Staying on Message on Iraq

Dubya Déjà vu: If a soundbite works, stick with it, I guess. Compare these two quotes, a year-and-a-half apart by the commander-in-chief:

"We're making progress." – President Bush on the fighting in Iraq, CNN.com, March 21, 2003

"We're making progress on the ground." President Bush on fighting in Iraq, Washington Post, August 23, 2004.

Certainly no flip-flopping there.

Flip Flop? For someone who opposed the idea of the 9/11 Commission in the first place, then wanted to shorten its run, President Bush is embracing it’s findings quickly. President Bush may act as quickly as today to put some of the 9/11 Commission’s suggested reforms into action. Not waiting for Congress, he’ll sign them into effect as executive orders. Just in time for the Republican National Convention. (USA Today)

What’s the Iraq War Costing You? There’s a clock ticking off the cost in New York City. Anti-war protestors put it there for the Republican National Convention. They claim as of Wednesday, the war had cost $134.5 billion. And the cost is going up:

• $176,860,800 per day
  
• $ 7,369,200 per hour
  
• $ 122,820 per minute

Behind the project: Project Billboard and the Center for American Progress. That’s a liberal think tank John Podesta runs. He’s former President Clinton's chief of staff. (USA Today)

The Poor Get Poorer. For the third straight year, the number of Americans living in poverty and without insurance both went up. The Census Bureau reports an additional 1.3 million Americans fell below the poverty line last year. And 1.4 million more lost health insurance coverage. (USA Today)

Toasting Your Tax Dollars with Fine Ohio Wine. Washington has spent $475,000 of your tax money since 1999 to fund a winery in Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Ohio. A group called Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) blew the whistle on the winery yesterday. Taxpayer money includes $55,000 to run city water to the park and $90,000 to rehabilitate the farmstead. The park also uses your money to run organic vegetable and free range chicken farms. Gotta think the pic-I-nic baskets there would attract your not so average bears, huh, BooBoo? (WashPost)