Resources for veterans.

Dr. Linda S. Schwartz, who is the Commissioner of the state Department of Veterans’ Affairs just sent me the "2008 Reference Guide for Connecticut Veterans, Active Duty, National Guard and Reserves".  I consider it a high priority, as the mission of the Department of Veterans Affairs says, “To Serve Those Who Have Served,” so I want to pass this information on.

The Commissioner said in her message that,

This guide contains the offices and telephone numbers for a variety of assistance and services for our veterans and their families.  It was originally designed to assist veterans and their families after deployment in Iraq and Afghanistan, but it has important information that is helpful to veterans from any era.

I have included the full Guide below.  If you or anyone you know would like a copy of this, feel free to e-mail me at tim@timobrien.org or call me at 225-1575.  If would be happy to mail or e-mail it.

 

 

 

  

Of course, always feel free to contact me if I can be of any assistance.

End of the 2008 legislative session

The 2008 session of the legislature ended this past Wednesday. Sorry that I have not been able to write any updates recently. Of course, while I was busy working on legislation, there was little time to break free to write on my blog.

So I wanted to start writing about some of the things that were accomplished - and some things that still need to be done in the future. Over the next days and weeks, I hope to post a number of articles with updates on the action at the Capitol.

The local cost of the War in Iraq.

Sorry that I have not had time to write on the blog recently. I have been very busy at the Capitol. When I have a moment, I will write more details about what has been happening.

In the meantime, here is some notable information. There has been a lot of discussion about the monetary cost of the War in Iraq. The cost is so staggering - with at least one estimate of $3,000,000,000,000 - that the numbers are hard to conceive. However, thanks to the National Priorities Project, we can see some local estimate of the money cost of the War.

For example, here is what the War in Iraq is expected to cost New Britain in the 2009 budget year:

Taxpayers in New Britain, Connecticut will pay $54.4 million for projected Iraq War Spending for FY 2009. For the same amount of money, the following could have been provided:

17,985 People with Health Care OR

67,211 Homes with Renewable Electricity OR

1,074 Public Safety Officers OR

729 Music and Arts Teachers OR

6,510 Scholarships for University Students OR

2 New Elementary Schools OR

261 Affordable Housing Units OR

20,900 Children with Health Care OR

7,556 Head Start Places for Children OR

751 Elementary School Teachers OR

662 Port Container Inspectors

Or, this same amount of money could be used to cut property taxes in half.