Medard Gabel sent this along ~
Wreaths for Peace Update
The Wreaths for Peace purchase deadline has been extended to November 22nd!Every wreath sold will benefit Pacem in Terris and support activities for peace and social justice in our community and throughout our world. New deadline for ordering is now November 22, 2013.
Pacem in Terris Has Moved! Why?
Pacem in Terris is now located at Wilmington Friends Meetinghouse, 401 N. West Street, Wilmington, DE 19801. Phone and email remain the same: 302-656-2721 and info@depaceminterris.org Someone asked me why did we move? I hadn't realized that not everyone knew the answer to this. The answer is-- our old building has been sold. St. Stephen's Lutheran Church, the building's owner, decided they no longer needed the building. It had been on the market for over a year.
Wilmington Update
Fortune 500 Companies, a Central Location and Low Taxes Can’t Fix Wilmington Delaware’s Biggest City Is Ripe for Reinvention. What’s Missing?At a moment when cities are at the fore of a global conversation about the future, it’s interesting to look at Wilmington, a center of U.S. trade like none other. Delaware’s largest city, molded into a financial capital after more than a century of looser and looser regulations, has quixotically failed to become a capital of commerce. Money flows in and out but leaves remarkably few traces on Wilmington, which serves as an address for 1 million companies that have tellingly created a mere 51,000 local jobs — most of which don’t go to residents of the city proper. Some experts even place Wilmington in the same ranks as Switzerland or the Cayman Islands in terms of corporate “offshoring.” Meanwhile, unemployment stands at 11.3 percent and in 2012, there were 27 murders in this city of 71,000. Furthermore, whatever revenue the insular banks and financial institutions based do generate for the city has been put in jeopardy since the financial crisis. Read more.
War Update
Ross Caputi will be screening his film, Fear Not the Path of Truth, on November 20th-- see Upcoming Events on the right. He writes, "Veterans Day is one of the worst days of the year for me. It makes me remember what I am a veteran of, and I think about the city I helped destroy as a Marine in Iraq, the thousands of civilians I helped kill and the hundreds of thousands of civilians I helped drive from their homes during the 2nd siege of Fallujah. Those are memories I would like to forget."I participated in the second siege of Fallujah, which is commonly regarded as the bloodiest operation of the occupation of Iraq. There are many important things to note about this operation—the high civilian casualties, the indiscriminate manner in which the operation was carried out and the fact that we leveled 70 percent of a city three times the size of Wilmington. But what will forever stick with me is the enormous gap between the reality of what we did to Fallujah and what the American public believed that we did." Read his full article here. It is very informative, and very powerful. Everyone who cares about peace needs to read this.
World Update
“World Toilet Day” No Joke for Billions Without Sanitation It is no accident that sanity and sanitation are derived from the same root word.
The United Nations has a longstanding tradition of commemorating political milestones – like the abolition of the slave trade – or sustaining day-long vigils on controversial issues such as a ban on nuclear tests.The annual events have covered a wide range of political, social and economic issues, including World Cancer Day, World Press Freedom Day, World Refugee Day, World AIDS Day, World Population Day and World Water Day. With over 2.5 billion people lacking adequate sanitation, and over a billion getting seriously sick as a result, it is time the world deals with this problem by at least recognizing it. November 19 is the first annual World Toilet Day.
Death Penalty Update
The Republican DE House of Representatives just posted on their Facebook about the death penalty: "Sixty percent of Americans favor the death penalty for convicted murderers, down from a peak of 80 percent that favored capital punishment in 1994. The results come from a recent Gallup poll. A bill seeking to repeal Delaware's death penalty is currently tabled in the House Judiciary Committee, after narrowly passing the Senate earlier this year. Should the committee vote to release the bill, allowing the measure to be considered by the full House? Or do you support the committee's decision to table the bill and maintain the status quo?"DE Citizens Opposed to the Death Penalty needs as many people as possible to comment on this in support of releasing SB 19. Please click on the link above and comment that SB 19 should be released for a full vote in the House!
Video of the week/Death Penalty Update, part 2
Quote of the week
“Violence is a learned behavior. It can be unlearned.”--Amy Ellenbogen, Director, Crown Heights Community Mediation CenterHope sees the invisible, feels the intangible, and achieves the impossible."The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me."
Upcoming Events
• November 18, Monday, 7 pm. Meeting: Wilmington in Transition at Wilmington Friends Meeting House, 401 N. West St., Wilmington., DE 19801• November 19, Tuesday, 5- 6:30 pm, Talk: Reclaiming Our Democracy: An Evening on Civic Engagement and Community Advocacy, Speakers: Sam Daley-Harris, author, Reclaiming Our Democracy, Mariana Chilton, Director of the Center for Hunger-Free Communities, Jennifer Johnson Kebea, Director of the Lindy Center for Civic Engagement, Donna DeCarolis, Dean of the Charles D. Close School of Entrepreneurship. Mitchell Auditorium, Bossone Research Center, 3140 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104• November 20,Wed. 6:30 to 8:30 pm. Film: Fear Not the Path of Truth— a veteran’s journey after Fallujah. University of Delaware Sharp Lab, room 130. More info.• November 23, Sat. 7 pm. Fundraiser: Elsmere Community Garden Party & Fundraiser. Mulrooney's Tavern in Elsmere, DE. Come out to support this community initiative that advocates for food, health, and environmental sustainability. $15 on-line or at the door.• November 25, Mon. 7 pm. Lecture: Sally Milbury-Steen speaks on her work on social justice issues with a particular focus on faith and peace-making. Wilmington Friends School.• November 26, Tues. 6:00 pm. Interfaith Thanksgiving Celebration, Veggie-Dairy Pot Luck Meal. Peninsula-McCabe United Methodist Church, 2200 Baynard Blvd., Wilmington• November 28, Thurs. 9:00 am. 5K Benefit: Sierra Club "Turkey Trot". Papermill Park on Papermill Rd. Newark, De. Work up an appetite and support the hard work of the Delaware Chapter of the Sierra Club.• November 29, Fri. 1-3pm. Event: Wilmington in Transition's Bazaar Exchange (Swap Don't Shop!). Westminster Presbyterian Church, Wilmington, DE. Please bring CLEAN, GENTLY-USED, 'gift-worthy' items for which you no longer have a need, and exchange them for different items. Make "Black Friday" greener!• December 7, Sat., 8:30 -3 pm. Summit: "Men of Color: Health, Wellness, & Empowerment". Delaware Technical Community College, Wilmington campus. Workshops for ages 12 and up. Free and open to the public.• December 7, 9-2 pm. Wreath for Peace Pickup! Remember to stop by your pickup location, either Newark United Methodist Church or St. Paul's United Methodist Church, to receive your ordered Wreaths for Peace.• December 8, Sun. 3-6 pm. Event: Wilmington in Transition's 4th Annual Local Gift Holiday Fair. Westminster Presbyterian Church, Wilmington, DE. Holiday gift shopping with local artisans and businesses. Free admission and parking!• December 15, Sunday, 4- 6:00 pm. Talk: Noa Baum. Israeli storyteller weaves together memories and her mothers' stories to create a moving testimony that illuminates the complex and contradictory history and emotions surrounding Jerusalem, for Israelis and Palestinians alike. Free and open to the public. Siegel JCC Auditorium, 101 Garden of Eden Road, Wilmington, DE 19803
Gun Violence Update
Climate Change Update
TVA closing 8 coal units at plants in Alabama and Kentucky. The nation's largest public utility is shuttering eight coal-fired boilers at plants in Alabama and Kentucky, and more reductions could be in store over the next few years.
250 square mile glacier breaks off Antarctica. Between November 9–11, 2013, a large iceberg finally separated from the calving front of Antarctica’s Pine Island Glacier. Scientists first detected a rift in the glacier in October 2011 during flights for NASA’s Operation IceBridge. By July 2013, infrared and radar images indicated that the crack had cut completely across the ice shelf to the southwestern edge. New images now show that Iceberg B-31 is finally moving away from the coast, with open water between the iceberg and the edge of Pine Island Glacier.
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