FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, January 15, 2010
Washington, DC
IN MEMORY OF MARTIN LUTHER KING, VIGILS AGAINST WAR FUNDING TO BE HELD AT CONGRESSIONAL OFFICES NATION-WIDE
As the country celebrates the life of Martin Luther King on January 18, Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) will launch the Brown Bag Lunch Vigils to be held every third Wednesday each month. The vigils are an expansion of their Healthcare NOT Warfare campaign.
With the White House having just announced its intention of requesting another record military budget ($708 billion, not including military budgets in the Departments of State and Energy or the CIA) and another war supplemental ($33 billion), it is appropriate that the first lunchtime vigils will take place immediately following Martin Luther King Day.
Colorful vigils and pickets are already planned in many congressional districts, including the following, with others being added: AZ-3, AZ-5, CA-6, CA-22, CA-23, CA-48, FL-10, FL-17, MA-2, MI-9, OH-13, OH-17, PA-7, WA-2, WA-6, WI-3, WI-7. More details are available about each location online: http://tinyurl.com/brownbagvigil
PDA, a political action committee formed in 2004, is asking members of the House to publicly commit to voting “No” on any bills that fund wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, or Yemen, and to publicly urge their colleagues and the House leadership to make the same commitment. As lesser steps in the same direction, PDA is encouraging congress members to cosponsor HR 2454, calling for an exit strategy from Afghanistan, and HR 3699, prohibiting any increase in the number of U.S. Armed Forces in Afghanistan.
PDA is encouraging consideration of the financial trade-offs necessary for wars. “We can pay for warfare but not healthcare,” said PDA’s national director Tim Carpenter, “for bombs but not books, for weapons but not windmills, for hellfire but not homes. As the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq labor on, with no end in sight, it’s become alarmingly clear that they have exacted a staggering human and financial toll on the Iraqi, Afghan, and American people. Many of our representatives claim to oppose continuing down this path. We want them to work to block the funding.”
PDA’s deputy director Laura Bonham said, “PDA and our allies call on the Obama administration and the United States Congress to begin redirecting the money spent on war and death into human needs here at home and abroad. We demand humanitarian and reconstructive aid for the people of Afghanistan and Iraq, not money for troop escalation and permanent bases. We demand that wasteful and unnecessary military spending be directed toward Medicare for all, jobs, and housing in America. We demand an end to the unjust and illegitimate wars against, and occupations of, Afghanistan and Iraq.”
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MEDIA CONTACTS:
Laura Bonham, PDA Communications Coordinator laura@pdamerica.org
Phone: 435-336-2123
Tim Carpenter, Executive Director tim@pdamerica.org
Toll Free: 877-239-2093
Link to Original
