CHARITY, WE CAN AFFORD IT 5 FEB 10

Listening to the Diane Rehm Show on WAMU this morning I was saddened by the callers that objected the amount of aid the U.S. government is providing to earthquake victims in Haiti. $100 million was pledged by Pres. Obama right after the quake, it is going to cost the Pentagon approx. $150 million so far for the troops and material we have sent there, and regular Americans have donated tens of millions of dollars in private donations to the Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders, Oxfam, UNICEF and other organizations providing relief. It shows we are a nation of compassion. Yet some callers stated we should not be spending this money in Haiti, we should be taking care of our own first. I disagree and agree. I believe our foreign aid budget, less than 2% of the toal budget, is money well spent and I do not begrudge anyone receiving humanitarian assistance from the U.S., paid for with my tax dollars. I do feel we could do more for our own, and we have the money to do for our own, if we would cut he Pentagon's budget, now more than 60% of the total budget. We would have a lot more to spend on job training and employment, healthcare, education, housing and food assistance if we were not paying out hundreds of millions of dollars to military contractors for "services" the military used to provide on their own at a fraction of the cost AND if we were not paying the hundreds of millions in cost and debt on George W Bush's illegal and immoral war in Iraq AND if we required the Pentagon to justify weapons systems and hold contractors accountable for cost over-runs and production delays that cost the taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. If anyone feels they have a complaint about the government not taking care of our own then their comments, and hopefully actions, will be directed at their Senators and Representative and the President to demand an end to business as usual with the military-industrial complex.