Sandy Hook

Sandy Hook

Friday, July 23, 2010

Department of Peace

Guest author: Judy T.

Tom and I talk about peace a lot. We have great admiration for the peacemakers of the world. One of our favorite Congresspersons ever is Dennis Kucinich, America's most courageous politician. I like him for his brave stand on many issues--ending the war in Iraq, protecting the environment, being aggressive in pursuing renewable energy technology, and fighting for workers' rights.

Many people think he is a wack job because this plucky little man is gutsy enough and honorable enough to create and fight for idealistic legislation so visionary that it seems beyond hopeless to dream that it could ever become law. He doesn't seem to care about what it does to his reputation as long as he stays true to himself and his ideals, does what he thinks is best for his country, and gets the opportunity to raise the public consciousness about the issues. He is also the most liberal member of Congress, another reason why I like him of course, and why many do not!

The primary piece of legislation he is known for, the one that I most admire, is his Bill H.R. 808 to establish a cabinet-level Department of Peace. He originally introduced it in 2001, and then in every session of Congress thereafter.

Most people don't realize that his is not the first such legislation. The idea of a Department of Peace was first written about by Benjamin Rush, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and in 1935 the first Department of Peace bill was introduced, followed by some 85 others over the years since.

One of the basic provisions of his bill is the creation of a Peace Academy, modeled after the military academies except the 4 year course of study is in peace education, after which graduates will be required to serve 5 years in public service in programs dedicated to domestic or international nonviolent conflict resolution; and it also provides grants for peace studies departments in colleges and universities throughout the United States.

There is a lot more to the bill, much of it having to do with reducing violence here at home and international peacebuilding. Read about it on the The Peace Alliance website and just imagine if it became law what a different world this would be.
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Judy writes that David Cook is also a peace maker who teaches a course in Peace Studies. His absorbing and illuminating story is here. If you don't have time to read it now, at least link to it and bookmark it for an excellent read a little later. You won't regret it.
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Judy T. and her husband Tom T. are owners of Two Seeds on a Blog. Some of their articles include: Killing for Fun - Military Madness; Ragheads, Rednecks and Green Machines; and most recently, Secrecy Sucks: Spooky, Snoopy Spies Run Amuck. Judy and Tom live in S.C. where he practices law.

10 comments:

  1. A politician true to his principles no matter what. What a concept. I believe the founding fathers were idealistic in that manner, and were will to face king George's hanging rope, to see their vision of a free America.
    Nice post. I did not read all the links yet, I will later.

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  2. The one thing that makes DK stand out for me is his unrelenting trying to impeach GWB and standing on the floor of the house reading those articles of impeachment. I wish more of them had come to his side and had been wiliing to call GWB out for the criminal he was and oh by the way still is, since service members are still being killed to this day.

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  3. Kucinich is one of the few truth sayers that we have.
    Imagine a Kucinich/Sanders ticket?

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  4. I like Dennis Too. What Pisses me off is that MSM doesn't take him serious. He's made fun of and they show no respect. An example of this is when Tim Russert's first question to him at the debates was (So you've seen an UFO). Dennis answered it well.
    As you may recall he was made fun of even at that point as the audience laughed. For a ticket I would like is Grayson and Sanders. It would never happen but I wish. Dennis as Secretary of State.

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  5. Kucinich is going to continue to be ignored, unfortunately.

    Congress is owned by oil, big pharma, insurance and the massive war machine. There's no way the pukes in Congress are going to eliminate their flow of money from their lobbyists and contributors.

    The problem is that visionaries don’t have the elitist's visions in mind.

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  6. I like both of these men very much. Kucinich leans toward pro-life and Sanders' age bothers me - 2 months older than Mother Goose here. Kind of odd that one state could vote for a Kuchinich while supporting an ass like Boehner.

    Anyway, by hook or crook, maybe he will get this bill for a Dept. of Peace passed. Since we're such a war-oriented nation, I don't have much hope.

    The article by David Cook should not be overlooked. Besides being educational it is, well, it's peaceful.

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  7. Another educational piece for me. I of course seen and heard of Kucinich, but didnt know much of anything about the Guy.

    Thank You Ms.Leslie!

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  8. "Kucinich leans toward pro-life"

    I was not aware of this. One thing to like about him. This stance sure fits in with the ideas of compassion and caring for the powerless, and opposing violence.

    I looked into the Dept of Peace proposal a few years ago, and actually found little to object to about it. I wonder if the laudable but hardly ever mentioned Peace Corps should be folded into it.

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  9. RC: I have a lot of admiration for the little man. WIKI has a pretty good write up for a change.

    dmarks: Best to leave the Peace Corps wherever it is - might get destroyed otherwise.

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  10. Checking out the Dept. For Peace and the new blogs! Thank you for the heads up!

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