And another thing …

Hardly a bombshell. President Bush just signed another emergency supplemental spending bill for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. This time it’s for $82 billion, but military officials say they’ll be back for more in October. Total war costs since the Sept. 11 attacks are now over $350 billion.

Two factors are probably driving the administration’s reluctance to make such appropriations part of the regular budget process.

First, the cost of the war in Iraq has been a touchy subject ever since a couple of government officials estimated that hundreds of billions of dollars would be needed. Not so, said the administration, which claimed that proceeds from the sale of Iraqi oil would cover much of the costs. In the summer of 2003, White House Chief of Staff Andy Card said the administration’s first request for funding, which was $87 billion, would be its last.

Second, emergency bills are not factored into budget deficit projections.

Most Americans have come to grips with the fact that the war in Iraq won’t be short and cheap. An honest accounting won’t shock them, but it will give the military a more predictable source of funding and it will give the nation a clearer picture of the government’s financial health.

Free speech for a price. Crime shouldn’t pay, and criminals shouldn’t get paid for writing books about their crimes. So says a Washington state law which prohibits people like Green River killer Gary Ridgeway from capitalizing on their notoriety in the form of a lucrative book or movie contract.

But Ridgeway’s ex-wife, who has no culpability in his misdeeds, isn’t and shouldn’t be barred from telling her story. Nevertheless, the mother of one of serial killer Ridgeway’s victims went to court to claim at least a portion of any book-deal profits on behalf of vulnerable young women or programs that help them. It isn’t known if Judith Mawson, Ridgeway’s ex, has any such deal in the works, but it’s a stretch to contend that the law should prevent an unwitting spouse, who participated in no crime, from telling and selling her tale.

Given that Ridgeway is in prison for life, has no assets to speak of and owes nearly $75,000 in damages to victims’ families, maybe the law should be reconsidered. Let Ridgeway market his memoir — but only to the extent the proceeds could be used to pay his social debt.