Rep. Dennis Kucinich on CNN with Marianne Williamson @ 2:30 pm ET

[paineinthearse]

Received by email.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich on CNN with Marianne Williamson @ 2:30 pm ET

Dear Friend,

Today at 2:30 pm ET Marianne Williamson and I will discuss the Department of Peace on CNN's "Live From..." show with host Kyra Phillips. We are at a time when our country has been besieged by a militarization of thought which stems from deep fears about personal security. As a result we find ourselves still at war in Iraq and preparing for war against Iran and North Korea. We need a deep discussion about the roots of war-thinking as well as a compassionate reflection on the roots of violence in our own society. This show will be the beginning of a new discussion as we prepare to expand our efforts to create a cabinet-level Department of Peace.

The structure of peace in our own lives, in our society and in the world is a major theme of our new website at http://www.kucinich.us. In the past week, we have posted stories about meetings with peace groups in the UK, discussions with Belgian Senators, and reflections on the Pope and his quest for peace. I have met with several youth groups to gain their involvement and we are building our coalition within the Congress, preparing to re-introduce the Department of Peace legislation in September.

You are an important part of these efforts. Your support is essential to our success. We built great momentum during the presidential campaign because of your participation. Your involvement is no less important now. Please help us continue to reach out to build a more peaceful society and world by contributing now to our campaign. We need assistance today.

Please contribute online at http://www.kucinich.us/contribute. Your immediate contribution will provide critical assistance, not only in maintaining our website, but in keeping our grassroots activities expanding - for peace, civil liberties, to protect social security, for universal health care, for education, for workers' rights, human rights, voting rights, the environment, fair trade, new energy policies, a new manufacturing policy, a new commitment to America's research and development at NASA and in the private sector... and more.

Please forward this message. Work with us, help us now to continue to serve our nation and the world from the highest octave so that we may bring about the triumph of hope over fear and lift up the human condition. Thanks for everything you have done and will continue to do. You have my ever-present commitment.

Always, Dennis

[goodhue]

1. Creating a Culture of Peace

We are at a time in our nation's history when some believe that we must go to war to achieve peace.

A belief in the inevitability of war produces war. War is manifested as a self-fulfilling prophecy. In the case of Iraq a war arose from pure falsehood. But those falsehoods took root in a soil laced with fear. Those falsehoods were propagated in the media. Those falsehoods mushroomed as violent weeds in the garden of our humanity. We have reaped a bitter crop.

There is a better vision of humanity, and of our future. We reach it through understanding the interdependence and interconnectedness of all people. We reach it through compassion. We reach it through cooperation.

We have a right to defend our nation. We have an equal obligation to defend our humanity and to rescue it from those who see the world as being necessarily divided into warring camps. The "us vs. them" thinking cuts us off from the rest of the world and from the soul power which connects us to the rest of the world.

We must confirm the power of the human heart and act from our hopes, not our fears.

http://www.kucinich.us/

[kerrygoddess]

2. Very cool

I used to go to her lectures all the time when she lived in L.A.

No cable... hope it's good!

[blm]

4. Hey, kerrygoddess....I went to a few of her lectures, too.

It was one of the few times that I didn't mind hearing prayers. As an atheist I found the prayers heard there to be spoken sincerely and with true compassion, not the artifice and hypocrisy spewed by the rightwing.

[goodhue]

3. On Pope John Paul II

The Pope John Paul II well understood that young people are hungering for transcendence, for a spiritual connection, for joy, for love, for freedom from fear.

The day before the funeral of Pope John Paul II, I had heard several news reports which discussed the dangers of a terrorist attack at such a large gathering, similar to news reports I heard in December of 1999, just prior to New Year's Eve. Nevertheless, people gathered around the world by the millions in an open celebration of their own humanity and in joyous anticipation of a new century. What we saw in St. Peter's Square, in Rome and throughout the world were hundreds of millions gathering in prayer and joy.

Television can be a distorted mirror of our social reality. Terror is a distorted mirror. Fear is a distorted mirror. We know terror and fear exist, but if we allow them to occupy too many moments of our conscious thought, we deprive ourselves of the expressive power of our humanity, the power of the human spirit, the power of our love to transform all circumstances.

The thoughts of danger which were percolating were swept aside by the great masses who gathered to honor the Pope, who in his very first address exhorted all of us "Be Not Afraid." 'Be Not Afraid', begins the hymn, 'I go before you always, come follow Me....'. His was a call to a fearless world citizenship.

http://www.kucinich.us/

[Totally Committed]

5. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Dennis Kucinich is great...

I love the idea of a Cabinet-level Dept. of Peace.

TC