It was announced today that manufacturers have run out of flu vaccines. If you trace back the storyline, a few days ago we heard that over 50,000 are expected to die from the flu this year in the worst flu season in 30 years. The second article also mentions that the flu vaccine produced this year doesn't protect against one of the flu strains n

I almost couldn't believe it when I heard in on NPR this afternoon. Pennsylvania Power and Light has entered into an agreement to sell three dams to environmental groups which will dismantle them. The action will give salmon new access to over 500 miles of river to inhabit.

In this day of corporate greed and scandals, its mighty nice to hear a story like this one.

I've been thinking recently -- is there any way for me to cut down my television bill? I pay about $70 month for satellite including HBO, Tivo, and High Definition channels. Tivo lets me be choosy about what I watch, and I've gotten very efficient at it. There are selected shows that I like, and those are the only ones I watch. I get HBO because several of those shows are on HBO (Six Feet Under, Sopranos, and now Carnivale).

An article on motherjones.com comments on the problem with the Bush administration's attempt to separate economic policy from social policy.

Select quotes:

"Driven by hollow political priorities, the Bush administration's disastrous economic policies are undermining our national ideals. "

According to an AP news report making the rounds this morning: "Nearly one in three doctors reports withholding information from patients about useful medical services that aren't covered by their health insurance companies, and the number may be on the rise, a study reports."

You may have heard of the recent lawsuit filed in California to ban Oreo cookies. While the tactics of bantransfat.com, the organization which filed the suit, may be extreme, their point is valid: Trans fats are bad.

By the way, they have dropped the lawsuit and acknowledged that it was done only for publicity, a move which I applaud.

You know those TV ads with two guys in nice business suits eating a fancy dinner and debating the morality of buying drugs because drugs fund terrorism? Well, in case you didn't know, they were paid for by your tax dollars, and yes, they are lies. The good news is that the ads have been pulled. They were sponsored by The Office of National Drug Control Policy, a executive branch government organization which also funds the series of "The A