HavenWorks.com/health/drugs/archive

A-Z

!Search

News by Date

NewsStand

_Global_

_US_

A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I-J-K-L-M-N-O-P-Q-R-S-T-U-V-W-X-Y-Z

- Drug Archive
Drug News, Drug News History Archives

Use "Ctrl F" [control F] to FIND what you're looking for.
"Right Click" - "Open in New Window." to avoid reloading this page.
Drug News History Archives


	ARCHIVES NEWS Drug News History Archives Drugs Archive

Drug Archives:

20080108

John Edwards - Hillary Clinton - Families - Health-Care - Drug - Corporations - Multinationals - US - Jobs - California - New Hampshire - 2008 Election - "Edwards focuses on health in final campaign push." ... "[2008 Election Democratic President] John Edwards appealed to the emotions of New Hampshire voters in his final campaign push last night by bringing on stage with him three families who had suffered from lack of health care." ... "On a 36-hour non-stop, marathon bus tour round New England, he put health care at the core of his message." ... "At a rally in Elk Lodge, Dover [New Hampshire], he lambasted health insurance firms and drug companies, as well as multinationals who have transferred US jobs overseas. "The powerful interests in Washington have an iron-clad clasp on your democracy," he said." ... "The families with him included a mother, Hilda Sarkisyan, whose 17-year-old daughter Natalie died from cancer on December 20 in California after an insurance company failed to pay up for a liver transplant that could have saved her." ... "Edwards said: "This should never happen in the United States of America. Things have to change."" ... "Hillary Clinton's team accused him of exploiting the families. Edwards, who has been outspoken in criticism of Clinton, retorted that the Clinton campaign had "no conscience"." -By Ewen MacAskill -Guardian.co.uk

20080107

John Edwards - New Hampshire - Iowa - North Carolina - California - Teenager - Health - Company - Drug - Christmas - Working - People - 2008 Election - "Underdog Edwards says he won't give up the fight for the White House." ... "The former senator from North Carolina [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate John Edwards] sought to bring added emotional wallop to his message before Tuesday's primary by campaigning with the family of a Northridge [California] teenager who died after her insurance company delayed approval for a liver transplant." ... "The newest participants in the Edwards campaign were the Sarkisyans of the San Fernando Valley [California], whose 17-year-old daughter, Nataline, died just before Christmas of complications from leukemia. After much debate, the family's insurance company had approved a liver transplant, but she died hours later." ... ""When I talk about what insurance companies and drug companies are doing to America, this is what I mean," Edwards said to a crowd of about 500 in Manchester [New Hampshire], where some were moved to tears by the family's story. "This has real effects on real people's lives."" ... "Grigor Sarkisyan told the audience how he had promised to buy his daughter a white car after she got out of the hospital, but had to buy a white coffin instead. He said he thought he had done everything he was supposed to as a father: working hard, supporting his family and buying health insurance he thought would take care of them if they got sick." ... "His wife, Hilda Sarkisyan, had heard Edwards' speech Thursday after his second-place finish in the Iowa caucuses and called the candidate's campaign. The family arrived in New Hampshire on Sunday morning." ... "The couple urged voters to support Edwards, saying he is the lone candidate who will fight for Americans against such powerful interests as insurance companies." ... ""They cannot tell us who's going to live and who's going to die," Hilda Sarkisyan said." -By Seema Mehta and James Rainey -LAtimes

20080105

John Edwards - Barack Obama - Politics - 2008 Election - 2004 Election - Iowa - New Hampshire - Working - People - Investment - Civil Rights - Lawyer - Drug - Oil - "Obama borrows from Edwards." ... "After beating [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] John Edwards in Iowa on Thursday, [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] Barack Obama has decided to join him -- repeatedly poaching his opponent's themes, language, and even jokes." ... ""We shouldn't just be respecting wealth in this country -- we should be respecting work," Obama told an overflow crowd in a [New Hampshire] high-school gym today." ... "Edwards's 2004 presidential campaign was centered around the idea that the [Republican President] Bush administration had launched a "war on work" through tax cuts that offer incentives for investment over labor. "Hard work should be valued in this country, so we're going to reward work, not just wealth," Edwards said in accepting his party’s vice-presidential nomination at the Democratic’ convention in Boston. In this campaign, he has sharpened his populist rhetoric, railing against greedy corporate CEOs who are waging war on working people and the middle class." ... "Since arriving in New Hampshire Friday, Obama has borrowed Edwards's favorite verb by bragging that he had "fought" as a community organizer and civil rights lawyer, and conceding that "insurance companies and drug companies will not give up their profits" -- which Edwards asserts repeatedly to ridicule Obama's talk of conciliation. Obama repeatedly invoked those interests, as well as "big oil and big insurance," common villains in Edwards speeches." -By Sasha Issenberg with contributions by Foon Rhee -Boston/Globe

20080104

John Edwards - Barack Obama - Corporate - Drug - Legislation - Iowa - North Carolina - Illinois - 2008 Election - Health-Care - "Edwards Campaign Asserts Obama Once A Sellout To Corporate Interests." ... "Roughly twelve hours after a second-place finish in the Iowa caucus, [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate and former North Carolina Senator] Sen. John Edwards' campaign went on the attack against the winner, [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate and Illinois Senator] Sen. Barack Obama, asserting that the Illinois Democrat was once a sellout to corporate interests." ... "In an appearance on MSNBC, David Bonior, Edwards' campaign manager, ripped into Obama's record on health care from the time when he served in the Illinois State Senate." ... ""Barack Obama's kind of change is where you sit down and you cut a deal with the corporate world," Bonior said. "If you look at his record in Illinois when he had a major -- sponsored a major health bill that's what he did. He watered down with the help of the corporate lobbyist and they got a weak product out of that."" ... "MSNBC host Joe Scarborough interjected: "Are you saying that Barack Obama is a sellout to corporate interests?"" ... "Bonior responded, "He was four years ago in Illinois. All you have to do is look at the legislation I'm referring to."" ... "The Obama campaign was quick to respond, defending their candidate's credentials both on health care policy and his ability to stand up to lobbyists. " ... "But as the Boston Globe reported on September 23, 2007, in the process of crafting the legislation, Obama consulted with "insurers and their lobbyists" and amended the bill "more to their liking."" ... ""The wrangling over the healthcare measure, which narrowly passed and became law in 2004, illustrates how Obama, during his eight years in the Illinois Senate, was able to shepherd major legislation by negotiating competing interests in Springfield, the state capital," the Globe reported. "But it also shows how Obama's own experience in lawmaking involved dealings with the kinds of lobbyists and special interests he now demonizes on the campaign trail."" ... "On the campaign trail Edwards has railed against the disproportionate influence corporations and lobbyists have had on the formulation of health care policy. In a recent television ad, he blamed the lack of universal health care in the United States on "drug companies, insurance companies and their lobbyists in Washington, D.C." " -By Sam Stein -HuffingtonPost.com

20071229

John Edwards - Barack Obama - Oil - Drug - Money - Foreign - Government - United States - Iowa - 2008 Election - "Edwards Pledges Ban on Lobbyists." ... "[2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] John Edwards vowed Saturday that corporate lobbyists would not be allowed to work in his administration, if elected." ... "“When I am president of the United States, no corporate lobbyists or anyone who has lobbied for a foreign government will work in my White House,” Mr. Edwards said, speaking at a public library." ... "He followed it up with an implicit attack on [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Obama] Mr. Obama." ... "[John Edwards said,] “I hear people argue that the way you can get things done is you sit at a table with drug companies, insurance companies, oil companies and negotiate with them, and somehow they will voluntarily give away their power,” he said. “I think it is a complete fantasy.”" ... "In a November speech to Iowa Democrats, Mr. Obama promised that lobbyists would not work in his White House." ... "But he [Obama] later amended his position, saying that lobbyists would not “dominate” his White House.”" ... "When campaigning, Mr. Edwards frequently reminds voters that he has never taken campaign contributions from lobbyists." -By Julie Bosman -NYTimes

20071218

Mitt Romney - Mike Huckabee - Crime - Drug - Religious - Television - Ad - Iowa - New Hampshire - South Carolina - 2008 Election - "Romney continues Huckabee attacks." ... "This week, the [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate Mitt] Romney campaign launched a TV ad in Iowa accusing [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate Mike] Huckabee of being soft on crime and reducing punishments for those caught manufacturing meth." ... ""I think people recognize this is very critical time in our nation's history and the issues are important," he said. "This is not just about feel-good. This is about how we would deal with important issues."" ... "Romney's "feel-good" comment was a reference to Huckabee's own television ad currently running in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, in which Huckabee dons a red sweater and tells viewers that "what really matters is the celebration of the birth of Christ."" ... "Romney questioned whether the ad, with its clear Christian overtones, is politically appropriate. He said he hopes "we don't divide America on the basis of faith."" -By Peter Hamby -CNN

20071217

Hillary Clinton - Barack Obama - Drug - Criminality - Race - Religion - New Hampshire - Iowa - South Carolina - 2008 Election - "Clinton's stereotyping of Obama may backfire." ... "[2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] Barack Obama said Friday that he accepted the apology of Democratic presidential rival [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] Hillary Clinton after Bill Shaheen, Clinton's New Hampshire cochairman, suggested that Obama's teenage drug use would hurt him in the general election." ... "It was clear, though, that the apology did not cover all the recent shots at Obama that raise questions as to whether the Clinton campaign is getting desperate." ... ""The kindergarten stuff was not mentioned," Obama said in an interview after a morning town hall event here in eastern Iowa. The Clinton team was ridiculed in political circles for dredging up an Obama kindergarten I-want-to-be-president essay." ... "That leaves open as to how far the Clinton campaign, whose poll leads have evaporated in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina, will go to stereotype Obama as not only naive, but cast him in a sinister light in a nation where black drug use and criminality is exaggerated in the media and where Muslims face undue wariness. Earlier this week, the Clinton staff fired two Iowa volunteer coordinators for circulating a hoax e-mail saying Obama, a Christian, was a Muslim who might help destroy the United States." -By Derrick Z. Jackson -BostonGlobe via -SeattlePI

20071216

Secret - Surveillance - Terrorism - Crime - Telecommunications - Companies - Government - Legislation - Politics - Intelligence - Drug - Consumer - Wireless - Technology - United States - Global - Space - Colorado - New Jersey - "Wider Spying Fuels Aid Plan for Telecom Industry." ... "For months, the [Republican President] Bush administration has waged a high-profile campaign, including personal lobbying by President Bush and closed-door briefings by top officials, to persuade Congress to pass legislation protecting companies from lawsuits for aiding the National Security Agency’s warrantless eavesdropping program." ... "But the battle is really about something much bigger. At stake is the federal government’s extensive but uneasy partnership with industry to conduct a wide range of secret surveillance operations in fighting terrorism and crime." ... "The N.S.A.’s reliance on telecommunications companies is broader and deeper than ever before, according to government and industry officials, yet that alliance is strained by legal worries and the fear of public exposure." ... "To detect narcotics trafficking, for example, the government has been collecting the phone records of thousands of Americans and others inside the United States who call people in Latin America, according to several government officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the program remains classified. But in 2004, one major phone carrier balked at turning over its customers’ records. Worried about possible privacy violations or public relations problems, company executives declined to help the operation, which has not been previously disclosed." ... "In a separate N.S.A. [National Security Agency] project, executives at a Denver [Colorado] phone carrier, Qwest, refused in early 2001 to give the agency access to their most localized communications switches, which primarily carry domestic calls, according to people aware of the request, which has not been previously reported. They say the arrangement could have permitted neighborhood-by-neighborhood surveillance of phone traffic without a court order, which alarmed them." ... "The federal government’s reliance on private industry has been driven by changes in technology. Two decades ago, telephone calls and other communications traveled mostly through the air, relayed along microwave towers or bounced off satellites. The N.S.A. could vacuum up phone, fax and data traffic merely by erecting its own satellite dishes. But the fiber optics revolution has sent more and more international communications by land and undersea cable, forcing the agency to seek company cooperation to get access." ... "[An ATT engineer is claiming in a lawsuit that as early as February 2001,] “What he saw,” said Bruce Afran, a New Jersey lawyer representing the plaintiffs along with Carl Mayer, “was decisive evidence that within two weeks of taking office, the [Republican] Bush administration was planning a comprehensive effort of spying on Americans’ phone usage.”" (1, 2) -By Eric Lichtblau, James Risen, and Scott Shane -NYTimes

20071216

John Edwards - Barack Obama - Hillary Clinton - North Carolina - Illinois - New York - 2008 Election - Government - Oil - Drug - Companies - Health-Care - US - Iraq - Military - Iowa - Fields - "Edwards cuts sharper edge in Iowa trail speeches." ... ""The few, the powerful, the well-financed, they now control the government," [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] John Edwards told a tight crowd of about 350 last week. "They've taken over your democracy. And it affects everything that happens in this country."" ... ""Everything," he emphasized." ... "During an 18-minute span, the former North Carolina senator took aim and fired freely at insurance, oil and drug companies and failed chief executives rewarded with golden parachutes. He described the Republican field as [Republican President] "George Bush on steroids" and said his Democratic competitors are talkers, not fighters." ... "In what has often been portrayed as a two-Democrat battle between [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate and Illinois Senator] Sens. Barack Obama of Illinois and [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate and New York Senator] Hillary Clinton of New York the populist Edwards is making an eight-day blitz across the frozen fields of Iowa, a sort of red-meat express to convince the middle class that he is the one who will wrest the country from the clutches of "corporate power and greed."" ... ""I know some people suggest we'll be able to sit at the table with drug companies and oil companies and think they can get their power away. Right," Edwards said dismissively, indirectly referring to the approaches he says Obama and Clinton would take." ... ""I'll tell you when they'll [corporations] lose their power: when we take it away from them," he told a cheering crowd at the [Iowa] Grinnell Eagles Club." ... ""There's been a change in America. We have greater concentration of wealth and power in a few. We have an increasingly dysfunctional health-care system. We have this war in Iraq that has gotten much worse," he said. "I think we need a president who's willing to be tough and to go after these things."" -By Tim Jones -ChicagoTribune

20071211

John Edwards - US - Iraq - Military - Corporate - Government - Energy - Drug - Health - Family - Farmers - 2008 Election - "AP Interview: Edwards on Iraq and Dems." ... "While [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate John] Edwards continues to invoke ending the [Iraq] war as one of the major challenges facing the nation, the thrust of his message is that entrenched corporate power has prevented the government from tackling long-standing domestic problems." ... ""You hear a lot more questions about corporate power, health care, energy, family farmers," he said. "Those are the things people ask about."" ... ""My focus for these last few weeks is on a positive agenda," he said. "That's what America rising is all about."" ... "That's not to say Edwards' message doesn't have an edge." ... "His culprits are "powerful, well-entrenched, well-financed interests that are distorting the democracy in their favor and against the interests of most Americans."" ... ""The specific examples are oil companies, drug companies, insurance companies, power companies, there are lots more examples," he said. "They've used money and power to spread their influence and have kept the democracy from working for most people."" (1, 2) -By Jim Kuhnhenn -AP via -NOLA.com

20071209

Secret - Rudy Giuliani - Drug - Government - Politics - Qatar - Hong Kong - North Korea - Crime - Global - US - 2008 Election - "Giuliani Won't Release Client Names." ... "For the past year, though, Giuliani has declined to identify his clients on the grounds that they entered into confidentially agreements with his firm." ... "Giuliani formed the consulting firm in early 2002, offering "management consulting service to governments and business" and over the next five years it earned more than $100 million. That income, along with a robust speaking schedule, helped transform the moderately well-off public servant into a globe-trotting consultant whose net worth is estimated to be in the tens of millions of dollars." ... "Giuliani Partners has represented a pharmaceutical company mired in a lengthy investigation; a confessed drug smuggler who hired Giuliani to ensure his security company could do business with the federal government; and the horse racing industry, which was eager to recover public confidence after a betting scandal." ... "But many of the firm's clients have never been listed on its web site or identified publicly by associates, and two of the most controversial arrangements among them only surfaced in recent weeks. One involved a 2005 agreement to provide security advice to the government of Qatar. The second stemmed from a deal to assist a partnership proposing a Southeast Asian gambling venture. Among the partners were relatives of a Hong Kong billionaire who has ties to the regime of North Korea's Kim Jong Il and has been linked to international organized crime, according to a report in the Chicago Tribune." -By Matthew Mosk -WashingtonPost

20071127

US - Iraq - Blackwater - Corporate - Military - Politics - Steroids - North Carolina - "Witnesses testify in Blackwater lawsuit." ... "A federal grand jury investigating Blackwater Worldwide heard witnesses Tuesday as a private lawsuit accused the government contractor's bodyguards of ignoring orders and abandoning their posts shortly before taking part in a Baghdad [Iraq's capital] shooting that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead." ... "Filed this week in U.S. District Court in Washington, the civil complaint also accuses North Carolina-based Blackwater of failing to give drug tests to its guards in Baghdad — even though an estimated one in four of them was using steroids or other "judgment altering substances."" ... "Before the shootings in Baghdad last September, the three teams of an estimated dozen Blackwater bodyguards had already dropped off the State Department official they were tasked with protecting when they headed to Nisoor Square, according to the lawsuit filed by lawyers working with the Center for Constitutional Rights." ... "Blackwater and State Department personnel staffing a tactical operations center "expressly directed the Blackwater shooters to stay with the official and refrain from leaving the secure area," the complaint says. "Reasonable discovery will establish that the Blackwater shooters ignored those directives."" ... "Additionally, the lawsuit notes: "One of Blackwater's own shooters tried to stop his colleagues from indiscriminately firing upon the crowd of innocent civilians but he was unsuccessful in his efforts."" -By Lara Jakes Jordan with contributions by Matthew Lee and Matt Apuzzo -AP via -Yahoo

20071104

Fred D Thompson - Criminal - Drug - Money - Jet - 2008 Election - "Thompson Adviser Has Criminal Past." ... "[2008 Election] Republican presidential candidate Fred D. Thompson has been crisscrossing the country since early this summer on a private jet lent to him by a businessman and close adviser who has a criminal record for drug dealing." ... "Thompson selected the businessman, Philip Martin, to raise seed money for his White House bid. Martin is one of four campaign co-chairmen and the head of a group called the "first day founders." Campaign aides jokingly began to refer to Martin, who has been friends with Thompson since the early 1990s, as the head of "Thompson's Airforce."" ... "Thompson's frequent flights aboard Martin's twin-engine Cessna 560 Citation have saved him more than $100,000, because until the law changed in September, campaign-finance rules allowed presidential candidates to reimburse private jet owners for just a fraction of the true cost of flights." ... "Martin entered a plea of guilty to the sale of 11 pounds of marijuana in 1979; the court withheld judgment pending completion of his probation. He was charged in 1983 with violating his probation and with multiple counts of felony bookmaking, cocaine trafficking and conspiracy. He pleaded no contest to the cocaine-trafficking and conspiracy charges, which stemmed from a plan to sell $30,000 worth of the drug, and was continued on probation." (1, 2, 3) -By Matthew Mosk with contributions by Alice Crites, Jonathan Weisman, and Sarah Cohen -WashingtonPost

20071026

John Edwards - Corporate - Law - Kids - Safety - Employees - Food - Drug - Des-Moines - Iowa - 2008 Election - "Edwards Gets Tough on Business." ... "[2008 election Democratic Presidential Candidate] John Edwards is targeting Corporate America and what he argues are its corrupt and greedy practices. In a speech today in Des Moines, Iowa, he is outlining his plan to renew the “social contract” between business and government if elected president. “In corporate America, where a broader sense of social responsibility once held sway, a culture of greed has taken over. Instead of treating their employees fairly, being accountable to their shareholders and contributing to America’s prosperity, CEOs act like their corporations exist just to build their own massive fortunes,” says Edwards, according to speech excerpts provided to Washington Wire by his campaign." ... "Edwards is proposing, among other things, universal retirement accounts that employers would be required to provide if they don’t offer pension programs." ... "Edwards is also proposing stronger protections for workers seeking to unionize and increased shareholder rights. And he’s proposing to cap tax-deferred compensation funds for top executives at $1 million annually, and pushing for more disclosure of corporate governance structures, the pay and demographics of top corporate officers, as well as political contributions, government contracts, and taxes paid." ... "He also proposes tougher Food and Drug Administration inspection standards and safety regulations on products, like kids’ toys, made abroad." -By Susan Davis -WSJ.com

20071007

Drug - Money - Sales - Politics - Elderly - Consumer - Health - Law - Audits - Michigan - "Medicare Audits Show Problems in Private Plans." ... "Tens of thousands of Medicare recipients have been victims of deceptive sales tactics and had claims improperly denied by private insurers that run the system’s huge new drug benefit program and offer other private insurance options encouraged by the [Republican President] Bush administration, a review of scores of federal audits has found." ... "The problems, described in 91 audit reports reviewed by The New York Times, include the improper termination of coverage for people with H.I.V. and AIDS, huge backlogs of claims and complaints, and a failure to answer telephone calls from consumers, doctors and drugstores." ... "Since March, Medicare has imposed fines of more than $770,000 on 11 companies for marketing violations and failure to provide timely notice to beneficiaries about changes in costs and benefits." ... "The companies include three of the largest participants in the Medicare market, UnitedHealth, Humana and WellPoint." ... "The audits document widespread violations of patients’ rights and consumer protection standards. Some violations could directly affect the health of patients — for example, by delaying access to urgently needed medications." ... "Representative Bart Stupak, a Michigan Democrat who is chairman of the investigations subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said he had “verified countless stories of deceptive sales practices by insurance agents who prey upon the elderly and disabled to sell them expensive and inappropriate private Medicare plans.”" (1, 2) -By Robert Pear -NYTimes

20070911

Secret - Federal - Health - Safety - Consumer - Law - Politics - Food - Drug - Traffic - Manufacturers - Companies - "Stealth Rules War Pits Lawyers Versus Companies." ... "Official Washington loves the word ``stealth.'' It connotes intrigue and secrecy, making the term well understood in a capital where spies and invisible fighter jets aren't all that's sneaking around." ... "At least that's how the nation's trial lawyers view the [Republican President] Bush administration's increasing use of federal health and safety regulations as a line of defense for manufacturers trying to fend off multimillion-dollar liability claims from consumers in state courts." ... "The fine print of a 2006 U.S. Food and Drug Administration rule on prescription labeling that preempts, or overrides, state laws is proving to be a powerful weapon in the courtroom at a time when Merck & Co. is fighting thousands of lawsuits from consumers claiming they were harmed by its drug Vioxx." ... "Since 2005, federal agencies, including the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Department of Homeland Security have issued more than a dozen rules that stress the primacy of federal law." ... "Plaintiff attorneys, who have been watching the trend with alarm, say eliminating the option of suing a company at the state level will result in weaker federal regulations, more cost to the government for consumers' medical bills, and a usurping of congressional authority." ... "The Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled a hearing for tomorrow: ``Regulatory Preemption: Are Federal Agencies Usurping Congressional and State Authority?''" -By Cindy Skrzycki -Bloomberg

20070820

Drug - Money - OxyContin - Law - "AP: Pain medicine use has nearly doubled." ... "Retail sales of five leading painkillers nearly doubled over the last eight years, reflecting a surge in use by patients nationwide who are living in a world of pain, according to a new Associated Press analysis of federal drug prescription data." ... "More than 200,000 pounds of codeine, morphine, oxycodone [brand: OxyContin], hydrocodone [brand: Vicodin] and meperidine [brand: Demerol] were purchased at retail stores during 2005, the most recent year represented in the data. That is enough to give more than 300 milligrams of painkillers to every person in the country." ... "Oxycodone, the chemical used in OxyContin, is responsible for most of the increase. Oxycodone use jumped nearly six-fold between 1997 and 2005. The drug gained notoriety as "hillbilly heroin," often bought and sold illegally in Appalachia." ... "The privately held company [Purdue Pharmaceuticals] has pleaded guilty to lying to patients, physicians and federal regulators about the addictive nature of the drug." -By Frank Bass with contributions by Dave Collins and Samira Jafari -APvia -Yahoo

20070817

John Edwards - Iowa - Oil - Drug - Seniors - Health - Business - Law - 2008 Election - "Edwards Attacks 'Robber Barons,' Lobbyists to Win Votes in Iowa." ... "[2008 election Democratic Presidential Candidate John Edwards,] In campaign speeches and conversations with voters, the presidential candidate calls some companies ``robber barons.'' Business lobbyists have ``rigged'' the system to block fair trade policies and efforts to curb reliance on overseas oil, he says. Drug and insurance companies are to blame for 83-year-old Marguerite Erickson's $3,000-a-year health bill, he told her at a rally in Perry this week." ... "Did she believe it? ``You bet,'' she said after the event. ``I think he's got the right idea.''" ... "Edwards's populist themes are nothing new for him. His standard 2004 campaign speech lamented the existence of ``two different Americas, one for people who have lived the American dream and don't have to worry, and another for most Americans who work hard and still struggle to make ends meet.''" ... "Still, his rhetoric then, and even earlier in the current campaign, lacked the accusatory edge it has acquired in the past month. ``We need to take back America from the Washington insiders running the country,'' he said Aug. 14 in Pocahontas, Iowa. Earlier in the week, Edwards told a crowd in Perry, about 40 miles northwest of Des Moines, that health-care costs remain high because ``we have not taken on and beaten down the drug companies and insurance companies.'' " -By Nicholas Johnston -Bloomberg

20070808

Sports - Drug - Law - San Francisco - California - "Bonds Sets Baseball's Home Run Record: Giants Slugger Passes Aaron With No. 756." ... "Seven fifty-five, the most cherished number in baseball if not all of American sports, lived a good, long, noble life. Spawned from the powerful bat of an aging slugger named Hank Aaron on July 20, 1976, it grew in stature over the years, surviving the occasional challenge and ruling over the record book even as other, lesser records fell. But on a cool Tuesday night near the shores of San Francisco Bay [San Francisco, California], 755 finally perished at the hands of a relentless, controversial invader from the west named Barry Lamar Bonds. Seven fifty-five is gone. Behold, 756." ... "Only three players in the last 86 years have held the sport's signature mark. Babe Ruth first captured it in 1921, then surrendered it posthumously to Aaron in 1974. And now, for better or worse, it belongs to Bonds." ... "Across the land, baseball fans, including many who play and run the game, are unsure what to make of 756 because of the player who struck it. Bonds is alleged to have used steroids beginning in the late 1990s, fueling a late-career explosion in offensive production that is unparalleled in baseball history. Even as Bonds took aim at Aaron's record this summer, a grand jury continued to investigate him for possible perjury and tax evasion charges stemming from his involvement with an alleged steroids ring." ... ""This record is not tainted," Bonds said in his postgame news conference. "It's not tainted at all. At all. Period. You guys [in the media] can say whatever you want."" -By Dave Sheinin -WashingtonPost

20070801

Michael J Elston - Alberto R Gonzales - Paul J McNulty - Government - US Attorneys - OxyContin - Drug - Manufacturer - Money - Politics - Virginia - "U.S. Attorney Became Target After Rebuffing Justice Dept.." ... "The night before the government secured a guilty plea from the manufacturer of the addictive painkiller OxyContin, a senior Justice Department official called the U.S. attorney handling the case and, at the behest of an executive for the drugmaker, urged him to slow down, the prosecutor told the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday." ... "John L. Brownlee, the U.S. attorney in Roanoke [Virginia], testified that he was at home the evening of Oct. 24 when he received the call on his cellphone from Michael J. Elston, then chief of staff to the deputy attorney general and one of the Justice aides involved in the removal of nine U.S. attorneys last year." ... "Brownlee settled the case anyway. Eight days later, his name appeared on a list compiled by Elston of prosecutors that officials had suggested be fired." ... "Brownlee ultimately kept his job. But as Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales confronts withering criticism over the dismissals, the episode in the OxyContin case provides fresh evidence of efforts by senior officials in the department's headquarters to sway the work of U.S. attorneys' offices." ... " ... Elston's attorney, Robert N. Driscoll, said his client had telephoned Brownlee at the direction of [Deputy Attorney General Paul J.] McNulty, who that evening had received an appeal for more time by Mary Jo White, a defense lawyer representing an executive for OxyContin's manufacturer, Purdue Pharma." -By Amy Goldstein and Carrie Johnson -WashingtonPost

20070720

US - Iraq - Military - Immigration - Alberto Gonzales - Energy - Labor - Drugs - Legislation - Politics - History - "Senate tied in knots by filibusters." ... "This year Senate Republicans are threatening filibusters to block more legislation than ever before, a pattern that's rooted in — and could increase — the pettiness and dysfunction in Congress." ... "The trend has been evolving for 30 years. The reasons behind it are too complex to pin on one party. But it has been especially pronounced since the Democrats' razor-thin win in last year's election, giving them effectively a 51-49 Senate majority, and the Republicans' exile to the minority." ... "Seven months into the current two-year term, the Senate has held 42 "cloture" votes aimed at shutting off extended debate — filibusters, or sometimes only the threat of one — and moving to up-or-down votes on contested legislation. Under Senate rules that protect a minority's right to debate, these votes require a 60-vote supermajority in the 100-member Senate." ... "Democrats have trouble mustering 60 votes; they've fallen short 22 times so far this year. That's largely why they haven't been able to deliver on their campaign promises." ... "By sinking a cloture vote this week, Republicans successfully blocked a Democratic bid to withdraw combat troops from Iraq by April, even though a 52-49 Senate majority voted to end debate." ... "This year Republicans also have blocked votes on immigration legislation, a no-confidence resolution for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and major legislation dealing with energy, labor rights and prescription drugs." -By Margaret Talev -McClatchyDC.com

20070717

Karl Rove - Sara Taylor -