..... the legislation to create a Homeland Security Department to defend the nation against terrorism was graced with a number of strange amendments.

Oddest among them was an amendment protecting the pharmaceutical corporate giant Eli Lilly from any and all lawsuits pertaining to their manufacture of thimersol, a mercury-based preservative for childhood vaccines produced by Lilly for 40 years that has been connected to the development of autism in children. Thousands of families seeking redress for the neurological disorders their children suffer have been sent packing, because Lilly has a contract with the U.S. government to provide vaccines against biological weapons. One hopes thimersol is not included in the processing this time around.

Early in 2002, Bill Frist tried to get protection for Eli Lilly from these suits attached to legislation that would increase the availability of vaccines to average Americans, but this attempt was thwarted by Senator Edward Kennedy. The Homeland Security legislation mysteriously found itself amended to carry the Lilly litigation protections, written in language virtually identical to Frist's original attempt. The bill passed, and no one in Washington DC is willing to take responsibility for it. Frist, whose ties to the corporate healthcare industry are blood ties, whose family made its fortune through the massive Hospital Corporation of America HMO, who helped scuttle the Patient's Bill of Rights, whose book was promoted and distributed vigorously by Eli Lilly, denies all knowledge.

The White House likewise denies any knowledge of the author/sponsor of the Lilly amendment. This stretches belief, considering the ties the Bush administration has to the pharmaceutical giant. George Herbert Walker Bush sat on the Lilly Board of Directors during the late 1970s, appointed by the father of Bush Sr's. vice presidential candidate, Dan Quayle, who owned controlling interest in the corporation. Bush Sr. was personally ordered by the Supreme Court to stop lobbying the IRS on behalf of Lilly for tax breaks in 1982. The Bush family has been substantially invested in Eli Lilly stock for years.

White House Budget Director Mitchell Daniels is a former Lilly executive. Disgraced Enron CEO Kenneth Lay also sat on the Lilly Board of Directors, until he was forced to resign in disgrace in December of 2001 after his company exploded in a blizzard of fraud and deceit. During the 2002 election cycle, Eli Lilly gave more campaign money - $1.6 million - than any other pharmaceutical corporation, 79% of which went to Republican candidates. The Lilly amendment that found its way into the Homeland Security bill in the immediate aftermath of that election can be seen for what it is: a payoff.

These are facts in the public record as we roar into the brave new world of 2003. These are facts that the mainstream television media will not share with you; understand that NBC and MSNBC, for one example, are owned by General Electric, one of the largest defense contractors on earth. General Electric stands to make incredible profit from a war with Iraq, despite the fact that its corporate brothers and sisters profited by helping to create the supposed menace not so long ago. Why would GE's media outlets give you the facts? Facts interfere with the bottom line.

Here is your bottom line.

This country is headed to war with a nation we armed in the first place for a tidy corporate profit, despite the fact that there is no evidence that nation is a threat anymore. Beyond the tens of thousands of civilian deaths this war will bring to the people of Iraq, beyond the potential for hundreds or thousands of American casualties, beyond the vastly increased threat of stateside terrorism this will cause, yet another tidy corporate profit will be made. Simultaneously, corporations and our government collude to keep average Americans from being able to call to account those who poisoned children during 40 years of profitable manufacture of what appears to have been a neurological poison.

2001 was an abominable year, to say the least. 2002 was not much better. As we stride towards the brave new year 2003, a moment of pause should be taken. Is this the country you want? Is this the government you want? Is this the world you wish to leave for your children?

The New Year is meant for resolutions. Consider yours carefully, and keep it after you make it.