More slow burn...Look, I know the term "burn rate" has been around for a while in places like venture capital firms...I've just never heard it applied by high level government officials to a war in front of nationwide TV before. A Secretary of Defense that refers to the use of our taxes as the "burn rate" in a war that's not really over and where people are getting killed doesn't really inspire much confidence. What's the insider slang for the deaths over there? "broken units?" The government usually doesn't give us an inside view of what they really think about us on national TV. Of course we all know that this gang is in high office because they are ambitious and want power, and not particularly interested in helping people, serving the public, saving money, educating children, or making our country better and a good place to live for everyone. But this is the first time I remember hearing officials in an administration talk the talk that they use behind the scenes right out in the open. And how does that term jibe with a deliberate manipulation of intelligence to get them the war they want? And, after hearing how they really feel about us, how are we supposed to swallow the platitudes dished out to us about freedom, liberty, and being a shining beacon of democracy for the world? How do you justify the two persona's here- the President who gets up every day to read his Bible and tells us that "Amurrica is being tested" and an administration that talks about the "burn rate" for our money? Or how about that guy Brenner on "Meet the Press" this morning who, when asked about the four soldiers killed in an ambush yesterday, included in his answer talk about how the tide of forces for freedom and justice were on the rise. How can we take that seriously? Can you imagine if four people were ambushed up on Jerome Avenue in the Bronx and Commissioner Kelly told a reporter that " the tide of justice is rising in New York" ? There are definitely some unmatched codes here- one behind the scenes a group of testosterone driven, power mad, oil glutted elite power queens, and the other- a pious, Jesus saved, prayerful simple folk face, who just wants us to all get along., but "he's going to get those evil varmits who are causing all thet ruckus over there..." Come to think of it, I'll take the power mad millionaires...