• A video link of an animated Ben Cohen (co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s) explaining how the Federal Budget is proportioned.
• The complete list of articles on Budget Priorities written by the Friends Committee on National Legislation.
• This month’s cover article of Sojourners Magazine is entitled “Taxes, Lies and the Least of These – Bush’s out-of-balance tax agenda."
• The only good that has come out of the Terri Schiavo tragedy is an awareness of the need for ALL of us to make these decisions before something terrible happens. Terri never thought it would happen to her either. The Texas Bar has provided forms that we all need to complete.
• DonorInk commits to being the first corporate sponsor of Hope for Peace & Justice.
• In his article, "No Moral Sense", author Brian Braiker reports that a Jesuit bioethicist believes the religious right is exploiting Terri Schiavo.
• The Hope for Peace & Justice website was launched on Easter Sunday. Check it out today!
  

Where is the Republican Wing of the Republican Party?

Where did they go - the party that believed in fiscal restraint, balanced budgets, smaller government and less government interference in private lives? In pursuit of his party’s nomination, Howard Dean depicted himself as representing the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party. To some extent, that was true. The Democrats are trying their best to emulate the Republicans and to whichever party you belong, you must agree when Senator Ted Kennedy says that the nation does not need TWO Republican Parties. What might serve us best is if both parties would be true to their core values and allow us genuine choices.

I found myself screaming at my radio recently when Senator Orrin Hatch was explaining why Congress had just passed a bankruptcy law that no one was ashamed to admit was drafted largely by the credit card industry. The Senator from Utah had the temerity to say, “Except for those with evil motivations, no one likes to be in debt. Personal responsibility is a core American value.” Only someone in Washington would dare to lecture us about personal responsibility while himself presiding over a national debt of $7.7 trillion and supporting a budget that adds another $450 billion this year. If you break that down, that means every American owes $26, 238, which is a heck of a lot more than I have ever owed on credit cards. Now, what was that about “core American values?”

And just when we thought the tragedy surrounding Terri Schiavo could get no worse, government leaders decide to spend millions of dollars summoning 435 Representatives, 100 Senators and the President of the United States back to Washington to pass a bill aimed at the most difficult and personal decision that ever has to be made. As a clergy person who believes in the sanctity of life, I am outraged at the politicization of this tragedy. The multi-millions of dollars that this political stunt cost could have saved the lives of thousands of Americans who have no health care. Yet this is the same Congress that is considering President Bush’s budget that would cut spending on education, health care, Medicare, environmental protection, AIDS funding and almost every social service the government provides.

Now, lest I be accused of hypocrisy for advocating BOTH increased social spending and fiscal responsibility, let me say that what I’m really advocating is that SOME political party admit that we cannot give billions of dollars in tax cuts to the richest one percent of Americans, throw billions of dollars at the military, and have any hope of balancing the budget. The truth is that the United States spends more on our military than the next 26 nations COMBINED, yet we are not even one of the top ten nations in terms of aid to poor and developing nations. We spend more money on the military than we do on EVERYTHING else combined. What does that say about our “core American values?”

In a letter to congressional leaders our friends the Quakers make what I believe are some critical points:

As we at FCNL consider the pending budget proposals, we are alarmed by what we see. We ask:

• Does a budget that cuts taxes primarily for the wealthiest while cutting back spending for needed health care, housing assistance, child care, and food stamps for the working poor and most vulnerable insure domestic tranquility and promote the general welfare?
• The proposed military budget would spend more than the next 20 powers combined and far more than all potential U.S. adversaries combined, while spending only a small fraction of that to address the root causes of war, violent extremism, and deepening poverty in the poorest countries. Is this what our forebears were thinking of when they wrote about providing for the common defense? Is this the best way to promote it?
• Does a budget that guarantees rising debt far into the future secure the blessings of liberty for future generations? What choices will be left to them?
• The proposed budget virtually ignores needed efforts to dramatically reduce our country’s dangerous over-dependence on oil and our harmful greenhouse gas emissions. What kinds of choices will we leave to future generations if we do nothing now?
• Is expanding the government’s capacity to spy on law-abiding citizens, immigrants, and visitors and to hold prisoners indefinitely, secretly, without charge or trial, what our forebears had in mind when they thought of establishing justice?

  The President’s budget and the pending budget resolutions before the House and Senate do not measure up to the values espoused by our nation’s founders – values that are still widely shared by Americans today. Congress can and must do better.

After I read that all I could say was Amen!

	RELATED ITEMS:	^-top-^

	Ben Cohen says, "We started TrueMajorityACTION in order to compound the power of all those who believe in social justice, giving children a decent start in life, protecting the environment, and America working in cooperation with the world community." MORE...		Please contact your representative and senators now. Urge them to vote against the budget resolutions as approved by their Budget Committees. The budget should not be balanced on the backs of the poor and the most vulnerable while the wealthiest receive more tax cuts and while the military receives another half trillion dollar blank check. MORE...
	In Sojourners Magazine this month David Cay Johnson writes in.. If I Were A Rich Man... "The elite few benefit from the Bush tax agenda. The rest of us get stuck with the bill." MORE...		Advance Care Planning is the "process" of assisting individuals, like Terri Schiavo's family, in understanding their medical condition and potential future complications; understanding the options for future medical care as it relates to their medical condition; discussing choices with family, loved ones, and providers... MORE...
	No Moral Sense - Despite congressional intervention, a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit refused to order the brain-damaged Terri Schiavo’s feeding tube reinserted, intensifying the fight over the fate of a woman who has become a symbol—some say pawn—for both the right-to-life and the right-to-die movements. MORE...	Website Launches!	Welcome to the web presence of Hope for Peace & Justice! Many of us have grown weary of our faith being used to advance the political agenda or the radical right, nationalists, and social conservatives. MORE...

	Meet the People of H4PJ:	^-top-^

For several years now I’ve been frustrated by the direction our country is headed; and the distorted morality being espoused by our government. With the results of the last national election hinging on certain “moral issues”, I felt I had to do something other than complain. So I retired after a 20-year career to accept a leadership role with Hope for Peace & Justice. As a spiritual person, I want to be a part of refocusing our attention on true moral values. We should be about honoring truth-telling vs. the deceit of “Don’t’ Ask, Don’t Tell”, praying for our enemies and doing justice for the disenfranchised vs. pre-emptive strikes and executions based on revenge. We should be taking responsibility for the mess we’ve made of the environment not ignoring the gift God gave us. I believe it’s time for the peacemakers of the world to speak out. So much so that I not only work on the staff of Hope for Peace & Justice, I’m also a Founder’s Circle contributor. I hope that you will find a way to support this important organization. With your help, we can change the world.

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