FLASH: Ann Arbor Michigan Quakers "See the Light"

Quakers around the country are organizing around the principles guiding this blog.  Please read on.....
Ann Arbor Friends Meeting Minute on Defense Spending
In collaboration with Lake Erie Yearly Meeting Peace Committee

Grounded in our Friends’ testimony on peace, we are deeply grieved by the futility of war as witnessed with the United States’ invasion and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. These wars ended the lives of thousands of U.S. service personnel and hundreds of thousands of Iraq and Afghanistan residents. In addition, the wars created continued damage to the survivors and consumed an estimated $1 trillion of the U.S. treasury.

Support is now forming behind the recent “Sustainable Defense Task Force” report submitted to Congress by Barney Frank, House Financial Services Committee chairman, and a group from both sides of the aisle. It calls for a $960 billion decrease in U.S. defense spending over the next 10 years. Issued in June 2010, the report states: “Years of effort in Iraq and Afghanistan, 5,500 American fatalities, and $1 Trillion have not brought reliable peace or stability to either country.” It concludes that deep cuts are needed, not only in battlefield budgets but also in nuclear and conventional arms and in the size of the military footprint in terms of personnel, mission and infrastructure. These recommendations dovetail with the goals of FCNL’s “Nation’s Checkbook” campaign.

The Ann Arbor Friends Meeting, along with Lake Erie Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, commends the Congressional sponsors of this bold initiative. We ask that our members and attenders acquaint themselves with the “Sustainable Defense Task Force”report and the FCNL “Nation’s Checkbook” campaign that seek to reverse this country’s reliance on military solutions to complex world problems. Friends are urged to contact their members of Congress and ask them to support legislation implementing the Task Force recommendations.
Please check my August post (to your right)  for a link to the Sustainable Defense Task Force and other military budget issues.  Also, see below for more about the Friends Committee on National Legislation "Nations Checkbook" campaign.

Our Nation's Checkbook Campaign
	In Washington, a campaign organizer served Rep. Rick Larsen "Budget Pie." Organizers are working across the country to build support for budget committee hearings on how the federal budget could shift money from the Pentagon to diplomacy, green jobs, and human needs. In Michigan, more than 230 local elected officials, religious leaders, community groups, and individuals urge Sen. Debbie Stabenow to hold hearings. In Iowa, our organizer delivered this letter from nearly 100 organizations and individuals to Sen. Chuck Grassley himself. After a follow-up conference call, Sen. Grassley sent a letter to the chair of the committee asking for hearings. In Pennsylvania, community leaders have endorsed this letter to Rep. Allyson Schwartz, and organizers have met several times with the representative herself. Find out what's happening in your state.  (To reach the links highlighted above, go to:  http://www.fcnl.org/budget/checkbook/index.htm  )

If You Want to be an Energy Policy Geek, E&E is the Website for You:

Do you want to be up to date on all of the environmental issues that you spend so much time worrying about?  Well, you could spend most of your waking hours roaming around the materials provided, day in and day out, by Environment and Energy Publishing  (E&E).  The following overview of their Suite of Online Services is taken directly from their website, which you can access at: http://www.eenews.net/  

E&E's latest publication, ClimateWire, is designed to bring readers unmatched coverage of the debate over climate policy and its effects on business, the environment and society. Climate issues have become so pervasive, and our clients' interest in climate change has become so intense, that developing ClimateWire became an inevitable means to expand and enhance E&E's already top-tier coverage of this critical issue area.  

Designed for policy players who need to know what’s happening to their issues on Capitol Hill. From federal agency appropriations to comprehensive energy legislation, E&E Daily is the place insiders go to track their environmental and energy issues in Congress.  

Cutting-edge webcast program featuring in-depth interviews and analysis with compelling energy and environmental policy leaders. OnPoint is filmed and broadcast daily from E&E’s state-of-the-art studios on Capitol Hill. E&ETV’s broadcast quality sets the standard for Web-based video.  

The one-stop source for those who need to stay on top of all of today’s major environmental and energy action. With an average of more than 20 stories a day, Greenwire covers the complete spectrum, from electricity industry restructuring to Clean Air Act litigation to public lands management.  

A late afternoon roundup providing coverage of all the breaking and developing policy news from Capitol Hill, around the country and around the world. A must-read for the key players who need to be ahead of the next day’s headlines. 

For more than 20 years, Land Letter has been the publication professionals have turned to for objective, accurate coverage of natural resource policy issues. From lawsuits over national forest management, to water resource allocation in the West, Land Letter is the source all sides turn to for clear, timely, objective information. No other publication can match Land Letter's in-depth reporting on such a wide range of natural resource development and conservation issues.   

If (like me) you find yourself wondering about the integrity and quality of an initiative as expansive as this, you might be encouraged by the last paragraph of this 2008 Columbia Journalism Review article by Curtis Brainard.  He reports that  E&E's ventures serve not only policy geeks, but also the rest of us.  (The entire article is available at:

http://www.cjr.org/the_observatory/ee_news_launches_climatewire.php  )  

The Observatory — April 01, 2008 09:59 AM
E&E News Launches ClimateWire
New pub aims to dig deep into “sprawling” topic
By Curtis Brainard
Though E&E’s editors have considered it, Braun (one of E&E's founders) said, “Our goal isn’t to write for a mass-market audience. We’re covering a lot of incremental stuff, it’s a lot of minutiae; it’s stuff that’s very important for people who are lobbying these issues and following these issues-the regulators and the legislators who are dealing with it; it’s really not very important or very interesting to the man on the street-some of the stuff we do is, but not the bulk of it.” Braun’s business model notwithstanding, ClimateWire and the rest of the E&E suite are an excellent source of environmental news that many general readers may find interesting, especially as struggling outlets in the mainstream media lose the tools to dig deeper into green issues.

Let Your Voice Be Heard on Military Spending Reductions:

The Friends Committee on National Legislation has put out an appeal for individuals to contact their Representatives and Senators regarding support of the reductions advocated by the Sustainable Defense Task Force. ( See:  www.comw.org/pda/fulltext/1006SDTFreport.pdf   ) Please read the folowing message , go to the FCNL website link  provided below and register your support.

 For the first time in decades, real cuts in Pentagon spending could be on the agenda.

A bipartisan group of representatives-Democrat Barney Frank (MA) and Republican Ron Paul (TX) -- has presented specific recommendations for cutting almost $1 trillion from the Pentagon's budget over the next ten years. 

Now Reps. Frank and Paul are asking their congressional colleagues to sign a letter calling on President Obama's deficit commission to put military spending on the table.  The letter will be open for signatures only a few weeks more. Please ask your representative and senators to sign it today.

Take action now - use the Friends Committee on National Legislation's website.
http://capwiz.com/fconl/utr/2/?a=15852531&i=21315686&c=