oh democrats...

The Democrats show us once again that they are all bark, no bite. Come on Democrats, grow a damn backbone and stick to the agenda that helped you win back Congress. Asking for a plan is not an unreasonable request. When I get a loan from the bank, they give me a payment plan and I am expected to follow it. And I'm not asking for $100 billion! This bow-down mentality exactly what is going to cost the Democrats the White House in '08. The Democrats got their original bill passed through both houses, it was Dubya who foiled it. They should have came back with a bill that would have gotten enough votes to override a veto, but still would have called for at least a minimal plan for the war.

Instead of setting schedules for pulling U.S. troops, it appeared the Democratic-run Congress and the Republican White House agreed for the first time to include conditions prodding Baghdad to make better progress toward quelling violence or risk losing around $1.3 billion in U.S. reconstruction aid.

"Prodding" Great. We're going to prod the Iraqi government.

Bush could waive the provision, however.

Suprise suprise. The Democrats are going to try again in July for a troop withdrawal plan but the White House has already called their bluff, so why bother?

Congress has approved about $450 billion to date for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, but economists also have been tabulating the long-term costs such as veterans' care.

AEI-Brookings total expected future costs for the Iraq war.

Oh yeah, where's bin Laden?

children of hurin

I finished Children of Hurin last week (im sort of a slow reader) and thoroughly enjoyed it. Although I already knew how it would end b/c there's a shorter version of the story in The Silmarillion, but the extra details in this novel were fun to read. Just two months till Deathly Hallows comes out, yes I have it preordered and it will arrive at my door on July 21st or I get it free (sweet). [exit nerdness stage right]

I made a really good dish last night for dinner, try it out, Artichoke Chicken. I added chopped spinach, and subbed half the mayo for sour cream.

zzz

i am so tired today, gahh. i wonder if seasonal allergies makes a person sleepy. that person being me. usually i care a lot about american idol, but this year I could really care less. Maybe I've just grown out of it... it doesnt seem like this season was very interesting, yah sanjaya had cra-razy hair, but everyone else has been *dull* im sure jordin will win, blah blahgablah. i didn't really feel like posting anything too heavy or political today, so I hope you enjoyed my ramblings.

CS3 now on eBay

My eBay auction of Adobe Creative Suite 3 is up on eBay

Check out the listing

save yourself some money and buy it from me! :) sorry international readers, I don't think I can ship the software internationally, don't want to violate any unforseen trade rules or whatever.

creative suite 3

In the next week or so I will receive the full version of Adobe Creative Suite 3, Design Premium, which I won in a contest (im so lucky). I will be auctioning it on eBay, so if you're planning on buying it, and would like to get it a little cheaper, keep checking back, I'll post a link to the auction as soon as I put it on eBay.

Happy may day

As we celebrate May Day let us not forget that this is also the anniversary of the end of military combat in Iraq. Since Bush declared 'Mission Accomplished' on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln four years ago, Iraq has enjoyed peace and prosperity as it has steadily rebuilt its goverment and infrastructure. Oh crap, none of that has happened.

A report came out yesterday from the U.S. State Department that global terrorism increased more than 25% in 2006.

"The liberation of Iraq is a crucial advance in the campaign against terror. We've removed an ally of al Qaeda, and cut off a source of terrorist funding. And this much is certain: No terrorist network will gain weapons of mass destruction from the Iraqi regime, because the regime is no more." - Bush four years ago today

"Incidents in Iraq accounted for nearly half of the 14,000 attacks and about two-thirds of the more than 20,000 fatalities worldwide. The number of deaths blamed on attacks increased by about 40 percent.
The spike comes from the eruption of sectarian killings and bombings that followed the February 2006 bombing of the al-Askariya mosque in the Iraqi city of Samarra, according to Frank Urbancic, the State Department's acting counterterrorism coordinator.
That attack, blamed on al Qaeda in Iraq, destroyed a revered Shiite Muslim shrine and led to a wave of reprisals between Iraq's Sunni and Shiite communities." CNN.com today

War in Iraq Far from Being Over