NO MORE $$$ FOR WAR!
 SAY "NO" TO BUSH'S $81.4 BILLION WAR SPENDING SPREE 

George Bush talks about a wave of democracy sweeping over the Middle East, but he fails to mention the wave of democracy that is forcing nation after nation to disengage from the "coalition of the willing" and pull their troops out of Iraq. These countries include Honduras, Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, Thailand, the Philippines, the Netherlands, Spain and most recently, the Italian people are forcing their prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, to withdraw Italian troops from Iraq.

Here in the US, polls show that a solid majority of Americans—59%— think the troops should come home. Yet last week, in a vote of 388 to 43, the House of Representatives approved $81.4 billion to continue funding the war, which pushes the total cost of the wars beyond $300 billion. This is in addition to the Pentagon's annual budget, which already totals more than $400bn.

Bush's out-of-control spending spree has resulted in a budget deficit of close to $500bn a year!

If this isn't enough to raise your blood pressure to CODEPINK alert level, consider these facts:

It's time for our leaders to listen to us! Here are two things you can do today.

• The Senate will vote on the Iraq war money on April 6. CONTACT YOUR SENATORS NOW and tell them to VOTE NO on the Supplemental Appropriations Bill for Iraq. Call 202-224-3121 or click here to find your senator. (See below for an inspiring action)
• The House already voted, but their votes should be acknowledged. If your representative was one of the 43 who voted against the bill, please thank them. If they voted for more money for war, protest their vote. Call 202-224-3121 or go to www.house.gov. (See below for House vote results.) Also, ask your representative to sign on to Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey's House Resolution 35 which calls for the President to develop and implement a plan to begin the immediate withdrawal of U.S. Armed Forces from Iraq
•  Please download and distribute a flyer that has current information on both the human and financial costs of war:
  download page 1| download page 2

MARKS ON CONGRESSMAN'S WALL REPRESENT DEAD IN IRAQ
Thirty-five people occupied the office of Congressman Tom Allen (D-ME) in Portland. They entered the office at 11:30am and Karen Wainberg, the president of Peace Action Maine, read a statement they had prepared for him. 

The statement read in part, "Your recent vote in favor of $81.4 billion more for the war was a heart breaking thing for us to witness...We have come to your office to strongly urge your sponsorship of the Woolsey resolution that demands the Bush administration develop an exit strategy immediately....We want to see leadership from you Rep. Allen on this war issue. It is not acceptable for you to just sit back watching to see which way the wind blows.....We strongly request that you hold a public town hall meeting on the war so that people in your district can give you their feedback on your current position."

They began reading over 1,500 names of American soldiers killed in Iraq and an equal number of names of innocent Iraqi civilians. Each person read two pages of names, and then passed the list on to the next person, as they sat in the office and inner hallways of the congressman's office. Artist Pat Wheeler brought along a large banner she had made with the words "Iraqi war dead" written in the upper left hand corner. The rest of the banner was empty. As each name was read an X was made in either red or black chalk on the banner. By 2:00 the entire banner was full of the marks. Then folks began to put X's in between the existing X's. We took turns holding the banner up against the wall so that those marking the X could use the wall as a backboard. By 4:00 pm we finished with the last names. We gathered in a large circle in the front room of the office and stretched the banner out so everyone could see it. The entire banner was covered with over 3,000 X's. 

"We understand what's at stake, that we've had a takeover of our government by big money. But we must do something. Today we did something. It was something good. Business as usual was interrupted."
Bruce K. Gagnon Coordinator Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space PO Box 652 Brunswick, ME 04011

Find out how YOUR representative voted:
FINAL VOTE RESULTS FOR ROLL CALL 77 HR 1268
(Republicans in roman; Democrats in italic; Independents underlined) 

H R 1268      YEA-AND-NAY      16-Mar-2005      12:01 PM
QUESTION:  On Passage
BILL TITLE: Making emergency supplemental appropriations for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2005, and for other purposes