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President Obama To Receive Nobel “Peace Prize” — While Simultaneously Advancing War In Afghanistan

Posted on December 9, 2009 by Mike Bock

The Peace Museum is planning a special public meeting tomorrow, December 10, that will include listening as a group to President Obama’s acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize. (See text of Obama’s acceptance speech here.) The fact that President Obama is expanding the war in Afghanistan by over 30,000 soldiers makes a strange counter-point to his acceptance of a “Peace Prize.”

I received an e-mail from Gary Steiger with a copy of the letter below. Gary made these comments:

For a “peace museum” that never declared its opposition to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan I hope this is a turning point. It’s past time that the “Peace Museum” be turned into an “Anti-War Museum.”
To celebrate Peace without actively opposing the wars we are engaged is nothing short of hypocrisy. And, hiding behind a 501c(3) tax exemption as a reason not to speak out specifically against the horrors we are bringing, and will continue to bring , under Obama’s plan, to the Afhghan people is worse than hypocritical, it is sanctimonious bullshit.
A “peace” museum without an active anti war stance is just another museum.

What follows is the letter from Jake Schlachter, Executive Director, Dayton International Peace Museum

Dear Friends of the Dayton International Peace Museum,

On November 7th, the Peace Museum announced that it would be holding its first annual Nobel Peace Prize Celebration, timed to coincide with the awarding of the prize in Oslo on December 10th. The Museum was excited that, in its first year, the celebration would honor US President Barack Obama for his aspirations to change the global climate of conflict resolution and restore diplomacy to the forefront of US foreign policy.

At the time of the award’s announcement, President Obama — also the US president who inherited two wars begun by his predecessor — was in the middle of a full review of US strategy for the war in Afghanistan. Last week, at the end of that review and one week before receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, President Obama announced that the United States would be escalating the war and deploying an additional 30,000 US troops to the conflict.

This has not been an easy week at the Museum.

It’s fair to say that President Obama’s speech last Tuesday dampened enthusiasm among some Peace Museum supporters for a celebration to honor him as the recipient of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. I would be dishonest if I said that I predicted attendance would be as high as at our November 18th event, when the Museum added President Obama’s portrait to our Nobel Laureates exhibit. It’s important that we acknowledge that the emotions of our community are very high right now, and fairly so. There are no issues we should be more passionate about than those of war and peace.

But I believe it would be a shame to confuse the celebration of peace with an endorsement of war. Though the timing is coincidental, the sentiment is certainly not. The Museum first held an event on December 10th of last year to honor Sister Dorothy Stang, who was on that date posthumously awarded the United Nations Human Rights Prize. The decision to turn that day into an annual day of celebration for peace at the Museum has been a long time coming.

The Museum continues to celebrate and promote a culture of peace, nonviolence, and diplomatic resolutions to conflict, whether that be between warring states, political parties, or family members. When the Nobel Committee awarded the Prize to President Obama in October , it did so “for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples. The Committee has attached special importance to Obama’s vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons.”

That statement is as true and as important today as it was in October, as is the cause of Peace that the Nobel Prize was founded to further.

I hope you will join us at the Museum for the First Annual Celebration of the Nobel Peace Prize Award, Thursday, December 10th at 12pm. We will have a toast to Peace at 12:30 pm, a reading of distinguished historian Irwin Abrams’s essay on the founding of the Prize, and then watch President Obama’s acceptance speech in Oslo. His speech will specifically address his own feelings on the juxtaposition of receiving the Peace Prize in a time of war. I will look forward to being surrounded by friends and fellow peacemakers while I listen to his speech, and I hope you will, too. May you also please forward this email to friends and supporters of the Peace Museum, that they may join us for a celebration of Peace.

Thank you for your resolve, your dedication, and your passion for a peaceful future,

Jake Schlachter
Executive Director, Dayton International Peace Museum
http://www.daytonpeacemuseum.org
director@daytonpeacemuseum.org

Posted in Special Reports | 7 Comments

Let’s Vitalize Democracy In The Montgomery County Democratic Party By Expanding Participation

Posted on December 9, 2009 by Mike Bock

I’ll make a motion tomorrow, December 10, at the 7:30 PM monthly meeting of Central Committee of the Montgomery County Democratic Party (MCDP) — HQ on Wilkinson Street.

Mr. Chairmen, I move that the Central Committee approve an expenditure of $500 for the purpose of promulgating this advertisement: “Notice To All Montgomery County Democrats — We Have Strength though widespread and democratic participation. Please consider nominating yourself to a leadership role in the Montgomery County Democratic Party. This is our year to reorganize. Help us reorganize with strength. To find out more, visit www.montgomerydems.org, or telephone Ms Murphy at 222-4007.”

In the meeting reminder note, about tomorrow’s meeting, Mark Owens, Party Chair, said, in part, “As 2010 approaches, I would like to remind you that this is a reorganization year for the Party.”

Reorganization is a big deal. It is required of political parties by Ohio’s Revised Code and happens only every four years. The Montgomery County Republicans will reorganize in 2012.

Reorganization of the Montgomery County Democratic Party will occur at a reorganization meeting in early June. The big job at the Reorganization Meeting is nominating and selecting the Party Chairperson. The constitution gives the chair a lot of authority to form committees etc., and the chair serves for four years. Only elected members of the Central Committee will be allowed to vote at the Reorganization Meeting. (To become a candidate to the Central Committee, to be listed on the primary ballot, simply requires filing a petition with only five signatures from five registered Democrats in the precinct.)

Every position on the Committee is up for election this May during the Democratic Primary. Every precinct can elect one member to the Central Committee, but most precincts are usually not represented. At the 2006 reorganization meeting, where Dennis Lieberman was chosen chairman, less than 20% of potential Central Committee members were in attendance. (About 100 out of a possible 548.)

I’ve listed twenty-nine different articles — If We AreTo Have A Great Future, The Ascending Issue In Our Democracy Must Be Democracy Itself (November 9, 2009) — about democracy. My point is that it is no mystery why our political system is failing us — why, as a society, we seem incapable of optimizing our opportunities, incapable of planning effectively for the future — it is because our democracy is very very weak.

To vitalize our democracy, we need to vitalize our political parties. A good first step would be to get more people effectively involved. A good first step would be to expand participation. The prospect of a Reorganization Meeting provides a good opportunity to invite Montgomery Democrats to become active in their party. I hope my motion to actively advertise gets some consideration.

I was elected to the MCDP for the first time in 2006. I’ve been surprised to learn that the party as it now stands actually operates with a different vision than, four years ago, I naively assumed it would have. I realize that many active in the party disagree with the vision of the party that I’m advocating. The party in the past has defended its anti-democratic practices. (See list of articles below) Still, I hope tomorrow the Central Committe might discuss this important matter. I will first need to get someone to second my motion — maybe in some amended form.

The Montgomery Democrats Decide to Suppress Democracy — Just Like the Republicans (December 14, 2007)
Victor Harris: Surprised That Local Democratic Party Wanted To Suppress Primary Competition (February 25, 2008)
How Gerrymandering Defeated An Outstanding Candidate And Sent a Weak Candidate To Columbus (March 5, 2008)
How Can The System Known As The United States Be Made To Work To Provide “Liberty and Justice For All”? (February 5, 2009)
Mark Owens Says Most Montgomery Dems Approve The Party’s Suppression Of Primary Participation (April 8, 2009)

Posted in M Bock, Opinion | 1 Comment

David Brooks: Nine Actions Government Should Take To Stimulate The Economy By Stimulating Innovation

Posted on December 8, 2009 by Mike Bock

David Brooks in his NYT article, “An Innovation Agenda,” is recommending an agenda that would help government “steer and spark innovation without controlling it.” He outlines nine actions he would like to see the government take in order to stimulate the economy:

Push hard to fulfill the Obama administration’s education reforms. Those reforms, embraced by Republicans and Democrats, encourage charter school innovation, improve teacher quality, support community colleges and simplify finances for college students and war veterans. That’s the surest way to improve human capital.
Pay for basic research. Federal research money has been astonishingly productive, leading to DNA sequencing, semiconductors, lasers and many other technologies. Yet this financing has slipped, especially in physics, math and engineering.
Rebuild the nation’s infrastructure. Abraham Lincoln spent the first half of his career promoting canals and railroads. Today, the updated needs are just as great. …
Find a fiscal exit strategy…. Aappoint a binding commission, already supported by Republicans and Democrats, which would create a roadmap toward fiscal responsibility and then allow the Congress to vote on it, up or down.
Gradually address global imbalances. … (Use) diplomacy to rebalance exchange rates and other distorting policies.
Loosen the so-called H-1B visa quotas to attract skilled immigrants. …
Encourage regional innovation clusters. Innovation doesn’t happen at the national level. It happens within hot spots …
Lower the corporate tax rate so it matches international norms. …
Don’t be stupid. Don’t make labor markets rigid. Don’t pick trade fights with the Chinese. Don’t get infatuated with research tax credits and other gimmicks …