Concern Over Country’s Direction at Highest Level Ever Recorded

NYT reports the findings of the latest poll--81% think the country is going in the wrong direction. Way to go Dubya.

Although the public mood has been darkening since the early days of the war in Iraq, it has taken a new turn for the worse in the last few months, as the economy has seemed to slip into recession. There is now nearly a national consensus that the country faces significant problems.

What clued you in America? The wasteful, horrific war? The loss of our civil rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution? Oh, it took getting hit in the pocketbook, of course. I notice BushCo seems to be doing jus'fine.

The Six Trillion Dollar Man

AND THE 4000 DEAD SOLDIERS...not quite a fairytale

Darth Cheney is the real bionic man with his implanted electronic pacemaker and all the human warmth of an oil derrick, but between him and Chimpy, the true estimated cost of the war/occupation will be six trillion dollars. And how many more dead soldiers?

Economist Joseph Sitglitz latest book gives details, conservative estimates on,

"...the economic cost of the war to the U.S. to be $3 trillion, and the costs to the rest of the world to be another $3 trillion – far higher than the Bush administration's estimates before the war.

The Bush team not only misled the world about the war's possible costs, but has also sought to obscure the costs as the war has gone on."

The Toronto Star has an article by Dr. Stiglitz detailing some of those costs.

To make matters worse, Iraq and its human costs have fallen off the radar for the majority of Americans. The Pew Research Center's latest survey finds that only 28% of Americans know the American military death toll which today stands at 3993 according to the Iraq Coalition Casualty Count.

Ranger Against War has posted on this as well, and it's worth a read.

Get Me My Gun

Clearly the American people don't give two shits about what goes on in their own country and with its leadership. The story of the waste and fraud occurring during the is illegal, immoral invasion and occupation of Iraq has been tantamount to the biggest boondoggle in American history, yet is barely glanced upon in the mainstream media, and virtually ignored by congress.

Did you know of the nearly 1/2 a trillion war dollars spent, 88 BILLION dollars of "contractor money" is under investigation for fraud? Did you realize the 630 private companies are under contract to the US government to deliver "services" to Iraq? Jeremy Scahill, author of Blackwater:The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army, sat in on a DOD authorization hearing and listened to representative after representative ask scores of military and government officials,"How many contractors do we have? What are they doing? How much are they being paid? What nations are they drawn from? The answers were, 'I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know' ". Would you let ANYONE spend your money like this?

Bill Moyers does a great intense round-up of the national treasure wasted on this futile exercise called the Global War on Terror. Best of the Left compiles a podcast "best of" moments from around the blogosphere about the discussion. All the while the republicans can't fund health care for children which amounts to 40 days in Iraq spending.

Preaching to the choir I guess, but I wonder when people will be angry enough to act.