Good Morning.

Today is our 3,936th day in Afghanistan.

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

US Military Deaths - Afghanistan: 2,042
Other Military Deaths - Afghanistan: 1,045

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

$ 1, 353, 180, 900, 000 .00

So...it's curious. Being out of work, I read the news. A lot. I've managed to save a significant number of stories for this column...far too many for even a month's worth. So here we go, without the usual framework. I'm sorry, but you'll have to head for the links to get the details today.

Let's start by thinking about getting the troops home. We've left Iraq already, but the troops haven't gone very far. Speaking of getting home, getting the hell out of Afghanistan isn't going to be cheap.

There's a giant mishmosh of economic things that I've run across...so think about these few things for those troops that might eventually come home. They're going to need jobs and houses...but in California, those houses remain unoccupied because of budget constraints. On the jobs front...well, maybe some of those returning veterans will be heading for a different kind of front.

Of course, some of those returning vets might be headed to school under the new GI Bill. While most colleges are accomodating and honest in their practices, some are vultures.

Finally this morning...let's take a brief look at some of the contracting practices at the Pentagon. Wouldn't it be nice to go all "Mitt" on contractors that are criminal in their practices and fire them? Unfortunately, the Pentagon just keeps 'em. And speaking of criminal, I've got a couple of updates on some things we've been following for a long time here about KBR. Of course, they can do no wrong, so they're hoping to have the burn-pit lawsuits dismissed. Luckily for KBR, the electrocution lawsuit has already been wiped away.

So....there you have it. I hope I haven't swamped everyone with information today, but my notebook is clear!