One for the good guys! Congress close to killing the F-22 at last! At the end of a wacky face-off -- the Air Force aligned with the grassroots on one side; unions aligned with Congress on the other -- the forces of good won a battle in the war. The F-22 has gotten closer to the Cold War graveyard where it will one day be put to rest.

While everyone with good sense agrees that the aircraft is expensive, unreliable, and unnecessary, the incessant drumbeat for "jobs" made it difficult for many Members of Congress to turn down the program. Defense contractors have cleverly scattered the production of the F-22 far and wide across Congressional districts. In New England, even usually progressive Democrats were reluctant to vote Nay -- the pain of losing jobs is too great. [See the next article for a debunking of that argument...]

The swell of grassroots opposition certainly helped sway some of these Members, and we thank everyone who rallied to reach out to Congress.

This is just the beginning of what we hope will be a long and perhaps painful reorienting of our economy. Since the end of WWII, the government has been heavily investing in the military industrial complex; we now have a technological marvel of a war machine. Sadly, this has not only warped our national priorities; it's also made us less secure as a country. We're still gearing up to fight the Soviet Union, and are increasingly weakened in the real defense landscape of today.

Marie Rietmann reports from Capitol Hill: "All entities have acted on the F-22 except Senate defense approps. This may be a problem; for example, Sen. Chris Dodd (CT) has pledged to not give up the fight for it. His last chance this year would be an amendment to defense approps when it comes to the Senate floor sometime after August recess. It would be great for friends of WAND to tell Senators not to support more F-22s in the defense appropriations bill." Action here.

Military Spending and Employment: The Case of the F-22
By William D. Hartung, New America Foundation | February 25, 2009

...The Lockheed Martin Corporation has asserted that 95,000 jobs are at stake if the program is terminated after the Pentagon's preferred production run of 183 planes.

Using two different estimating techniques, F-22 expenditures generate jobs in the range of 35,000 to 37,000 per year-- less than 40% of the levels claimed by Lockheed Martin.

In addition, Lockheed Martin's advertisements and fact sheets on this issue fail to stress the fact that any job losses that do occur as a result of ending the F-22 program will be stretched out over two and half years or more, suggesting that many of them may occur after the end of the current recession.

The F-22 Vote and the Future of Pentagon Spending
By William Hartung - July 28, 2009 | TPM Cafe

Last week's decision by the Senate to eliminate $1.75 billion in proposed pork barrel funding for the F-22 is a step in the right direction. It is rare that the military-industrial complex loses one of these battles. But there are conflicting views as to whether this is a unique event or the beginning of a more rational approach to Pentagon budgeting. My own view is that we can build on this victory if enough people get off the sidelines and fight for better budget priorities. A positive result is by no means guaranteed, but we may not get another opportunity like this for a long while, so we need to capitalize on it.

Join in WAND’s campaign
Congress Meets the Community
In the next year, Congress will play an essential role in setting the agenda for vital security and budget priority issues.

Let them know how you feel! We can help. Find out more about how to set up a meeting.

FEDERAL BUDGET WATCH

States in Distress
New York Times Editorial | August 3, 2009

In general, this year’s budget gaps were closed with federal stimulus dollars, state rainy-day funds, spending cuts, tax increases and one-time accounting maneuvers.

For next year, roughly $40 billion in federal stimulus will be available for state fiscal relief. But the states’ own emergency funds will be largely depleted and, obviously, one-time fixes will be tapped out. Spending cuts on the scale of those enacted this year would be brutalizing. Cuts have already fallen heavily on services for low-income families, the elderly and the disabled, on early education and child care, and on public schools, colleges and universities. Most states also have cut their public work forces, impeding access to services and harming the economy by reducing income and consumer spending.

Three Good Reasons To Liquidate Our Empire and 10 Ways to Do It
By Chalmers Johnson, Tomdispatch.com. Posted July 31, 2009.

According to the 2008 official Pentagon inventory of our military bases around the world, our empire consists of 865 facilities in more than 40 countries and overseas U.S. territories. We deploy over 190,000 troops in 46 countries and territories...

These massive concentrations of American military power outside the United States are not needed for our defense. They are, if anything, a prime contributor to our numerous conflicts with other countries. They are also unimaginably expensive. According to Anita Dancs, an analyst for the website Foreign Policy in Focus, the United States spends approximately $250 billion each year maintaining its global military presence.

Boeing and Lockheed Fly High as Senate Considers More Fighter Jets
Common Cause
"Lockheed and Boeing are practicing the time-honored Washington tradition of spending big to influence and buy access to protect their bottom lines," said Common Cause President Bob Edgar. "Until we get defense contractors and other special interests out of the business of paying for congressional campaigns, we'll be making jets we don't need and spending billions of taxpayer dollars that could be better used for other critical needs like education and health care."

NUCLEAR NOTES

Reinterpreting Early August
Boston Globe | By James Carroll | August 3, 2009
The point of the annual early August commemorative exercise has never been to look back judgmentally on the past from the saddle of a moral high horse, as if - had we been there, knowing what they knew, feeling what they felt - we’d have behaved differently. The urgent task of moral reckoning is not about the past, but about the present and future.

A Flash of Memory
New York Times | By ISSEY MIYAKE | July 13, 2009

On Aug. 6, 1945, the first atomic bomb was dropped on my hometown, Hiroshima. I was there, and only 7 years old. When I close my eyes, I still see things no one should ever experience: a bright red light, the black cloud soon after, people running in every direction trying desperately to escape — I remember it all. Within three years, my mother died from radiation exposure.

Obama’s Big Missile Test
New York Times | Philip Taubman | July 8, 2009

...the overall Obama approach involves a balancing act that requires him to move boldly while reassuring opponents that he is not endangering our security. Put simply, he has to maintain a potent nuclear arsenal while slashing it.

For the Sixty-Fourth Time: No More Nuclear War
Reflections on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Our World
By Frida Berrigan | Tom Dispatch | August 3, 2009

Keep in mind as well that the bombs which annihilated two Japanese cities and ended so many lives 64 years ago this week were puny when compared to today's typical nuclear weapon. Little Boy was a 15 kiloton warhead. Most of the warheads in the U.S. arsenal today are 100 or 300 kilotons -- capable of taking out not a Japanese city of 1945 but a modern megalopolis. Bruce Blair, president of the World Security Institute and a former launch-control officer in charge of Minutemen Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles armed with 170, 300, and 335 kiloton warheads, pointed out a few years ago that, within 12 minutes, the United States and Russia could launch the equivalent of 100,000 Hiroshimas.

It is unthinkable. It seems unimaginable. It sounds like hyperbole, but consider it an uncomfortable and necessary truth. The people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the children of our future need us to understand this and act upon it -- 64 years too late... and not a minute too soon.

IRAQ -- and now! Afghanistan as well!

With Boots in Iraq, Minds Drift to Afghanistan
New York Times | July 31, 2009 | By ELISABETH BUMILLER

If the current drawdown schedule holds, there will be 50,000 or fewer United States troops in Iraq next year but about 68,000 in Afghanistan. The next big debate facing the Pentagon and the White House is whether to send even more troops than planned to Afghanistan; a civilian advisory panel has already advised Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the top United States commander in Afghanistan, that he should request additional forces.

The Pentagon already anticipates spending less next year in Iraq than in Afghanistan, $61 billion compared with $65 billion, the first time that will have happened since before 2003. So far this year, fewer United States service members have been killed in Iraq than in Afghanistan — 108 compared with 128, according to icasualties.org, which tracks military deaths.

NEWS FROM WiLL

WiLL at NCSL in Philadelphia

WiLL staff Christina Cernansky (l) and Maureen Campbell (r), along with Ben Franklin...

WiLL President Sen. Nan Grogan Orrock (GA) spoke at NCSL.

WiLL just returned from the annual Legislative Summit of the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) in Philadelphia. With thousands of state legislators in attendance, we were busy catching up with old friends and meeting great new women legislators. Most legislators had just finished up heated budget sessions or were still in the midst of trying to pass budgets. Everyone was eager to talk about the economy and ways that the states and the federal government can work together to get out of the current mess. We talked about the unnecessary spending in the military budget and the way those dollars could be redirected to the states to fund programs that truly keep us secure at home. We’re also proud to announce that WiLL President, Senator Nan Orrock was named the new incoming chair of the National Labor Caucus of State Legislators.

Two WiLL Members Running for Higher Office!
Join us in wishing them luck and offering support

In Minnesota, State Sen. Tarryl Clark is running for the Congressional seat currently occupied by the notorious Michele Bachmann.

In New Jersey, Gov. Jon Corzine chose State Sen. Loretta Weinberg, a progressive Democrat and feisty Statehouse veteran, as his running mate on this year's ticket.

National Events

International Peace Day is September 21.
Check out the new UN web site that covers disarmament issues.

Think Outside the Bomb 2009 National Conference | More info
August 13-16 | Albuquerque, New Mexico
"Working to educate, organize, and empower a new generation of community and campus leaders working toward a nuclear-free world."

IDEAS, VISIONS, RESOURCES FOR A BETTER WORLD

• Click here for amazon.com. (You won't even see it happen.)
• Click here for iGive.com. (You'll need to specify WAND Education Fund as your cause.)
• Click here for GoodShop. (You'll need to specify WAND Education Fund as your cause.)

And it's not just books! Oh, no. It's toys, groceries, DVDs, magazines, and even gift certificates! It's all good.

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