MoveOn supporters protest war and impact on economy

MichaelMoore.com : MoveOn supporters protest war and impact on economy

April 25th, 2008 8:38 pm
MoveOn supporters protest war and impact on economy

By Rick Yencer / Star Press

MUNCIE, IN -- Stacy Stinson stood on the steps of the downtown Carnegie Public Library at mid-day Thursday, telling MoveOn supporters the half-trillion-dollar expense of the Iraq War was proving too costly for average Hoosiers.

"We have lost manufacturing jobs and our tax base," said Stinson, a Navy veteran and urban planner. "Schools are closing, people are moving out, and we are losing teachers, police officers and firefighters."

That -- according to MoveOn, a national political activist group -- is because billions are being spent on the Iraq War supported by President Bush and some members of Congress, including Republican Congressman Mike Pence. Nearly 40 people in Muncie joined thousands more nationwide Thursday to give a report on the war and a recession that particularly cuts deep in East Central Indiana. MoveOn offered facts and figures at hundreds of rallies showing domestic programs like health care, education and housing take a back seat to war spending.

"A majority of people in Indiana believe the cost of the war is actually contributing to our economic troubles," said Tom Perchlik, pastor at Unitarian Universalist Church. "The message is clear. We need to end the war, end the recession. And we need to move on meeting the needs of American citizens."

Perchlik said the main reason the war continues was because leaders in the White House and Congress refuse to change course.

And he illustrated an example of the impact of the war on the local community, talking about working on a Rebuild Muncie home project recently in an inner-city neighborhood.

"We saw a bunch of college-age men with no jobs, just sitting around with no opportunity and no future," Perchlik said. "It troubles me we spend more money on the war instead of the poor."

The cost of the war, according to MoveOn, has been $526 billion, with $83.6 billion in spending still pending and the Bush administration proposing another $139.4 billion next year.

Indiana's share has been $7.9 billion, with the 6th congressional district that Pence represents paying $714 million.

Jennifer Rice-Snow, local MoveOn organizer, said people only need to see how much they are paying for gasoline and food to realize the impact billions spent on war could have on helping people in this country.

MoveOn has endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and there were several local Obama supporters in the crowd Thursday.

Mike Swinford, a Navy veteran, was a Bush supporter in 2000 but now supports Obama because what he calls "irregularities and deception" surrounding the war.

"I see a huge grassroots turnout demanding for change," Swinford said about the prospect of voters going to the polls for the May 6 primary election.