Is the Federal budget a reflection of our country's moral values?

So claims the Friends Committee for National Legislation, a fine Quaker lobbying group. So also claims Matthew in the Gospel: For where your treasure is, they will your heart be also (Matthew 6:21

But the cynic in me (small but still present) says them who have the gold make the rules, and that fits our budget picture more clearly.

For each dollar of federal income tax we paid in 2009, our government spent
33 cents on Pentagon spending for current and past wars (3 cents on veterans, 6 cents on interest on debts, 24 cents on Pentagon and related spending.
27 cents supporting the economy -- recovery and bailouts, 26 cents, other jobs, education and social programs, 1cent.
17 cents on health care, mainl Medicare, I suppose
11 cents responding to poverty
9 cents for general government
2 cents for energy, science, and the environment
1 cent for diplomacy, development, and war prevention

FCNL says if these expenditures don't reflect your values, talk to Congress. Good idea. Also talk to your family and friends, your neighbors, your Facebook community, anyone you can.

FCNL makes it easy to reach your reps in Congress. Visit www.fcnl.org, follow the "contact Congress" link, and there you go!

Honest to goodness, it is so much cheaper to prevent a war than to wage one and pay one off decades later. But there's profit in war and not so much for working on making lives better for the multitudes of poor and disenfranchised.

Okay, I'm going to silence the cynic, who is rarely constructive, and bring back cheerier outlook.

Peace, y'all

Molly

On sharing what I receive

I receive tons of great information from Quaker sources and always think--I'll share that in the blog! And sometimes I actually do. But like so many of my great ideas, it clutters my life and surrounds me with one more "shoulda." I sure don't want more of those.

In a recent bulletin from Friends Committee on National Legislation, a (the?) Quaker lobby group in Washington DC, came a gem from Dr King: "coalitions of concience to close the gaps in broken community." These few words make a phrases that inspires me to keep sharing messasges and ideas, to keep living according to my faith and practice, to be a shining example of simple living and loving, to gently encourage others.

The broken community I see is the oil-addicted society and its members. When we can't do without our car, we are expressing that addiction.

The broken community is our now polarized partisan political system. My community received almost $2B in stimulus funding but our congressman voted against it. Guess what party he is in?

The broken community is the "us" and "them" culture, wherever we find it. I am ready to form a coalition of conscience with anyone, everyone. Any takers?

Peace, y'all

Molly

The Cat Lovers Against the Bomb calendar reminds me that today is Epiphany, and in 1941, President FDR gave his "Four Freedoms" speech.

http://www.wwnorton.com/college/history/ralph/workbook/ralprs36b.htm

It's old-fashioned sounding--not sound-bite-ish but the words ring true. If you don't want to click the link, the four freedoms are of

- freedom of speech and expression,
- freedom of every person to worship God in his way
- freedom from want
- freedom from fear

I still think FCNL's mission statement works better--and more concisely, because it relates to the whole planet, not just its human inhabitants.

Peace, y'all

questions for candidates

My favorite group, the Friends Committee on National Legislation, has a nice publication on what questions to ask candidates. Banning cluster bombs, banning torture, reducing the risk of nuclear weapons, investing in children....what radical thoughts.

Oops! Elections are over! So, why not ask these questions of officeholders? The elections are over but our nation's problems are not. We still have hunger. We still have homeless folk. We still have unhealthy folks, and people with serious medical troubles (like my step-son--pray for him please?). Here in the richest country in the world we still have these troubles, and what about the rest of the planet?

No, the elections are but a speed bump on the path to the future. And let's keep working to make the future better.

I am still asking myself what I can do to make the world a better place, and I think a little consciousness-raising, by keeping these questions in the open, is another small step. So off I go. Join me!

A Quaker mission statement

This is the mission statement for Friends Committee on National Legislation, a Quaker lobby group in Washington DC (in a very nice, historic, greened up building!)

We seek a world free of war and the threat of war
We seek a society with equity and justice for all
We seek a community where every person's potential may be fulfilled
We seek an earth restored.

Visit them at http://www.fcnl.org/.

I think as mission statements go, it's really good. In fact, I might rearrange it a bit and incorporate it into a personal mission statement. I would put society first, community second, world third, and earth 4th. Not that the earth matters least, but rather that the other 3, if in a good place, also benefit the earth and help restore it.

We cannot kill our way to victory

This is all over the web today, and I want to amplify it just a little more. Yesterday the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Michael Mullen said “We cannot kill our way to victory.”

Good words to hear from a military person. He is right, dead right (so to speak). Are we better off than 6 years ago, which was post 9-11 but before we invaded Iraq? I think not. Our nation's stature in the world has eroded. Our economy is fragile; so is our planet.

A Quaker lobby group, Friends Committee on National Legislation, offers a bumper sticker that states Quaker-plainly, "War is not the answer." It is great that the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff seems to agree!