The National Budget Simulation is a game that you can play from the privacy of your own web browser, and really should, just so that you can see how easy it is to reduce military spending just a little bit and suddenly the numbers become much easier to deal with.

J and I watched the latter two-thirds of Bowling for Columbine, the premise of which boils down to the reason there is so much violence in the U.S. is because we are so afraid (which sounds like a vicious circle, because fear provokes violence provokes fear). Is not the military budget a reflection of that fear (we spend, per year, nearly as much on the military as the rest of the world put together)? Bush's doctrine of pre-emptive strikes certainly is a doctrine of fear.

Game found via Mark at Boing Boing.