"Freedom's Just Another Word For Not Enough To Eat"

Krugman rages.Free to Be Hungry - NYTimes.com:

...Hence the war on food stamps, which House Republicans have just voted to cut sharply even while voting to increase farm subsidies...

Nuking NC

Report: Nuke that fell on N.C. in 1961 almost exploded:

One of two hydrogen bombs that a doomed B-52 accidentally dropped on North Carolina in 1961 came perilously close to exploding, according to a recently declassified report...

One wonders how large the crowd of revelers would have been in the North.

Real Evil Skates Free

Bradley Manning Headed To Prison, While Those Who Authorized Torture Go Free:

Bradley Manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison on Wednesday for releasing 700,000 documents about the United States' worldwide diplomacy and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Manning was a 25-year-old Army private first class at the time of his arrest. He saw himself as an idealist acting to end the wars, and said in online chats with hacker Adrian Lamo that he was particularly concerned about the abuse of detainees in Iraq. No political or military higher-ups have ever been prosecuted for detainee abuse or torture in Iraq, Afghanistan or at Guantanamo Bay...

FISA Flaws, He Says

Former judge admits flaws with secret FISA court - CBS News:

A former federal judge who served on a secret court overseeing the National Security Agency's secret surveillance programs denied Tuesday that the judges act as "rubber stamps." But James Robertson said the system is flawed because of its failure to allow legal adversaries to question the government's actions...

Weak Support In Iceland Gov

Iceland proposal would grant Snowden citizenship:

Some Icelandic lawmakers have introduced a proposal in Parliament to grant citizenship to National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, who admits to revealing key details of U.S. surveillance activities...

War Bucks

10 companies profiting the most from war

The business of war is profitable. In 2011, the 100 largest contractors sold $410 billion in arms and military services. Just 10 of those companies sold over $208 billion. Based on a list of the top 100 arms-producing and military services companies in 2011 compiled by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the 10 companies with the most military sales worldwide...

Hagel, The Non-War SOD

Doug Bandow: Chuck Hagel: Finally, a Pentagon Chief Who Despises War

Politics is blood sport, and so it is with the nomination of Chuck Hagel to be Secretary of Defense. Washington's bipartisan War Party is horrified that a warrior who despises war might end up running the Pentagon.

For more than a decade the nation's capital has been overrun by the Sofa Samurai and Think Tank Warriors who believe in starting wars for others to fight. Vice President Richard Cheney, who used five deferments to avoid combat in Vietnam -- "I had other priorities," he explained years later -- epitomized the breed. For them there is no war too bloody or foolish to avoid.

In contrast, Chuck Hagel served, an enlisted infantryman in the Army. He received two Purple Hearts and rescued his unconscious brother in combat. For him war was up close and personal...