Thursday, July 9, 2009

End Unecessary Spending on Weapons!

Ending production of the F-22 fighter jet should be common sense.

The plane's a Cold War relic built to win dogfights with the Soviet Union.1

But despite never having flown in combat, we've already bought 187 F-22s at a cost of more than $351 million each.2

These planes don't make us any safer, but companies like Boeing and Lockheed make a fortune building them. And so far those same corporations have spent enough on lobbyists and campaign donations to scare Congress into keeping the weapons contracts alive, even in this recession.3

President Obama is FINALLY standing up to the weapons builders and calling for an end to the F-22. 4

So far, Congress has been too scared to follow suit - but we've just learned that there will be an amendment to the Defense Authorization bill that could end the F-22 program for good. That amendment gives us a chance, but we need to act fast - the vote on the F-22 could come as early as next week.

Help convince YOUR Senators that we've got better things to do with $351 million dollars by signing our petition and sending them one of our F-22 hologram cards.

http://act.truemajorityaction.org/p/7002/bluepetition?petition_KEY=125

Our F-22 hologram card shows that for the cost of one F-22 we could rebuild and renew 60 American schools serving more than 36,000 kids. This succinct and effective tool has already convinced thousands of friends and relatives. And the President, the Secretary of Defense, and other leaders who support cutting the F-22 have used the same arguments in their speeches and testimony.5

But the weapons builders know that if the Congress gets up the courage to end this one plane, they might start cutting other weapons and investing in things like education or healthcare instead. So they've brought out their big guns to oppose Obama's plan. And under that storm of corporate pressure, Congress already chickened out twice.6

The Senate amendment gives Congress another chance to stop wasting our money on airplanes we don't need, and start investing in things that make us truly strong. By signing our petition and sending your Senators an F-22 card, you'll show them where you stand, and also provide the facts and maybe even the courage they need to do the right thing.

Sign now and we'll gift-wrap a F-22 card in the signatures of you and other TrueMajority members from PA and send it to your Senators with your compliments.

- MattMatt Holland
Online Director
TrueMajority / USAction

1 - http://truesecurity.usaction.org/f22facts
2 - http://truesecurity.usaction.org/f22facts
3 - followthemoney.org/database/IndustryTotals.phtml?f=0&s=0&g%5B%5D=4
4 - politico.com/news/stories/0709/24538.html
5 - google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i8vhbN1qsn-yGD7_20raeRBRlXSwD98TAUQO3
6 - nytimes.com/2009/06/26/business/26defense.html

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