Backwards Thinking

With the Federal Stimulus package set to be passed, I decided it was important to understand just what my tax dollars were going to be funding. Imagine my confusion when I discovered $400 million dollars of aid was going to be filtered into programs designed to screen and prevent sexual transmitted diseases, however, all funding for abstinence education programs was removed. Huh? We're going to treat them once they are infected, but not tell them how to avoid the problem?

Furthermore, while funds are allotted for renovations and repairs to universities and colleges, no funds may be used for facilities that are utilized for worship, sectarian instruction or a school or department of divinity. It grieves me to think that schools are being denied this valuable aid simply because their curriculum includes religious instruction. Shouldn't this funding be based on need?

Like most Americans, my prayer is that policy makers put aside their differences and work together to get our country moving in the right direction. I just hope they are not adding pork to the barrel, while turning a blind eye to the programs that really need support.