Bush wants to help starving people, Senate says No!

This piece of news should piss Kanye West off: A Bush administration proposal that sought to get food to starving people more rapidly and efficiently was rejected by Senate leaders yesterday, but the Canadian government announced that it was increasing the use of the same technique. [...] Canada's minister of international cooperation, Aileen Carroll, said in an interview that the new policy would permit Canada to spend more than $100 million in aid "to get more food to more people more quickly." In contrast, under the food aid program run by the United States Agency for International Development, with a budget of more than $1 billion, all food must be bought in United States markets and most must be shipped on United States-flagged vessels. Shipping costs consume 40 percent to 50 percent of the food aid budget, and delivering the food typically takes four months. The Bush administration asked that the aid agency be allowed to spend up to a quarter of its food aid budget in or near the poor countries afflicted by hunger crises. The Senate leadership declined to include such a provision in the agricultural appropriations bill passed yesterday. The House did the same in June. What countries are we talking about here? The World Food Program estimates that more than 10 million people will need food in Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia, among other nations. Ohh, yeah. Bush hates Black people. Just eats them Black babies for breakfast. Sigh...