Today, starting at 10 am, the long awaited "Health Care Summit" begins. If you can't watch it on TV, (C-span 3) you can steam it at the White House website.

By now many of you may have seen a special comment from Keith Olberman last night. It still gives me chills. You can watch it here, and read the transcript. Please do, it is painful and gut wrenching and it a conversation we need to have with our loved ones. For one man to lay bare such intimacy regarding his personal situation is not only brave but heroic.
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118 comments (Latest Comment: 02/26/2010 04:02:46 by livingonli)

Good Morning.

Today is our 2,533rd day in Iraq and our 3,061st day in Afghanistan.

We'll start this morning as we always do, with the latest casualty figures from Iraq and Afghanistan, courtesy of antiwar.com:

American Deaths
Since war began (3/19/03): 4378
Since "Mission Accomplished" (5/1/03): 4239
Since Capture of Saddam (12/13/03): 3915
Since Handover (6/29/04): 3519
Since Obama Inauguration (1/20/09): 150

Other Coalition Troops - Iraq: 325
US Military Deaths - Afghanistan: 985
Other Military Deaths - Afghanistan: 659
Contractor Employee Deaths - Iraq: 1,395
Journalists - Iraq: 335
Academics Killed - Iraq: 431


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

$ 963, 965, 500, 000 .00


Combat is hard enough. But war is full of secondary dangers that come and go. Veterans of the first Gulf War are still battling the effects of Gulf War Syndrome.

Sgt. Klayton Thomas knew the dangers of war when he joined the Marines. But I bet he never expected that the practice of contractors in Iraq would end up killing him.
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23 comments (Latest Comment: 02/23/2010 21:31:08 by TriSec)

Morning my fellow bloggers. Velveeta waking up with a severe hangover from the CPAC party. WOW! WHAT a party!! Please let me know if anyone finds my bra.

Now, on to the festivities. I vaguely remember Glenn Beck and his famous GB Chalk Board. Does this thing travel with him? Why doesn't he use a dry erase board? Beck was talking about being drunk and big tents. Yes, this reminds me of a party I once went to. It was Fashion Week in New York and the champagne was flowing freely and so were the crowd of fashionistas and wanna-bes and I think that I may have had a tryst with Calvin Klein and/or Tom Ford and Zac Posen, or, some drag queens that resembled them. Anyway, I digress.

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4 comments (Latest Comment: 02/21/2010 18:33:57 by livingonli)

Well color me stunned. Another terror act on American soil. People will be talking about this for days, except for the part where they will be talking about Tiger Woods talking, I suppose.

It would be easy to mention again the DHS report that warned of a spike in right-wing extremism I suppose. It would also be easy to mention the UnaBomber and Timothy McVeigh. It would be easy to mention the Knoxville Church murders; those people the crime was committed against were attending a liberal church. It would be easy to mention the Holocaust museum shooting, or the death of Doctor Tiller. It would be easy to mention the Tea Party. It would be easy for me to mention the people at those tea parties who carried signs mentioning a desire to 'Water the Tree of Liberty with blood', while a gun is strapped to a thigh. I want to make something clear, according to all accounts of the Austin-area Tea Party groups, it appears Stack was not a member. I don't really want or need those people threatening me, the way they have others, (just saying, I suppose).
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43 comments (Latest Comment: 02/19/2010 21:32:57 by Raine)

With the Olympics well under way, one would think a feeling of good-natured competitiveness would be settling over the planet. Worldwide, people are feeling proud of the accomplishments of their country's athletes, while admiring the hard work, skill, and determination of the athletes from other countries. One might even expect that the worst behavior exhibited by leaders and extremists would take a short holiday, kind of like the unofficial Christmas lulls in hostility during the two Great Wars.

That notion, however, is a pipe dream (or perhaps a half-pipe dream). The reality is that aggressive, stupid, and/or irrational behavior is alive and well and making misery the world over while we try to focus on the positive aspects of the Olympics.
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35 comments (Latest Comment: 02/18/2010 01:13:08 by clintster)