207 Articles

Thursday, November 5, 2009
Clotheslines Are Back--and So Are Their Problems
(4 comments) Sure, nothing beats the fragrant aura of sheets dried amidst pastoral breezes--but how about towels, assuming they even dry? Do they go in the linen closet--or in the garage as emergency sandpaper? Raise your hand if you've hung wash in the climes like Phoenix or Vegas and found your royal blue shirt converted into a robin's egg blue shirt in about two hours?

Sunday, November 1, 2009
Aren't You Glad Your Doctor Completed Pharma's CMEs?
(1 comments) Maybe your doctor passed Quadrivalent HPV Vaccine May Be Effective in Women 24 to 45 Years Old --which sounds like a sales pitch for Gardasil because it is--which "studies" a Lancet article written by Nubia Muñoz, MD, two Merck employees and other authors.

Monday, October 26, 2009
Irate Mom, Line One; Parents Talk Back to Pharma
As newly approved drugs harm and even kill children, more parents are fighting back.

Sunday, October 18, 2009
Farmers Protest Food Activist Michael Pollan at University of Wisconsin
The land grant, ag-based university, in the middle of dairyland, clearly doesn't remember its roots. It gave Pollan's In Defense of Food, another anti-agbiz screed according to industry, free to all incoming freshmen as part of its common book read program where everyone reads the same book, Go Big Read, in August.

Friday, October 16, 2009
Do You Suffer from Eyebrow Plucking Disease? Divorce?
(2 comments) Depersonalizing "she" ads--"Has She Become a Fixture in Your Office?" "She Hides Anguish Behind Arrogance" "Does She Call You Morning, Noon and Night?---were the norm when doctors, copywriters and drug makers were men and charged with getting women to behave. So was pathologizing everyday conditions, a phenomenon which did not start with direct to consumer advertising.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009
DogFighting Thrives in Chicago--even at Day Care Center
On the same day the nation watched a video of the beating death of 16-year-old Derrion Albert in Chicago, Cook County sheriff deputies were watching a video of an animal being burned to death on the cell phone of a man arrested the same day in connection with a dogfighting operation run at a suburban Chicago day care center.

Monday, October 5, 2009
It's Deja Vu All Over Again for Pfizer
Pfizer's $2.3 billion settlement announced last month by the US Department of Justice, for fraudulent marketing of Bextra, Geodon, Lyrica and Zyvox inducts the world's biggest drug maker into the pharma Three-Peat Hall of Fame.

Saturday, October 3, 2009
Yale Murder Peels Back Plexiglas Curtain of Animal Research
animal researchers now have two new fears: depraved technicians--and the public peeling back the Plexiglas curtain on the secretive, pork-ridden world of animal research.

Sunday, September 27, 2009
In Bad Times for Ag, Temple Grandin Speaks Out
Grandin, of course is the author of Animals Make Us Human and Animals in Translation and professor of animal science at Colorado State University. She is known for interpreting how the world looks to animals because of the alt perspective from her autism and considered the Ralph Nader of the packing house.

Saturday, September 19, 2009
What Happened to Anna Wintour's October Issue?
(1 comments) Why does Wintour's shellacked, pageboy helmet bob--last seen on Monica Lewinsky in 1999 when she was doing penance--not disqualify her fashion oeuvre? And the shrunken, osteoporosis blazers paired with A-line skirts? How about the sleeveless, abstract-floral orange print jersey dresses that look like, gulp, Butterick patterns? Am I missing something?

Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Does Your Dog Play Well With Others?
Why can't children--and their parents--get along as well as dogs and their owners on the dog beach?

Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Egg Eaters Horrified At the Daily Grind at Hatcheries
(2 comments) This was not like run-of-the-mill abuse videos where management blames a few Bad Apples and vows to investigate while insinuating the acts were staged or instigated, law enforcement sits on its hands, distributors plead ignorance, the public boycotts the brand for 4 hours and an assistant night shift supervisor gets a 3 month suspended sentence. The bad apple is the system of egg production itself

Sunday, September 6, 2009
Eat, Pray, Dine on Veal
(4 comments) Gilbert knows all about Yoga, mantras, Brahmans, Buddhism, Hinduism, Zen, the Hopi Indians and Apollonius of Tyana; she's down with St. Theresa, St. Francis, the Kabbalah and Sufism. But she was absent the day they taught Ahimsa--the doctrine of refraining from causing pain, injury or violence to any living thing. The doctrine that guides most spiritual leaders--and spiritual paths.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Video Shows Price of Cheap Eggs: Chicks Ground Up Alive
(4 comments) A video just released by Mercy For Animals from Hy-Line Hatchery in Spencer, Iowa, the largest hatchery for egg-laying breed chicks in the U.S., confirms what has been rumored for years about the egg industry: that newborn males which are worthless to the industry are ground up alive in chopping machines called macerators.

Saturday, August 22, 2009
Back-to-School Shopping with $300
(3 comments) Despite the "recovery" our "healthy" economy is still predicated on buying things we don't need with money we don't have. Just listen to EZ mortgage ads which are back on the radio next to the Mercedes ads

Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Remembering Woodstock's Women Musicians: Both of Them
(2 comments) Despite Collins' 2004 book America's Women: Four Hundred Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates, and Heroines, she's yet to comment on the "position" of women performers at Woodstock--both of them, Joplin and Slick--which was probably as Black Power leader Stokely Carmichael said of women in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) "prone."

Monday, August 17, 2009
Vytorin: Both Kinds of deception
(1 comments) Merck and Schering-Plough have the audacity to bring back the "two sources of cholesterol" campaign less than two years after their Vytorin marketing drew lawsuits from state attorneys general and a Congressional intervention

Sunday, August 9, 2009
John Hughes Not Ferris Bueller Like in Real Life
Hughes "going script" in the 1980's while other Lampoon editors were still thinking long form magazine article and book contract was as prescient as writers going online in the 1990s. His secret, he told me, was a...computer (!) which let him writes scenes and try them out in different sequences. Quite a concept for Wite-Out/correction tape-ridden writers of the 1980s.

Friday, August 7, 2009
Should Your 3-Year-Old Be On Antidepressants?
(10 comments) Even though the pharmaceutical industry has got 27 million Americans on antidepressants thanks to direct to consumer advertising--ten percent of the population--it is looking for depression in preschoolers. And guess what? It's finding it!

Thursday, August 6, 2009
Can We Have An Overweight Surgeon General?
(7 comments) Isn't Obama himself a smoker? Doesn't his chief White House economic adviser, Larry Summers, require a reinforced chair not just for his adiposity but his narcolepsy in high level meetings? (Or was his nap, shown in a New York Times photo, a sugar coma?)

Saturday, August 1, 2009
How Has the Recession Affected Your Jewelry and Cruise Ship Needs?
This recession hasn't just made things rough for people who sell things and people who can no longer buy them (because they also sell things to people who can no longer buy them.) It's made things rough for the nation's copywriters.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Palin May Be Gone But Other Threats To The Language Remain
Now that we no longer have Sarah Palin to misunderestimate anymore let's do away with some other threats to the language like phone bots and public address system abuse.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Which is worse? Germs in our Food or the Antibiotics that Kill Them?
(1 comments) If you want to lose weight the late comic Gilda Radner used to say, eat your lunch next to a car wreck. But this summer all you have to do is eat the food the FDA approves.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Depressed? Hopeless? Stop Looking at the Help Wanted Ads
(2 comments) Unlike the 2000 recession, this one has no faces to blame like Jack Grubman, Henry Blodget, Frank Quattrone or Dennis Kowalski. The nameless wonks at AIG, Fannie and Freddie still have their jobs! Thank goodness for Bernard Madoff.

Thursday, July 9, 2009
Think You'll Marry After 40? Buy a Lottery Ticket Too
(15 comments) Your chances of getting married have been promoted from less than the chance of being harmed by terrorists to less than the chance of becoming Secretary of State or Speaker of the House. They may even be greater than being on a plane that hits a cluster of birds and plunges into the Hudson River and being rescued while waiting on the wings.

Monday, July 6, 2009
Sanford's Second Love After Cheating? Killing birds
(2 comments) South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford when not "saying goodbye" to his Buenos Aires consort over Father's Day was dispatching mourning doves in Cordoba, Argentina.

Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Doctors Boo Obama in Chicago
(3 comments) the 236,000 member AMA which represents a fourth of the nation's practicing physicians, has always been obstructionist--fighting managed care, cost controls, posted fees, politicians, insurance companies, nurses and even a physician "glut" in the past.

Friday, June 12, 2009
Start Your Engines Drug Reps! FDA Panel Says Yes to Seroquel, Zyprexa and Geodon for Kids!
(2 comments) Still the elephant in the room at the proceedings was why drugs that are already available off-label need FDA approval at all--and why it's urgent that kids showing symptoms be Treated Now.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Sure You're Ready for a Dancing Cockatoo like Snowball?
(1 comments) "People think cockatoos are cuddly and easy to take care of but they're not," says Weiner 50, a Glencoe police lieutenant when he's not running the Chicago area bird refuge and shelter. "We tell them--if you want a bird that doesn't bite, doesn't poop, doesn't require care, patience, skill, money and frequent veterinarian visits, go to Toys R Us."

Saturday, May 30, 2009
Falling Cancer and Heart Disease Rates? We Can Fix That!
(7 comments) Would anyone believe a new study that found cigarettes are safe after all? Funded by cigarette manufacturers? New studies" proclaiming that hormone therapy or hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is safe after all, sponsored by hormone makers, are gaining traction.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009
FDA Waved Through Asthma Drugs Despite Falsified Trials
Trials of Singular, Serevent, Foradil, Flovent, Xolair, Accolate and Xopenex conducted at the Tucson, AZ facility of Vivra Asthma & Allergy were corrupted by protocol violations and outright falsifications says Robert Davidson, MD, a former clinical research subinvestigator at the facility.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Oprah's Queen of Empathy Crown Threatened By KFC Giveaway
Couldn't the Queen of Empathy think of a better way to help viewers feed themselves during the recession than KFC, targeted by animal groups for six years for egregious cruelty by suppliers captured--repeatedly--on video?

Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Craigslist Killer Shows Risk of Actress/Model/Singer Currently Stripping Lifestyle
(6 comments) when a woman has an improvident one night stand and does the "shame walk" home, when her "friends" post or sext her moments of dissipation or compromise or she "shares" them herself on her blog or webpage that's one thing. But when she declares on the Web-- I am all alone in a room waiting to meet and provide erotic services to you, whoever you are--that's real prostitution.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Is the Economy Why People Are Killing Their Families?
(11 comments) The occasional Susan Smith or Andrea Yates who kills her kids has given sway to the weekly child, sibling, parent, grandparent, spouse and all-of-the-above killer. And like an Airbus A320 landing in the Hudson river rather than at the airport we adjust with sweeping efficiency.

Friday, April 17, 2009
Do You Have TRD? Does Your Child Have Schizophrenia? Pharma Hopes So
(2 comments) Like Wall Street trying to replace the credit default swap/ high risk mortgage gravy train, pharma is cooking up new diseases to sell.

Saturday, April 11, 2009
Are VA Protocols Behind Iraq Soldier Suicides?
(1 comments) 80 percent of troops with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are given drugs that didn't exist during other wars.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Can a Bad Drug Get a Fair Hearing at the FDA? Seroquel Hearings Begin
(1 comments) Seroquel has been bad news. Court documents shows employees illegally marketed the drug for off label uses--you don't make $4.5 billion a year selling to schizophrenics and bipolars, after all--and AstraZeneca buried the drugs' diabetic risks. Now FDA considers widening its use

Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Behind HBO's "Death on a Factory Farm"
(6 comments) It was a Rodney King moment for the animal movement. A sow being hung by a Creston, Ohio hog farmer as a method of "euthanasia" in full view of a hidden camera. And when the perpetrators are brought to court and the video introduced as evidence? Not guilty!

Sunday, April 5, 2009
New England Raid Is New Blow To Egg Industry--in time for Easter
(5 comments) It takes a lot to get state agriculture officials to raid an established farm in the company of state police. But that's what the Maine Department of Agriculture did to Quality Egg of New England and Maine Contract Farming in Turner, ME on April 1 with a search warrant and in consultation with Androscoggin County prosecutors.

Friday, April 3, 2009
Binghamton and Carthage Shootings Cause More Problems for Gun Lobby
(9 comments) Campus killers like Northern Illinois University's Stephen Phillip Kazmierczak and Virginia Tech's Seung-Hui Cho were legal gun owners, after all. So were Wisconsin church-killer Terry Ratzmann and immigrants Sulejman Talovic, the Trolley Square mall killer, Chai Vang, the Wisconsin hunter killer and Bart A. Ross, who killed a Chicago federal judge's family who had no trouble buying guns. Let's enforce existing laws!

Saturday, March 28, 2009
Thanks A Lot, HBO, Says Meat Industry
undercover "employees" with hidden cams who immortalize factory farm conditions on YouTube, websites and HBO are as big an occupational hazard to factory farmers than the ones that elicit FREEZE! IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION SERVICE!

Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Looking For a Job in Pharma? Get Ready for a Headache!
(3 comments) while the nation gasps at AIG and Freddie losses, pharma is running a strong second with Merck paying out $4.85 billion for Vioxx, Pfizer $2.3 billion for Bextra (and $430 million for Neurontin) and Lilly $1.4 billion for Zyprexa.

Sunday, March 15, 2009
Massacres Set Pro-Gun Legislation Back
(8 comments) The problem is that gun "enthusiasts" like Michael McLendon and Bruce Jeffrey "Santa Claus" Pardo are increasingly becoming the gun lobby's poster boys.

Thursday, March 12, 2009
A Merger From The Folks Who Brought You Vytorin
As Whitehouse Station, NJ-based Merck announces its purchase of Kenilworth, NJ-based Schering-Plough who remembers that it was a Merck/Schering-Plough combo that brought us Vytorin?

Monday, March 9, 2009
Forest Labs and AstraZeneca Sleazy Science Revealed
When the Onion writes, "Ann Coulter not a hate monger says Ann Coulter," people laugh. But when pharma uses the same logic--its scientific studies get published and its drugs get approved and prescribed.

Friday, February 27, 2009
Vet School Defends Dog Labs as Pickens gift Withdrawn
(4 comments) Madeleine Pickens, wife of billionaire T. Boone Pickens, was about to gift the university's Center for Veterinary Health Sciences $5 million until she learned of the repeat and terminal surgeries performed on man's best friend in its labs and withdrew the largesse.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Death on the Half Shell? MRSA at the Beach? Scientists Disclose Antibiotic Resistance
(3 comments) Once confined to hospitals and medical settings, resistant bacteria are now rampant in schools, locker rooms and the community and complicating treatment of HIV, TB, campylobacter and diseases seen in returning Iraq war veterans said presenters at the AAAS meeting in Chicago where Al Gore spoke

Saturday, February 21, 2009
Earth to Fur Designers
(3 comments) This year at Fashion Week people lack jobs clothing budgets and entertainment budgets for the few places they could wear fur (the opera and then there's the opera.) Even charities and arts events are folding.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Do Fashion Buyers Still Have Their Jobs? Why?
Don't fashion buyers understand you're supposed to recycle unsold merchandise--not creative ideas, few though they might be?

Monday, February 16, 2009
It's the Cymbalta Stupid
(5 comments) Starting with the death of 19-year-old Cymbalta test subject Traci Johnson in 2004--who hanged herself in the Lilly Clinic in Indianapolis and had no history of mental problems--it has been beset by reports of baffling, rapid, unprovoked, and out of character suicides.

Saturday, February 7, 2009
My Name Is Nadya And I'm a Motherholic
(13 comments) nstead of praise, the super-ovulating mother of octuplets and Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Bellflower, CA where her births took place last month are eliciting hate and incredulity for their audacious medical extravagance during a time of national austerity.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Got Antibiotics in Your Food? Thank the FDA
(2 comments) After getting a trough-ful from agribusiness and big pharma, the FDA reversed its ban on antibiotics in the food supply

Monday, February 2, 2009
But Did You Do It, Blagojevich?
(1 comments) Who, seeing his vindication tour on ABC's "Good Morning America," NBC's "Today Show," CNN's "Larry King Live" and "The View"--even as police were outside his home and he was being impeached in Springfield--didn't think of Chicago area policeman Drew Peterson whose third wife was found dead in the bathtub in 2004 and fourth wife disappeared in October 2007? I

Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Chicago Furrier Pleads Guilty to Running Drug Operation
No one is surprised Adriana Furs was a front. A week after Christmas, Macy's was unloading furs at outtahere prices like $378 for a rabbit coat and $743 for a fox jacket and Saks was selling fur with dressed-from-the-waist-up newspapers photos normally associated with pay web sites and women who get in stopped cars

Monday, January 26, 2009
Son of Neurontin Meets the Fibromyalgia Epidemic
(4 comments) Drug discovery has worked better for Northwestern University than patients who take the son of Neurontin drug, Lyrica

Monday, January 26, 2009
Son of Neurontin Meets the Fibromyalgia Epidemic
(1 comments) Drug discovery has worked better for Northwestern University than patients who take the son of Neurontin drug, Lyrica

Saturday, January 24, 2009
From Doghouse to White House; American Dog Changes Too
(1 comments) Columnist Erma Bombeck used to say dogs were the last of the optimists. They rush the door when the bell rings but it's never for them. And they can't wait to go for a car ride but they never go anywhere but the vet. (Isn't doing the same thing and expecting different results also the definition of insanity?)

Sunday, January 18, 2009
Born With A Statin Deficiency? Line Forms To The Left!
(3 comments) How could a drug company-funded study unabashedly designed to show why the general population should use its drug (Crestor, or rosuvastatin) not just people with heart disease and high cholesterol be anything but a sales pitch? Why did the press swoon?

Friday, January 16, 2009
Ann Coulter To Kiss No Babies on Book Tour
(3 comments) Ann Coulter could practice law or model clothes. She could teach first grade and single-handedly solve the problem of kids calling the teacher Mommy. She could work in a health insurance office and deny claims for a living. But for some reason--book sales? personality quirk?-- she would rather serve as a right wing piñata, albeit a small one, to the media

Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Fragile: Handle with Risperdal
(9 comments) Risperdal (risperidone), an atypical antipsychotic, may have contributed to the deaths of 31 children since its 1993 approval according to the New York Times--including 11 treated for unapproved uses; it may have squandered millions of tax dollars, but it is a branding success story.

Saturday, January 10, 2009
JAMA Apologizes for Cattlemen Tainted 'Science'
(4 comments) Would a medical journal publish an article pushing for a higher Recommended Dietary Allowance of protein from an author whose email used to be smiller@beef.org? JAMA did in its June 25 issue this year in an article titled The Recommended Dietary Allowance of Protein: A Misunderstood Concept.

Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Who Are These Old People at My Class Reunion?
(5 comments) Nowhere in science is the "survivorship bias" as well demonstrated as the class reunion. Where are the people who failed economically, professionally, socially, romantically and bodily? They don't show up!

Saturday, January 3, 2009
Will Fosamax be Vioxx all over again?
(2 comments) Like Vioxx which was launched a month early thanks to its collegial relationship with the FDA, Fosamax was rushed to market in 1995 six months after its application on the basis of two three-year studies.

Thursday, January 1, 2009
NRA Legends are Dropping Like NRA Candidates
(19 comments) The NRA lost a lot more than elections for eight seats in Congress this year.

Sunday, December 28, 2008
Are You Sure You're Not Psychotic Asks Shameless Drug Company?
(11 comments) For years, AstraZeneca has tried to convince depressed people they are really bipolar and need to take the atypical antipsychotic Seroquel (quetiapine fumarate) which is only approved for schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. Now the FDA is saying cease and desist

Friday, December 26, 2008
Defending Agriculture and Sometimes Horse Slaughter and Michael Vick
(16 comments) The sixth-generation farmer Trent Loos with his signature cowboy hat and handlebar mustache is obsessed with farm animals and public ignorance of where food comes from. Like his adversaries.

Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Does Christie Hefner Have Any Regrets?
(4 comments) Not pretty enough to pose for her father's Playboy magazine and not male enough to rate the company stock he bequeathed to his sons in 1997, Hefner is the Poster Child of female subjugation and codependence--propping up a regime she neither created or benefits from like Condi Rice.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Pork-Caused Disease Not Improving in Sidelined Workers
(2 comments) n late November more than 20 people demonstrated at the Quality Pork Producers plant in Austin against the treatment workers who developed a rare, pork production disease have received from the pork processor.

Saturday, December 20, 2008
Did Ghostwriters Promote Wyeth's Cancer-Associated HRT?
(4 comments) A new analysis of the Women's Health Initiative confirms HRT causes cancer even as Wyeth is outed for ghost writing HRT journal articles

Monday, December 15, 2008
Behind the Velvet Curtain With a Retail Santa
You might think with the crisis in public confidence over politicians and the economy people have become cynical about Santa story. You'd be wrong.

Friday, December 12, 2008
Some Refuse Eid Animal Sacrifice
(1 comments) "I have been a proud, meat-eating Muslim all my life but the details of the slaughter spelt out in the English language make my stomach churn," writes writer and filmmaker Parvez Sharma on the Huffington Post website in an article subtitled No Eid For Me.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008
If The Chicago Tribune Falls in the Forest Can It Cover Its Own Story?
(1 comments) The Tribune probably wishes it had the $17.7 million golden parachute back it bequeathed to former Tribune Chairman and Chief Officer Dennis FitzSimons when he left the company twisting in the wind. (What would he get if he left it solvent--his own island?)

Monday, December 8, 2008
Secretary of Bloodsports and other Commerce
(1 comments) Richardson is among the one half of one percent of the public who is pro the sacred tradition of cockfighting which was legal in New Mexico until he sought the Democratic nomination for president.

Sunday, December 7, 2008
Junk Food Science Researchers Busted
(1 comments) Would a medical journal publish an article pushing for a higher Recommended Dietary Allowance of protein from an author whose email used to be smiller@beef.org?

Sunday, November 30, 2008
With Mad Cow, The Only Thing Cattlemen Have To Fear Is the Press Itself
Texas doesn't want to risk its beef industry or "multi-billion dollar hunting industry" as the Texas Parks & Wildlife Commission refers to it, because of a mere food scare.

Sunday, November 30, 2008
With Mad Cow, The Only Thing Cattlemen Have To Fear Is the Press Itself
Texas doesn't want to risk its beef industry or "multi-billion dollar hunting industry" as the Texas Parks & Wildlife Commission refers to it, because of a mere food scare.

Thursday, November 27, 2008
What Would "Bloggers" Twain and Franklin Think of the Web?
(1 comments) When Ben Franklin advised Americans to, "Be civil to all; sociable to many; familiar with a few; friend to one; enemy to none," over 200 years ago he clearly was not anticipating the Web.

Saturday, November 22, 2008
Mad Cow Scare In Cattle Country
(5 comments) Ten years ago, Oprah Winfrey was in town courtesy of Texas cattlemen who sued her for disparaging hamburgers on her show. P.S. She won. Now mad cow is back in the news as the Amarillo Public Health Department confirms a hospitalized local woman is being tested for the human variety--and cattle futures at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange are tanking.

Friday, November 21, 2008
Is That A Turkey Being Slaughtered Behind You? You Betcha!
(6 comments) Posing for photographers with her felled moose, her child inches from its bleeding mouth, Sarah Life-Is-Precious Palin is not confused about where meat comes from.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Those Dead Fish? Your Tax Dollars at Work
(2 comments) the fish kill was not an unfortunate runoff accident to be blamed on agricultural nitrates. It was deliberately administered by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources which laced the pond with the South American poison Rotenone to "restore" the water body into a "model Illinois freshwater habitat."

Saturday, November 15, 2008
Service? Declining Retail Sector Will Special Order It for You
(2 comments) It's no secret the US retail sector is hurting as the holidays approach, having just reported its worst quarter since 1992. But how much is its own fault with its ubiquitous anti-service signs like, No Food, No Drinks, No Strollers, No Change, No Restroom, No Soliciting, No Backpacks, No Refunds, No Exchanges, No Bills Over $20, No Credit Cards, No Special Orders, No Pets and No More Than 3 Students At A Time.

Thursday, November 13, 2008
Sarah, Please Read This Before Talking to the Press (Again)!
(14 comments) Sarah Please take some well meaning advice from someone with a GED

Sunday, November 9, 2008
What Would Sarah Wear?
Chicago's North Michigan Avenue Magnificent Mile is noticeably light of shoppers this fall as Gucci stock tanks by two-thirds and Coach, Ralph Lauren and Louis Vuitton stock by half.

Thursday, November 6, 2008
What Do Men Know About PMS? Except To Duck?
(3 comments) Why do men give PMS advice?

Sunday, November 2, 2008
Thank You US Tax Payers Says AIG with Hunting Party
Too big to fail and too big to play fair, AIG shows its true colors with a bloodbath at US tax payer expense

Monday, October 27, 2008
What Do Immigration and Religion Have to Do with the Price of Meat? Everything!
Since US immigration officials began plucking 2,000 illegal Latino workers from meat packing plants in late 2006, hundreds of Somalis have taken up the cudgel, pun intended.

Sunday, October 19, 2008
Another Poorly Regulated "Derivative"--the Antidepressant Pristiq
(4 comments) Like AIG, Fannie and Freddie and other derivative abusers, this is not the first time Wyeth has played fast and loose with the truth.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Why do we need Prop 2? Ask these Norco Ranch hens
(3 comments) As the egg industry and agribusiness trot out "experts" to defend California's $337 million egg industry against Prop 2's humane changes, the diary of "Aaron," who worked at the Norco Ranch egg farm in Menifee, CA in August and September of this year stands in sharp contrast.

Saturday, October 11, 2008
Can In-Class Huckstering Make Milk Drinking Cool?
(7 comments) Is there anyone who hasn't posed with a milk mustache except O.J. Simpson and Phil Spector? And they may be looking at the paperwork now.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Obama-Hating NRA Down to Its Only Trick
(5 comments) As the economy tanks, the NRA is left with only its they're-gonna-take-your-guns bullet. Unfortunately, voters care more about butter than guns right now.

Saturday, October 4, 2008
Publicly Funded Hunting Program Is Drowning in Red Ink--and Worse
(1 comments) Thanks to the Wall Street meltdown, Illinois citizens may be without jobs or cars soon but they can still take the kids to shoot tame pheasants that the state has hatched and raised for their outdoor recreational pleasure at Illinois state parks this fall.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008
After Road Rage, Train Rage
(2 comments) As gas prices rise and household income falls, more people are discovering the life of the strap hanger. Riding the train to work--if you still have a job and your city has a train--saves time and money and removes the daily irritants of driving in road traffic. Unfortunately, it brings new irritants.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Is Playboy Magazine Over the Hill? Ask Lindsay Lohan
Why is this old man and his aged minion photographers stalking the nation for young hotties Lohan may have wondered as she turned down a nude photo spread

Sunday, September 14, 2008
As Antidepressant Sales Sink Pharma Attacks FDA's Black Boxes
(6 comments) Ever since the FDA mandated black boxes on selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressants like Prozac and Paxil in 2004 that warned of suicidal behavior in children and teens--causing sales to drop 25 percent--pharma has been on the war path

Friday, September 5, 2008
Wanna Buy a Car Lot Full of SUVs?
(4 comments) Thanks to US gas prices, SUVs have become the Thanks to US gas prices, SUVs have become the fur coats of the automotive industry: ostentatious, outdated, hard to defend and even harder to maintain.

Saturday, August 30, 2008
With Dropping Wages, Dress Codes Harder to Enforce
They say people aren't dressing up to fly anymore--and it's probably the same reason they aren't dressing up for work: the treatment you get doesn't deserve it

Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Is A Bipolar Disorder Diagnosis the Latest Mania?
(7 comments) In his latest book, Mania: A Short History of Bipolar Disorder (the John Hopkins University Press) David Healy, author of Let Them Eat Prozac, looks at the historic roots of our current "medicalized distress" in which half the population is said to suffer a mental illness at some point in life and babies are diagnosed in utero as bipolar.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Is A Bipolar Disorder Diagnosis the Latest Mania?
(4 comments) In his latest book, Mania: A Short History of Bipolar Disorder (the John Hopkins University Press) David Healy, author of Let Them Eat Prozac, looks at the historic roots of our current "medicalized distress" in which half the population is said to suffer a mental illness at some point in life and babies are diagnosed in utero as bipolar.

Monday, August 18, 2008
Like Many Food Suppliers, Whole Foods Beef Company Was a Repeat Offender
(1 comments) Scratch the surface of a food offender whether they abuse the environment, workers, animals, the public trust or public funds and you usually find they are repeat offenders.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Can Technician Be Trusted Worry Nervous Animal Researchers
(1 comments) Recent attacks on animal researchers have make hiring lab technicians more difficult

Friday, July 25, 2008
Solving Urban Poverty with 55 Gallon Drums of Fish--Another Heifer Success Story
With its shameless photos of children hugging rabbits, goats and calves they will also dispatch and its celebrity stumpers, live animal charity Heifer International often gets a pass from donors and the press about its circular logic--that the poor should raise animals with the resources they don't have.

Friday, July 11, 2008
Gates Supported Heifer International Increases Suffering
(6 comments) It almost sounds like a joke. Set up dairy enterprises in rural African villages with no refrigeration, electricity, veterinary care or passable roads for a population that can't drink milk because it's 90% lactose intolerant.

Sunday, June 29, 2008
Spare Us Paternalism Say Organizing Chicago Sex Workers
(7 comments) As long as sex workers are morally quarantined by illegality and stigma, they risk being robbed, cheated, raped, knifed, shot, beaten up, strangled, abducted, arrested and given diseases said "out" sex worker and SWOP organizer Pussy Willow, 47.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Cornell Expert Details Milk Dangers at Fired Teacher's Hearing
(2 comments) The life expectancy of NFL players and health effects of milk on children were part of Dr. T. Colin Campbell's testimony at a fired middle school teacher's hearing near Chicago.

Friday, June 20, 2008
Obesity, Recession Take Bite out of Fashion Dollar
Even if people had the income and bodies for the fashion industry's recherché runway looks, where would they wear them?

Friday, June 20, 2008
Obesity, Recession Take Bite out of Fashion Dollar
Even if people had the income and bodies for the fashion industry's recherché runway looks, where would they wear them?

Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Can Wyeth Fool American Women Twice?
After the HRT hoax, will US women embrace a major psychiatric drug with possible liver and heart complication side effects for menopause manufactured by the same company at four times the cost of Premarin/Prempro?

Saturday, June 14, 2008
More Dads Receiving Messenger Bags Than Ties
What would the Camel Filters Man say about Dads carrying messenger bags and pushing strollers?

Friday, June 13, 2008
Do South Korean Meat Protesters Know Something We Don't?
(4 comments) 400,000 S Koreans think the beef we're eating is unsafe

Sunday, June 8, 2008
Former FDA Officer Worries New Rules Will Curb Industry Profiteering
(4 comments) At $17,000 a month, should a cancer drug improve survival?

Friday, June 6, 2008
Some Get No Satisfaction from Jagger Closeups in Scorsese Movie
Mick Jagger has not been abusing sun screen and moisturizer all these year judging from his closeups in Shine A Light

Thursday, May 29, 2008
NPR 's Garrels Speaks on the Surge, Blackwater and Limits of Embedding
Garrels discussed the progression of the war, the effect of escalating violence and kidnappings on reporting and everyday life in Iraq and her personal experiences as a reporter and a woman at Northwestern University in Evanston, Il

Monday, May 26, 2008
All Over but the Litigation for Merck
Even as Merck seeks closure on its Vioxx nightmare by paying $4.85 billion to tens of thousands of plaintiffs who took the painkiller--not that it did anything wrong--the bad ink continues.

Sunday, May 11, 2008
Egg Supplier to Dept. of Defense Caught in Cruel Video; Trader Joe's Dumps
Monrovia-based Trader Joe's announced an "indefinite" ban of NuCal Foods, Inc. which distributes Gemperle eggs after the disturbing video

Monday, April 21, 2008
Anniversary of Dann Shooting Puts Obama's State in Gun Spotlight Again
(1 comments) On May 20, 1988 Dann shot six students at Hubbard Woods Elementary School, one of whom died, and another man before killing herself and ushered in the era of the school shooing.

Friday, April 18, 2008
New Diet Drug Tanking Just Like Its "Treatment Effects"
(1 comments) Since GlaxoSmithKline's (GSK) high profile launch of alli last summer, the first FDA approved diet drug sold over the counter, the only figures that have flattened are sales.

Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Another Byproduct of Factory Farming: Livestock Incinerating Fires
(2 comments) The uninterrupted rows of confined animals and manure pits that make factory farms so harmful to the environment, animals and workers also cause heartbreaking fires.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Tainted Deer Meat Tarnishes Hunter Humanitarian Program
Dumping carcasses makes hunters look like they just like to kill. But find someone who will actually eat the game--staff at canned hunting clubs for example or the poor--and you are suddenly a humanitarian.

Sunday, March 30, 2008
More Problems for the Other White Meat As New Disease Spreads
(2 comments) It's hard to write a story about the 13 workers at the Quality Pork Processing slaughterhouse in Austin, MN who came down with a strange neurological disease in December without mentioning the Table.

Saturday, March 22, 2008
A Second Red Sea Emerges as Canada Begins Killing Seals
(1 comments) Canada takes a surprisingly aggressive approach Canada takes surprisingly aggressive approach to this year's seal hunt, the world's largest marine mammal kill.

Friday, March 21, 2008
Are Your Easter Eggs Cruelty-Free? Not If They're From United Egg Producers
United Egg Producers (UEP) the trade group which represents 85% of US egg farms, continues to defend battery cage produced eggs and even disguise them under the illegal label, "Animal Care Certified."

Saturday, March 15, 2008
Accused of Abusing Workers, Animals and the Watershed, Tyson Eyes China
Since the Mike Espy affair, Tyson Foods continues to operate in the gray areas of regulation and is finding a sympathetic sponsor in China

Sunday, March 2, 2008
Meat Scandal Reaches the Hill
Two Congressional hearings probed the Hallmark meat scandal last week. But ag officials remain in denial about where downers come from. Rosen

Saturday, February 23, 2008
Despite 5,000 Law Suits, Wyeth and Endocrinologist Group Hope For HRT Comeback
(1 comments) A reduction in a jury award for a drug that caused cancer from $134 million to $58 million would not normally be cause to rejoice. But it has not been a normal year for hormone maker Wyeth.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Kazmierczak Comes From Long Line of Mass Shooters Who Passed Background Checks
While the nation debates NIU shooter Stephen Phillip Kazmierczak's mental health, how many realize he waltzed into Tony's Guns in Champaign, IL five days before the massacre and bought a Remington and a Glock?

Saturday, February 16, 2008
Valentine's Day Massacre Courtesy of Legal Gun Owner
(2 comments) The gun lobby contends that existing gun laws are adequate and criminals don't procure guns legally, anyway. Unfortunately Dekalb shooter Stephen Phillip Kazmierczak and Baton Rouge shooter Latina Williams were legal gun owners.

Sunday, February 10, 2008
Downer Cow Meat Recall is Perfect Storm for New Ag Secretary Shafer
(3 comments) Now that people realize their children have been eating beef from the Hallmark/Westland Meat Company through the National School Lunch, Program Ed Schafer, the new Agriculture Secretary, has the perfect storm on his hands.

Thursday, February 7, 2008
Merck and Schering-Plough Relieved Public Is Forgetting Vytorin Scandal
Prescriptions for cholesterol drug Vytorin were down 22 percent in the weeks following the release in January of the Enhance clinical study but now prescriptions are "stabilizing" says Merck

Sunday, February 3, 2008
While Viewers Cringe at Slaughter Video, USDA Spins
You wouldn't think you could "spin" a video that shows slaughterhouse workers electric shocking downer cows and "water boarding" them, but USDA is trying.

Sunday, January 27, 2008
Once Colored by Mike Royko, Chicago Newspapers Now Shaped by Money Men Zell and Black
(2 comments) Print journalism is fighting for its very life in Chicago thanks to the Internet, type-bite shortened attention spans of would be readers and a few greedy men

Monday, January 21, 2008
Is Gourmet Slaughter by Chefs the Solution to Factory Farm Abuses?
Gourmet chefs like UK's Jamie Oliver are taking slaughter into their own hands as a protest against factory farming. But new questions are raised.

Saturday, January 19, 2008
Accused of Hiding Drug Dangers Again, Big Pharma Starts 2008 Defending Itself
The ink isn't even dry on the massive Vioxx settlement and already Big Pharma's been accused of burying clinical data, spinning journal articles and selling drugs that cause the conditions they're supposed to fix. Sound familiar?

Tuesday, January 8, 2008
First They Take Your Gun; Then Your Bible Says a Reactivating NRA
(6 comments) Maybe it fears a President Obama. Maybe it feels enough time has elapsed since Robert Hawkins gunned down 13 Christmas shoppers at an Omaha mall. But the National Rifle Association is back on the legislative track.

Saturday, December 29, 2007
Quit Picking on Huckabee's Son Says Michael Vick
Mike Hukabee did not get the bounce he hoped out of his post Christmas pheasant hunting trip. Allegations about his son hanging a stray dog didn't help

Tuesday, December 25, 2007
FDA Official Leaves as He Came in: Serving Wall Street
(1 comments) In his opeds in the Wall Street Journal, Dr. Scott Gottlieb shows why he was never FDA material

Sunday, December 16, 2007
A Pill for Every Mood and Spokesman for Every Pill
Psychoactive drugs don't cause mass shootings like the Omaha shopping mall says a leading psychiatrist--the real danger is kids being drug free

Saturday, December 15, 2007
Red Meat a Rich and Varied Source of Cancer
(1 comments) A new study finds red meat promotes esophagus, liver, lung and pancreas cancer. Second opinion? It also promotes colon and breast cancer.

Tuesday, December 4, 2007
The Many Faces of Big Pharma's Disease Mongering
(1 comments) Big Pharma disease mongering takes more than payments to doctors--there's medical journals, ghost writers and PR firms

Saturday, December 1, 2007
Fur Drawing More Disgust Than Admiration From Holiday Crowds Yet New Stores Open
(1 comments) Furriers are closing in Chicago thanks to new public sensibilities--but others are opening with cheap Chinese imports

Thursday, November 29, 2007
No Holiday Season for Women in High Risk Lifestyles
In Ipswich, Atlantic City and Chicago, women are struggling to overcome the addiction to high risk lifestyles which have claimed the lives of their associates.

Thursday, November 22, 2007
FDA Not Playing the Game Anymore Charges Miffed Wyeth CEO
In the post Vioxx era, the FDA is starting to be pharma's watchdog instead of lapdog and pharma is crying poor me

Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Turkeys have little to be thankful for hidden videos show
(1 comments)

Sunday, November 11, 2007
Like Merrill and Citi, Merck Wants to Forget a Lost Billion or Eight and Move On
(1 comments) Merck, after burying evidence of Vioxx' harm and killing an estimated 55,000 would like to move on. It's taking its cue from Wall Street.

Sunday, November 11, 2007
Like Merrill and Citi, Merck Wants to Forget a Lost Billion or Eight and Move On
(1 comments) Merck, after burying evidence of Vioxx' harm and killing an estimated 55,000 would like to move on. It's taking its cue from Wall Street.

Friday, November 9, 2007
Bedeviled by Bloodlust and Cowardice Cheney Goes Canned Hunting
(3 comments) Last week bloodlust again got the better of him and Cheney indulged in his favorite sport--pulverizing birds that can barely, walk, fly or see

Saturday, October 27, 2007
How To Read Ann Coulter If You Must
(1 comments) Coulter's new book is so close to self parody it is hard to take seriously

Sunday, October 21, 2007
United Egg Producers Approve First Cage-Free Guidelines 7 Years Too Late
After seven years of spin doctoring United Egg Producers has concluded what most people realize in five minutes: cage egg operations are cruel

Friday, October 12, 2007
FDA Regulation Hurts Worse than Depression says Cymbalta maker Eli Lilly
(1 comments) With its number one and number two pills under regulatory clouds, Eli Lilly making a lot more people sick than well

Sunday, October 7, 2007
Playing Pattie Cake with Public Health, E. Coli Spreading Slaughterhouses Allowed To Stay Open
(3 comments) Topps and Cargill didn't grow their own E. coli. Who were their slaughterhouses and why is their identity being protected?

Friday, September 28, 2007
"Ethics Lesson" Gets Teacher Who Mixed Food With Art Fired
Food and art don't mix in the classroom a Chicago area middle school teacher recently found out. Not when you sprinkle in ethics.

Monday, September 24, 2007
Desperately Seeking NRA Approval
Even if a candidate made the grade, the NRA will need more than a pol in its pocket--its favorite concealed weapon--in the upcoming legislative sessions

Monday, September 17, 2007
Suicide Scares Show There's Money in Dosing Children for Pharma
(1 comments) Pharma is using suicide scares in scientific journals to retain its profitable practice of dosing children

Friday, September 14, 2007
Fashion Week or Fashion Weak?
Out of touch annual event is hurting not boosting the fashion industry's image

Sunday, September 9, 2007
As Cancers Rise, Western Diet Becomes an Unpopular US Export
Breast and colon cancer are an unwanted dividend to "Western diet" challenging food paternalism

Friday, August 31, 2007
From Farm to Fork...and Discarded Carcasses in the Stream
(2 comments) As "byproducts" of factory farming find their way into recreational areas and community dumps, few believe all's well on the farm

Sunday, August 26, 2007
USDA Tradition of Industry Before Animals to Continue at Top Vet Group
(1 comments) As the Department of Agriculture's top veterinarian moves to the nation's top vet group, don't look for improvements in animal welfare.

Saturday, August 18, 2007
Credit Derivative Orgy is Behind Liquidity Crisis
(1 comments) Enron style financing is alive and well and masquerading as a "sub prime lending crisis."

Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Skinny "Bastards" and Pastors Join "Bitches" in Praising V-word
The New York Times says red meat is gaining favor with women but Skinny Bitch followers say it just gains weight

Saturday, August 4, 2007
Avandia's Real Warning Should Be About FDA And Pharma Symbiosis
Many of today's prescription drugs are more expensive, less safe and less effective than older ones. But more dangerous is the toxic synergy between FDA and Pharma

Friday, July 27, 2007
Rolling Stone, Gourmet Magazines Turn Up Heat on Factory Farmers
Even mainstream magazines are exposing animal abuse much to the chagrin of factory farmers.

Saturday, July 21, 2007
Hanging of Pig as "Euthanasia" Divides Northeast Ohio Farming Community
Can hanging ever be considered euthanasia? On Wiles hog farm near Creston Ohio it is.

Monday, July 9, 2007
What Tech Shootings? NRA Storms Ahead
Less than three months after the Virginia Tech shootings, the NRA agenda surges ahead with help from compliant lawmakers

Friday, June 29, 2007
Selling doctor data to drug marketers? Priceless for the AMA
Banks do it. Online retailers do it. Why shouldn't the AMA make a buck selling personal customer data?

Friday, June 22, 2007
Is It A Cluster Yet? Public Health Officials Have Few Answers About CJD Cases
(3 comments) The big elephant in the room surrounding the Indiana and Idaho CJD clusters is: what did they eat?

Saturday, June 16, 2007
Will shooting shooting exotic animals on Ted Turner's Ranch help Gov. Richardson "bag" the party nomination?
New Mexico Gov. Richardson's attempt to win the gun lover vote may backfire

Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Chicago Priest and Cardinal caught in Gun Control Crossfire
In standing up to the gun dealers who have turned his Chicago neighborhood into a blood bath, Father Michael Pfleger has been swift boated

Thursday, May 31, 2007
Denny's Dumps Supplier Following Graphic Video of Bird Abuse
(2 comments) Employees at the Raeford, N.C.- based House of Raeford poultry slaughterhouse invaded live birds' cavities for eggs which they then threw at each other according to an undercover investigation

Sunday, May 27, 2007
Fur and Hooves Fly at House Ag Committee Animal Welfare Hearings
Despite riveting testimony, the a House ag committee will keep serving industry

Thursday, May 17, 2007
On the Menu and on the Docket; Legislators Look at Fowl Foul Play
They may be socioeconomic opposites, but cockfighters and foie gras producers are using the same arguments as they face legislative bans

Saturday, May 12, 2007
Surprise: Milk, like pizza and lasagna, is not a weight loss food; FTA quashes dairy industry claims
The FTA has ruled that milk is not a weight loss food. But that is the least of the dairy industry's problems

Saturday, April 14, 2007
Pharma to medical press: thanks for resuscitating HRT
Less than five years after being discredited, HRT is back and extolled as helpful against heart disease.

Saturday, April 7, 2007
In unusual move, biotech giant Monsanto asks for more government regulation
Now that dairies, food processors and consumers are turning away from rBST Monsanto is screaming "no fair."

Monday, April 2, 2007
Armed and Sniveling
The NRA is still pushing its "bring your gun to work" agenda and bristling at the press releasing conceal and carry data at the same time

Sunday, March 25, 2007
Et Tu, Wolfgang? Some chefs battle growing humane farming trend
(2 comments) Like Charlie Trotter, Wolfgang Puck has changed the culinary landscape for other chefs with his new humane menu

Friday, March 16, 2007
Now That New Mexico Has Outlawed Cockfighting, Can Louisiana Be Far Behind?
With Governor Richardson's signature, New Mexico joined Missouri, Oklahoma and Arizona in abolishing cockfighting since 1998. Are you listening Louisiana?

Sunday, March 11, 2007
Kennedy Antibiotic Bill Meets "Resistance" from Big Pharma
The Kennedy Preservation of Antibiotics for Human Treatment bill threatens the high volume, repeat order, prescription free ag drugs that are Big Pharma's backbone

Tuesday, March 6, 2007
Rats are the least of KFC's problems--and other chicken operations
From KFC to the Mepkin Abbey monks, chicken mistreatment is what's for dinner.

Thursday, March 1, 2007
Is your state breeding birds for Dick Cheney style hunting like Illinois?
The State of Illinois spends a half a million dollars a year breeding birds for Dick Cheney style canned hunting on public lands--some paid by tax payers.

Sunday, February 25, 2007
Enjoy the Hillary/Obama show? You'll love the Zumbo/NRA show
What do you call a critic of the NRA? Unemployed as the Jim Zumbo saga reveals

Monday, February 19, 2007
NRA silent on yet another massacre
(9 comments) The NRA is silent, as usual, on the ten killed in Salt Lake City and Philadelphia on February 13 but it is defending the gun rights of felons in Florida.

Sunday, February 11, 2007
American Bar Association challenges NRA "Bring Your Gun to Work" campaign
With 800 workplace deaths a year, does this nation need loaded guns in employee parking lots?

Friday, January 26, 2007
Fun and "Game" for 8-year-olds from the Pennsylvania Game Commission
Some citizens in Pennsylvania are worried about the right of 5-year-olds to shoot white tail

Monday, January 22, 2007
Biotech solutions to factory farming not what activists had in mind
New animal production methods line the pockets of private industry and do nothing to reduce suffering.

Monday, January 15, 2007
Are the NRA's Warm and Fuzzy days over?
(1 comments) Despite a year of successes, the NRA is in attack mode.

Sunday, January 14, 2007
US Trappers Bristle at Humane Society Ads on Fox Sports
Some find trapping offensive but trappers find HSUS's anti-trapping ads aired on Fox Sports offensive

Saturday, January 6, 2007
Merck funded and edited article in JAMA--surprise--supports Merck drug
(2 comments) A recent article in the Journal of the American Medical Association about alendronate (Fosamax) was funded and written by Merck and--surprisingly-- favorable.

Saturday, December 30, 2006
New Year's Resolutions for Big Pharma
(2 comments) Some resolutions to make Big Pharma kinder and gentler in 2007

Sunday, December 24, 2006
Kennedy, Foley, Haggard, Frey: A year of excuses not apologies
(1 comments) It was a year of bad behavior in high places. Bad behavior, that is, from evil twins--since few took responsibility.

Sunday, December 17, 2006
Kicking Wyeth Habit Saves Women's Lives--Study
(1 comments) Hormones have long been indicted for causing breast cancer but even the research community was shocked at the latest findings.

Monday, November 27, 2006
Could your bumper sticker make you a victim of road rage?
(1 comments) Short fused drivers looking for a reason to rage are changing the face of America's bumper stickers to a national "no comment."

Wednesday, November 15, 2006
The 13 Warning Signs of Bad Companies to Work For
How do you know if a company is bad to work for before you accept a job? Here are some warning signs.

Friday, November 3, 2006
Is NRA grip on Congress loosening?
Amercians are speaking out against the NRA--even gun owners.

Wednesday, November 1, 2006
Why are Americans overweight?
Many Americans were relieved to read recently that not getting enough sleep and too much air conditioning could contribute to obesity. But what if you get enough sleep and keep the a.c low?  Here are some other cultural institutions to blame.

Saturday, October 21, 2006
Deer season opening with new fears about venison
(1 comments) As deer season approaches, two recent articles in the Journal Science raise doubts about the safety of eating deer meat

Friday, September 29, 2006
Have drug; need patients: Big Pharma seeks uses for Seroquel
For Big Pharma it's cheaper and easier to sell new uses for drugs it has and Seroquel is the latest case in point

Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Industry Officials Shrug off China videos of dog and cat slaughter for fur 
(1 comments) Industry officials don't want videos of dogs and cats boiled and skinned alive in China to ruin Americans' appetite for fur and fur trim--even though some may actually be wearing man's best friend

Tuesday, August 22, 2006
State DNRs breeding birds for the ethically and recreationally challenged to shoot
State Departments of Natural Resourcess are talking environmentalism while actually in bed with hunting groups and breeding birds for public hunting

Tuesday, August 1, 2006
JAMA scandal and Ketek approval raise questions about big pharma's influence
Despite the Vioxx and HRT scandals, big pharma is still controlling medical journals and the FDA

Saturday, July 29, 2006
New gun laws arm children; scrap safety training
New laws let kids so young they are still in car seats shoot guns

Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Japan Beef Exports and Johanns Future Await Slaughterhouse Audits
Reinstating beef exports to Japan is becoming a nightmare for Agriculture Secretary Mike Johnanns

Saturday, July 1, 2006
UN Baiting and Katrina Chasing Show NRA's LaPierre Losing His Touch
(1 comments) NRA's Wayne LaPierre hasn't succeeded at much lately--except selling his own book.

Saturday, June 24, 2006
Cage-Free Trend Could Squeeze Big US Egg Producers
To develop its new guidelines, United Egg Producers hired spin doctors not animal doctors

Friday, June 16, 2006
Stormin' Norman Shooting for Cancer Patients
The Safari Club is trying to improve its image by getting anyone--the poor, the sick--to eat the animals it harvests. Now Stormin' Norman is geting into the act.

Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Milk: It's what's in the vending machine
After a series of discredited health claims, milk is now being pushed for weight loss.

Friday, May 12, 2006
In Louisiana, you don't want to see laws or cockfights made
It's as predictable and pernicious as hurricane season--Louisiana's yearly consideration of a cockfighting ban. This year it failed again.

Friday, April 21, 2006
Wanted by Pharma: Osteoporotic Bones
(1 comments)

Tuesday, April 18, 2006
Hormones Hard to Give Up--for Drug Companies That Make Them
(1 comments) Since federal researchers halted the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) hormone replacement therapy (HRT) study in 2002, three years early because the drugs were so dangerous, the sequence of events has played out almost like a joke