Morning Matters

• The White House releases the torture memos that guided the Bush-era CIA. Obama won't prosecute the agents involved. (Some people see some ambiguity in his language. Maybe, but I'm not convinced the loophole is deliberate.)
• Banks look for ways to refuse bailout money without actually refusing all the bailout money.
• The City of Baltimore finds $40 million under the cushions.
• The Department of Homeland Security, not content to fret about broadly defined "right-wing extremists," is worried about broadly defined "left-wing extremists," too. Meanwhile, Michael German of the ACLU points out some of the problems with "threat reports that focus on ideology instead of criminal activity."
• The trouble with the Pakistan drone attacks.
• "How dangerous are the Taliban?"
• Bloggers ignore copyright laws, make long-forgotten music available again.
• Suspicious behavior: using the wrong operating system.
• The founders of file-sharing website The Pirate Bay have been sentenced to a year in jail in Sweden for breaking copyright laws
• Tea Parties? What Tea Parties? asks the White House.
• If you’re wondering, yes, Obama is spending a hell of a lot worse than Bush. And Bush was the biggest spender since LBJ–by some estimates since FDR.
  
• California judge orders police to return confiscated marijuana to medical marijuana patient.
  
• Terrific editorial in the Wall Street Journal on red light and speed cameras, traffic safety, and motorist freedom.
  
• Walter Olson has more
  on the Food Safety Modernization Act of Food,” which some are calling
  the “CSPIA for food.” In other words, your local farmer’s market,
  artisinal food boutique, and bake sale may soon be subject to expensive
  new federal regulations.

with Hit and Run, Reason
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