Sounds sensible to us--Missouri State auditors criticized the expenditure of $6,500 for a bullet-resistant bench for the Public Service Commission members. The bench is intended as a shield for the utility regulators.

Farm crisis simply a U.S. thing?--"Nearly 24,000 farmers and farm workers in England were forced out of their livelihood last year because of the continuing agricultural crisis."--The Times, London.

Strip searches included?--In a weekly column on the rights of workers, and bosses, the Los Angeles Times said that on company property employers have the legal right to search employees' vehicles, lunch boxes, brief cases, etc., and even require them to empty their pockets.

You wanted wall-to-wall flooring?--Figures for 1999 indicate that home improvement companies have nosed out car dealers as the number one source of consumer complaints.

Medical finding--University of Minnesota researchers are studying a drug which is used to block the "high" experienced by alcoholics. They want to see if it will also block the pleasure kleptomaniacs are said to derive from compulsive stealing.

They note that kleptomania is now regarded as an illness rather than criminal behavior. Our question: In the case of the capitalist class, couldn't it be both?

Law of capitalist jungle--We've been musing over the disclosure about defective Firestone tires used on the Ford Explorer, resulting in 148 U.S. deaths and 500 injuries. Now it's charged that Ford has been buying tires lighter than needed for Explorer safety. The virtue? Advertising claims of more miles per gallon. Not to mention that it pads profits and helps curb excess population.

Next, 'baggage thrift' fares?-- "'Economy class syndrome' cited in 25 deaths--Immobility and cramped seating on long flights are believed to cause blood clots in passengers at a Tokyo airport"--News headline.

Profits first--First reports suggested the feds and Delaware officials acted promptly to shut down a cluster of artesian wells when they found the water was contaminated with a carcinogenic chemical. But further disclosures established they knew about it a year earlier.  
 
 
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