Does your representative show the military industrial complex enough love? (I’m naming names)

Today in America there is a big and under-reported issue.  There are actually people out there, some of them unbelievably in Congress, crazy enough to challenge that great American institution, the military industrial complex.  Who doesn’t love Halliburton?  Or Dick Cheney?  Or the Iraq War?  Or useless projects that do nothing more than enrich and empower an already powerful and rich elite?

I’ll tell you who.  65 good for nothin’ Congresspeople.  They’re the ones who today voted against a symbolic resolution to get our troops out of Afghanistan.

Now, cutting the snark, so many of the other 356 don’t even have the gall to vote against a symbolic resolution to end a war!  I understand that some people honestly support it, but when less than half of the country supports the war in Afghanistan, it’s a bad sign that all of these Congresspeople still do:

Ackerman

Aderholt

Adler (NJ)

Akin

Alexander

Altmire

Andrews

Arcuri

Austria

Baca

Bachmann

Bachus

Baird

Barrow

Bartlett

Barton (TX)

Bean

Becerra

Berkley

Berman

Berry

Biggert

Bilbray

Bilirakis

Bishop (GA)

Bishop (NY)

Bishop (UT)

Blackburn

Blumenauer

Blunt

Boccieri

Boehner

Bonner

Bono Mack

Boozman

Boren

Boswell

Boucher

Boustany

Boyd

Brady (PA)

Brady (TX)

Braley (IA)

Bright

Broun (GA)

Brown (SC)

Brown, Corrine

Brown-Waite, Ginny

Buchanan

Burgess

Burton (IN)

Butterfield

Buyer

Calvert

Cantor

Cao

Capito

Capps

Cardoza

Carnahan

Carney

Carson (IN)

Carter

Cassidy

Castle

Castor (FL)

Chaffetz

Chandler

Childers

Clyburn

Coble

Coffman (CO)

Cohen

Cole

Conaway

Connolly (VA)

Cooper

Costa

Costello

Courtney

Crenshaw

Cuellar

Culberson

Cummings

Dahlkemper

Davis (CA)

Davis (KY)

Davis (TN)

DeGette

Delahunt

DeLauro

Dent

Diaz-Balart, M.

Dicks

Dingell

Doggett

Donnelly (IN)

Dreier

Driehaus

Edwards (TX)

Ehlers

Ellsworth

Emerson

Engel

Eshoo

Etheridge

Fallin

Fattah

Flake

Fleming

Forbes

Fortenberry

Foster

Foxx

Franks (AZ)

Frelinghuysen

Fudge

Gallegly

Garamendi

Garrett (NJ)

Gerlach

Giffords

Gingrey (GA)

Gohmert

Gonzalez

Goodlatte

Gordon (TN)

Granger

Graves

Green, Al

Green, Gene

Griffith

Guthrie

Hall (NY)

Hall (TX)

Halvorson

Hare

Harman

Harper

Hastings (WA)

Heinrich

Heller

Hensarling

Herger

Herseth Sandlin

Higgins

Hill

Himes

Hinchey

Hinojosa

Hirono

Hodes

Holden

Holt

Honda

Hoyer

Hunter

Inglis

Inslee

Israel

Issa

Jenkins

Johnson (GA)

Johnson, Sam

Jordan (OH)

Kanjorski

Kaptur

Kennedy

Kildee

Kilpatrick (MI)

Kilroy

Kind

King (IA)

King (NY)

Kingston

Kirk

Kirkpatrick (AZ)

Kissell

Klein (FL)

Kline (MN)

Kosmas

Kratovil

Lamborn

Lance

Langevin

Larsen (WA)

Latham

LaTourette

Latta

Lee (NY)

Levin

Lewis (CA)

Linder

Lipinski

LoBiondo

Loebsack

Lofgren, Zoe

Lowey

Lucas

Luetkemeyer

Luján

Lummis

Lungren, Daniel E.

Lynch

Mack

Manzullo

Marchant

Markey (CO)

Marshall

Matheson

Matsui

McCarthy (CA)

McCarthy (NY)

McCaul

McClintock

McCollum

McCotter

McHenry

McIntyre

McKeon

McMahon

McMorris Rodgers

McNerney

Meek (FL)

Meeks (NY)

Melancon

Mica

Miller (FL)

Miller (MI)

Miller (NC)

Miller, Gary

Minnick

Mitchell

Mollohan

Moore (KS)

Moore (WI)

Moran (KS)

Moran (VA)

Murphy (CT)

Murphy (NY)

Murphy, Patrick

Murphy, Tim

Myrick

Neugebauer

Nunes

Nye

Oberstar

Olson

Ortiz

Owens

Pallone

Pascrell

Pastor (AZ)

Paulsen

Pence

Perlmutter

Perriello

Peters

Peterson

Petri

Pitts

Platts

Poe (TX)

Pomeroy

Posey

Price (GA)

Price (NC)

Putnam

Radanovich

Rahall

Rehberg

Reichert

Reyes

Rodriguez

Roe (TN)

Rogers (AL)

Rogers (KY)

Rogers (MI)

Rohrabacher

Rooney

Ros-Lehtinen

Roskam

Ross

Rothman (NJ)

Roybal-Allard

Royce

Ruppersberger

Rush

Ryan (OH)

Ryan (WI)

Salazar

Sarbanes

Scalise

Schauer

Schiff

Schmidt

Schock

Schrader

Schwartz

Scott (GA)

Scott (VA)

Sensenbrenner

Sessions

Sestak

Shadegg

Shea-Porter

Sherman

Shimkus

Shuler

Shuster

Simpson

Sires

Skelton

Slaughter

Smith (NE)

Smith (NJ)

Smith (TX)

Smith (WA)

Snyder

Souder

Space

Spratt

Stearns

Sullivan

Sutton

Tanner

Taylor

Teague

Terry

Thompson (CA)

Thompson (MS)

Thompson (PA)

Thornberry

Tiahrt

Tiberi

Titus

Tonko

Turner

Upton

Van Hollen

Visclosky

Walden

Walz

Wamp

Watt

Waxman

Weiner

Westmoreland

Whitfield

Wilson (OH)

Wilson (SC)

Wittman

Wolf

Wu

Yarmuth

Young (AK)

Now, here there is no differentiation from Republicans and Democrats (perhaps, fittingly).  But if you go to this website, the names in italics are Republicans and the normal lettering is Democrats.

The people on the above list voted to continue the growth and proliferation of one of the most destructive forces in our nation today.  Military contractors, war profiteers, corrupt political cronies, the worst of the worst lobbyists – all of these and more are what make up the military industrial complex.  Until we end our modern day empire and stop spending more on our military by far than every other nation on earth, we will not rein in these problems, or probably any other major problem, for that matter.

And those brave representatives who were willing to go against the President, the Democratic Party, the Republican Party, both parties’ leadership in the House, and the military industrial complex were:

Baldwin

Campbell

Capuano

Chu

Clarke

Clay

Cleaver

Crowley

Davis (IL)

DeFazio

Doyle

Duncan

Edwards (MD)

Ellison

Farr

Filner

Frank (MA)

Grayson

Grijalva

Gutierrez

Hastings (FL)

Jackson (IL)

Jackson Lee (TX)

Johnson (IL)

Johnson, E. B.

Jones

Kagen

Kucinich

Larson (CT)

Lee (CA)

Lewis (GA)

Maffei

Maloney

Markey (MA)

McDermott

McGovern

Michaud

Miller, George

Nadler (NY)

Napolitano

Neal (MA)

Obey

Olver

Paul

Payne

Pingree (ME)

Polis (CO)

Quigley

Rangel

Richardson

Sánchez, Linda T.

Sanchez, Loretta

Schakowsky

Serrano

Speier

Stark

Stupak

Tierney

Towns

Tsongas

Velázquez

Waters

Watson

Welch

Woolsey

Also worth listing are the 19 cosponsors, along with the original sponsor Dennis Kucinich:

Rep Baldwin, Tammy [WI-2] – 3/4/2010

Rep Capuano, Michael E. [MA-8] – 3/4/2010

Rep Clarke, Yvette D. [NY-11] – 3/4/2010

Rep Conyers, John, Jr. [MI-14] – 3/4/2010

Rep Davis, Danny K. [IL-7] – 3/4/2010

Rep Farr, Sam [CA-17] – 3/9/2010

Rep Filner, Bob [CA-51] – 3/4/2010

Rep Grayson, Alan [FL-8] – 3/4/2010

Rep Grijalva, Raul M. [AZ-7] – 3/4/2010

Rep Johnson, Timothy V. [IL-15] – 3/4/2010

Rep Jones, Walter B., Jr. [NC-3] – 3/4/2010

Rep Lee, Barbara [CA-9] – 3/4/2010

Rep Massa, Eric J. J. [NY-29] – 3/4/2010

Rep Michaud, Michael H. [ME-2] – 3/4/2010

Rep Paul, Ron [TX-14] – 3/4/2010

Rep Pingree, Chellie [ME-1] – 3/4/2010

Rep Serrano, Jose E. [NY-16] – 3/4/2010

Rep Stark, Fortney Pete [CA-13] – 3/9/2010

Rep Woolsey, Lynn C. [CA-6] – 3/4/2010

One representative in particular that deserves the limelight for this (other than Dennis Kucinich, of course) is Patrick Kennedy, who was breathing fire and righteously condemning the press on the floor of the House for their terrible irresponsibility:

These people deserve praise for their decision to stand up for peace in Congress!  Here’s a tool from the House website to write to any representative that you wish to:

https://writerep.house.gov/wri…

If you want to write to yours (like mine, Democrat Allyson Schwartz of PA-13) for voting against this or if you want to praise a representative for supporting it, please do so!

And while you’re at it, why not join me on March 20th at the peace march in Washington DC?  I’ll be with the World Can’t Wait people, carrying an American flag with the stars in the shape of a peace sign…