A move in Congress to cut U.S. funding for the United Nations Human Rights Council is at best cosmetic and at worse a diversion from what's outrageously being paid to a world body full of weasels.

Consider first the weight of this rebuke: The Senate-approved measure, similar to House legislation approved last spring, would pare $3 million from the U.N. budget -- money that easily can be transferred from other U.N. agencies. Yet in its $34.2 billion foreign affairs budget, the Senate shoveled in $1.35 billion for U.N. peacekeeping missions (see below).

The bipartisan funding cut is about as stinging as a mosquito bite to an elephant.

And this, when the year-old council's primary agenda thus far has been to malign Israel while turning a blind eye to the world's worst abusers, many of which have found sanctuary on the 47-member council. That's because rules for inclusion render the council a farce -- not unlike the discredited Human Rights Commission it replaced.

Even reported appeals from U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon have made no difference -- which doesn't say much about the new chief's clout.

A far more meaningful message is contained in a Senate-approved amendment sponsored by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., which would suspend all appropriations until the U.N. offers full transparency in its spending. The estimated cost in U.S. aid: $5.3 billion annually.

That's a message that will get the U.N.'s attention.