Tag: military budget

http://thehill.com/blogs/congr…

Change You Can’t Believe In-

Eric Holder’s Department of Justice Setting Pot Bust Records      

FBI stats say 858,408 people were arrested for marijuana in 2009, under US Atty General Holder’s DOJ,  the 2nd highest total ever, and it was an increase of + 1.3% from under the Bush administration’s last year in office, 2008.  (the record was 872,721 in 2007)

per NORML, arrests for marijuana are more than one half of all drug arrests in the United States, up from 44% 10 years ago.

758,593 were charged with possession only , the remaining 99,815 were charged with sale or manufacture, which includes cultivation.  

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09…

Here in Arghandab, the inflow of troops has made it possible to begin trying to pacify an area where thick vegetation, irrigation canals and pomegranate orchards provide good cover for Taliban insurgents, according to Col. Joe Krebs, the 2nd Brigade Combat team’s deputy commander.

No sooner had the 1st Battalion of the 22nd Armored Regiment of the United States Army arrived here than five of its soldiers were killed, in a roadside bomb directed at their convoy. The dead included the first army chaplain to be killed in active duty during the Afghan conflict.

While no official casualty totals have been released for the recent operations in the Kandahar districts, a count by iCasualties.org, which tracks coalition deaths, showed 14 American fatalities in Kandahar between Aug. 30 and Sept. 23, the latest date for which details are available. At least six of them were in Arghandab and two in Zhari district. That compares to 10 American personnel lost during that same period in Helmand Province, where the United States Marines have been struggling to suppress the Taliban in and around Marja, scene of the year’s first major offensive, Operation Mustarak, which began Feb. 14.

   Pomegranates are an important crop in traditional Mediterranean and southwest Asian culture.  

I couldn’t live with myself if my companies were doing damage to the planet.

  – Linda Resnick

Within the next few days, Congress will vote on a incredibly bloated $636 billion military spending bill, which includes $128 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

At this time of economic and ecological crisis, the U.S. government wants more money than ever for indefinite war and occupation.

Tell your Members of Congress: vote NO on war funding.

A recent poll showed that a majority of Americans believe the war in Afghanistan is “not worth fighting.”1

However, President Obama is sending at least 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, on top of the 21,000 he already sent earlier in 2009.

Make no mistake: our troops won't come home until we convince our Members of Congress to cut off funding for the occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Let them know where you stand today.

Tell your members of Congress: Vote NO on the fiscal year 2010 defense appropriations bill.

Notes:

1. Jennifer Agiesta and Jon Cohen, “Public Opinion in US Turns Against the War.” 8/20/09, Washington Post.

On Tuesday Oct. 6th, the U.S. Senate approved the largest military budget bill in the history of our nation: $626 billion. [1]

Next, the bill will be sent to a conference committee and then back to the House and Senate for final passage.

There remains a short window of opportunity to stop this wasteful military madness.

Tell your members of Congress to vote “NO” on the 2010 defense appropriations bill.

It's time to end the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

It's time to roll back the out-of-control militarism that is bankrupting our nation, morally and financially.

The Pentagon budget bill contains $128 billion to extend the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — bringing total spending on these wars to over $1 trillion.

Enough is enough. 51% of Americans now believe that the Afghan war is not worth fighting. [2]

We should dedicate most of that $626 billlion to meet the needs of Americans hit hard by the economic crisis, facing foreclosures, lack of health insurance, hunger, and lamentable schools.

We need to take action, motivated by the words of Dr. Martin Luther King: “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.”

Yes! I'll tell Congress to vote “NO” on the bloated 2010 military budget.

Notes

(1) Andrew Taylor, “Senate Passes Pentagon Budget, War Funding.”  Associated Press, October 6, 2009.

(2) Jennifer Agiesta and Jon Cohen, “Public Opinion in U.S. Turns Against the War.”  Washington Post, August 20, 2009.