AMERICAN LEFT HISTORY

This space is dedicated to the proposition that we need to know the history of the struggles on the left and of earlier progressive movements here and world-wide. If we can learn from the mistakes made in the past (as well as what went right) we can move forward in the future to create a more just and equitable society. We will be reviewing books, CDs, and movies we believe everyone needs to read, hear and look at as well as making commentary from time to time. Greg Green, site manager

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

From The Class Struggle ....

If you've already contacted your Representative - thank you! I am resending this alert because of a glitch that caused an error message to appear and in some cases prevented this letter from reaching Congress. It's been fixed.

So, if you are one of those who experienced this problem or have not yet sent this important communication to your Representative, I hope you will do so now, and then forward this email to your friends.

Humbly for peace,

Kevin

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Dear Al,

Every year Congress has two chances to reduce Pentagon waste through the appropriations and authorization bills. Next week the House will vote on its version of the National Defense Authorization Act.

Email your Representative now to reduce Pentagon spending.

As it stands, the bill would authorize $521.3 billion plus approximately $80 billion for the Afghanistan War and other unrelated Pentagon expenditures that are funded in a separate Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) account. Next week, your Representative may offer or support amendments that will cut wasteful Pentagon pork.

There will only be a short time next week when we will know exactly what amendments the Republican leadership will allow to be voted on so please write your Representative today.

We expect amendments that will:

*End the Afghanistan War as soon as possible — it’s time to bring all troops and contractors home and to not leave any behind after this year.
*Cut the OCO slush fund — Last year it funded some $30 billion of unrelated items.
*Cut the F-35 — the most expensive plane and Pentagon project in history.
*Audit the Pentagon — The Pentagon is the only part of the Government that cannot pass an audit.
*Cut the Littoral Combat Ship — experts say it will cost over three times the original estimate.
*Reduce General's Pensions — currently they are allowed to make MORE in retirement than when working.
*Cut the M1 Abrams Tank — the Pentagon doesn’t even want it.
*Reduce the Nuclear Triad — Without the Cold War we cannot afford to upgrade all the nuclear weapon delivery systems while we significantly reduce our stockpile.
*Cut overseas military bases and support a Base Realignment and Closure Commission — There are over 1,000 U.S. military bases abroad including those in countries who can afford their own security. Within the U.S. there are bases that the Pentagon doesn’t want.

Again please take time NOW towrite your Representative to cut the Pentagon budget so we can afford other priorities like job creation, education and infrastructure.

Humbly for Peace,

Paul Kawika Martin

Political Director
Peace Action

PS: Please forward this email to your friends!