True hardship

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Commentary: There is much for which we should be thankful

People are out of work. Homes have been lost to foreclosure. Investments have soured and savings have been depleted. Businesses have gone under. Government services have been cut. The country is at war, with no victory in sight.

What in the world do we have to celebrate on this Thanksgiving Day?

Many among us might be wondering that very thing today, in these times of tremendous turmoil and trouble.

Twin blasts kill 40 Shiite pilgrims in Iraq

A car bomb ripped through a crowd of Shiite pilgrims outside the holy city of Karbala Friday, sending many fleeing into the path of a suicide attacker who detonated a second bomb in coordinated blasts that killed at least 40 people and wounded 150.

The twin bombing came on the final day of an annual Shiite religious observance, which has been the target of three large-scale attacks in Iraq this week alone. In Pakistan, two bombs targeting Shiites observing the same holy day Friday killed at least 25 people and wounded around 100 more.

The bloodshed in Iraq is likely to further stoke tensions between the Shiite-led government and Sunnis over the push to ban some candidates from March 7 parliamentary elections. The U.S. is concerned the ban could destabilize Iraq, crippling efforts to reconcile majority Shiites and Sunnis who dominated Iraq until Saddam Hussein's ouster in 2003.

Feasting and fasting

'It's Thanksgiving - time to put our feedbags on," my family likes to say as we elbow for room next to the Pilgrim and Puritan ghosts the holiday summons to our table. Our colonial forebears probably would not disapprove of our having second and third helpings of sweet potatoes and stuffing, or even rushing off to watch football after the meal - the Pilgrims themselves played lots of games at that first Thanksgiving in 1621. But I imagine they would find fault with our binge for another reason: It is not accompanied by a fast.

To the Pilgrims and Puritans, the community-wide fast, or "day of public humiliation and prayer," and the thanksgiving feast, or day of "public thanksgiving and praise," were equal halves of the same ritual.

But the fast was not merely a justification for a community-wide gorging. Both customs were important components of a religious rite that served to pacify an angry God who was believed to punish entire communities for the sins of the few with starvation, "excessive rains

Thousands join Palm Sunday march

Thousands of Christian pilgrims waved palm fronds Sunday as they marched from the Mount of Olives into Jerusalem's Old City to re-enact Jesus' triumphant return.

In Jesus' birthplace, Bethlehem, Palestinian Christians turned their Palm Sunday procession into a demonstration against Israel's West Bank separation barrier.

Palm Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week, leading up to Good Friday, which marks the crucifixion of Jesus, and Easter, celebrating the resurrection.

Iraqi police: Car bomb kills 27 Shiite pilgrims

A suicide attacker detonated a car bomb Friday alongside a crowd of Shiite pilgrims walking to a holy city south of Baghdad, killing at least 27 people and wounding 60, Iraqi police officials said.

Shiite pilgrims have been targeted by several bombings in recent days, and Friday's attack struck during the culmination of a pilgrimage in which hundreds of thousands walked to the city of Karbala to mark a Shiite holy day.

The blast occurred shortly after noon just east of one of three main entrances to Karbala, a police official said. At least 60 were wounded in the explosion, he added.