____________

Are you surprised by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's failure to stand up for peace and an end to the U.S. occupation and dismantling of Iraq? Are you concerned that a President Hillary Clinton might not be a pro-peace President, or might be unwilling to rule out U.S. military use of nuclear weapons? Are you stunned by Senator Joe Lieberman's recent call for an all-out U.S. air attack on Iran?

Did you know that each of these Democrats is partially funded by Lockheed-Martin's Political Action Committee?

The Center for Responsive Politics reports that Pelosi, Clinton, and Lieberman each received $10,000 in campaign contributions from Lockheed-Martin's PAC during the 2006 election cycle. (www.opensecrets.org/pacs/pacgot.asp)

According to CorpWatch.org, Bethesda, Maryland-based Lockheed-Martin "is the world's #1 military contractor as well as the world’s largest arms exporter. Lockheed Martin built the U-2 and the SR-71 Blackbird spy planes. Today they make F-16, F/A-22 jet fighter, Hellfire and Javelin missiles, as well as designing nuclear weapons." (www.corpwatch.org/article.php)

Check out the full list of the Lockheed-Martin PAC's campaign contributions for 2006, and you'll find many other Democrats listed as recipients, including Senators Robert Byrd (who received $10,000) and Dianne Feinstein ($5,000), Pennsylvania Representative John Murtha ($10,000), and Texas Representative Sheila Jackson-Lee ($2,000). The list is at www.opensecrets.org/pacs/pacgot.asp.

(One of the Democrats you won't find on the list is Ohio Representative and candidate for President Dennis Kucinich.)

The CorpWatch article goes on:

"Lockheed Martin spends more on lobbying Congress than any of its competitors, spending a whopping $9.7 million in 2002. Only General Electric and Philip Morris reported more lobbying expenses. ...Lockheed has also been able to exercise its influence in a larger way – in support of the invasion of Iraq. The company’s former vice-president Bruce Jackson chaired the Coalition for the Liberation of Iraq, a bipartisan group formed to promote Bush’s plan for war in Iraq. Bruce Jackson was also involved in corralling the support for the war from Eastern European countries, going so far as helping to write their letter of endorsement for military intervention. Not surprisingly, Lockheed also has business relations with these countries. In 2003 Poland shelled out $3.5 billion for 48 F-16 fighter planes, which it was able to buy with a $3.8 billion loan from the US."

Bruce Jackson is also a member of the Board of Directors of the neocon Project for the New American Century. See his bio at www.newamericancentury.org/brucejacksonbio.htmtop.

Moving beyond Lockheed, what about campaign contributions from within the "Defense" Industry in general? The Center for Responsive Politics lists Hillary Clinton, Dianne Feinstein, Joe Lieberman, and John Murtha among the top twenty recipients in the 2006 cycle. (www.opensecrets.org/industries/recips.asp)

The Center also reports that while the $10,000 from Lockheed-Martin's PAC was among Nancy Pelosi's largest campaign contributions, Pelosi's single largest source of contributions ($17,000) were PACs and/or individuals associated with Occidental Petroleum. (www.opensecrets.org/politicians/contrib.asp)

What to do?

If just 10,000 San Franciscans gave a dollar apiece to Nancy Pelosi, they could buy out Lockheed-Martin's investment in their Representative. Another 17,000 San Franciscans' dollars could buy out Occidental Petroleum's investment.

Maybe then Speaker Pelosi would be more inclined to simply stop allowing war-funding bills to come up for a vote in the House of Representatives. As Dennis Kucinich has pointed out, the Speaker does have that power; power to declare peace, and bring the troops and the contractors home for good.

Are your own Congresspersons due for a citizen buyout? You may find some clues at www.opensecrets.org.

And if you want to see if your Congresspersons are more or less inclined toward peace than Pelosi, or Hillary, or Lieberman, check out their voting record "scorecard" at www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizations/PeaceMajority/scorecard/