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The
WAND News Bulletin is posted on the
web site monthly.
When it appears, WAND sends out a condensed
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| Table
of Contents | Click
to move to content within the Bulletin. |
Capitol
Hill Update, October 2006
 |
It’s
looking like Congress will
return for a one-week session
Nov. 13-17; and then little
happens until the 110th
Congress starts.
Take
action here.
Try it! Really. Go ahead. |
|
|
NOVEMBER
7, 2006: YOU! YOU THERE!
GET OUT THE VOTE.
- Please
do all you can to make
sure you, and your friends,
and your family, are registered
and ready to vote on November
7, 2006.
Click here to register
online!
- Vote.
Find out more about the
candidates and the races
in your area, and vote.
Pollworkers
for Democracy
 |
Our
allies at Working Assets
have created the Pollworkers
for Democracy project
to recruit and train
a new generation of
activists to work at
the polls and make sure
elections run smoothly
and voters' rights are
protected. If you do
not already have a commitment
on November 7, please
sign up! |
Nationwide,
counties are experiencing
a shortage of people who
are willing and able to
work as election judges
and assist voters on Election
Day.
|
 |
SMART
Security is better security.
Act
today! Representatives are
going fast!
We’ve seen that the
traditional military
only solution is not
working in Iraq.SMART Security
offers other ways to resolve
our differences with other
nations. Ask
your Representative to co-sponsor
vital legislation. |
 |
Why
is this man smiling?
He's
remaking the federal budget
-- one dollar at a time.
Click
here to
take action!
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|
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Notes
from
the
WAND
News
Bulletin
editor
We're
getting
new
estimates
on
the
cost
of
war.
Way
more
than
they
predicted;
or
even
we
predicted.
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|
A
report
from
the
Congressional
Research
Service
estimates
it
could
top
$500
billion;
could
reach
$808
billion
by
2016.
Michael
Scheuer,
who
served
in
the
CIA
for
22
years
before
he
got
fed
up
and
resigned
in
2004,
believes
that
part
of
the
Al
Quaeda
strategy
to
harm
the
U.S.
is
to
cripple
our
economy.
The
way
to
do
this
is
to
engage
the
military
in
conflicts
in
many
parts
of
the
world
--
thereby
sucking
loads
of
money
from
the
federal
budget
and
hobbling
the
military.
Now,
billions
upon
billions
of
dollars
later,
comes
the
word:
the
military
is
hurting,
the
money
isn't
enough.
The
counter's
putting
it
at
$334
billion
this
afternoon.
Not
really
possible
to
put
that
number
in
your
brain
and
make
any
sense
of
it.
But
it
is
possible
to
add
up
what
we
could
have
bought
with
that
money
instead.
Here's
what
our
friends
at
National
Priorities
Project
are
saying:
The
Opportunity
Cost
Of
War
Dr.
Anita
Dancs
|
September
28,
2006
...that
amount
of
money
could
have
provided
health
care
coverage
for
all
uninsured
children
for
as
long
as
the
Iraq
War
has
lasted;
provided
four-year
scholarships
(tuition
and
fees)
to
a
public
university
for
all
of
this
year’s
graduating
seniors;
built
half
a
million
affordable
housing
units;
fully-funded
the
amount
the
Coast
Guard
estimated
is
needed
for
port
security;
tripled
the
energy
conservation
budget
in
the
U.S.
Department
of
Energy;
and
still
enough
would
be
left
over
to
reduce
this
year’s
budget
deficit
by
one-third.
|
|
|
|
The
Cost of Iraq,
Afghanistan,
and Other Global
War on Terror
Operations Since
9/11
Click
here
to read the
report.
Congressional
Research Service
report: War
Costs Top $500
billion; Could
Reach $808 billion
by 2016
According
to a Congressional
Research Service
(CRS) report
released September
22, when the
Fiscal Year
2007 Defense
Appropriations
Bill is adopted
this week, total
war appropriations
for Iraq, Afghanistan
and the Global
War on Terrorism
will reach around
$507 billion.
The
report estimates
that when all
funding is completed
for fiscal year
2007, the total
costs of the
wars will reach
$549 billion.
Monthly
costs for the
war in Iraq
are about $6.4
billion while
the war in Afghanistan
costs $1.3 billion
a month.
The
Pentagon's annual
war funding
rose from about
$73 billion
in fiscal year
2004 to $102
billion in fiscal
year 2005, $118
billion in fiscal
year 2006, but
is projected
by the Office
of Management
and Budget to
drop to $110
billion in fiscal
year 2007.
The Congressional
Budget Offices
also indicated,
however, that
there could
be an additional
$371 billion
in war costs
between fiscal
years 2007 and
2016. Adding
these additional
funds, total
funding for
the wars could
reach $808 billion
by 2016.
|
|
Defense
Contractors
Gone Wild
By
Matt Taibbi,
RollingStone.com.
September 19,
2006. Full article,
click
here.
The
ongoing bureaucratic
drama surrounding
procurement for
this project is
a kind of fairy
tale for the system
of legalized corruption
in this country,
in which taxpayer
money is basically
stolen and shot
into space by
an open conspiracy
of legislators,
defense contractors
and Pentagon officials,
colloquially known
as the "Iron
Triangle."
The F-22
project is particularly
offensive since
its cost -- $65
billion -- mirrors
very closely the
$50 billion in
"emergency"
cuts to social
programs congress
made last year,
ostensibly to
help pay for Katrina
reconstruction.
Many
of those post--Katrina
cuts are just
beginning to
hit communities
around the country
now. The state
of Texas, for
instance, recently
announced that
it may have
to lay off as
many as 1,700
employees because
of federal budget
cuts for various
social programs.
I was in congress
last year when
both the House
and the Senate
voted to slash
funding for
child support
collection in
response to
the Katrina
disaster; a
year later,
a state like
Texas will be
laying off as
many as two--thirds
of the employees
in its child--support
division.
So
what programs
was congress
protecting,
when it decided
last year to
take money away
from single
mothers, teachers,
Medicaid and
student loans?
Ladies and gentlemen,
we give you
the Raptor.
The
F-22 is a symbol
of everything
that is wrong
and stupid and
corrupt about
the United States
government.
Often called
"the Maserati
of fighter planes,"
the successor
aircraft to
the F--15 is
a defense contractor's
wet dream, a
preposterously
expensive and
extravagantly
useless hunk
of hi-tech metal
rigged with
every conceivable
luxury bell
and whistle,
a plane whose
brochure comes
riddled with
the kind of
hot and steamy
selling points
that pitches
tents in industrial
parks all over
the country
-- Mach 2 cruising
speed, stealth
skin, the most
advanced avionics
and software
package ever
invented.
But
there are three
basic problems
with the F-22...
|
|
Halliburton
Hearts Congress
Do partisanship and
cronyism trump congressional
oversight and corporate accountability?
By Frida Berrigan | In These
Times | Full article, click
here.
...Why doesn’t
Congress do more? Part of the
answer lies in the political
weight Halliburton throws around
Washington, doling out hundreds
of thousands in campaign contributions
and accumulating more than $1
million in lobbying bills in
the past few years. Since 2000,
the company has contributed
more than $645,000 to congressional
campaign coffers, with more
than 90 percent going to Republicans.
Their lobbying expenditures
are also sky-high. After spending
more than $1 million on the
services of firms like Baker
Botts LLP (as in Bush Senior’s
Secretary of State James Baker
III) and Vinson & Elkins
in 2004, Halliburton spent another
$372,000 in 2005.
Vice President
Dick Cheney’s relationship
to the company is widely known:
Despite almost no corporate
experience, Cheney was hired
to head the oil services company
in 1995, just a few years after
completing his tenure as Secretary
of Defense under President George
H.W. Bush. When Cheney took
the helm, the company was 73rd
on the list of the Pentagon’s
top contractors, bringing in
about $1 billion in defense
contracts a year. In part because
of the contacts Cheney brought
to the company, Halliburton
now stands at number 6, with
$5.8 billion in Pentagon contracts
in 2005...
Nonetheless,
the idea of a Truman-style investigation
into war profiteering is catching
on and gaining traction.
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|
Notes
from the WAND News Bulletin
editor
Wow!
Poor women as the way
toward peace! How cool
is that?
I've been watching all
those Nobel Prizes go
to American white men
(medicine, economics),
not thinking much about
it.
|
But
then, the delightful
shock of the Nobel Peace
Prize going to someone
who values poor, rural
women, and sees them
as the way to ensure
lasting peace. Hey.
So cool.
From
the Washington
Post:
Yunus
was something of a
surprise winner in
a large field of nominees
that included diplomats
who brokered peace
deals in hotspots
like Indonesia's troubled
Aceh Province and
global celebrities
like U2 lead singer
and development advocate
Bono.
But
in awarding the $1.36
million prize to the
Vanderbilt University-trained
economist, the committee
said his work showed
that "even the
poorest of the poor
can work to bring
about their own development."
"Lasting
peace cannot be achieved
unless large population
groups find ways in
which to break out
of poverty. Micro-credit
is one such means,"
Ole Danbolt
Mjoes, director of
the Nobel committee,
said in making the
announcement at Nobel
headquarters in Oslo.
"Development
from below serves
to advance democracy
and human rights."
Our
WAND Executive Director
is delighted. She views
this as validating what
we've been saying for
years: women need a
say; people need economic
security; security is
more than a big military,
it's knowing you can
eat tomorrow and send
your kids to school
and survive a rainstorm.
Me,
I spent a lot of time
with poor women in third
world countries, and
I think it rocks. These
women face ridiculous
hurdles -- infant mortality
rates, hunger, lack
of education, repressive
regimes, domestic violence
-- I mean, it's real.
It lurks in dank rooms,
in bowls of watery soup,
in cloth diapers washed
by hand, in cheap plastic
shoes that hurt.
But
they endure, and they
triumph. They feed their
kids, learn to read,
sing together, sew lovely
clothes.
That
someone believes in
their majesty, their
intelligence, their
fortitude, and is working
to support them, is
wicked pissah.
And
yep, a damn good path
to peace. |
|
Celebrating women in Congress!
and supporting those on the run!
 |
In
Memoriam: State Rep.
Deborah Blumer (MA)
Deborah
D. Blumer, 64, Framingham
state representative,
died October 13, 2006
in Massachusetts. She
was a lifelong activist
who took great pride in
advocating for women,
children, peace, and social
justice. WAND and WiLL
will miss her spirit,
generosity, and courage.
Click
here to read the obituary
as printed in the Boston
Globe. |
 |
UN
Report: October 2006
Click
here to read full report.
by Sayre Sheldon, WAND representative
on the NGO Working Group
for Women, Peace and Security |
|
...The
U.S. seems to be working
hard to get Security Council
approval for sanctions
against North Korea. It
is striking that after
so much criticism of the
U.N., Bush and Bolton
are showing that they
need the U.N. now that
we are too tied down in
Iraq to take any unilateral
actions against North
Korea... |
|
Arkansas
WAND raising money for
Beacon of Peace and Hope
Little Rock, AR
- Lilly's Dim Sum and
then Some donated 10%
of the gross for the day
of Oct. 9 to Ark WAND
for the Beacon of Peace
and Hope. WAND held a
silent auction in front
of the restaurant all
day; you can see the auction
items here.
The
chapter made $2500 (possibly
more as a vacation house
stay was in such demand
that a third weekend was
offered). Attendance at
dinner was not as high
as expected, but the chapter
reports that a silent
auction (with quality
products!) is an easy
way to raise money. |
|
A
Gender Insurgency In Politics
By
David S. Broder | Washington
Post
October 15, 2006 | Full
article, click
here.
Dennis
Simon, a Southern Methodist
University political scientist
who has studied female
candidates for Congress,
has issued his statistics
describing filings for
2006.
He
reported last week that
women made up 16 percent
of the candidates running
in this year's congressional
primaries, an all-time
high and the ninth consecutive
election cycle in which
that proportion has increased.
The
total of 136 women nominated
for House seats this year
is only one fewer than
the record set in 2004.
And odds are good, Simon
says, that the number
of women elected will
be higher this year than
the 67 in the last Congress.
|
|
A
Political Opportunity for
Women
Advocates Predict Gains
in Congress and Push for
More Participation
By
Anushka Asthana | Washington
Post
October 7, 2006 | Full article,
click
here.
...In
fact, this year may prove
to be a major breakthrough
for women in Congress, according
to experts at the university.
Sabato's Crystal Ball, a
Web page that provides analysis
of House and Senate races
around the country, is predicting
that 2006 could be the best
year for women in 14 years.
In
a conservative scenario,
according to the Crystal
Ball, female candidates
would gain nine seats in
the House -- the largest
rise since the Year of the
Woman in 1992, when the
number of women in Congress
jumped from 32 to 54.
|
Longing
for the promise of spring
By Ellen Goodman | The Boston
Globe | October 13, 2006 | Full
article, click
here.
...I have lived
my whole life with the fearful
possibility of nuclear catastrophe.
I ducked and covered, held my
breath during the Cuban missile
crisis, felt the chill of the
Cold War, and the danger as the
nuclear ``club" counted up
to eight. We have dodged that
catastrophic bullet for so long.
Can we dodge it forever? To pay
appropriate attention to this
apocalyptic danger is to be paralyzed
in a nuclear freeze. To ignore
it is to whistle in the gathering
dark.
In
this autumn, this fall, I watch
my mother failing and watch
my grandchildren growing. They
are becoming joyful, caring
children in a world that is
rich with possibility and rife
with danger. How does every
generation hold danger in one
hand and joy in the other? Death
over there, life over here?...
|
|
Notes
from the WAND News Bulletin
editor
The
dawn of a new nuclear age?
May be.
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