Food for thought not eating, served flamed

So while AdSense gets approved, Google is running PSAs on the blog. I just happened to notice that the first PSA is for Grameen Foundation, the original microfinance charity. So I'm going to digress from the indulgence of food and wine briefly to talk about social enterprise, geopolitics, and how ill-informed we are in this country. And I'll take all the flames anyone wants to send.
-RANT ON-
U.S. foreign aid spending is 0.1% of the budget. The deficit is a trillion dollars. A lot of foreign aid is wasted, but that's because it gets tied up in political knots to support U.S. agriculture, promote U.S. exports and subsidize governments. The defense budget is bigger in inflation-adjusted terms than at any time in the last century except 1943-1945, the last three years of World War 2. I say this in the context of having just finished Half the Sky with the observation that a tiny fraction of our military budget, if diverted to the right causes in the Middle East, South Asia and East Africa, could reap far better security returns than all those boots on the ground and improve our national image abroad in the bargain. If we didn't spend $10 million a year to sponsor Nascar, we could fund a lot of literacy and education efforts for a small amount of money. The linked article from FoxNews quotes 37% of fans feeling more positive about the Army due to its participation in Nascar. Does that mean almost two-thirds fell LESS positive? Or they just don't care? The Nascar fan base is already mostly pro-military. Aren't they preaching to the converted?
-RANT OFF-