Peace Revolution

It's Memorial Day weekend. I didn't hear one person talk about the ongoing, over 10 year old war in Afghanistan, that we aren't winning and we never will. As of June 2011, we have spent over $1 Trillion on war. Soon we are going to have another budget showdown with Republicans refusing to live up to the agreement they made last year, which will probably send the U.S. into another downgrade and recession. But no one is looking at the Department of Defense budget. Food stamps, social security, medicare and medicaid. These things can be cut. The poor can suck it.
I really wish we could have a Department of Peace. How much of our budget is spent specifically for the proliferation of peace? Well, what a surprise, I found the Institute of Peace. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_Institute_of_Peace
They are requesting for 2012 a budget of $42 million. Anthony Wiener (Yeah, THAT Wiener) actually attacked the Institute of Peace's budget. But the weirdest thing is Ronald Raygun actually signed the U.S. Institute of Peace Act.
On 2/17/2011, Congress voted to eliminate all funding. That figures. Here's another figure, at least 919,967 people have died in Afghanistan and Iraq. http://www.unknownnews.org/casualties.html
No one really knows how many people have been killed. It seems like no one cares. Memorial Day has become a marketing experience, Memorial Day specials, sales, and a holiday weekend. Maybe 60 Minutes will have a segment on Arlington National Cemetery. How is it that we can spend so much money on war, but no funding for peace. It's crazy. While everyone is eating hot dogs and hamburgers at their cookouts, I wonder how many people will reflect on what this day really means and how many lives have been lost in  a useless war for profit. Happy Memorial Day, why do we say that? When there's really nothing happy about it.