Yes, I live in the state of Minnesota, while many of our congressmen (and women) live in the state of denial. :banghead:
http://www.startribune.com/stories/587/5630393.html
Dayton endorses federal peace department
Kevin Diaz, Star Tribune Washington Bureau Correspondent
September 23, 2005 PEACE0923
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- In what peace activists call a milestone, Sen. Mark Dayton, D-Minn., introduced legislation Thursday supporting a long-shot citizen lobbying effort to create a U.S. Department of Peace and Nonviolence.
He is the first and, so far, only member of the U.S. Senate to publicly endorse the plan.
A remnant of the quixotic 2004 presidential candidacy of Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, the idea of a "Peace Department" has been derided by critics as utopian and naïve, while supporters say it is an idea whose time has come.
Almost half of Minnesota's congressional delegation -- all the Democrats but one -- have lined up in support of the campaign, which calls for a cabinet-level secretary to develop an array of policies from international conflict-resolution to reducing domestic abuse and violence against animals.
Nobody gives the plan much of a chance in a Republican Congress. But backers in Minnesota -- where Kucinich turned in one of his best electoral performances -- say their support is intended as a political statement.
"It sends the right message," said Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn. "It's about promoting justice, expanding human rights and preventing conflict."
Besides McCollum, Minnesota Democrats Martin Sabo and Jim Oberstar are cosponsoring Dayton's bill.
Minnesota is one of 12 states whose Democratic Party has endorsed the plan.
"It underscores Minnesota's forward-looking approach to government," Kucinich said. "That's what Minnesota is about. It's the one state where new ideas are welcomed."
The Minnesota Republican Party, however, is adamantly opposed, having chastised Democratic congressional candidate Coleen Rowley, who spoke at a Department of Peace conference in Washington on Sept. 11.
"Money would be taken away from the Department of Defense to fund programs such as a Peace Academy and prisoner rehabilitation," said a statement issued last week by Minnesota GOP Executive Director Bill Walsh. "The creation of a Department of Peace is a naïve and unreasonable approach to dealing with the problems of the 21st century, including international terrorism."
Detractors say that a new peace bureaucracy, along with its proposed $8 billion-a-year price tag -- pegged at 2 percent of the Pentagon budget -- is just another big government idea that will never happen. But Minnesota voters are likely to hear more about it in the coming election year.
The Minnesota GOP highlighted the Peace Department proposal to attack Rowley for joining forces with "liberal extremists." Rowley, who became a national figure for blowing the whistle on FBI shortcomings before the Sept. 11 attacks, is now challenging Rep. John Kline, R-Minn, a former Marine colonel with strong ties to the Pentagon.
Rowley dismissed the GOP's extremist tag, saying "that's their tactic. Everything they don't want to do, they call you a name."
Kevin Diaz is at [email protected]
_________________
I like my 2nd sig line more all the time.
http://www.startribune.com/stories/587/5630393.html
Dayton endorses federal peace department
Kevin Diaz, Star Tribune Washington Bureau Correspondent
September 23, 2005 PEACE0923
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- In what peace activists call a milestone, Sen. Mark Dayton, D-Minn., introduced legislation Thursday supporting a long-shot citizen lobbying effort to create a U.S. Department of Peace and Nonviolence.
He is the first and, so far, only member of the U.S. Senate to publicly endorse the plan.
A remnant of the quixotic 2004 presidential candidacy of Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, the idea of a "Peace Department" has been derided by critics as utopian and naïve, while supporters say it is an idea whose time has come.
Almost half of Minnesota's congressional delegation -- all the Democrats but one -- have lined up in support of the campaign, which calls for a cabinet-level secretary to develop an array of policies from international conflict-resolution to reducing domestic abuse and violence against animals.
Nobody gives the plan much of a chance in a Republican Congress. But backers in Minnesota -- where Kucinich turned in one of his best electoral performances -- say their support is intended as a political statement.
"It sends the right message," said Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn. "It's about promoting justice, expanding human rights and preventing conflict."
Besides McCollum, Minnesota Democrats Martin Sabo and Jim Oberstar are cosponsoring Dayton's bill.
Minnesota is one of 12 states whose Democratic Party has endorsed the plan.
"It underscores Minnesota's forward-looking approach to government," Kucinich said. "That's what Minnesota is about. It's the one state where new ideas are welcomed."
The Minnesota Republican Party, however, is adamantly opposed, having chastised Democratic congressional candidate Coleen Rowley, who spoke at a Department of Peace conference in Washington on Sept. 11.
"Money would be taken away from the Department of Defense to fund programs such as a Peace Academy and prisoner rehabilitation," said a statement issued last week by Minnesota GOP Executive Director Bill Walsh. "The creation of a Department of Peace is a naïve and unreasonable approach to dealing with the problems of the 21st century, including international terrorism."
Detractors say that a new peace bureaucracy, along with its proposed $8 billion-a-year price tag -- pegged at 2 percent of the Pentagon budget -- is just another big government idea that will never happen. But Minnesota voters are likely to hear more about it in the coming election year.
The Minnesota GOP highlighted the Peace Department proposal to attack Rowley for joining forces with "liberal extremists." Rowley, who became a national figure for blowing the whistle on FBI shortcomings before the Sept. 11 attacks, is now challenging Rep. John Kline, R-Minn, a former Marine colonel with strong ties to the Pentagon.
Rowley dismissed the GOP's extremist tag, saying "that's their tactic. Everything they don't want to do, they call you a name."
Kevin Diaz is at [email protected]
_________________
I like my 2nd sig line more all the time.
