From Democracy Now! this morning:
New Study Says 24,000 Iraqi Civilians Killed
A new independent report released Tuesday puts the number of Iraqi civilians who died violent deaths in the two years since the US-led invasion began at more than 24,000. The study found that US and coalition military forces were responsible for 37% of the deaths, with anti-occupation forces and the resistance responsible for 9%. A further 36% were blamed on criminal violence. Figures obtained last week from the Iraqi interior ministry put the average civilian and police officer death toll in insurgent attacks from August 2004 to March 2005 at 800 a month. The report was done by Iraq Body Count and the Oxford Research Group.
24,000 seems like a big number to me. But I guess not to other people. My sister and I were talking about this today and wondering what the magic number was? What magic number do we have to reach before we care?
It's like the guys and gals we have dying over there. I'm looking at ICCC and the count right now is 1770 US soldiers have died.
What's the magic number on that?
You look around and it's hard to believe we're a country at war as we waste time worrying if Brad loves Angelina now and if it's more than he loved Jennifer.
We'll get to the e-mail in a moment but I want to tie in something else.
We are a country at war and for those who still don't get it, let's take a look at CounterRecruiter today:
The Defense Department has asked Congress to raise the age limit for military recruits from 35 to 42. According to a report from the Army Times, this is one of a series of what defense department officials are calling "urgent wartime support initiatives."
Still think it's not serious? They want to add seven years to the age limit. When's the draft coming?
Let's go to the e-mails. There are two I want to note.
First, Tonya e-mailed. She says she appreciates what Ellen's saying but that if she'd been honest with her boyfriend about this, they'd still be fighting over it. She says Ellen's advice may work for some couples but it wouldn't have worked for her.
Now we've got another woman with a question. Becky is in her thirties and divorced for ten years now. She says she's dated a lot of jerks but has a guy she likes now except for one thing.
Here's Becky's problem. He likes to add to foreplay. And Becky really doesn't care for what he adds. When they're in the mood, he brings out things like chocolate syrup or honey and will pour it on her inner thigh and lick it off.
Becky says that besides tickling, it's too hot for her to have someone's tongue on her like that and that even if he licks for thirty minutes, which he sometimes does, he never gets it all off. So she's left with spit and honey or chocolate still on her.
Besides the fact that she likes the guy and he's the first one she's liked since her divorce, she worries about saying anything because before the honey and chocolate got added, she was asking him to "spice it up" a little and this was his idea of "spicing it up."
She says, "It was fun for about a week. But five weeks later, I'm tired of it."
I have a few answers but Becky says he's out of town on business for the week. So I'll toss this to everyone and we'll share some answers tomorrow. I'll stick with mine and I'm looking for ideas that are different. So if Ellen's got an answer and it's different than mine, I'll include it.
If you've followed the news even slightly in the last 24 hours, you know that John Roberts Jr. is Bully Boy's nominee for the Supreme Court and you know that almost any other news has been pushed aside. You know that it's awfully interesting how Bully Boy's buddy Rove has vanished from the headlines and news. The outing of the CIA agent married to Joe Wilson is so pre-Supreme Court nominee.
C.I. had a funny song up about that. Ma sang it to me because I don't know the song it's based on ("It's Only a Paper Moon").
When Ma was singing it, I was laughing so I want to share it with you.
Say, it's only a summer scandal
Bully Boy will soon have the handle
He's the king of the make-believe
Do you believe in me?
Yes, it's only a scandal de sum
Reporters move on if we play mum
King George of the make believe
Do you believe in me?
. . .
It's a Bully and Cheney world
Just as phony as it can be
But it wouldn't be make-believe
If you believed in me
C.I. calls it "It's Only a Summer Scandal."
I also want to note that Elaine is filling in for Rebecca while Rebecca's on vacation over at Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude. She has a really good post on peace. So check that out.
And let me give a shout out to Common Ills community member Cedric who has just started his own blog called Cedric's Big Mix. It's up on my blog roll.
