PoliticalAction.com Blog

Today marks the tenth anniversary of the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. Ten years ago the peace and anti-war movements warned the leaders of the global community that war was not the answer, and that war once unleashed would bring only destruction and death. United for Peace and Justice finds no pleasure in being right about this U.S. made catastrophe of human suffering. There is no joy or self-satisfaction that can be felt. This is not an “I told you so” moment. But we will use both the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars as examples of how violence begets violence and how war, if it ever was, is no longer a moral means to solve conflicts.

The people of Iraq have suffered for decades: first under Saddam Hussein; then the 1991 U.S.-led invasion, followed by U.S.-led sanctions; and finally another U.S.-led invasion and occupation. The Iraq War must not be swept aside to be forgotten like a national nightmare, and we must not let the nightmare of the war be repackaged in patriotic rhetoric to support future wars. Our nation has an obligation to the people of Iraq, and to the U.S. service members sent to fight, bleed and die there. There is still much work ahead to help the people of Iraq and the U.S. troops and communities to which they have returned to heal.

Back to Work Budget – Green Jobs
As you already know, Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget is beyond devastating– dismembering Medicare, slashing Medicaid and dismantling other vitally important social programs If enacted, it will put the United States on a fast-track back to 1928.

Fortunately, the Congressional Progressive Caucus has proposed a “Back to Work” budget which puts the emphasis back where it belongs: the creation of seven million jobs, the preservation of the “entitlements,” and full funding for domestic social programs. Deficit reduction will be achieved by increasing the number of working Americans, by raising taxes on the rich and making reductions in the Pentagon budget. For more details: http://cpc.grijalva.house.gov/back-to-work-budget/

Although we would prefer larger cuts from the Pentagon, the CPC Budget represents an immense step forward. It is already changing the terms of the national debate.

But to make a real difference, we need a large number of Representatives to vote YES on this “Back to Work Budget.” National and local groups across the country are sponsoring call-in days in support of this budget.

During this week, Progressive Democrats for America will be continuing its effort to personally deliver messages to local offices around the country. To get more information and get involved with a letter drop near you: http://www.pdacommunity.org/issues/bblv-mission

The President on energy:

Few areas hold more promise for creating good jobs and growing our economy than how we use American energy, and today President Obama visited the Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois to talk about the progress we are seeing from his all of the above approach to energy independence and the risk that this important sector faces from the arbitrary cuts being imposed by the so-called sequester.

As President Obama noted in his remarks, these cuts do not distinguish between wasteful programs and vital investments. “They don’t trim the fat; they cut into muscle and into bone,” the President said. “Like research and development being done right here that not only gives a great place for young researchers to come and ply their trade, but also ends up creating all kinds of spinoffs that create good jobs and good wages.”

Because of the sequester, American labs could face two years without starting new research, opportunities we cannot afford to miss. This comes at a time when this country is poised to take control of our energy future, as the President pointed out:

After years of talking about it, we’re finally poised to take control of our energy future. We produce more oil than we have in 15 years. We import less oil than we have in 20 years. We’ve doubled the amount of renewable energy that we generate from sources like wind and solar — with tens of thousands of good jobs to show for it. We’re producing more natural gas than we ever have before — with hundreds of thousands of good jobs to show for it. We supported the first new nuclear power plant in America since the 1970s. And we’re sending less carbon pollution into the environment than we have in nearly 20 years.

In addition to the balanced solution he has proposed to replace the painful cuts, a phased-in approach that includes smart spending cuts, entitlement reforms and new revenue, and that won’t hurt the middle class or slow economic growth, President Obama today talked about his proposal to create an Energy Security Trust. The proposed trust uses revenue generated by oil and gas development on federal lands to support new research and technology that will shift our cars and trucks off of oil for good. The recent rise in gas prices is a reminder that we are still too reliant on oil, which comes at a cost to American families and businesses, and the President today urged Congress to take up his common-sense proposals that will further reduce our dependence on oil, better protect consumers from spikes in gas prices, and reduce pollution.

by the ACLU

Some legislators in Harrisburg will stop at nothing to bar women from accessing safe, legal abortion – even if it means endangering their health.

Their latest efforts, Senate Bill 3, House Bill 742, and House Bill 818, would ban private insurance companies from covering abortion services for patients in Pennsylvania’s new health care exchanges. The bill is so narrowly tailored with so few exceptions that even a woman with a serious health complication like cancer could not get insurance coverage of abortion.

A simple amendment to these bills would provide women in the most desperate of circumstances – facing cancer, serious illness, or fetal defects – with an opportunity to use her private insurance coverage to pay for an abortion.

Tell your legislators: Protect women with serious health complications.

I walk the halls of our state capitol almost every day, and I have to tell you – some of our legislators don’t understand why an amendment like this is so critical to women’s health.

Too many women in Pennsylvania face heartbreaking circumstances that make pregnancy dangerous. Politicians are trying to withhold comprehensive health insurance coverage, just to make a difficult situation even more difficult.

For a woman whose health is in danger, access to abortion isn’t about political partisanship. It’s about the right to make a profoundly private decision on her own. Politicians in Harrisburg must protect a woman’s ability to get the health care she needs. But without your legislators’ support, an amendment to protect women’s health could fail – closing off access for women who need it the most.

Urge your legislators to support an amendment to these bills that allows a woman with major health complications access to comprehensive insurance coverage.

by United for Peace and Justice

Ten years ago this month the United Sates embarked on one of the worst foreign policy decisions in the nation’s history. Fooling itself into believing that U.S. soldiers would be welcomed as liberators, the Bush Administration ordered the invasion of Iraq. March 19th began a more intensified subjugation and destruction of Iraq that really began with Operation Desert Storm in January 1991 when I was part of that invading force.

Today due to the resistance of the Iraqi people and domestic pressure created by the peace movement here in the U.S., officially U.S. forces have left Iraq and the Iraqi people are picking up the pieces of a destroyed national infrastructure and fragmented society. The two decades of Iraq Wars from 1991 to when the last U.S. troops left in 2011 must not be swept aside like a bad dream to be forgotten. Our nation has an obligation to the people of Iraq and to U.S. service members sent to fight, bleed and die there. I congratulate the peace movement for its successful efforts to bring our troops home and end the violence caused by U.S. military operations and or the presence of our forces, but there is still much work to do to help the people of Iraq and U.S. troops and the communities to which they have returned heal.

As always the peace and anti-war community is busy with over flowing plates of work to do. There have been important developments in the Bradley Manning case. He needs our support as much as anyone. March is Women’s History month and as we celebrate the triumphs and continuing struggles of women here at home, the challenges women face around the world in the U.S. war machine and in the aftermath of U.S. wars must be part of the dialogue.

We are beginning preparations for the April 15th Global Day of Action on Military Spending to end the madness of international squandering of material resources and people’s lives and we must support our allies in the struggle for a clean and sustainable environment so that we can have safe food and clean air and water.

Thank you for your devotion to peace and justice. We will continue in the struggle because it honors those who brought us this far, it is the right thing to do, and we know that together we are making a difference for the better.

The United States got China to go along with new sanctions against North Korea after leaders threatened a nuclear attack on Washington D.C.

“The strength, breadth and severity of these sanctions will raise the cost to North Korea of its illicit nuclear program,” said Susan E. Rice, the United States ambassador to the United Nations. “Taken together, these sanctions will bite and bite hard.”