The Govt is screaming "austerity"... Let's cut out the billions spent spying on us, that should help

[peacebird]

"The government has built a giant domestic surveillance apparatus in the name of homeland security that has been unleashed on ordinary Americans expressing concern about the undue influence of corporations on our democracy,” says Lisa Graves, the executive director of the Center for Media and Democracy and the former senior legislative strategist on national security for the ACLU. “Millions and millions of our tax dollars are being squandered violating the rights of innocent Americans who dare to dissent about legal policies and who have zero connection to any violent crime intended to cause terror.”

"The Phoenix Police Department spent $245,200.08 in taxpayer funds on the policing of Occupy Phoenix between October 14 and October 16, 2011, according to the documents obtained by DBA Press and the Center for Media and Democracy."
The above are from:
http://www.progressive.org/spying-on-ccupy-activists

http://www.artofeurope.com/shelley/she5.htm

"Rise like Lions after slumber
In unvanquishable number
Shake your chains to earth like dew
Which in slumber had fallen on you
Ye are many - they are few"

[chervilant]

1. How much?!?

"The Phoenix Police Department spent $245,200.08 in taxpayer funds on the policing of Occupy Phoenix between October 14 and October 16, 2011..."

I guess because # Occupy represented such a threat to US citizens.

( jic)

[peacebird]

4. That $245,200 was for three days only. They had a $59mil defecit that year, even after 'austerity'

http://www.azcentral.com/community/phoenix/articles/2011/03/24/20110324phoenix-budget-shortfall-only-59m-after-earlier-277m-projection.html

"Phoenix officials will need to close a $59 million budget deficit for the 2011-12 fiscal year, but they're calling it good news.

After waves of painful cuts to programs, staff and services amid the recession, closing the coming year's general-fund shortfall is expected to have little impact on residents, City Manager David Cavazos said."

[Savannahmann]

2. Imagine how many could be fed

Imagine how much money could be put into programs that actually help people.

We could give our seniors care that is dignified, humane, and compassionate. We could provide food for the hungry, shelter for the homeless, and that isn't just at home. Millions of people around the world die every year from drinking unsafe water. Yet we can't afford to get this most basic need attended to. Imagine how it would look if we showed compassion to the world, providing safe drinking water to people.

Instead we want to know what everyone is saying, because they might be mean people who are out to hurt us.

[peacebird]

3. Exactly. Imagine if GWB had stayed in Afghanistan and spent even a fraction of what Iraq cost us

rebuilding infrastructure there...

But all "we" seem to spend on is death and destruction, not help for the living...

Wise man warned us all about the military industrial complex long ago, sadly no one appears to have listened. Is it too late?

[Duckwraps]

5. President Obama

promised Africa $9B for electrification which I think could be better used here for our own impoverished peoples.

[randome]

6. There is plenty of 'fat' we can trim here.

I don't mind helping out other countries with basic necessities.

[hr]
[font color="blue"][center]The truth doesn’t always set you free.
Sometimes it builds a bigger cage around the one you’re already in.[/center][/font]
[hr]

[peacebird]

7. Let's start with the NSA, there's a lot of $$$ could put to better use actually helping folks...

[randome]

8. Most likely. We need to press for their budget to be made public.

In the Information Age, there is no need to keep budgets classified. Our computers are powerful enough in their own right that the amount of money spent on them doesn't really say much.

But the amount of money spent on infrastructure and support should be a prime target for public review.

[hr]
[font color="blue"][center]The truth doesn’t always set you free.
Sometimes it builds a bigger cage around the one you’re already in.[/center][/font]
[hr]