Via ibidem

House passes Homeland Security bill:

"In one last-minute addition, Representative Dick Armey, Republican of Texas, inserted a provision that was apparently intended to protect Eli Lilly, the pharmaceutical giant, from lawsuits over thimerosal, a mercury-based vaccine preservative that some parents contend has caused autism in their children.

"I'm really quite surprised they would put in the fine-print provisions we never saw in any other versions, that never even went through committees," said Representative Henry A. Waxman of California, the ranking Democrat on the House Government Reform Committee."

But Republicans, like Representative William M. Thornberry of Texas, said the additions were minor and paled next to the importance of creating a department to protect the nation's safety."

There are reasons total Republican control scares me and this is one of them. Another is the bankrupcy bill that just passed the house. It is written to make it much more difficult for people to declare bankrupcy, thus sheilding them from creditors. Guess which industry pushed that one? Credit Cards companies. How does this help anyone but the big business? (hate to sound cliche-iche).

This is where we Democratics ask Republicans with compassion to make some noise in your party and put the breaks on some of this type of legislation. When Democrats returnt to power in 04, we'll reciprocate.