So Sad...

> Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell who has continued to vote against health care for poor children, has displayed his callousness again in his comments about Americans who have died in Iraq. (TPM had it first.)

Here is what McConnell had to say, according to the Grayson County News-Gazette:
"....”The polls are reflecting that there is a 15% increase in optimism in American's views about the war.

“I won't tell you everything is great in Iraq; it is not. But we want to keep a steady flow of funds so that we don't disrupt the military,” said McConnell. “Unfortunately, most of our friends on the other isle are having a hard time admitting things are getting better; some days I almost think the critics of this war don't want us to win. Nobody is happy about losing lives but remember these are not draftees, these are full-time professional soldiers....."

Does McConnell mean that those Americans who died in Iraq don't matter? TPM has a response to McConnell:

"I would say that Mitch McConnell owes every member of our service and the families of the fallen an apology, but no apology from him can take back the venom he has spewed at our troops," a VoteVets.org senior advisor, Retired Lt. Col. Andrew Horne, said in a statement.

"For anyone to believe that casualties of war are somehow more acceptable because they were not draftees is disgusting," continued Horne, who served in Iraq with the Marines and lives in McConnell's home state of Kentucky. "For the Republican leader in the United States Senate to say that is beyond repugnant."

It is hard to believe that the good people Kentucky could vote for a heartless man like McConnell. If you'd like to let Sen. McConnell your opinion of his comments about the American military, you can contact him at http://mcconnell.senate.gov/contact.cfm or (202) 224-2541.

> It appears that two large retailers are going out of business. CompUSA (see Bloomberg) and Sofa Express (see Akron Beacon Journal) will be closing their doors soon.

> A local trip to the supermarket may cause you to get sticker shock. Food prices are going up.
Dispatch:
......The price of some basic baking ingredients such as eggs and milk has shot up compared with a year ago. And the price of flour and butter, already on the rise, is expected to increase even more this month.
Eggs cost an average $1.77 per dozen in October, about 40 percent more than the same time last year, according to the most recent data from the Consumer Price Index. The cost of a gallon of whole milk was up 25 percent, to $3.84......

I'm sure that this is just the beginning of higher prices. Many fear that a recession is ahead. Is it possible that the Bush administration's total focus on an unnecessary war in Iraq has let the U.S. economy go into the toilet? Only time will tell.