You're Paying for Medical Research while the Drug Companies Pay for Politicians

Paying Twice. Your tax dollars pay for medical research. But if you want to read the results of your tax dollars at work, you have to shell out another $20 to $30 to read EACH article -- even though those articles are stored in a federal library run with your tax dollars. Some groups are now demanding you have access to this work -- free of additional charges. (WashPost)

America, Home of the Highest Prescription Drug Prices in the World. Wanna know why laws keep the prices high? Take a look at how much the pharmaceutical industry spends in Washington and on poliiticans:

• Lobbying: $85,000,000 in 2003
  
• Federal Campaign Donations: $11,500,000 in 2003-2004
  
• Donations to Bush: $875,000
  
• Donations to Kerry: $350,000

Pfizer employees gave the most to politicians, at least $1.1 million. (LAT)

Changing Jobs. The FBI’s new focus on terrorism has not distracted it from its traditional targets of drug and white collar crimes. But they aren’t handling as many of those cases as they used to. The General Accountability Office has a new report out . It says new drug investigations fell from 1,447 in 2001 to 587 in 2003. That’s down nearly 60%. The number of violent crime cases dropped 32%. And the number of white collar crime investigations fell by 40%. The GAO suggests other agencies have picked up the slack. (GovExec.com)

Them Darn Kids. Some kids set off pepper spray in downtown Washington. The prank sent the Stock Market down. (Reuters)