Peace Voice
USA: Imagine if we were number one
No, not number one in military spending (which we are). Not number one in incarceration rates (which we are as well). What if, instead of these things, the U.S. became hyper-focused on becoming the most peaceful nation on earth? The recently released 2013 Global Peace Index (GPI) placed the U.S.100th… »
Lessons 10 years later: Iraq
This week marks the 10th anniversary of the start of the Iraq War. As one of the longest and one of the most costly wars in U.S. history, the true costs in dollars, lives, environmental contamination and opportunity costs may never be fully appreciated. This “preventive war” waged on our… »
USA: 35 Years for Embarrassing the Guards?
Intruders on a nuclear base, including a nun, face decades in prison for tying “Crime Scene” tape on an H-bomb factory. By John LaForge Risking your personal freedom for a worthy cause is as American as apple pie. But nonviolently putting your life at risk in defense of others is… »
Getting to know us: A memo to U.S. adversaries
One of the first things you need to know about the U.S. is how difficult it is for us to tolerate ambiguity—especially when untangling our own motives. An example was our second invasion of Iraq. After 9/11 we felt an itch to retaliate against a clear enemy. Because we could… »
Martin Luther King, Inauguration Day and Our Shifting Awareness
By Robert Dodge This year’s presidential inauguration on Martin Luther King Day finds us as a nation and people at a remarkable crossroads. We have the same daunting issues we have faced for years before us; and yet there is something different. There is a developing shift in our consciousness… »
USA: Building a Peaceful Future for Our Children
Guns. Media. Mental Illness. Lax Security. All these and more have been offered as explanations for the tragic mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary on Friday, December 14 that left 26 people, including 20 children, dead. And all of those things may have played a role. But none are the… »
USA saved from the Fiscal Cliff – An immodest proposal
We are saved —so our politicians tell us —from a plunge off the fiscal cliff. In all reports, however, it is mentioned that President Obama settled for a slice of what he claimed to be after, which was to raise taxes on those whose income is more than a $quarter… »