Well, I am officially upset. I mean, I've been opposed to it; I've been nominally against it; I've even gotten myself arrested a couple of times in demonstrations that take a stand saying it's wrong. But now I am upset. Actually, I'm more than upset. I'm ticked off. I'm angry.

Sitting at table with community members the other night, we learned that four of the nine folk sitting there were unemployed. I hurt for them as they struggle, not only with finding work, but with all the accompanying feelings that come when you lose your job. It is not, to say the least, a pleasant And my prayers and thoughts are with them and with all the people whose jobs have evaporated in this economic morass we call a "recession."

But there's the thing.

This recession drags painfully on while we prosecute two wars on the other side of the world. And if wikileaks is to be believed, we're actually engaged in far more than that! Add to that the Pentagon budget of something over 500 billion dollars a year - and remember - the amount for the Pentagon in the federal budget does NOT inlcude our current wars! But consider this. There's a huge chunk of change going to kill people. It amounts to nearly sixty cents of every tax dollar.

And then, dear sisters and brothers, consider this. A dollar spent in the domestic economy goes something like thirty times further than it does when it's spent on the military.

Not only are these wars morally repugnant, wrong, and otherwise misguided. They are also strangling our economy as we go ever deeper into debt (mostly to China) to pay for them while our friends, neighbors, sisters, brothers, fellow church members are losing their means of supporting themselves and their families.

It's time to bring the boys and the girls home from Iraq, Afghanistan and wherever else they causing death and mayhem. It's time to cut the federal military budget in half, and it's long past time we began to invest in the things that create jobs and community.

So, I'm just sayin.' But the truth is that I'm really upset

SR