while you were out

since you are ONLY going to hear about the war today, i thought i'd cover some of the things you will miss.

• drug money supports congress... i mean, um terror. http://www.tompaine.com/feature.cfm/ID/6932 the republican controlled senate, led by Dick Armey, inserted some midnight oil pork barrel wording into the Homeland Security Bill that protects drugmaker Eli Lilly from lawsuits that claim that certain injections give children autism.
• Let Them Eat Cake http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2589745.stm Nestle is shaking down Ethiopia for 6 Million in back debts incurred when a previous communist regime seized assets while "publicising private interests." Nothing really wrong with this except three things... 1) Ethiopia is the poorest nation on earth, and 2) 11 million people there are starving in the midst of the worst famine since the 80's and 3) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/1846538.stm Nestle's had a 16% rise in profits this last year, and expects to do even better this year. (Not if I can help it. )
• they give you Autism anyhow http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/12/13/health/main533013.shtml Hospitals are starting to find it difficult to obtain Tetanus shots and injectable antibiotics (among others) because they simply aren't profitable enough for Pharmaceuticals to produce. When labs are shut down for not being sterile or in violation of the FDA's strict rules, drug makers opt to not comply, and simply cease production of the drug.