Jobs Not Wars

http://www.jobs-not-wars.org/

The very first priority of patriachal culture and patriarchal mythos is war.  And needless to say, it's  a tragedy for society when the only job, and opportunity to go to school, open to young men is the military.   And yet, as we as a nation confront the huge debt racked up for Bush's wars in Afghanistan and Iraq , and congress prepares to drastically cut resources to the elderly (social security), schools, the arts, the environment, the Pentagon remains, as always, untouched.  Just passed, a $633 billion  defense bill for next year. And our taxes don't just support American militarism - we support military regimes all over the place.  In July, for example,   President Obama announced that he was releasing "an additional $70 million in military aid for Israel.  The new funding is intended to help Israel boost production of a short-range rocket defense system, known as Iron Dome."(sound like a video game?)

That's a lot of money.  Even the "additional" small change for Israel is a lot of money, when you consider what it could do at home and put to humanitarian uses. 

 "Corporate CEOs, Wall Street executives and many politicians are working very hard to convince Americans that we are unreasonable and must continue to sacrifice – that cuts must come from Social Security, Medicare & Medicaid and other domestic programs.   But they completely ignore, and refuse to address the biggest drag on our economy – unending war and outrageous, out-of-control Pentagon spending."

My only source of security for old age is social security.  In recent proposals, there is included a change in the cost of living adjustment (COLA) that will make cuts in Social Security benefits.  It’s a real and harmful cut to the Social Security benefits we paid into.   Social Security should not be part of any such deal anyway. By law, it can’t contribute to the budget deficit.

I'm signing the petition  http://www.jobs-not-wars.org/   and circulating it.  We talk about a Shift:  that is the essence of it.