Big Pharma Drug Dealers Look To Retool For Obama

Big Pharma has been used to years of lax oversight, unabashed commercials for profitable drugs and general use of scumbaggerous (yes, that's my word) methods such as overcharging for life-saving drugs, skimping on research for rare disease because it isn't cost-effective and lobbying Congress at a ridiculous pace. Now with Obama coming into town, they are afraid of being regulated and are ready for reform...or at least look like it.

From The Washington Post:ad_icon

"We had better self-police and stop doing the things that cause so much criticism, or we're going to get legislated and regulated by government," said W.J. "Billy" Tauzin, the Republican former congressman who runs the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), a trade association. The changes, he said in an interview, are an effort to move away from the industry's "slash-and-burn kind of policy" in response to previous regulatory and legislative efforts.

Even before Obama's victory, the drug lobby took a dramatic political turn: In 2008, for the first time in 18 years, industry contributions to Democrats were on par with money given to Republicans, according to an analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics, a watchdog group.

"PhRMA had been isolated into a one-party camp," Tauzin said. "We're trying to reposition as less of a partisan player."

Well that certainly does sound like tough talk for a new era, but let's consider the source. Billy Tauzin is famous for handing large gifts to the drug companies in exchange for his current comfy position with them. He is hardly one to be trusted with actual reform. The only reason that he wants the industry to play nice with Democrats and gain a better image is because they are afraid of looking like the gluttonous a**holes that they have been for the last eight years (and more). Real reform is only going to come from one direction, tough regulation of an industry that is insanely out of control.

The World Knows They're War Criminals, Now We Must Do Something About It

And Barack Obama must lead the charge in affirming the rule of law and protecting our Constitution. The ever-amazing Rachel Maddow along with Jonathan Turley get into it:

Blogger Battles NYPD And Wins, Sorta

It has always been an uphill struggle for bloggers in this town, this state and this country for that matter. The establishment did not take the online community seriously for a long time and now, things are beginning to change. Politicos realize that we've helped elect candidates and win battles with the supposed conventional wisdom. Well that struggle is an ongoing process, including right here in New York. Today however, we won another battle, thanks to Norman Siegel and blogger Rafael Martinez-Alequin.

From The Daily Politics:

Maverick City Hall blogger Rafael Martinez-Alequin has won his battle to get the NYPD to give him an official press card, the DN's Frank Lombardi reports.[...]

One wrinkle: The crendentials are "identification" cards, which offer less access than those issued to "working press." The latter allow the bearer to cross police lines.

Martinez-Alequin and Siegel said the three would continue their federal suit despite being granted press credentials.

"This is an important first step, but only a first step," Siegel said. We still need to address the constitutional problems in the system of granting press crednetials in new York City that has run amok and needs to be changed immediately, so the lawsuit continues."

Siegel said he would prefer to see the city Department of Consumer Affairs handle press credentials, calling it inappropriate for a high-profile agency like the police department to have the final word on who is a journalist.

So Martinez-Alequin has his press pass, or at least something that looks like it. The NYPD didn't give all the way, but with that lawsuit pending, hopefully they'll be irrelevant to the process in due time. Your Free Press is now one step closer to the rest of the traditional media's position inside City Hall.

Blagojevich Impeached, Next Step...Conviction

Well the Illinois State House has done their part. Governor Blagojevich is officially impeached and will be tried by the State Senate for his crimes against the people of Illinois. It would have been great if they had done this last month so we could have avoided the drama surrounding Roland Burris, but, well, it is done now. Of course, Blago isn't done fighting, he'll be screaming and shouting till the very end.

From Yahoo News:

Blagojevich was out jogging in his Chicago neighborhood when the vote came down. When he returned to his home, he compared his situation to a short story about a petty criminal called "The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner."

"And that's what this (impeachment) is, by the way, a long-distance run," Blagojevich said, promising to say more at an afternoon news conference.

Whether he is running a marathon, a triathlon or sitting still, at least forty State Senators are going to help convict the corrupt sonofab*tch. The House voted for impeachment by a count of 114-1 and I expect the margin to be similar in the Senate come next week or soon thereafter. Blagojevich has done enough damage to Illinois and the country, it is far past the time for him to go.

Pelosi:"Equal pay is an issue of fundamental fairness"

When it comes to this bill, Nancy Pelosi knows what she's talking about. For Congress to pass the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act quickly is a great start to this new session.

Bloomberg Wants To Be A GoOPer

Bloomberg has been making plenty of news lately. Budget squabbles, ducking rockets in Israel and shouting his opinion on whatever, wherever he can. He certainly likes to be in the limelight. It might just be the reason he wants to run for Mayor for a third term, not only to hold onto power but to remain relevant. He relishes the attention. Though when it comes to being on the ballot, position counts immensely.

So why is it that he wants to be a Republican again?

Mayor Bloomberg has begun reaching out to city Republican leaders to gauge whether he could run on the GOP line in his re-election bid this year, several sources told The Post.

The maneuvering began in the past two weeks, and sources said the mayor is expected to try to run on a major-party as well as a third-party line, likely one of his own creation.

Several sources said Bloomberg's political aides have started reaching out to GOP chairs in the five boroughs, including Manhattan's Jennifer Saul.

This comes from the conservative NY Post, but if its true, it shows that Bloomberg is weak. Not that he doesn't have plenty of money to run with, but that the Democratic leaders must have refused him access to the coveted Row A on the ballot this year. Instead he'll have to show everyone what a floosy he is in order to get as high as he can on the ballot. He still has an excellent chance of winning a third term (even if it is because of dubious circumstances of his own making) but if the Democrats can come up with one strong challenger, we might just be able to dethrone Mayor Mike this come November.

MTA Uses The Environment To Get More Money Out Of NYers

As many of you probably know, the MTA is getting read to raises rates by 23 percent. If the state comes through and bails them out, it will only be a mere 8 percent increase, but that's still another knock at our wallets in the upcoming year. None of this is supposed to improve service, only keep it at the poor quality we get now (or worse). Now they are looking at even more ways of bringing in more money, one of which is an environmental appeal to those that use the MTA, whether by mass transit or by car.

From The NY Times:

The authority said on Thursday that it was considering a “green MetroCard” program that would let riders make donations to help pay for making its operations more environmentally sustainable. The program would also apply to commuter rail tickets and E-ZPasses.

The idea was among dozens of proposals in a $1 million report by a commission appointed by the authority to recommend ways to lessen the adverse environmental impact of its operations.

Under the program, whose details are still being developed, riders buying MetroCards or commuter rail tickets at station vending machines could tack on an extra charge in the form of a tax-deductible contribution for green projects, said Ernest Tollerson, the authority’s policy director.

If they actually make it tax-deductible that would be fantastic. Though my confidence in them to do that is slim to nil. Now if they'd actually use those funds to "green" the system, I find that to be next to impossible. The MTA has always set money aside from one project to contribute to another or just a simple transfer to their general fund. If they truly wanted to make our mass transit more fuel efficient, they'd do it from their budget and not ask straphangers for more cash than they already demand of us.

Boehner On National Debt, He's One To Talk

I seriously wonder how Rep. Boehner manages to keep a straight face on when he talks about the worrisome rising national debt. While Bush nearly doubled the total, he said nothing. Now that Barack Obama is actually trying to save the economy by spending dollars on infrastructure, the Republican all of a sudden cares about deficit spending.



That goes for Mitch McConnell's feigned sincerity on the issue as well.

Unemployment Skyrockets To 7.2%, Err I Mean 13.5%

The Department of Labor released their ominous report today showing the unemployment rate (not including the underemployment and non-reported unemployed, where the rate is now 13.5%) to have jumped 0.4% last month to a sixteen year high of 7.2%. More than half a million jobs were lost in December and 2.6 million overall last year. As Bush exits, he leaves a devastating trail of economic ruin that the new President must try and clean up.

From The NY Times:

The unemployment rate jumped to 7.2 percent in December from 6.8 percent in November and 5 percent last April, when the recession was four months old and just beginning to bite. More than 11 million Americans are now unemployed, and their growing ranks seem likely to put pressure on President-elect Barack Obama and Congress to act quickly on a stimulus package that mixes tax cuts and public spending.

“These numbers, back to back, of more than a half million a month suggest that the U.S. economy is in a freefall,” said Nariman Behravesh, chief economist at IHS Global Insight. “It’s scary, and it indicates that unless something is done and done quickly to turn this economy around, we’re looking at an awful situation this year.”

The 7.2 percent was the highest unemployment rate since January 1993, when the country was still shaking off a jobless recovery from the 1990-91 recession. The loss in total jobs for 2008 was the largest since 1945.

And there is no sign of it stopping anytime soon. David A. Levy, chairman of the Jerome Levy Forecasting Center thinks we are looking at a 9% unemployment rate by the end of this year. The numbers sorted by state aren't out yet, but one can assume things are looking extremely off in the Empire State. Wall Street is the epicenter of this debacle and economists know that the worst effects are felt here before they reverberate across the country.

This means that not only does Barack Obama have his hands full, so does our Governor, State Assembly and Senate. Now more than ever, we need drastic change in the way New York does business, and sugar taxes aren't going to cut it. We need to have true shared sacrifice in this state, and that starts at the top, with a truly progressive income tax. Get to it Governor....get to it Shelly Silver...get to it Malcolm Smith!

As Expected, Burris Isn't So Clean After All

Yesterday we learned a little bit more about the man that could and/or will become the next Senator from Illinois. Roland Burris made a big ruckus in Washington on Tuesday when the Secretary of the Senate refused to seat him. Yet he was confident, supposedly because the lord had Blagojevich seat him, that he'd prevail in the end. Well, it might not have been a heavenly presence that got him into the Club of 100.

From The Huffington Post:

Appearing before an Illinois House impeachment committee, Burris acknowledged that he had reached out to a close friend and former chief of staff to embattled Gov. Rod Blagojevich to discuss the Senate seat. That appears to contradict Burris' statement in a sworn affidavit that he had no contact with any of the governor's "representatives." The former chief of staff, Alonzo Monk, is named as "Lobbyist 1" in the criminal complaint, and ran Blagojevich's most recent reelection campaign.

Grilled by members of the Illinois House, Burris said he brought the idea of filling Obama's Senate seat to "Lon" Monk -- whose cell phone was tapped by federal agents investigating Blagojevich's pay-to-play scheme.

Moreover, Burris testified that the meeting with Monk was to drum up state business from the lobbyist -- the image of back channel dealing that Burris has sought to avoid during his Senate roll-out.

Not exactly the stuff that gets you past the pearly gates, is it? Mr. Burris though, I suspect, cares only about the big doors that lead to the Senate floor. If he were staying in Illinois, it would seem that he'd get nothing from the legislature that raked him through his own coals yesterday. Majority Leader Harry Reid however, can't seem to tie his own shoes, so herding the Democratic caucus or dealing with an ethically and legally tainted Governor is out of the question. Of course, if the Feds can nail him for being part of a pay to play scheme, things could change. His answer to whether he was is quite telling.

Towards the end, a representative put the whole inquiry in the bluntest terms possible: asking Burris whether he had promised Blagojevich anything in return for the Senate seat.

"I can before this committee state that there was nothing legal, personal, or political exchanged for my appointment to this seat," Burris replied.

Do you think he left out the word "financial" on purpose?

Blair Horner Sounds Off On Paterson's Lack Of Reform Talk

As stated before, Governor Paterson did not mention anything near and dear to the hearts of good government groups. Here is what Blair Horner of NYPIRG had to say in response to the State of the State:

Gonzo Still Out Of Work, Perhaps He Should Try Comedy

Alberto Gonzales departed the Department of Justice in shame, with threats of impeachment pending and a DoJ that was for all intensive purposes a political arm of the White House. More than sixteen months after that glorious day he left, Gonzo is still out of a job. He sat down with the Austin-American Statesman this week to clue us in on where he's at.

From The Austin-American Statesman:

“It’s a rough economy right now, and it’s a tough time for a lot of law firms right now. Obviously they are very careful about bringing on new people, and they are going to be careful about bringing on people where there are questions about things that may have happened in their past,” he said. “Over time, I’m confident those things will be resolved, and things will work themselves out.”

“Greater opportunities,” Gonzales, 53, said, “will present themselves once the stories are out there.”

Oh it is rough, but bastards like you have helped shape their fate in more ways than just economic ones. Morality might have something to do with it as well. Helping to defend the practice of torture perhaps to name an example. Though he is writing a book so a publisher could throw him at least a little cash for that pile of lies. Oh and in the last part of the interview, he states he thinks about being baseball commissioner or something like that. Now where could he have gotten an idea like that?

I know this was billed as a serious interview, but really Gonzo, you could go on the road with a routine like that. Of course, that is permitting you stay out of prison for all those crimes you committed with your buddy George Bush.