Tuesday, July 1, 2014

U.S. Conference of Mayors Calls for Nuclear Disarmament

Anyone know how Minnesota Mayors voted on this? It says the vote was unanimous... why so little media coverage of this resolution?

Shouldn't this same kind of resolution be submitted to all political party conventions?

And what about state legislatures and members of Congress?

Has Barack Obama acknowledged receiving this resolution? If so, what is his response to it?

Anyone read anything about this in their local newspaper? Heard reports on the television or radio news?

Seen anything about this on labor websites and blogs?

How many peace organizations have disseminated this?

Alan L. Maki

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There is only a small minority in Congress and other areas of government which thinks our nuclear "deterrent" is somehow necessary or valuable, instead of a threat to human civilization and all higher life forms.  It's time to get serious about nuclear disarmament, and for us, it starts at home - with Malmstrom AFB.  
Paul Stephens, CasCoGreens

U.S. Conference of Mayors Calls for Nuclear Disarmament

The U.S. Conference of Mayors unanimously adopted this resolution at its 82nd annual meeting in Dallas, Texas, in June 2014.
Resolution No. 119: Calling for Constructive Good Faith U.S. Participation in International Nuclear Disarmament Forums
US Conference of Mayors logo

WHEREAS
, Article VI of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), which entered into force in 1970, and is part of the supreme law of the land pursuant to Article VI of the U.S. Constitution, states: “Each of the Parties to the Treaty undertakes to pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament”; and


WHEREAS, in 1996, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the judicial branch of the United Nations (UN) and the highest court in the world on questions of international law, issued an authoritative interpretation of Article VI, unanimously concluding: “There exists an obligation to pursue in good faith and bring to a conclusion negotiations leading to nuclear disarmament in all its aspects under strict and effective international control”; and


WHEREAS, forty-four years after the NPT entered into force, an estimated 16,400 nuclear weapons, most held by the U.S. and Russia, pose an intolerable threat to humanity, and there are no disarmament negotiations on the horizon; and


WHEREAS, the U.S. and the eight other nuclear weapon possessing states are investing an estimated $100 billion annually to maintain and modernize their nuclear arsenals while actively planning to deploy nuclear weapons for the foreseeable future; and


WHEREAS, the U.S.-Russian conflict over the Ukraine may lead to a new era of confrontation between nuclear-armed powers, and nuclear tensions in the Middle East, Southeast Asia and on the Korean peninsula remind us that the potential for nuclear war is ever present; and


WHEREAS, in December 2012, the UN General Assembly established a working group open to all member states (the “Open-Ended Working Group”) “to develop proposals to take forward multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations for the achievement and maintenance of a world without nuclear weapons,” and scheduled for September 26, 2013 the first-ever High-Level meeting of the UN General Assembly devoted to nuclear disarmament; and


WHEREAS, in December 2013, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution which: “Calls for the urgent commencement of negotiations, in the Conference on Disarmament, for the early conclusion of a comprehensive convention on nuclear weapons to prohibit their possession, development, production, acquisition, testing, stockpiling, transfer and use or threat of use, and to provide for their destruction;”…. “Decides to convene, no later than 2018, a United Nations high-level international conference on nuclear disarmament to  review the progress made in this regard;” and “Declares 26 September as the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons devoted to furthering this objective, including through enhancing public awareness and education about the threat posed to humanity by nuclear weapons and the necessity for their total elimination;” and


WHEREAS, delegations representing 146 States, the UN, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Red Cross and Red Crescent movement and civil society organizations participated in the Second Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons held in Nayarit, Mexico, February 13-14, 2014, to discuss global and long-term consequences of any nuclear detonation, accidental or deliberate, including impacts on public health, humanitarian assistance, the economy, the environment, climate change, food security and risk management; and


WHEREAS, Juan Manuel Gómez Robledo, Mexico’s Vice Minister for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights, Chair of the Nayarit Conference, concluded: “The broad-based and comprehensive discussions on the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons should lead to the commitment of States and civil society to reach new international standards and norms, through a legally binding instrument … [The] time has come to initiate a diplomatic process conducive to this goal… compris[ing] a specific timeframe, the definition of the most appropriate fora, and a clear and substantive framework … The 70th anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki attacks is the appropriate milestone to achieve our goal”; and


WHEREAS, August 6 and 9, 2015 will mark the 70th anniversaries of the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which killed more that 210,000 people by the end of 1945, while the remaining “hibakusha” (A-bomb survivors) continue to suffer from the physical and psychological effects of the bombings; and


WHEREAS, the people of the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) continue to suffer from the health and environmental impacts of 67 above-ground nuclear weapons test explosions conducted by the U.S. in their islands between 1946 and 1958, the equivalent of 1.6 Hiroshima-sized bombs detonated daily for 12 years; and


WHEREAS, the RMI on April 24, 2014 filed landmark cases in the ICJ against the U.S. and the eight other nuclear-armed nations claiming that they have failed to comply with their obligations, under the NPT and customary international law, to pursue negotiations for the worldwide elimination of nuclear weapons, and filed a companion case in U.S. Federal District Court; and


WHEREAS, the Administration’s FY 2015 budget request for maintenance and modernization of nuclear bombs and warheads, at more than $8.7 billion, in constant dollars exceeds the amount spent in 1985 for comparable work at the height of President Reagan’s surge in nuclear weapons spending, which was the highest point of Cold War spending; and


WHEREAS, this enormous commitment to modernizing nuclear bombs and warheads and the laboratories and factories to support those activities does not include even larger amounts of funding for planned replacements of delivery systems – the bombers, missiles and submarines that form the strategic triad; in total, according to the General Accounting Office, the U.S. will spend more than $700 billion over the next 30 years to maintain and modernize nuclear weapons systems; the James Martin Center places the number at an astounding one trillion dollars; and


WHEREAS, this money is desperately needed to address basic human needs such as housing, food security, education, healthcare, public safety, education and environmental protection; and


WHEREAS, the U.S. Conference of Mayors has adopted resolutions each year since 2010 calling for deep cuts in nuclear weapons spending and redirection of those funds to meet the needs of cities and adopted an additional resolution in 2011 “Calling on Congress to Redirect Military Spending to Domestic Needs”; and in 2013 called on the U.S. to participate in good faith in the UN Open-Ended Working Group and High-Level Meeting on nuclear disarmament, and the Nayarit Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons; and


WHEREAS, Mayors for Peace continues to advocate for the immediate commencement of negotiations to eliminate nuclear weapons by 2020 and its membership has grown ten fold since the “2020 Vision Campaign” was launched in 2003, surpassing 6,000 members in 158 countries, representing one seventh of the world’s population; and Mayors for Peace, with members in the U.S. and Russia; India and Pakistan, and Israel, Palestine and Iran can be a real force for peace.


NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that U.S. Conference of Mayors expresses its deep concern that the UN Open-Ended Working  Group on nuclear disarmament and the Nayarit Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons took place without the participation of the U.S., Russia, the United Kingdom, France and China; that at the September 26, 2013 UN High-Level Meeting on nuclear disarmament, the U.S. joined with France and the UK in a profoundly negative statement, delivered by a junior British diplomat: “While we are encouraged by the increased energy and enthusiasm around the nuclear disarmament debate, we regret that this energy is being directed toward initiatives such as this High-Level Meeting, the humanitarian consequences campaign, the Open-Ended Working Group and the push for a Nuclear Weapons Convention”; and that the U.S. voted against the 2013 UN General Assembly resolution calling for urgent commencement of negotiations in the Conference on Disarmament for the early conclusion of a nuclear weapons convention; and


BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors calls on the U.S. to participate constructively and in good faith in the Third Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons to be hosted by Austria in Vienna, December 8-9, 2014, and to press the other nuclear weapon states to do likewise; and


BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors calls on the U.S. to participate constructively and in good faith in urgent commencement of negotiations in the Conference on Disarmament for the early conclusion of a comprehensive convention on nuclear weapons, and to press the other nuclear weapon states to do likewise; and


BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors commends the Republic of the Marshall Islands for calling to the world’s attention the failure of the nine nuclear-armed states to comply with their international obligations to pursue negotiations for the worldwide elimination of nuclear weapons, and calls on the U.S. to respond constructively and in good faith to the lawsuits brought by the RMI; and


BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors calls on the U.S. to demonstrate a good faith commitment to its disarmament obligation under Article VI of the NPT by commencing a process to negotiate the global elimination of nuclear weapons within a timebound framework, under strict and effective international control, at the May 2015 NPT Review Conference, and to press the other nuclear weapon states to do likewise; and


BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors urges President Obama to engage in intensive diplomatic efforts to reverse the deteriorating U.S. relationship with Russia; and


BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors calls on the President and Congress to reduce nuclear weapons spending to the minimum necessary to assure the safety and security of the existing weapons as they await disablement and dismantlement, and to redirect those funds to meet the urgent needs of cities; and


BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors calls on its membership to proclaim September 26 in their cities as the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons and to support activities to enhance public awareness and education about the threat posed to humanity by nuclear weapons and the necessity for their total elimination; and


BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors welcomes the appointment of Akron, Ohio and Mayor Donald Plusquellic as a Mayors for Peace regional lead city, and encourages all U.S. mayors for join Mayors for Peace; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors expresses its continuing support for and cooperation with Mayors for Peace.

Submitted by:
The Honorable Donald L. Plusquellic
Mayor of Akron, Ohio
The Honorable William D. “Bill” Euille
Mayor of Alexandria, Virginia
The Honorable Denny Doyle
Mayor of Beaverton, Oregon
The Honorable Mark Kleinschmidt
Mayor of Chapel Hill, North Carolina
The Honorable William E. “Bill” Gluba
Mayor of Davenport, Iowa
The Honorable T.M. Franklin Cownie
Des Moines, Iowa
The Honorable Luigi Boria
Mayor of Doral, Florida
The Honorable Roy D. Buol
Mayor of Dubuque, Iowa
The Honorable William V. “Bill” Bell
Mayor of Durham, North Carolina
The Honorable Salvatore J. Panto, Jr.
Mayor of Easton, Pennsylvania
The Honorable Kitty Piercy
Mayor of Eugene, Oregon
The Honorable Ed Malloy
Mayor of Fairfield, Iowa
The Honorable Joy Cooper
Mayor of Hallandale Beach, Florida
The Honorable Alex Morse
Mayor of Holyoke, Massachusetts
The Honorable Mark Stodola
Mayor of Little Rock, Arkansas
The Honorable Paul Soglin
Mayor of Madison, Wisconsin
The Honorable McKinley Price
Mayor of Newport News, Virginia
The Honorable Chris Koos
Mayor of Normal, Illinois
The Honorable Frank Ortis
Mayor of Pembroke Pines, Florida
The Honorable Michael Brennan
Mayor of Portland, Maine
The Honorable Gayle McLaughlin
Mayor of Richmond, California
The Honorable Ardell Brede
Mayor of Rochester, Minnesota
The Honorable Stephen Cassidy
Mayor of San Leandro, California
The Honorable Pam O’Connor
Mayor of Santa Monica, California
The Honorable Neil King
Mayor of Taos Ski Valley, New Mexico
The Honorable Laurel Lunt Prussing
Mayor of Urbana, Illinois
The Honorable Geraldine Muoio
Mayor of West Palm Beach, Florida

The sheer hypocrisy of Mike Wiggins, Jr. and the corrupt Bad River Tribal Council

The Bad River Band of Ojibwe has filed a request for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to determine whether a proposed iron ore mine would contribute adversely to human health and the environment in northern Wisconsin.

This is welcome news; however, why doesn't the Bad River Band request the EPA to check the quality of the air in its smoke-filled casino at the same time--- there is just a tad bit of hypocrisy in the Bad River Band's request to the EPA.

Just like the Red Lake Nation whose crooked and corrupt tribal council always is talking about the harmful effects of forestry, mining, power lines and oil and gas pipelines but it operates three huge smoke-filled casinos in northern Minnesota plus the tribe is being allowed to build a huge new casino/hotel/conference center/resort-marina right on top of one of the most fragile wetlands in northern Minnesota.

The fact is, money talks and the hypocrisy associated with the greed and corruption have no bounds--- workers and Mother Nature suffer.

The Bad River Band dumps its raw sewage from its casino right into the rivers of northern Minnesota and into Lake Superior... more hypocrisy.

Mining or casinos--- it is all about money, money, money and the people and Mother Nature be damned.

Does hypocrisy have no limits when it is attached to greed?

Of course, the real reason the Bad River Band's Chair Mike Wiggins, Jr. is opposed to the iron ore mine is that his casino will have to compete for labor at much higher wages. If Mike Wiggins and the Band River Tribal Council cared about people and the environment--- and the environment people have to work in like a smoke-filled casino is every bit as deadly as the pollutants from iron ore mining--- Mike Wiggins would invest $50.00 in "No Smoking" signs for the Bad River Casino.

The environmental movement, including the Wisconsin Green Party whose candidates are being funded just like the Democrats and Republicans, by the money from Indian Gaming have remained silent when it comes to workers being forced to work in smoke-filled casinos and this hypocrisy is showing itself--- people don't like the hypocrisy and corruption associated with Indian Gaming and the mining companies and this blatant hypocrisy, and acceptance of it, is part and parcel of the corruption that offends so many people.

It is just such hypocrisy that makes it difficult to mount successful challenges to these mining ventures which end up seeing tax-payers stuck with the clean-up costs for years and years... perhaps centuries.

Bad River Tribal Chair Mike Wiggins, Jr. is as bad, greedy and corrupt as any mining company CEO--- and he kills casino workers with heart and lung diseases, cancers and complications with diabetes that result in forcing casino workers to work in these smoke-filled casinos.



Correction:

Whoops... a mistake:

"The Bad River Band dumps its raw sewage from its casino right into the rivers of northern Minnesota and into Lake Superior... more hypocrisy...."

It should read:

The Bad River Band dumps its raw sewage from its casino right into the rivers of northern Wisconsin and into Lake Superior polluting this huge body of water for Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan and Ontario ... more hypocrisy.