Don't miss "Erasing the Rules," the excellent series in Newsday on the Bush administration regulatory record.

Today's Washington Post makes playing connect-the-dots much easier than usual. Page A5 reports what administration officials told Congress is the reason for this year's flu vaccine shortage; right across from it, on page A4, is the continuation of a front page story that raises troubling questions about the administration's claims. The gist of what administration officials and the pharmaceutical industry told a House committee is that relying on the private market isn't working well; fixing the problem requires government propping up the pharmaceutical industry with these "solutions":

Though studies dating as far back as 2000 pointed to increased risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke for users of Vioxx, FDA has stood quietly on the sidelines while more than 27,000 users of the drug experienced serious side effects. In fact, a top FDA scientist in the Office of Drug Safety alleged yesterday that higher-ups at FDA attempted to suppress his conclusions about the dangers of Vioxx. According to the Washington Post,