EPS extends its congratulations to Dr. Oscar Arias Sanchez, EPS Trustee. After a hand recount of the ballots, he has been elected President of Costa Rica for the second time. We look forward to his renewed leadership in Costa Rica and wish him every success in his programs.

http://www.mercopress.com/Detalle.asp?NUM=7369

On February 22 EPS Chair James K. Galbraith was joined by Directors and Trustees in calling for Secretary of State Rice to act to secure the release of our professional colleague, Dr Berhanu Nega, a detainee of the Ethiopian government. The following letter was sent to the New York Times expressing our concern and support for Dr. Nega.

"Tomorrow, February 23, the trial of opposition leaders accused of treason is set to begin in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Among the jailed leaders is Berhanu Nega. Dr. Nega received a PhD in Economics from the New School for Social Research in 1991. Since his return to Ethiopia, he has taught pro bono at the Addis Ababa University Economics Department. He has also served as president of the Ethiopian Economic Association, founded the Ethiopian Economic Policy Research Institute, and serves as a consultant for the UN Economic Commission for Africa. He is also the vice-chair of the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD).

"Dr. Nega was arrested after over a million Ethiopian citizens took to the streets to protest the government's interference with the national elections last year. The CUD accuse the government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of paying lip service to free and open elections while at the same time spreading rumors that the CUD supports genocide, detaining poll watchers, and declaring a re-election victory with only half of the votes counted. Dr. Nega believes that had all the votes been fairly counted the CUD candidates would have had significant victories. He wrote:

"For the first time in our ancient history, we Ethiopians have voted our conscience. Our people have played their part with courage and discipline. They deserve the opportunity to build a genuine democratic political system. That is their only guarantee to live in peace and to achieve prosperity.

"For holding these beliefs, he now faces execution.

"On behalf of the Board and Trustees of Economists for Peace and Security, an organization of professional economists in the United States and worldwide, I have written to Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice to ask that she act to secure the release of our professional colleague, Dr Berhanu Nega. This case has all the attributes of an act of political repression, on which the United States cannot and must not remain silent. We have urged her to deploy all resources at her disposal, to see that Dr. Nega and his associates are released."

Signed: James K. Galbraith
Clark Abt
George A. Akerlof
Kenneth J. Arrow
William J. Baumol
Andrew F. Brimmer
Michael D. Intriligator
Richard F. Kaufman
Lawrence R. Klein
Robert J. Schwartz
Lucy Law Webster

In his article, Withdrawal Symptoms, published in the March/April issue of Mother Jones, EPS chair James K. Galbraith says quitting Iraq won't undo the real damage of the war.

"Bush and Cheney have done more than merely bungle a war and damage the Army. They have destroyed the foundation of the post-Cold War world security system, which was the accepted authority of American military power. That reputation is now gone. It cannot be restored simply by retreating from Iraq. This does not mean that every ongoing alliance will now collapse. But they are all more vulnerable than they were before, and once we leave central Iraq, they will be weaker still. As these paper tigers start to blow in the wind, so too will America’s economic security erode."

http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/columns/2006/03/withdrawal_symptoms-3.html

In Drain America First, published on tompaine.com, Joseph Stiglitz addresses America's energy policy. He writes, "There is a market failure when it comes to energy... The fact that Americans do not pay the full price for the pollution—especially enormous contributions to greenhouse gases—that results from their profligate energy use means that energy is under-priced, in turn sustaining excessive consumption.

"What, then, to make of Bush’s recent declaration of a commitment to make America 75% free of dependence on Middle East oil within 25 years? For investors, the message is clear: do not invest more in developing reserves in the Middle East, which is by far the lowest-cost source of oil in the world...The Bush administration must realize that oil trades on a global market. Even if America were 100 percent independent of Middle East oil, a reduction in supply of Middle East oil could have devastating effects on the world price—and on the American economy."

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2006/03/10/drain_america_first.php

Call for Papers: EPS is putting together a session for next year's AEA meeting (January 5-7, 2007 in Chicago) on "Women and War." We would like to invite persons interested in presenting a paper to submit an abstract. Possible topics might include:

• The Lead-up to Conflict - Women’s Roles;
• Correspondence between Gender Inequality and Tendency towards Militarism;
• Status of Women in the Military;
• Military Service – Pressures? Barriers to Entry?
• Conscription – as Soldiers? as Sex Workers and “Support Staff?”
• Providing for Children during War;
• Economics of Sexual Violence;
• Peace Processes including Women’s Voices;
• Post-conflict Economic Reconstruction;
• Re-integration of Soldiers into Society.

Papers on other related topics are welcome. Please send a title and abstract as soon as possible and before April 30, 2006 to Thea Harvey (theaharvey@epsusa.org).

Please feel free to forward this call for papers to other lists you may be a member of, whose members might be interested in submitting a paper.

Call for Papers: Tenth Annual Conference on Economics and Security. Thessaloniki, Greece, June 22 - 24, 2006.

Offers of papers are invited for a conference sponsored by Economists for Peace and Security (EPS-UK), the Arms Production and Trade Group, the University of the West of England, CITY Liberal Studies - Affiliated Institution of the University of Sheffield, and SEERC (South East European Research Center), Thessaloniki, Greece. The conference will have plenary sessions with keynote speakers plus specialist workshop streams.

Proposed topics include:

• Security in the Balkan Region;
• European Security;
• Globalization and the Restructuring of the MIC;
• Militarism and Development;
• Economics of Conflict and Post-conflict Reconstruction;
• Economics of the Arms Trade;
• Procurement and Offsets;
• Arms Races, Offsets and Alliances;
• Peace Science;
• Conversion and Demilitarization;
• Terrorism.

Offers of papers on other related topics are welcome.

The deadline for submission of papers has been extended to March 27. Registration for the conference must be made by April 10. Please contact: Dr. Eftychia Nikolaidou, Business Administration & Economics Department, CITY College, Affiliated College of the University of Sheffield, 2 Kalapothaki St., 546 24, Thessaloniki, Greece. Tel. (+30) 2310 224026; Fax. (+30) 2310 22406; email: enikolaidou@city.academic.gr

To keep up with developments see: http://www.city.academic.gr/special/events/economics_and_security/index.htm or http://carecon.org.uk/Conferences/conferences.php

In late February the Administration submitted to Congress another $92.2 billion request for supplemental funding.

For a good analysis of where that money is going, see this article by the Strauss Military Reform Project. (Hint: it's not all going to Iraq.) http://www.cdi.org/program/document.cfm?DocumentID=3355&from_page=../index.cfm

With this interactive map, the National Priorities Project analyzes the request and what it means to taxpayers in your state.
http://nationalpriorities.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=192&Itemid=61

The War Resisters League explains "Where Your Income Tax Money Really Goes" and what's wrong with the way the government tells the story in this pie chart fact sheet.

http://www.warresisters.org/piechart.htm

The Project on Defense Alternatives offers new resources to delve deeply into two very current issues:

Insurgent Iraq: Links to full-text online articles and reports about the Iraqi insurgency, a PDA compilation, March 2006. What are the nature, history, and organization of the Iraqi insurgency? Who are the insurgents? This guide links to essential full-text online articles and reports regarding the insurgency. http://www.comw.org/pda/0603insurgency.html

The Evolving India-US Strategic Relationship, a PDA compilation edited by Bipasha Ray, March 2006. Collection of links to articles, analyses, commentaries, official reports, congressional testimonies and lectures exploring the evolving strategic relationship between the US and India. http://www.comw.org/pda/0603india.html

Although required by law to report to Congress each year, on March 16 the Bush Administration released its first National Security Strategy report since 2002.

The document calls for America to strengthen alliances to defeat global terrorism; ignite a new era of global economic growth through free markets and free trade; expand open societies and build democracies; and transform America's national security institutions to meet the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century.

To read the report, go to http://www.whitehouse.gov/nsc/nss/2006/nss2006.pdf

In this open letter, Representative Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) proposes a budget based on common sense and says, "We can repair our threadbare social safety net without a single tax increase or one additional dime in federal spending."

Ms. Woolsey says, "[T]oday, I'm joining my fellow Congressional Progressive Caucus co-chair Barbara Lee in introducing the Common Sense Budget Act (CSBA), which would divert $60 billion of unnecessary Pentagon spending to under-funded domestic priorities. Among the cuts: $7 billion from the National Missile Defense Program and $13 billion to reduce the American nuclear arsenal to 1,000 warheads.

"These obsolete Pentagon expenditures have been identified by a team of military experts led by defense scholar Lawrence Korb, whose knows a thing or two about what and how the Pentagon spends -- he was President Reagan's assistant secretary of defense for Manpower, Installation and Logistics.

"The $60 billion would be reallocated as follows:

• Children's Health Care: $10 billion annually to provide health care coverage for the millions of uninsured American children.
• School Reconstruction: $10 billion over 12 years to rebuild and modernize every public K-12 school in the country.
• Job Training: $5 billion per year to retrain 250,000 Americans who have lost their jobs because of foreign trade.
• Energy Independence: $10 billion each year to kick the imported oil habit by investing in efficient, renewable energy sources.
• Homeland Security: $5 billion a year to make up for funding shortfalls in emergency preparedness, infrastructure upgrades and grants for first responders.
• Medical Research: $2 billion a year to restore recent cuts to the National Institutes of Health budget.
• Global Hunger: $13 billion a year in humanitarian assistance that allows poor nations to feed 6 million children who are at risk of dying from starvation every year.
• Deficit Reduction: $5 billion devoted to putting a dent, however small, in the $8.2 trillion national debt.

"We can do all that, without a single tax increase or one additional dime in federal spending. And the right wing can save the demagoguery about patriotism and supporting the troops -- this legislation doesn't touch outlays for the war in Iraq or the so-called war on terrorism. Those are funded separately through a supplemental appropriations process. We're simply talking about diverting that fraction of our overall defense spending that is doing nothing to defend us."

Read the entire letter at http://www.alternet.org/story/33241/. See below for how to encourage your Congressional representative to support this legislation.

The Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) estimates the US spent $783 billion in FY05 for past and present military activities. This includes funding for the Defense Department, Energy Department nuclear weapons programs, military-related activities of other agencies, foreign military financing and training, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, mandatory spending for military retirement and health care, veterans programs ($69 billion), and the estimated portion of interest paid on the national debt which can be attributed to past wars and military spending ($170 billion).

For more information on how they arrived at this number, visit http://www.fcnl.org/redir/0606budget/

Gilbert Cranberg, writing for USA Today, finds Lessons for US in the Iraqi Constitution. "Nobel economics laureate Prof. Joseph Stiglitz of Columbia University calculates that, when all of the costs of the Iraq intervention are tallied, the bill for US taxpayers could total $2 trillion over the next decade. $2,000,000,000,000!

"To add insult to that fiscal injury, if all goes as intended, Iraqis could be better off in a number of significant respects than the Americans who foot the bill. The US Constitution guarantees Americans fundamental political rights. The same rights are written into the new Iraqi constitution. But when Iraqis drew up the document, they wanted more than a guarantee of political rights, so they enumerated also a generous flock of economic rights. Among them:

• A right to 'work ... for all Iraqis in a way that guarantees a dignified life for them.'
• Government guarantees of 'social and health security, the basic requirements for living a free and decent life, and shall secure for (individuals and families) suitable income and appropriate housing ... (and) work to protect them from ignorance, fear and poverty.'
• 'Every citizen has the right to health care. The State shall maintain public health and provide the means of prevention and treatment by building different types of hospitals and health institutions.'
• 'Low-income earners shall be exempted from taxes in a way that guarantees the preservation of the minimum income required for living.'
• 'Free education in all its stages is a right for Iraqis.'
• 'Every individual has the right to live in safe environmental conditions; The State shall undertake the protection and preservation of the environment and its biological diversity.'
• 'The State shall guarantee the protection of motherhood, childhood and old age, shall care for children and ... provide them with the appropriate conditions to develop their talents and abilities.'

"It would be supremely ironic if an unintended consequence of the Iraq war is an interest in borrowing from the Iraqi constitution, which the Bush administration has been so keen to tout," he concludes.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2006-03-07-iraq-constitution-lessons_x.htm

"The fact of the matter is that the majority of the country has already decided that the war in Iraq has become too costly. Americans have rejected the prospect of funding a massive and prolonged occupation. In that sense, we have already tipped.

"Questions about the price of war keep resurfacing not because there's a credible argument for most Americans that the price is reasonable, but because our elected officials thus far have only pushed those costs ever higher. What remains, then, is for the public to hold accountable those who would carry forward the neoconservative crusade -- to make their stance a costly one in public life. What remains is for us bring the political price of war into line with the human and financial costs that we will continue to bear."

So writes Mark Engler on Alternet.com http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/32751/

Can unified Iraq be more than the sum of its parts? asks Cragg Hines in a recent article in the Houston Chronicle.

"A sadly ironic upshot of the war in Iraq would be a return to the status quo ante bellum. And I don't mean the ante bellum of three years ago this coming Monday, when US-led forces invaded to oust Saddam Hussein. More like the ante bellum of 1914, as World War I began and the Ottoman Empire made the disastrous miscalculation of sticking with a secret agreement and joining the Central Powers.

"Adios, Ottoman Empire and its reign over liege provinces by the waters of Babylon. Hello, Iraq, a new country slapped together largely by the British and ruled initially by Winston Churchill's handpicked king. So sorry about Woodrow Wilson's promise of an independent Kurdistan. So sorry about the Treaty of Sevres and the contradictory Treaty of Lausanne and all that other chaotic post-World War I diplomacy that bears on current conflicts yet is skimmed over in glossy survey courses."

The question on many people's minds is whether the best solution would be to divide Iraq into three loosely (if at all) confederated territories.

"Iraq would not fracture neatly into three pieces but "into hundreds of pieces," said James Phillips, a Middle East specialist with the Heritage Foundation. "This would be a formula for unending instability." Especially the big cities — Baghdad, Mosul and Basra — are "completely mixed populations," said Joost Hiltermann of the human rights organization Crisis Group.

"Phillips predicted that because of the "complex mosaic" of ethnic and sectarian settlement patterns that a division of Iraq would engender "ethnic cleansing" that would make the bloody massacres in post-partition India and Pakistan pale in comparison."

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/hines/3724105.html

The 10th biennial conference of the International Association for the Study of Forced Migration has extended its deadline for submitting an abstract in response to the Call for Papers to April 15, 2006. http://www.iasfm10.org

"Small arms in the hands of ill-disciplined civilians and armed groups are a primary threat to development and humanitarian assistance, limiting access to beneficiaries and resulting in the suspension of operations and projects," says a recent report by The Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue and the Small Arms Survey. No Relief gathered information from more than 2,000 workers in 96 countries about how the misuse of small arms affects humanitarian and development agency staff and their beneficiaries. The study represents the largest victimisation survey of humanitarian and development workers ever undertaken.

http://www.id21.org/society/s10brm1g5.html

As reported in the last two issues of NewsNotes, violence in the oil producing regions of Nigeria has been increasing in recent months. Now there is some discussion that American troops may be needed to control the insurgency. In this article from AlterNet, G. Pascal Zachary asks, "Nigeria: The Next Quagmire?" and says, "If US troops go to Africa, it won't be for a humanitarian intervention; it will be to protect American oil interests.

"Nigeria is already one of the top-five largest exporters of oil to the United States, and the country's oil-producing region, the Niger Delta, is beset with insurgencies and criminality, some of which is directed by factions in Nigeria's own government. Chevron and Shell, the two largest foreign oil companies operating in the Niger Delta, are targets of citizen rage, not the least because Nigeria's government has ignored social needs and political protest in the region for many years. Tensions are high, and disorder threatens to engulf the region. As the Council on Foreign Relations, a leading foreign policy group, observes in a new report, 'The suppression of dissent in the [Niger] Delta, together with armed violence and the existence of armed militias, makes for a potentially explosive combination.'

"'There's widespread fear among local people in the Niger Delta that the US government is preparing a military strike force to attack insurgents and release kidnapped oil workers,' notes Ike Okonta, a research fellow at the Department of Politics and International Relations at Oxford University."

http://www.alternet.org/story/33282/

Oxfam says the UK has failed to act on its promises to secure an international arms trade treaty that would close loopholes in the law relating to the sale of weapons to countries with poor human rights records. It says that armored personnel carriers were sold to Uganda by a South African subsidiary of the UK firm BAE Systems. These vehicles were used to quell demonstrations and disperse opposition supporters as recently as 10 days ago, it says.

The British High Commission in Uganda say they are studying the Oxfam report carefully and take seriously any allegations of human rights abuse. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4762386.stm

In a related report, presented to the UN Security Council on March 16, Oxfam details how UN arms embargoes are systematically violated and must be urgently strengthened if they are to stop weapons fuelling human rights abuses. According to the Control Arms Campaign every one of the 13 UN arms embargoes imposed in the last decade has been repeatedly violated. And despite hundreds of embargo breakers being named in UN reports, only a handful has been successfully prosecuted. http://www.oxfam.org/en/news/pressreleases2006/pr060316_arms

Call for Papers: the annual Jan Tinbergen European Peace Science Conference will take place June 26 - 28, 2006 in Amsterdam at the Tinbergen Institute; the address is Roeterstraat 31, 1018 WB Amsterdam. Registration fee will be €50.

At the conference there will be continuing emphasis on research methods in peace science,
but also regular papers dealing with all aspects of the peace science field, from pure abstract theory to practical applied research will be accepted. Topics in previous years have included:

• Arms Control and International Security;
• Deterrence Theory;
• Harmony and Conflict;
• Cooperation, Alliances and Games;
• Game and Related Theory;
• Mathematical Approaches to Conflict Management;
• Mathematical Models of Arms Races and Wars;
• Empirical and Historical Studies on the Causes of War;
• Crises and War Studies;
• World Models;
• Critical Economic Aspects of the Global Crises;
• Long-Run Aspects of the Behavior of International Systems;
• Peace Science Methodology and Theory;
• Conflict Analysis and Management;
• Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Studies;
• Behavioral Studies;
• Hierarchy Theory.

The papers that will be presented can be considered for publication in Conflict Management
and Peace Science, Peace Economics, Peace Science and Public Policy, The Journal of
Conflict Resolution, and International Interactions.

Proposals received after February 1, 2006 will be considered if any presentation slots are still available. Those who are interested in participating should contact Walter Isard (wi11@cornell.edu), Johan Moyersoen (johan.moyersoen@geog.ox.ac.uk) or Desirée Nilsson (desiree.nilsson@pcr.uu.se)

April 4, 2006, 1:00pm - 7:30pm. The Washington Chapter of the Society for International Development will host its Seventh Annual Career Conference. The conference includes: a Plenary Panel featuring Senior Executives discussing career opportunities and major future trends in the field of international development; small breakout discussions for mid-career and entry-level professionals; an Exhibitors’ Fair where attendees may meet and network with potential employers; networking reception and informal discussion with senior recruiters.

http://www.sidw.org/events/2006careerconference

The Congressional Research Service is searching for a Defense Acquisition Policy Analyst. Duties include preparing objective, non-partisan analytical studies and descriptive and background reports on issues of national or international significance; providing personal consultation and assistance to congressional committees, Members of Congress, and staff on public policy issues throughout the legislative process; and participating in or leading team research projects and seminars. The employee is also expected to develop over time the skills necessary to provide public policy and legislative analysis and consultation to congressional committees, Members of Congress, and staff at increasingly sophisticated levels.

See http://jsearch.usajobs.opm.gov/getjob.asp?JobId=40489292 for more information about this position or contact Shaunetta Workman at CRS (202.707.6324; sworkman@crs.loc.gov).

The European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI) announces the 2006 prize for excellence in development research. The EADI prize, worth €1 000, will be awarded for an essay on an issue of development studies in any field of the social sciences submitted and written by a postgraduate student from an EADI member country or attending a program at an institutional member of the Association.

Deadline for entries is May 31, 2006. For further information please contact: postmaster@eadi.org or visit http://www.eadi.org

PRIZES - 1st Place: $2,000; 2nd Place: $1,000; 3rd Place: $500.

FLASH CONTEST THEME: AMERICA’S ROLE IN THE WORLD
Answer this question: Why do global problems matter to Americans and what do you think America should do about them?

Americans get mostly bad news every day about the rest of the world, given the media’s heavy emphasis on wars, conflicts, and humanitarian and natural disasters and the lack of emphasis on solutions. It can seem that global problems are too scary, too big and too numerous to handle. Well, there’s plenty of blame being thrown around for what isn’t working, but no one seems to have a positive vision of what can be done.

You have a chance to inspire listeners with your vision of how America can work with other countries to make the world safer and better!

Submission deadline is April 1, 2006. To register your movie, go to http://advocacy.globalsolutions.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Flash_Contest_2006

The Institute for Economic Analysis, directed by long-time EPS member John Atlee, is looking for a Research Associate in Macroeconomic Analysis and Policy. IEA's Basic Purpose is to develop more effective monetary, fiscal and other analytical and policy tools for macro-managing the economy for stable full-employment growth. They use an innovative conceptual framework that makes macroeconomics a more credible science - and that is also easier to learn and teach.

More information about the Institute and the job opening at http://www.iea-macro-economics.org

Accepted participants will be provided free room and board and a travel stipend of up to $250. Applicants should send a current resume and a short letter of interest by April 28, 2006, to Martha Baldwin, Program Coordinator, Rohatyn Center for International Affairs Middlebury College (rcfia@middlebury.edu). E-mail applications only, please. All applicants will be notified no later than May 5, 2006.

Palgrave Macmillan is a global publisher of academic books in economics. Book proposals are welcome; they are particularly interested in developing a library of monographs - short books of approximately 150 pages. Submissions should be sent to:

Aaron Javsicas
Editor
Palgrave Macmillan
175 5th Avenue
New York, NY 10010
aaron.javsicas@palgrave-usa.com

http://www.palgrave-usa.com

The journal is aimed at non-specialist readers, including policy analysts, policy and decision makers, national and international civil servants, members of the armed forces and of peacekeeping services, the business community, members of non-governmental organizations and religious institutions, and others. Contributions are scholarly-based, but written in a general-interest style.

Issues of the journal generally are theme-based and contributions are by invitation only; however, readers are invited to write to the Managing Editor (managingeditor@epsjournal.org.uk) with proposals for a theme or a specific contribution. Short letters of less than 500 words commenting on the published pieces are welcome. Please write to us at editors@epsjournal.org.uk.

The first issue is based on the ECAAR Review 2003, "Conflict or Development" (http://www.epsjournal.org.uk/Vol1/No1/issue.php). It is offered free of charge as an introduction to the journal. Future topics will include:

• Peacemaking and Peacekeeping - Jurgen Brauer and J. Paul Dunne, eds.
• Military, Civilian and Commercial Uses of Outer Space - Vasilis Zervos and Jurgen Brauer, eds.
• Arms Trade and Industry - Sam Perlo-Freeman and J. Paul Dunne, eds.

Annual subscription rates for future issues are as follows:

• Standard £22/$40/€34;
• EPS members £16/$30/E€25;
• Unwaged/Developing countries £11/$20/E€17;
• Institutional £55/$100/E€85.
  

The ECAAR Review 2003: Conflict or Development? This edition has a regional focus on Africa, the site of most of the world's current armed conflicts. In its pages some of the leading economists of the day analyze and reflect on the relationships among military spending, domestic and foreign policy, security, and human welfare. Features include country studies, sections on business and conflict, and “Trends in World Military Expenditure.” Written in clear English, with informative maps, tables, and graphs, the series is designed to inform the debate among policymakers, activists, journalists, academics, students, and citizens worldwide.

To order the Review, please email Thea Harvey (theaharvey@epsusa.org).

The Review can be a valuable tool in teaching economics, political science, and international relations courses. If you are interested in teaching this book, please contact Thea Harvey (theaharvey@epsusa.org) for a copy to review.

Data Resource webpage offers links to data sources for:

• International military expenditure and conflict indicators;
• US military expenditure and capabilities;
• Western Europe;
• Russia.

http://www.epsusa.org/network/data.htm. If you know of a data source that you feel should be added to our list, please contact our webmaster, Kate Cell, at katecell@epsusa.org

With little fanfare -- well actually none insofar as I could tell -- Representative Joseph Knollenberg (MI) introduced House Resolution 698 on February 28. The bottom line -- the "Resolved" paragraph -- reads:

"That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that all Americans should participate in a moment of silence to reflect upon the service and sacrifice of members of the United States Armed Forces both at home and abroad." The date and the time recommended in HRES 698 for the moment of silence is 12:00 noon on March 26, which would be designated "National Support the Troops Day."

Surely the U.S. public can spare a minute this Sunday (March 19) and another minute the next (March 26) to reflect on the wars and on all those touched by the wars:

• the estimated 400,000-500,000 who have served in the Persian Gulf war zones -- an average of .0003-.0002 seconds of thought about each person; or
• the 30,000 to 80,000 Iraqi dead -- an average of .004-.0015 seconds of thought about each; or
• the more than 20,000 U.S. injured or wounded -- an average of .006 seconds per; or
  the nearly 2,600 U.S. military dead -- an average of .046 seconds.

Compared to what the president asked of the country -- go shopping -- 120 seconds is not much of a sacrifice.

Dan Smith is a military affairs analyst for Foreign Policy In Focus (online at www.fpif.org), a retired U.S. Army colonel, and a senior fellow on military affairs at the Friends Committee on National Legislation.

In an open letter Representative Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) proposes a budget based on common sense and says, "We can repair our threadbare social safety net without a single tax increase or one additional dime in federal spending."

Ms. Woolsey says, "[T]oday, I'm joining my fellow Congressional Progressive Caucus co-chair Barbara Lee in introducing the Common Sense Budget Act (http://www.sensiblepriorities.org/csba/), which would divert $60 billion of unnecessary Pentagon spending to underfunded domestic priorities. Among the cuts: $7 billion from the National Missile Defense Program and $13 billion to reduce the American nuclear arsenal to 1,000 warheads.

"These obsolete Pentagon expenditures have been identified by a team of military experts led by defense scholar Lawrence Korb, whose knows a thing or two about what and how the Pentagon spends -- he was President Reagan's assistant secretary of defense for Manpower, Installation and Logistics.

"The $60 billion would be reallocated as follows:

• Children's Health Care: $10 billion annually to provide health care coverage for the millions of uninsured American children.
• School Reconstruction: $10 billion over 12 years to rebuild and modernize every public K-12 school in the country.
• Job Training: $5 billion per year to retrain 250,000 Americans who have lost their jobs because of foreign trade.
• Energy Independence: $10 billion each year to kick the imported oil habit by investing in efficient, renewable energy sources.
• Homeland Security: $5 billion a year to make up for funding shortfalls in emergency preparedness, infrastructure upgrades and grants for first responders.
• Medical Research: $2 billion a year to restore recent cuts to the National Institutes of Health budget.
• Global Hunger: $13 billion a year in humanitarian assistance that allows poor nations to feed 6 million children who are at risk of dying from starvation every year.
• Deficit Reduction: $5 billion devoted to putting a dent, however small, in the $8.2 trillion national debt.

"We can do all that, without a single tax increase or one additional dime in federal spending. And the right wing can save the demagoguery about patriotism and supporting the troops -- this legislation doesn't touch outlays for the war in Iraq or the so-called war on terrorism. Those are funded separately through a supplemental appropriations process. We're simply talking about diverting that fraction of our overall defense spending that is doing nothing to defend us."

Read Ms. Woolsey's letter at http://www.alternet.org/story/33241/.

For a summary and more information on the bill go to http://www.sensiblepriorities.org/csba/factsheet.php

To find out whether your Representative has endorsed the bill, and to sign a petition in support visit: http://action.truemajority.org/campaign/commonsense_budget/

To contact your Representative go to: http://www.congress.org/congressorg/home/

Anyone who would be willing to put an EPS flyer up on a departmental bulletin board or similar venue, please contact Thea Harvey at theaharvey@epsusa.org.

March 20, 2006, 6:30pm. The New America Foundation's American Strategy Program present the Washington premier screening of the award-winning documentary Our Brand is Crisis http://www.filmforum.org/films/ourbrand.html directed by Rachel Boynton. The screening will take place on Monday, March 20 at the E Street Cinema at 555 11th Street NW, Washington DC (between 10th and 11th Streets ­ Entrance on E Street). A brief discussion with the director will follow the screening.

Please RSVP to clemons@newamerica.net if you can attend.  Seating will be tightly limited. If you are doubtful about attending, DO NOT RSVP AFFIRMATIVELY.

April 4, 2006, 1:00pm - 7:30pm. The Washington Chapter of the Society for International Development will host its Seventh Annual Career Conference. The conference includes: a Plenary Panel featuring Senior Executives discussing career opportunities and major future trends in the field of international development; small breakout discussions for mid-career and entry-level professionals; an Exhibitors’ Fair where attendees may meet and network with potential employers; networking reception and informal discussion with senior recruiters.
http://www.sidw.org/events/2006careerconference

Your contribution will fund grassroots initiatives to rebuild the communities and lives left struggling in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. For booking and details contact Armin at 917-367-3153, Mark at 212-963-3465, or Anne-Marie at 212-963-9676. You may get up to date information on the concert and on the reconstruction projects at http://360.yahoo.com/unneworleansconcert

Please book early, especially for group seating, as seats are limited.

The Conference will gather over 150 decision-makers as well as leading governmental and nongovernmental experts from the G8 states, China, India, Brazil, South Africa, Malaysia, Iran, non-G8 countries that joined the G8 Global Partnership program, as well as representatives of Russian and foreign business and organizations, dealing with security issues, including GP practitioners.

The conference is held in coordination with the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation. We also enjoy active cooperation of such Russian governmental structures as the National Security Council, and the Federal Agency of Atomic Energy.

More information about the conference and registration forms can be found at: http://g8conference.pircenter.org/eng

May 29 - 30, 2006. Annual Bank Conference on Development Economics in Tokyo, Japan. Conference theme: “Infrastructure for Development for the New Era.” The conference will consist of several major topics relating to infrastructure and growth, climate change, energy efficiency, rural development, agriculture and the implications for regional cooperation.
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/EXTDEC/EXTDECABCTOK2006/0,,
menuPK:1869561~pagePK:64168427~piPK:64168435~theSitePK:1869548,00.html

June 22 - 24, 2006. Tenth Annual Conference on Economics and Security. Thessaloniki, Greece. Conference sponsored by Economists for Peace and Security (EPS-UK), the Arms Production and Trade Group, the University of the West of England, CITY Liberal Studies - Affiliated Institution of the University of Sheffield, and SEERC (South East European Research Center), Thessaloniki, Greece. See above for call for papers. To keep up with developments see: http://www.city.academic.gr/special/events/economics_and_security/index.htm or http://carecon.org.uk/Conferences/conferences.php

Early Bird discounts are available until April 30. Discounted fees are available for students, seniors or low-income people. You can register online at: http://zeus.maxintegration.net/events/fasttrack.aspx

June 26 - 30 and August 7 - 11, 2006. The Independent Institute in Oakland, California, presents a fascinating, five-day seminar on the workings of market forces and how they affect your life, for students from 9th grade through college age. "Liberty, Economy & Society" includes lectures on economic principles, their applications in history and current affairs, and plenty of classroom discussion to help you become more confident in communicating your social ideas and values.

The cost is $195. Space is limited, so early registration is encouraged. For more information, visit http://www.independent.org/students/seminars

Organizers: Stephanie Seguino (University of Vermont - Stephanie.Seguino@uvm.edu), Robert E. Prasch (Middlebury College - rprasch@middlebury.edu), and Mark Setterfield (Trinity College - mark.setterfield@trincoll.edu)

November 2 - 4, 2006. European Association for Evolutionary Political Economy (EAEPE) presents the 18th EAEPE Annual Conference - Developing Economies: Multiple Trajectories, Multiple Developments in Istanbul, Turkey.

Information about submitting papers is available at http://eaepe.org/eaepe.php?q=node/view/184 Deadline for submission is April 30.

General conference information is at http://eaepe.org/eaepe.php?q=node/view/182

If you have enjoyed this issue of EPS NewsNotes, or if you wish to support our mission, please consider making a donation to EPS. You can do so securely online through our website or by sending a check to:

Economists for Peace and Security
at the Levy Economics Institute
Box 5000
Annandale on Hudson, NY 12504
USA

If you have any questions call (845) 758-0917, or email info@epsusa.org

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