Every one of those 534 members of Congress now has six (6!) lobbyists working on them -- and that's just for healthcare.
A total of 3,300 lobbyists have registered to drive the sizzling healthcare issue in Washington -- three times the brigade of lobbyists representing the entire defense industry.



#87: Wallace L. Pannier, 81. Died Aug. 6, of respiratory failure and other natural causes. Pannier, a germ warfare scientist whose top-secret projects included a mock attack on the New York subway with powdered bacteria in 1966. Mr. Pannier worked at Fort Detrick, a US Army installation in Frederick that tested biological weapons during the Cold War and is now a center for biodefense research. He worked in the Special Operations Division, a secretive unit operating there from 1949 to 1969, according to family members and published reports. The unit developed and tested delivery systems for deadly agents such as anthrax and smallpox.
The Central Intelligence Agency in 2004 hired outside contractors from the private security contractor Blackwater USA as part of a secret program to locate and assassinate top operatives of Al Qaeda, according to current and former government officials.
The numbers of poor and uninsured Americans are likely rising - with more than 38.8 million believed to be in poverty. Rebecca Blank, the Commerce Department's undersecretary of economic affairs, spoke to The Associated Press in advance of next month's closely watched release of 2008 census data.
Cases of primary liver cancer, an often preventable disease, have trebled in the last 30 years, figures suggest. While it is not uncommon for cancer to spread to the liver, Cancer Research UK statistics show incidents where it starts in the organ have risen sharply.
Former Pink Floyd frontman Roger Waters, an outspoken critic of Israel's policy in the West Bank, is now the voice behind a United Nations film documenting Palestinian life behind Israel's controversial separation fence, the AFP reported on Wednesday.
The U.S. State Department on Wednesday criticized Israeli restrictions placed on foreign nationals entering the West Bank via the Allenby Bridge, calling the new regulations 'unacceptable'.





























