Walpole Peace Vigil on Saturday, February 2, 2013 at 10-11AM, Walpole Common to support Budget for All

Please join us this coming Saturday, February 2, 2013 to stand for a Society that Values and Preserves a support system of vital services for all! ‘Stop the Cuts, Invest in Jobs, Tax the 1%, End the Wars, and Cut the Military Budget continues to be an urgent message. We will be standing at the corner of West and Main Street, across from Walpole Cooperative Bank, from 10 to 11 AM.

As supporters of the Budget for All Coalition we join to oppose cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and essential social services. “The next few months, and above all the month of February, promise to be a fast-moving, intense period as Congress faces several key decision points. The “sequester” (automatic budget cuts) will hit March 1 unless new legislation is passed. The FY13 continuing resolution expires and must be extended by March 27. Finally, the House-proposed debt ceiling extension (still pending in the Senate and thus subject to change) sets a deadline of April 15 for each chamber to pass a budget, and May 18 for the nation’s debt ceiling to expire.”

We need to remind our state representatives that voters in 91 cities and towns in Massachusetts spoke out clearly for the Massachusetts Budget For All. The budget deal as passed by the U.S. Senate and House does not raise enough revenue and makes it likely that Congress will still seek cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and vital social programs as long term solutions are debated.

Cuts to Social Security are unfair as Social Security is funded through its own trust fund, having no short term shortfall, and nothing to do with the current budget deficit. Many people depend on Social Security as their major source of retirement income and we should not be penalizing them for a budget crisis that has nothing to do with Social Security.

The real problems with Medicare and Medicaid are rising medical costs. The answer is to control those costs rather than increase the Medicare eligibility age or cut Medicaid eligibility. It’s incomprehensible how the United States can be the only developed country without some form of single payer system that insures all people and eliminates the bureaucracy and overhead of the insurance companies. Most countries with single payer health care spend substantially less than ours on medical care yet are ranked higher in regard to people’s health.

Congress should not cut critical programs that provide a safety net and vital services to low-income people. It is unfair to shift the burden to poor and working families who have already borne a disproportionate share of the impact of the economic downturn that that they never caused. The wealthiest and corporations should pay their fair share, starting with ending tax cuts for the wealthiest two percent. Income tax revenue as a percentage of Gross National Product has been about the lowest since 1950.

For more information on the Budget for All Coalition, please see the web site: http://www.budget4allmass.org/

Next Friday: Deadline for Legislators to Co-Sponsor Single Payer Bills

There are two bills that will come before the state legislature this session regarding Single Payer health care (HD 1677, SD 875 and HD 699, SD 1059).  We are hoping that many reps and senators will actually co-sponsor one or both of these bills.  Mass Care has asked that we make phone calls to our senator and representatives, urging them to sign on.  Thanks for any help you can give with this.

• Go to http://www.wheredoivotema.com:
• Enter your address and click “Find My Election Information.”
• Scroll down to the bottom of the screen and find your “Senate in General Court” and “Rep in General Court.”
• By clicking on your Senator’s or Rep’s name, you will be taken to their web-site with phone numbers and email addresses.

Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan: Why Civilians Matter

Dr. John Tirman will give a talk on ‘Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan: Why Civilians Matter’ on Wednesday, January 23, 2013 at 7:30 PM at the Walpole Public Library.  Our government and the public rarely question the enormous toll in civilian causalities in wars, particularly those that the United States has waged. John will not only speak on the moral imperative of “body counts” but why civilian mortality and displacement affects the way we think about war, strategy, and responsibility. The Walpole Peace and Justice Group is sponsoring the talk. 

John is the Executive Director of MIT's Center for International Studies, where he is also Principal Research Scientist. Previously, he was Program Director at the Social Science Research Council (2000-2004), a Fulbright Senior Scholar in Cyprus (1999-2000), executive director of the Winston Foundation for World Peace (1986-1999), senior editor at the Union of Concerned Scientists (1982-86), and a researcher-reporter at Time magazine (1977-79).

He has written several books on global affairs and more than one hundred articles in a wide range of periodicals. Most recently he published The Deaths of Others: The Fate of Civilians in America's Wars, a major contribution to understanding conflict and America's involvement. His other books includeSpoils of War: The Human Cost of America's Arms Trade (1997) and Making the Money Sing: Private Wealth and Public Power in the Search for Peace(2000). He is editor or coeditor of several collected volumes, including The Maze of Fear: Security & Migration After 9/11 (2004); Terror, Insurgency, and the State (2007); and Multilateralism Under Challenge? Power, International Order, and Structural Change (2006). Periodicals where his articles have appeared include The Nation, International Herald Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Boston Review, the New York Times, and AlterNet, among others.

The talk will be in the Community Room at the Walpole Public Library, 143 School Street, Walpole, MA.

Walpole Peace Vigil on Saturday, January 5, 2013 at 10-11AM, Walpole Common to support Budget for All

Please join us this coming Saturday, January 5, 2013 to stand for a Society that Values and Preserves a support system of vital services for all! ‘Stop the Cuts, Invest in Jobs, Tax the 1%, End the Wars, and Cut the Military Budget continues to be an urgent message. We will be standing at the corner of West and Main Street, across from Walpole Cooperative Bank, from 10 to 11 AM

We need to remind our representatives that voters in 91 cities and towns in Massachusetts spoke out clearly for the Massachusetts Budget For All. The budget deal as passed by the U.S. Senate and House does not raise enough revenue and makes it likely that Congress will still seek cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and vital social programs as long term solutions are debated.

Cuts to Social Security are unfair as Social Security is funded through its own trust fund, having no short term shortfall, and nothing to do with the current budget deficit. Both parties are discussing using the chained Consumer Price Index when computing inflation increases for Social Security which will effectively reduce benefitsby 7% after 20 years. Many people depend on Social Security as their major source of retirement income and we should not be penalizing them for a budget crisis that has nothing to do with Social Security.

The real problems with Medicare and Medicaid are rising medical costs. The answer is to control those costs rather than increase the Medicare eligibility age or cut Medicaid eligibility.It’s incomprehensible how the United States can be the only developed country without some form of single payer system that insures all people and eliminates the bureaucracy and overhead of the insurance companies. Most countries with single payer health care spend substantially less than ours on medical care yet are ranked higher in regard to people’s health.

Congress should not cut critical programs that provide a safety net and vital services to low-income people. It is unfair to shift the burden to poor and working families who have already borne a disproportionate share of the impact of the economic downturn that that they never caused. The wealthiest and corporations should pay their fair share, starting with ending tax cuts for the wealthiest two percent. Income tax revenue as a percentage of Gross National Product has been about the lowest since 1950. In December the House and Senate passed a $633 billion Defense Authorization Bill, only a little lower than what was appropriated last year. We should be cutting the defense budget before cutting our safety net programs as the United States spends more on defense that the next 13 highest spending counties.

Senator Harkin of Iowa has been very astute and direct in his assessment and opposition to compromises made in the fiscal cliff budget resolution. See Harkin’s statement at: http://www.harkin.senate.gov/press/release.cfm?i=338182