The Senate votes Monday on whether to allow lower-priced prescription drugs to be imported into the United States from Canada and elsewhere. The measure would allow pharmacies and drug wholesalers to importFood and Drug Administration-approved medicines from Australia, Canada, Europe, Japan and New Zealand, where drugs can cost two-thirds less.

The Senate votes Monday on whether to allow lower-priced prescription drugs to be imported into the United States from Canada and elsewhere. The measure would allow pharmacies and drug wholesalers to import Food and Drug Administration-approved medicines from Australia, Canada, Europe, Japan and New Zealand, where drugs can cost two-thirds less.

A way to be a little more creative with those little bricks of food we buy by the case at the local wholesale club! Ramen always can use a little help!

Lucky enough to have a diesel car? For about $800-1300 you can modify your car to run on vegetable oil. The kind you can buy wholesale for less than gasoline, or get for free from fast food restaurant waste. Just watch out for the EPA, which strangely insists that conversion to vegetable oil is bad for the environment?! Dick Cheney says hi!

A food bank is a place where food, both non-perishable goods and perishable goods like fresh produce, frozen items, and baker products, are offered to nonprofit agencies for distribution to people who may not be able to afford food. These agencies are typically non-profit organizations or run as part of a church or community outreach group. A food bank is like the wholesale arm of the food distribution system for those living in poverty. Other agencies are the retail arm and serve people directly. The term "food bank" is not protected by law, however, and is sometimes used by these agencies directly serving those in need of food.Food banks often get the food from companies or supermarkets with unsaleable stock, and also from donations from the general public, especially around holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas. In addition, the US Government and state governments often contract with food banks to distribute USDA surplus commodities. In addition, food banks who are members of America's Second Harvest, the nation's food bank network, are able to take advantage of relationships with major manufacturers. Instead of calling the more than 200 food banks across the country, a manufacturer with several semiloads of product to donate can make just one phone call.The first food bank was St. Mary's Food Bank, started in 1967 in Phoenix, Arizona.