$87 billlion: Item #1

The Bush administration is calling for an additional $2.1 billion to repair the Iraqi oil industry, a sharp increase from previous estimates that underscores how the sabotage of pipelines and the electricity grid has throttled the flow of oil for export and into domestic refineries.

(snip)

A spokesman for the Corps of Engineers said that it had not been contacted by the administration to develop the new estimate, but it remains unclear whether Mr. Bremer's administration spoke to the Corps of Engineers staff in Iraq. The congressmen have asked the budget office for a detailed explanation of how the estimate was derived and a list of the projects involved.

Have coffee before you read the whole thing.

It's been two years and I've got nothing.

I have no answers, no insight, no direction. Just a blog, a little anger, a little too much time. Not exactly nothing I guess, but still not nearly enough. I don't see the point of rehashing the day-- where I was, how I felt --because when you get right down to it, you were either there or you weren't. And I wasn't. I was outside pressing my nose up against the TV glass, horrified and helpless, but still not inside. And if you weren't there it really doesn't matter much to anyone else where you were.

I'm not trying to belittle the catastophe. Nay, I'm admitting that in the end it's too big for me and my blog. So here's a list of required reading,

because what we don't know can hurt us,

because what they could know might,

and

because it's not just our day.

Paul Krugman is on Fresh Air right now.

The Other Shoe

Is it really necessary to write another post about Bush's inability to tell the truth? Well if Bush didn't lie I wouldn't have to write yet another shrill screed bitching about what a liar he is. But he does lie, and so I have no choice. So what am I all bent out of shape about now?

There are plenty of reasons to grumble about the $87 billion dollars Congress is being asked to cough up for Georgie's latest failure but I'm going to leave that alone for a little while to talk about something else. On Sunday night Bush said:

Our military commanders in Iraq advise me that the current number of American troops, nearly 130,000, is appropriate to their mission.

This is to counter criticism that the force currently on the ground is not large enough.

Well he's not expanding the force but:

The Army is telling National Guard and Reserve troops in Iraq they will be there a full 12 months, apparently surprising some who had believed the clock started ticking on one-year tours once they reached mobilization stations in the United States.

Counting time they spent getting ready before they went and to demobilize after their tours, many reservists now in Iraq probably will find themselves on active duty and away from their civilian jobs for well over a year, officials said Tuesday.

Okay, so apparently the current number of ground troops is only appropriate if we don't let the reservists go home at their appointed times. Now to me this reads as our military being stretched a little thin over in Iraq which really makes me worry. And Bush did not mention that because to say that the reservists tours of duty were to be extended would fly directly in the face of his statement that the current number of troops is "appropriate."

A lie of omission is still a lie.

I abstained from Bush TV this weekend and looks like I didn't miss much. Here's all you need to know about Showtime's big wet kiss to the Bush administration.