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Sunday, June 26
THE 10 WORST CORPORATIONS IN 2004
by
Molly Regan
on Sun 26 Jun 2005 01:56 PM CDT
 THE 10 WORST CORPORATIONS OF 2004
by Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman
Multinational Monitor
Today
I have borrowed an extremely important article to provide you with
information with which to make good ENVIRONMENTAL DECISIONS.
The
no-repeat rule [from the previous year] helps limit the field a
bit. Of the remaining pool of price gougers, polluters,
union-busters, dictator-coddlers, fraudsters, poisoners, deceivers and
general miscreants, we chose the following -- presented in alphabetical
order -- as THE 10 WORST CORPORATIONS OF 2004.
Abbott Laboratories:
Abbott makes the list for raising the price of Norvir, an important
AIDS drug, developed with a major infusion of U.S. government funds, by
400 percent. The price increase doesn't apply if Norvir is purchased in
conjunction with another Abbott drug, giving Abbott an unfair advantage
over competitors and tilting consumers to use the Abbott products on
the basis of price.
AIG:
The world's largest insurer, American International Group Inc. (AIG)
was charged in October with aiding and abetting PNC Financial Services
in a fraudulent transaction to transfer $750 million in mostly troubled
loans and venture capital investments from subsidiaries off of its
books.
GlaxoSmithKline:
Following revelations and regulatory action in the UK in 2003 and 2004,
the story of the severe side effects from Glaxo's Paxil (as well as
other drugs in the same family) -- notably that they are addictive and
lead to increased suicidality in youth -- finally broke in the United
States in 2004.
In June,
New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer filed suit against Glaxo,
charging the giant drug maker with suppressing evidence of Paxil's harm
to children, and misleading physicians.
Hardee's:
The fast-food maker is bragging about how unhealthy is its latest
culinary invention, the Monster Thickburger: Weighing in at two-thirds
of a pound, this 100 percent Angus beef burger is a monument to
decadence. [It’s] a 1,420-calorie sandwich.
Merck:
Dr. David Graham, a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) drug safety
official, calls it maybe the single greatest drug-safety catastrophe in
the history of this country.
Testifying
before a Senate committee in November, Dr. David Graham put the number
in the United States who had suffered heart attacks or stroke as result
of taking the arthritis drug Vioxx in the range of 88,000 to 139,000.
As many as 40 percent of these people, or about 35,000-55,000, died as
a result, Graham said. The unacceptable cardiovascular risks of Vioxx
were evident as early as 2000.
(Click here to read the complete article.)
Please once again I suggest you check what you can do in your personal
life to become less dependent on large corporations.
SUSTAINABILITY or using only what you need is a tough space to put
yourself into. But if we don't all strive for it, we may all
someday be suddenly forced into it.
Don't forget CPR: CONSERVE/PARTICIPATE/RECYCLE
Hey, Left Coast of Iowa! New Democracy for America Meet-Up in Sioux City!
by
Trish Nelson
on Sun 26 Jun 2005 07:15 AM CDT
 Hey, Left Coast of Iowa! New Democracy for America Meet-Up In Sioux City!
Come to an organizing
meeting to get to know each other, talk about how to build DFA and the meet-up,
discuss the topic of the month and take some action - and above all, have a
little fun!
Location: Buffalo
Alice - 1022 4th Street , Sioux City, IA 51101
When: Wednesday, July 6,
2005 at 7:00 PM
Contact: John
712-255-4822
http://dfa.meetup.com/387/
Help take back the media - Join these groups.
 Click here to receive action alerts from Rapid Response -
Iowa
Contact: Iowans for Better Local TV (IBLTV)
Iowa Governor Restores Voting Rights
by
Caroline Vernon
on Sun 26 Jun 2005 01:04 AM CDT
 Iowa Governor Issues Order to Restore Voting Rights
I
had intended to post this earlier in the week, so many of you may
already be well aware of this but I think it deserves another mention.
Don't forget to send a thank you out to Governor Vilsack as well as the
other State Reps who were involved with this effort.
It's about time... Out of all 50
states, Iowa is one of only four states that do not allow ex-felons who
have done their time the opportunity to re-connect to society in a
more positive way by restoring their voting rights. It is my understanding that those who do vote and likewise engage in civic duties are less likely to be repeat offenders.
The day of this announcement, I was
surfing through the channels checking to see what kind of noise this
was generating... I stumbled upon Tucker Carlson on MSNBC framing
the issue as "Do Ex-Felons Possess The Judgement to be Allowed to Vote?"
Unreal...
Thank you Governor Vilsack and Friends!
From: Marty Ryan - ICLU Legislative Director
ICLU Legislative Program
<contactlegisprogram@iowaclu.org>
On
Friday, June 17, Governor Tom Vilsack held a press conference in which
he announced that he will be signing an executive order on July 4th,
Independence Day, which will restore the right to vote to thousands of
ex-felons in Iowa.
You can
go to the governor's site and listen to the press conference that
features ICLU Executive Director Ben Stone in the background.
http://www.governor.state.ia.us/
The link
above will bring you to the governor's home page and you can
"Watch the press conference" from beginning to end. Governor Vilsack
specifically thanked Representatives
Scott Raecker (R-Urbandale), Jeff Elgin (R-Cedar Rapids), Vicki Lensing
(D-Iowa City), and Wayne Ford (D-Des Moines).
He also gave special thanks to Mike Cervantes, who made several
trips to Des Moines with his students from Metro High School in Cedar
Rapids as they took on this project with all the enthusiasm many of us
professional lobbyists could only dream of having, and Stephanie
Fawkes-Lee, president of the Metro Des Moines League of Women Voters,
who relentlessly pushed several of us lobbyists and other activists when we felt the issue may have been lost.
“The right to vote in a free American election is the most powerful and precious right in the world.”
-- President John F. Kennedy
"The
most basic right of all was the right to choose your own leaders. The
history of this country, in large measure, is the history of the
expansion of that right to all of our people."
-- President Lyndon B. Johnson
This is
an historic moment in Iowa. On a personal note, this is the second most
significant day in my 14 years of lobbying. Defeating a death penalty
bill in 1995, House File 2, will always be my most precious lobbying
success. And State Senator Tom Vilsack was instrumental in that civil
rights issue, as well.
I'm feeling good!
Marty Ryan
ICLU Legislative Director
Please send a “thank you.”
You can send a personal note of thanks to Representatives Raecker, Lensing, Elgin, and Ford to the following addresses:
Rep. Scott Raecker
9011 Iltis Dr.
Urbandale, IA 50322
Rep. Jeff Elgin
6940 Bowman Lane, NE
Cedra Rapids, IA 52402
Rep. Vicki Lensing
2408 Mayfield Rd.
Iowa City, IA 52245
Rep. Wayne Ford
P.O. Box 5042
Des Moines, IA 50306
And of course, Governor Vilsack:
The Honorable Tom Vilsack
Governor of Iowa
Statehouse
Des Moines, IA 50319
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