Showing posts with label Peace. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Peace. Show all posts

Thursday, February 01, 2024

Blind Vengeance

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ISRAEL AT WAR


Blind Vengeance

 

People of Israel

Do you know the crimes

committed in your name?

 

What began as self defense

surrendered that rationale

when Netanyahu decided civilians

were subject to extermination

 

People of Israel

Have you seen the destruction

delivered in your name?

 

Hospitals are not hiding enemies

Schools are not training sites

An ambulance is not a target

Children are not expendable

Palestinians are not Hamas

Mothers are not soldiers

 

People of Israel

Do you know the blood your

leaders are spilling in your name?

 

I am not a terrorist apologist

I lament the unconscionable act

that unleashed this chain of horror

but just retribution has turned

into blind and brutal vengeance

 

People of Israel

I believe in your humanity

Help us to help your nation

return to the path of peace

 

Monday, December 25, 2023

No Christmas (on Christmas Day)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS


No Christmas

 

In the little town of Bethlehem

Where a child was given birth

There is no prayer or celebration

There is no peace on earth

 

There will be no Christmas singing

No sounds of Christmas cheer

No bells of joy are ringing

Our comfort changed to fear

 

We may never be the same

At least that’s how it feels

It seems to me an awful shame

To lift the Christmas shield

 

For Christmas is for everyone

No matter their beliefs

A time to put down our guns

A time to breathe relief

 

Sunday, December 24, 2023

The Love (on Christmas)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: PEACE


The Love

 

Peace across the valley

Christmas bells are ringing

Waves of Christmas revelry

Boys and girls are singing

 

Where is the love that once we knew?

So freely given this time of year?

Where is the love that seemed so true?

Where is the Christmas cheer?

 

As children we loved everyone

Over time we learned to hate

Every daughter and every son

Was welcomed as our mate

 

Where is the love that grew on trees?

It seems so very far away

Where is the hand we gave for free?

Lost somehow along the way

 

We need to find the love again

To give the world new birth

To find the kindness deep within

For peace on planet earth

 

Monday, December 18, 2023

Peace in Our Time

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WAR & PEACE


Peace in Our Time

 

The community of man

(the generic man, man without gender)

has never been at peace

We have had periods of calm when

enemies have put down their arms

but soon they pick them up again

 

Humanity exists in a state of perpetual war

The same emotions that inspire works

of magnificent art and architecture

The same desires that give birth to

eternal literature and sculpture

Monuments to human dignity

Also give us conflict, rage and vengeance

 

The human animal can only find peace

when he and she and people of all colors,

shapes and measures find a way to

contain our dark emotions

 

The human animal can never be at peace

with others until he and she and people

of all stripes, beliefs and religions are

at last at peace with ourselves

 

People of Israel put down your arms

People of Russia refuse to fight

People of all nations let us find a way

to love each other as we love ourselves

Let us find a path to peace in our time

 

Thursday, November 30, 2023

A World at War

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS


A World at War

 

We are nose down heading to a world at war

Is there no one who remembers?

No one who knows the horrors in store

No one to ask: Is it worth fighting for?

 

We all understand who is first to blame

The monsters of war have little shame

They toss the bombs and point away

Hamas and Putin are their names

 

If we do not find a path to peace

(Palestine needs a sovereign state)

There will be nowhere left to meet

(Stop Putin before it’s too late)

 

There is no place in the world for war

Our weapons assure our destruction

Stop this madness at the door

Disarm before the next eruption

 

A union of nations must rise in force

Our weapons must be held at bay

This must happen as a matter of course

If not we count our lives in days

 

The planet faces far greater threats

Without that of annihilation

The earth will hold us to our debts

Far better to claim salvation

 

Thursday, October 26, 2023

The Creature of the Deep

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS


The Creature of the Deep

 

There is a creature that dwells in sleep

With tentacles long and many

As many as are necessary

In the moment of deep, deep sleep

Its tentacle reach out in all directions

Taking hold of every sleeping soul

In that instant we are all connected

Each of us knows what every other thinks

Each of us feels what every other feels

Each of us understands we are one

 

The Israeli feels what the Palestinian feels

The Russian sees what the Ukrainian sees

The Islamist understands the Hindi

The Christian understands the Buddhist

The deist understands the atheist

The saint understands the bigot

Each of us understands the other

 

When we are in that deep cave of sleep

We are naked and everywhere

When we climb out of that deep cave

We clothe ourselves with prejudice

We clothe ourselves with bigotry and hate

We don the cloth of closed minds

That we may thrive among our people

 

Yet at moments of silent clarity

When all is quiet in the soul

We remember the creature of the deep

We remember that instant of knowing

We remember that we are one with all

And all are one within

Wednesday, August 23, 2023

Babble

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

 

Babble

 

They do not speak my language

They listen with their ears

But my words never quite form

They tell me I’ve lost my voice

They say they know how to find it

But they do not know me

They do not know where I come from

They do not know my language

I try to learn their words and syntax

But they carry a foreign sound

They will always sound strange

A sound less than genuine

For they do not speak my language

And I do not speak theirs

We speak across one another

We listen and nod and take it in

But we know it does not belong

Our hearts and souls reject it

Like the babble of ancient lore

We are of different tribes

We come from different ways

Our words rattle in other voices

Our ways cannot find home

Someday we will find a bridge

Someday we will find connections

That remind us we are one

Until then we can only nod

And pretend we understand

 


Saturday, December 24, 2022

Peace on Earth

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WAR & PEACE


Peace on Earth

 

In this moment of solemnity

As quiet comforts my soul

It seems a long hard road ahead when

Peace on earth sticks in my throat

When hope sometimes grows old

We shiver in our winter coats

We fight against the cold

 

Though our wish for peace is great

Our prayers are greater still

Those in the zone of war must wonder

How much our prayers are worth

Their friends and loved ones killed

They also prayed for peace on earth

As winter brought a chill

As Christmas brought a dearth

 

But pray for peace we must

In the winter of our darkest fears

For all the world seems hollow

Our yuletide glow seems dreary

And we would yield our winter cheer

Our songs and loving wishes

For a just and lasting peace this year

For peace on earth next year

 

Wednesday, February 23, 2022

Peace

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

 

Peace

 

We have placed the boot of a human

foot on the surface of the moon

We have produced human likeness

in breathtaking accuracy

We have spanned the sea

with miracles of engineering

We have delivered the breath of light

to the darkest corners of the earth

We have dammed mighty rivers

and built towers to the stars

We have created masterworks

of literature, technology and art

We have eradicated deadly disease

and saved the buffalo from extinction

We have split the atom and harnessed

the awesome power of the sun

We have protected our wisest voices

and quieted the rage of superstition

We have built governments and

institutions to the stand the ages

yet we cannot stop nations

from destroying one another

in pursuit of power

in the madness of greed

in the desire for fame

 

Until we can exist in mutual respect

Until we can banish war forever

Until we can accomplish a just peace

We have achieved nothing


Sunday, January 11, 2009

DEEPAK CHOPRA’S NINE STEPS TO PEACE

Spiritual adviser and healer turned celebrity spiritualist by his appearances on Oprah Winfrey has offered nine measures to convert the American economy from war to peace. Pointing out that we are the world’s leading supplier of deadly weapons, spending more on military expenditures than the next sixteen nations combined, he offers nine steps of transformation. While they may fall under the category of fanciful (along with John Lennon’s “Imagine”) under the prevailing militaristic mindset, I find them both appealing and ultimately inevitable. Here they are as they appear in the January 11, 2009 issue of Tikkun Magazine (“Memo to Obama: How to Convert to a Peace Economy”):

1. Scale out arms dealing and make it illegal by the year 2020.

2. Write into every defense contract a requirement for a peacetime project.

3. Subsidize conversion of military companies to peaceful uses with tax incentives and direct funding.

4. Convert military bases to housing for the poor.

5. Phase out all foreign military bases.

6. Require military personnel to devote part of their time to rebuilding infrastructure.

7. Call a moratorium on future weapons technologies.

8. Reduce armaments like destroyers and submarines that have no use against terrorism and were intended to defend against a superpower enemy that no longer exists.

9. Fully fund social services and take the balance out of the defense and homeland security budgets.

Jazz.

Sunday, December 07, 2008

DEMANDS OF THE PEACE MOVEMENT

by Cindy Sheehan

The Peace Movement demanded from Bush and will demand from Obama a complete and immediate withdrawal of US Forces and independent contractors from Iraq and Afghanistan and a declared end to the USA's War of Terror.

We demand that ALL torture prisons, in Guantanamo Cuba and around the world be closed and that the humans incarcerated in those prisons be released, or tried with full protection of commonly held law (that used to exist in the US) and that the Military Commission's Act be repealed.

We demand that the US take a more balanced approach to Israel's occupation and oppression of the Palestinian people and work with the international community to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

We demand that the USA PATRIOT ACT be repealed. (Obama voted to renew it).

We demand that the FISA Modernization Act be repealed. (Obama voted to take away our 4th amendment rights).

We demand that most of the 800+ US bases around the world be closed and our troops brought back to their home bases and attrition be used to reduce the size of our "standing Army" that is un-Constitutional, anyway.

We demand that the US military be reduced to a size that can be used for defensive purposes, natural disasters and international emergencies only---not be built up with another 100,000 troops (another Obama campaign promise).

We demand that the budget for the Pentagon be reduced dramatically and the money be used for education, jobs and health care here in the US. If everyone (not just the wealthy) had easy access to these basic human rights, then why would there become a part of the US military Empire?

We demand that the Posse Comitatus Act be fully restored so US forces and weapons CANNOT be used against we citizens.

[Excerpted from “Peace” by Cindy Sheehan 12/7/08. Contact@CindyforCongress.org.]

Saturday, March 10, 2007

Vote No War!

Don't be fooled, the "withdrawal from Iraq" plan that Democratic Party leaders in Congress have just announced is nothing more than a cover to approve Bush's request for $100 billion to fund the war and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan -- in other words, to continue the war.

Democratic Party leaders propose to begin withdrawing troops in a year to 18 months. Over the last 18 months, more than 1,200 US soldiers have been killed and about seven times that many wounded and maimed. A year or 18 months more war is a death sentence for untold numbers of soldiers and even greater number of Iraqis (Note: The ratio of American to Iraqi war dead is an estimated 200:1).

The "withdrawal time tables" along with the "goals and conditions" that the Democrats are proposing are not fundamentally different thatn the ones that Bush proposed in his "State of the Union" address.

Democratic Party leaders can end the war right now if they exercise their power to simply cut of all funding for the war. If they fail, it's not just Bush's war or the Republican war, its the Democratic war as well.

On Monday antiwar activists around the country will begin camping in front of the Capitol Building. We need you to join us. We need you to march on the Pentagon March 17. We need you to march on the streets of every city in America with a united voice: End the war today!

Friday, March 09, 2007

Harry Reid: End the War!

American casualties are up. Iraqi causalities are up. The Bush Administration's strategy is not working. It's time for a change in Iraq, and that's exactly what the legislation I announced yesterday accomplishes.

We can't stay in Iraq forever. The question becomes whether we continue to follow the President's failed strategy or whether we work to change course.

That's why I introduced a joint resolution along with Senators Durbin, Schumer, Murray, Levin, Bayh and Feingold calling for the President to bring stability to Iraq by beginning a phased redeployment of U.S. forces in 120 days with the goal of redeploying most combat forces by the end of March 2008.

Over the last two months, hundreds of thousands of you have come forward to support Senate Democrats. Today I come to you again and ask to show your support by becoming a citizen cosponsor of our plan.

Last November, the American people demanded a new direction. However, Republicans have chosen to green light the escalation. Democrats will not stop fighting for change in Iraq. Now Republicans must join us and put America's future before the President's legacy.

Thank you,

Harry Reid

Thursday, December 29, 2005

New Year Wishes from Code Pink

by Medea Benjamin

Imagine if, in 2006:

• Every citizen against the war decides to attend a peace vigil.
• Every mother shows up at a recruiters' office and says, "NOT MY CHILD!"
• Every father is brave enough to tell his son "Killing is NOT manly."
• Every teacher teaches conflict resolution to her students.
• Every Christian demands that our government practice the Commandment: THOU SHALL NOT KILL.
• Every anti-war voter refuses to give money, support or votes to pro-war candidates.
• Every student who considers joining the military to pay rising college costs instead joins with other students to demand affordable education.
• Every soldier who has doubts about the mission in Iraq refuses to fight.
• Every congressperson walks, cycles or takes public transportation to work.
• Every American buying a new car chooses a hybrid or biodiesel.
• Every family member of a fallen soldier joins Cindy Sheehan in saying “Honor our sacrifices; stop the killing.”
• Every living veteran, those who best know the agony of war, converges on Washington to demand a Department of Peace.
• Every woman who wants to see a more peaceful world connects with like-minded women of all ages, races, religions and nationalities to demand an end to war. *
• Every citizen who feels lied to about the reasons for invading Iraq demands that George Bush be impeached.

Maybe, together, we could end the occupation of Iraq in the new year and make it harder for future leaders to drag us into unjust wars. When we sow seeds of peace, a whole field of dreams can blossom.

From your sisters at CODEPINK, we wish you a joyful holiday season and look forward to working together in 2006 to make our dreams come true.

Medea Benjamin is Founding Director of Global Exchange. For over twenty years, Medea has supported human rights and social justice struggles around the world. Medea is a leading activist in the peace movement and helped bring together the groups forming the coalition United for Peace and Justice . She is also the co-founder of CODEPINK: Women for Peace, a women's group that has been organizing creative actions against the war and occupation of Iraq. CODEPINK is pushing for a reorientation of budget priorities in the US to focus on heath care, education and housing, not war. Code Pink now has over 250 chapters throughout the United States.

[Published on Thursday, December 29, 2005 by CommonDreams.org]

Thursday, November 24, 2005

THANKS & FORGIVENESS

On this day of Thanksgiving, I reflect on the positive changes in my life and the lives of others within my community and beyond, for which I should be grateful. I reflect as well on the dark forces within and without my life that oppose me and that I oppose and wonder if I can find a path to forgiveness.

I thank my family and friends for giving me support and forgiving my missteps, knowing that they are almost always taken with good and pure intent.

I forgive the small betrayals of the communal trust for which there is underlying beneficent intent and pledge that I will look for that intent beyond the sting of perceived, unwarranted abuse.

I thank Congressman John Murtha for initiating the congressional debate that should have been aired before the war began. I thank him for having the courage to learn and change while others cling stubbornly to political postures.

I thank Major Paul Hackett for finally moving to an antiwar position.

I thank Howard Zinn, Kevin Zeese, Tom Hayden, Amy Goodman, Robert Scheer, Noam Chomsky, Mickey Z, Ralph Nader, Robert Jensen, Cynthia McKinney, Barbara Lee, Dennis Kucinich and so many others for standing strong in the cause of peace.

I thank Common Dreams, Dissident Voice, Albion Monitor, Counterpunch, Z Net, Democracy Now and others in the alternative media for giving voice to the antiwar movement.

I forgive Move On and other partisan organizations for failing to find the antiwar ground as they struggle to overcome the politics of pragmatism.

I thank International ANSWER and United for Peace and Justice for overcoming their differences in bringing the antiwar movement together.

I thank the people of Spain for finding a more enlightened way to respond to acts of terrorism and for leading European opposition to the Iraq War.

I thank the people of my own nation for finally awakening to the nightmare of the Bush Doctrine.

I thank our soldiers not for their actions in war but for their sacrifice, courage and honor in serving a cause greater than themselves. I thank Kevin Benderman and all the soldiers who have decided they cannot serve an immoral war in good conscience.

I thank people everywhere for caring and giving to the victims of unprecedented catastrophes. If only governments were as enlightened as their peoples.

I thank Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez for his opposition to global exploitation and for his bold and generous gift of cheap heating oil to poor American communities.

I forgive those in power who genuinely believed that the policies of austerity (“starving the beast”) and global dominance would somehow serve the greater good, so long as they accept the error of their ways.

I thank all the individuals who have not lost hope, who continue to struggle for peace, justice and the well being of the planet. May I forever count myself among them.

Jazz.

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

PLEDGE AGAINST THE WAR

In "The War Party: The Next Step in the Antiwar Movement" (Buzzle.com, 9/30/04), I advocated the following pledge in the coming elections.

The War Party pledge:

The War Party platform comes down to one simple requirement: A pledge to bring our soldiers home within six months (or less), to dismantle our military installations, and to revoke all contractual claims of the occupying force.

We should not care whether a candidate is Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, Green or Independent. We should only require an unequivocal pledge to end the war.

Our goal must be to offer an antiwar alternative in every race in the land. We must divorce ourselves from the self-defeating notion that a pro-war Democrat is substantially better than a pro-war Republican. Where there is an antiwar alternative, there is a chance the mainstreamers will come around. Where there is no alternative, there is no chance.
----
Recently, former Congressional candidate Paul Hackett circulated the following pledge in behalf of Democracy for America. As it is a start, I signed it.

Democracy for America Pledge:

I pledge to only support candidates who:
1. Acknowledge that the U.S. was misled into the war in Iraq.
2. Advocate for a responsible exit plan with a timeline.
3. Support our troops at home and abroad.

See: http://tools.democracyforamerica.com/local

Additionally, Joshua Frank, author of "Left Out! How Liberals Helped Reelect George W. Bush," writing in Dissident Voice, advocated the candidacy of Kevin Zeese for the open Senatorial seat in Maryland (see Dissident Voice, 10/18/05). Zeese is director of Democracy Rising, an avowed antiwar activist pledged to ending the occupation.

"There is not a single Senator standing up in Washington urging that we bring the troops home." Kevin Zeese.

As an independent running against a pro-war Democrat (Congressman Ben Cardin) and a yet to be announced Republican, he deserves our support.

I join Frank's appeal. The time is ripe. The candidates are emerging. If we act on our convictions now and back it up with contributions, the transformation of America begins next November. Take the pledge.

See: www.kevinzeese.com.

Tuesday, October 11, 2005

A Message from United for Peace & Justice

2,000 U.S. Deaths in Iraq is 2,000 Too Many!

Organize an Anti-War Action the Day After the U.S. Announces the 2,000th U.S. Soldier Death in Iraq

How many more U.S. soldiers and Iraqis must give their lives before our government finally admits that the war against Iraq was wrong and it’s time tobring our troops home now? So far, more than 1950 U.S. soldiers have been killed in Iraq, and more than 15,000 have been wounded. U.S. soldiers are at grave risk in Iraq, and continue to suffer even after they come home. Troops returning to the U.S. are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, and are even turning up in homeless shelters in cities through the country. The risk for Iraqis is even more severe: Tens of thousands of Iraqis have been killed in the war, and hundreds of thousands of lives have been devastated, even according to the most conservative estimates.

Meanwhile, the war has meant that precious resources are being channeled toward death and destruction in Iraq instead of into programs that could save people’s lives and meet their basic human needs. If the National Guard troops and equipment from Mississippi and Louisiana hadn’t been in Iraq, the Guard could have responded more quickly and more thoroughly to the devastation wreaked by Hurricane Katrina and lives could have been saved. The U.S. is pouring more than a billion dollars a week into the Iraq war that could otherwise be spent on health care, schools and infrastructure here at home.

TAKE ACTION: ORGANIZE AN ANTI-WAR VIGIL, RALLY OR OTHER PEACE EVENT FOR THEDAY AFTER THE 2,000th U.S. SOLDIER IS KILLED IN IRAQ:

The sad day is coming when the 2,000th U.S. soldier will have died in Iraq. We need to use that milestone to remind people of the human cost of the war and call for the troops to come home. United for Peace and Justice supports the calls of our member groups - American Friends Service Committee http://www.afsc.org/2,000/, Gold Star Families for Peace http://www.gsfp.org and Military Families Speak Out http://www.mfso.org - for actions on the day after the 2,000th U.S. serviceperson's death is announced. We urge to you join the hundreds of peace and justice groups throughout the country as we tell the President, Congress and the world that 2,000 U.S. deaths in Iraq is 2,000 too many.

• We will remember the 2,000 U.S. servicemen and women who have died in Iraq.
• We will remember the tens of thousands of Iraqis -- civilians and combatants, men and women, children the elderly -- who have been killed.
• We will remember that these deaths did not have to happen, should not have happened.
• We will call for our troops to be brought home now. Don't ask these men and women to continue to die for politicians' mistakes and lies. And we want them treated right when they return. Give them the benefits they were promised and give them the help they will need to heal their bodies, their minds and their spirits.
• We will demand an end to the occupation so the Iraqi people can determine their own destiny free from foreign interference and control.

Some ideas for what you can do:
• Organize a candlelight vigil where you read the names of U.S. soldiers and Iraqis who've been killed in the war.
• Organize an event that visually represents the number of U.S. soldiers who've been killed - 2,000 candles, 2,000 pairs of shoes, 2,000 coffins, etc.
• Organize any event outside of the district office of a Senator or Representative who needs to change his/her position on the Iraq war - a vigil, picket, rally, or sit-in. Demand that the Senator or Representative face his/her constituents at a town hall meeting.
• Coordinate with other local peace and justice groups, veterans, and military families.
• Make sure that the media knows what you are doing and invite them to cover your activities.
• List your event at http://unitedforpeace.org/addevent so we can get the word out about these events and give an accurate count to the news media.

Sunday, June 05, 2005

TAO 30: A Message for Our Leaders

He who knows how to guide a ruler in the path of Tao

Does not try to override the world with the force of arms.

It is in the nature of a military weapon to turn against its wielder.

Wherever armies are stationed, thorny bushes grow.

After a great war, bad years invariably follow.

What you want is to protect efficiently your own state.

But not to aim at self aggrandizement.

After you have attained your purpose

You must not parade your success,

You must not boast of your ability,

You must not feel proud,

You must rather regret that you had not been able to prevent war.

You must never think of conquering others by force.

For to be over-developed is to hasten decay.

And this is the Tao,

And what is against Tao will cease to be.



Lao Tzu,

Tao teh ching (XXX)

Thursday, May 26, 2005

ADDICTED TO WAR

By Evan Augustine Peterson III, J.D.

Warlust eventually ravages nations just like a highly addictive narcotic ravages people. Warfare’s savagery inflicts destruction on prey nations immediately, whereas it destroys predator nations mediately. War initially produces a stimulative “high” for the predator’s domestic economy. Leaders in predator nations ignore this opiate-like economic addiction to war because it serves to enrich their upper classes. Warfare is instantaneously lucrative for the military-industrial complex’s depraved war profiteers but can cause an entire region’s economy to become depraved war addicts over time.

Consider that the economic high from an addiction to war is always a Faustian bargain. It compels the addicted nation to start an endless succession of destructive wars in order to avoid severe withdrawal symptoms, which otherwise would appear in the form of recessions and depressions. Penultimately, it forces the working class to pay the highest price in blood and treasure. Their children become cannon fodder and their taxes are squandered to finance military adventures. Ultimately, war destroys empires as well as it does people. Militaristic nations always collapse because their criminal acts of aggression are not only morally indefensible but also economically unsustainable.

One certainly need not be a pacifist to recognize that …the USA is economically addicted to war. If so, this would explain why our political system is dominated by the ultra-militarist War Party and the crypto-fascist Bush family (i.e., the pushers), while our economic system is dominated by the military-industrial complex and its mafiosiesque war profiteers (i.e., the kingpins).

Finally, if the USA is economically addicted to war, that raises some important moral questions. Readers of good conscience should be asking themselves: Am I willing to engage in loving acts of nonviolent noncooperation with evil in order to stop my nation’s wars of aggression? Or will I watch in craven silence as this nation descends – like the Bush family’s multigenerational war profiteers – into a vampiric career of bloodthirsty murderousness? If it’s the latter, won’t I be sending America’s children the depraved message that it’s permissible to murder people, so long as it’s profitable? Which destiny am I going to choose – nonviolent redemption or militaristic perdition?

In short, we’ve proved in Iraq that violence only begets more violence, and war more wars. It’s time to show the world the force of our example, not the example of our force.

[Excerpted from “American Militarism: Is the USA Addicted to War?” See Orb Standard at http://orbstandard.com/News/Peterson/peterson_is_the_us_addicted_to_war.html.]

Monday, March 14, 2005

NYC ANTIWAR RESOLUTION

WHEREAS: March 19 is the second anniversary of the beginning of the war against Iraq, and

WHEREAS: Peace loving people in New York City and throughout the region will gather in Central Park, as people in cities across the country and the world will be marking that date with protest;

WHEREAS: President Bush is asking Congress to approve $82 billion more for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan on top of the $200 billion that has already been taken from the lives of working and poor people to pay for the last two years of war;

WHEREAS: President Bush's 2006 proposed budget constitutes the most violent assault in 25 years on the programs that New York City as well as other cities and communities across the country depend on;

WHEREAS: These proposed cuts in desperately needed aid for education, healthcare, housing, veterans, as well as for the homeless and hungry; and whereas the continuation of the war and occupation in Iraq that these proposed cuts will in part pay for will cause grave harm to the people of New York City;

The New York City Council calls on President George Bush and on Congress to:

WITHDRAW ALL U.S. TROOPS FROM IRAQ NOW and NOT CUT THE PROGRAMS THAT CITIES AND COMMUNITIES DEPEND ON.