Letter & Commentary from Linda Z [Dallas, TX]
(She’s also a fellow Kucitizen]

Dated August 23, 2005

Congressman Pete Sessions
1514 Longworth House Bldg.
Washington, DC 20515-4332

Dear Congressman Sessions, I would like for you to advocate for A Department of Peace as proposed by Congressman Dennis Kucinich. I hope you are aware that this Bill will be introduced in September 2005.

I have read about your work to help provide the federal funding for families who have children with medical problems here in Dallas. You are a compassionate Congressman.

I have written to you several letters about Cindy Sheehan and how I would like you to be included in the voices in Congress, asking President Bush to speak to this special Mother, who lost her son in Iraq. Why is Cindy Sheehan special? Cindy Sheehan is willing to put her life on the line, just as her son gave his life. Because of Cindy Sheehan, the corporate media is covering to a much greater extent the strong anti-war sentiment felt by a greater number of American people, as we are discovering that the war against the citizens of Iraq, who never did harm to us, is not making us safer.

The power of Cindy Sheehan is she forces us to see the extreme sacrifices that men and women in the military and their families are making in order to "spread democracy" in Iraq.

The cost of the war in Iraq will reach 1 Trillion dollars in the next 5 years, as we also need to take care of our own men and women who have suffered serious injuries and will continue to suffer from the effects of Depleted Uranium (DU). According to Pentagon exports, approximately 13,000 Gulf War I veterans are now dead as result of injuries and illnesses incurred while participating in military operations between August 1990 and October 1991. As of May 2002, at least 221,000 veterans were on disability as result of injuries and illnesses incurred during military operations in the Persian Gulf.

Why doesn't the corporate media reported that the United States is participating in terrorist acts by using depleted uranium, a weapon of mass destruction, which the United States has been unleashing on the Iraqi people along with 450 bombs dropped during the Clinton administration to enforce the no fly zone?

How many American people are fighting in Iraq or have a family member fighting in Iraq or even a friend. How many American parents have lost a child, even outside of war? Whenever we advocate violent solutions while waving the American flag, we forget how innocent people everywhere suffer, just like innocent people suffered on 9-11.

Explore even a possibility of a Department of Peace, a Peace advisor to the President of the United States is a vital economic issue as we need to look at our priorities, real pro-life possibilities that should be a priority of this government, NUTRITION, AFFORDABLE HOUSING, EDUCATION, JOB TRAINING and HEALTHCARE for the citizens of the United States. All of these areas suffer when the national treasury is being drained for the war to gain the resources from The Middle East, the war for oil.

NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND has provisions to allow the Pentagon and School Boards to enable recruiters to go after public school students. NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND labels schools as failing. It isn't the schools that are failing our children. It is a policy of sending children, who can't afford college to war, instead of sending children to vocational schools which will allow for us the possibilities of discovery alternatives to oil, rather than killing innocent people for oil.

Americans know that we have problems with Democracy within the "Homeland". We need Voter-Verified Paper receipts at the polling stations. We need to look at ourselves and the American citizens who have spoken out loud about being disenfranchised at the polls. We need to explore how inclusive is American Society when the elected officials wage a war that the American people oppose against a country that did not attack us. The Department of Peace Legislation is a voice from Congressman Kucinich, as well as the Progressive Democratic Caucus, that asks each and everyone of us, isn't it time to find the way to makePEACE sustainable to promote a "culture of life"? As a great nation with so many resources, isn't it time to be a leader in the cause for Peace on Earth?

COMMENTARY … On the week-ends I play water volleyball out at a local swimming pool where my brother lives here in Dallas, Texas. We've actually started having political round tables. We are a diverse group, to the Right and to the Left, Republican and Democrat, from ages 20 - 50. 2 girls work in restaurants, 1 girl sells cars, and one guy sells cars. One girl is a loan processor and one lady is a real estate agent. One lady, Laura, adopted a Marine in Iraq and she sends him care-packages and she supports Bush's war. She said the media doesn't report the good we are doing there. Laura tried to make comparisons to World War II. I told Laura that I can also make comparisons to WWII. The United States propped up Saddam in the war against Iran. Those weapons of mass destruction that Saddam used on his own people came from the U.S. and that is public record. It is public record that Israel buys weapons of mass destruction including nuclear warheads from the U.S. I told her that Brown and Harriman, Chairman of the Board, Prescott Bush, financed the gas used by the Nazis to exterminate the Jews.

I told her to take a good look at the Chase Manhattan logo (The Rockefellers) a Swastika. I told her that it is very dramatic to see Iraqi people and Afghani people showing their purple thumbs to the camera, after voting, but elections don't make a Democracy and Democracy in The Middle East won't happen under American guns. The Iraqi Constitution gives Iraqi women fewer freedoms than they had under Saddam. Is this what American tax-payers should be asked to pay 1 Trillion dollars for in the next 5 years, along with healthcare for 45,000 plus veterans seriously disabled from the war in Iraq.

I explained that Social Security, Bankruptcy Law, CAFTA and NAFTA are a race to the bottom. Bush calls it part of his "Ownership Society." I told these folks to get the facts. The Ownership Society sounds powerful, but what it really means is you are on your own. For instance, the Bankruptcy Bill protects credit card companies who donate heavily to the campaigns, but provides no protection for consumers, making it more difficult for instance for college kids who are overwhelmed with college loans to apply for and obtain a credit card. If we created more jobs in this country by developing alternative fuel sources, we would raise the amount of money going into the Social Security Trust Fund and have a society that takes care of our own rather than everyone being on their own. What is the point of taxation, if the citizens don't benefit and name a Bush program where citizens, like you and me, non-CEO's of multinationals are benefiting. What has Bush's policies done to make it affordable for the average person to afford gas so they can get to work?