Imagine if we had not gone to war in Iraq. The current Congressionally appropriated amount for the war is over $356 billion. (This does not include non-appropriated future costs, such as medical expenses and military pensions, costs which have been calculated to exceed $1 trillion.)As of 2:00 PM on October 23, 2006, Congressionally Appropriated Costs = $336,530,765,110
The Virginia population: 7.567 million people 2005 census
Nationwide per capita cost= $1,122
VirginiaGÇÖs cost share: $8,490,174,000
How many one-year scholarships would this fund at UVA and Virginia Tech?
Approximate in-state tuition + room & board costs = $15,000 annually
This would have funded 56,611 one year full scholarships! Or over 14,000 four-year scholarships!
Thanks George W and George Allen.
Still- Consider that with the estimates I've seen ($32-billion) we could rebuild New Orleans 10 times with that money, instead of allowing it to become yet anther symbol of failure. We could have used the money to really secure our ports - and not just those in Virginia.
Coulda', woulda'. But with the right people in office, we soon will get back to doing what we need to do with taxpayers' money, instead of funding Dick and George and George's excellent adventure.
If Repubs want to accuse Dems of raising taxes--then we need to take the talk to what they are using OUR MONEY--which we pay willingly for important government services that keep us (relatively) healthy and educated--to fund a misadventure.
Its disgusting.
All the while sending a bunch of patriotic kids, people trying to earn a buck to go to college, to their deaths.
Over? What appears now to be a complete failure.
It just is making me sick. Every time I see a report of another person killed over there I just feel outrage.
Anyway - Phase in with Allen saying that little tidbit. Then move to the ticker and say - but instead he chose to use our tax payer money to fight an ill advised war that is costing Virginan's XXXX then go into the list that the ticker says about lost on the local basis
$9,115,786,359
Instead, we could have provided
441,913
students four-year scholarships at public universities.
See the cost in your community: Virginia
$9,115,790,221
Instead, we could have paid for
1,207,389
children to attend a year of Head Start.
The War In Iraq Costs
$9,115,794,586
Instead, we could have hired
157,977
additional public school teachers for one year.
etc, etc,
Then go into the ticker and the lost opportunities.
(take that you scary terroist......)
Just think how our highways could have been improved in Northern Virginia -- there the Assembly was arguing over about a billion dollars for a bunch of major improvements
I have sent it off to a couple of local papers
Maybe it's a good topic for some LTEs in your necks of the woods
Sorry no offense - just wonder if we can find a better outreach medium.
I'm more likely to respond intellectually to an LTE than some over-produced campaign ad
It also depends who is doing the letter writing. If someone who is known in the community writes the letter, people take notice. (When I've had LTEs published, people who know me comment on them to me -- so I know someone is reading them).