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>$20B vs. 25%

What's that first number up there in the title? That's the amount the U.S. military spends annually on air conditioning in Iraq and Afghanistan: $20.2 billion. NPR has a nice article articulating the specifics, but I'm sure that most people can look at that number and gag, without ever reading a word of the details.

And when it's juxtaposed with the fact that one-quarter of kids in the United States -- hence, the other number -- are currently living in poverty, it's even more nauseating, as this recent piece from 60 Minutes articulates:

And after my afternoon viewing of the recent HBO documentary on Ronald Reagan, it's pretty clear to see how we got to this humanist disaster, but not so clear as to how we find a way off this rough and twisting road towards something even worse. Extricating ourselves from imperialistic overreaching and reorienting towards humane treatment of American youth (a "pro-life" argument were there ever one) is an impossible pivot, it would seem, but it's a shift that must be made if I am to make it to old(er) age in a country and world I somewhat recognize.

Got any ideas?

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