At Least We're Not Latvia

Save the Children recently reported that among developed nations, the United States ranks among the worst when it comes to infant mortality. American children are three times more likely to die in the first month than Japanese children. Newborn mortality is 2.5 times higher here than Norway, Iceland and Finland.

So let me get this straight.

The United States, whose Gross Domestic Product is more than the next four countries combined (for the record, that's Japan, Germany, China and the United Kingdom), has more trouble saving their children than Estonia and Lithuania.

The United States, who has a defense budget of more than $368 billion, cannot defend their own babies from death.

Incidentally, the Department of Health and Human Services in 2006 has a budget of $67.2 billion, which is a decrease of one percent from last year. That is roughly $225 per person. I've spent more than that on dinner.

By contrast, we spend over $1,230 per person in defense, which, as we know, has consisted of killing people in Iraq who have never attacked the United States. So we spent about 5 1/2 times more money killing people than we did saving them.

How is this justified? How is this "American"?

When conservative pundits like Sean Hannity claim that those of us who criticize this type of behavior actually hate America, it makes me cringe. I love America. I believe firmly in our ideals.

But I hate what we do.

Because what we do is un-American.