State and federal funding just cannot be found to keep people in decent dental health.
Head Start programs have had to deal with funding slashes and so have our schools. Recent cuts have resulted in more teacher and staff layoffs in our city, and fewer school programs to help our students receive a well rounded quality education. Funds are not available.
Yet there is no end to the money allocated to kill people in Iraq and Afghanistan. There is no problem with finding funds to aid Israel in killing innocent people in their terror for terror campaign.
Don't try to tell me I'm naive or I just don't understand. If you think this is OK, then YOU are the one who doesn't understand.
This was in my e-mail today and I wish to share with you.
WAGE PEACE CAMPAIGN
American Friends Service Committee
Northeast Ohio Office
[www.afsc.net]
July 27, 2006
------------------------------
What is $167,372,000?
Answer: It's the current total of Akron taxpayer cost of the Iraq War/Occupation (as of July 27).
(source: www.costofwar.com)
Martin Luther King Jr said we are dropping bombs on Vietnam but they are exploding in the hearts of American cities.
Part of the purpose of our walk for peace, justice & democracy this Saturday is to discuss and learn about the damage by neglect our federal budget priorities has caused.
- How many homes in our area could be built or rehabed, or children educated or cared for with $167,372,000?
- How much of our infrastructure (roads and/or sewers) could be improved with $167,372,000?
- How many people could be hired with $167,372,000?
- How could our real security be increased with $167,372,000?
Instead, we have learned pretty well how many people and injured can be killed with $167,372,000...
how much of Iraq can be physically destroyed, how much can be wasted going to corporate contractors who fail to do the work, how many weapons can be manufactured, and how much insecurity can be increased.
Join us on Saturday to help focus on REAL SECURITY. To walk. To discuss. To listen. To make connections.
AKRON WALK FOR JUSTICE, PEACE AND DEMOCRACY
Saturday, July 29, 2006
It is said the peace movement is stuck in its "ivory tower"
it is said the peace movement needs to reach out to people in communities
It is said the peace movement must connect its issues with issues that directly affect people's lives
These are among the reasons for the walk this Saturday
- to walk not from one downtown location to another but into neighborhoods
- to engage directly with people where they live
- to connect issues of the war/occupation with issues of housing, employment, health care, & education
- to begin to explore ways to more widely examine the issues of peace, justice and democracy
---------
Are you affected by the Iraq War?
Are you paying more for gas and food?
Are our schools getting the funding they need?
Do you feel secure in your job?
Does your job pay a wage you can live on?
Are the Congress and the President in touch with the American people?
If you are concerned about these and other pressing issues today, then come and join us.
Listen, talk, discuss and engage with others about the Iraq war, neighborhood concerns, and what can and should be done to provide meaningful change.
Details:
2:30 PM: Assemble at Firestone Park Presbyterian Church, 275 S. Firestone Blvd.
3:00 PM: Free transportation to Akron office of Department of War (misnamed Department of "Defense") on Wolf Ledges Parkway for a short program followed by walk/pilgrimage through Akron neighborhoods
5:30 PM: Return to Firestone Park Presbyterian Church for food, fellowship, and sharing of stories and reflections
8:45 PM: Ohio Ballet will provide a free performance at Firestone Park for those who wish to stay.
Flyer to download/post:
http://www.afsc.net/PDFFiles/072906peacewalk.pdf
More information:
AFSC, 330-253-7151
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The AFSC is a Quaker-related social action organization committed to social justice, peace, and humanitarian service. Its work is based on the Religious Society of Friends (Quaker) belief in the worth of every person, and faith in the power of love to overcome violence and injustice. Founded in 1917 to provide conscientious objectors with an opportunity to aid civilian victims during World War I, today the AFSC has programs throughout the world that focus on issues related to peace-building and demilitarization, economic and social justice, and youth.
recommend this
email
print
link to this page
Comments: 12
This morning's Chicago Tribune contained a letter to the editor from William Hart of Chicago that mirrored my thoughts. Excerpt from "Unfulfilled dreams":
"I'm 48. I thought I lived in the best and most powerful country in the world.
I remember watching 'All in the Family' on a Bakelite, white, brass and green glass TV with a matching cart in the kitchen while having dinner with my family. I remember American values back then were ending war and introducing diplomacy. Ending poverty and inequality. Finding cures for disease.
I felt then my future would see these things happen. I feel now I won't live to see them begin."
Cat, best wishes on the Akron Walk for Peace, Justice and Democracy.
If the children remain undereducated, then the military option is often their only viable choice. This is no political accident.
Education is dropping again, care for our poor and infirm is declining, and the quality of life for most people ticks down not up each year.
While I support the job that soldiers have to do, I sure don't like the job being done by the old men in DC who sent them there in the first place.
My new cure for war: everyone in Congress and the Executive Branch who supports a war action send their children over first.
How many wars do you think we'd be involved in if W's precious twins were in-country in Bagdad?
i just wish i could stop sighing and shaking my head...
A friend of mine who survived a tour of duty in Vietnam as a sitting duck on a riverboat told me about Georgie Porgie's war, "This country will not become outraged about this war until everyone of us knows someone who has died in it."
A travesty...