true cost of the war

$500,000:
via Think Progress by Amanda on 9/22/07

Amount the war in Iraq costs per minute, according to a new analysis by Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz and Harvard's Linda Bilmes, put out by the American Friends Service Committee. The study finds that this $720 million a day could buy homes for 6,500 families or health care for 423,529 children.

Who is the irresponsible one?

Bush: Kids' health care will get vetoed (AP)

from Yahoo! News

AP - President Bush again called Democrats "irresponsible" on Saturday for pushing an expansion he opposes to a children's health insurance program.

The democrats irresponsible? Give me a FFFFFFFFF break! Never mind all this:

A bipartisan group of lawmakers announced a proposal Friday that would add $35 billion over five years to the program, adding 4 million people to the 6.6 million already participating. It would be financed by raising the federal cigarette tax by 61 cents to $1 per pack.

The idea is overwhelmingly supported by Congress' majority Democrats, who scheduled it for a vote Tuesday in the House. It has substantial Republican support as well.

But Bush has promised a veto, saying the measure is too costly, unacceptably raises taxes, extends government-covered insurance to children in families who can afford private coverage, and smacks of a move toward completely federalized health care. He has asked Congress to pass a simple extension of the current program while debate continues, saying it's children who will suffer if they do not.

"Our goal should be to move children who have no health insurance to private coverage — not to move children who already have private health insurance to government coverage," Bush said.

The bill's backers have vigorously rejected Bush's claim it would steer public money to families that can readily afford health insurance, saying their goal is to cover more of the millions of uninsured children. The bill would provide financial incentives for states to cover their lowest-income children first, they said.

Time to get out of Iraq

Stories I missed

I was offline for much of the last three days, and missed quite a few news stories. These are the ones that seem to have gotten the least press in the mainstream:

	Sep 15, 2007 (8 hours ago) "Lean" McCain Campaign Cuts Bush Mentions From Stump Speech from Huff Po by The Huffington Post News Editors Defiant and energetic, Senator John McCain has taken his "No Surrender" tour to V.F.W. halls, parades and barbecues in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. He talks about his support for a renewed effort to win the Iraq war. He pays tribute to Gen. David H. Petraeus and the report he issued about progress in Iraq. The one thing that Mr. McCain, Republican of Arizona, does not talk about is President Bush.
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	Sep 15, 2007 (8 hours ago) Thousands of protesters march to Capitol (AP) from Yahoo! News AP - Thousands of protesters marched Saturday from the White House to the Capitol to demand an end to the Iraq war.
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	Sep 15, 2007 (14 hours ago) Arctic ice melt opens Northwest Passage (AP) from Yahoo! News AP - Arctic ice has shrunk to the lowest level on record, new satellite images show, raising the possibility that the Northwest Passage that eluded famous explorers will become an open shipping lane.
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	Sep 15, 2007 (22 hours ago) Coalition of the Barely Willing from TPM Josh Marshall by Josh Marshall There was so much crap in the president's speech last night that analyzing requires a fairly aggressive form of crap triage to distinguish the merely bogus from the bogus and hilarious or the bogus and unconscionable. So let me focus in again on the president's reference to the "the 36 nations who have troops on the ground in Iraq." One way the president comes up with this number is to rope in something called the NATO Training Mission-Iraq (NTM-1). As Spencer Ackerman notes here, most of the countries involved in this initiative have agreed to let Iraqis come to their countries for training, not the other way around. So for instance, according to a recent Congressional Research Service report, Spain "plans to train groups of 25 Iraqis in mine clearance at a center outside Madrid." And who has boots on the ground in country? One example from the president's list of 36 is Iceland which has sent a single public information officer to serve in the NATO mission in Baghdad. More robustly, Italy has 8 officers on the NTM-I mission in Baghdad, Portugal is considering sending "up to 10."
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	Sep 15, 2007 (22 hours ago) The President's Math from TPM Josh Marshall by David Kurtz The White House has provided us with the list of 36 nations the President was referring to last night in his speech when he said, "We thank the 36 nations who have troops on the ground in Iraq and the many others who are helping that young democracy. " The key phrase there is "troops on the ground." If you take a look at the list we were provided, by a National Security Council official, the first heading is "Countries with troops on ground in Iraq." Only 26 countries appear in that category. The remaining 10 countries are assigned to either United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq or to NATO Training NTM-I. So by the President's own accounting, the math is wrong. As Spencer Ackerman points out, there are other problems with the numbers. Canada is listed, for example, among the 36, but it pulled out its one and only person in Iraq months ago. The numbers, in short, are a sham. Now, whether it's 36 countries or 106, shouldn't distract from the larger shams, such as the implication that there remains international support for the U.S. mission in Iraq or the suggestion that anyone other than the U.S. is doing virtually all of the heavy lifting there. But after the famous 16 words on Niger in his State of the Union speech, after 4 1/2 years of duck and cover on Iraq, after all of the lies, deceptions, and falsehoods, it plumbs news depths of dishonesty to include such a bogus number as "36 nations" in a speech that begins with the following lines: "In the life of all free nations, there come moments that decide the direction of a country and reveal the character of its people. We are now at such a moment." The President once again revealed his character. Were that it was of the same quality as that of the people he leads.
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	Sep 15, 2007 (23 hours ago) Webb Plan To Give Troops Greater Time At Home Close To Passage from Huff Po by The Huffington Post News Editors Now that President Bush and General David H. Petraeus have charted their course for the Iraq war, Democrats in the Senate say one of their proposals aimed at shifting the president's strategy is finally close to winning enough Republican support for a real chance at being approved. The proposal, by Senator Jim Webb, Democrat of Virginia, would require that troops spend as much time at home as on their most recent tour overseas before being redeployed. Top Democrats said the practical effect of adding time between deployments would be to force Gen. David H. Petraeus to withdraw troops on a substantially swifter timeline than the one he laid out before Congress earlier this week, and would protect troops from serving protracted and debilitating deployments.
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	Sep 15, 2007 (23 hours ago) MoveOn.org Flexes Its Muscle Amid Iraq War Debate from Huff Po by The Huffington Post News Editors There is no mistaking the influence of MoveOn.org, with its 3.2 million members and powerful fund-raising apparatus, within the Democratic Party. This liberal activist group has come to occupy a prominent seat at the table among the party elite, so much so that Republicans leaped at a chance to hold Democrats and their presidential candidates responsible for the organization's positions after it ran an advertisement attacking the credibility of Gen.
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	Sep 15, 2007 (23 hours ago) NJ's Corzine to Defy New Health Care Rules from t r u t h o u t Christopher Lee reports for The Washington Post, "Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine informed President Bush this week that New Jersey will not obey federal rules that would make it harder to enroll middle-income kids for a popular government-subsidized health insurance program."
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	Sep 15, 2007 (23 hours ago) Washington "Misled" Blair Over Plans for Postwar Iraq from t r u t h o u t Greg Hurst for The Times Online UK writes that "Britain's outgoing ambassador to Washington has accused the Bush administration of misleading Tony Blair over its much-criticized plans for the reconstruction of Iraq after the invasion of 2003."
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	Sep 15, 2007 (23 hours ago) Fox airs no Dem reply to Bush speech from RawStory (CBS4) DORAL Miami-Dade police have arrested four people connected to the gunman who opened fire with a high-powered weapon on four Miami-Dade County police officers, killing one of them. Cmdr. Linda O’Brien from the Miami-Dade police department says Alba Bello, 47; her son, Alain Gonzalez, 24; and Bello’s boyfriend, Lazaro Guardiola, 35, have been charged with accessory after the fact for harboring Shawn LaBeet. They are all being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.
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	Sep 15, 2007 (23 hours ago) More anonymous Iraqi victims buried now than under Saddam from RawStory Every month in Iraq hundreds of victims are struck down by sectarian violence or massive bombing campaigns, and a small band of volunteers has taken it upon themselves to give the unclaimed dead a proper burial. "We've been doing this for 20 years, under Saddam, but the numbers have increased, as have the difficulties," Sheik Jamal al-Sudani, who leads the volunteers, tells CNN correspondent Michael Ware. "Because now it is as if the streets are flowing with...
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	Sep 15, 2007 (23 hours ago) Conviction tossed in Jena beating from RawStory NEW ORLEANS - A state appeals court on Friday threw out the only remaining conviction against one of the black teenagers accused in the beating of a white schoolmate in the racially tense north Louisiana town of Jena...
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	Sep 15, 2007 (23 hours ago) Man accused in pot muffin prank pleads guilty from HoustonChronicle A former student accused of delivering marijuana-laced muffins to a high school teacher's lounge pleaded guilty Friday.
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Why don't we care anymore?

Seems more and more like we as a nation don't care about our citizens. When we decide that we want tax cuts more than we want a working government keeping us safe, things begin to fall apart. Things like bridges. And here are two more examples from today's paper:

Injuries, Deaths Tied to Consumer Drugs Rise Sharply | The Head-On Radio Network America's Libera...

http://headonradionetwork.com/blog/2007/09/10/inju...

MONDAY, Sept. 10 (HealthDay News) — The number of serious adverse drug events more than double between 1998 and 2005 in the United States, as did the number of related deaths, a new study found.

“This is the first study to ask the question, ‘Are we gaining ground or losing ground in drug safety and improving patient safety in prescription drugs?’ And I think, inescapably, the conclusion is that we’re losing ground,” said study lead author Thomas Moore, of the Institute for Safe Medication Practices, in Huntingdon Valley, Pa.

(more)

and

2 Key Middle School teachers taken to hospital | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/5...

Two teachers left Key Middle School in ambulances this morning, reigniting the union's concerns that the northeast Houston campus is unsafe.

The two women were taken to the hospital after vomiting and experiencing watery eyes and difficulty breathing, said Gayle Fallon, president of the Houston Federation of Teachers. Fallon suspects the cause is mold or some other air-quality problem.

Terry Abbott, spokesman for the Houston Independent School District, said the administration has not heard an official medical report about the teachers. He emphasized that a private inspection company found a week ago that Key Middle, located at 4000 Kelley, did not have unusual levels of mold and that city inspectors agreed with that assessment.

"We understand the building was hot this morning. That may have had something to do with those who felt badly today," Abbott said. "We have had nothing at all unusual among the children."

Eating their own ...

So much fun watching the repugs eat their own ....

Ney threatened staffer with ‘abusive phone calls.’

from Think Progress by Amanda

Neil Volz, a former top staffer to Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH) who pleaded guilty to conspiracy in the Jack Abramoff scandal, is now asking for “house arrest” instead of prison time. Documents filed in federal court last week said that Volz has “endured harsh criticism, including abusive phone calls” from Ney when the former congressman suspected he was helping investigators.

Current list of repuglican scandals

Thanks to ccmask and assorted FDL folks. Leave a comment if you have an addition.

GOP SCANDAL SHEET

Jack Abramoff -prison
Bob Allen -Veteran Park sex scandal
George Allen -called an American voter a Macaca
Michael Ray Aquino -involved in espionage thru Cheney’s office
Dan Bartlett -DOJ Investigation
Ken Blackwell- Election Theft
Michael Brown -Resigned over his handling of Katrina and aftermath.
Conrad Burns –dropped out
Ken Calvert’s - land deal scrutiny
Tucker Carlson -Tracked & beat up a gay man with a buddy
Dick Cheney -Involved in Plame affair; said troops would be greeted with flowers
Ann Coulter -Voter Fraud
Larry Craig -resigns over public toilet sex scandal
Duke Cunningham -prison
Tom DeLay -dropped out – Under indictment
Petey Domenici -Iglesias firing investigation
John Doolittle -Entagled with the Jack Abramoff Affair
Barry S. Edward -Rudy fundraiser steps down wrt sex & stolen computers
Alan B. Fabian -Romney co-chairman indicted fraud, obstruction & laundering
Tom Feeney -focus Abramoff investigation
Ari Fleisher - Resigned; Involved in Plame Affair
Dusty Kyle Foggo -Indicted for fraud, conspiracy & money laundering
Mark Foley -sex scandal
Jeff Gannon -Illegal White House entry
Alberto Gonzales- Cut & Run on heels of investigation
Ted Haggard -removed for sex and drug abuse scandal
Katherine Harris -dropped out
Duncan Hunter -Involved in ongoing Abramoff investigation
Bernard Kerik -Under scrutiny for tax invasion
Doug Lamborn -Left threatening voicemails to locals questioning his fundraising
Ken Lay -Bush’s biggest contributor scams millions
Jerry Lewis -under federal investigation
Scooter Libby -Guilty by his peers; Innocent by his Prez
Rush Limbaugh - Illegal drug use and Importation
Harriet Miers -DOJ Investigation Subpeona Refusal
Gary Miller -FBI investigation on tax evasion;Withdrew DHS nomination
Lisa Murkowski -land deal scandal
Bob Ney -prison
Wally O’Dell -Bush fundraiser and CEO of Diebold; Insider trading suspicion
Richard Pombo -Allegation of corruption and misuse of official resources
Thomas Ravenel -Indicted on Cocaine charges
Rick Renzi -home raided
John Rowland - convicted and sent to jail for bribe-taking and kickbacks.
Karl Rove -Resigned for involvement of AG scandal; Hatch Act; Outed CIA agent
Don Rumsfeld -Resigned. Failed to plan for a post-war Iraq.
David Safavian -convicted in Jack Abramoff scandal
Kyle Sampson - Resigned over the AG Scandal
Michael Scanlon -Guilty of corruption charges in Abramoff scandal
Brad Schlozman -Resigned from DOJ. Involved in the AG scandal
Ted Stevens -under investigation
David Vitter -sex scandals
Curt Weldon -dropped out
Heather Wilson -Iglesias firing investigation
Don Young -under investigation

And already some additons from James ....

Ralph Reed - investigation for his part in Abramoff scandal
Bradley Schlozman- resigned amid charges of politicizing DoJ
Monica Goodling - resigned amid charges of Hatch Act violations
J. Timothy Griffin - resigns amid charges of voter caging.

And then there’s this from McClatchey:

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales - Resigned Monday, effective Sept. 17.
Kyle Sampson, Gonzales’ chief of staff - Resigned in March.
Monica Goodling, Gonzales’ counselor - Resigned in April.
Michael Battle, head of the Executive Office of U.S. Attorneys - Resigned in March.
Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty - Resigned in May, effective late this summer.
Michael Elston, McNulty’s chief of staff - Resigned June 15.
Tim Griffin, interim U.S. attorney for Arkansas - Resigned effective June 1.
Bradley Schlozman, former acting civil rights chief and U.S. attorney for Kansas City - Resigned from a Justice Department post in mid-August.
Wan Kim, chief, Civil Rights Division - Resigned Aug. 24
White House officials:
Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove, White House’s top political adviser - Resigned effective at the end of this week.
Sara Taylor, political director — Resigned in May.

Did they hire Halliburton?

I saw this article on my news feed this morning and my very first reaction was to wonder if they'd privatized infrastructure there as well. Who built the bridge? Same contractors who built all of the insta-crumbling infrastructure we commissioned in Iraq? Halliburton getting any contracts from the Pakistan government?

Six die in Pakistan bridge collapse
An investigation into the collapse has been ordered [AFP]

A recently constructed road bridge has collapsed in the southern Pakistan city of Karachi, killing at least six people and injuring others.

Rescuers were trying to clear the wreckage to retrieve those trapped and injured amid fears the death toll from Saturday's accident could rise.

At least two cars and a police van were crushed under the debris, and a truck with a trailer and a minibus lay upturned by the fallen bridge.

The bridge was opened only two months ago by Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistani president.

Mustafa Kamal, the mayor of Karachi, said the authorities were using heavy machinery and bulldozers to remove debris and pull out injured people trapped in at least two or three vehicles.

The cause of the accident was not immediately clear.

Probe ordered

Witnesses said a portion of the bridge known as Northern Bypass fell with a huge bang while traffic was on it.

Mohammed Iqbal, a survivor who escaped through the window of a small bus that fell from the bridge, told the Pakistani Geo news channel he had heard cries for help from those trapped in the rubble.

Zahid Khan, a witness, said "It created such a huge sound that we thought it was an earthquake."

Shaukat Aziz, the Pakistani prime minister, expressed sorrow over the loss of life and concern over the quality of construction of the bridge.

"Investigations have been ordered to find the reasons of the collapse and people responsible for substandard construction would be taken to task," Aziz said.