Morning News Roundup (03 Feb)

• The Iraq War is costing us $100,000 per minute, according to this LATimes story about the BushCo administration asking congress for more funds, published in the Seattle Times:
  

  The White House said Thursday that it plans to ask Congress for an additional $70 billion to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, driving the cost of military operations in the two countries to $120 billion this year, the highest ever.
  [...]
  Currently, the Defense Department says it is spending about $4.5 billion a month on the conflict in Iraq, or about $100,000 per minute.

  Current spending in Afghanistan is about $800 million a month, or about $18,000 per minute.

• A ferry carrying up to 1,400 people has sunk in the Red Sea (BBC).
  
  
• John Boehner (that's "bayner," not... well, you know) has been elected House majority leader over Tom Delay's apparent heir, Roy Blunt (see more at the WaPo); the National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC) also has 10 things you should know about Mr. Boehner (who hopefully won't turn into a total... well, you know).
  
  
• Amazon's earnings fell 43 percent during the fourth quarter (AP/Yahoo!)--that's stunning (and a little worrying, from the perspective of an Amazon freelancer).
  
  
• Former Iranian President Rafsanjani says that Iran's referral to the UN Security Council over its nuclear program will backfire (via the Financial Times).
  
  
• Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld uses the Hitler card in reference to Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez (AP/MSNBC). Also switches semantics on the War on Terror from the GWOT (Global War on Terrorism) to "the Long War," referring to it as a generational conflict akin to the Cold War (WaPo).
  
  
• Dennis Hastert believes that oil companies should use their astounding windfall profits to buy television ads to inform that public that "making a profit is just fine" (ThinkProgress).