First Friday in Garfield at the Thomas Merton Center. What Fun!

There were tables with TMC literature and books about BDS (Boycott, Divest and Sanction) in front of the annex. Inside was more literature, copies of the New People, War Resisters League pie chartsm on the federal budget and on the wall the Bug Splat exhibit. Bug Splat is the military term for victims of drones. The photos showed some of these victims and some survivors,. People are not "Bug Splat"

There were also cookies and wine.

I set up a table with penny poll jars.

Lots of people kept streaming into the place. Many were led in by an intern giving information about the TMC. Mike and Connie of the Anti War Committee explained about Bug Splat, and I asked people in the room, if they wanted to take the Penny Poll.

"What's that?"

This was my chance to explain that the US government spends over half of our tax dollars on the military,. I used as visual aid the colorful AFSC One Minute for Peace flyer-- a very long narrow strip with details of the Federal budget: a long bright red line for the 57% for the military, short blue and green lines for 5.5% Veterans Benefits, 6% Education, 5% health. 5.5% on Housing etc., Then I offered my listeners 10 pennies each to demonstrate, how they would allocate the budget by distributing their pennies into the jars labeled Education, Healthcare, Food, Veterans, Housing, Military and Mass Transit. They all used this chance to have their say. Many insisted on using their own money.

It led to interesting questions and discussions: Why do we spend so much on military, and how can we change it? Pentagon related manufacturing is happening in all congressional districts. Consequently no Congress member wants to cut military spending. It will cost jobs in the district and possibly cost him/her re-election.

It is true that any cuts in federal spending will lead to a loss of jobs, however cuts in domestic spending lose more jobs.

According to National Priorities Project's

statistics on job creation in the various sectors of society

$1 billion of federal money spent, will create

11, 200 jobs in the military or

16,800 in clean energy technology or

17,200 in healthcare or

26,700 in education.

The only way to cut defense spending, is to create more peaceful jobs simultaneously through more spending in the domestic sector.

I enjoyed talking about these issues with diverse groups of people. Some may not have thought about it much. Almost 50 people participated in the penny poll. They all agreed that these were hard decisions. One woman laid out her pennies in front of the jars, before she dropped them in. They took it very seriously.

Here are the results of the people's vote:

Education topped the list with $4.63 which included several dollar bills contributed out of their own pockets ,

followed by Healthcare $1.11 and Food $1.02. Housing came next with 71 cents, Mass Transit 45 cents, Veterans 39 cents, and 13 cents for the Military.

The Women's International League for Peace Freedom ( WILPF) together with American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) have been taking penny polls every year for the past 9 years on April 15, the last day to pay taxes. We display our posters and charts next to the post office in Squirrel Hill, set out our jars and hand out flyers. Most passers-by don't have the time to stay and talk, but this Friday night, people were wandering in to browse and see what was going on. (Cookies and wine may have brought them in) They had time on their hands and were eager to talk and listen. It was more rewarding. Now we need Congress to heed the people's voice.

submitted by Edith Bell

Women's International League for Peace and Freedom

This author is a member of Women's International League for Peace and Freedom and TMC and the raging grannies

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