Posted on 08/16/2007 7:47:25 AM PDT by kristinn
WILKES-BARRE — Ten billion dollars a month.
That’s how much a protest group told participants at a local rally the war in Iraq is costing America.
“People are angry and amazed that we’re wasting this much money,” said Roxanne Pauline, regional coordinator for Operation Democracy under MoveOn.org. “Every day, we talk to more people. We’re working on the grassroots level, street by street, county by county. Taxpayers of Northeast Pennsylvania can’t afford to keep pumping billions into this religious civil war when our community is suffering at home.”
Held at Public Square in Wilkes-Barre, the rally did not focus on issues of troop casualties and chances of victory. Instead, it favored of a more localized angle — how the costs of the war could be better invested in the Keystone State.
“Every Pennsylvania child has a right to be healthy and have a good education, but 16 percent of children under the age of five are living in poverty and nine million are uninsured,” said Greg Korin, a Swoyersville resident and member of Operation Democracy from Swoyerville, reading from a prepared report.
Jessica Newbern, a former U.S. Marine Corps sergeant, said she saw with her own eyes that money spent on the war was not going where it was most needed, such as investing in better combat equipment.
“It’s not going to protect soldiers. It’s going to war-profiteering groups like Halliburton,” Newbern said. “The money needs to come back here. Everyone should have health insurance. It’s a right, not a privilege. And education leads to fewer prisoners and fewer people that commit crimes. People need to sign petitions and let their congressman know how they feel.”
Overshadowing the rally’s strong words, however, was the sparse attendance. Barely a dozen people showed up.
The timing, just before noon Wednesday, was part of a statewide effort by MoveOn.org to coordinate similar rallies in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Harrisburg and Erie, Pauline said.
A new chapter of Operation Democracy will hold its first meeting in Wilkes-Barre next week.
“If I had Bob Casey speak, we would have twenty million people. But when you bring in celebrities, it’s not real,” Pauline said. “I’m tired of listening to politicians. I want to hear people speak who are actually affected by what’s going on.”
Angel Jirau, however, a disabled Vietnam veteran in Wilkes-Barre, was perturbed by the low turnout.
“It’s frustrating to a veteran, when we’ve got guys on welfare and food stamps, and more people show up to buy fruit at the Farmers Market. This really hits home,” Jirau said. “More people voted for American Idol than for the president, and this is a prime example. Government officials think, ‘If people don’t care, why should I care?’”
Never mind winning the war, socialism must triumph in the minds of liberals.
Pauline is for sure clinically delusional and a liar, but that what most liberals are. Of course the other lie she said is that the war is costing 10 billions dollars a month when in reality it is costing less than 2 billions and that in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
They sure are spouting Democrat talking points.
I like “truth in advertising”. And the fact is, that a lot of what is spent in Iraq is simply re-allocating defense spending that would be spent on national defense matters anyway. The biggest single expenditure in the defense budget is the paychecks for all of the military. They would be paid whether in Iraq or stateside on a base.
Also, the bureaucratic budget process doesn’t work as simply as these protesters think. You can’t just cut the defense spending by “x” amount and then magically have that “x” amount to spend on what they want it spent on. All funds spent by gov’t have to go through the budget allocation process.
And finally, we all know that simply spending more money on poverty programs or schools doesn’t necessarily alleviate the problems that these protesters think can be solved with money that’s being spent in Iraq.
And move on doesnt target pro-war Democrats. Moveon is a fraud.
Questiong here. Even if we brought our troops home, what would be the cost of maintaining them? Now, subtract that from what is being spent on them for the war. That is the true number. No matter what we do, if we want a strong military, we have to spend the money on them.
Exactly.
Where does it say every PA child has a right to be healthy? How many of these "unhealthy" children eat little more than junk food and sit in front of the TV all day? If 16% of those children are living in poverty, why is that my fault and why should I have to pay for it? Perhaps the parents ought to do something about that...like get a job. Why is it my responsibility that they chose to not invest in themselves, get more education and a better job? And, paleeze...don't give me this 9 million are uninsured. Tell me how many of those 9 million have ever been denied health care. To me, your child's health is your responsibility, not mine.
On the other hand, I'm happy to spend whatever it takes to insure my family's freedom and protection from a radical bunch of butchers. If it costs a billion a day to keep them away from my family, so be it. They are protecting us all and doing a job I cannot do myself. I can, however, insure my family, feed them properly and I do it gladly because that's my responsibility.
Grow up, you nitwits, and assume responsibility for those things that are yours to take care of and let the professionals take care of my (and your) safety and freedom...it's not free, you idiot.
MoveOn was *fine* with President Clinton’s 78 days of bombing Serbia in 1999. That’s hardly “anti-war.”
We had 14 people from my company go to lunch together yesterday. It didn't make the news.
And, I suspect, that lunch was a whole lot more productive than what these moonbats accomplished.
It favored of a more localized angle — how the costs of the war could be better invested in the Keystone State.
“Every Pennsylvania child has a right to be healthy and have a good education, but 16 percent of children under the age of five are living in poverty and nine million are uninsured,”
Pennsylvania has a plethera of taxes. Spend your local dollars to fix your rapidly decaying Democrat state you morons.
It's a right? You must be confused. You obviously think you're living in the USSR or Cuba.
This is what happens when you let the unions deprecate the teaching of civics from the screwls. Quotes like this make me think America, despite recent ascendancy to unipower status, is on the decline.
They always forget that little fact, don’t they?
What am I saying? They forget ALL facts.
I can get a dozen people to show up to claim the earth is flat.... why the hell is this even in the news?
Nice spin - taking national numbers and pumping them into one specific region....remember...there are liars, damn liars, and then there are the Move-on Statisticians....
“Every Pennsylvania child has a right to be healthy and have a good education, but 16 percent of children under the age of five are living in poverty and nine million are uninsured,” said Greg Korin, a Swoyersville resident and member of Operation Democracy from Swoyerville, reading from a prepared report
Read: Prepared SPIN document - nine million are uninsured just in Pennsylvania?
________________
Yup, Bob Casey. They voted him in. And he is affected by your actions. Really. He is grateful.
Serbia is filled with evil white Christians, as opposed to the oppressed drug-running white-slaving church-burning head-chopping Albanian mujahadeen.
Liberals don't want to spend money on them .. they want the money for their social programs
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