 2011

Friends, I would like to ask you on reading this letter that perhaps you may wish to add your comments and write a letter to the office of Monsanto

(LONDON) - While in Ho Chi Minh City on 12th December I decided to deliver by hand a letter to the office of Monsanto. On arrival was told that the director was away on business out of the country, this was the same excuse given a few years earlier.

However I explained to the young Vietnamese lady my disappointment and asked that I would like to have a reply.

One Bruised Bumper Amid the Christmas Crunch

I was left with the feeling that the jingle of cash was the only green they savored.

(SALEM) - Some of us are able to maneuver around Holiday traffic by deploying sleigh and reindeer but for the vast majority of Americans we find ourselves relegated to using an old-fashioned high-octane auto.

I certainly fit credibly in that category.

Christmas in Heaven

Merry Christmas and God bless every family who has lost a loved one due to the tsunami of prescription drugs.

(MYRTLE BEACH, S.C.) - This poem was written by a 13 year old boy who died of a brain tumor that he had battled for four years. He died on December 14, 1997. He gave this to his mom before he died. His name was Ben.

I added the names of just some of the young people who have died because of the prescription drug epidemic and the pharmaceutical company, Purdue Pharma who lied about the addictive and abusive qualities of OxyContin.

Christ Under Occupation: Christmas in the Holy Land

In Israel, the indigenous Palestinians are labeled “Israeli-Arabs” and approximately 9% are Christian.

(CLERMONT, Fla.) - This weekend millions of cultural Christians throughout the world will flock into churches and sing “O Little Town of Bethlehem” and hear stories of Nazareth and Jerusalem. Too few know the 21st century realities about the land where Jesus/AKA The Prince of Peace promised that the Peacemakers are the children of God.

The indigenous Christian population in the Holy Land has shrunk from 20% in 1948 to less than 2% in Israel and the West Bank today.

Hundreds of Oregonians Occupy Their Post Offices in Response to Threat of Rural Closures

“Deadwood wouldn’t exist in ten years without the post office” - Leslie Benscoter, retired schoolteacher and Occupy the Post Office organizer in Deadwood, Oregon

(Scappoose, Ore.) - Hundreds of Oregonians Occupied 23 post offices across the state on Monday in response to the United States Postal Service’s threat to close 21 rural post offices.

Occupiers carried Christmas cards, cookies and gifts of appreciation to their postal workers and collected over 1,000 petition signatures asking Congress to reform laws that have caused the unnecessary funding crisis within the Postal Service.

650 Missing After Catastrophic Flood Strikes Philippine Islands

Experts warn that the death toll will be significantly higher before it is over.

(MINDANAO, Philippines) - Flashfloods that were triggered by tropical storm Sendong hit Cagayan de Oro City Saturday morning in the Philippines, leaving in its wake total devastation in many areas of Mindanao. The number of casualty continues to rise with death toll placed at 652, and nearly 800 are still missing.

Experts warn that the vast number of missing people could drive the death toll to more than 1400.