I’ve been waiting for some elected official to bring the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan home to his/her constituents, to let the Tea Party folks see what they really need to be complaining about and it took the mayor of Binghampton, N.Y. to take action. The article below, originally from HUFFINGTON POST, but discovered by yours truly at www.common dreams.org, tells what he is going to do to let his fellow citizens know the cost of war for their city. That there is a lengthy quote from the National Priorities director, our very own Jo Comerford, is just icing.
I attended a retirement party for a very special man – Bob Brown. Not only is his story in CALLED TO SERVE, but it turns out that he is concluding a comprehensively brilliant career as a counselor of high school and college age students, predominantly, but far from exclusively, students of color in Connecticut. I learned of the legions of students who benefited from his wise, caring and encouraging support over a 40 year career. We had worked together for many years at an UPWARD BOUND PROGRAM at UCONN in Storrs, but it wasn’t until this evening’s tribute that I saw the great influence he had exerted. It was very moving and inspirational. From my interview with him for the book I learned that way back in the late ’60′s he wanted no part of the war in Vietnam and in his remarks this evening he mentioned the connection between the much-needed funds to equalize the playing field for his students and the two wars we continue to throw enormous sums of money at. I think he would be pleased to know that someone in Binghampton, N.Y. is taking a stand.
ON TAX DAY A REMINDER – WAR IS NOT FREE
by Dan Froomkin
How many tax dollars from your community have gone to fund the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq? And how else could that money have been spent?
The National Priorities Project helps you figure that out quite easily, with its Cost of War web site. It shows you the total amount nationwide, then lets you dig down to see the results by community. You can also calculate the tradeoffs.
And Brave New Foundation today is out with a new online short, starring Democratic Reps. Alan Grayson (Fla.), Raul Grijalva (Ariz.), and Barbara Lee (Calif.), reminding tax payers to consider how the war in Afghanistan is affecting the economy and job recovery in the United States today.
“The resident of Tucson,” Grijalva says, “have paid $298 million of their tax dollars to the war in Afghanistan. That translates to 6,000 new jobs in the health care industry.”
Over on Facebook, Brave New Foundation is also asking you to tell them what would you want to fix if we could spend those funds here at home instead.
Writing for TomDispatch.com, Jo Comerford, executive director of the National Priorities Project, found one mayor who wants everyone to know what he could have done with his city’s ‘war tax’.
Matt Ryan, the mayor of Binghamton, New York, is sick and tired of watching people in local communities “squabble over crumbs,” as he puts it, while so much local money pours into the Pentagon’s coffers and into America’s wars. He’s so sick and tired of it, in fact, that, urged on by local residents, he’s decided to do something about it. He’s planning to be the first mayor in the United States to decorate the facade of City Hall with a large, digital “cost of war” counter, funded entirely by private contributions.That counter will offer a constantly changing estimate of the total price Binghamton’s taxpayers have been paying for our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan since October 2001. By September 30, 2010, the city’s “war tax” will reach $138.6 million–or even more if, as expected, Congress passes an Obama administration request for supplemental funds to cover the president’s “surge” in Afghanistan. Mayor Ryan wants, he says, to put the counter “where everyone can see it, so that my constituents are urged to have a much-needed conversation.”