Willie Nelson

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

“This is like most of the choices you have in life. You know inside whether it’s right. Whether you do it is up to you.” Willie Nelson

This past Monday on Maui Jay and I attended a meeting of the Maui Peace Action, a diverse group of citizens committed to ho’omaluhia (making peace). Their mission is to encourage disarmament through peaceful international cooperation, protest preemptive aggression, promote non-violent solutions to world conflict, and educate for social justice.

They sponsor a successful cultural program that includes film showings to standing room only crowds and theatrical productions. The next show will be”Ten Fingers, Ten Toes”, an original play from Hilo on the Big Island. The events are always donation only and after expenses they share the proceeds with other organizations. Last week they gave more than half of their proceeds to the Maui Dharma Center, the sponsor of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama’s visit to Maui.

Maui Peace Action facilitates Careers in Peacemaking Programs (CIPPs), a coalition of Volunteer Educators for Peace (VEPs). CIPP’s goal is to implement an equal opportunity educational option for students with regard to peaceful alternatives to military service. Children all over the world are being coerced and recruited into military service without any understanding of the consequences of their actions.

Read Retired US Army Reserve Colonel Ann Wright’s interview “Child and Teen Soldiers in Sierra Leone and the US” to understand why we must offer our youth positive career choices that will foster peacemaking and conflict resolution. Most countries have a history of child soldiers. Why do the youth have to fight a war created by old men?

Do you think if we require our leaders to fight the wars they create that we might have a lot less wars? I do. Can you see George Bush fighting Saddam Hussein or Osama bin Laden? Do you think George Bush might decide to talk first? Would you even consider electing George Bush as our leader knowing he must fight the wars he initiates?

Which brings me back to the U.S. military on the islands and the wider issue of DU, depleted uranium. In 2005 during unexploded ordinance clean-up spent DU rounds were found at Schofield Barracks, Oahu despite the Army’s denial of ever having used DU munitions in Hawaii. I guess they thought this wouldn’t help the tourist industry to spread that little piece of info around. The Navy stores DU munitions on Oahu under the Naval Radioactive Materials Permit. A Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) report states that depleted uranium shells were used and fired on Schofield Barracks Army Base on Oahu. I don’t think tourists get this info in their advertisements either. Do you think real estate agents tell prospective buyers about this when they’re selling “a piece of paradise”?

A Hawaii House and Senate Bill HB 1452 on DU is an important first step to examining military toxins to find out if the ill health of the residents of Hawaii has any connection. On a recent flyer Maui Peace Action states:”In Hawaii, heart disease and cancer are the first and third leading cause of death. One in seventeen births in Hawaii have a “recognizable abnormality.” Asthma and Diabetes among Hawaii residents are off the charts. Our public school children score poor academically against the national average. Why?”

We need to find out if DU was used in Maui County on Kahoolawe Island or on the Big Island at Pohakuloa Firing Range at Mauna Kea. Required soil testing will help us know the extent of the contamination.

Maui Peace Action and the Willie Nelson Peace Research Institute is asking you to call Linda Lingle Between April 30-May 5, 2007 to ask the Governor to support HB 1452. Call toll free 984-2400, wait for the dial tone then dial ext. 60034#, or fax 808-586-0006, or email: Governor.Lingle@hawaii.gov.

Thank you for supporting global peace and good health. All beings deserve a healthy and happy life in a true paradise. Let’s be responsible caretakers of this beautiful planet promoting life for all. It is possible if we unite. There are more people who want peace than want war. Only one sixth of the U.S. population is involved with the military industrial complex. That means five sixths of us don’t benefit by war.

Peace Promotes Prosperity.

Share This

Tags: depleted_uranium, Peace, Willie Nelson

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.