To the editor:

As the weather gets colder and more economically challenged Americans turn to social agencies for help in staying warm (“Weather has families, agencies scrambling,” Journal-World, Nov. 12; “State’s poor feel holiday hunger,” J-W Nov. 24), perhaps we should could consider the cost of “preserving and defending the American way of life.”

The FY 2005 defense budget weighs in at $401 billion, though this does not include an additional $50 billion to cover operations in Iraq and Afghanistan for the coming year. Big numbers (like taxpayer dollars) have an unreal quality about them, so let’s do a little math: $450 billion equals about $1.2 billion per day, or $51 million per hour, $856,000 per minute and just over $14,000 per second.

Having helped to destroy the Iraqi infrastructure (for instance, causing more than $100 million worth of damage in Fallujah alone), I understand the need to help rebuild Iraq. I only wish that the current administration would spend an hour or two helping the poor in this country.

Ray Finch,

Lawrence