Eight U.S. soldiers were killed in Taliban attacks in Afghanistan yesterday. The cost of the "war on terror" keeps rising, most devastatingly in the widespread loss of human life, but also in terms of defense spending and government debt, and lost opportunities in other areas. In the latest Commonweal, Ronald Osborn tallies the enormous cost of "our permanent war economy": A ReckoningOther highlights, free for all to read:* The Editors on the Supreme Court and the competing ideologies that shape its decisions: Politics & the Court* Matthew Boudway reviews the traveling art exhibit The Mourners: Tomb Sculptures from Burgundy: Mourning Glory* Patrick J. Ryan, SJ, reviews Paul Berman's book The Flight of the Intellectuals: Fellow Travelers?Subscribers can read our cover story by Richard Alleva -- a study of The Catholic Hitchcock -- as well as David Bentley Hart's review of a new translation of Orlando Furioso and lots of other highlights. Subscribe now -- in print or online -- for access to everything on our Web site.