DAN HANDELMAN – We were very troubled by your announcement Sunday night about the death of Osama Bin Laden. You described his assassination at the hands of a secret U.S. operation as “justice,” an “achievement” that “should be welcomed by all people who believe in peace and humanity.”
White House Website is Lying About Your Taxes
DAVID SWANSON – The White House has a handy website to mislead you about your tax dollars at http://www.whitehouse.gov/taxreceipt. It claims that only 26.3% goes to “National Defense.”
This is What #1 Looks Like
DAVID MORRIS – For Republican presidential candidates the phrase “American Exceptionalism†has taken on almost talismanic qualities. Newt Gingrich’s new book is titled, A Nation Like No Other: Why American Exceptionalism Matters. “America the Exceptional†is the title of a chapter in Sarah Palin’s book America by Heart.
At Last! Good News About Nukes
MICHAEL MARIOTTE – Even while the tragedy of the Fukushima disaster continues and our thoughts and prayers remain with the people of Japan, there has been a spate of good news on this side of the Pacific.
Plutonium Fuel that Threatens Japan Could Come to Washington Nuke
FRIENDS OF THE EARTH – Fukushima Daiichi reactor number 3 – one of the reactors in Japan that has suffered a partial meltdown and that remains endangered – is using an unusual, highly volatile form of reactor fuel that is not yet used in the U.S. but that has been proposed for use at the Columbia Generating Station near Richland, Washington.
WikiLeaks Points to a New Kind of Journalism
RACHEL KENNEDY – April has been a momentous month for WikiLeaks. On April 6 Julian Assange was given a date by Britain’s High Court to appeal against extradition to Sweden. Meanwhile, British diplomats have joined many others who are pressuring the U.S. to provide humane treatment of 23-year old Bradley Manning, the U. S. soldier accused of leaking classified data to WikiLeaks and currently held in 24-7 solitary confinement in the stockade at Quantico, often stripped naked.