America Keeps Honoring One of the Worst Mass Murderers: Henry Kissinger

Mr. Kissinger’s most significant historical act was executing Richard Nixon’s orders to conduct the most massive bombing campaign, largely of civilian targets, in world history.

[Exene Says . . .] DIY Till I Die

If you aspire to start your own record store, hair salon, vintage store or punk-rock supply depot, I have great news: The odds are against you. So just go for it!

How the Rich Benefited From the Recovery (While Most of Us Got Nothing)

The richest Americans made trillions during the so-called economic recovery from 2009 to 2011, while most everyone else’s net worth dropped

Hospital Prices No Longer Secret As New Data Reveals Bewildering System, Staggering Cost Differences

Even within the same metropolitan area, hospitals charge prices that differ by staggering degrees for the same procedures.

Plus, [Jonathan Golob, via Slog]

As I wrote about last week, Medicare (for the first time ever) released what hospitals in the United States charged, and what they were paid, for the top 100 diagnoses in 2011.

If you’re curious, I’ve written a simple (and ad-free) web app you can use to browse the data. (I suggest comparing the Las Vegas, NV region to Baltimore, MD.)

Be gentle, but have at it.

Colleges Soak Poor Students to Funnel Aid to Rich

U.S. colleges such as Boston University are using financial aid to lure rich students while shortchanging the poor, forcing those most in need to take on heavy debt, a report found.

Security alert: notes from the frontline of the war in cyberspace

 It felt like a concerted worldwide prosecutorial effort to subdue a movement.

Immigration bill portends Department of Homeland Security dossier on every American

The immigration reform measure the Senate began debating yesterday would create a national biometric database of virtually every adult in the U.S., in what privacy groups fear could be the first step to a ubiquitous national identification system.