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November 7, 2012
Exoneration for Rep. Maxine Waters
We applaud her
leadership
M arc M oriai .
It is alw ays big new s w henever
ethics charges are brought against
a M em ber o f Congress. Convictions,,
though rare, also m ake headlines.
W e understand that bad new s sells.
But we also think it is a big deal when
a respected M em ber o f C ongress is
co m p letely ex o n erated o f ethics
ch arg es — e sp ecially w hen that
m em ber is som eone as pow erful and
effective as C alifornia C ongress-
w om an M axine W aters.
In case you m issed it, in S ep tem
ber, after a th ree-year investigation.
R epresentative W aters, a 2 1 -year
veteran o f the H ouse and a senior
m em ber o f the H ouse Financial Ser
vices C om m ittee, w as cleared o f all
charges related to her role in assist
ing m inority-ow ned banks get b ail
out help through the g o v ern m en t’s
T ro u b le d A sset R e lie f P ro g ram
(TARP).
W hile h er husband ow ned stock
in one o f those banks, the investiga
tion found that the help that bank
received w as the result o f a request
she m ade on b e h alf o f all m inority
banks. H ouse E thics C o m m ittee
Special C ounsel, Billy M artin co n
cluded, “T he evidence in the record
does not support a know ing viola-
by
increase contracting opportunities
for m inority- and w om en-ow ned
b u s in e sse s.
R e p r e s e n ta tiv e W a te rs a ls o
fo u g h t to e n su re that in w in d in g
d o w n stru g g lin g fin a n c ia l in s titu
tio n s, re g u la to rs c o n sid e re d the
im p act on lo w -in c o m e , m in o rity ,
a n d u n d e r s e r v e d c o m m u n itie s
w here acc e ss to m ain stream b a n k
ing is a p ro b lem . A nd to help stem
the tid e o f h o u sin g fo re c lo su re s,
she se c u re d $1 b illio n - w ith an
a d d itio n a l $1 b illio n c o m m itm e n t
U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif. (left) and National Urban
fro m th e T re a s u ry D e p artm en t -
League President Marc Moriai.
to h elp u n e m p lo y e d h o m e o w n e rs
re c e iv e lo w -in te re s t lo an s to pay
tion o f ethics rules o r any standard nancial crisis o f 2008.
th e ir m o rtg a g e s.
o f co n d u ct w ith respect to Rep.
In her role as a senior m em ber o f
A s a m em b er o f the C o n gres
M axine W aters.”
the Financial S ervices C om m ittee, sional B lack C aucus, W aters has
Since h er initial 1991 election to Rep. W aters played a key role in also traveled the country to shine a
the H o u se , W a te rs h as b e en a shaping that legislation and was spotlight on the problem o f urban
staunch advocate for m iddle and successful in including provisions unem ploym ent and has w orked w ith
w o rk in g class fa m ilie s and has specifically designed to protect low- C o n g ressio n al m em b ers o f both
fought hard for m inority inclusion incom e and m inority citizens.
parties to pass critical jo b s legisla
in the financial services industry. In
B ecause o f her, there is now an tion.
fact, she w rote the legislation creat O ffice o f M inority and W om en at
W ith the retirem ent o f B arney
ing the O ffices o f M inority and each o f the federal regulatory ag en Frank, C ongressw om an W aters is
W om en Inclusion as part o f the cies such as the T reasury D ep art in line to be the ranking D em ocrat on
D odd-Frank W all Street Reform and m ent, the Federal R eserve, the F ed the H ouse Financial Services C o m
C o n su m er Protection Act.
eral D eposit Insurance C orporation, m ittee. W e applaud h er leadership
D odd-Frank puts in place the m ost and others.
and are pleased that her Ethics C o m
com prehensive financial regulatory
T hese offices will w ork to re m ittee ex o n eratio n rem oves any
reform m easures since the G reat verse years o f underrepresentation obstacle to h er ascendency.
D epression and is intended to p re and ensure the gender, racial and
Marc Moriai is president and
vent a repeat o f the reckless W all ethnic diversity o f the w orkforce chief executive officer o f the Na
Street b eh av io r that caused the fi- and senior m anagem ent, as well as tional Urban League.
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Give Peace Science a Chance
Big stick
ideology has run
its course
P atrick T. H iller
“ Speak softly and carry a big
stick; you w ill go far” w as a trad e
m a rk d e s c rip tio n o f T h e o d o re
R o o sev elt’s foreign policy. T o no
surprise, the recent election turned
politicians into stick-carrying h u n t
ers - only now it does not seem
necessary to speak softly.
M itt R om ney’s ideas for a "peace
ful planet" required us to have a
strong m ilitary, second to none.
Sim ilarly under P resident O b a m a ’s
m ilitary spending has gone up e v
ery single y ear h e ’s been in office,
and that the U nited States spends
m ore on its m ilitary than the next 10
countries com bined.
T he “big stick ideo lo g y ” is o u t
dated and it is tim e for o u r leaders to
acknow ledge the reality o f construc
tive w a y s’o f conflict tran sfo rm a
tion.
In tern atio n al R elatio n s ex p ert
by
Jo sh u a G o ld ste in , H arv ard p sy
cho lo g ist Steven Pinker, historian
K ent Shifferd, and m any other c o n
flict experts and institutes rem ind us
that the w orld is becom ing m ore
peaceful. T here are reasons.
S hifferd em phasizes that w e are
not talking about som e kind o f uto
pian peace, but one that is real and
that can be d escrib ed by global
trends o f an evolving peace system .
Som e o f those trends are the rise o f
hum an rights, w o m e n ’s rights, the
em ergence o f supranational in stitu
tions (e.g. the U nited N ations), n o n
violence as a substitute for w ar (e.g .,
the T unisian and Egyptian rev o lu
tions), and conflict resolution tech
niques inform ed by peace research
and education.
L e t’s dw ell on the last ones for a
m om ent. A re w e talking about real
science? T he an sw er is yes, peace
science and conflict resolution are
social scientific fields.
By exam ining both the th eo reti
cal and the practical aspects from
m ultiple perspectives, peace scien
tists inform and are inform ed by
w hat is happening on the ground.
T here are o v er 450 undergraduate,
m a ster’s and doctoral program s and
research centers on peace studies
and conflict resolution in 40 c o u n
tries and 38 U.S. states, according to
the Peace and Justice Studies A s
sociation. At the height o f the C old
W ar there w ere only 36.
T h e se in stitu tio n s e q u ip s tu
dents w ith research skills and real
istic tools to engage in constructive
conflict resolution efforts and in
form the public on viable altern a
tives to violence. T rue, there still are
m ilitary studies program s and entire
m ilitary academ ies. B ut le t’s face it
- they are “old school,” antiquated,
out o f fashion.
T he trend is clearly going the
o th er way. E ven R otary Interna
tional, arguably the w o rld ’s largest
service organization, w hich is c e r
tainly not know n as a radical, op p o
sitional, or even controversial o rg a
nization, is heavily invested in fund
ing R otary Peace C enters and R o
tary Peace Scholars w hose w ork
encom passes peace building w ithin
the fram ew ork o f transnational o r
ganizations or public policy m ak
ing, hum anitarian aid, hum an rights
advocacy or peace education.
So does p eace science offer ideas
on how to deal w ith Iran, “the g re a t
est threat o f all,” a “ state sponsor o f
terrorism ,” led by “the w orld’s w orst
actors” in a region “ in tum ult” ? (The
d e s c rip tio n s u se d by P re s id e n t
O bam a and G ov. R om ney in the
third presidential debate.) The a n
sw er is yes.
D avid Cortright, director o f policy
studies at N otre D am e’s Kroc Insti
tute for International Peace Studies,
points to m issing evidence on Iran’s
nuclear capabilities and the N uclear
N onproliferation Treaty. He points
to the alm ost certain escalation in a
cycle o f violence in the M iddle East
in case o f military strikes as well as the
need to com bine sanctions with in
centives for Iran to begin a construc
tive path o f conflict transformation.
L o u is K rie sb e rg , a fo u n d in g
scholar in the scientific field o f c o n
flict analysis and resolution, rem inds
us to look m ore closely at the Iran ’s
internal division and p ow er struc-
continued
on page 19