Protesters honor troops, urge withdrawal
Connecticut Post - March 20, 2008
TONY SPINELLI and PETER URBAN
A rainy, gloomy day just before the start of spring was the setting Wednesday for dozens of anti-war protesters around the state who marked the fifth anniversary of the war in Iraq with pickets and vigils.
"We didn't want to have one single event in the state, so we had several of them around the state, and we'll continue this weekend," said John Murphy, a leader of Connecticut Opposes the War, a group he said has 50 member organizations.
Activist To Lead Anti-War Campaign
Ex-Lamont Manager Coordinator Of Effort To Oppose Iraq War As Economic Disaster
By MARK PAZNIOKAS
Hartford Courant - March 18, 2008
The manager of anti-war candidate Ned Lamont's 2006 Senate campaign was named Monday as coordinator of a $20 million nationwide effort to oppose the war in Iraq as a continuing economic disaster.
Tom Swan is the manager of Iraq Campaign 2008, an effort to tie the war to an issue with a higher profile: the struggling U.S. economy.
"The public is already with us on this," Swan said in a telephone interview.
CCAG Reveals Iraq War's Cost to Connecticut
The report, titled “Getting U.S. Back on Track†and authored by the USAction Education Fund, illustrates, how CT's cost of war could have provided health insurance for more children, funded Head Start and provided more college scholarships here in CT.
The report also finds that the modest new investments in neglected priorities such as health care and education to be debated this fall between Congress and President Bush would amount to a fraction of what is spent every month on the war.
“This data highlights how the Bush administration’s upside-down priorities have shortchanged CT families and communities,†said CCAG Director, Tom Swan. “For a fraction of what CT taxpayers have spent in Iraq, we could be addressing neglected priorities like providing more health care and college scholarships for families in CT.â€
- health care for 3.8 million adults – almost 12 times more than the 319,160 uninsured adults in Connecticut
- health care for 4.4 million children – 61 times more than the 71,123 kids without health care
- full funding for Head Start, which has been cut by 7.4 percent since 2001
GETTING U.S. BACK ON TRACK The new Congress is finally working to get America back on track by reversing years of upside-down priorities in Washington. Congress is working to pass modest increases in funding for children’s health care, job training, education and other priorities, but President Bush threatens to veto legislation with any increases beyond his budget proposal, which shortchanged these programs to pay for tax breaks for millionaires and the endless war in Iraq.
Amazingly, Bush administration officials and Republican leaders have even suggested they would shut down the government before passing modest increases in funding for these vital priorities. Take a look at the small boosts in funding – representing just a fraction of the $10 billion U.S. taxpayers are spending in Iraq every month – that are leading to Republican threats to shut down our government:
- Cost of restoring Connecticut job training funds ($9.3 million) = about 41 minutes of Iraq war spending
- Cost of fully funding U.S. job training ($600 million) = about 44 hours of Iraq war spending
- Cost of restoring Connecticut child care funds ($3.5 million) = about 15 minutes of Iraq war spending
- Cost of restoring Connecticut child support funding ($5.4 million) = about 24 minutes of Iraq war spending
- Cost of restoring Connecticut K-12 education funding ($34.1 million) = about 2 hours 29 minutes of Iraq war spending
“It is unconscionable for President Bush and GOP leaders to threaten to shut down the government over a fraction of what they are spending on the endless war in Iraq,†said Swan. “Rep. Chris Shays needs to decide who side he's on, Presidented Bush's or the state of CT."
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USAction and our affiliates in 24 states connect issues to elections and policy to politics. We seek to take our democracy back from the corporate elite and the well-heeled special interests that dominate the political process today – because we believe that government has a critical role to play in ensuring liberty and justice for all. CCAG is USAction’s CT's affiliate.
Read the report: Getting US Back on Track... (pdf)
Listen: CCAG's Tom Swan and WTIC's Colin McEnroe discuss the Cost of War (mp3)
Protesters make their presence felt at new home of Lieberman
By Doug Dalena
Stamford Advocate - August 29, 2007
STAMFORD - U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., got an anti-war welcome to his new neighborhood yesterday, but he may not have been around to receive it.
Opponents of the war in Iraq, which the senior senator has supported, handed out leaflets in front of his recently purchased Strawberry Hill condominium yesterday afternoon, then gathered outside the Government Center to protest the war.
Emergency Campaign For America's Priorities
The Emergency Campaign for America’s Priorities (ECAP) is a nationwide campaign of national and grassroots organizations committed to reversing the Administration’s policy of drastic cuts to programs that primarily benefit the poor and middle class in order to finance tax cuts that benefit the wealthy and special interests. Our “First Things First†agenda is a plan to fully meet pressing human needs over five years and assure that all pay their fair share.
1,000 protesters expected for Bush visit to New London
By Ray Hackett
Norwich Bulletin - May 23, 2007
NEW LONDON -- Dozens of anti-war groups, locally based and from across the Northeast, will rally today outside the U.S. Coast Guard Academy to protest President Bush's appearance at the academy's commencement.
There will also be a group of protesters protesting against the protesters.
Our protest will send message war must end
by John Murphy
Norwich Bulletin - May 23, 2007
As a member of Connecticut Opposes the War and in solidarity with the Southeastern Connecticut Peace and Justice network and anti-war activists throughout Connecticut, we will gather today at the Soldiers and Sailors Monument in New London. We will then engage in a silent march and vigil to send a singular message to President Bush: End the war in Iraq now.
