Kosher Eucharist / יוקאריסט כשר

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Defying President Bush, the Democratic-led Senate turned back a Republican attempt to remove a call for U.S. withdrawal from Iraq from a $124 billion war-spending bill, Tuseday… The $124 billion appropriation comes on top of $70 billion already approved for this year and would drive the price tag for the now-unpopular war past the half-trillion-dollar mark. The Pentagon says it would have to start diverting funds from other programs to Iraq unless it passes by mid-April. (My emphasis.)

The GDP of Israel is $114.3 billion.

New Zealand’s is $94.6 billion.

The GDP of Swaziland, the country with the highest per capita HIV infection rate (38.8%!), according to the CIA Factbook: $2.12 billion.

If you bought condoms out of a machine in a truck stop bathroom for $.75 apiece, this would be enough money to buy every single person in sub-Saharan Africa a condom to use each day of the year, and still easily have enough to buy yourself and your friends IHOP after dropping the rubbers off.

I’m not saying anything, except that if we as a nation are going to spend money like we’re printing it in the basement, we should spend it on AIDS prevention instead of trying to mitigate a civil war in some Arab pisspot.

But other than that, I’m not saying anything.