Thursday, October 8, 2015

THE COSTS OF WAR.

We know that the costs of war are ugly, horrendous deaths, as in the recent American hit that caused “collateral damage”. We have witnessed too many soldiers coming home maimed, blind, without limbs. Thousands suffer Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Technology for artificial limbs has gone beyond anything we could have imagined just 15 years ago. Those things are all “costs of war”.

 A friend of mine sent me a video where Democrat, Adam West is urging us not to trust or deal peaceably with Iran, and urging no peace agreement or nuclear disarmament with similar countries in the East.  Some Republicans are intent on eliminating Social Security and Planned Parenthood. They’ve cut food stamps for the poor.

Let us consider another cost of war. The Annual military spending: $653,110,000,000. That equates to$1.2 million per minute.
We are cutting school budgets, facing joblessness, hunger and the numbers of homeless people have increased?
Just one minute for peace, 1.2 millions dollars, could do a lot of good for our country.

To quote President Eisenhower:
Every gun made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.
It was also Eisenhower who warned us of the Military Complex, that strives to thrive on war. His dire warnings have come true.

Our taxes shell out like this:  (From Obama’s budget request for 2015 in rounded numbers.)
55% Military
6.2% for Education
5.6% for Veterans Benefits
5.5% for Government
5.3 % for housing
4.9% for health
4.8% for labor
3.3% for International Affairs
3% % for Energy and Environment
2.5% for Science
2.3% for Transportation
1% for Food and Agriculture

Please take the time to urge Obama to redirect a fraction of that military budget to programs that benefit children, the elderly and all Americans. I know I don’t want 55% of my tax dollars spent on the war machine.
In the time it took you to read this, we’ve spent 1.2million dollars.

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