by Nick Turse at AlterNet

AlterNet teams up with Salon and Brave New Foundation to document how Dems on the Congressional “supercommittee” get far more military campaign money and contracts than the GOP.

Arizona’s Republican Senator Jon Kyl wasted little time. A member of the bipartisan Congressional “supercommittee” charged with finding $1.5 trillion in deficit reductions, he did his best to forestall even discussion of cuts to the Pentagon’s budget. “When we had our first meeting the chairman asked, ‘Well what do we think about defense spending?’ and I said, ‘I’m off of the committee if we’re gonna talk about further defense spending,’” he told the audience at a recent forum sponsored by several conservative think tanks.

by Stephanie Condon at CBSNews.com

Some opposed to the United States’ ongoing military operations are concerned Congress is listening a little too closely. The liberal group Brave New Foundation, which earlier launched the initiative “Rethink Afghanistan,” launched a new campaign this week called War Costs to counter the AIA’s “Second to None” campaign.

The deficit discussion in Congress right now, the War Costs team argues, “is a zero sum game, pitting military spending against the exact kinds of spending that would create more jobs.” The group points to research suggesting government funds could more efficiently create jobs in sectors like health or education, as well as a study indicating the defense sector has inflated its significance in terms of jobs.

Click here for the full story.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5KC19A8deo&feature=player_embedded

Robert Greenwald joins the third hour of Thom Hartmann Radio to discuss Brave New Foundation’s new campaign, War Costs, and why the Super Committee has an ideal opportunity to focus on budget changes that have a chance of getting people back to work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASTiwygY25o&feature=player_embedded

The increase of foreign troops in Afghanistan that has taken place during Obama’s administration has been followed by a corresponding increase in Afghan insurgency. “The US needs to let go of the military strategy and instead get serious about negotiations with the Taliban,” said Derrick Crowe on RTTV. “Throwing hundreds of thousands of troops and $2 billion a week at that problem… is just going to escalate the problem.”

by Robert Greenwald and Derrick Crowe at UK Guardian Comment is Free

The new deficit commission held its first substantive meeting on 13 September, and the military contractors were out in force to protect their profits. They’ll be working to cash in on hundreds millions of dollars in campaign donations and lobbying spending, and they will deploy their favourite (and bogus) “jobs” spin. But members of the committee should not be fooled. The war industry is interested in one thing: continuing profits at our expense.

by  Ida Hartmann at Alternet

“Every $1 billion spent on war costs us at least 3,200 jobs,” reads an ad by Brave New Foundation (BNF) in today’s print edition of Politico. Part of a new consciousness raising campaign called WarCosts, the ad was launched to put Second to None, an association of military contractors, on the defense vis a vis their propaganda and distortion of facts. Particularly, Second to None is staging a “march to the hill” Tuesday, September 13, to drum up support to protect massive military spending.

Click here for the full article.