Tuesday, May 16, 2006

Money for war, not to help

Kudos to Stephen Lewis, the UN AIDS guy, who recently said

"I would like to throttle...those who've waited so unendurably long to act, those who can find infinite resources for war but never sufficient resources to ameliorate the human condition."

Exactly. Somehow random African dictatorships can always find the cash for war. Somehow Western Democracies can cut welfare or medicade or taxes, but have no problem financing armed conflict. That isn't to say that sometimes armed conflict needs to be paid for, but the fact it's effortless to find money for a new aircraft carrier or fighter jet and yet to make sure there are fewer poor people is a Herculanean struggle is sad. One day, schools will all have books and enough teachers and libraries, and the government will have a bake sale to buy a new tank.

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