Study by Political Economy Research Institute, Amherst, MA - US Employment Effects of Military and Domestic Spending Priorities here
From Dictatorship to Democracy: A Conceptual Framework for Liberation, by Gene Sharp link here
Do your emails and letters to Congress really work? Find the answer here.
From the War Resisters
League, 2011 pie chart of
where
your income tax
money
really goes
(download PDF here)
"A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death." - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
BuxMont Coalition for Peace Action stands in solidarity with peace action groups across the United States in opposing sanctions or any military action against Iran.
Coalition For Peace Action in conjunction with Penn Action and Move On has been visiting Congressman Fitzpatrick's office weekly. Robin Stelly, from Penn Action comments, "MoveON's Steve Nathan heard Rachel Maddow mention our work on behalf of the American Jobs Act and putting pressure on Cong. Fitzpatrick to support public investment and jobs now. You can hear the mention at the beginning of this video (52 seconds in) from Maddow's show. Our strategy, built around letter collection, weekly deliveries to the Congressman punctuated with bigger events is working. We are maintaining energy around our message Jobs Not War - Human Need Not Corporate Greed and the conversation has changed."
OWS March from NYC to Washington DC - We marched a leg with them!
Here's a video taken by Rob Kall from OpEd News - you can see Cathy Leary and Bill Deckhart from BuxMont CFPA and Debbie Kavanagh and Sue Deckhart, who had joined the march from Trenton to Morrisville:
October 12, 2011 - Visit to Rep. Fitzpatrick's office in Langhorne, PA asking him to vote to pass the American Jobs Act NOW and cut military spending.
Please join us on Wednesday, November 16, at Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick's office, 1717 Langhorne Newtown Rd. Suite 400, Langhorne, PA (One Summit Square) at 4:30 p.m.
We will be delivering the letters we collected that state we want Jobs Not War. We need your support. Even though Rep. Fitzpatrick is not on the Super Committee, he can influence them and WE NEED TO INFLUENCE HIM. We need to make Congressman Fitzpatrick speak for us. We are the 99%, not the 1%. If you have not already done so, you can sign the letter here: http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/161/c/4116/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=8620
October 7, 2011 marked TEN YEARS in Afghanistan – a decade of war with no end in sight. Larger than Vietnam…UNBELIEVABLE. Hasn’t anyone in our government or military studied history? We have lost too many lives, we have shed too much blood, we have wasted way TOO MUCH MONEY. After a decade, doesn’t it seem like a different approach is needed? There is no way to Peace, Peace is the way. We need you to join us at any event you can. We need you to call any and all members of the House or Senate. We need you to call Pres. Obama and Secretary of State Clinton. We need to end this debacle. We need you to get involved again. No more BLOOD FOR WAR, NO MORE MONEY FOR WAR. Together we can make a difference.
October 6, 2011, Washington DC
We were there!
"Stop the Machine! Create a New World!
A Call to Action - Oct. 6, 2011 and onward
October 2011 is the 10th anniversary of the invasion of Afghanistan and the beginning of the 2012 federal austerity budget. It is time to light the spark that sets off a true democratic, nonviolent transition to a world in which people are freed to create just and sustainable solutions.
We call on people of conscience and courage—all who seek peace, economic justice, human rights and a healthy environment—to join together in Washington, D.C., beginning on Oct. 6, 2011, in nonviolent resistance similar to the Arab Spring and the Midwest awakening.
A concert, rally and protest will kick off a powerful and sustained nonviolent resistance to the corporate criminals that dominate our government." more info on this here
Bikes Not Bombs Bicycle Tour
A presentation by Afghan war veterans who feel a peace offering is needed
CFPA's Buxmont chapters will host a presentation with the Bikes Not Bombs Bicycle Tour entitled A Ride Till the End on Tuesday, September 20 at 7:00 PM at Ambler Mennonite Church, 90 E Mount Pleasant Ave, Ambler. The tour consists of veterans, artists and activists who are touring to promote peace by sharing their experiences and donating bicycles to veterans who wish to join them.
Monthly Vigil at Mike & Kate's every fourth Wednesday
CFPA, Heeding God’s Call, and Neighborhood Partners to End Gun Violence are working together for Gun Violence Prevention.
We hope you will join us when we gather at Delia’s Gun Shop for our ongoing prayer vigil and public witness.
When: Every fourth Wednesday 4:30 to 5:30 p.m.
Where: Mike and Kate’s Sport Shoppe, 7492 Oxford Ave, Phila.
The Ten Point Code of Conduct we are asking gun shop owners to sign: RESPONSIBLE FIREARMS RETAILER PARTNERSHIP:
A 10-POINT VOLUNTARY CODE
The 10 points of the Responsible Firearms Retailer Partnership are:
1. Videotaping the Point of Sale for All Firearms Transactions. Participating retailers will videotape the point-of-sale of all firearms transactions and maintain videos for 6 months to deter illegal purchases and monitor employees.
2. Computerized Crime Gun Trace Log and Alert System. Mayors Against Illegal Guns will develop a computerized system that participating retailers will implement over time to log crime gun traces relating to the retailer. Once the program is in place, if a customer who has a prior trace at that retailer attempts to purchase a firearm, the sale will be electronically flagged. The retailer would have discretion to proceed with the sale or stop the sale.
3. Purchaser Declaration. For sales flagged by the trace alert system, participating retailers will ask purchasers to fill out a declaration indicating that they meet the legal requirement to purchase the firearm.
4. Deterring Fake IDs. Participating retailers will only accept valid federal- or state-issued picture IDs as primary identification. Retailers will utilize additional ID checking mechanisms.
5. Consistent Visible Signage. Participating retailers will post signage created by the Responsible Firearms Retailer Partnership to alert customers of their legal responsibilities at the point-of-sale.
6. Employee Background Checks. Participating retailers will conduct criminal background checks for all employees selling or handling firearms.
7. Employee Responsibility Training. Participating retailers will participate in an employee responsibility training program focused on deterring illegal purchasers. The Responsible Firearms Retailer Partnership will create an online training system based on Wal-Mart’s training program.
8. Inventory Checking. Participating retailers will conduct daily and quarterly audits. Guidelines will be based on Wal-Mart’s existing audit procedures.
9. No Sales Without Background Check Results. Participating retailers would prohibit sales based on “default proceeds,” which are permitted by law when background check has not returned a result within 3 days.
10. Securing Firearms. Participating retailers will maintain firearms kept in customer accessible areas in locked cases or locked racks.
From National Priorities Project and CostofWar.com
Here’s a list of numbers you ought to know about the U.S. military, but probably don’t.
$1.26 Trillion – Total amount appropriated by Congress for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through the end of Fiscal Year 2011 (September 30, 2011) – $797.3 billion for Iraq and $459.8 billion for Afghanistan. See NPP's "Cost of War" Counters.
$7.6 Trillion – The total amount spent on “security” by the U.S. government since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 (through the end of Fiscal Year 2011). See NPP's analysis "U.S. Security Spending Since 9/11."
96 Percent – The percentage increase in “Security” discretionary spending (Defense Department, weapons activities of the Department of Energy, homeland security, international affairs and veterans affairs) from FY2000 to FY2011. Versus 39 Percent – The percentage increase of “non-security” discretionary spending over the same period. (Note: both figures are based on inflation-adjusted “real” increases in spending.) Source: National Priorities Project
301 Percent – The increase in annual funding for "Homeland Security" since 9/11. Annual spending rose from $16 billion in FY2001 to $69.1 billion in FY2011 (adjusted for inflation). See NPP's analysis "U.S. Security Spending Since 9/11."
$235.6 Billion – The increase in the Pentagon’s annual “Base” budget (not including war costs or the nuclear weapons activities of the Department of Energy) from FY2000 to FY2011. The Pentagon’s annual budget rose from $290.5 billion to $526.1 billion (in constant FY 2012 dollars), a real increase of 43 percent. See NPP's analysis "U.S. Security Spending Since 9/11."
$6.6 Billion – The increase in the Department of Energy’s budget for nuclear weapons activities over the same period. DoE’s weapons budget rose from $12.4 billion to $19.0 billion (in constant FY 2012 dollars), a real increase of 21 percent. See NPP's analysis "U.S. Security Spending Since 9/11"
39 Percent – The percentage of interest on the national debt related to past military spending. Net interest on the national debt for Fiscal Year 2011 is estimated at $207 billion, of which past military spending would account for roughly $80 billion. Source: National Priorities Project
65 Percent – The percentage of total global military spending accounted for by the United States (42%) and our NATO allies (23%) NOTE: this doesn’t include our other allies – Japan, South Korea, Israel….Source: The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) "Military Expenditure Database."
12 to 1 – The ratio of “offensive” security spending in the U.S. federal budget, compared to the amount spent on “preventive” security. Source: “A Unified Security Budget for the United States, FY 2012,” by the Institute for Policy Studies' Foreign Policy in Focus.
52 Percent – The percentage of U.S. war veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan who have been treated by the VA. As of December 2010, 1.25 million service men and women had returned home from Iraq and Afghanistan. To date, 650,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have been treated in Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical facilities at a cost of $32.6 billion. Source: Watson Institute at Brown University’s "Costs of War" analysis.
The NRA's annual convention is an unlikely place to find support for gun reforms. But when Meghan McCain -- conservative blogger and daughter of Sen. John McCain -- recently attended the convention with MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, their conversation reached some unexpected common ground.
It's the same consensus that Mayors, law enforcement officers and gun owners all across the country have reached about keeping dangerous people from getting guns. But it's surprising to see it unfold in just a couple of minutes in a truly unusual setting.
During the interview, McCain calls herself a "member and enthusiast" of the NRA. She also says that Tucson shooter Jared Laughner is "someone who should never have gotten his hands on a gun," adding, "I agree with better background checks."
*That's no surprise: bipartisan polling shows that 4 out of 5 gun owners support background checks on all gun sales.* But the gun lobby's leadership opposes these commonsense measures to keep dangerous people from buying deadly weapons.
And as Maddow points out, more than 200 people on the terrorist watch list were legally allowed to buy guns last year. It's not surprising that a survey by Republican pollster Frank Luntz found that 82% of NRA members support closing this Terror Gap.
*Yet the gun lobby's leadership opposes these common sense reforms.*
You don't often see media figures from the left and right reach an agreement on a contentious issue. But when it comes to gun reforms, the consensus is clear – and this video shows just how easy it is to find common ground on fixing our broken system.
The updated research from Pollin and Garrett-Peltier can be found here. THE U.S. EMPLOYMENT EFFECTS OF MILITARY AND DOMESTIC SPENDING PRIORITIES: AN UPDATED ANALYSIS,
Robert Pollin & Heidi Garrett-Peltier.
Political Economy Research Institute,
University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
October 2009.
The recession is increasing demand for services in our communities while sapping the funding they need. Where are we going to find a permanent, reliable source of funding for the human and other services our constituents need?
Congressman Barney Frank has identified an ample funding source: unnecessary military spending. “The math is compelling,” he wrote in The Nation on March 2, 2009. “[I]f we do not make reductions approximating 25 percent of the military budget starting fairly soon, it will be impossible to continue to fund an adequate level of domestic activity.”
US military spending amounts to more than $700 billion a year if the off-the-books wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, nuclear weapons programs in the Department of Energy, and other agencies’ military line items are added to the Pentagon’s budget. The $175 billion that would result from a 25% cut could be redirected to veterans’ services, housing and family support for current military personnel, and social services – community health, mental health, education, community safety, to name a few – that are urgently needed in the recession and on an ongoing basis.
We can cut military spending substantially without endangering the country’s security, and a growing chorus is saying that we should. In November the Defense Business Board, a Pentagon oversight body, said that major systemic cuts were absolutely necessary because the Pentagon’s budget was not sustainable. President Obama has cited $295 billion in annual cost overruns alone.
Here is a more detailed list of potential cuts totaling $255 billion:
Withdraw in a timely fashion from Iraq: $105 billion in year one
Withdraw from Afghanistan: 25 billion
Eliminate wasteful weapons systems: 33 billion
Reduce active nuclear warheads: 16 billion
Close half of US overseas military bases: 51 billion
Trim unused air wings and sea forces: 5 billion
Eliminate waste in procurement and operations: 20 billion
“[W]e are developing weapons... that lack not only a current military need but even a plausible use in any foreseeable future,” wrote Congressman Frank. “If we do not reduce the military budget... we do severe harm to our ability to improve the quality of our lives.” Now is the moment to add our voices and demand a shift in our nation’s priorities.
What you can do:
Endorse the call for a 25% cut in military spending to fund our communities’ needs.
Call your congressman and urge him to join Barney Frank’s call for a 25% cut.
Spread the word to community organizations and others who will be interested.
The Coalition for Peace Action (CFPA) is a grassroots citizens organization which brings together people of all ages, backgrounds, professions, and political persuasions in support of three goals: global abolition of nuclear weapons, a peace economy, and a halt to weapons trafficking at home and abroad
