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The
WAND News Bulletin is posted on the
web site monthly.
When it appears, WAND sends out a condensed
version via email. If you would like
to receive these email Bulletins, please
let us know.
Left:
Two fabulous WAND women at the anti-war
march in DC in September 2005.
|
| Table
of Contents | Click
to move to content within the Bulletin. |
Capitol
Hill Update, March 2006
 |
Things
are hopping on Capitol Hill.
Make sure you let 'em know
how you feel about things
that matter: federal budget,
Iraq, nuclear deals.
|
|
You,
too, can lobby Congress about the
things that matter to you. Yes,
you can. Yes. You.
 |
Okay,
yes, it looks daunting.
So big and domey and all.
But that Congress is beholden
to you. So tell 'em what
you want 'em to do.
Check
out our handy dandy toolkit,
and get some good advice
about how to lobby your
Members of Congress.
It isn't hard. Really.
|
Right
now, Congress is about to head
home for recess. If you haven't
already set up office visits with
your Members of Congress, try
this: find out if they're holding
town meetings while they're home,
and attend one. And speak up!
(The
next recess is April 10-21; now's
the time to write a request for
a meeting during that period.)
 |
WAND
and WiLL organize group
letters to Congress - 2006
"National
security is essential. However,
it does not make Americans
secure to increase funding
for the Department of Defense
and the nuclear weapons
portion of the Department
of Energy while cutting
funds for other vital programs."
Press
release on letter from
70 human needs groups. |
Iraq
war: Actions you can take today
 |
Set
up a plan to leave Iraq.
Support HJ Res 55.
March 06: It's time to get
HJ Res 55 out of committee
and onto the floor. Ask
your Rep. to sign the discharge
petition.
Click
here to send a message.
|
HJ
Res 55 (House Joint Resolution
55) calls on President Bush to
set a plan for beginning the phase-out
of U.S. troops in Iraq. It is
currently stalled in committee.
A
discharge petition allows a bill
to move to the floor for debate
-- without having committee approval
-- if the petition is signed by
a majority (218) of House Members.
Ask
your Representative to sign the
discharge petition to get HJ Res
55 onto the floor. Click
here to send a message.
2006
Congressional Schedule
March 20 - 24: St. Patrick's Day
Recess
April 10 - 21: Easter Recess
May 29 - June 2: Memorial Day Recess
July 3 - 7: July 4th Recess
August 7 - September 4: August Recess
October 6: Target Adjournment
|
 |
Notes
from
the
WAND
News
Bulletin
editor
Ah,
didn't
we
exhaust
you
last
month
with
our
special
edition
on
the
FY07
budget?
|
|
We won't repeat ourselves: If
you
want
to
know
what
we
said:
February
edition
on
FY07
federal
budget.
(Bottom
line:
boo
hiss
to
increasing
funding
for
Pentagon
while
decreasing
funding
for
human
needs.)
Otherwise,
the
news
right
now
is
the
request
for
supplemental
appropriations.
So:
bottom
line
on
this?
Used
to
be,
you
had
your
basic
federal
budget;
it
covered
just
about
everything
you
could
anticipate
you'd
need.
But
sometimes
things
came
up:
emergencies!
that
weren't
in
the
regular
ole
budget.(You
know,
you
have
your
household
budget,
but
a
storm
knocks
a
tree
onto
your
roof;
you
need
a
way
to
find
some
money
fast,
aka
supplemental
appropriation.)
But
this
administration
is,
essentially,
playing
games
with
this
tradition.
In
order
to
keep
that
federal
budget
pie
looking
like
it's
just
about
the
same
size
as
always,
it
doesn't
include
funding
for
the
wars
in
Iraq
and
Afghanistan
in
the
pie.
It
regards
this
as
an
emergency!
and
asks
for
the
money
in
a
supplemental
appropriation.
Smoke
and
mirrors.
Shell
game.
Yes.
This
month
we
begin
the
fourth
year
of
the
war
in
Iraq--it's
not
a
tree
falling
on
the
roof
anymore
(if
it
ever
was).
But
we
continue
to
treat
it
so.
Because
it
makes
everything
look
rosier.
And
that,
indeed,
is
what
this
administration
is
about:
the
rosy
picture.
Okay.
So
--
now
they're
debating
the
$91
billion
supplemental;
they're
not
making
the
pie
any
bigger;
and
they're
not
raising
taxes.
So
what
happens?
What
you
might
do
when
the
tree
falls
and
there's
no
money
in
the
bank:
credit
card
debt!
From
the
Washington
Post:
"The
federal
budget
deficit
is
expected
to
reach
$371
billion
this
year."
That
deficit
ain't
going
anywhere.
We're
gonna
have
to
pay
it
off
some
day.
But
let's
not
talk
about
that:
rosy
glasses
on!
|
|
|
|
When
$8 Trillion
Isn't Enough
Washington Post
editorial |
March 15, 2006
| Click
here for
full piece.
...Mr.
Bush has managed
to rack up more
new debt during
his five years
in office than
the entire debt
amassed by the
United States
through 1988.
And there is
more to come:
The president's
budget envisions
the debt rising
to $11.5 trillion
by 2011. This
means that an
increasing share
of an increasingly
tight budget
must be devoted
simply to paying
interest --
an estimated
$220 billion
this fiscal
year alone.
Remember: This
is the president
who entered
office promising
to pay off $2
trillion in
debt held by
the public over
the next decade.
Far from being
paid down, the
debt held by
the public has
grown, from
$3.3 trillion
in 2001 to $5
trillion this
year.
...as
the debt ceiling
approaches $9
trillion, it's
time to pause
and consider
the unabashed
recklessness
of the Bush
administration's
fiscal policies
and its unwillingness
to alter its
tax-cutting
course to accommodate
new budgetary
realities.
"Future
generations
shouldn't be
forced to pay
back money that
we have borrowed,"
Mr. Bush said
in March 2001.
"We owe
this kind of
responsibility
to our children
and grandchildren."
Where is that
responsibility
now?
|
|
Iraq war costs: what it
means to you
The administration submitted another
$72.4 billion
request for
war-related
funding to Congress.
NPP analyzes
the request
and what it
means to taxpayers
in your state.
Click
here for
the full scoop.
|
|
Analysis
of the Pentagon’s Fiscal
Year 2006 Supplemental Funding
Requests
From our friends at the
Center for Arms Control and
Non-Proliferation
March 06, 2006 | Full piece,
click
here.
On February
16, the Bush Administration
submitted to Congress its Fiscal
Year 2006 supplemental spending
request to cover the costs of
ongoing military operations
in Iraq and Afghanistan and
recovery from Hurricane Katrina.
Congressional leaders are reportedly
hoping to pass this funding
prior to the April recess.
The
request is actually two separate
submissions: $19.8 billion for
Hurricane Katrina Relief and
$74.5 billion for the wars in
Iraq and Afghanistan. Almost
$68 billion of the latter funding
is for the Department of Defense,
as well as over $1.8 billion
of the hurricane relief funding.
According
to an analysis by the House
Budget Committee’s Democratic
staff, this additional $68 billion
for military operations would
bring the total amount
allocated to the wars in Iraq
and Afghanistan to over $445
billion since September 11,
2001.
|
| Republicans
on Hill Resist Party Leaders'
Spending Cuts
By
Jonathan Weisman | Washington
Post | March 14, 2006
Click
here for full article.
...To
that end, the Senate yesterday
began debating a plan that would
cap nondefense spending at Congress's
discretion at $420 billion for
the fiscal year that will begin
on Oct. 1, $15 billion lower
than the fiscal 2006 level.
Under
the budget plan, discretionary
spending on environmental and
natural resource programs would
fall 20 percent. Spending on
community and regional development
programs would be slashed by
32 percent, and politically
sensitive transportation spending
would be cut by 17 percent.
|
|
Prepared
Opening Statement, Representative
Jim R. Ryun (R-KS 2nd) | Department
of Defense Hearing
Click
here for more.
...So
when we decided that defense
is our highest domestic priority,
that meant that every other
domestic program had to be at
the peril of that decision.
Or in other words, everything
else had to do with a little
less, so defense could have
more.
And
here's what that's looked like.
Since
September 2001, the National
Defense budget – when
we include supplementals –
has increased by about 70% –
or by an average of about 11%
per year.
For
the past two years – following,
I would say, generous growth
for the previous 5-years –
we realized we had to put the
spending brakes on somewhere,
and we held non-defense, non-security
discretionary spending to 1.3%
growth in 2004, and to near
freeze last year.
And
this year, the Administration
has asked for an actual cut
– of about ½ %
– to all non-defense,
non-security spending. And I
would guess that this Congress
will likely follow in that direction.
|
|
In
other news: More on weapons
in space
Pentagon
eyeing weapons in space
Budget seeks millions to test
new technologies
By Bryan Bender, Globe Staff
| March 14, 2006 | Click
here for full article.
The
descriptions included in the
budget request mark only what
is publicly known about the
military's space warfare plans.
Specialists believe the classified
portion of the $439 billion
budget, blacked out for national
security reasons, almost certainly
includes other space-related
programs...
Philip Coyle,
who served as the Pentagon's
top weapons tester from 1994
to 2001, said in an interview
that he sees ''new emphasis
on space weapons" even
though ''there is no threat
in space to justify a new arms
race in space."
''US missile
defense is the first wave in
which the United States could
introduce attack weapons in
space, that is, weapons with
strike capability," he
said. ''Once you've got space-based
interceptors up there, they
can just as well be used for
offense as defense." |
| National
security begins inside borders
Fort
Wayne Journal Gazette | March
6, 2006 | Article
here.
By
Benjamin Leiter
“National
security” typically refers
to protecting a nation from
external threats and thus preserving
the safety of its people. However,
the safety of a people depends
on much more than preventing
terrorism or even controlling
domestic crime. It extends to
protecting the citizens from
hunger, disease, homelessness
and ignorance. Poor economic
and social conditions undoubtedly
jeopardize our personal and
everyday safety.
|
 |
Notes
from the WAND News Bulletin
editor
I
know this doesn't have
much to do with WAND's
mission, but it's just
so disturbing, I have
to include it: |
| "March
6, 2006: South Dakota
Governor Mike Rounds today
signed away the reproductive
freedom of the women he
is sworn to protect,
with the specific intent
of challenging and overturning
Roe v. Wade and putting
at risk the lives and freedom
of women across the country."
This brings
tears to my eyes.
Look,
abortion is a sad, sad
thing, and it's a damn
shame when people -- women
AND men -- find themselves
in a situation where it's
necessary.
But
that's the thing:
it has always been a necessity
for some, and it always
will be a necessity for
some. And they
will always find a way
to accomplish it -- whether
it's legal and safe, or
illegal and dangerous;
whether it's free or expensive,
medical or quackery; it's
a fact of life. Just take
a quick scan of history.
The
way to make it go away?
Give women AND men all
the education and technology
to enable them to control
their reproductive lives
as much as possible.
The way
to pretend it's going
to go away? Put on the
rosy glasses (you remember
them, they let you think
you can wage an interminable
war without raising taxes),
then make it illegal;
or expensive; or dangerous.
And then
watch the back alley fill
with quacks and desperate
women, and start counting
the bodies.
And then,
try to feel good about
what you've done. |
|
|
Over
100,000 sign the WomenSayNotoWar
petition
It's delivered
to the White House on International
Women's Day
By
Jodie Evans, CODEPINK | March
12th, 2006
Thousands of us stood together
at the Santa Monica Beach, north
of the pier next to the Arlington
West Memorial to represent the
world uniting to say NO to war.
Artist John Quigley created
this powerful aerial image for
us on a canvas so big it took
a helicopter to capture it all.
WomenSayNOtoWar
You can still
sign the petition! and unite with
women everywhere to contribute
towards the end of the illegal
war in Iraq. Go
to: www.womensaynotowar.org
to sign the call now!
Susan
Shaer (right), WAND executive
director, with Code Pink leaders
at the march in September 2005.
|
| Our
lovely sister program, Faith in
Action for New Directions, now
publishes a monthly column. Please
visit and take a look. |
 |
Faith
in Action Monthly: March
March 8 is International Women's
Day!
In March, the month in which we remember the stories of women, I
practice honoring the spirits
of our ancestors — those women-saints
who have made a way for those
of us working for peace and justice
in the here and now. To read more: click
here. |
|
Peacemaker
of the Year Award to Atlanta
WAND
March 2006
This
year the Presbyterians of Greater
Atlanta Peacemaker of the Year
Award was presented to the Atlanta
Chapter of WAND.
For more about this award, click
here.
|
|
WAND
Women Taking Political Action!
Congratulations
to Indiana WAND member, Doloris
Cogan! Ms. Cogan has accepted
the position of Secretary of
the Democratic Party of Elkhart,
IN
And
congratulations to Indiana
WAND member Shari
K. Mellin, recently elected
Elkhart County Democratic Party
chairman in Indiana. To read
about her, click
here.
|
| Eight
Women for '08 |
 |
The
White House Project launches 8
for '08, a national campaign to
promote eight viable female contenders
for the presidency in 2008. The
full story debuts in this weekend's
PARADE magazine. You can learn
more about the 8 for '08 campaign
and vote for your favorite candidate:
Click
here. |
| Moms
sign up the senior class |
 |
A
nonpartisan national grassroots
project whereby mothers (and others)
visit classrooms of high school
seniors and register them to vote.
It’s
simple, really. Just like we’ve
always done, we moms help our
kids fill out forms. But
this time it isn’t a permission
slip for a school field trip,
or even a college application.
It’s
something that we hope they’ll
use for the rest of their lives.
It’s
a voter registration form.
More
info here! |
|
Notes
from the WAND News Bulletin
editor
Big
news this month: It appears
the administration has decided
that nukes are okay again.
|
|
Nuclear.
A scary word, carrying in
its three syllables so much
darkness. W | | | | | | | |
