Former Congressman Dennis Kucinich is tonight's guest on the national Peace Alliance Orientation call (January 8th at 9pm ET, 6:00 PT) according to Matthew Albracht of The Peace Alliance.

::::::::

Former Congressman Dennis Kucinich is tonight's guest on the  national Peace Alliance Orientation call (January 8th at 9pm ET, 6:00 PT) according to Matthew Albracht of The Peace Alliance.

Kucinich was the primary author and main champion of the bill to create a U.S. Department of Peace, beginning in July of 2001, two months before 9-11. He reintroduced the bill in every Congressional session since then until he retired in 2012.

This is a monthly orientation call which also includes introductory background information about The Peace Alliance, and about Peace Alliance Action Teams, and is designed to welcome and inform new potential Team Leaders and Members. It is also a chance to learn about The Peace Alliance's history and approach, and will invite listeners to consider the possibility of joining or forming a Peace Alliance Action Team  or a Student Peace Alliance Action Team.

According to the wiki, "On January 15, 2009 the idea to appoint a secretary of peace in a Department of Peace  was voted as one of the top 10 Ideas for Change in America. This project was part of a nationwide competition to identify the best ideas for change in America. A total of 7,875 ideas were submitted and 675,943 votes were cast. On January 16, 2009 the idea to appoint a secretary of peace in a Department of Peace was one of 10 ideas delivered to President Obama's transition team. The online community and media network for social issues Change.org and the Case Foundation co-hosted this event at the National Press Club in Washington, DC to announce the top 10 rated ideas."

Kucinich has been a guest on Rob Kall's Bottom-Up radio show, and he continues to be a force for positive cultural change through his new organization Kucinich Action, which supports candidates for public office at various levels -- from federal to local -- with the aim of having positive effects in areas such as peace, economics, healthcare, and the environment.

Kucinich is one of the most recent in a long line of patriotic (and matriotic) Americans promoting the establishment of a Department of Peace. Selected highlights include:

1979
Sen. Spark Matsunaga (D-HI) re-introduced a bill, S. 2103, "Department of Peace Organization Act of 1979" to create a U.S. Department of Peace.

1943
Senator Alexander Wiley (R-WI) called for the United States to become the first government in the world to have a Secretary of Peace. 

1935
Sen. Matthew M. Neely (D-WVA) wrote and introduced the first bill calling for the creation of a United States Department of Peace. Reintroduced in 1937 and 1939.

1926-1927
Kirby Page,  author of A National Peace Department, published a proposal for a cabinet-level Department of Peace and a Secretary of Peace.

1925
Carrie Chapman Catt,  Founder of the League of Women Voters, suggested that a cabinet-level Department of Peace and Secretary of Peace be established as part of her public speech at the "Cause and Cure for War Conference." The conference took place in January in Washington, DC, and was hosted by a coalition of nine women's groups, the "National Committee on the Cause and Cure of War (NCCCW)" which hosted the annual conference for the next 16 years. The organization is now known as Committee on Education for Lasting Peace.  

1793
Founding Father and signatory of the Declaration of Independence, Dr. Benjamin Rush,  published a persuasive essay titled, "A plan of a Peace-Office for the United States," in which he called for equal footing with the Department of War.

1783
George Washington called for the adoption of a "proper Peace Establishment."

Authors Website: http://www.OceanViewArts.com

Authors Bio:

Meryl Ann Butler is an artist, author, educator and OpedNews Managing Editor who has been actively engaged in utilizing the arts as stepping-stones toward joy-filled wellbeing since she was a hippie. She began writing for OpEdNews in Feb, 2004. She became a Senior Editor in August 2012 and Managing Editor in January, 2013. In June, 2015, the combined views on her articles, diaries and quick link contributions topped one million. She was particularly happy that her article about Bree Newsome removing the Confederate flag was the one that put her past the million mark.

Her art in a wide variety of media can be seen on her YouTube video, "Visionary Artist Meryl Ann Butler on Creativity and Joy" at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcGs2r_66QE

A NYC native, her response to 9-11 was to pen an invitation to healing through creativity, entitled, "90-Minute Quilts: 15+ Projects You Can Stitch in an Afternoon" (Krause 2006), which is a bestseller in the craft field. The sequel, MORE 90-Minute Quilts: 20+ Quick and Easy Projects With Triangles and Squares was released in April, 2011. Her popular video, How to Stitch a Quilt in 90 Minutes with Meryl Ann Butler can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrShGOQaJQ8

She has been active in a number of international, arts-related projects as a citizen diplomat, and was arts advisor to Baltimore's CIUSSR (Center for Improving US-Soviet Relations), 1987-89. She made two trips to the former USSR in 1987 and 1988 to speak to artists, craftpeople and fashion designers on the topic of utilizing the arts as a tool for global wellbeing. She created the historical "First US-Soviet Children's Peace Quilt Exchange Project" in 1987-88, which was the first time a reciprocal quilt was given to the US from the former USSR.

Her artwork is in collections across the globe.

Meryl Ann is a founding member of The Labyrinth Society and has been building labyrinths since 1992. She publishes an annual article about the topic on OpEdNews on World Labyrinth Day, the first Saturday in May.

OpEdNews Senior Editor Joan Brunwasser interviewed Meryl Ann in "Beyond Surviving: How to Thrive in Challenging Times" at https://www.opednews.com/articles/Beyond-Surviving--How-to-by-Joan-Brunwasser-Anxiety_Appreciation_Coronavirus_Creativity-200318-988.html

Find out more about Meryl Ann's artistic life in "OEN Managing Ed, Meryl Ann Butler, Featured on the Other Side of the Byline" at https://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/OEN-Managing-Ed-Meryl-Ann-in-Life_Arts-Artistic_Artists_Quilt-170917-615.html

On Feb 11, 2017, Senior Editor Joan Brunwasser interviewed Meryl Ann in Pink Power: Sister March, Norfolk, VA at http://www.opednews.com/articles/Pink-Power-Sister-March--by-Joan-Brunwasser-Pussy-Hats-170212-681.html

"Creativity and Healing: The Work of Meryl Ann Butler" by Burl Hall is at
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Creativity-and-Healing--T-by-Burl-Hall-130414-18.html

Burl and Merry Hall interviewed Meryl Ann on their BlogTalk radio show, "Envision This," at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/envision-this/2013/04/11/meryl-ann-butler-art-as-a-medicine-for-the-soul

Archived articles www.opednews.com/author/author1820.html
Older archived articles, from before May 2005 are here.