On war, one item says "Military Spending: 41% of Your Tax Dollars Allocated to War". That number comes from the Friends Committee on National Legislation. You might wonder How do they get 41%?
Because the FCNL analysis aims to illustrate how our income dollars are spent, it does not include trust funds, such as Social Security and Medicare, which have their own dedicated revenues.
Interesting theory, that Social Security and Medicare don't come out of income. Last I checked, those "dedicated revenues" are payroll taxes. The FNCL analysis reminds me of how parishes think about their operating and capital budgets. What's the real percentage?
When president’s proposal says that only 21% of the budget goes to the military, it includes Social Security and Medicare in his definition of the budget.
CPJ wrote to Senator Kohl's office on January 29, 2007 [2 pp. pdf] and was awaiting a reply. Among topics they raised,
Is Senator Kohl aware of the bill pending before the Iraqi Parliament to grant 30 year contracts for extracting Iraq's oil to companies like BP, Shell and Exxon?
They don't here specify what they want him to do about it. Maybe they object to only one of the three being an American company.
They discussed writing articles on the death penalty, and among the themes were
Reverencing Life vs. the Culture of Death
Power and Dominance
The American Drive for Profit
Being a Prophetic Cry
Cultivating a Lifestyle of Protecting/Reverencing Life
How Did We Get to the War? - we all allowed that to happen by our lifestyles
We Have Sinned – we have demeaned life
They obviously can't threaten to start hectoring us if Wisconsin enacts the death penalty.
The discussion on Fair Trade included a link to this article in The NewStandard. In the alternative economics context, I found this notice interesting.
You have reached the homepage of The NewStandard, which ceased publication on April 27, 2007. ...
The NewStandard was a unique online newspaper founded on the belief that the dominant model and methods of profit-focused news journalism have failed the public interest. ...
Unlike its corporate counterparts, which typically prioritize profits, TNS existed solely to fulfill its public mission, to support the livelihood of media workers who share its passion, and to sustain an innovative egalitarian, participatory workplace structure. ...
But for various reasons, TNS never gained the level of support needed to provide sustainable jobs and to develop the readership it needed to thrive. ...
The minutes concluded with
Carl J. Malischke shares with us a reflection [8 pp. pdf] of his experience last summer on our southern border.
which included
And the overriding message from the US side comes through strong, loud, and clear:
STAY OUT, OR DIE TRYING!!
But, the underlying message is oh so tantalizingly sweet, and openly whispered:
“WE HAVE WORK FOR YOU. We have jobs for you..
Though not at The NewStandard.
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