my care2
make a difference

community & fun

groups

get together & make a difference

 
 
This thread is displayed with the most recent posts first.
 Letter to Time Magazine clarifying the Department of Peace April 21, 2006 10:52 PM

In the article "Mark Dayton the Blunderer" in the April 24th issue, the writer referred to the Bill to establish a Department of Peace as "too liberal for the Republican-controlled body..."

For clarification sake, the Campaign to Establish a Department of Peace is not a partisan Bill.  Nor is the campaign another one of those "liberal" Anti-War movements. In fact, our campaign's embodies a fresh, new approach could be considered trans-partisan or moving beyond the polemics of typical, partisan politics. 
 
Consider the possibility that as world violence continues to increase, there is a correllating increase in the human longing for peace and non-violence.  This includes every American who is concerned about the very violence that is taking place in their own backyards.  I would surmise that not one elected official from either party would legislate for more violence in our neighborhoods and schools.  
 
Is it possible to move past the trivialities of partisan name-calling to initiate a meaningful dialogue about a growing All-American desire for peace and security?  You don't have to watch the news to realize that it's becoming the norm for citizens to react with violence as the first response.  It's time we unify as a nation that seeks preventative solutions to the all-pervasive violence that shackles us now. 
 
Imagine...Freedom from fear and violence. Now there's a real American dream that we can all work toward!
 
Cynthia Seymour
Florida State Coordinator
The Campaign for a Department of Peace
 
 
P.S. I would strongly encourage your writers to investigate and report on the activities of this historic movement.  For more information, please visit the website: http://www.thepeacealliance.org
 [ send green star]
 
I missed the conference! April 21, 2006 3:20 PM

So sorry I missed the conference and the opportunity to meet all the folks around Florida who share my vision of a Department of Peace.  I hope this forum will allow me to hook up with all of you.  I am leading the effort in Tallahassee and have met so many cool pepole locally who are willing to help with this initiative.  Just this past week we had our monthly meeting and a local Reverend who has been studying Rosenberg's Nonviolent Communication techniques - came and gave an overview on that topic.  I think people were pretty excited about the way this DOP thing provides an avenue for us all to work on the process of peace in every second of our own being.  Just thought I'd share that as an opener - in an effort to see who else is out there and what else others are doing.  [ send green star]  [ accepted]
 
anonymous Florida State Conference Article by Nicole King April 21, 2006 9:06 AM

PEACE ALLIANCE CELEBRATES FIRST CONFERENCE

NICOLE KING

DAVENPORT — Some were drawn by a desire to see a peaceful world. Others, out of curiosity. More than 60 people attended the The Peace Alliance’s Florida Conference April 7-9th.  While there, conference-goers attended seminars on topics such as fundraising, non-violent communication and team building.

Adrienne Lopez of Citrus County said she had been keeping up with the Peace Alliance online, but thought the conference was a time for her to get to know the people behind the movement. “I’m very pleased to meet so many people who have the same beliefs I have, and I met five women in my district I wouldn’t have met otherwise,” Lopez said.

District 14 leader Rick Gutierrez said he learned a lot from the seminars.

“I thought it had a lot of elements that were useful. My goal was to get a better understanding of the movement,” Gutierrez said.

The Peace Alliance seeks to establish a Department of Peace in the U.S. government through a bill that currently sits before both Houses of Congress.  The department would send a Secretary of Peace to advise the president and Congress on peaceful resolutions to domestic and international conflicts. The department would also develop policies and allocate resources to reduce domestic and gang violence, as well as child abuse.

“This campaign is very inspiring,” said Gainesville’s Dan Kahn. “This works deep and far and is about what we can do to evolve.”  Like many, Kahn learned about the campaign for the Department of Peace through congressman and former presidential candidate, Dennis Kucinich.

“I heard about it [the campaign] through Dennis Kucinich,” said Daniela Kornic from Gainesville.  Inspired to find out more about the movement, Kornic decided to attend the first Florida State conference for the Department of Peace.  “This is very promising,” she said. “I have so much gratitude for all the people here and who put it together. It’s one thing to have a heart to want to do things, but it’s another to be in a room with other people who have the same intent.”

The Department would also provide assistance to city, county and state governments in coordinating programs that would teach violence prevention and mediation to children. The department would also work to treat gang psychology, rehabilitate the prison population, create and administer a U.S. Peace Academy, and support the U.S. military with complementary approaches to peace building.

 During Florida’s conference, many who attended said they wanted to come to meet others who shared the same beliefs. “I came to get connected with other like-minded people for peace, and the peace movement,” said Cheryl Albers of Lakeland.

Bettina Mulle of Homasassa said that’s why she came too. “I felt I needed to support ideas and develop my own connection to the idea,” she said.

David Goguen of Naples is new to the Alliance. “This is larger than anything I’ve been involved in,” he said “It’s pretty incredible. They’re going to learn with each one.”

Frank Griecco of Barefoot Bay said he was leaving the conference energized for the movement and ready to build a local team in his area. “I wanted to be around people with synergy,” he said. “For a while, I was feeling like I was in outer space, on my own. It was very inspirational.”

 [report anonymous abuse]
 
Your Moment in History... March 23, 2006 7:08 PM

undefined
"Your moment in history..."
Watch our new promotional video! [see it now]
Click here for full screen version.

 [ send green star]
 
A Great Article by Lisa Earle McLeod October 10, 2005 9:00 PM

It’s Kumbaya Week at West PointBy Lisa Earle McLeod 
www.forgetperfect.com


There’s nothing like a man in uniform to make a woman swoon. If Richard Gere strutted into my office in his dress whites, I’d throw my laptop out the window, jump into his arms and hope he was more officer than gentleman.

But is putting on a uniform and being prepared to die for your country what it really means to be man?

I come from a proud line of military men. My grandfather was buried to a 21-gun salute in Arlington National Cemetery, my father served on an aircraft carrier in the Navy and my brother is a former Army Ranger.

As much as I admire our military, I have to wonder why we don’t have a similar national structure devoted to peace. Prestigious academies teach the art of war to the finest minds we’ve got, but aside from the mommy mantra “hands are not for hitting,” who’s out there teaching how to create peace?

The idea for a Department of Peace was actually introduced in 1792 by Benjamin Banneker - a brilliant astronomer, mathematician and surveyor of the future Washington, D.C. - and Dr. Benjamin Rush - a medical doctor and educator who signed the Declaration of Independence and trained Meriwether Lewis prior to the Lewis and Clark expedition. Banneker’s 1793 Almanac includes references to a Department of Peace to “balance” the Department of War. Patriotic friends like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson liked Banneker’s and Rush’s ideas.

Yet 213 years later, we still don’t have a Department of Peace. To some people, a Secretary of Peace brings to mind a mantra-chanting swami in white, flowing robes carrying an entourage of trained doves. And a Peace Academy sounds more like a flower-child retreat where the graduation ceremony includes three rounds of “Kumbaya” than is does a leader-grooming institution with the prestige of West Point.

While it may be more comforting to have an army of trained killers standing between you and the bad guys than it is to put your safety in the hands of highly skilled negotiators who understand the enemy’s point of view. At the end of the day, a country needs people capable of doing both.

No one would argue the need for a strong defense. But much like a savvy CEO counts on the differing perspectives of finance, operations and sales to make good decisions, there’s growing movement afoot to make sure the peace perspective has a seat at the table.

A bill to create a federal Department of Peace, headed by a Secretary of Peace who would be a member of the president’s Cabinet, is set to go before Congress Sept. 12. Introduced by Congressman Dennis Kucinich and endorsed by notables such as Walter Cronkite, the bill (www.dopcampaign.org) has garnered 53 congressional co-sponsors to date. It “establishes nonviolence as an organizing principle of American society, providing the U.S. President with an array of peace-building policy options for domestic and international use.”

I’ve never been much of a politico myself, but for the first time in my life, I’m lobbying my congressman. I’m embarrassed to say I had to do a quick Internet search to find out who he was, but I’ve sent him the email of the DOP Campaign web site and I’m requesting a meeting asking him to support this bill.

Is it the answer to all our problems? No, but it’s a good start.

Peace is inevitable – and we can either begin the process now or we can wait until half the planet is dead. At a certain point things are going to have to change.

The guys who know how to win fights will always be heroes, but unless we start learning how to avoid them, there won’t be anybody around to polish their medals. Generations of men and women didn’t lay down their lives for us to keep repeating the same scenarios over and over again.

Walking under swords held by chiseled men ready to fight for your honor is a compelling vision. But here’s a scenario that makes me feel even more patriotic--

It’s graduation day at the Peace Academy. My daughter stands in her dress-white suit with her long blond hair pulled back in a bun. As she squares her shoulders and walks up to the platform, the military men of her family look on, some in spirit, some seated in the front row.

Her great-grandfather watches in his stiffly pressed green uniform, his hard-won colonel’s eagles perched on his lapels. Her grandfather, the 2nd class petty officer with grease under his nails who was arming nuclear bombs at age 21, joins him, as does her uncle, an Army Ranger trained to survive torture and kill a man with his bare hands.

As the pristine young woman walks under the canopy of flags and accepts her diploma, the three soldiers’ eyes fill with tears. And as she turns to face the crowd, they rise and in unison they bring their hands to their brows to offer her a crisp salute. She is a leader, she is a patriot and she has made them proud.

My dad, former Petty Officer Jay Earle, is going to Washington with me this fall. We’ll be sitting in the Congressional Gallery Sept. 12 when the Department of Peace bill is introduced. As he says, “This is big, this is really big, and I want my grandkids to know I helped start it.”

An honorable man fights for his women. And a smart man knows that the best weapon isn’t always a gun.

(ATTENTION EDITORS: This Forget Perfect™ column is for release March 20 and is STRICTLY EMBARGOED until that date.)

Lisa Earle McLeod is a syndicated columnist, a nationally
 [ send green star]
 
anonymous Peace Related Articles October 03, 2005 6:21 AM

Write one or copy & paste one that moves you...  [report anonymous abuse]  [ accepted]
 
  New Topic              Back To Topics Read Code of Conduct

 

This group:
Florida Peace Alliance
45 Members

View All Topics
New Topic

Track Topic
Mail Preferences


Copyright © 2009 Care2.com, inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved