Some Positive News from Iraq

Lets keep the positive trend going for now, lifting our spirits a little bit more hopefully.  I went on a hunt today through news channels online in search of something positive to comment on.  Despite a 103 year old nun celebrating her birthday by doing a polka (its a dance for those who don't know), there is actually a positive result from some of the protests occuring in the Middle East.  It appears that the Iraqi government, facing budget problems like the rest of the world has decided to abort the buying of 18 U.S. made fighter jets and instead re-direct the money to help pay for food for the poor (Happy News).  Since I am unaware of what specific type of fighter jet the Iraqis were planning on buying, I will lowball the figure per jet at $30 million (some go as high as $137 million Cost of Fighter Jets), and you come up with $540,000,000 they were going to pay.  This is an enormous sum of money when it comes to food.  This just goes to show that if your voice is loud enough, your government will listen to you and meet your needs.  I applaud the Iraqi government for listening to the demands of its people and instead of spending money on its military, spending it on the welfare of its citizens.  In 2010, the budget for the U.S. military was $533.7 billion dollars (Defense Budget).  Imagine what we could if we cut even $100 billion off of that and instead provided for the poor in our country (for 2011, it is expected to increase $20 billion).  Maybe we can learn something from the Iraqis and their democracy which we helped put into place.  They are on the right track in listening to their people.  Keeping this on a positive note, lets step up and write to our representatives, strengthening our collective voice and help them to realize that we have hundreds of thousands of starving people in our own country.  How can we help others without helping ourselves first.  I will keep on looking for the positive news in the world, even though it is extremely difficult to find sometimes.  Till next time, take out that arcaic pen and paper, or maybe just hop on the computer and send off a few letters to your representatives, asking to take a look inside and feed the people of our own country.  Remember, keep a smile on your face, its the biggest impact you can have on those around you.