Why do we have unlimited funds for war, but nothing for home needs?

Good Question Congressman Kucinich! Until Americans stop paying for war, we will get wars and more wars, while Haliburtion & Cheney and friends take more and more taxpayer money.

Jesus said blessed are the peacemakers, not the warmongers. President Obama, end these wars. We are literally driving our soldiers crazy. Even the Army doctors trained to keep them sane during an interminable war cannot keep soldiers mentally healthy (cf. Fort Hood tragedy). Start spending money on what we need, not on what the bastards making billions off war want.

I took this picture in Bethel, AK, a community disproportionately hit by calling up men and women to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan. So many poorer communities in the USA give a disproportionate number of men and women to military service, while the rich cheer them on and give them respect while refusing to join in the cause. The poor and middle class provide the soldiers while immoral Wall Street bankers and investors get rich.

Bruce Springsteen is right when he sings on the Seeger Seessions.
"If you love this land of the free, bring'em home, bring'em home.
"It will make the politicians sad I know..., they want to tangle with their foe.
"They want to test their grand theories, with the blood of you and me...
"We'll give no more brave young lives... for the gleam in someone's eyes...."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yApAg0hl490

Peace - Rick
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 6, 2009 10:41 AM

CONTACT: Congressman Dennis Kucinich Nathan White (202)225-5871

Kucinich: Why Is It We Have Finite Resources for Health Care but Unlimited Money for War?

WASHINGTON - November 6 - Following a statement on the Floor of the House of Representative, Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) today made the following statement:

"Why is it we have finite resources for health care but unlimited money for war?

"The inequities in our economy are piling up: trillions for war, trillions for Wall Street and tens of billions for the insurance companies. Banks and other corporations are sitting on piles of cash of taxpayer's money while firing workers, cutting pay and denying small businesses money to survive.

"People are losing their homes, their jobs, their health, their investments, their retirement security; yet there is unlimited money for war, Wall Street and insurance companies, but very little money for jobs on Main Street.

"Unlimited money to blow up things in Iraq and Afghanistan, and relatively little money to build things in the US.

"The Administration may soon bring to Congress a request for an additional $50 billion for war. I can tell you that a Democratic version of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is no more acceptable than a Republican version of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"Trillions for war and Wall Street, billions for insurance companies... When we were promised change, we weren't thinking that we give a dollar and get back two cents."

Who deserves Iraq's Oil??? Who is "Entitled"?

Gee, I would have thought the oil for which "our" soldiers fought and taxpayers paid would go to the soldiers and the taxpayers, not T. Boone Pickens and his buddies. And who says the oil belongs to anyone but the citizens of Iraq? The U.S. military was supposedly there to give the people of Iraq their freedom, right?

But in this "land of the free and the home of the brave," we now have capitalism for the poor and middle class and socialism for the rich. Worse, we're sacrificing human lives, American, Iraqi and others, all so the likes of T.Boone Pickens can get richer. He thinks he is "entitled." - Rick
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Published on Thursday, October 22, 2009 by Reuters

T. Boone Pickens says US Firms 'Entitled' to Iraqi Oil

by Tom Doggett URL to article: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/10/22-6

WASHINGTON - Oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens told Congress on Wednesday that U.S. energy companies are "entitled" to some of Iraq's crude because of the large number of American troops that lost their lives fighting in the country and the U.S. taxpayer money spent in Iraq.

Boone, speaking to the newly formed Congressional Natural Gas Caucus, complained that the Iraqi government has awarded contracts to foreign companies, particularly Chinese firms, to develop Iraq's vast reserves while American companies have mostly been shut out.

"They're opening them (oil fields) up to other companies all over the world ... We're entitled to it," Pickens said of Iraq's oil. "Heck, we even lost 5,000 of our people, 65,000 injured and a trillion, five hundred billion dollars."

President Barack Obama has pledged to withdraw U.S. troops in Iraq.

"We leave there with the Chinese getting the oil," Pickens said.

Iraq's Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani told a Washington conference on Wednesday that his government was happy with the energy auction it held earlier this year. The auction was the first chance for foreign oil firms to compete for Iraqi oil since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

"We're pleased with scale and participation of the IOC (International Oil Companies) and the transparent and public competition," Shahristani said at a U.S.-Iraq business and investment conference.

BP and the Chinese oil company CNPC were the only firms to win a contract in Iraq's bid round this summer, the first chance for foreign oil firms to compete for Iraqi oil since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. Seven other oil and gas fields failed to attract bidders on the terms Iraq offered.

But a consortium headed by Italy's ENI (ENI.MI: Quote [1], Profile [2], Research [3]) said last week it signed a deal to develop the giant Zubair field for a remuneration fee of $2 a barrel. At Iraq's oilfield auction in June, the consortium refused to go below $4.40 a barrel.

Two consortiums are still competing for a deal to develop the even larger West Quran oilfield. They are Russia's LUKOIL (LKOH.MM: Quote [4], Profile [5], Research [6]) and ConocoPhillips (COP.N: Quote [7], Profile [8], Research [9]) and another consortium headed by Exxon Mobil (XOM.N: Quote [10], Profile [11], Research [12]). (Reporting by Tom Doggett, additional reporting by Simon Webb; editing by Jim Marshall)

© 2009 Reuters

Article printed from www.CommonDreams.org URL to article: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/10/22-6