More Evidence That Republicans are Trying to Kill Us

When they aren't having oil companies help write our energy policies or attending poker and prostitute parties (liquor in the front, poker in the rear -- or is that the other around, I always get confused) our Congressional Republicans are letting the vaccine manufacturers and lobbyists write laws that allow them to be shielded from any liability in the event of a national heath emergency.

(Bill) Frist inserted the shield provision into an already-
completed conference report for the defense appropriations bill in the
dead of night, with the aid of House Majority Leader Dennis Hastert
(R-Ill.). Many of the members of the conference committee had never
seen the language, let alone approved it. Committee leaders explicitly
assured Democrats, made wary by rumors circulating in the preceding
days, that no attempt would be made to insert the liability measure
into the spending bill.

[...]

The pharmaceutical industry used legions of influence-peddlers to
push for the measure. The industry deployed at least 158 lobbyists to
influence policies relating to vaccines and pandemic preparedness in
2004 and 2005, including 84 who were previously employed by the federal
government. Of those, seven were former members of Congress, two were
former top health care aides to Frist and another was the son of the
speaker of the House.

[...]

...It extends to all companies, state officials, healthcare workers and
others involved in combating an actual or potential health emergency.

It even encompasses all aspects of drug, vaccine and medical device
production and delivery, including design, development, testing,
manufacture, labeling, distribution, formulation, packaging, marketing,
dispensing and prescribing. What's more, it shields pharmaceutical
companies from liability for long-used drugs, even those causing death
or injury due to a manufacturing error, so long as the drug is used to
treat a condition related to an officially declared health emergency.

Not that I'm at all paranoid.... but HOLY FLYING MONKEY SHIT!

The Bush Administration can scare this Bejeezus out of us and trick us into taking a vaccine for Avian flu in the interest of public health, then when it kills half of our family members, we have no recourse, and the drug companies get to keep all their dirty profits?

If they just start distributing this soon in neighborhoods that tend to vote Democrat, they might have quite a landslide come November.