Good Morning.

Today is our 3,149th day in Iraq, and our 3,677th day in Afghanistan.

We'll start this morning as we always do; with the latest casualty figures from our ongoing wars, courtesy of Antiwar.com:

American Deaths
Since war began (3/19/03): 4480
Since "Mission Accomplished" (5/1/03): 4341
Since Handover (6/29/04): 3621
Since Obama Inauguration (1/20/09): 252
Since Operation New Dawn: 52

Other Coalition Troops - Iraq: 318
US Military Deaths - Afghanistan: 1,830
Other Military Deaths - Afghanistan: 960
Contractor Employee Deaths - Iraq: 1,487
Journalists - Iraq : 348
Academics Killed - Iraq: 448

We find this morning's cost of war passing through:

$ 1, 271, 600, 900, 000 .00
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57 comments (Latest Comment: 11/02/2011 02:45:38 by clintster)

Scary stuff out there these days. And I'm not talking about serial murderers or terrorists or prehistoric monsters reawakened by evil mad scientists or deranged meth-addicted gang members bent on killing your family for pocket change. I'm talking about current political candidates out there asking you to vote them into office!

I'm talking about people that want to see you, or perhaps your loved ones, dead or at the very least miserably unhappy. Like, for example, Randall Terry. Yes, he of the "Pro-Life" movement is running as a Democrat. Nope, that is not a typo. Democrat. I rather doubt he'll win the nomination since I'm fairly sure the Dems already have their candidate.

Here is just one scary factoid about Randall; he is adamant about saving the unborn because, "abortion is murder", and against Gods will. But he will happily plunge the needle into a man sentenced to death by other men. Why one is considered murder and the other isn't has still never been explained to me; and things I don't understand, scare me.
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10 comments (Latest Comment: 10/31/2011 01:20:15 by TriSec)

It seems all we've been talking about here on FourFreedomsBlog lately is Occupy Wall Street. The protests have captured the attention of people, politicians, and the press in a way that hasn't been seen since the 60s. We've written about the goals, the lack of leadership and concrete action plans, and the heavy-handed responses by the police. The root cause of the protests, however, remains and will remain as long as the Republicans control a majority in the House. Since we're leading up to an election year, they are also trying to take the presidency.

The economy in general (and jobs in particular) remains the number one concern for most Americans. This is where the OWS movement can and should vocalize how the Republican approach to taxes and the economy flies in direct conflict with the problems and desires of the 99%. One of the OWS desires is to have a more equitable tax program for all Americans so that the rich are paying a higher percentage comensurate with their higher incomes.

So let's see how the Republican candidates plan on threading that needle...
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81 comments (Latest Comment: 10/29/2011 02:00:52 by Raine)

As the original Occupy Wall Street protest passes through its 6th week, the ideals and actions have spread throughout the country and across the globe. From an original idea of separating the influence of Wall Street on politics, the list of "demands" (desires, really) have grown and morphed into a collection of ideals covering the realm of economic justice and fairness. They have stubbornly refused to declare leaders, which may or may not be a hinderence in achieving their goals. There's also a lack of direction in terms of achieving their goals as they claim to be loathe to embrace the political process. That may also be a hinderence.

Nonetheless, their message is ringing true to millions of Americans, who - despite working hard and doing what they were told was required to acheive the American Dream - find themselves one paycheck away from ruin. The Free Market policies and tax cuts for the rich have resulted in an upward migration of wealth to the 1% that the OWS protest has targeted. There is no shortage of wealth, it's just being held by a few people, and a lot of them are hoarding. That hurts the economy, because the money is not in motion.
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41 comments (Latest Comment: 10/27/2011 01:38:40 by wickedpam)

Every Month for the past year we have had a new GOP frontrunner. It really seems they just don't like the candidates, or they just like radical talk. Among the multiple social and economic issues they have talked about is the mostly under the radar topic of "Judicial Activism" -- It's been a GOP meme for a while, but this election cycle it seems to have taken a back seat to more extreme views the candidates have touted such as vaccinations, abortions, immigration, the gays, taxes for 'job creators'. It seems as though the idea of Judicial Power isn't as sexy for our sensational media and the GOP supporters who love it. The NYT has written a very interesting piece on the candidates views towards the judiciary, and by extension -- the third branch of government.
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29 comments (Latest Comment: 10/25/2011 03:01:36 by clintster)