Despite what antigovernment conservatives say, non-defense discretionary spending on areas like foreign aid, education and food safety was not a driving factor in creating the deficits. In fact, such spending, accounting for only 15 percent of the budget, has been basically flat as a share of the economy for decades. Cutting it simply will not fill the deficit hole.
How the Deficit Got This Big
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange says he’s launching TV chat show
You’ve read his leaks. Now watch his show.International secret-buster Julian Assange says he’s launching his very own television series. The guests haven’t been disclosed, but the 40-year-old Australian has promised to give viewers more of what he’s been supplying for years: Controversy.
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Camp Lejeune Water Contamination: Watchdog Groups Slam U.S. Navy Over New Report
Government watchdogs are crying "bullshit" and calling the U.S. Navy a "bully" in response to a redacted federal report on the drinking water supply at the Marine Corps' Camp Lejeune, the site of an ongoing pollution scandal.
The report released on Friday is a prerequisite for studies to come out in the next couple of years exploring links between chemical exposures in the late-1950s to mid-1980s and what appears to be increased levels of cancer and other diseases among former Camp Lejeune residents. Watchdog groups say that redacting information pertinent to these studies could impede justice.
U.S. to grant three-year extension of loan guarantees to Israel
The U.S. government has informed Israel that it will recommend that Congress approve a three-year extension of loan guarantees to Israel, worth $3.8 billion.
The announcement came after several months of worry in Israel that the loan guarantees would not be extended, despite Israel's request.
Marine charged in deaths of 24 Iraqis in Haditha makes plea deal
Prosecutors and defense attorneys in the court-martial of Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, accused in the killing of 24 unarmed Iraqis in 2005, announced an agreement Monday to settle the case.
Wuterich will plead guilty to a single count of negligent dereliction of duty. Other charges were dropped. No announcement was made on what kind of discharge Wuterich would receive. The maximum sentence is three months in the brig. That decision will be made by the judge.
Aluminum + Fluoride = Alzheimer’s and Dementia
The latest edition of the peer-reviewed medical journal, Brain Research, (vol.784:l998), reveals that aluminum-induced neural degeneration in rats is greatly enhanced when the animals were fed low doses of fluoride. The presence of fluoride enhanced the bio-availability of aluminum (Al) causing more aluminum to cross the blood-brain barrier and become deposited in the brain. The aluminum level in the brains of the fluoride-treated group was double that of the controls.
Defending the Last Free Place on Earth
You've been able to access information you never thought even existed thanks to the internet. I know I have. And the governments of the world don't like this. Fight to retain this ability. If we lose this, all is lost.
The reason the internet/tech business still creates wealth and jobs is precisely because the governments of the world still haven't figured out how to suck the blood out of them like they have in nearly every other industry through endless legislation, rules and regulations. Of course it is no wonder that some of the most succesful of the internet world, Peter Thiel, Steve Jobs and Jimmy Wales are commited Libertarians – they understand the enemy they are up against.
Human Rights Watch details Iraq crackdowns, warns of ‘budding police state’
Iraq “cracked down harshly” on freedom of expression and assembly in 2011 by intimidating, beating and detaining activists and journalists, Human Rights Watch said Sunday in announcing its World Report 2012.
“Iraq is quickly slipping back into authoritarianism as its security forces abuse protesters, harass journalists and torture detainees,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “Despite U.S. government assurances that it helped create a stable democracy, the reality is that it left behind a budding police state.”
Forecast The Facts Exposes America’s Climate-Denier TV Weathermen
America’s television meteorologists are the primary source of climate information for most Americans, and are second only to scientists — who have much less access to the general public — in the level of trust they are given. Yet more than half of TV weather reporters don’t believe in human-induced climate change, even as our poisoned weather grows more extreme.
Forecast the Facts, a new campaign of 350.org, the League of Conservation Voters, and the new Citizen Engagement Lab, aims to turn the tide. The first call to action challenges the American Meteorological Society to vote next week for a strong climate change statement that rejects science denial:
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