300,000,000; 12,000; 3024? These three numbers were widely reported in the news during the month of October. Do you know why? Answers at the bottom of this posting.

Drugged! Eli Lilly got its knuckles rapped by three docs from NIH (National Institute of Health) who said Lilly manipulated treatment guidelines to promote its lagging Xigris, an expensive ($8,000 for a four day treatment) treatment for sepsis, an often deadly blood infection, but for which older, cheaper, and equally effective treatments exist. Despite Lilly’s claim it did nothing wrong, this one stinks.

The Peacock Sheds Some Feathers: Because of declining viewership and ad revenues, NBC says it is cost cutting by pruning its 6,000 member newsgathering team, eliminating about three hundred jobs, mostly vacant, according to NBC News pres Steve Capus. Question: how does eliminating vacant jobs cut costs? If you sit at a desk and get a paycheck and aren’t Matt Lauer, be worried. P.S. If you watch NBC between 8:00 and 9:00, get ready for more mind-numbing crap (translation: reality TV) ; the really good stuff is moving to the 9:00 to 11:00 slot.

$84.8 Million Axe? Viacom’s CEO (Viacom owns a bunch of cable TV networks and movie and music publishing. It used to own CBS and related entities until the two companies split in 2005) Tom Freston, ousted after less than a year, departs with severance and deferred compensation of $84.8 million. Let’s send our resumes to Sumner Redstone, executive chairman and founder; I know I’ve got a few months to kill.

Grasso Greed Grabbed! Former NYSE chairman, Richard Grasso has been ordered by the State Supreme Court to repay $100 million of his $139.5 million severance pay. Not good enough. I say they go after the rest, including the $80 million he got paid between 1999 and 2001. This guy is the poster child for greed.

CBS Payola Nailed! I’ve never heard a single song by Nine Inch Nails or Nick Lachey, but apparently a lot of people have, thanks to bribes paid to CBS Radio by the major music companies. To settle, admitting no wrong or course, CBS is donating $2 million to New York charities. The major music guys are paying $30 million, no charities mentioned. Don’t move that dial: subpoenas have been issued to other major radio companies like Clear Channel, Entercom, and Citadel.

Some Nerve! About twelve thousand physicians have purchased automated devices that check for nerve disease. Plug a finger in and voila! Fifteen minutes later you have the results and the doc has $250; do enough of these a year, and the doc can buy his wife a new BMW. Naturally, the nation’s neurologists are crying foul, but do they have a point? Neurometrix, the maker of the device, is under investigation by the feds, not for its product but for its aggressive marketing practices that may not stand the smell test.

Bitch-Slapped? Pfizer, the world’s largest drug company, more than doubled third quarter profits to $3.4 billion, up from $1.6 billion in the same quarter last year. And how much was it that you said your healthcare premiums increased? Total earnings for nine U.S. pharmaceutical companies regularly surveyed by Chemical and Engineering News increased 21.9% to $11.6 billion.

Blues, St. Louis Blues: No, not William Christopher Handy's immortal classic and not those pesky hockey players, I’m talking birds, Cardinals to be more precise, the St. Louis Cardinals who beat the NY Mets, the Amazins, in a mighty struggle at Shea last night, a struggle whose results weren’t decided until the very last pitch. Too bad both teams can’t team up to take on the Motor City boys; they’re going to be tough to beat.

What Are The Odds? With eighteen days left before mid-term elections, want to bet that Republicans, hearing the loud flush of defeat, come up with a way to get our troops out of Iraq? W, Darth Dick, and Dastardly Don are meeting with the Pentagon pariahs this weekend; I don't think it's a tailgate party.

Answers: 300,000,000: the population of the United States passes the 300,000,000 mark; 12,000: the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbs past 12,000; 3,024: Iraq coalition deaths pass the 3,000 mark. How many did you get correct?

That’s all for this week, my friends. Stay alert; don’t get uh, twisted!