The Perfect Marriage Of Government And Corporate Power

Your tax money at work (via Billmon):

Citing increased concerns about the quality of drugs entering the United States from Canada, federal authorities have stepped up seizures of the prescriptions and sent strongly worded legal warnings to consumers, including some in Massachusetts, who have ordered the discounted drugs.

What we're trying to do is protect the public from unsafe medications," said Lynn Hollinger, spokeswoman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection. "It was a growing problem we felt was of concern to the American public."

The government crackdown marks a shift in policy for the Bush administration, which has rarely acted against individuals who buy drugs from Canada, reports The Boston Sunday Globe.

The stricter enforcement policy began Nov. 17, and applies only to mail-order shipments, not to U.S. citizens who cross into Canada to pick up their drugs, Hollinger said.

Salem-resident Nancy Popkin was among the consumers who recently received a letter. She has been ordering the osteoporosis treatment Fosamax from Canadian pharmacies for years and said she was surprised when she received a form letter in the mail from the Department of Homeland Security rather than her usual shipment of 12 tablets.

The letter said her medication had been seized because "virtually all" drugs imported by individuals into the United States are unapproved for consumption here or are dispensed without a valid prescription. The letter cited a federal statute.

"The implication is that I have done something illegal, unpatriotic. I think it's ludicrous," she told the Globe.

I guess Homeland Security has run out of terrorists to hunt down.

When I read stuff like this, I have to laugh at the people who actually get mad at me for suggesting that we are becoming a police state. But there is, of course, more to it than that. Gas prices are way up once again, yet the oil companies continue to make record profits. Oil company executives should be going to prison over this, but they're not. Instead, the government has decided to give out corporate welfare to these companies.

Now Homeland Security is cracking down on people who are merely trying to reduce their already incredibly high health care costs by getting drugs from Canada. The American Gestapo says its doing this to protect the public, but the only thing its protecting is the profit margin of the drug companies.

Mussolini got it right when he said: "Fascism should more properly be called corporatism, since it is the marriage of government and corporate power." BushCo is clearly running the fascist playbook. Hell, they're not even trying to hide it anymore.