Today’s linkfest is all about Big Corporations, Big Religion and Big Money. It has some of my old-time favorites as well as some newer finds.

Via There’s Something About Harry and MobileTracker, the eye-popping story of Cingular Wireless’ tireless effort to bilk a senior citizen out of $31,000.00. It seems that 77-year old Oliver DeSofi’s cell phone was hijacked by Nicaraguan monkeys who proceeded to make around 166 calls per day on DeSofi’s phone. Read on for Cingular’s incredible response. The mind-boggling part of this story to me is how carelessly they dismissed this man’s protests over his bill.

My favorite PBM, Caremark, is having some problems with the pending merger with CVS. This stems from Caremark’s rejection of spurned suitor Express Scripts, Inc (another PBM) 26 billion dollar offer in favor of CVS’ 21 billion dollar offer. Why on earth would Caremark reject an offer that’s 5 billion (that’s BILLION) more? Because CVS agreed to a bunch of sweetheart deals with Caremark’s top executives that would guarantee them: a) big money; job protections; and indemnification from legal proceedings. The last one is a big one, given that there are two lawsuits pending right now alleging that by rejecting the Express Scripts offer, Caremark’s board breached their fiduciary duties, and also given that there is possible option backdating litigation looming. But just in case there’s any doubt in anyone’s mind about the true motives for just about everything Caremark does, this should erase it. Completely.

Bonus Links here and here. In case you still haven’t had enough, pharmgirl tells us why your pharmacist hates you so much.

Over on the Scientology front, we have incredible blather from Scientology leader David Miscavige that Tom Cruise is really the new Christ of Scientology, criticized today, and worshipped tomorrow. Actually, I think they have that backwards, but whatever. It’s such an arrogant and incredibly specious claim that it’s hard to even take it seriously, except it really was intended seriously. Christlike or not, he can’t sway Victoria Beckham over to the Dark Side because she “can’t see the point of joining something like that where you have to donate money.” Amen to that. Meanwhile, dahamsta wonders when we can expect the crucifixion? Indeed.

Away from the absurd into the frightening, though, concern that Scientology is invading Belgian schools through their back-door drug prevention scams, their intervention in a criminal case in an already-tragic murder case in Sudbury, MA (why should they have access to the accused’s medical records, after all?), and their blatant pimping of Tony Blair’s image in an effort to distort facts and try to associate Blair with their shill front, the CCHR.

Technorati Tags: Cingular, Caremark, Express Scripts, CVS, Scientology, Beckham, CCHR