Good Morning.

Today is our 2,015th day in Iraq.

As we always do, we'll start with the latest casualties from the warron terra, courtesy of antiwar.com:

American Deaths
Since war began (3/19/03): 4169
Since "Mission Accomplished" (5/1/03): 4030
Since Capture of Saddam (12/13/03): 3708
Since Handover (6/29/04): 3303
Since Election (1/31/05): 2723

Other Coalition Troops - Iraq: 314
US Military Deaths - Afghanistan: 604
Other Military Deaths - Afghanistan: 376
Contractor Deaths - Iraq: 444

We find this morning's cost of war passing through: $556, 468, 750, 000. 00

Coupled with a proposed Wall Street bailout of $700,000,000,000.00, that's a bitter pill for the next few generations to swallow, hmm?


We're going to do something just a little bit different today. While perusing some of the other blogs linked through IAVA, I ran across something called the "Iowa Veterans Blog". Admittedly, nearly all of us here are hardcore liberals or have a decidedly leftward lean...so more out of curiosity than anything else, I read through some of it to see what the "other side" might think, as Iowa is pretty red these days.

I found a remarkable story about a veteran that couldn't deal with what he saw at Abu Ghraib, decided he was not following Christ, and became a conscientous objector.

Continue reading...

137 comments (Latest Comment: 09/24/2008 04:48:17 by velveeta jones)

In the 2004 election I voted for……no one. Well, I tried to vote for John Kerry, not because I liked John Kerry so much, but more because I hated what Bush was doing to our country. But my vote didn’t count. How do I know this for certain? I still have my absentee ballot sitting in my filing cabinet!

Having just moved back home, I decided to “be safe” and use an absentee ballot since I didn’t trust the voting machines that were designed to not leave an audit trail. I was told that my signature did not match the one on file. I was told this one week before the election, and after many phones calls and mailings I was finally able to convince the Board of Elections that I was me. So they promptly mailed my ballot several days later to arrive at noon, on……. Election Day!
Continue reading...

117 comments (Latest Comment: 09/22/2008 07:13:46 by livingonli)

Good Morning!

Ah, it's 6 am Saturday, but I'm not heading out for a blood donation today! We have our first, and hopefully annual "Community Yard Sale" today throughout Gardencrest Apartments...

Since I'm a member of the Tenant's Association, I guess that makes us all community organizers, hmm?

In any case, I've got some tidbits to keep you busy this morning; I'll be back probably after sundown. :peace:


Ron Paul simply refuses to go quietly into the night. If you're truly fed up with both parties, or perhaps know a Republican that's still holding his nose over McCain/Palin...perhaps now is the time to get a word in edgewise about voting for a third party...

Continue reading...

46 comments (Latest Comment: 09/21/2008 05:03:03 by Raine)

This past week the news has been wall-to-wall with coverage of the economic meltdown. Between it and the escalating campaign rhetoric, most other news items have been essentially ignored. One of those news items was all anyone was talking about a week ago: Hurricane Ike. He's gone and may be forgotten by most of the U.S., but his memory lives on along the southern coast.

They say the first casualty in war is the truth. Apparently the first casualty after a hurricane is freedom of the press, followed closely by common sense. When it was discovered that there were dead bodies laying around on the streets of Galveston and in the surrounding water, the government did what one might expect: They made it a no-fly zone to hide it from American eyes:
Continue reading...

245 comments (Latest Comment: 09/20/2008 05:37:04 by Raine)

Joshua 6:20-21: So the people shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets: and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city. And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword.


And time respects no person--what you lift up must fall
They're waiting outside to claim my tumblin' walls
Saw my picture in the paper, read the news around my face
And now some people don't want to treat me the same
When the walls come tumblin' down
When the walls come crumblin' crumblin'
When the walls come tumblin' tumblin' down
- John Mellencamp

It wasn't the sound of trumpets, it was the sound of bells. By the time trading closed on Monday, Wall St. had lost 504 points. What was once a mighty Wall made of solid bricks like Merrill-Lynch became the rubble of an economy in deep trouble as those inside, thinking themselves safe, looked aghast at the wreckage. The Wall was made of solid bricks, but because of greed, the builders had stopped using mortar to hold it all together.
Continue reading...

145 comments (Latest Comment: 09/18/2008 07:24:10 by livingonli)