Another rant

or, how all those $23,000 refrigerators, and other stuff, can add up to some real money. The Bush(league) administration claims the Iraq (pre-emptive) war "price tag" at approx $500 billion. But it's hard to tell for sure because they have funded the war primarily thru "emergency supplemental bills" which are not part of the federal budget, and don't have the scrutiny involved with the rest of the budget. Because this war is an "emergency", $23K refrig's are OK. However, those who study the costs put them at over 2 trillion, and rising. They actually figure in long term health care for the injured and replacing the equipment lost and damaged, including that of the Nat'l Guard ($24 billion worth) Little things like Chinook helicopters, that weren't available for rescuing people and livestock during the recent storms, because Colorado's ONLY 2 Chinooks are in Iraq, along with a bunch of people and other "stuff." Couple this new budget info (financed by IOU's, 'cause this is the first war in history not to have tax increases) with the casualty reports on Iraqi civilian deaths due to violence (not counting those deaths from health problems) Over 35,000 last year, and that's not counting serious injuries in the hundreds of thousands. And some wonder why those "ungrateful" people, say they would rather have Saddam back (over 3 to 1). They just need to toughen up and stop whining. Electricity and safe water are way overrated.