So what's this white winged thing that sits on the National Mall like a moderne gargoyle?

[marions ghost]

The US Peace Institute has been in existence since Reagan, and the new building to house it opened in 2011 near the Washington Monument & Lincoln Memorial. Crazy dove-wing roof (?)--(earthquake proof since I guess it survived the 2011 earthquake that damaged the Monument). Looks a bit precarious to me, but peace is always precarious. Conservatives try periodically to slash the budget so I have to think this org does something good. But I have no idea.

It seems ironic to have this official organization in the world's biggest war-based economy. Are these government peace departments effective at all, and are they places we should support as an antidote to war mongering? There are a few of these official peace palaces around the world...are they just tourist feelgood spots? In our case, calculated to make us feel OK about our huge military economy?

I didn't even know about this institute until I saw the big honking winged building crouching next to the Mall this year. Googling it called up some cognitive dissonance. (What the...? We don't promote peace, so this must be somebody's boondoggle (approved during Bush, built during Obama).

Thoughts?

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http://www.usip.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Institute_of_Peace



Specifics about the building:

http://archrecord.construction.com/news/2011/10/Institute-of-Peace.asp

[liberal N proud]

1. A permanent home for peace in a nation that thrives on war

I guess you have to have some corner you can push peace into when you are going to attack other nations.

[marions ghost]

2. Thanks for validating my "tilt" response to this USPI

I should add to this info that it was initiated under Jimmy Carter:

"Spurred by a grassroots movement(?) in the 1970s and 1980s, Senator Jennings Randolph joined Senators Mark Hatfield and Spark Matsunaga and Rep. Dan Glickman in an effort to form a national peace academy akin to the national military academies.[5] The 1984 act creating USIP followed from a 1981 recommendation of a commission formed to examine the peace academy issue appointed by President Jimmy Carter. (Reassuring)

The Institute was established by an act of U.S. Congress that was signed into law by President Ronald Reagan in 1984. The board is appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate, and board members have historically had close ties to American intelligence services." (?) Not particularly reassuring.

("War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength." - George Orwell (1984)

[marions ghost]

3. Does anybody know anything about this organization?

I didn't know there was a Palace of Peace and Reconciliation in Kazakhstan either, built in 2006:
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_of_Peace_and_Reconciliation