Everybody wants peace, but nobody does anything about it. Unless you live in Los Angeles where on Pearl Harbor Day the city council voted unanimously to create a cabinet-level U.S. Department of Peace. What else is new on the Left Coast?
Yes, Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States, wants a Department of Peace which would work proactively to reduce crime and violence here in the United States and abroad. The vote supported House Resolution 808 filed in the U.S. House of Representatives. The resolution now goes to the mayor for his signaturer.
Some of us old dogs remember that the Department of Defense was first known as the Department of War, so a Department of Peace might make sense if we lived in a peaceful world. Los Angeles joins 30 other governing councils around the country, including Oakland, Cleveland, Atlanta, West Hollywood and San Francisco in showing support for the measure.
According to the proposal, domestically, the Peace Department will research, propose and facilitate practical, field-tested solutions to reduce and prevent violence. It will provide additional financial and institutional heft to strengthen and complement our current approach to violence, focusing on prevention through multi-layered strategies, including increased funding for local programs already proven effective at reducing and preventing violence. A Peace Academy, on par with the Military Service Academies, will train civilian peacekeepers and the military in the latest nonviolent conflict resolution techniques and approaches.
Internationally, the Peace Department will research and analyze foreign policy and recommend to the president ways to address the root causes of war. The department will also provide expert advice to the president on nonviolent means of diffusing or dealing with international crises.
Sounds kind of touchy-feely, considering we have a State Department which is supposed to advise the president on what to do in international situations. Not that they haven't made some missteps of late.
Presidential candidates should be polled on how they stand on the Peace Department. If they want peace in our time or just give us a piece of their mind?
Doggie: Another grand plan from the lads in the Land of LaLa. Can't wait for the advise from "Experts?". I bet the Islamic Millies are going to hang on every word.
Tired in the Land Of Lincoln
THE HOUND SAYS: At least your tired in the Land of Lincoln instead of the Land of Fruits and Nuts. Maybe the Lost Angels City Council is hankering for the Nobel Peace Prize. They certainly won't get the prize for working to halt global warming.
Our tax dollars at work. Again.
Anyone out there ever heard of the Constitution of the United States?
Paging Ron Paul...