[Mb-civic] democracy in iraq and drugs in CA

[ean at sbcglobal.net]

Iraqi Minister Warns People Not to Protest

Mar 29 - One day after Iraqi government bodyguards fired into a crowd 
of workers who were demanding full payment of their wages, an Iraqi 
cabinet member warned citizens against participating in public 
protests. Interior Minister Falah Al-Naqib said Sunday's protest by 
workers at the Science and Technology Ministry, during which 
bodyguards for Minister Rashad Mandan Omar killed one 
demonstrator, was an effort to "destabilize" Iraq. He suggested that 
such events would invite large-scale terrorist attacks.

Hamid Balasem, an engineer at the Ministry, told reporters that about 
50 guards who worked there were demonstrating because they had 
not been paid their full wages. Haithem Jassim, one of three people 
injured in the shooting, said, "We didn't carry any weapons or have any 
intention of shooting, but the minister's body guards started firing on 
us."
--Chris Shumway

© 2005 The NewStandard
http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/1597

Proposed CA Drug Plan Meets Preemptive Resistance from Big 
Pharma

Mar 29 - A California ballot initiative designed to force drug companies 
to provide discount medicine to the state's low-income population 
faces opposition from Governor Arnold Schawarzenegger and an $8.6 
million dollar public relations counter-measure driven by the 
Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA).

The governor and industrial leaders are pushing a voluntary plan 
slated to provide 40 percent off retail prices to about 5 million people.

But the ballot initiative, brought by nonprofit group Health Access 
California, which has yet to collect enough signatures to secure a spot 
on next year's ballot, would provide deeper discounts to 6 to 10 million 
people. It would also penalize drug companies that do not comply with 
the plan by shutting them out of the Medi-Cal program for the state's 
poorest residents, currently a $3 billion market bloc for 
pharmaceuticals.
--Lisa Ashkenaz Croke

© 2005 The NewStandard. 
http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/1593

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