Good Morning.

Today is our 2,218th day in Iraq.

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): 4273
Since "Mission Accomplished" (5/1/03): 4134
Since Capture of Saddam (12/13/03): 3812
Since Handover (6/29/04): 3414
Since Obama Inauguration (1/20/09): 45

Other Coalition Troops - Iraq: 318
US Military Deaths - Afghanistan: 677
Other Military Deaths - Afghanistan: 452
Journalists - Iraq: 139
Contractor Deaths - Iraq: 1264

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

$ 613, 348, 000, 000 .00

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62 comments (Latest Comment: 04/15/2009 03:41:30 by Mondobubba)

Happy Easter everyone! As you know, Easter is celebrated on a different Sunday every year in either April or May, depending on where the esteemed ceremonial cockroach, Toby, poops on the mock-up of the new calendar just before they are sent off to the printer. Easter represents the day when Our Lord and Savior and his imaginary large Rabbit, arose from their cave and delivered peeps and Cadbury eggs to all the white children of the world. And, it should be celebrated by going to church, wearing pastel colors and funny hats, being kind to your neighbors and then cooking and eating the legs of little baby sheep with mint jelly.

Perhaps because it’s Easter weekend there is not much going on in the news these past few days. Sure, there is that U.S. captain being held hostage by pirates and we all pray for his safe and speedy return, but Velveeta has no access to this story since the wonderful folks at 4 Freedoms Blog refuse to provide her with a large, well paid staff that could do research on such stories. Then, of course, there is the Lindsay Lohan/Samatha Ronson breakup story, but it’s so over-covered that there really is just nothing much to see here.

And the Republicans are really busy with all their “tea-bagging” activities these days. I could never, NEVER cover this news nor condone such behaviors. What would the children think? I am just shocked. SHOCKED and DISGUSTED at these events, which I hear are being held out of doors for the entire world to witness! Velveeta will have no part in these odious sexual perversions.
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6 comments (Latest Comment: 04/13/2009 04:01:54 by livingonli)

The talking heads are outraged. There is great wailing and gnashing of teeth. The Forever Glum sit hunched over their tepid beer with that look of eternal resignation and remind everyone who cares to listen that "I knew this would happen - it was only a matter of time". These people are all upset about President Obama, and the things they think he's done - and these are the lefties!
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51 comments (Latest Comment: 04/10/2009 19:58:59 by Will in Chicago)

With all of the discussion about whether newspapers will survive (or whether they should survive), the discussion often overlooks some of the services that will be lost. Besides the jobs lost at the printers, the jobs of the copy writers, the proof readers and the fact checkers, there is also the job of the political cartoonist. Since the time newspapers began, the political cartoon has been a unique art form, one that is at once disarming and well-armed with barbs. In the hands of an expert, it can distill a political point down to its essence, and present it in a way that gets the point across in seconds without requiring lengthy reading.
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40 comments (Latest Comment: 04/09/2009 02:51:45 by livingonli)

From today's NYT The Lede Blog:
For the first time in 18 years, the Pentagon granted the news media access on Sunday night to cover the arrival of a coffin to Dover Air Force Base from overseas.

The coffin, draped in a flag and bearing the body of Air Force Staff Sgt. Phillip Myers of Hopewell, Va, was unloaded from a government aircraft by the military honor guard. Sergeant Myers, 30, was killed by an improvised explosive device near Helmand Province in Afghanistan on April 4, according to the Defense Department.

Per this new policy, Family consent must be given. I know that Tuesday is usually the day on this blog that we set aside for our Soldiers in Peril, but today, I would like to thank Staff Sgt. Phillip Myers for his sacrifice, and his family for allowing us to bear witness to the horrible costs of this war.

Afghanistan may be considered by some to be the 'nobler' of these two fronts we are fighting, and I would tend to agree, but in the end, war is war -- and the sacrifices our soldiers make are a great loss for our country. These are our sisters and brothers, lovers, friends, fathers, daughter, sons and mothers. This is the first coffin we have seen in 18 years, and no doubt it will not be the last.

I hope that the sacrifice Staff Sgt. Myers made on the field as well as the sacrifice his family have made by allowing us to truly and finally see the cost of war will help to bring the battle in Afghanistan and Iraq to a quicker end.

Rest in Peace.

:peace: and
Raine



 
66 comments (Latest Comment: 04/07/2009 01:13:48 by Mondobubba)