Sears and Fed Ex have pulled their ads off of the ABC late-night show "Politically Incorrect" after host Bill Maher called U.S. military strategy "cowardly." According to O'Dwyer'sPR Daily, Maher said lobbing missiles from 2000 miles away was cowardly, referring to the U.S. response to last year's bombing of the U.S.S. Cole. Maher issued a clarification statement which said that he did not think the men and women serving in the armed forces were cowardly.

"The pharmaceutical and biotechnological industries are funneling more and more cash into the pockets of academics who teach and study ethics," observes philosophy professor Carl Elliott, who works at a bioethics center. "Bioethicists have written for years about conflicts of interest in scientific research or patient care yet have paid little attention to the ones that might compromise bioethics itself," he notes, pointing to several cases in which companies like Eli Lilly have used funding to pressure ethicists into censoring or changing their views.

Pakistan hired former Rep. Charlie Wilson, D-Texas, to advise the country on matters regarding its national security. According to O'Dwyer's PR Daily, Wilson is receiving $30,000 a month for his work. As head of the Appropriations Defense subcommittee, Wilson traveled 14 times to Afghanistan and Pakistan during the 1980s, and sponsored secret U.S. appropriations for the Afghan rebel forces in 1982.