Cindy's complaint

By Jonathan Putney

Cindy Sheehan picked a strange place (Egypt) in which to complain about what she perceives as the harm of U.S imperialism. Lots of data out there. Here's just a peek:

From the Congressional Research Service report for 2004:

"In 2004, the United States is providing some form of foreign assistance to about 150 countries. Israel and Egypt continue, as they have since the late 1970s, as the largest recipients, although Iraq, receiving over $20 billion for reconstruction activities since mid-2003, is the biggest recipient in FY2004."

Lots of figures and graphs in this report. United States continues to lead the world in foreign assistance dollar amounts devoted to economic growth, agriculture, trade, global health, democracy, conflict resolution, and humanitarian assistance.

FY08 budget is here, for a better look at where we spend billions of dollars a year around the world to "harm" everybody through economic, military, health, education, agriculture giveaways.

I used to feel sorry for Cindy for her loss, and explained her irrationality as being a side effect of grief. I now think irrationality is her mode and not a +2 sigma display that occasionally shows up.