Security Camera Footage of Minneapolis Bridge Collapse

War costs may top $1 trillion over 10 years

The cost of military operations and diplomatic efforts in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere around the world could top $1 trillion over the next decade, according to Congressional Budget Office estimates provided to the House Budget Committee Tuesday.

The budgetary forecasts hinge largely on the size of the force deployed to Iraq between 2008 and 2017, a matter that Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England told the panel is nearly impossible to predict. "That's a long way in the future" to estimate both costs and force levels, he said.

But CBO officials, at the request of House Budget Chairman John Spratt, D-S.C., estimated that the total costs of operations would range from $924 billion to just over $1 trillion if the size of the deployed force decreases from 210,000 today to 75,000 by 2013.

That compares to a CBO estimate in February of $840 billion total cost. But if the size of the deployed force shrinks to 30,000 troops by 2010, war costs would range from $481 billion to $603 billion between 2008 and 2017, CBO said Tuesday.

Faux "News" Named #2 Top Conservative Political Website

Oops. So much for that "fair and balanced" mantra! From the comically named "Intellectual" [sic] Conservative.

Here is a ranking of the top 100 conservative political websites and blogs. Other than sifting and sorting through directories like alexa's , there’s no easy way to determine what are the most popular conservative websites. John Hawkins of rightwingnews has ranked all political websites in order of popularity in the past, but hasn’t put out an updated list since 2004. I have attempted to create an updated list of the conservative websites for 2007, using alexa’s directory and rankings. There are other sites like trafficranking.com which use different methodology to rank the popularity of websites, however, alexa’s system, which is based on the web surfing habits of those using its browser helper software remains the most popular.

And here is the list. Intellectual [sic] Conservative rounds out the end of the top 100:

1. Drudge Report – 951
2. Fox News - 599
3. Wall Street Journal – 1,043
4. New York Post – 1,778
5. WorldNetDaily – 4,605
6. NewsMax – 5,334
7. Boston Herald – 6,684
8. Free Republic – 7,114
9. Town Hall – 7,915
10. U.S. News and World Report - 8,694
11. National Review Online – 10,502
12. Politico – 11,359
13. Lew Rockwell – 13,174
14. Washington Times – 13,621
15. Rush Limbaugh – 14,117
16. Real Clear Politics – 17,027
17. The Post Chronicle – 19,203
18. Reason Online – 19,942
19. Little Green Footballs – 21,079
20. Michelle Malkin – 23,570

New Product From Bill O'Reilly.com

In a desperate attempt to attract more [sad and deluded] premium members to Bill O'Reilly.com, the Falafel King has an enticing offer to new members. Apparently though, some of the new premium members are upset and are now speaking out.

"I joined Bill O'Reilly.com and all I got was this lousy dildo."
(Click on photo for larger version)

H/T to "GSD" from C&L.

Romney Afraid of Snowmen, What About bin Laden?

KURTZ: Mitt Romney said that, he was expressing his reservations about joining the next YouTube debate, “I don’t think candidates should have to answer questions from a snowman.” Well let me just say this to the former governor: how are you going to deal with Osama bin Laden if you’re afraid of that snowman?