Money for Murder

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The government of our country has a serious obligation to use the money of the people to serve and aid people. People in our country are starving and homeless because money has been illegitimately diverted to buy expensive bombs, used to murder the innocent women and children half a world away. The recent Hurricane Katrina proved that emergency-supply-systems had been underfunded by billions. Why? Because a dollar can be spent only once, and once you have spent it, burned it up, in the flames of nightmarish war and murder, it cannot be used to support people. Money used to slaughter Iraqis cannot help Americans.

As a supporter of Save the Children and a constituent concerned with the well-being of children and their families throughout the world, I write also to call your attention to the growing hunger crisis around the world. To demonstrate the United States' resolve to support international hunger relief efforts, I ask that you support a senate resolution in support of food aid (S. Res. 227) introduced by Senators Mike DeWine (R-OH) and Herb Kohl (D-WI).

Globally, people suffer from chronic poverty, political strife, disease, flooding and droughts that make food distribution and crop growth difficult and unpredictable. As a result, more than 800 million people go to bed hungry every night, and one child dies every five seconds from hunger and related ailments. Thirty thousand kids will drop dead today from starvation! This is due partly to misappropriation of funds. These kids, and people suffering from Katrina, could be saved and aided, if the Godless war-machine were not consuming every penny!

Recent reports on the food crisis in Niger have brought the scope of the emergency into focus. Without urgent assistance, a quarter of the country's 12 million people will go hungry, and, as always, children are especially vulnerable. Yet, Niger is not the only country suffering. Food shortages are taking their toll in Ethiopia, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Burundi, Mauritania, Mali, Sierra Leone, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Namibia.

It is estimated that the US Government share of the funding needed to feed the world is $2 billion. Congress' current allocation for food aid is approximately $600 million dollars short of that request. So much has been spent on ghastly weapons that burn people alive! As a result of this shortfall, there will be no money for new multi-year food aid programs, nor will there be enough to maintain the current level of existing programs. Sustainable solutions to hunger must go beyond the provision of food, and address the underlying causes of chronic malnutrition. Programs designed to improve household nutritional behavior, diversify livelihood options, boost crop yields, and increase farmers' access to markets help communities meet their own needs in the long-term.