This week’s 8th Day Bulletin brings you information about supporting the new Space Preservation Act of 2002, as well as a thoughtful reflection on these times entitled, Prayer for America. The author of both of these efforts is Rep. Dennis Kucinich, Democrat from Ohio.
Space Ban Bill
Rep. Dennis Kucinich(D-OH) has re-introduced the new HR3616, Space Preservation
Act of
2002....“To preserve the cooperative, peaceful uses of space for the
benefit of all humankind by
prohibiting the basing of weapons in space and the use of weapons to
destroy or damage objects in space that are in orbit, and for other purposes.”
The bill calls on the U.S. to ban all research, development, testing,
and deployment of space-based
weapons and if passed would require the U.S. to enter negotiations
toward a World Treaty to Ban
Weapons in Space. The bill further requires that the President shall...
Write, call or fax your representatives and urge her/him to be a co-sponsor of this bill. Use the above three points for conversation as to why this bring real security to planet earth.
For information on how to contact your Congressperson go to this web address- www.congress.org
For more information on this and related issues:
Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space
P.O. Box 90083
Gainesville FL 32607
(352) 337-9274
www.space4peace.org
globalnet@mindspring.com
PRAYER
FOR AMERICA
U.S. Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich - Dkucinich@aol.com)
Rep. Kucinich gave this prayer at University of Southern California
in Los Angeles, California on
Sunday, February 17, 2002 as a presentation to the Southern California
Americans for Democratic
Action.
(to be sung as an overture for America)
"My country 'tis of thee. Sweet land of liberty of thee I sing. . .
. From every mountain side, let
freedom ring. . . . Long may our land be bright. With freedom's holy
light. . . ."
"Oh say does that star spangled banner yet wave. O'er the land of the
free and the home of the
brave?"
"America, America, God shed grace on thee. And crown thy good with brotherhood
from sea to
shining sea. . . . "
I offer these brief remarks today as a prayer for our country, with
love of democracy, as a
celebration of our country. With love for our country. With hope for
our country. With a belief
that the light of freedom cannot be extinguished as long as it is inside
of us. With a belief that
freedom rings resoundingly in a democracy each time we speak freely.
With the understanding
that freedom stirs the human heart and fear stills it. With the belief
that a free people cannot walk
in fear and faith at the same time.
With the understanding that there is a deeper truth expressed in the
unity of the United States.
That implicit in the union of our country is the union of all people.
That all people are essentially
one. That the world is interconnected not only on the material level
of economics, trade,
communication, and transportation, but interconnected through human
consciousness, through
the human heart, through the heart of the world, through the simply
expressed impulse and
yearning to be and to breathe free. I offer this prayer for America.
Let us pray that our nation will remember that the unfolding of the
promise of democracy in
our nation paralleled the striving for civil rights. That is why we
must challenge the rationale of
the Patriot Act. We must ask why should America put aside guarantees
of constitutional justice?
How can we justify in effect canceling the First Amendment and the right
of free speech, the
right to peaceably assemble?
How can we justify in effect canceling the Fourth Amendment, probable
cause, the
prohibitions against unreasonable search and seizure?
How can we justify in effect canceling the Fifth Amendment, nullifying
due process, and
allowing for indefinite incarceration without a trial?
How can we justify in effect canceling the Sixth Amendment, the right
to prompt and public
trial?
How can we justify in effect canceling the Eighth Amendment, which protects
against cruel
and unusual punishment?
We cannot justify widespread wiretaps and Internet surveillance without
judicial supervision, let
alone with it. We cannot justify secret searches without a warrant.
We cannot justify giving the
Attorney General the ability to designate domestic terror groups. We
cannot justify giving the
FBI total access to any type of data which may exist in any system
anywhere such as medical
records and financial records.
We cannot justify giving the CIA the ability to target people in this
country for intelligence
surveillance. We cannot justify a government which takes from the people
our right to privacy
and then assumes for its own operations a right to total secrecy. The
Attorney General recently
covered up a statue of Lady Justice showing her bosom as if to underscore
there is no danger of
justice exposing herself at this time, before this administration.
Let us pray that our nation's leaders will not be overcome with fear.
Because today there is
great fear in our great Capitol. And this must be understood before
we can ask about the
shortcomings of Congress in the current environment. The great fear
began when we had to
evacuate the Capitol on September 11. It continued when we had to leave
the Capitol again when
a bomb scare occurred as members were pressing the CIA during a secret
briefing. It continued
when we abandoned Washington when anthrax, possibly from a government
lab, arrived in the mail. It continued when the Attorney General declared
a nationwide terror alert and then the
Administration brought the destructive Patriot Bill to the floor of
the House. It continued in the
release of the Bin Laden tapes at the same time the President was announcing
the withdrawal
from the ABM treaty. It remains present in the cordoning off of the
Capitol. It is present in the
camouflaged armed national guardsmen who greet members of Congress
each day we enter the
Capitol campus. It is present in the labyrinth of concrete barriers
through which we must pass
each time we go to vote. The trappings of a state of siege trap us
in a state of fear, ill equipped to
deal with the Patriot Games, the Mind Games, the War Games of an unelected
President and his
unelected Vice President.
Let us pray that our country will stop this war. "To promote the common
defense" is one of
the formational principles of America. Our Congress gave the President
the ability to respond to
the tragedy of September the Eleventh. We licensed a response to those
who helped bring the
terror of September the Eleventh. But we the people and our elected
representatives must reserve
the right to measure the response, to proportion the response, to challenge
the response, and to
correct the response.
Because we did not authorize the invasion of Iraq.
Because we did not authorize the invasion of Iraq.
Because we did not authorize the invasion of Iran.
Because we did not authorize the invasion of North Korea.
Because we did not authorize the bombing of civilians in Afghanistan.
Because we did not authorize permanent detainees in Guantanamo
Bay.
Because we did not authorize the withdrawal from the Geneva Convention.
Because we did not authorize military tribunals suspending due
process and habeas corpus.
Because we did not authorize assassination squads.
Because we did not authorize the resurrection of COINTELPRO.
Because we did not authorize the repeal of the Bill of Rights.
We did not authorize the revocation of the Constitution.
Because we did not authorize national identity cards.
Because we did not authorize the eye of Big Brother to peer from
cameras throughout our cities.
Because we did not authorize an eye for an eye. Nor did we ask
that the blood of innocent people, who perished on September 11,
be avenged with the blood of innocent villagers in Afghanistan.
Because we did not authorize the administration to wage war time,
anywhere, anyhow it pleases.
Because we did not authorize war without end.
We did not authorize a permanent war economy.
Yet we are upon the threshold of a permanent war economy. The President
has requested a $45.6
billion increase in military spending. All defense-related programs
will cost close to $400
billion. Consider that the Department of Defense has never passed an
independent audit.
Consider that the Inspector General has notified Congress that the
Pentagon cannot properly
account for $1.2 trillion in transactions. Consider that in recent
years the Dept. of Defense could
not match $22 billion worth of expenditures to the items it purchased,
wrote off, as lost, billions
of dollars worth of in-transit inventory and stored nearly $30 billion
worth of spare parts it did
not need.
Yet the defense budget grows with more money for weapons systems to
fight a cold war which
ended, weapon systems in search of new enemies to create new wars.
This has nothing to do with
fighting terror. This has everything to do with fueling a military
industrial machine with the treasure of our nation, risking the future
of our nation, risking democracy itself with the militarization of thought
which follows the militarization of the budget.
Let us pray for our children. Our children deserve a world without end.
Not a war without
end. Our children deserve a world free of the terror of hunger, free
of the terror of poor health
care, free of the terror of homelessness, free of the terror of ignorance,
free of the terror of
hopelessness, free of the terror of policies which are committed to
a world view which is not
appropriate for the survival of a free people, not appropriate for
the survival of democratic
values, not appropriate for the survival of our nation, and not appropriate
for the survival of the
world.
Let us pray that we have the courage and the will as a people and as
a nation to shore
ourselves up, to reclaim from the ruins of September the Eleventh our
democratic traditions. Let
us declare our love for democracy. Let us declare our intent for peace.
Let us work to make
nonviolence an organizing principle in our own society. Let us recommit
ourselves to the slow
and painstaking work of statecraft, which sees peace, not war as being
inevitable. Let us work
for a world where someday war becomes archaic. That is the vision which
the proposal to create
a Department of Peace envisions. Forty-three members of congress are
now cosponsoring the
legislation. Let us work for a world where nuclear disarmament is an
imperative. That is why we
must begin by insisting on the commitments of the ABM treaty. That
is why we must be
steadfast for non-proliferation.
Let us work for a world where America can lead the way in banning weapons
of mass
destruction not only from our land and sea and sky but from outer space
itself. That is the vision
of HR 3616: A universe free of fear. Where we can look up at God's
creation in the stars and
imagine infinite wisdom, infinite peace, infinite possibilities, not
infinite war, because we are
taught that the kingdom will come on earth as it is in heaven.
Let us pray that we have the courage to replace the images of death
which haunt us, the
layers of images of September the Eleventh, faded into images of patriotism,
spliced into images
of military mobilization, jump cut into images of our secular celebrations
of the World Series,
New Year's Eve, the Superbowl, the Olympics, the strobic flashes which
touch our deepest fears,
let us replace those images with the work of human relations, reaching
out to people, helping our
own citizens here at home, lifting the plight of the poor everywhere.
That is the America which
has the ability to rally the support of the world. That is the America
which stands not in pursuit
of an axis of evil, but which is itself at the axis of hope and faith
and peace and freedom.
America, America. God shed grace on thee. Crown thy good, America. Not
with
weapons of mass destruction. Not with invocations of an axis of evil.
Not through breaking
international treaties. Not through establishing America as king of
a unipolar world. Crown thy
good, America.
America, America. Let us pray for our country. Let us love our country.
Let us defend
our country not only from the threats without but from the threats
within. Crown thy good,
America. Crown thy good with brotherhood, and sisterhood. And crown
thy good with
compassion and restraint and forbearance and a commitment to peace,
to democracy, to
economic justice here at home and throughout the world. Crown thy good,
America. Crown thy
good, America. Crown thy good.
Thank you.