The presentation was scheduled to be held at Orlando City Hall, from 1:00 to 1:30 P.M., but Mayor Dyer couldn't make it, so I do not accuse him of signing onto the following document as just a photo-opportunity, for his representative signed it that day and Mayor Dyer's signature will be on the following document that will be filed in Hiroshima.
I follow with my personal experience of trying to hold Mayor Buddy Dyer to the words of the Twinning Agreement between Orlando, Florida and Bethlehem, Palestine; and end with The Declaration of Independence from Nuclear Weapons which I helped craft on 4 July 2010 while I was in Oakridge, Tennessee.
U.S. CONFERENCE OF MAYORS RESOLUTION SUPPORTING U.S. PARTICIPATION IN GLOBAL ELIMINATION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS AND REDIRECTION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS SPENDING TO MEET THE NEEDS OF CITIES
WHEREAS, August 6 and 9, 2010 mark the 65th anniversaries of the United States atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki ; and
WHEREAS, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on April 10, 2010 declared:
"Nuclear weapons are unique in their destructive power, in the unspeakable human suffering they cause, in the impossibility of controlling their effects in space and time, in the risks of escalation they create, and in the threat they pose to the environment, to future generations, and indeed to the survival of humanity". In the view of the ICRC, preventing the use of nuclear weapons requires fulfillment of existing obligations to pursue negotiations aimed at prohibiting and completely eliminating such weapons through a legally binding international treaty;" and
WHEREAS, on April 5, 2009 in Prague, President Obama acknowledged that "as the only nuclear power to have used a nuclear weapon, the United States has a moral responsibility to act" for the achievement of the "peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons"; and
WHEREAS, the April 2010 Department of Defense Nuclear Posture Review recognized: "It is in the U.S. interest and that of all other nations that the nearly 65-year record of nuclear non-use be extended forever. As President Ronald Reagan declared, "A nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought';" and
WHEREAS, the October 2007 Final Declaration of the 2nd World Congress of United Cities and Local Governments endorsed "the Mayors for Peace campaign, which lobbies the international community to renounce weapons of mass destruction;" and
WHEREAS, the unprecedented membership growth of Mayors for Peace , now approaching 4000 worldwide, has sent a powerful message to world leaders that cities must be freed from the
nuclear threat; and
WHEREAS, The U.S. Conference of Mayors unanimously adopted resolutions in 2007, "calling on all nations and all world powers to prohibit the use of any weapon of mass destruction against
cities;" in 2008, supporting the Mayors for Peace "Hiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol" for the global elimination of nuclear weapons by 2020; and in 2009, "call[ing] on President Obama to announce at the 2010 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference the initiation of good faith multilateral negotiations on an international agreement to abolish nuclear weapons by the year 2020;" and
WHEREAS, on May 13, 2010, at the midpoint of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference, in connection with submission of the new START treaty to the Senate, President Obama submitted a classified report on a Congressionally-mandated plan to maintain and modernize U.S. nuclear forces for the foreseeable future. According to a White House fact sheet: "The plan includes investments of $80 billion to sustain and modernize the nuclear weapons complex" and "well over $100 billion in nuclear delivery systems to sustain existing capabilities and modernize some strategic systems" by the year 2020. Under this plan funding for the nuclear weapons research and production programs of the National Nuclear Security Administration will increase by more than 40%, from $6.4 billion in FY 2010 to $9 billion by 2018. In turn, $9 billion is 43% above the Cold War annual average of $5.1 billion for analogous Department of Energy nuclear weapons programs; and
WHEREAS, cities have been hard hit by the recent recession which has left them with rapidly rising unemployment and declining revenues, forcing them to make severe cuts in critical public services such as police officers, fire fighters, teachers, medical and emergency workers and bus drivers; and
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