Dennis Kucinich

Mr. KUCINICH

Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in remembrance of Mr. Joseph Lecznar, Sr., a dedicated leader of Greater Cleveland's Polish community. Joe was born to Anthony and Mary Lecznar on July 25, 1921 in the southern province of Lancut, Poland. After attending elementary and junior high school, Joe began working on his family's farm. He served in the Polish Armed Forces, 2nd Corps during World War II and was wounded in action. He fought in many battles throughout the War and was honored with many medals and commendations for his bravery. He transferred to England and was honorably discharged in 1947. Following the War, Joe immigrated to Toronto, Canada and later Cleveland, Ohio to join his siblings. He attended the Westside Technical Center to study to become a tool and die maker. He worked for the Chrysler Corporation for 30 years, where he was awarded with a citation and plaque for excellence. Joe was an active member of his community; in particular the Greater Cleveland Polish community. He was a member of the Polish Army Veterans Association of America, Alliance of Poles, Polish National Alliance, Polish Legion of American veterans, Association of Polish Women, Polish American Congress, Parma Polish American League, Foundations and Center of the 2nd Polish Corps and the Chopin Singing Society. Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me in remembrance of Mr. Joseph Lecznar, Sr. I offer my condolences to his wife, Irene; four children, Joseph, Barbara, Daniel and Nancy; and nine grandchildren, Joseph III, Julie, Jessica, Nicholas, Lindsey, LeAnn, MacKenzie, Morgan and Macy.

Mr. KUCINICH

Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in recognition of Cogswell Hall, a permanent housing residence for low income adults facing critical life challenges. Founded by Mrs. Benjamin Cogswell in 1889, Cogswell Hall evolved from her earlier advocacy work as leader of the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). In 1878 Mrs. Cogswell formed the Missionary Committee of the Open Door to provide young women temporary shelter, training, employment services, and spiritual guidance. However, she soon realized that these women needed a permanent residence and the Home of Friendless Girls was established. The Training Home for Girls continued to operate. After several moves, it settled at its current location on Franklin Boulevard in 1914. In 1952, the Training Home for Girls was renamed Cogswell Hall in honor of its founder. Cogswell Hall has also adapted its mission several times, expanding its clientele from adolescent girls to women of all ages with limited incomes and disabilities. Today, Cogswell Home's mission is to ``provide safe, affordable housing and supportive services to adults of limited income facing critical life challenges who may otherwise be homeless.'' They serve as a permanent home for adult men and women facing life struggles ranging from developmental and physical disabilities to mental illness and addiction to abuse and HIV/AIDS. Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me in recognition of the Cogswell Hall, as they continue to serve as a safe haven for Greater Cleveland's disadvantaged.

Mr. KUCINICH

Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in recognition of the Leverett Johnson Historical Marker being dedicated in Westlake, Ohio's Evergreen Cemetery on September 15, 2011. Leverett Johnson became the City of Westlake's first settler in 1811 at the age of sixteen. On August 15, 1814, he married Abigail Cahoon, marking the first marriage in the City of Westlake. Leverett and Abigail raised nine children together in a cabin that he built. Leverett was an active and dedicated member of his community. He served as the township trustee and treasurer for Westlake from 1815 through 1847. Additionally, he was Westlake's Justice of the Peace from 1822 through 1833. He continued his political career and served as the Cuyahoga County Commissioner in 1829 and was elected to serve in the Ohio State legislature five times between 1837 and 1856. In 1820, Leverett generously donated a piece of his land to the City of Westlake for the purpose of creating a cemetery, the Evergreen Cemetery. The Cemetery now serves as the final resting place for many of Westlake's early settlers, including the Johnson family. It is one of Westlake's most historic locations. Now, 200 years later, the Ohio Historical Society is honoring the City of Westlake's founder, Leverett Johnson, and his legacy, with an Ohio Historical Marker. Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me in recognition of the dedication of the Leverett Johnson Historical Marker.

Mr. KUCINICH

Mr. KUCINICH. The National Labor Relations Act was a New Deal initiative which helped save American capitalism by creating a process which would protect the rights of employees and employers. This was before NAFTA, GATT, and the WTO, which tore legal rights for workers apart, moved millions of jobs out of the U.S. Yes, we stand for the workers at Boeing in Washington State, but we also stand for the workers at Boeing in South Carolina, because they will have no recourse if Boeing wants to move jobs to China. You can't say you want to create jobs here at home while destroying the rights of workers to organize, the right to collective bargaining. These are basic rights in a democratic society. You can't say you want to protect American jobs and not protect American workers. Take away workers' rights to free speech, take away workers' right to due process and you create a new class of slave laborers here in the United States who are helpless to stop the movement of jobs out of America. This bill not only sacrifices the rights of Boeing workers in Washington State, it also sacrifices laws that are designed to protect workers' rights. It's an attack on all American workers. It's one thing to take the side of the boss or the owners; it's another thing to take the side of the boss or the owners when they want to move jobs out of America. Stand up for the American workers, stand up for workers' rights, stand up for American jobs, and stand up for employers who want to keep jobs in the United States.

Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to H.R. 2587. H.R. 2587 would severely undermine the intent of the National Labor Relations Act, which is to give workers and their employers a fair and level playing field, and it is another flagrant attack on the fundamental rights of the American worker. If this bill becomes law, the National Labor Relations Board will be unable to impose a meaningful penalty on an employer who violates the law by moving work elsewhere solely to avoid employees who exercise their rights. This bill sends a signal to American workers that the rights of multinational corporations to outsource their jobs are more important than their fundamental right to organize. Mr. Speaker, the American Middle Class made this country great, but predictions for its future are dire. We have had forty years of wage stagnation for Americans, coupled with record corporate profits. Yet, over 5 million manufacturing jobs have been lost in the past decade, and since the start of the Recession alone, we have lost more than 7 million jobs. American workers today are already more vulnerable to being fired without cause, more vulnerable to not getting severance, and more vulnerable to being part of a mass layoff with little notice than any worker in any other comparable western country--countries like the UK, Australia, Canada, Ireland, France and Germany. This legislation will make the situation worse. This goal of this bill is to snuff out the right of the American worker to seek justice when their fundamental rights are trampled upon. Do not be fooled. This bill is not about some lofty economic principle of ``free movement of capital to invest where it sees fit.'' This is not about ``big government interfering with job creation.'' No, this bill is about destroying unions and about interfering with an ongoing legal proceeding brought by an independent agency tasked by the United States Congress with protecting both employees and employers against violations of our nation's labor laws. If you care about the future of the American middle class and American workers, I urge you to reject this bill.

Mr. KUCINICH

Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in recognition of the City of Parma Fire Department's 9/11 Memorial dedication ceremony. The Parma Fire Department will also be revealing an I-beam from the World Trade Center that will serve as a memorial to the victims of the events on September 11, 2001. The Parma Fire Department is one of fifteen Northeast Ohio fire departments that have received portions of steel from the fallen World Trade Center. Parma firefighters will dedicate and unveil the beam at the Parma Fire Department training center at Parmatown Mall on Saturday, September 10, 2011. Parma firefighter, Doug Turner says, ``This artifact will serve as a memorial to the innocent victims of the attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and Shanksville, Pennsylvania.'' Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me in honoring and remembering some of the country's bravest heroes, the fallen firefighters and all those who sacrificed their lives on September 11, 2001 at the City of Parma Fire Department's 9/11 Memorial dedication ceremony.

Mr. KUCINICH

Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in recognition of the 100th anniversary of the Saint Theodosius Cathedral, the oldest Orthodox parish in the State of Ohio. The St. Theodosius parish was founded in 1896 and is the oldest Orthodox parish in the State of Ohio. The Cathedral was built by Russian immigrants in 1911 and has been a landmark in Cleveland's Tremont neighborhood ever since. St. Theodosius was the first Orthodox Church in the State of Ohio and for years was the only Orthodox Church in the City of Cleveland. It has had a rich history and attracted a multitude of parishioners from many of Cleveland's cultural groups. St. Theodosius Cathedral is on the National Registry of Sacred Landmarks and is a Cleveland Sacred Landmark. The Cathedral also joined the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. The St. Theodosius Parish will be celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Cathedral September 9th through 11th with a series of liturgical and social events. Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me in recognition of the 100th anniversary of St. Theodosius Cathedral. I hope their celebration this weekend will be joyous and reflective of the rich, spiritual history of the parish.

Mr. KUCINICH

Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of Mrs. Nora Ronanoff for her significant contribution to the Cleveland community and to acknowledge her receipt of the 2011 Pan Award. Cleveland Public Theater's annual Pan Award recognizes individuals who have contributed significantly to the community. Mrs. Romanoff has been the Associate Director of ParkWorks for the past fifteen years where she works to revitalize neighborhoods by developing public spaces. Ms. Romanoff graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a B.A. in Urban Studies and from Cleveland State University with a Master's Degree in Urban Planning, Design and Development. As Associate Director of ParkWorks, Mrs. Romanoff promotes both neighborhood and downtown revitalization. Through ParkWorks, she engages with grassroots constituents and civic leaders to support a variety of programs within the community such as urban beautification, reforestation, and environmental education. Through ParkWorks, she has collaborated with partners such as Downtown Cleveland Alliance, Neighborhood Progress, Inc., University Circle Inc., and Cleveland Public Art. Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me in honoring Mrs. Nora Romanoff for her service to the Cleveland community and her reception of the 2011 Pan Award. Her dedication to improving the community is nothing short of inspiring.

Mr. KUCINICH

Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in recognition of Councilman Joe Cimperman for his significant contribution to the Cleveland community and to acknowledge his receipt of the 2011 Pan Award. Cleveland Public Theater's annual Pan Award recognizes individuals who have contributed significantly to the community. Councilman Cimperman, a member of the Cleveland City Council since 1997, was born and raised in the St. Clair-Superior neighborhood where his family was active in the Slovenian community. Councilman Cimperman graduated from St. Ignatius High School and John Carroll University where he was Student Council President. During his time at John Carroll, Councilman Cimperman founded Project GOLD, a service organization dedicated to helping underprivileged families. After graduating college, Councilman Cimperman worked in an AIDS Hospice in Baltimore, helped developmentally challenged adults in Portland, Maine, and worked at the Cleveland West Side Catholic Center. In 1997, Mr. Cimperman became a City Councilman for Cleveland's Third Ward. As a City Councilman, Mr. Cimperman works to foster economic development in his ward by promoting the growth of culture and the arts. He works to foster the arts by creating new green areas in the Third Ward, establishing live-work spaces for artists, and improving the retail environment along Euclid Avenue. Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me in honoring Councilman Cimperman for his service to the Cleveland community and his reception of the 2011 Pan Award. His dedication to improving the community is awe-inspiring. I wish him the best in all of his future endeavors.

Mr. KUCINICH

Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in recognition of the Lakewood Fire Department's firefighters who have lost their lives in the line of duty and who will be honored at this year's annual Fallen Firefighter Memorial ceremony. This year's ceremony will be especially significant as it coincides with the 10-year anniversary of the events of September 11, 2001. The Lakewood Fire Department will also be revealing a sculpture constructed with steel beams from the World Trade Center at Station #1. Lakewood Fire Department's annual Fallen Firefighter Memorial ceremony honors the firefighters who have sacrificed their lives, saving others. This year's ceremony will be dedicated to the four Lakewood firefighters who have lost their lives in the line of duty. Additionally, a special tribute will be made honoring the 343 firefighters who gave their lives on September 11, 2001. Mayor Summers, Chief Gilman, Fire Marshal Dunphy, the Lakewood Firefighters, Cleveland Fire Department Color Guard, American Legion Honor Guard, Lakewood Fire Department Honor Guard, Lakewood High School Ranger Marching Band, Boy Scouts of America, and the Red Hackle Pipes and Drums will all be participating at this year's ceremony. Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me in honoring and remembering some of the country's bravest heroes, the fallen firefighters from Lakewood and all the firefighters who sacrificed their lives on September 11, 2001 at this year's Fallen Firefighter Memorial ceremony.

Mr. KUCINICH

Mr. KUCINICH. I thank my friend from Maryland. Madam Chair, I rise in strong support of the dedicated public servants of our intelligence community. Their work to ensure national security is to be commended. However, I must oppose the Intelligence Authorization Act of 2012. Ten years after 9/11, the United States continues to use its intelligence and defense apparatus in ways that undermine the rule of law at home and abroad. There are plenty of examples, in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya. In a recent PBS Frontline feature, a top CIA official who was at the agency for over 34 years was quoted as saying, ``The Obama administration changed virtually nothing with respect to existing CIA programs and operations.'' Last month the Associated Press reported that the New York Police Department was using domestic surveillance methods, in conjunction with the Central Intelligence Agency, to spy on local communities in a way that significantly undermined civil liberties. The United States continues to use drones for targeted assassination under the color of international law. Earlier this year we rubberstamped three provisions of the Patriot Act that allowed the government to conduct surveillance and demand records from innocent Americans with impunity, even for activities associated with First and Fourth Amendment rights. Yesterday, it was reported in The New York Times and other publications that Russian heat-seeking missiles ``that could be used to shoot down civilian airliners have gone missing from warehouses in Libya.'' Now, think about this. Who has control over Libya right now? The CIA, everyone knows this, the CIA was involved in the overthrow of the government of Qadhafi. Now, whether you agree with the overthrow or not is not the point here. Didn't we know about these weapons warehouses ahead of time? There was one news report that said there might be as many as 20,000 surface-to-air missiles that could be in jeopardy of being lost, missing, gone to the black market in who knows whose hands, and it's the rebels that are running there now. And I'm also concerned about that because of the stories about al Qaeda's connection to the rebels from the beginning of the insurrection. Despite the drones, intelligence personnel we have on the ground, and nearly a billion dollars we've already spent in the war on Libya, no one seems to know who took the missiles or who has them. How is this allowed to happen? And who needs to be held accountable? This is a debate we should be having exactly today over this legislation. What happened to the missiles?

Mr. KUCINICH. I honor the chairman's service, and I know of his dedication to our country. What I'm pointing out is that I think it's time we have the discussion about the role that the CIA had in Libya, which was really no secret, and the fact that these missiles that really we should have known ahead of time where they were, that that should have been the first place we want to guard. All of a sudden we have surface-to-air missiles that can't be accounted for. I think the CIA has to take responsibility for that. I want to thank the gentleman, though, for the way in which he's conducted the points that he's made.

Mr. KUCINICH

Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor and remembrance of Ms. Jane Scott, Cleveland's preeminent voice on all matters rock 'n' roll. Ms. Scott was born on May 3, 1919 in Cleveland, Ohio. She graduated from Lakewood High School in 1937 and went on to pursue English and drama majors at the University of Michigan, from which she graduated in 1941. During World War II, she was a code breaker for the U.S. Navy, and afterwards she became the women's editor of the Chagrin Valley Herald. She also had brief bouts in advertising and public relations. On March 24, 1952, Scott started working at The Plain Dealer as a society writer. However, after the Beatles performed at Public Hall in September 1964, Scott became The Plain Dealer's rock critic, a role which she would keep for four decades. She wrote music features, concert reviews, and was well known for her long standing ``What's Happening'' column in Friday! Magazine. Scott, affectionately known as the ``World's Oldest Teenager,'' became known for her undying passion for rock 'n' roll and rock musicians, her ability to gain access to areas where reporters were usually off-limits, and her ability to spot talent. In her review of a performance by Bruce Springsteen in 1975 at the Allen Theater, she predicted that ``he will be the next superstar,'' months before he was featured on the front covers of Newsweek and Time. Ms. Scott was admired by such rockers as Lou Reed, Peter Frampton, David Thomas of Pere Ubu, and Michael Stanley. She went on to become a celebrity herself, and was profiled in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Rolling Stone, People Magazine, CNN and MTV, among others. Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me in honor and remembrance of Ms. Jane Scott, a woman whose passion for rock 'n' roll made her a legendary figure in the Cleveland community.

Mr. KUCINICH

Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in recognition of Lakewood Park, which is being dedicated with an Ohio Historical Marker. The rich history of Lakewood Park chronicles the history and continuing development of the City of Lakewood. The 31 acres were originally part of a larger piece of land owned by Mr. John Honam, an early settler to the area. Mr. Honam's 1834 house was moved to the grounds of Lakewood Park in 1959 and is now the Oldest Stone House Museum. In the 1860s, Robert R. Rhodes began purchasing land in Lakewood. In 1881, Mr. Rhodes built a mansion on the estate known as ``The Hickories.'' The mansion was home to the Rhodes family until his passing in 1916. After Mr. Rhodes' passing, ``The Hickories'' served as a home for wounded World War I soldiers and later, a hospital annex during the influenza epidemic of 1918. The City of Lakewood purchased ``The Hickories'' in 1919 and the mansion was the home of Lakewood City Hall from 1920 until it was demolished in 1959. A single stone wall of the mansion remains in Lakewood Park commemorating its role in Lakewood's history. Today, Lakewood Park serves as a gathering place for the residents of Lakewood. Lakewood Park is home to Foster Pool, the Lakewood Skate Park, the Lakefront Promenade, the Lakewood Park Bandshell, Kids Cove Playground, the Woman's Club Pavilion, the Kiwanis Open Pavilion and numerous sand volleyball courts, softball fields and picnic areas. Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me in recognition of the dedication of the new Lakewood Park Ohio Historical Marker.

Mr. KUCINICH

Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of Mr. Wilhelm G. Speigelberg, II, who is retiring after 31 years of government service. After graduating cum laude from Case Western Reserve University with a degree in political science in 1978, Mr. Speigelberg attended the Cleveland Marshall School of Law. He earned his J.D. in 1982. Mr. Speigelberg began his career in public service with the Ohio State Lottery in 1976 as a public information officer. He later worked with the Ohio Department of Administrative Services as a grant coordinator. Once Mr. Speigelberg had earned his law degree, in 1983, the City of Garfield Heights appointed him as the city's assistant law director. After several years, Mr. Speigelberg began working with Judge Deborah J. Nicastro. He would serve as her personal bailiff and law clerk and was later appointed Magistrate and Acting Judge to assist Judge Nicastro. In addition to his distinguished career, Mr. Speigelberg is an active member of the community. He has been involved in numerous campaigns throughout the State of Ohio and is well known for his political campaign management skills. He is a licensed referee who officiates local basketball, football, baseball and lacrosse games. Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me in honoring Mr. Wilhelm G. Speigelberg II and thanking him for 31 years of dedicated service to the City of Garfield Heights and State of Ohio.

Mr. KUCINICH

Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in remembrance of Mr. Jerome P. Stano, a former Parma Councilman, Ohio State Representative and Ohio State Senator. Mr. Stano was born in Cleveland on September 30, 1932. He graduated from Cleveland's Benedictine High School and later attended Benedictine Illinois College. During the Korean War, Mr. Stano bravely served our country as a member of the U.S. Air Force. Mr. Stano began his career in politics as a councilman for Parma's Ward 2. He was elected to the Ohio General Assembly as a State Representative and on January 3, 1974, Mr. Stano began his tenure as an Ohio State Senator. He served the citizens of the 24th District faithfully, working on issues such as medical care for the elderly, until December 31, 1980. Mr. Stano worked tirelessly on behalf of the residents of Parma, Ohio and was an active member of the community following his career in politics. He is credited with founding Parma's Pee Wee Football program. Mr. Stano was also an active member of the Parma Elks Lodge, the American Legion and the Knights of Columbus. Due to his commitment to the citizens of Parma, one of the city's parks on Gerald Avenue, has been named in his honor. Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me in remembrance of Mr. Jerome P. Stano. I offer my condolences to his wife of 57 years, Klara; his children, Paul, Elaine, Diane and Kathy; and his grandchildren Christian, Bretton, Douglas, David and Grant.

Mr. KUCINICH

Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of Mr. Le Nguyen, who is celebrating 30 years of service to the City of Cleveland. After graduating high school in 1974, Mr. Nguyen joined the South Vietnam Air Force. Following North Vietnam's invasion on April 30, 1975, he left South Vietnam and came to the United States. Just several years later, Mr. Nguyen became the Asian Liaison for the Community Relations Board/City of Cleveland. Throughout his long career as the Asian Liaison, Mr. Nguyen has worked to promote understanding and cooperation amongst racially and culturally diverse groups within the Cleveland community. He played a vital role in some of the Community Relations Board's most successful projects, including a fundraiser for the Vietnamese Buddhist Association of Cleveland's Vien Quang Temple and the coordination of Cleveland's first Asian American Resource Directory. Mr. Nguyen has also served as the event chair for the Asian Pacific American Heritage Day Celebration since 2008. Because of his dedication and hard work, Mr. Nguyen has received many awards over the past 30 years. In 1994 he was selected as the Community Relations Board's employee of the month and received a key to the City of Cleveland. He is also the recipient of a Certificate of Recognition for Outstanding Leadership in the Asian American Community from the Ohio Civil Rights Commission, and has been recognized by the American Nationalities Movement and the Korean American Association of Greater Cleveland. Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me in honoring Mr. Le Nguyen as he celebrates 30 years of service as the Asian Liaison for the Community Relations Board/City of Cleveland.

Mr. KUCINICH

Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of El Gran Combo, and welcome the legendary salsa group to Cleveland. Founded in May, 1962 by Raphael Itheir, El Gran Combo is Puerto Rico's most successful musical group and one of the most popular salsa orchestras across Latin America. The 13-piece salsa group captivates its fans with their Latin rhythms and vocal harmonies. The group has released over 50 albums throughout the years and continues to produce new music and perform live shows throughout the world. The Puerto Rican Senate has hailed El Gran Combo as the ``Ambassadors of Our Music'' and in Colombia they are known as La Universidad de la Salsa due to their unique role in launching the career of countless musicians and performers. El Gran Combo has received many awards over the past several decades, including golden albums, a Grammy for Best Tropical Album in 2003, a ``Calendario de Plata'' in Mexico, a ``Golden Combo'' in Colombia, a ``Paoli Award'' in their native Puerto Rico, and an honorable distinction in Spain. Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me in honor and recognition of El Gran Combo as they celebrate almost 50 years of outstanding contributions to the music industry.

Mr. KUCINICH

Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in recognition of Mr. and Mrs. Ed and Irene Morrow as they celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary on September 1, 2011. Both Ed and Irene were born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. Ed worked as a Quality Control Analyst for the Defense Department. Ed continues to be active in the community and is a member of the Irish Heritage Club. He also sits on the St. Patrick's Day Parade's parade committee. Irene served as Secretary of the Civil Service Commission for the City of Cleveland under former Mayor George Voinovich and was recently honored by the American Nationalities Movement, which she served as Executive Secretary and Treasurer for more than 30 years. As an inductee of the International Hall of Fame of Greater Cleveland, Irene remains dedicated to the Cleveland community as a board member of Fairview Park and Lutheran Hospitals. Ed and Irene were married on September 1, 1951. They have six children; Jeffery, Patrick, Martin, Roberta, Lorraine and Christine. Today they also enjoy spending time with their grandchildren; Matthew, Ryan, Nathan, Michaela, Aaron and Justin. Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me in recognition of Mr. and Mrs. Ed and Irene Morrow. May their 60 year union be an inspiration for future generations.

Mr. KUCINICH

Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of the Louis Stokes Cleveland Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center's Brecksville Campus, as they celebrate 50 years of service to the community's most deserving patients. For the past 50 years, the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center's Brecksville Campus has provided extended care rehabilitation, general nursing home, center for psycho-geriatric care and a domiciliary for the homeless. This campus has also served as a training facility for the VA's Employee Education System and National Training Center. As part of the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center Transformation, the Brecksville Campus is being consolidated at the Cleveland VA's Wade Park location. The Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center is dedicated to the quality care of all veterans. It is the fifth largest VA in the country and serves close to 95,000 veterans annually. The Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center was the first VA to receive disease specific accreditation for Inpatient Diabetes Care in 2007 and has also received a special commendation by the American College of Surgeons as a Certified Comprehensive Cancer Program. Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me in honoring all those who have been instrumental in providing care to the veterans of the Brecksville Campus of the Cleveland Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center for the past 50 years.

Mr. KUCINICH

Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of the Westside Vet Center's Freedom Celebration, taking place on September 8, 2011. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' Westside Vet Center, located in Parma, Ohio, offers a wide range of programs and services to veterans and their families in an effort to ease the transition between military and civilian life. The Vet Center Program began following the Vietnam War when veterans were experiencing difficulties readjusting to civilian life. The goal of the Vet Center program is ``to provide a broad range of counseling, outreach, and referral services to eligible veterans in order to help them make a satisfying post-war readjustment to civilian life.'' In addition to providing care and counseling to Greater Cleveland area veterans, the Westside Vet Center also hosts a wide array of gatherings and celebrations to honor the service of these brave Americans. Today, the Westside Vet Center is hosting a Freedom Celebration, an event designed to celebrate the veteran's role in maintaining our freedoms. Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me in honoring the Westside Vet Center's Freedom Celebration, as they commemorate the service of the Greater Cleveland area's U.S. veterans.

Mr. KUCINICH

Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak in honor of Randolph Baxter as he retires from 26 years as a Federal Bankruptcy Judge for the Northern District of Ohio, and as Chief Judge for the last seven years. In 1996, Judge Baxter was appointed by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals to serve as a charter member of its Bankruptcy Appellate Panel. Primarily appointed to sit in Cleveland, Judge Baxter also heard cases in Akron, Canton, Toledo and Youngstown and has served as a visiting judge in Delaware, New York, Tennessee, Michigan and Florida. A native of Columbia, Tennessee, Judge Baxter is an honors graduate of Tuskegee University and the University of Akron School of Law. Prior to becoming a judge, Judge Baxter was engaged in the private practice of law before serving as a federal prosecutor with the U.S. Department of Justice. He also served as the Deputy Director, Department of Public Service for the City of Akron, Ohio, and earlier served as a salary administration analyst with the B.F. Goodrich Company. Judge Baxter served as an officer in the U.S. Army, receiving the Bronze Star for Valor, among other unit citations, while serving as a tank platoon leader in Vietnam and Cambodia with the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment. He later achieved the rank of captain and commanded a tank company before resigning his commission and returning to civilian life in 1971. As a student, Judge Baxter worked summers in the steel mills, earning his way through college. It was perhaps this experience that prepared him for presiding over a motion for a Temporary Restraining Order, TRO, in the LTV Steel bankruptcy case. While the case itself was assigned to another judge in the Northern District of Ohio, the motion for the TRO came when the other judge was not available. Judge Baxter quickly learned the issues behind the motion and heard arguments from all sides. The motion was submitted after workers at the LTV facility in Cleveland realized that there was not enough coke being shipped to keep the blast furnace hot until the sitting judge could hear the merits of the case for shutting down or keeping open the Cleveland steelmaking facilities. If the furnace did not stay hot, it would have been irreparably damaged and Cleveland would have lost the capability to produce primary steel. As the LTV lawyers observed Judge Baxter's reactions to both sides of the argument and came to grips with the tough questions Judge Baxter asked, they asked the judge to adjourn while they negotiated an Agreed Order with my attorneys and the attorneys for the steel workers and the various creditors in the bankruptcy case. The parties negotiated an Agreed Order, LTV complied with the order to keep the furnace hot, and the steelmaking assets were saved. Nearly 10 years later, the blast furnace is now part of Arcelor Mittal and continues to produce steel. Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me in honoring Chief Judge Randolph Baxter, soldier, scholar, lawyer and judge, as he retires from the federal bankruptcy bench and embarks on the next set of journeys in his life.

Mr. KUCINICH

Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise to a point of personal privilege.

Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, tonight I wish to speak to this Congress and to my fellow Americans about international policy and its relationship to the domestic economy. I will advocate a new direction America must take in the world so that we can meet the needs of our people here at home. For the past decade, we have relied on the force of our arms to make America more secure while our economy has rotted from within. America has lost its focus. America has spent more time concentrating on reshaping the world than on reshaping our economy. We have created hundreds of thousands of jobs for military contractors all over the world while we have just learned that we have created zero jobs here in the United States in the month of August as unemployment continues to stay above 9 percent. Come home, America. We must begin to focus on things here at home and stop roaming the world looking for dragons to slay. We have a right and an obligation to defend our Nation, but that includes working for peace abroad and seeking peaceful resolution of conflict, a capacity that, at our peril, we have not fully developed. I call it strength through peace. It involves the pursuit of what President Franklin Roosevelt called the science of human relations, actually engaging those with whom we disagree most to attempt to find a way to coexist peacefully. As Dr. Martin Luther King said at a commencement address at Oberlin College in 1965: ``We must find some alternative to war and bloodshed. I do not wish to minimize the complexity of the problems to be faced in achieving disarmament and peace. But we shall not have the courage, the insight, to deal with such matters unless we are prepared to undergo a mental and spiritual change. It is not enough to say we must not wage war. We must love peace and sacrifice for it. We must fix our visions not merely on the negative expulsion of war, but upon the positive affirmation of peace. We must see that peace represents a sweeter music, far superior to the discords of war.'' I believe the American people have the capacity, Mr. Speaker, to undergo the mental and spiritual change that Dr. King spoke about. People are about that work in their own private lives every day. The question is: Does our government and those who lead it have that capacity? Are we willing to look, recognize that the path we are on leads only to destruction and poverty, and are we willing to embark courageously on a new path? To those who say that this is naive, I ask: Has the strategy of military intervention which took us and keeps us in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya, made us any safer? The musclebound ``with us or against us'' mindset which passes for statecraft has placed us on a march of folly that in the past decade has left America with thousands of dead young soldiers, over a million dead innocents in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the surrounding region, a new generation of terrorists, and trillions upon trillions of dollars of debt. As poverty and war are twins, so are peace and prosperity. Mindful of the disaster of spreading war and being an eyewitness as to how easily our country seems to be drawn into conflict, I traveled to Syria this year to personally urge their leader to stop the violence, respect human rights, and begin a transition towards a democratic state. I traveled to Lebanon afterwards to hear the concerns of leaders who also believe that the violence in Syria must stop and who are concerned that if radical fundamentalism results in the overthrow of the government of Syria, the same fires will consume their own nation which developed a fragile political and social consensus after years of civil war. I opposed the war in Libya, not only because it was unconstitutional but it was, and is, unconscionable for America to precipitate or take sides in a civil war, spending perhaps billions in an ongoing war when we have so many pressing needs here at home. We went in because we were told a massacre could occur. Yet civilian casualties in Libya mounted after the U.S. and NATO attacked. In order to please the West, Libya cooperated with the CIA, got rid of its WMD program in 2004, and privatized its economy, resulting in massive unemployment. It was moving through to reform even as the West moved to bomb it and, inexplicably, the West moved to take up the cause of elements of al Qaeda spurring the rebels. We learn today from CNN that the rebels and fighters aligned with them are looting weapons warehouses across Libya, where as many as 20,000 surface-to-air missiles had previously been kept under lock and key. Western officials, perhaps the same geniuses who knowingly helped rebel elements with ties to al Qaeda overthrow the Libya Government, are now worried that the surface-to-air missiles and other weapons will get into the wrong hands. This lawless interventionism spurred on by an unaccountable NATO which violates United Nations Security Council resolutions with impunity, this attempt to use force to bring others to subjection in the name of democracy, actually has become a device for control over the wealth of other nations and the squandering of our own wealth and the spreading of poverty here at home. Did our government just wake up one day and discover that 14 million Americans are out of work and that we need a massive program to put them back to work? No. It's known that for some time. War has become our great distraction. It has given those who have little or no ability to construct a fair economy an opportunity to pretend leadership at the expense of those brave men and women who served and at the expense of the American economy and the expense of the American taxpayers. We can no longer afford participating in this war-game of nations. I opposed the war in Afghanistan and have brought Congress to confront it several times because the U.S. has spent half a trillion dollars trying to democratize a tribal nation while failing to spend sufficient resources to protect our democracy here at home. The latest report is that we may be in Afghanistan through 2024 at the request of the Afghanistan Government. This will cost us hundreds of billions, perhaps even trillions, more. Doesn't it make more sense for America to come home at the request of and for the benefit of the American people? I led opposition in this Congress to the war in Iraq. Nine years ago, I warned this Congress that there was no reason to go to war against Iraq. I was asked at that time, Whose side are you on, America's or the murderous dictator, Saddam Hussein? Opposing that intervention was seen by some as coddling a murderous dictator, no matter that Hussein had opposed al Qaeda, no matter that there was no proof that Iraq had anything to do with 9/11 or al Qaeda's role in 9/11, no matter that Iraq did not have the intention or capability of attacking the United States and that no one had been able to show that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. I wasn't ``for'' Saddam Hussein. I was for the troops. And for peace. America pursued war anyway. America put the lives of its sons and daughters on the line. America will spend over $3 trillion for this war that was based on lies. And even today we find our government will not bring the troops home as promised, but instead will continue to spend billions on this stupid and corrupt war in Iraq while our own Nation is falling apart. Money for war, but no money for jobs? Am I advocating isolationism? Certainly not. We need to strengthen the United Nation's peacekeeping ability and blunt NATO's war-making capability. We must stop NATO from going rogue. We need a counterterrorism strategy which brings people to justice, not that dispenses justice from 10,000 feet with the help of Predator drones. It is the predatory interventionism which must stop. We must stop intervening for the benefit of oil companies or other corrupt corporate interests. We cannot be the policeman of the world and lay off police and firemen in our own Nation. We cannot continue to bomb bridges in other countries and say that we do not have the money to build bridges in America. We must stop pretending that America can solve all the problems in the world when we can't solve our own problems here at home. How can we bring democracy to other nations when we are losing it here at home? We cannot tell other people how to live when we have people here at home having trouble or difficulty living. We should look to the wisdom of the Book of Proverbs where it was written: ``He who troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind.'' And we must work to set our own house in order. Mr. Speaker, there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, but there are weapons of mass destruction here in America. Unemployment is a weapon of mass destruction. Poverty is a weapon of mass destruction. Homelessness is a weapon of mass destruction. Inadequate education is a weapon of mass destruction. Lost pension benefits are a weapon of mass destruction. Poor health care is a weapon of mass destruction. Yet despite the obvious needs domestically, the Pentagon budget now consumes over 50 percent of our discretionary spending. And the Pentagon budget has grown alongside the war budget. Just this year, the wars and the Pentagon budget will consume close to $1 trillion of taxpayers' money. Do you have any idea how many jobs $1 trillion can create? Stop the wars, trim the bloated Pentagon budget, use the savings to put America back to work. The American people want work, not warfare. Can we see any clearer example of the danger of endless war? We are supposed to be impressed with the strength of our leaders who, in the name of America, wield awesome weapons against states a fraction of our size, but when it comes to the economy and jobs, the same leaders lack the ability to confront Wall Street, which is destroying jobs on Main Street. While spending trillions for unnecessary wars, the government bailed out the banks for $700 billion, refusing to link the bailout to mortgage modification which would have helped millions of Americans stay in their homes. The Fed, which infamously looked the other way as the financial crisis was building and failed to properly monitor the overexposure of top banks, created $1.2 trillion out of nothing and gave secret emergency loans to some of the largest banks who helped to cause the financial collapse through reckless investments. This secret money, created out of nothing but backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S., is going to fuel an international financial system which siphons wealth out of the U.S., avoids paying taxes, and takes American jobs and moves them to low-wage climates. According to Bloomberg News, the $1.2 trillion peak on December 5, 2008, was almost three times the size of the Federal budget deficit that year and approximates the amount of money, $1.27 trillion, that is due in unpaid principal on 6.5 million homes that are in or facing foreclosure. Secret loans went to Morgan Stanley for $107.3 billion; Citigroup, $99.5 billion; Bank of America, $91.4 billion; Goldman Sachs, $69 billion; and to foreign borrowers, including the Banks of Scotland, $84.5 billion, and to Zurich-based UBS AG, $77.2 billion. How is it possible that banks too big to fail still exist? We all know these banks will fail again. The taxpayers will be asked to bail them out again to preserve the wealth of shareholders, bondholders, and executives again. The destruction of the middle class has been accelerated by the Wall Street manipulators who brought about the collapse of the housing market that destroyed trillions of wealth built into American homes. Risk, like taxes, is a yoke unfairly placed upon the shoulders of the middle class. As income and resulting wealth is being redistributed upward at a pace not seen since the 1920s, the purchasing power of the middle class has been seriously eroded. Americans have less equity in homes to fuel home equity loans to keep their consumer spending up. A third of all Americans owe more than their home is worth. How is it possible that 120 million Americans literally have no wealth, just debt? How is it possible that 150 million Americans have less wealth than the top 400 individuals? How did it come to pass that the top 13,400 households, according to David Cay Johnston, have more yearly income than the bottom 96 million Americans? Who created this economy where welfare for the wealthy creates a system where a person earning $4 billion a year managing a hedge fund pays a lower tax rate on most of his income than a person who drives a truck? In a report just released, the Pew Charitable Trust wrote: ``The idea that children will grow up to be better off than their parents is a central component of the American Dream and sustains American optimism. However, a middle class upbringing does not guarantee the same status over the course of a lifetime. A third of Americans raised in the middle class fall out of the middle as adults.'' The implications of the Pew Charitable Trust report are chilling. America's middle class is being destroyed. America is headed towards a two-class society. Just as America could not survive half free and half slave, so America cannot survive half rich and half poor. What happens to a dream deferred?--wrote Langston Hughes. Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore-- and then run? Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over like a syrupy sweet? Maybe it just sags like a heavy load. Or does it explode? It is democracy, itself, which is at risk here. An economic democracy is a precondition of a political democracy. With endless wars, without solid jobs to sustain a middle class, a new national security state armed with the PATRIOT Act will exist primarily to provide surveillance of a growing, bristling poverty class. America knew this 44 years ago when, on February 29, 1968, the report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, also known as the Kerner report, pronounced: ``Our Nation is moving towards two societies, one black, one white--separate and unequal.'' Then, the inequalities were in lack of access to opportunities for jobs, housing, education, and social services. In 1998, 30 years after the Kerner report, Senator Fred Harris said: ``There is more poverty in America. It is deeper, blacker and browner than before, and it is now more concentrated in the cities which have become America's poorhouses.'' The inequalities exist today. Just since January of 2009, unemployment has skyrocketed among African Americans from 12.7 percent to 16.7 percent. Among Hispanics, the unemployment is currently 11.3 percent. While intensifying among people of color, poverty today is colorblind. Foreclosures have spread through all American neighborhoods as a wildfire, consuming with it the hopes and dreams of millions. We had a moral urgency to address unemployment in the inner cities, but we failed as a society to do that. We have learned that writ large in the fate of people who live in our cities has been the fate of those who live in the suburbs, because the same massive economic machinery that for generations was crushing the hopes of millions of inner-city Americans--banks who disinvested, insurance companies who redlined, businesses which pulled out--this same plague is now visited throughout America. The official unemployment figure of 9.1 percent conceals a much larger, more devastating picture in America. According to a recent study by Youngstown State University, the de facto unemployment rate, as conceived and computed by their Center for Working Class Studies, is 26.37 percent. This figure includes individuals who are no longer looking for work, discouraged, underemployed, and those who are marginally employed. Corporations, meanwhile, are sitting on trillions of dollars and not hiring because of uncertainty, insinuating that small changes in Federal regulations or tax policy are killing jobs. Yet we know that massive changes in Federal tax policy and government regulations have taken place at periods of great economic growth in the United States. Our economy has not hit a rough spot on the road; it has hit a wall. The greatest losers in today's economic system are the young. They have been fleeced. They were promised good jobs with good pay if they got a good education. Millions have done that only to discover that the jobs that were promised were not there. Millions of young people have moved in with their family and friends, barely scraping by, dreading the student loans which come due. The major fault of the domestic economy is the failure to provide good-paying jobs for all Americans. The reasons for the high unemployment and low-paying jobs are many, but two major reasons stand out: lack of consumer demand and stagnant wages accompanying low union participation. There is a lack of consumer demand in an economy that is 70 percent dependent on consumer spending. There are those who say we can spur demand with more tax cuts for businesses. Well, this fails the test of experience. Business received tax cuts. We still have high unemployment. Business profits, greater than ever. Investment, less. We have learned from the past few years that businesses will not invest while the economy is in bad shape. Since World War II, America has come out of every recession in less than a year. But this time we had a false recovery. The economic numbers improved briefly while stimulus was injected. Today we're back in a recession, a double-dip recession that is destroying people's lives and setting back our Nation. We did not have enough stimulus to begin with. As the stimulus runs out, things are getting worse. The recession is feeding on itself. In 1937, a second round of depression surfaced as stimulus was withdrawn, requiring another effort by the government to stabilize the economy. The parallel between 1937 and 2011 is obvious. We need a second stimulus, and it has to be strong enough to put millions of Americans back to work. State and local governments are forced to lay off people by the hundreds of thousands. These layoffs are not introducing efficiency. They undermine service. They reduce the necessary role of government in the life of a community. Massive aid is needed to all areas of government, not because governments have spent recklessly, but because revenues are down. Income tax revenue is down. Sales tax revenue is down. Property tax revenue is down due to foreclosures. We can stimulate the economy by providing revenue to rehire State and local government employees. This is the easiest way to put hundreds of thousands back to work. This is an obvious way to stimulate the economy on a significant scale. State, local government, public schools, public and private colleges would all have an enhanced ability to restore service. Such a stimulus would create an economic climate where businesses will expand their investment utilizing their own profits. The same thing is true in the housing area. The government must immediately implement a new housing program. More and more properties are becoming vacant and vandalized while people are doubling up. We need a full-scale program where economically troubled homeowners are given the right to rent, at market rate, property in foreclosure. The government would provide a rent subsidy while the homeowners seek work. After all, the American people want work, not welfare. There should be work for those who are able to work. Government must become the employer of last resort. The private sector is not providing the jobs. When the private sector fails to provide the jobs, the government has a moral responsibility and a practical responsibility to step forward to put the country back to work. As with FDR and the New Deal, the government must now put millions of Americans back to work rebuilding our infrastructure. The American Society of Civil Engineers issued a report that there is $2.2 trillion in infrastructure rebuilding that must take place to move the commerce of America. It's not enough to describe the situation and make a few suggestions as to what could be done to take us in a new direction. But there comes a time when we need to look at some dramatic change that needs to be done, to restructure our economy. This month I'm going to be introducing a bill which will be aimed at addressing our structural economic problems directly. It is called the National Employment Economic Defense Act, the NEED Act. America needs millions of jobs. How can we create millions of jobs in a time of annual deficits, long-term debt, and contracting budgets? Here's how. The Federal Reserve creates money out of nothing, and, as we all know, it's given it to the banks. The Fed assumed that power through an act of Congress. The Federal Reserve has used all of its standard monetary policy tools, but the American economy is not getting any better. Whatever the Fed is doing, it is not working. The reason why is perhaps best explained by the Fed itself: ``The Fed can't control inflation or influence output and employment.'' The Fed has been buying Treasury and our securities to put downward pressure on interest rates. The idea is to lower finance costs, encourage more borrowing, and nudge investors into riskier investments. This provides breathing space, but little else. Consumers are already over their heads in debt. They aren't going to borrow more, neither will producers whose sales are slack. High default rates are widening spreads. Many investors will still prefer to make a small gain on government securities rather than risk taking losses. Reality beats theory. The reality is that not enough people have enough money. Why is this? Where does the money come from? Why isn't it coming? The Fed doesn't create money we use in our bank accounts; the banks do. Most of this money is created when banks make loans. This is why the Fed can't control inflation or influence output and employment. Output and employment depend on demand. Demand depends on how much money people have or can borrow. Because banks create this money, they control demand. If banks aren't lending, or borrowers aren't borrowing, new money isn't being created to replace the money removed when bank loans are paid, so the money supply shrinks. The Fed can only put more money into the economy by buying assets from non-banks. No money goes into the economy when the Fed buys their assets. It's just a swap of one asset for another called reserves. Banks can't lend reserves into the economy. The non-bank sellers of assets are mainly large institutional investors. They don't spend much of the money they receive; they reinvest it in other assets. That's their business. But this churning of assets up into the stratosphere doesn't trickle down to Earth. The real economy of families and shops, small businesses, of roads and schools, that real economy is bypassed, and we know this. The money is not getting to where it's needed; and until it does, things can only get worse. None of the current policies work because of the way the current system is set up. So here's how we fix it. We have to reclaim our constitutional power to issue money into the economy, unburdened by debt. Last Congress I introduced legislation to do just that, and I'll be reintroducing it next week. Here's what this legislation does. First, it ends the Fed's unaccountability by putting it under Treasury. Second, it ends fractional reserve banking, ending the banks' ability to control demand in our economy. And, third, it empowers our Nation to issue money directly into the economy to create jobs to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure unhindered by debt and interest payments, creating millions of new good-paying jobs. It gets the money to where it's needed the most. It gets the economy going and keeps it going. It avoids debt and deficit. It primes the pump of the economy. It enables us to regain control of our destiny as a Nation. This plan would not create inflation because it would reduce infrastructure costs. Lower costs means that prices can go down. Lower prices do not define inflation. Real wealth will be created with new money. Infrastructure is enduring wealth, unlike the financial wealth of the stock market. If government borrows money created by banks for infrastructure, it's an interest-bearing debt paid for over a long time. But if government creates the money for infrastructure, spends it in the circulation, there's no debt or interest cost. The same amount of money is created in either case, adding to the money supply by exactly the same amount. This is also a way to save the free enterprise system from self- destruction. The American people know what's going on in our economy. It's run by Wall Street for Wall Street. It's run by banks for banks. Unless we take a look at serious structural reforms, we are headed for a two- class society. The ability to coin or create money is an inherent power under article I, section 8 of the United States Constitution. The NEED Act would enable government to invest in America. This coming Sunday, we will observe the 10th anniversary of a terrible blow to our Nation's sense of security and confidence. We will never forget September 11, 2001, but we also need to remember the enduring capacity of our Nation to bounce back from tragedy. We need to remember what this country is made of. America is made of vision and courage--the courage and vision of Washington, Jefferson, and Adams to put lives, fortunes, sacred honor on the line for the purpose of freedom and independence. We are the country of FDR and the New Deal, of John F. Kennedy and the New Frontier, of LBJ and the Great Society. We are a nation of charismatic leaders like Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton who, agree with them or not, inspired a sense of optimism and confidence in America. We need to remember who we are, and perhaps in that act of remembering, we'll regain our confidence; we'll regain our economic strength; we'll regain our ability to put people back to work; we'll help millions save their homes; we'll protect the retirement security of the elderly; we'll ensure that our children will be able to obtain a college education and a job when they graduate; we'll restore our public institutions and the services they provide. We can do all of this and more, but we must ask that those who operate the engines of finance abandon their recklessness, their selfishness, and pledge allegiance to our Nation and its people. We must demand that corporations pay a fair share of the tax. We must end the off-shoring of jobs and profits. While some of our leaders, with trembling hands and nervous eyes, have focused abroad, our country is falling apart from within. America was never meant for decline. America was always meant for an upward, up-lit path. We must now correct our course. We must move away from trying to determine the fate of nations around the globe and focus on the fate of the one Nation that must matter to us more than all others, the United States of America. Thank you.

Mr. KUCINICH

Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the 64th One World Day Celebration held at the Cleveland Cultural Gardens at the Ukrainian Garden on August 28, 2011. This day of celebration also happens to fall after the 20th anniversary of Ukrainian independence which is August 24, 1992. The main component feature was the celebration of the presentation of the newly restored statue of Lesya Ukrainka. Lesya Ukrainka was one of Ukraine's best poets and writers as well as a leading woman writer in Ukrainian literature. She was, in her short life, a significant political and civil activist for the freedom of Ukraine. This year happens to be the 104th anniversary of her birth in 1871 and the 50th anniversary of her statue's installation at the Ukrainian Garden. Along with myself, several other dignitaries will attend and participate in the 64th One World Day Celebration such as President Paul Burik of The Cleveland Cultural Gardens federation, President Ihor Diaczun of United Ukrainian Organizations of Ohio, Most Reverend John Bura DD of Eparch of St. Josaphat Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral, Lesya Ukrainka Poem ``Rondo'' recitation by Christina Skabyk, President Marianna Zajac of Ukrainian National Women's League of America, and Professor of History Mary Hovanec at Cuyahoga Community College. The restoration of the monument and the rejuvenation program of the Ukrainian Garden along with the program for this event was organized by the President Dozia Krislaty of Ukrainian National Women's League of America Branch 8, Cleveland, Ohio. Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me in recognizing the 64th One World Day Celebration and the efforts of the people who made the time to collaborate and organize an event which commemorates the country of Ukraine and the efforts of its prominent political figure, Lesya Ukrainka.