(ARCHIVES: December 27, 2007) No lump of coal for Congress' stocking

Congress received nothing in it stocking this week, after Santa received their Christmas wish list. The jolly elf got bit grumpy when he read his e-mail from Washington. Instead of expected wishes and requests for an End the War, Help with Sub-prime Loans, Better Wages for Workers, Closing Guantanamo, Immigration Reform, No to Torture, Stopping Illegal Surveillance, and the perennial favorite - Peace on Earth - he only received an IOU for more war spending.

Congress was looking for someone to pay for their budget-busting $555 Billion in expenses, including the blank check gift to President Bush to continue the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Father Christmas wasn't used to receiving such pricy requests.

Père Noël's face was a red as his coat as he blasted off a reply to Senator Reid and House Speaker Pelosi.

Dear Children,

It saddens me that I must leave your stocking empty this year. In the past, if you were naughty, I would bring you a lump of coal instead of the gift you wanted. Apparently that coal inspired about as much fear as a package of handiwipes. Well, no longer will I be so lenient with you.

From now on, if you've been bad, I'm going to come to the Capitol dressed in riot gear and riding my hog. I am going to paint "War Accomplices" and "Legislative Monkeys" on the walls of your office and send dozens of Code Pinkers, vets of the Iraq War, religious witnesses and social activists to camp out on your plush carpets until you mend your ways.

If that doesn't work, I'll take away your perks and privileges and send you packing back to your home states to live in dishonor, disgrace and ignominy.

I've updated my theme song, learn it:

Congress Isn't Stopping the War (formerly "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town")

You better shape up,
You better get tough.
Or this next election
Is gonna be rough
If Congress doesn't stop the war

We're watching your votes
We're taking good notes
Gonna insist on more than good quotes
Congress isn't stopping the war

We see you when you're voting
We know when you sell out
We know when you don't have the guts
To pull our troops right out

So, you better shape up,
You better get tough
Or this next election
Is gonna be rough
If Congress doesn't stop the war.

Peace and goodwill 24/7/365,
Santa

Apparently, someone leaked a copy of Santa's ill-tempered missal to the press. This led to confrontations will congress members who were back in their districts for the holiday break.

Texas journalists were particularly aggressive in questioning those who continued to support the policies of native-son George W., who was vacationing in Crawford. They wanted to know why, more than a year after the American people had voted for change in Washington, Congress approved an additional $70 Billion for the ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq (on top of the more than 1/2 Trillion already allocated to the Department of Defense for the year).

Of the 34 members of Congress from Texas, 27 war accomplices voted for that funding. Those who gave the President a blank check include:

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson, Sen. John Cornyn, Reps Louie Gohmert, Ted Poe, Sam Johnson, Ralph Hall, Jeb Hensarling, Joe Barton, John Culberson, Kevin Brady, Michael McCaul, Mike Conaway, Kay Granger, Mac Thornberry, Randy Neugebauer, Lamar Smith, Kenny Marchant, Michael Burgess, Pete Sessions, Henry Cuellar, Chet Edwards, Charlie Gonzales, Gene Green, Rueben Hinojosa, Nick Lampson, Sylvestre Reyes and Ciro Rodriguez.

Senator Cornyn, writing on his annual accomplishments for the year, called the vote one of "several last-minute achievements".

Most Texans disagreed.

Soldier's families throughout the Lone Star State continued to worry whether their loved ones would ever return. Nearly 1,500 Texas families are already mourning their loss. More than 300 sons and daughters of Texas have already died in Iraq while the toll of those injured has pushed past 1,200 since the invasion of 2003 of Iraq. More have been killed and injured in Afghanistan.

"I'm having family come up from Texas that I haven't seen in two years. My mom's really happy. She was real sad last year because I wasn't home," said Army National Guard member Jessie Burney, from Chicago. Last year Burney spent Christmas day on patrol, and even though he received a Christmas dinner, it definitely wasn't like being at home.

"I know that Omar himself didn't feel that we should be (in Iraq), but he was focused on what his ultimate goal was going to be. He wanted to be a politician," said his mother, Doris Torres.

Rita and Maria Farid, two Iraqi Christians living in the central Baghdad district of Karrada, did not want to celebrate Christmas this year and only bought a tree at the last minute. In early May, Majid, their brother, was killed in a car bomb blast as he walked to a currency exchange store not far from the family home. "Christmas is very difficult for us. It's a time for family and friends, and this year for the first time, our family is incomplete," Maria Farid said.

While Congress members enjoyed their holidays at home among friends and family, the term "genocide" was being frequently used to describe U.S. policy and circumstances in Iraq. Children there are dying by the thousands.

A recent study by the Brussels Tribunal found that of the 4.5 million Iraqis that have been displaced by the war and occupation, the mortality rate is 193 per 1000 and conditions for women and children continue to deteriorate. Iraqi families face cutbacks in food aid during the upcoming year.

As Americans packed away the tinsel and lights for the year, everyone - except politicians - worries about the suffering to come from another year of war.

We're in for more war, criminal activities, torture, poor wages, and loss of freedom, thanks to backbone-less Democrats in Washington and their enabler Republicans. Meanwhile, ordinary citizens continue to plan and work for a more peace-filled world in 2008.

It's going to take more than wish lists sent to Santa - or Congress - to make it happen

.

Faith "Peace Village" tours Houston

An interactive teaching tool that helps people understand world's major religions — Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism — is becoming a big hit in the Houston area, thanks to dedicated volunteers.

Janie Stevens discovered the Peace Village five years ago in her role as missioner for Christian Formation with the Episcopal Diocese of Texas and has made it her mission to help spread its message of peace. In the past few years, the Peace Village has been used at a dozen local churches and several schools in Houston.

"It's a wonderful depiction of the major world religions," said the Rev. Gary H. Jones, director of chaplaincy services for St. Luke's Episcopal Health Care System. "What I saw as the thread is a way of blessing people — the many ways of blessings, of calling for prayer and calling God in times of need."

Biggest MLK March on for Jan 21 in San Antonio

100,000 participants are expected to join in the nation's largest MLK March, in San Antonio on January 21. This year's 3-mile event promises to be even better than before, with lots of activities for children, food, and speakers from around the state and country.

Although San Antonio has a smaller African-American population that most major urban cities, that hasn't stopped residents for building the largest march in the country. This march has grown over the years as people concerned about peace and social justice - from antiwar groups to migrant workers - have joined together to continue MLK's legacy. Texans from around the state are urged to visit San Antonio, enjoy the city, and contribute to making the MLK march even bigger than before.

4 more Texas congress members?

Texas could gain as many as 4 more congressional seats - boosting the House delegation to 36 - after the 2010 census. This would be the largest gain of any state and put Texas closer to California's 53-seat delegation. Texans can only hope that these new congress members won't be as corrupt or ineffective as those who served during the 1990's and 2000's.

Texas got gas

Texas produces nearly 30% of the nation's natural gas and produces 337 million barrels of oil per year. As the cost of energy rises, many Texas companies are taking advantage of the increases by drilling. Several parts of the state are active drilling areas for new oil and/or natural gas deposits.

prison camp in Taylor, Texas, delivered toys to children and families incarcerated there. The prison is home to families that have been detained as part of crackdowns on immigrants and asylum seekers to the U.S.. Protesters are demanding it be closed and the children relea

Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians

Judicial Watch, a public interest group that monitors and prosecutes government corruption, listed the 10 most corrupt American politicians in 2007. Fortunately, no Texans made the list this year.

However, many powerful names were listed as the most corrupt in the U.S. They are: Clinton, Conyers, Craig, Feinstein, Giuliani, Huckabee, Libby, Obama, Pelosi and Reid.

(ARCHIVE WEEK: December 18, 2007) Our presidential pick

Texans for Peace is often asked to get involved in electoral politics and provide support to political parties and candidates. However, as an organization of Texans "who believe in peace and social justice" we have a slightly different take on picking a president.

In our view, America has become country in which the high priests of presidential elections [sic] misdirect the masses, while providing all of the entertainment of watching blindfolded Booboolings flailing at a Christmas piñata.

How can a competent leader-of-the-free-world emerge from a process that more resembles a form of dogma bartering than a consensus-derived ethos? Will the next president be Democracy's advocate, leader or a Republic or a condemned Atlas?

This is exactly the sort of social chaos that emerges when sound reason, introspection, shared values (dare we include the trite words like "love"?) are replaced by a unilateral deterministic world perspective where ethics have little meaning and personal responsibility in a collective whole is relegated to the sidelines.

People of all political persuasions are taking part in a system that leads exactly to where our political leadership is today. Too many of us have bought into a framework that demands we give up our freedom to any transient leader who promises to provide a quick fix. For us. In our heart of hearts, we are way beyond cynical. A Hobbessian view of life as "nasty, brutish and short" is behind much that animates modern politics in a population still suffering the residue Reagan's voodoo economics, the after effects of September 11, 2001, and the war in Iraq.

Today, we live in Ayn Rand land where more voters watch "American Idol" and play "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?" than ever read Plato's Republic, Wealth of Nations, God's Politics or The People's History of the United States.

Rand, author of the Virtue of Selfishness is only one of the latest "prophets" of those - on both the left and right of the political spectrum - who compete in the arena of "power-over" politics while shouting "Freedom" and "Liberty". The adherents of Objectivism elevate rugged heroes like John Galt (Atlas Shrugged) to mythic status but, then, are more likely to create a Spartan state as any ideal like "Democracy". Strength and passion are admired while softness and gentleness are eschewed. For most, modern life is about untrammeled profit (with positions on both sides) in a nihilistic universe.

Such philosophies do not hold essential that we are all in this together or that we should be "our brother's keeper". Instead they lead to political decisions based on a narrow view of humanity.

At another point in the philosophical spectrum are fuzzy-headed humanist/religious disciples, pundits and academics who indulge in pointless debate while leaving to others the real struggles of progress in the the world. They alternate between the pessimistic clarions of a dystopian future and followers of "pie in the sky by and by" religious and secular snake-oil salesmen (and women). Lacking the intellectual fortitude and dirty-fingernail ethic to deal with serious world problems in a forthright manner, they are often found leeching off the production of others. They disdain those who work, build, invest and create.

This leads to political decisions based on unachievable goals and produces only more discord. They beget few of "our sister's keepers".

The majority of Americans fall somewhere else. We both work and dream. We feel with our hearts while exercising our minds. We may not always know how to get what we want, but that doesn't prevent us from trying.

Like Socrates, we search for justice in our social, political and economic spheres knowing full well that the reality of the world means that things are often imperfect and compromise is frequently needed. We know that history adjures against the vox populi (voice of the people), but nevertheless feel bound to continually try and reinvent the machine of Democracy. To paraphrase Benjamin Franklin, we are the merchants and tinkers - and practical idealists.

We know that that we must work for our neighbors' welfare as much as our own, and that it's good to progress both economically and spiritually (in whatever form that might take).

This brings us back to the original topic on electing a new President, and other offices holders, in 2008. What is our presidential pick? None.

Peacemakers to not subscribe to the use of political force to bludgeon "opponnents." Indeed, everyone is viewed as a potential friend. Unfortunately, many do not agree and only continue the process of "war by another means" as we see in their insistence in the "rightness" of only one political candidate.

Too much energy is already spent on electoral politics and championing of the "ideal" candidate. It is estimated that the total cost of the 2008 elections could exceed $4.5 Billion during the current cycle. And for what, so we can turn over our responsibility for the management of the world's second-largest Democracy to a small handful of men and women?

We don't dare trust the fate of the Republic to others and might first examine our own personally responsibility. What are each of us are willing to do to improve the fate of our country, and the world?

It's almost certain that someone from the current crop of candidates will be inaugurated President in January 2009, whether we endorse or not. Regardless of whoever wins the election, and by what means, we should remember one basic premise: It's up to US - not the elected leader - to build the government we want ... even if that means tearing it down and starting over again.

WE are the nation, not the politicians who might temporarily hold office. THE PEOPLE, determine what the world will look like, how just, tranquil and free it will be. It is up to US to bring it about, not the likes of:

Diane - Grundmann - Jared - Hillary - McCain - Ron - Al - Obama - Rudy - Gilchrist - Ralph - Mitt - Duncan - Kwiatkowski - Kip - Ralph - Romney - John - Dodd - Bill - Edwards - Joe- Brown - Mary - Mike - Gravel - Jim - - Kucinich - Christine - Richardson - Mike - Barack - Hunter - Alan - Jim - Keyes - John - Paul - Tom - Brian - Nader - Tancredo - Thompson - Kat - Giuliani - Smith - Gore - David - Nader - Phillies - Robert - Milnes - Lee - Chris - Fred - Ruwat - Karen - Ball - Elain - Biden - Dennis - Huckabee - Gene - Amondson - Templin - Clinton - Burns - Moore - Don.

To pin the hopes and aspirations of the people of the United States, and the billions around the globe, on the outcome of the presidential elections of 2008 is an oversubscribed folly. Instead we need to be thinking about the actual objectives and programs that are needed for a better world, and then we need to take direct action to bring them into being.

It is up to everyone, working together, to provide a more perfect union.

We don't need to wait for a competent leader to emerge as the next president - we need only look at previously cycles to see that's the wrong approach. No increase in televised debates will change the outcome of the elections, or our future. Opinions of politicians and pundits are interesting, but the real work of our world demands much more - our active engagement in making those needed changes.

We need to realize that WE are the ones we have been waiting for …. not some messiah-on-the-Potomac.

Light your own candle or your torch. Don't insist that some presential candidate replace your flame.

note: Texans for Peace is an independent non-profit, non-sectarian and non-partisan organization devoted to peace and social justice. Texans for Peace does not endorse candidates or political parties, expressly or implied. We not only follow this to comply with the law, but because it's good ethical practice - peacemakers to work with all sides.

Texans boost election contributions

Texas donors weigh heavily on the national political scene and contribute a significant share to presidential campaigns. Texas, along with New York and California, account for 40% of the total amounts raised so far by the 2008 presidential candidates.

This week, Ron Paul supporters raised a record $6 M in a single day, in no small part due to his Texas contributors. Hillary Clinton has also been the recipient of a large amount of funds, particularly from the Texas healthcare industry. Obama, Edwards, Giuliani, McCain and Romney have also received considerable funds from Texans.

All of the presidential candidates make frequent fundraising trips to Texas. Republicans primarily call on big financiers Tom Loeffler but Democrats plumb the Lone Star State as well. Not to be lef out, the Green Party of Texas and the Libertarian Party are also actively involved.

Several Texans were prominent in financing the "Swift Boat" attacks during the last presidential cycle. Contributions from Fortune 500 companies in Texas seem to be mixed when it comes to politics.

The Clean Money Campaign , Public Citizen , True Courage Action Network of Texas and similar groups keeps a close watch on what is happening and to help make elections clean and fair.

African immigrants feed Texans

A group of former immigrants from Africa, now residing in North Texas, are turning their attention to feeding the hungry in that part of the world.

The non-profit Akugbe Association DFW was formed about four years ago by Nigerians living in Texas. Motivated by the thought that some North Texans might not have enough to eat during the holidays, the members banded together and collecteed 700 lbs of food. Kudos.

Toys delivered to children in Texas prison camp

More than 100 protestors, at the Hutto prison camp in Taylor, Texas, delivered toys to children and families incarcerated there. The prison is home to families that have been detained as part of crackdowns on immigrants and asylum seekers to the U.S.. Protesters are demanding it be closed and the children released.

On Sunday, December 16, Jaime Martinez, National Treasurer of LULAC (the League of United Latin American Citizens) called for the people to take the toys to the children. The crowd pressed forward across a yellow line painted on the driveway marking official prison property and marched into the lobby with boxes and bags of toys.The toy march was the high point of an active day that began with a longer march from downtown Taylor to the prison.

Houston: nuke downwind?

Exelon Nuclear has chosen an 11,500-acre site in Victoria County in southeast Texas to pursue the possible construction of a nuclear power plant. If such a plant is built, Houston-Galveston will be directly downwind in the event of a leak, based on prevailing winds. Building more nuclear power plants in Texas is dangerous and would send the U.S. back to the failed policies of the 1970's, says Public Citizen.

Congress plans to help pay for this with a $50 Bilion giveaway of taxpayer funds to nuclear power companies even though most are already profitable private ventures.

Texas is already home to two nuclear power plants. The South Texas Nuclear Project near Bay City is operated by a consortium of energy companies. This month, CPS Energy applied to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a permit to build two reactors at that site. The other existing plant is Comanche Creek.

(ARCHIVES: December 7, 2007) Using the 'Season of Peace' to plan for the future

There is a dream of the trees and of the flowers.
There is a season of peace at the borderline…
Where we’re redeemed and history will crown us.

Jacaranda Bougainvillea - Al Jarraeau

"They don't understand the real world" say some. "the movement is dead" and "it's impossible," others chime in. We sometimes hear this kind of talk about the future of peace organizations like ours … but then we find that the folks with that outlook rarely truly believe in peace and social justice in the first place. If they only knew.

Instead, those who work daily to transform the world are busy, eagerly preparing for the year ahead.

At Texans for Peace we plan to build upon years past and to make peace and social justice throughout Texas, and the world, stronger then before. The coming year will be one of certain challenges and we need your help now more than ever before - your energies, talents, wisdom and funds (donate online here!).

During 2007 we helped organize three major antiwar events in Austin, Fort Worth and New Orleans, hosted a trip to Jordan to visit with Iraq refugees, twice visited Congress, and distributed dozens of t-shirts and thousands of pieces of materials, posters and brochures as we traveled throughout the state to draw attention to issues ranging from the war on the poor to healthcare for all.

Next year we need you to help out like never before by serving on the Board of Directors, Committees and Working Groups, and to build local chapters around the many peace and social issues that confront Texans. Whatever you desire, there's something for your involvement. As an entirely volunteer-led organization your direct involvement is crucial to T4P success.

Help spread the work of peace in 2008. Here is a list of ways you can become involved:

1. SERVE on the T4P Board - We always need good, thoughtful board members to lead and help set the direction for Texans for Peace. Consider serving for a 1-2-or-3-year position as we expand the Board during 2008 to provide input and guidance. Board members are expected to meet in person, twice per year (in the spring and fall), and to actively help Texans for Peace grow and expand peace and social justice activities throughout Texas. For additional information, or to submit an application to serve, go online: http://www.texansforpeace.org/BOARD

2. JOIN/START a Local Chapter - In 2008, Texans for Peace will expand through local chapters anywhere that 6-10 persons (or more!) would like to get together on a monthly basis. These local chapters will be supported with videos and books for discussion, speakers on various topics, and other materials to support the growth of local peacemaking. Each chapter will also have their own web space for information on activities in their locale. Help start a local chapter, or join one near you. For additional information go online: http://www.texansforpeace.org/CHAPTERS

3. WORK on a Committee - Committees and Working Groups are the backbone of Texans for Peace, as an entirely volunteer-led organization. Take a look at the exciting committees and projects for 2008 and find one that fits your interests, abilities and time. For additional information, or to sign up, go online: http://www.texansforpeace.org/COMMITTEES

Committees for 2008 include:

o End the War in Iraq (ongoing)
o T4P chapter resources (new for 2008)
o Outreach to allied organizations (ongoing)
o T4P Fundraising (ongoing)
o Social equality and equity (ongoing)
o T4P Publicity (ongoing)
o Texas Families (ongoing)
o Environmental Justice (ongoing)
o Counter-military recruiting/Army Wrong campaign (ongoing)
o Women's Business Center of Baghdad/Iraq Refugees (ongoing)
o Teaching Peace in Texas Schools 4th Annual Conference (fall 2008)
o Peace Ambassadors (new for summer/fall 2008)

Through concerted and intentional efforts, together we build peace and social justice. But, to quote President Bush, "it's hard work".

Get involved (or send in a contribution) so that Texans for Peace and continue to grow and take on the challenges that lie ahead. It's up to you!

Dallas peacemaker lauded

The Dallas Peace Center awarded Dawson Tunnell its Lifetime Achievement Award at its annual banquet in November.

Rev. Tunnell, a resident of Denton and founder of Peace Action Denton, has long been known throughout the area for his good humor and tireless work on behalf of peace and social justice. "I believe peace is a gift from God, a gift to receive and to pass on," says Dawson.

Ending the killing in Darfur

Texans for Peace and other members of the San Antonio Interfaith Darfu Coalition recently held a series of events in San Antonio to call for an end to the killing in Dafur.

The well-publicized events included a Darfur Torch Relay, at Hemisphere Park, to bring attention to China (and the upcoming Olympics). China is the main foreign supporter of the current government in Sudan and many groups are calling on China to exert diplomatic pressure on Sudan to deal effectively with the crisis.

Teen prenancies on the rise

Just as predicted when the "abstinence only" movement began, we now have a rise in teen pregnancies across the country. The study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed the rate of births to teenagers rose by 3% last year. About 435,000 babies were born to mothers aged between 15 and 19. This is the first nationwide rise in teenage pregnancy rates in 15 years.

Many parent think sex education should be taught ...., they take the view that it's important to teach children swim, just in case they climbed over the fence that surrounds the pool. Time to put the "abstinence only" philosphy behind us.

Texans celebrate Chanukah

In small towns and bigt cities throughout Texas, on college campuses and neighborhood houses of workship, Texans celebrate Chanukah - the Jewish Festival of Lights - this week.

Events range from a "Chanukah in the Hood" performance in Austin to festivals serving latkes and bimuelos in Beaumont, there's plenty for children to enjoy as they learn about Texas' heritage. Shalom

Environmentalist to head Parks and Wildlife

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission has selected Carter Smith, state director of The Nature Conservancy, as the department's new executive director.

The Nature Conservancy has been instrumental in the fight to secure fragile, pristine land throughout Texas and the appointment on an environmentalist to the state position is a promising sign for protection of the state's land, waters and wildlife.

Feds plan to sieze Texas families' land

The war on the border is heating up as Federal officials plan to seize the land of Texans who do not want a fence built through it. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff is giving Texas landowners opposed to a border fence one last chance to allow access to their land before he takes court action against them...apparently with the support of Senators Cornyn and Hutchinson.

The government has not recieved permission from at least 150 landowners and now plans to take it anyway.

(ARCHIVES - November 19, 2007) Poverty is Over! (Part 2)

Now the trouble with you and me, my friend
Is the trouble with this nation
Too many blessings, too little appreciation
And I know that kind of notion - well, it just ain't cool
So send me back to Sunday school
Because I'm tired of waiting for reason to arrive
It's too long we've been living these unexamined lives

My Thanksgiving - Don Henley

The end of poverty in America is here…. if we want it (continued from last week).

We know the need and challenges are great - from the 5.5 million uninsured Texans to the 73.5% of Texas adults without a college degree. Homelessness, despair and outright hunger haunt more and more families in one of the wealthiest states in the richest nation on earth.

The good new is that we have have the ability to address these problems and make significant headway during the next decade - if we'll choose human needs over war.

Last week the Joint Economic Committee of Congress issued a report that estimates the costs of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to run $1.6 Trillion between 2003-2009. While disagreeing on the need for war, both Republican and Democrat members generally agree on the amount that is likely to be spent - especially since they voted for it.

Now, if America has the economic wherewithal to spend that sort of "discretionary" money, then let's take a look at what we could do if we wanted to spend that much in other areas.

The Next $1.6 Trillion

The National Priorities Project has been tracking the financial cost of the Iraq war, by state and community, and comparing those expenditures to the needs for jobs, housing, healthcare, education, colleges and other priorities of modern society. They found that, on average, $275 Million is spent every day on the war representing a tremendous cost to Texas taxpayers. That's $271,800,000 already spent by taxpayers in Amarillo, $4,000,000 in Dripping Springs and $74,100,000 from Galveston.

All of these monies are discretionary expenditures - the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were an optional program of this government. This means that, without the war, officials could have spent these considerable funds in other areas. While this spending is mostly 'water under the bridge' at this point, there's no reason to expect that we couldn't set aside similiar monies for programs at-home in the years ahead. These are monies that come from every community and district paid for through hard work and economic growth. Here's what Texas' ten-percent share of $1.6 Trillion looks like when broken down by congressional district.

One can easily estimate the other local priorities for which this amount of money could be spent, from new schools and free (not toll) highways. But, it could also be used to almost completely address many areas that keep families in poverty and bondage from generation to generation: unaffordable education, healthcare costs, lack of housing and low-wage jobs. $106,000,000,000 in new monies, spent in Texas during the next decade could almost completely change the situation.

Just think what could be done: affordable mortgages for struggling families, good jobs throughout the state, universal healthcare and free college tuition. The social and economic benefits would be tremendous and far reaching.

President Bush and the current Congress have proven that America has the economic might needed to solve big problems. It's a choice between "guns and butter".

Here's What It Would Take to Finance the End to Poverty

The first place to start is with the budgets of the military and Homeland Security. Of the almost $3 Trillion budget, the U.S. spends almost $1 Trillion annually on defense 'security-related' programs.

Spending in this area has roughly tripled during the past ten years and is higher than almost anytime in U.S. history. It is a large beast that increases the federal debt while making the country's policies more militaristic.

Cutting security budgets by a third would free up more than $300 Billion per year and still leave expenditures higher than in the late 1990's…plenty to modernize the military and take care of returning soldiers.

However, some tradeoffs will need to be made.

Do we really need 2.6 million Americans (second only to China) in uniform serving in active duty and reserves occupying more than 700 military bases in 36 countries around the world? With an arsenal of 10,000 nuclear warheads, should we really be building more? Isn't the $1.6 Billion spent per year on military advertising just government-sponsored propaganda? What does it say about our societal values to be the largest exporter of death and destruction around the world and to account for more than half of the world's expenditures on weapons?

It would seem self evident, to both the business person and historian, that something needs to be done to reign in military spending while addressing other national issues.

However, a major issue persists in that even though most Americans recognize that spending if out of control, they allow the fearmongering of a few to set the national agenda. Many mothers and fathers in rural parts of the country have been convinced that there's a terrorist behind every tree and that the military should have 'whatever it takes' to defend the homeland.

The problem with this way of thinking is that: 1. it's simply not true - the threats abroad are not as significant as the military-industrial-media complex would have you believe, and 2. focusing on 'security threats' does little to address 'social threats' or improve society as a whole.

Peace in the Way to Freedom and Safety

The freedom-is-worth-any-sacrifice crowd is entirely wrong when it comes to the position that greater military and security expenditures are appropriate and needed. They generally lack an understanding of the basics of how the world works and understanding that 'strength' comes in many forms: economic power, societal good, generosity, etc.

Children in Texas are more at risk of going hungry each night, dying of preventable medical conditions and living without even a high school diploma or GED (leading to a cycle of family poverty) than they are threatened by overseas militants. The real 'war' should be at home and the government is already spending too much the public purse in the wrong areas.

Another argument for reduced military spending is that only serves to perpetuate war and violence. With a smaller military presidents and Congress would need to think more carefully about where and how it is deployed. We've seen that increased DoD and Homeland Security has actually reduced, not increased, liberty for Americans.

James Madison, in reflecting on war, wrote that it is the worst of "enemies to public liberty" because it increases taxation, the domination of the many by the few and lessens freedom.

We've also seen that peace, actively engaged in, can bring about lasting security. From the 'velvet' revolutions in the U.S.S.R, the elimination of apartheid through nonviolent means, and the examples of peaceful leaders like Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Corazon Aquino and counted others around the world have demonstrated, time and again, that the power of peace can triumph over the forces of violence.

However, we also know that there cannot be lasting peace while injustice reigns.

Peacemaking requires the elimination of a host of social ills, including poverty. Let's work together to bring an end to poverty in our towns, state, country and the world.

When you're visiting with your family and friends throughout the holidays, ask them what they could do to end poverty with the government's help. When you see your House member or Senators John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchinson around, let them know how you want the next $1.6 Billion spent. Afterall, it's your money, not theirs.

Do you want it poured down the sand hole of endless wars or instead used to make Texas a better place in which to live, work and raise families?

Poverty is over ... if we want it!

Hunger amid Amarillo plenty

Leigh Fuller, spokesperson for the nation's largest hunger relief group, America's Second Harvest, recently spoke of how hunger affects people everywhere, even in Amarillo.

He said that higher gasoline and grocery prices, mortgage woes and a weakening job market are pushing families who already live at the margins over the edge. Demand, he says, is spiking at food programs all over the country - in a nation with enough for everyone.

College costs going through the roof

College costs in Texas continue to rise rapidly, ever since the Republican-dominated Legislature 'deregulated' public university expenditures. In 1985 the cost of tuition per semester at UT was $280. Now it's expected to rise above $4,000 ... with no end in sight.

A UT committee fielded a proposal last week to raise tuition an average of 15 percent over two years on top of annual increases of 7-8% for the past several years. Other state universities are expected to follow with increases. a UT committee fielded a proposal last week to raise tuition an average of 15 percent over two years. As state funding per student has dropped in absolute terms in recent years, universities have raised tuitions and fees, more than making up for the shortfall.

More E. Texas children dying

The number of child deaths in Jefferson County is on the rise, in part due to increased poverty in East Texas, according to a recent report. In 2005, the year the report studied, child abuse and neglect accounted for five of the 14 deaths, said Shari Pulliam of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.

The report, The State of Texas Children 2007, was generated by the Center for Public Policy Priorities, a nonprofit research organization in Austin.

Banks fight home loan bankruptcy bill

More and more Texas homeowners are filing bankruptcy or defaulting on their home mortgages as the lending crisis continues to spread. Even in areas of the state with strong economic growth, home sales are down and more families are concerned about their ability to pay their mortgages.

Meanwhile, mortgage lenders are fighting lawmakers' efforts to enable bankrupt borrowers to reduce the size of their home loans, arguing this change would magnify the housing crisis by driving up interest rates. Experts expect as many as 2 million foreclosures this year and next as home loan defaults soar, and lawmakers have been debating how to respond.

(ARCHIVES: November 8, 2007) Poverty is Over!
(Part 1)

We must always be thinking
Of a world
As a place of infinite possibilities
And always keep thinking
No matter how hopeless
Or foolish
It may seem
Always keep thinking
Dreaming on a World - Tracy Chapman

Poverty's the only thing that money can't buy Who Needs Money - Elvis Presley

What could you do with $700 Billion? How about 2.5 Trillion dollars?

Do you think you could wipe out poverty in America? Provide homes and food for everyone? Ensure that every child had an adequate education and access to college? End homelessness, chronic unemployment and make all are insured?

Good news! The end of poverty in America is here…. if we want it.

The Cost of War

Since the end of WWII, military and "security" expenditures have escalated to consume a greater share of taxpayer expenditures. It now tops more than $1 Trillion every two years.

We are spending $275 Million every day on war.

Warmaking has many costs, but recent wars - in Afghanistan and Iraq - have also demonstrated that America has the financial wherewithal to take on significant challenges. During the past five years, President Bush and Congress have shown the world that money is no object in pursuit of national goals. Seemingly out of thin air, they've manage to come up with more than $440 Billion to spend on Iraq and Afghanistan. The President wants $200 Billion more for next year with no end in sight (and it looks like the Democrat-controlled Congress is going to give him another blank check!). This, on top of nearly $2.5 Trillion in Defense and Homeland Security expenditures during the same time period.

With the direct cost of the wars and occupation in Iraq already reaching nearly $700 B there is evidently plenty of public treasure to go around. We live in a new gilded age. No doubt employees of Accenture, Halliburton , Blackwater and other war profiteers are sheltered from the mortgage meltdown, high medical costs, and rising gas prices. Since these companies generate almost all of their income from the taxpayer, perhaps it's time the wealth was shared.

Needless Suffering in the Richest Nation

Each day, Texas families make choices between what we'd prefer and the next-best alternative. In business school this decision between two or more options is called "opportunity costs". For example the cost of buying a new refrigerator

might be the lost opportunity to take the family on vacation. The opportunity to build new public roads might be the lost opportunity to build new hospitals. A U.S. missile dropped on an Afghani village might have paid for paid for a new elementary school in South Texas.

Opportunities depend on the amount of available resources and how they are spent. In the past and when resources were scarce, such trade-offs meant that some families went hungry while others had enough, some schools had more resources than others, good wages and healthcare weren't benefits enjoyed by all. Sometimes there simply wasn't enough to go around.

Poverty in Texas is more pronounced than the nation as a whole. According to the U.S. Census Bureau analyses by the Center for Public Priorities:

* 16.3% of Texans live in poverty, including 842,000 children.
* 5.5 Million Texans are uninsured, including 20.4% of children under age 19
* Only 26.5% of Texas workers have a college degree and Texas ranks dead last in the share of adults without a High School diploma or GED.
* Texans have some of the lowest household net worth (45th) and home ownership (44th).
* 1.3 Million Texas families go hungry each day and for the first time, more than half of public school children are eligible for free or reduced-price meals. There are more than 3,000 food banks throughout the state.

The "Family Budget Estimator - What it Really Takes to Get By in Texas", a no-frills estimate of basic living conditions, shows that too many working families are living in poverty. "What we have found is that in Texas, a 2-parent, 2-child family needs to earn between $9,332 and $25,120 more than the poverty level to stay afloat," says Frances Deviney, Senior Research Associate. "Hard work is not paying enough to meet life's basic needs.

It needn't remain this way.

Texas is home to six of the top 50 companies on the Fortune 500 list, more than any other state, has the 15th largest economy in the world and contributes mightily to the United State's $14 Trillion annual economy.

Signs are financial success are everywhere - from the holiday ads in Texas Monthly - to the rise in up-market new homes despite a slumping housing market. Increases in property and mineral values around the state pump millions more into local coffers each day. Politicians seem to have no difficulty in garnering generous donations from neighbors whose pockets appear well filled.

Even though there's plenty to go around, Texans continue to suffer.

Choosing to end poverty

In the next decade we have a chance to end poverty and a host of social ills that plague Texas and the U.S. while giving a new hope to the rest of the world.

During the 1960's and 70's Americans were challenged to make significant leaps. President Kennedy said, "let's go to the moon", and we did. Martin Luther King said, "all people deserve civil rights", and the nation changed. John and Yoko Lennon said, "war is over - if we want it", and the war in Vietnam ended.

Poverty, like war, can be over if we indeed want to address it head-on.

Next week (Poverty is Over - Part 2) we'll discuss specific plans to change our national priorities so that we can end poverty in Texas and show what that change might look like.

High School dropouts cost Texas billions

The Texas economy could have benefited greatly in wages (and taxes) if students had not dropped out of high school in 2007, according to a new report by the U.S. Census Bureau.

High School dropouts make $10,000 less per year than their counterparts. Based on this formula, Texas would benefit by an additional $32 Billion in wages each year if all students matriculate.

In addition to the lost opportunity, to the state and to the students, dropouts cost Texas more than $377 Million every year in increased Medicaid costs and increased incarceration costs, according to the National Center for Policy Analysis.

SOA Vigil Nov 16-18 at Ft. Benning, GA

Human Rights activists from around the nation will once again converge on the "School of the Assasins" at Ft. Benning, Georgia, November 16-18. Among the thousands of activists will be delegates from throughout Texas.

The goal is to end U.S. involvement in training assasins and killers-for-hire around the world. The School of the Americas (SOA), in 2001 renamed the “Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation,” has been called the “biggest base for destabilization in Latin America" and has left a trail of blood and suffering in every country where its graduates have returned.

TX High School students not ready for college

Texas high school graduates are far less prepared for college-level courses than their counterparts across the nation – with nearly half of college freshmen in Texas needing remediation – according to The Commission for a College Ready Texas, which was appointed by Governor Rick Perry and charged with finding ways to better prepare students for college. "The vast majority of Texas public school graduates who intend to acquire post-secondary certification or a degree are less prepared to succeed than most of their peers throughout the nation," reads the report.

Data cited by the commission indicated that 50 percent of college freshmen in Texas are enrolled in remedial or developmental classes, compared with 28 percent across the U.S. In a draft report released Monday the Commission said that the state's curriculum standards are too flimsy, and that a passing score on the state's high school graduation test gives no assurance that a student is ready for college. Further, Texas schools need to quit allowing students to blow off their senior year of high school, and wasting educational time when students should be preparing for college and workplace success. Governor Perry recently appointed a new head of the Texas Education Agency (TEA), Robert Scott who will have responsibility for education reforms.

TX Teens lead nation in repeat births

Texas teens lead the nation in birth rates, despite the "abstinence only" push by social conservatives in recent years that replaced much of sex education in the school curriculum. Former Governor Bush endorsed a law that requires schools to teach abstinence as the "preferred choice" for unmarried young people and affirms parents' rights to take their youngsters out of sex-education instruction.

The nonprofit group Child Trends reports that 24 percent of the state's teen births in 2004 were not the girl's first delivery. "That astounded me," said Kathryn Allen, senior vice president for community relations at Planned Parenthood of North Texas. "I mean, what are we doing wrong?"

YWCA young parent educator Tracie Brewer, who is trying to rescue Oak Cliff girls one by one with mentoring and assistance, said she tells them that they can get birth control on their own at the clinic and hands out flyers explaining how to get there by bus. "No one wants to talk about teens having sex," Ms. Brewer said. "That's why we're No. 1 in the nation. We're not No. 1 for nothing."

Burger King challenged on fair wages

Burger King restaurants have been challenged recently by protestors chanting, "Down with the King, Off with his Head!”. Farmworkers and wage-justice groups, including the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) have been boycotting BK and demanding that tomatoe pickers be paid an additional penny per pound for their work.

The CIW has already helped broker similar agreements with YUM Brands, Pizza Hut, KFC and McDonalds. CIW and supporters plan a national march upon the corporate headquarters of the fast-food giant in Miami, Florida on November 30.

Marine recruiters busted

Nine Texas Marine Corps recruiters who worked in the Houston area were recently punished for using fraudulent stand-ins to take military-entrance exams for prospective recruits who might not otherwise measure up, according to a Houston Chronicle report. The scandal came as recruiters try anything (legal or not) to pressure young people into joining the military and be sent to Iraq.

Four of the recruiters were based in Memorial City, one in Lake Jackson, one in Baybrook and two in Houston, according to the Marine Corps. Eight of the recruiters have since been reassigned to other offices while only one was discharged from the service.