Check this out:

On April 15, a NYC Counselor introduces City Council Resolution to cut the military budget!

And if that's not enough, try the slide show at the end of this message forwarded by Judith Leblanc of Peace Action, formerly UfPJ:

- Mike Prokosch

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Brooklyn residents filled the library at Brooklyn Tech High School last night to hear Jo Comerford, Executive Director of the National Priorities Project speak on budget cuts, the federal budget and war spending. Comerford, a nationally-known expert on budget matters and our country's tragically mis-directed national priorities, helped clarify the complicated subject of federal spending so that people could see where and how their tax dollars are being used (or mis-used). People were able to see clearly that the oversized Pentagon budget $737 billion next year!) and the two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan ($1 trillion since 2001!) were draining resources so that solutions to urgent domestic problems are becoming difficult, if not impossible, to solve.

Comerford also visited high school students at two schools in the hours before the evening event. At Carroll Gardens' Brooklyn School for Collaborative Studies and later, at Brooklyn Tech High School, she addressed students who were asking why free transit Metro Cards are being threatened by the MTA and the city - both who are pleading poverty. She pointed out that just in Brooklyn alone, taxpayers have doled out $9 billion on the two wars - money which could solve the mass transit shortfall many times over.

The events were sponsored by Brooklyn For Peace. The Brooklyn Tech events were also sponsored by Progressive Student Awareness , a student club at that school

Here are photos from the day's activities. Please leave a comment if you'd like.

Matt

GALLERY or SLIDE SHOW (tip - hit your F11 key when the slide show begins - that will maximize your view).
 


Comments

Carol Coakley

Wed, 19 May 2010 20:38:03

From an article at "Think Progress" Hillary makes the case for State Department expenditures in development and diplomacy saving the Defense Department money: She and Gates did however endorse Obama's increased foreign budget, but the State got a 3.5 % increase in that.
In her letter to Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-ND) on Aprl 20, 2010, Clinton argued that internationa aid is actually more "cost-effective" than military spending: "Our investments in development and diplomacy are smart, cost-effective, and squarely in the best interests of American taxpayers and our national security. They are relatively small compared to the cost of active military engagement, and they can end up delivering impactful savings. In Iraq, for example, our $2.6 billion request for State and USAID will allow the Defense Department budget to crease by bout $16 billion - a powerful illustration of the return on civilian investments." (The non-war spending of the foreign affairs budget received a 3.4% increase, while the Budget committee recommended cuts to the the State Department and international aide, apparently dismissing Hillary's argument.)

 

Carol Coakley

Wed, 19 May 2010 20:41:27

Strike that last sentence in line three,"but the State got a 3.5% increase in that". It is not clear in the article exactly where the 3.4% increase in non-war
spending went. However I think the Hillary quote is the important element here.

 



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