In the run-up to the invasion in 2003, the Pentagon's projected estimate of the total cost of the war was $50bn. A White House economic adviser, Lawrence Lindsey, was fired by President Bush when he suggested that the total cost would be $200bn.

The New York Times noted that the cost of the war would have paid for universal healthcare in the US, nursery education for all three and four-year-olds in the country, immunisation for children round the world against a host of diseases, and still leave about half of the money left over.

A new study from Harvard University reports the hidden financial costs of war in Iraq and Afghanistan will overwhelm the Department of Veterans Affairs for decades. The study is called "Soldiers Returning from Iraq and Afghanistan: The Long-Term Costs of Providing Veterans Medical Care and Disabilities Benefits." It finds the Veterans Administration is both under-funded and under-equipped to deal with the current and future costs of veterans' healthcare. The study estimates since the global war on terror began, sixteen US soldiers have been wounded per fatality, a casualty rate that exceeds the rate of previous wars. Over 200,000 soldiers deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan have been treated at VA medical facilities thus far, with 900,000 still deployed on active duty. The study predicts the cost of medical care and compensation benefits for returning veterans will skyrocket once those troops return home. It also estimates the cost over the soldiers lives will amount up to $700 billion.

Video: Sen. Feingold blasts Democratic colleagues for 'timid' Iraq resolution

Rawstory, February 5, 2007

Vocal Bush administration critic Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) today excoriated his Democratic colleagues in the Senate after Republicans successfully blocked debate on a resolution that criticized President Bush's Iraq escalation plan.

"The fact is, the President and the Republican leadership are so out of touch with reality and the American people that they don't understand that this war is a disaster, and the American people want us out of there ... "The Democrats are being too weak as well."

This seriously does not make sense.  And I don't mean in the "madness-of-love" sense. (I forget the French term for that)  I mean it defies all logic.

FWIW, I don't get the whole diaper-so-she-didn't-have-to-stop angle.  She had to stop.  Laws of physics.  Most cars get between 250 and 350 miles to a tank of gas. It's a given that smaller cars get better mileage but have smaller tanks, while bigger ones get lower mileage but have larger tanks.  If it's a 1000 mile drive from Houston to Orlando, she had to stop at least twice and more likely 3 or even 4 times to tank up.  They have restrooms at gas stations on the interstate.  

The AV's timeline doesn't add up, either.  If the AV was flying in from Houston at 1 AM, that meant she left Houston about 10 PM (3 hours or so before).  So, now, Mr. Shared (Love) Interest knew (or should have) that his buddy, the def't, was already en route from Houston and he didn't tell the AV?  N.B.:  If Mr. Interest had told def't of the situation, or if def't had walked in on Interest and AV, he'd have known that def't knew.  In the latter case, AV would have known, too.  And AV would not have been surprised by the alleged stranger - she'd have known who def't was.  Likely AV already did know who def't was, given that def't's position would have made her very visible around their mutual workplace.  

As discussed below, def't would have to have missed a whole day in Houston - which Mr. Interest likely would have known about - before AV had even gone to the airport there to travel.

How/when did the def't find out about Mr. Shared Interest's interest in the AV?  I can understand def't flying into a snit (for lack of a better word) and losing rationality when confronted with the revelation that Mr. Interest's first name was really "Shared".  That's something anyone who's lived long enough has either seen or gone through themselves.  Frankly, though, from what I know about astronaut selection - someone with an unstable personal life or tendencies toward it (which is what that sort of fly-off-the-deep-end scenario implies) would have been weeded out long before getting to the point of spaceflight.  USNA, pilot training, test piloting, etc., all place a premium on developing the facility to deal with highly stressful, upsetting situations.  I'd suspect that sort of fly-off-the-deep-end tendency or instability would have been caught at the step between "pilot" and "test pilot";  I've known some pretty wacky/wild characters who became pilots, but in going up to "test pilot" those are the ones left behind.

And, then, the def't just cut out (on her 3 kids) and went to Orlando at the drop of a hat?  The sheer distance of the drive means something.  Driving 1000 miles, being in Orlando, allegedly getting a hotel room, and all the rest of the stuff means, to be there for AV's 1 AM arrival, def't had to leave a minimum of 20 hours before. Figure:  1000 miles @ 60 mph average = 16 hours.  3 stops for gas @ 15 min each = 45 minutes.  Shopping for the stuff and motel room, 90 minutes to 2 hours. Time wasted waiting around airport:  an hour or so.  

"He is completely heterosexual," Ralph said. "That is something he discovered.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1584786,00.html?cnn=yes

a guy and a gal are making out and he begins the process of intercourse and he has inserted his penis into her vagina.  Now, at this point, she asks him to stop, and he does so within seconds and withdraws.

He is convicted of rape, but the case is on appeal and the appeals court has ruled in his favor, but the state is still fighting.

The article says that during deliberations, the jury asks the judge "if it was rape if a female changed her mind during the sex to which she consented and the man continued until climax. The judge said it was for them to decide."

However, I believe the answer should have been, "Usually, no."  The reason is that most men ejaculate within 90 seconds of insertion and they are not in control of ejaculation and no one responds immediately to any instruction.

I was in a car accident once in which a fellow had made a left turn directly in front of oncoming traffic and it turned out that the oncoming traffic was me.  How many seconds was it before I hit the brakes?  The issue never came to court.  Was it more than one and less than 10?  Probably.  Was it minimal reaction time?  No.  Was I expecting such an action on his part?  No; I could hardly believe it.

four-fifths of `vicious killers' released after return to home countries
[...]
Once the detainees arrived in other countries, 205 of the 245 were either freed without being charged or were cleared of charges related to their detention at Guantanamo. Forty either stand charged with crimes or continue to be detained.
Only a tiny fraction of transferred detainees have been put on trial. The AP identified 14 trials, in which eight men were acquitted and six are awaiting verdicts.

OLYMPIA, Wash. - An initiative filed by proponents of same-sex marriage would require heterosexual couples to have kids within three years or else have their marriage annulled.

Initiative 957 was filed by the Washington Defense of Marriage Alliance. That group was formed last summer after the state Supreme Court upheld Washington's ban on same-sex marriage.

Anyway, it amounts to a 6% recidivism rate. What are the causes of the recidivism here? Poor judicial techniques that allowed "enemy combatants to be released? Maybe the detention itself converted them. I can't even see how it relates to the issue of our detention policies. I guess that's what some would call a red herring.

Where did 363 tons of cash go?

Over $4 billion in cash, which came from Iraqi oil exports and other sources, was sent by the Federal Reserve to Baghdad on pallets aboard U.S. military planes just before government control was given back to the Iraqis, Reuters says. The bills reportedly weighed hundreds of tons.

"Who in their right mind would send 363 tons of cash into a war zone? But that's exactly what our government did," Waxman said, according to Reuters.

The AP says Bremer countered, "I arrived in Baghdad at a time when much of the city was burning. Looting was still widespread. My responsibilities were to kickstart the economy.

What many conservatives regard as the nightmare scenario -- President Hillary Rodham Clinton -- is increasingly seen by veteran Republican politicians and strategists as a virtual inevitability.

In GOP circles, the Democratic front-runner is seen as so strong, and the political climate for Republicans so hostile, that many influential voices -- including current and former lawmakers, and veterans of President Bush's campaigns -- have grown despairing. These partisans describe a political equivalent of the stages of grief, starting with denial, then resentment and ending with acceptance.

For now, these Republicans say the party needs good luck, including a change of fortune in Iraq, and a revival of organization and leadership in the conservative movement to avert another Clinton presidency.

"If the conservative movement and Republicans don't understand how massive the Clinton coalition is, she will be the next president," former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay said in an interview last week, after giving a private talk to GOP lawmakers. Clinton will win, he added, "if we don't use everything available to us and motivate our base, the people that believe in us."

Note what is missing. Republicans, Delay included, identify and enumerate a list of things they think they need to do to save themselves.

Honesty and integrity are not among the things they identify as lacking in themselves and their party........

Irish then, Mexicans now

Newcomers from Ireland and Germany were portrayed as Catholic usurpers invading the United States, taking jobs from native-born Americans and undermining national fabric, Levin said.

Said Potok: "It's remarkable to look back at the nativist sentiments toward Catholics -- it's very similar to what we're seeing with Mexicans now."

Today, many white supremacists blame immigrants, particularly Hispanics, for crime, struggling schools or unemployment, for instance. With many Americans already divided on how to revamp laws and practices to address the nation's swelling immigrant communities, immigration "is an issue that works for hate groups," Potok said.

link via C&L

Prosecutor fired so ex-Rove aide could get his job

So a last second provision slipped into the PATRIOT act says the DoJ gets to put White House political cronies into these jobs.

Except for welfare for friends, why would they do such a thing?

Head dismissed the jurors and set a March 19 date for a new trial.

There seems to be some question as to whether the new trial can go forward, however.

Marjorie Cohn has this to say in a BuzzFlash guest article today:

When the Army judge declared a mistrial over defense objection in 1st Lt. Ehren Watada's court martial yesterday, he probably didn't realize jeopardy attached. That means that under the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Constitution, the government cannot retry Lt. Watada on the same charges of missing movement and conduct unbecoming an officer.
...
Although he faces the possibility of a dishonorable discharge, the judge's grant of a mistrial precludes retrial on the same criminal charges.