(http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=AIpdYwtkEJ5Nt4IeNtwA+PT1CFd3ILUZ)
Tonight President Obama will give his annual State of the Union address in
an effort to assure the country we are on the right track. Obama’s message
will be in contrast to Republicans, who will have two cracks at a
response, from Senator Marco Rubio of Florida and Senator Rand Paul of
Kentucky
representing the reactionary Republicans, the Tea-Party.
But neither President Obama nor the Republicans will tell the full story
about how huge Pentagon and war outlays are choking our economy. With
military expenditures consuming 57% of discretionary spending, there is no
other
area of the budget that deserves more scrutiny and trimming. Yet a thirst
to control access to the world’s resources and dominate international
relations will not allow clear thinking and stewardship towards what is best
for
the American people. The U.S. nearly spends more on its military than the
rest of the world combined, outpacing number two China by six to one and
continues to expand its military presence around the world building dozen of
new military and CIA bases in the Middle East and Africa. A foreign policy
that causes a nation to borrow huge sums from its rival is flawed by design
and destined to fail.
Sadly, neither President Obama nor the Republicans will talk about the
devastating impact U.S. drone warfare has on communities and the families
caught in the crossfire of U.S. military operations. Somehow it is lost on the
President and so many Republicans that when a child dies from U.S. bombs
and bullets overseas it is just as tragic as the loss we suffered in Newtown -
– it is American gun violence gone global. It seems to matter little that
Pakistanis, Afghans and others facing U.S. military action love their
children just as much as we do.
The answer to our nation’s problems will not be adequately addressed by
either party because war making is central to their vision of the future.
They cannot or choose not to see that war is a manifestation of hate and hate
cannot be defeated by more hate. With humanity facing unprecedented
challenges it is time the global community work together. Climate change,
nuclear
proliferation (highlighted today by North Korea's bomb test), poverty and
war will overwhelm us if we do not take a global stand against them.
If you have not already done so, _click here to sign the Jobs Not Wars
Petition_
(http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=vFk51c+nEt65M1JJMSaaIfT1CFd3ILUZ)
. Tomorrow, February 13, call your Representative and
Senator to push them to fund initiatives that create jobs, to end U.S.
policy of endless wars and to cut Pentagon spending. UFPJ, USLAW and other
organizations promoting the petition will be in Washington, DC tomorrow to
present the signatures thus far to Congressional leaders. Do not let up! We
must force the President and Congress to move our nation from war to peace,
from aggression to diplomacy.
_Support UFPJ_
(http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=61iy0+p5kTe8cJpUQrPUnfT1CFd3ILUZ)
in our efforts to build a global peace and
justice movement.
On February 15, 2003 the world said No to War and Yes to Peace in the
largest global demonstration in world history. New York Times writer Patrick
Tyler wrote, “…the huge anti-war demonstrations around the world this
weekend are reminders that there may still be two superpowers on the planet:
the
United States and world public opinion.” Today through Twitter, Facebook
and other means average people around the world are more connected than ever
before. We have the means at our disposal to force our government through
world public pressure to do what is good and just for all of us. We have the
tools and knowledge to connect the global 99%.
The answers to the world’s challenges are not clear, but it begins with
the sentiment Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is trying to communicate in these
words, “We have inherited a big house, a great ‘world house’ in which we
have to live together – black and white, Easterners and Westerners, Gentiles
and Jews, Catholics and Protestants, Moslem and Hindu, a family unduly
separated in ideas, culture, and interests who, because we can never again
live
without each other, must learn, somehow, in this one big world, to live
with each other.”
We can do it, we must do it and we will do it.
Power to the peaceful.
Please visit our February 15th 2003 Facebook page :_
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Power-to-the-Peaceful-Feb-15th-2003/416831458394929?ref=hl_
(http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=iD/rSOhuBDtLgDE6BE+QH/T1CFd3
ILUZ) for images and comments about that powerful day. Join in to talk
about the day and the future of global peace.
-- Michael T. McPhearson
National Coordinator
____________________________________
United for Peace & Justice
(http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=8thKTzaUlTkJqPXMpaUN8PT1CFd3ILUZ)
_Click Here to Donate!_
(http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=c65dDi7TcSH+OLZNbqugTPT1CFd3ILUZ)
Donations to United for Peace and Justice are tax exempt to the extent
permitted by law. The Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) is UFPJ's 501(c)3
fiscal sponsor. If you would like to make a donation by check, please make it
payable to "FOR" and write "UFPJ" in the memo line. Mail to: P.O. Box
607, Times Square Station, New York, NY 10108.
============================================================================
==
National Immigrant Solidarity network and Action LA Network are the PROUD
coordinating committee member of UFPJ endorse this call!
Lee Siu Hin
National Coordinator
National Immigrant Solidarity Network _http://www.ImmigrantSolidarity.org_
(http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/)
Action LA Network _http://www.ActionLA.org_ (http://www.actionla.org/)
Peace NO War Network _http://www.PeaceNOWar.net_
(http://www.peacenowar.net/)
Activist Video Service _http://www.ActivistVideo.org_
(http://www.activistvideo.org/)
New York : (212)330-8172
Los Angeles : (213)403-0131
Washington D.C. : (202)595-8990
Chicago : (773)942-2268
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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