It's all a matter of priorities, isn't it?

OK, what's fucked up with this picture? There's this:

The U.S. Senate voted Friday to give U.S. President George W. Bush $50-billion more for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and U.S. military efforts against terrorism, money that would push total spending for the operations beyond $350-billion.

Then there's this:

And so it went on the floor of the United States Senate last Friday as those perennially heartless – but almost always smiling – Senate Republicans voted to gut the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) program...

By a vote of 53-39 and without a single Republican voting in favor, Democratic Senator Tom Harkin's CSBG-related amendment to a continuing resolution (to fund the government for the next seven weeks) was shot down on the Senate floor.

And how much money are we talking about?

Without Senate approval of Harkin's amendment, the House-passed bill for 2006 reduces CSBG spending to $320 million, half the $637 million level approved for 2005.

$320 million. That's less than one per cent of what was approved for war. Take the time to let that soak in.