[Chgogal]

Here is a great site that compares cost and treasure of all US wars. You will find it concise and fascinating.

http://www.cwc.lsu.edu/other/stats/warcost.htm

Now, you may find this interesting. I just received an email from a mother of the 173rd Airborne. It conveyed that the U.S. Marines had contacted Starbucks and asked them for support since they love Starbucks Coffee and give their fair share up until now happily to Starbucks' bottom line. Starbucks refused because "they don't support the Iraq War". Every time Durbin, Murtha, Kerry, et al. belittle the Iraq War effort they give support to fellow citizens who refuse to do their share. And you and I know there area millions of fellow Americans who are not doing their fair share.

You like to blame Bush for that. Well I would put forth the argument that every time Webb has a rabid fit, Murtha gurgles some untruth, Kerry insults the Military another citizen uses that incident as an excuse to do less.

Yes, I did read about the the father of the Ranger Sergeant who refused to shake Clinton's hand etc., which is fine but only if you think the many thousands of parents who lost their sons in WW2 should have done the same to Roosevelt? War is war and as you personally know it is heartbreaking and tragic on so many different levels. Now, if you and the majority of us Americans despise war so much, then I suggest we find candidates who will eliminate the Military entirely. If we walk away from this WOT I will no longer support having a Military. There is absolutely no point to having a Military since we civilians don't have the stomach to finish the task at hand.

Something just crossed my mind. A restaurant in the Dells is owned by a family that had 12 of 13 sons fighting in WW2. Thankfully but still tragically they lost only (why I used the word thankfully) one son. The parents never ever complained. They took their responsibility as citizens very seriously and no matter how many battles America lost no matter what the cost in young lives these parents never turned on the War, not ever, despite having 12 sons fighting in both theaters. We the generation(s) after this generation lack the character and will to win a war, we lack the character to endure and that is why I am beginning to think we should disband our Military. Our Military deserves better than we civilians have to offer. If Durbin, Kerry and Murtha are the best that we can elect than we might as well hand the world over to the terrorists. Now I'm sure you would add Bush to that list, but Bush has never purposefully insulted and belittled the Military.

With the Webb win, Durbin's political hand was strengthened. This is the Senator, who on June 5, 2005 compared our Military to the SS, the Khmer Rouge and whatever else. I cannot tell you how much that bothers me.

[leadpenny]

Durbin is a creep and unimportant, except that he is number two or three in the Senate leadership. Because he didn't serve in the military, I believe he tried to use Tammy Duckworth as a foil against the Republicans. Sort of a psycho guilt trip on his part. Sadly for her, she lost. As long as the Dems were going to take the House anyway, I sort of hoped she'd win. As for Webb and Durbin, I can't imagine that they will be buds for long. Maybe Webb will save his boxing skills for the fat, peachy loudmouth? Just wait, Durbin will over-reach now that the dems are in the majority and he has a leadership position.



I had not heard of the family from the Dells (I take it that is in Illinois?). I wonder how many of those sons were drafted? BTW, the new Intell Chair, Reyes, was drafted in 68, served as a Huey Crew Chief in Vietnam for 13 months and was awarded a Purple Heart. Hopefully, a good compromise choice since it was a lose-lose proposition if Pelosi chose either Harmen or Hastings.

Casualties

It's always apples and oranges to compare wars but my point is that during WWII we had over 16,000,000 men and women in uniform with over 10,000,000 drafted. I don't know what the population of the country was then but if you assume half it would have been around 150,000,000. Our military is somewhere around 2,000,000. To feel like WWII we would need to have 30,000,000 men and women in uniform. Of course the casualties don't compare but when you consider the casualties in just the Army and the Marine Corps, it's a heavy burden for those communities to bear.

Murtha

I think Murtha was dissed so bad that he is, right now, trying to determine the best time to make an exit. I think he'll retire before the 08 election.