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Spreading the Word

Submitted by Susan Livingston on February 8, 2007 - 11:04am.
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The Department of Peace Campaign had a presence at the Teach-In on Iraq Policy at Emory-Henry College in southwest Virginia yesterday. Each speaker had five minutes. I was particularly impressed by the offering of Pat Gaskin of the ElderSpirit Community in Abingdon, VA where I intend to be living in the not-too-distant future. It was an anonymous meditation that reminded me of what Dennis Kucinich said about how the tragedy at the WTC on September 11, 2001 could have been framed as our opportunity to build community locally and globally.

The Power of One

As the soot and dirt and ash rained down, we became one color.
As we carried each other down the stairs of the burning building, we became one class.
As we lit candles of waiting and hope, we became one generation.
As the firefighters and police officers fought their way into the inferno, we became one gender.
As we fell to our knees in prayer for strength, we became one faith.
As we whispered or shouted words of encouragement, we spoke one language.
As we gave our blood in lines a mile long, we became one body.
As we mourned together the great loss, we became one family.
As we cried tears of grief and loss, we became one soul.
As we retell with pride of the sacrifice of heroes, we become one people.

We are one color, one class, one generation, one gender, one faith, one language, one body, one family, one soul, one people.

We are the power of one.

I spoke immediately after Pat. I began with a question: "Is anyone here familiar with the legislation called HR808? No? I'll give you a hint: It was introduced by Dennis Kucinich." After about 10 seconds of silence, I explained the legislation. I ended my talk by putting "cut and run" on my right palm and "stay the course" on my left, spreading my arms wide, and asking, "Are these really the only two options we have? Ask the Department of Peace!"

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Take the Pledge

Submitted by poetry on June 21, 2007 - 9:43pm.

Take the Pledge

All Presidential Candidates should make pledges like those below. If they refuse, then you should refuse to vote for them.

1. No More Oil Wars.

2. Work for independence from foreign oil on day one.

3. No more wars for corporate profit.

4. No more secret deals for $4 per gallon gas.

5. No more Chicken Hawks promoting wars of choice when they themselves avoided combat.

6. Make government green--if you can't make what you have the most control over green, I don't care about your plans to make the country green.

7. No more torture.

8. No more lying about torture.

9. No more re-defining torture.

10. No more drunken hunting.

11. No more secret deals with big corporations to divide up the spoils before the war even starts.

ideas and skills

Submitted by Jason White on February 8, 2007 - 1:51pm.

Susan Livingston wrote:
I ended my talk by putting "cut and run" on my right palm and "stay the course" on my left, spreading my arms wide, and asking, "Are these really the only two options we have? Ask the Department of Peace!"

That's it in a nutshell. We have, as a nation, so much more imagination and so many more skills than that. We just need the ideas and practices infused into our institutions at the highest levels of authority.