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The Guard vs. KBR Five current and former Oregon Army National Guard soldiers filed suit against KBR, a war contractor, for exposing them to a cancer-causing chemical in Iraq. The suit alleges that managers from Kellogg, Brown & Root, or KBR, knew before the Oregon Guard arrived at the Qarmat Ali water treatment plant in May 2003 that the site was contaminated by hexavalent chromium, a highly toxic carcinogen, reports The Oregonian. A spokeswoman for the company said that "KBR did not knowingly harm troops."

Investing in Health Care

"Almost thirty key lawmakers helping draft landmark health care legislation have financial holdings in the industry, totaling nearly $11 million worth of personal investments in a sector that could be dramatically reshaped by this summer's debate," reports The Washington Post. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has at least $50,000 invested in a health care index fund. Republican Senator Judd Gregg, a senior member of the health committee, has up to $560,000 worth of stock holdings in major health care companies, including BristolMyers Squibb and Merck. The family of Democratic Congresswoman Jane Harman held at least $3.2 million in more than twenty health care companies at the end of last year.

Republican Sensibilities

From Democracy Now. "In Tennessee, Republican State Senator Diane Black is refusing to fire a staffer who sent a racist image of President Obama. The staffer, Sherri Goforth, sent out an e-mail with images of all the Presidents of the United States. Barack Obama was depicted in the bottom right hand corner only as a pair of bright white eyes on a black background. Meanwhile, in South Carolina, a prominent Republican activist has apologized after making a joke on his Facebook page that an escaped gorilla from a local zoo was an ancestor of First Lady Michelle Obama. Rusty DePass is the former Republican state elections director in South Carolina."

Full Service Operation

A new Study in the New Enghnd Journal of Medicine reveals that life and health insurance companies in the United States, Canada, and Great Britain invest heavily in tobacco companies, reports the Center for Media and Democracy. "The study found that the American insurance company Prudential Financial, Inc., has $264.3 million invested in U.S. cigarette makers, including Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds."

Iran Charging Bullet Fee

Iranian officials asked the family of a slain nineteenyear-old protester to pay a $3,000 "bullet fee," reports The Wall Street Journal "Upon learning of his son's death, the elder Mr. Alipour was told the family had to pay an equivalent of $3,000 as a 'bullet fee'- a fee for the bullet used by security forces-before taking the body back, relatives said."

China Leads the Way

"Chinese manufacturers made more than half of the goods that the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) recalled last year, but few of them paid any price for producing defective wares," reports McClatchy "Roughly 40 percent of imported U.S. consumer goods are from China. Their recall rate is much higher than 40 percent, however. In 2007, the CPSC named Chinese makers in 69 percent of all recalls, of both imported and domestically produced goods. In 2008, China's share was 53 percent."

Agent Orange on the Border

The U.S. Border Patrol has temporarily postponed plans to spray herbicide along the banks of the Rio Grande between the cities of Laredo, Texas, and Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, reports newamericamedia.org. The herbicide would be used to kill fast- growing river cane, which provides cover for people crossing the border. The Border Patrol proposed to begin by defoliating 1.1 miles of the river, with the possibility of expanding the program to 130 miles.

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