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February 2007  News Bulletin Archive     

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.

The January 27 March on DC! Thanks to Katie Johnson for the photo.


Table of Contents | Click to move to content within the Bulletin.

Capitol Hill Update

Federal Budget Watch

Women's Voices

Nuclear Notes

Iraq Updates

New! What up with Iran?

News from WiLL

Faith in Action

Notable National Events

Ideas, Visions, and Resources for a Better World

Jobs and Opportunities

In the Field: WAND Chapter/Partner News & Events


Capitol Hill Update, February 2007

Iraq is on everyone's minds. Iran is not far behind.

If the U.S. chose to go to war once, what would stop it from making that choice again?

You would. The time to speak out against the next war is now.

The WAND legislative agenda for 2007
Our priorities on Capitol Hill for the coming year. For example, how about alternatives to war? Less for the Pentagon, more for human beings? Preventing nuclear terrorism?
Seems fairly obvious to me...

Love. Not war. Nothing says "I love you" like an anti-war ad on Capitol Hill.
Valentine's Day 2007
Skip the candy and the flowers this year.
Show your love by helping to pay for an ad that speaks out clearly against a military action on Iran.
The ad will be in CQ Daily on Tuesday and Thursday this week.
Please help WAND pay for this ad! We're aiming to make an impact, and a difference, NOW.
Thanks! See the full ad.

Diplomacy, not war, with Iran
Tell Congress: Let’s do all we can to avoid military action against Iran

Send a message to your Representative and Senators today.

  • Support direct negotiations with Iran
  • Promote stronger cultural and people-to-people ties with Iran
  • Require a National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on the status of Iran’s nuclear program
  • Assess the usefulness of so-called pro-democracy provisions

And NOW IS THE TIME TO BRING THE TROOPS HOME FROM IRAQ
Urge your Representative to cosponsor HR 508.
Take action, read more: here.


FEDERAL BUDGET WATCH

The president said a lotta things in the State of the Union address; and then he submitted his federal budget proposal some days later. That tells the real story.

And it is the same old story. Once again, Pentagon spending up; domestic spending not. Deficit deepens, rich people get tax breaks, middle class tax burden increases, poor people hung out to dry...

The bottom line, as reported by WAND Public Policy Director Marie Rietmann:

In FY07, we are spending $463 billion on the Pentagon--Department of Defense plus the nuclear weapons portion of the Department of Energy. The Administration request for FY08 is $502 billion, an increase of $37 billion, or nearly 8% (adjusted for inflation). That is 52% of the discretionary budget.

And that does not include the $142 billion that is being requested for FY08 for the costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. If that money were included in both the request for the Pentagon and the total for discretionary spending, the percentage of Pentagon spending would jump to over 58% of the discretionary budget.


Highlights of the Fiscal Year 2008 Pentagon Spending Request
From our friends at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation

February 5, 2007 | Click here for more.

"Top Line" Funding - The Bush Administration is requesting $484.1 billion for the Department of Defense in Fiscal Year 2008, which begins on October 1, 2007. This is $49 billion more than the current level of $432.4 billion, an increase of 11.3 percent, and inflation-adjust ("real") increase of 8.6 percent. This figure does not include funding for the nuclear weapons activities of the Department of Energy, which is considered part of total Defense Department spending. Nor does this figure include the costs of ongoing military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan...

Funding for Contingency Operations (Supplemental Appropriations) - In addition to its annual budget request, the Pentagon is also requesting $93.4 billion in supplemental funding for combat operations for Fiscal Year 2007, which is in addition to $70 billion in FY'07 supplemental funding approved by Congress as part of their regular 2007 budget work. In addition, the request includes $141.7 billion to cover Iraq and Afghanistan operations during FY'08. Congress has already approved over $500 billion in supplemental funding for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Missile Defense - The Administration is requesting $8.9 billion for the Missile Defense Agency in FY'08, down roughly $0.5 billion from the current $9.4 billion. Missile defense continues to receive more funding than any other weapons program in the annual Pentagon budget...

Homeland Defense - The request contains $17.5 billion for Pentagon activities related to homeland security including detection of and protection against weapons of mass destruction, emergency preparedness and response, and protecting critical infrastructure. The increase in DoD's FY'08 contribution over last year is 5.6 percent.

Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) - The Administration is requesting $348.0 million for the CTR (also known as "Nunn-Lugar") program, 6.5 percent below the current level of $372.1 million and 15 percent below FY'06. Further, the request recommends a reduction (or rescission) of $1 million in current funding. The CTR program assists Russia and the former Soviet republics safeguard weapons of mass destruction and related technologies.

Federal Budget Deficit -In January the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the deficit for FY07 will be $172 billion. And while this is lower than the FY06 deficit of $248 billion, it assumes that only $70 billion will be appropriated for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and does not include the $93 billion in additional supplemental fundings requested today. Including those funds, the projected FY07 deficit jumps to $265 billion.


Bush Budget Projects A Surplus by 2012
Democrats Say Plan Would Grow Debt
By Lori Montgomery | Washington Post | February 5, 2007 

The budget that President Bush will submit to Congress today shows the federal deficit falling in each of the next four years and would produce a $61 billion surplus in 2012, administration officials said. But to get there, Bush is counting on strong economic growth, diminishing costs in the Iraq war and tight domestic spending to offset the cost of his tax cuts.

Democrats yesterday criticized the five-year budget plan as overly optimistic, and predicted that extending the tax cuts past their 2010 expiration date would dig the nation deeper into debt rather than produce a budget surplus. Republicans countered that the tax cuts are critical to maintaining a healthy economy and that a balanced budget is not possible without them.


Bush Plan Reins In Domestic Spending
Proposal Aims to Balance Budget And Fund Wars
By Michael Abramowitz and Lori Montgomery
Washington Post | February 6, 2007

President Bush took aim yesterday at domestic spending as part of a plan to balance the budget in five years without raising taxes while increasing funding for the Iraq war and permanently expanding the military.

With the $2.9 trillion budget he submitted to Congress, Bush signaled he would attempt to squeeze spending on health care, education, housing and other domestic programs important to the Democratic majority for the duration of his term. Overall domestic spending would be held below the rate of inflation in the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1 and frozen thereafter.


One victory: The House Appropriations Committee added $68.5 million to two of the Energy Department's nuclear nonproliferation programs in the Continuing Resolution (CR), H.J.Res. 20. The bill goes to the House floor tomorrow (Wednesday). It was jointly drafted by the staff of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees, so the increases will likely also be adopted in the Senate. The current CR expires February 15, so there is urgency in passing this bill.

Three members of Congress worked to make these increases happen, House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee chairman Pete Visclosky (IN), the subcommittee's ranking Republican David Hobson (OH), and the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee chairman Byron Dorgan (ND). Rep. Robert Andrews (NJ), Sen. Dianne Feinstein (CA), and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (NV) also helped.

Thanks to Marie Rietmann (Women's Action for New Directions) and Stephen Young (Union of Concerned Scientists) for their lobbying help.

Best,

David Culp, Legislative Representative
Friends Committee on National Legislation (Quakers)


President's Budget Full of Cheap Rhetoric; Wrong Priorities
President Favors Tax Cuts for the Wealthy Over Domestic Needs

OMB Watch

With the release of his Fiscal Year 2008 (FY 08) budget proposal on Feb 5, President George W. Bush has once again traded in his "compassionate" conservative label and adopted one of outright hostility toward investing in services benefiting middle- and low-income Americans. While the president has shifted his rhetoric this year in an awkward attempt to be perceived as fiscally responsible, the specific priorities reflected in his budget proposal are little different from previous years.

The president is attempting to balance the federal budget on the backs of regular Americans – slashing investments in children's health care, education, nutrition supports, cancer research, housing, environmental protection, and home energy assistance and many other areas – all the while continuing tax cut giveaways for the well-off.

This unrealistic sham of a budget continues to neglect urgent needs, sacrificing investments in improving the quality of life of all Americans to extend irresponsible tax cuts, and expands the use of budget gimmicks and omissions to feign fiscal responsibility. As a whole, the budget represents a continuation of the wrong priorities for America.

Tax Cuts for the Rich, Program Cuts for Everyone Else


WiLL organizes letter to Congress from women state legislators across the country
WiLL is encouraging women state legislators to take action and respond quickly to the President’s budget request before many of his proposed cuts pass through Congress.

An excerpt from the letter; more information here.
"Increased funding for the Pentagon and cuts in funds for other vital security programs do not make Americans more secure, nor do such actions reflect the values of the public. The Administration's request for the Defense Department and the nuclear weapons portion of the Department of Energy is $502 billion for FY08, 8% more than last year's budget. This does not include the $142 billion requested for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for FY08. We believe this is not the best use of our federal tax dollars. "

WOMEN'S VOICES

Notes from the WAND News Bulletin editor
Okay, so I was in tears watching Nancy Pelosi bang the gavel at the State of the Union address.

She just looked so competent and professional, and yet so female and stylish, and yet so powerful, and yet so reasonable.

You just don't see women like that on TV! But once in a great while, you do. Thank you, Madam Speaker...


WAND DC Reception on Capitol Hill
February 2007

Even though it snowed just a bit and shut down the city, dozens of folks turned out for the WAND DC Reception on Capitol Hill on February 7, 2007. We were delighted to celebrate the newest Congresswomen at the tables of power, and to provide networking opportunities for all of us in the peace and security community.

Thanks to everyone who worked so hard to put together this event, and to everyone who showed up! More photos here.

Congresswoman Nancy Boyda (KS) with Congresswoman Carol Shea Porter (NH) and WAND executive director Susan Shaer.

Boyda delighted the crowd when she reported that Nancy Pelosi is doing well as Speaker of the House because she's behaving like a real mom: She asks for directions, and she makes lists.

Actually makes one hopeful...


Capitol Hill Briefing on Balancing Security Spending

(l to r): Bill Johnstone-9/11 Commission staff and currently affiliated with Partnership for a Secure America; Miriam Pemberton-Foreign Policy In Focus, Institute for Policy Studies;Christopher Hellman-Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation; Marie Rietmann-Women’s Action for New Directions

WAND sponsored a briefing February 16, 2007 on “A Unified Security Budget for the United States." The budget shows how a rebalanced security strategy would put new emphasis on cost-effective preventive medicine, reducing the need for expensive military cures.

This budget has been written for several years now by Dr. Pemberton and Larry Korb, assistant secretary of defense for President Reagan. Mr. Johnstone and Mr. Hellman are assisting in its preparation for FY08.


WAND Atlanta "REAL State of the Union" Event
February 13, 2007 | First Iconium Baptist Church

Jay Bookman, the deputy editorial page editor of the Atlanta Journal Constitution, and outspoken civil rights activist the Reverend Joseph Lowery delivered the 5th annual talk reflecting on the President’s FY08 Federal Budget, the war in Iraq and the health of our country.
More pictures here.


We Bid a Sad, Sad Farewell to Molly Ivins

From her last column:

“We are the people who run this country. We are the deciders. And every single day, every single one of us needs to step outside and take some action to help stop this war.”

If ever a woman spoke truth to power, it was Molly. And she kept on doing it, with great skill and humor, til the end.

Molly spoke at our WAND/WiLL conference in 2003, and brought down the house. When she passed last month, a lot of us had a lot of fond memories of her wit, her courage, and her passion.

(Molly in the middle)

A few snippets:

Raise hell - and have fun doing it
By Aria Seligmann | February 2, 2007 |Eugene Register Guard
Full article, click here.

A simple message in my spam folder: Molly Ivins has passed. Tears immediately rolled down my cheeks, remembering how Molly, when she came to Eugene in October 2003, changed my life.

From WAND executive director Susan Shaer; read the whole piece here.

She was a natural. A beer loving, cigarette smoking, down-home girl. I envision her gamboling with her fellow journalists in a bar outside the State Capitol in Texas and taking in all the gossip, then flinging it out to the world in her popular column. The antics of the Texas leg (as she fondly called it) made them all seem silly and petty and also quite venal. It was always funny, but you could take very seriously the criticism she penned.

Remembering Molly Ivins
By John Nichols
John Nichols remembers Molly Ivins telling crowds, "even when she was battling cancer and Karl Rove, that they should relish the lucky break of their consciences and their conflicts. Speaking truth to power is the best job in any democracy, she explained. It took her to towns across this great yet battered land to say: 'So keep fightin' for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don't you forget to have fun doin' it. Lord, let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce. And when you get through kickin' ass and celebratin' the sheer joy of a good fight, be sure to tell those who come after how much fun it was.'"

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020107J.shtml

Tribute to the Life and Work of Molly Ivins
New York, NY

The Berkeley Daily Planet had a challenge to columnists one day before Molly Ivins died: continue her work by writing your own pieces railing against the war in Iraq. WMC runs Planet executive editor Becky O’Malley’s appreciation and call to journalistic action.
Deadline: Ongoing
Submit contributions to tribute@berkeleydailyplanet.com.

Visit www.womensmediacenter.com for more information.


UN Report: January 2007
by Sayre Sheldon, WAND representative on the NGO Working Group for Women, Peace and Security

Once again the UN comes to the time of year for evaluating what progress women have made around the world. From February 28 to March 9 the Commission on the Status of Women will be meeting. WAND will be represented by the Working Group for Women, Peace and Security which will be holding round-table meetings and trainings for increasing women's presence in peace-keeping and conflict prevention.

You may have seen the photograph of the all-female group of peacemakers assigned to Liberia made up of 100 women from India. A first -- but the fact remains that only 1% of all peacekeepers are women at present. This year's status of women meetings will focus on protecting girls from violence and in Liberia itself there have been many rapes of young girls which as yet go unpunished, so difficult is it to enact new laws after years of war.

On a more cheerful note, we at home may be debating whether we can elect a woman president but women in leadership positions around the world are increasing.


Oregon flags represent the fallen in Iraq
It looks like snow...but it is flags
February 2007

Oregon WAND contributed to the purchase of flags and members worked to set up the exhibit. The Iraq Body Count Exhibit is set up on the U. of Oregon campus. From a distance, it looks as if an early thaw has arrived on the University of Oregon campus, as hundreds of thousands of red and white flecks stand out brilliantly like new tulips against the green grass.
Full story here.


NUCLEAR NOTES


Arms Control Association Welcomes Agreement on North Korean Nuclear Program as "Essential First Step"
Press Release February 13, 2007

(Washington, D.C.): Arms Control Association (ACA) experts called the multilateral agreement reached earlier today with North Korea a "long overdue and essential first step toward reducing the threat posed by North Korea's nuclear weapons program."


Bold vision needed to counter nuclear threat
Ratifying the Test Ban Treaty and securing nuclear weapons are two of the actions that can be taken to improve global security.

Steve Andreasen | Minneapolis Star Tribune| February 14, 2007

The good news for the men and women who are seeking the presidency today is that the danger of a nuclear war on that scale has largely disappeared with the end of the Cold War. The bad news is that the risk of a nuclear weapon being used today is as high as it has been at any time in the past 20 years...


NUCLEAR INITIATIVE: Fuel reprocessing proposal full of risks
By Bobbie Paul, WAND Atlanta Executive Director| Atlanta Journal-Constitution | 02/09/07

President Bush's latest weapon of "mass deception," being heavily marketed by the nuclear industry is called Global Nuclear Energy Partnership. This initiative is expected to cost between $3 billion and $6 billion in its first five years. GNEP offers a misguided plan to expand global nuclear energy production, while solving the nuclear waste problem here at home and creating a "proliferation resistant" technology to keep nuclear materials out of the hands of terrorists.

These claims are misleading and obscure the real reason for this government funded initiative.

Basically, GNEP is a huge import/export project of the nuclear industry that requires the U.S. to manufacture nuclear fuel rods, ship them to other countries to run reactors, and then take the highly radioactive fuel rods back for reprocessing in newly constructed facilities.


IRAQ UPDATES