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Understanding the Hamas Israeli War

A family member recently asked my opinion about the Israeli/Hamas conflict. I was at dinner, so I gave a glib response and returned to my meal. My glib answer bothers me. This conflict is important and merits more thought. I am horrified by the carnage on both sides of the conflict. Though the hand-to-hand carnage of the initial Hamas attack has more visceral impact with its rapes and beheadings, the large scale, mechanized carnage by Israel is also horrific. Both sides have left us with hundreds of maimed and dead babies, children, and old people. Corpses look pretty much the same and stink about the same whether they are created by hand, up close and personal, or by bombing, remote and mechanically. Of course, like most modern people in the West, my sympathies tilt mostly toward Israel in this specific case. Hamas attacked first, stealthily and brutally, catching Israel off guard. They attacked mostly defenseless civilians. They not only killed but mutilated in an orgy of senseless v
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107th Congress

Though I belong to neither national US party, I most clearly identify with and vote most often for Democrats. Since the rise of Trumpism, I have been most dismayed by the Republican party. I have an unexamined feeling that the Democratic party better serves my interests than does the Republican party, but I have not looked closely at the issue. So I propose to review the legislation promoted and passed by both parties over the past 22 years. Since the 107th Congress met from 3 Jan 2001 through 3 Jan 2003, the first two years of George W Bush's first term as president, I am starting there. By and large, the Republican party held the reins of power during the 107th: governing the presidency, the House, and mostly the Senate, though Jeffries' (VT) defection from the Republicans to Independent who caucused with Democrats gave the Democrats control of the Senate for a short time. However, the Republicans never had an overwhelming margin in either the House or the Senate. Still, mos
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SWT: Introduction

In this blog, I intend to collect and analyze the stories that have framed and informed the Church of God, a pentecostal Christian denomination originating in the mountains of western North Carolina as the Nineteenth century melted into the Twentieth. My family worshipped in this denomination. My father was a Church of God minister for all of his adult life and my mother a minister's wife. I was the oldest of five preacher's kids (PKs) who were born into and grew up in this faith family. The stories of the Church of God have framed my understanding of the world and shaped my trajectory through it. I think that understanding those stories will help me understand myself and will help me write the novel that I'm writing about the rise of the Church of God in middle Georgia during the Twentieth century. The avatars of my family figure prominently. I should, then, begin by exploring my narrative theory. What is it about narratives that makes them so important? Of course, as a st
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