Okay. Enough is enough. The insanity must stop. The Washington Post is reporting that the price tag of the war is about to go up to $320 Billion. THREE HUNDRED AND TWENTY. BILLION. DOLLARS.
Read about it and weep, folks: http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
The cost of the war in Iraq will reach $320 billion after the expected passage next month of an emergency spending bill currently before the Senate, and that total is likely to more than double before the war ends, the Congressional Research Service estimated this week.
The analysis, distributed to some members of Congress on Tuesday night, provides the most official cost estimate yet of a war whose price tag will rise by nearly 17 percent this year.
"Likely to more than double before the war ends"? How can they make any estimate about the final cost? There can only be a final cost when the war ends.
How can the war ever end? There is no exit strategy. AAAAAAARRRGGGGGGHHHH!!
So what would you do here on our own soil with $320 billion?
Give affordable healthcare to the elderly? Protect New Orleans? Prepare for the Asian Bird Flu? Pay teachers what they deserve to educate our children? Feed the hungry? Begin the conversion to an alternate fuel source? Support our veterans?
Then there's the cost of human life, but that's the subject for another 2,393 diaries.
It's stupifying stories like this that led me to create a car magnet for peace and peacepositive.net. This small venture has resulted in three things: 1) I no longer feel like all I do is complain about the war. 2) Almost 1000 Doves are flying on cars across the country. 3) We've been able to donate $700 to these charities that support peace. It's not much, but it represents 25% of our gross (peace is no match for war when it comes to potential for profit).
Once again, I want to let it be known that anyone can you use my wife Lori's dove design without permission. And if your peace organization would like to use my magnets as a fundraiser, please contact me at mike@peacepositive.net.
Also, if anyone knows Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young or anyone who is in the public eye that could make the doves fly a lot further than one guy posting diaries ever could, please link me up. I'll get them as many doves as they can distribute at my cost.
I would love to get an exit strategy back on the table so our troops can get out of harm's way and come back home where they belong. Can a car magnet achieve that? No. But perhaps if its message of peace is repeated enough, it will help turn the tide.
$320 Billion. Just when I thought things couldn't get more out of control...