The Washington Post reports today that Democrats are in the process of crafting a fifteen billion dollar loan proposal for the auto industry, which could go to a vote in Congress as soon as tomorrow. But there's a catch: should the companies elect to take the money, they may be forced to fire their CEOs.

The worst part about a week-long cold and the inevitable accompanying cough isn't just grossing out friends and co-workers with the green stuff you hack out of your lungs. When I was sick last week, I ran to the drug store on my lunch break to stock up on Day-Quil to keep me awake, Ny-Quil so I could eventually get some sleep, cough drops and hot liquid Theraflu. I thought that would get me through the day. The bill rang up to over $40.00. And I ran out of the cough drops on the way out.

There have been in-depth reports written about why drugs cost so much in America, but for now, I am rethinking my cold season shopping sprees and researching budget-minded alternatives to OTC treatments. I stuck to well-regarded, scientific sites like the Mayo Clinic online, university Web sites, or sites containing peer-reviewed academic articles (and you should too). Here's what I found.

More than 2,000 grassroots activists and organizers will present a shared agenda in Washington D.C., on Thursday, December 4, to use their voices to gain support and solutions for various issues, including comprehensive immigration reform, inclusive universal healthcare, and new jobs for a green economy.

Check out the November issue of the Student Voices monthly online newsletter, “SV Top 5,” and see if your content was featured this month.  Don’t miss this month’s great new video posts of MATT’s role in the innovative business practice, microfinance, a new feature film trailer spotlighting the immigration issue, and a look at the controversial debate surrounding carrying weapons on college and university campuses.
 

Obama has stated: “I will open the doors of government and ask you to be involved in your democracy again.” So Change.org, MySpace, and other social networks and non profits are partnering to take him up on his offer, with their new campaign “Ideas for Change in America,” in an effort to get ideas from Americans to turn the broad concept of change in America into real policies. 

According to the United Nations Development Fund for Women site, no less than one in three women or girls are victims of violence in their lifetimes.  Although there has been progress in deeming violence against women unacceptable, the problem has reached pandemic proportions and continues to persist throughout the world.  

Go to the unifem.org site and add your name to the list of the network of supporters who are fighting to end violence against women, and find out more about how you can become involved.
 

The New Yorker has finally made the entire contents of the magazine available online. Just go to NewYorker.com and register an email account and password, and you can view PDF's of back issues for free.

Are you a campus leader who is trying to engage students in new and exciting ways?  Then start working with Student Voices to bring the message to your campus. 
 

In college, I had a girlfriend who, upon learning that she was being overcharged for her apartment, packed her books and chose to sleep for two weeks on a D.C.-area park bench while, in a suburb three metro stops away, her parents kept her bedroom lovingly preserved. She smoked American Spirits, dyed her carpets the same custom shade as her walls, and labeled anything she liked tres chic. Eventually, she broke into my house, and, after draining a twelve-pack of wine coolers and throwing up on the toilet, refused to leave. The fashion industry reminds me of that girl.

Why else would fashion writers be pushing the idea of "Recession chic" at us with such enthusiastic force?