Rapid Fire May 11, 2012: Budget Spats

• US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta is complaining that House Republicans want to fund stuff the military doesn’t need. In Australia, Shadow Minister for Defence David Johnston and Defence Minister Stephen Smith have similar disagreements on what the appropriate level of spending should be.

• Panetta and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey argue in favor of the US signing the Law of the Sea Convention. It never obtained the Senate’s approval in the 30 years since the UN formalized the treaty.

• Workers at the Lockheed Martin plant in Forth Worth, TX, are heading into a 4th week of strike. AFL-CIO | Lockheed Martin.