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MEDIA ADVISORY
For immediate release:
Thursday, April 10, 2003
Contact:
J. Roy Cannon
Green Party of Delaware
(302) 738-9963
greenpartyde@yahoo.com
Delaware Greens plan to leaflet post offices on 4/15 to protest wasted tax dollars spent on war.
Wilmington, DE: The Green Party of Delaware will join with Greens nationwide to protest the waste of taxpayers money on the war in Iraq and the enormous growth in the military budget. Delaware Greens plan to leaflet a various post offices throughout the state on April 15th, tax return day, to call attention to how much U.S. warmongering costs American taxpayers.
Designated the Guns n Butter War Tax Protest, Greens are taking action on Tax Return Day so that American citizens become more aware of the cost of the U.S. military and itıs invasion of Iraq. Greens point out that the proposed 2004 military budget is $399.1 billion, a $48 billion increase from 2003. This figure does not include the $79 billion request for 6 months of war in the Mid-East (Iraq, Iran, Syria, etc.), A Yale University report estimates that an additional $300 billion will be needed to secure Iraq over a two year occupation. Somewhat forgotten in the war hysteria, the govermentıs missile defense program has an estimated cost of 1.2 trillion by 2035. According to the War Resisters League, the military budget for 2004, taking into account past military expenses (veteransı benefits and the military part of the interest on the debt), takes 47% of the entire federal budget, $804 billion.
Meanwhile, Greens assert that while the increased military spending is touted for fighting terrorism by the
government, the bulk of the funding goes for buying weapons, many of which are manufactured by corporations that contribute heavily to the campaigns of Democrats and Republicans alike leading to corporate control of our elected officials.
Trillions for corporations to make gunsı while social services butterı programs suffer including a $61 million cut in child care for poor working families, a $172 million cut in funding for health resources including care for victims of HIV/AIDS, a $286 million cut in funding of the Environmental Protection Agency, a $305 million cut in funding for public housing, energy and security, a $340 million cut for the Center for Disease Control, a $395 million cut for Head Start, a $684 million cut in job training for workers and youth, and a $1.4 trillion proposed diversion of Social Security funds to cover deficits over the next 10 years. Greens denounce our
government's plans to buy gunsı at the expense of much needed butterı and call for our taxes to be shifted for non-military goals including infrastructure improvements, health care, education, decent wages for working people, and greater financial security for the elderly.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT
Green Party of Delaware
P. O. Box 6044
Wilmington, Delaware 19804
(302)738-9963
greenpartyde@yahoo.com
http://www.gpde.org
Green Party of the United States
1314 18th Street, Lower Level
Washington, D.C. 20036
info@greenpartyus.org
866-41GREEN (toll free)
http://greenpartyus.org
The War Resisters League
339 Lafayette Street
New York, NY 10012
(212)228-6193
wrl@warresisters.org
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