My Blog Posts

• Name Our Campaign!
  07/23/2009 02:52:52 PM EST
  The Obama Administration has rekindled domestic and international support for efforts to reduce the threat posed by nuclear weapons.  However, the Administration will require help to implement its bold nuclear agenda through sustained support from its friends, allies and partners in order to achieve his nuclear reduction agenda.   To help achieve these goals, Council for a Livable World is launching a campaign to build support for reductions in nuclear arsenals throughout the world and to bolster the international nonproliferation regime, but WE NEED YOUR HELP! Our campaign will be focused around the exceptional graphic below and we want you to help us NAME OUR CAMPAIGN! Click here to submit your slogan idea for our nuclear weapons reduction and nonproliferation campaign. The deadline is August 15, 2009.
  
• Promising Rhetoric from the Obama-Medvedev Summit
  07/13/2009 10:48:33 AM EST
  Last week President Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev announced a preliminary agreement to reduce the size of each country’s nuclear weapons stockpiles. From July 6 through July 8, the two leaders met in Moscow for their first full summit. Their announcement that the U.S. and Russia will negotiate a successor agreement to the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), a crucial accord that reduces the sizes of the two countries’ nuclear weapons stockpiles, is an excellent beginning to reviving arms control agreements and nonproliferation efforts.
• Franks Missile Defense Amendment Defeated
  07/01/2009 03:46:05 PM EST
  Rep. Franks (R-AZ) proposed amendment H.AMDT.266 to the FY 2010 Defense Authorization bill, which increased funding for missile defense by $1.2 billion which was subsequently defeated on June 25th.  There were a number of Representatives that defected from their party lines, as shown below, but the general effect was awash.
• CLW Sends Letter on Missile Defense to House Armed Services Committee
  06/19/2009 08:52:49 AM EST
  On June 2, 2009, Representative Ike Skelton introduced H.R.2647, or the FY 2010 National Defense Authorization Act.  This bill was approved by the House Armed Services Committee on June 17, 2009.  Thankfully the Democratic members on the Committee were able to thwart Republican efforts to attach amendments to the bill for funding national missile defense programs.  The Council for a Livable World played an active part in rebuffing Republicans by sending a letter on June 15th to members of the Armed Services Committee on behalf of national security non-profit community.  The Obama administration under the leadership of Secretary Gates has undertaken a fundamental realignment of the US military.  A critical component of the shift in defense policy is to eliminate costly, unproven defense systems of which missile defense is top of the list.  Through its rejection of missile defense funding amendments, the House has shown its support of the President's initiative for creating a military that can better meet the challenges of the 21st Century.
• Minnesota board declared Franken the winner!
  04/30/2009 04:13:51 PM EST
  Last week, a panel of three Minnesota judges agreed that Democrat Al Franken defeated Republican Norm Coleman.  This race was too close to call after the November election with only 200 of more than 2 million ballots separating the two candidates.  However, through a lengthy and costly legal battle, more than $12 million in fees, it has been determined that Al Franken won with a margin of 312 votes. Despite this declaration, Coleman is continuing to contest the election results. Norm Coleman has delayed seating Al Franken in the US Senate for almost four months.  It is time to end this process and accept the will of the Minnesota voters which support immediately seating Franken by 64%. With Arlen Spector’s recent party shift, Coleman’s appeal will place additional political pressure on Minnesota’s Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty which is already coming from both sides of the aisle.  However, the choice is simple; Al Franken won the election and should be seated now.