Hospitals start to address conflict of interest

Not a bad start, but there is a long way to go. Maybe Big Pharma can get back to actually providing health benefits with real science instead of bribing doctors and hospitals. Isn't that how science is supposed to work anyway? At a minimum, consumers ought to have easy access to Big Pharma's interaction with doctors and hospitals. Papers and pens are a drop in the bucket compared to the juicy stuff that's thrown out there but it all needs to stop.

When a Duluth-based operator of hospitals and clinics purged the pens, notepads, coffee mugs and other promotional trinkets drug companies had given its doctors over the years, it took 20 shopping carts to haul the loot away.

The operator, SMDC Health System, intends to ship the 18,718 items to the west African nation of Cameroon.

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Senators need to ask Kevin O'Connor, nominee to be third-ranking offical at Justice, about his abuse of the Patriot Act with librarians

A scathing op-ed in today's Hartford Courant gives background on George Bush's nominee to be the third ranking official at the Department of Justice, Kevin O'Connor. Most interesting, the denunciation of O'Connor was written by a Connecticut Republican. O'Connor demonstrated the excesses of the Bush administration in a case he brought -- and lost -- against Connecticut librarians under the Patriot Act. Yes, librarians:

The test of whether an official is worthy of power is how he exercises it when the law shuts out public scrutiny. Connecticut U.S. Attorney Kevin O'Connor failed that test in 2005 when he thought no one was looking at his abuse of the USA Patriot Act. His own incompetence, however, allowed light to shine on his battle in the shadows against four upright Connecticut librarians.

The U.S. Senate can take a stand for individual liberty by rejecting President Bush's nomination of O'Connor to a high-ranking position in the Justice Department that includes overseeing the enforcement of civil rights.

O'Connor not only lost the case, he made a mockery of the proceeding. Read the op-ed. O'Connor fits the mold of a loyal Bushie who has no regard for civil liberties. We've had enough of those types.

There's more after the break.

The Senate should also ask him about his letter to Ron Kaufman (You know his name. He's the lobbyist who is with Mitt Romney all the time even though Mitt doesn't have lobbyists in his campaign.):

O'Connor had foreshadowed his taste for mixing law enforcement and political ambition in a letter he had sent to Washington Republican operative Ron Kaufman at the beginning of the George W. Bush administration, seeking help in snagging the U.S. attorney job in Connecticut. He saw the job as a gate to higher office: "Simply put, there is no better position for me to occupy before a statewide run for office than United States Attorney," he wrote. Senators may want a copy of that letter. It reveals more about O'Connor than the 50-page questionnaire he provided the committee. If members of the Senate really do worry about shrouded abuses that occur under the Patriot Act, this is the time to prove it. The Judiciary Committee holds a hearing on O'Connor's nomination Tuesday. It can punish, not promote, an official who engaged in an abuse of his office while claiming the nation's security was at risk.

O'Connor is so hungry for higher office, he was willing to trample the civil rights of librarians. He should be working for Cheney. Read More......

Obama's MLK Day speech

It's an excellent speech, at Martin Luther King's church. Here's an excerpt:

For most of this country's history, we in the African-American community have been at the receiving end of man's inhumanity to man. And all of us understand intimately the insidious role that race still sometimes plays - on the job, in the schools, in our health care system, and in our criminal justice system.

And yet, if we are honest with ourselves, we must admit that none of our hands are entirely clean. If we're honest with ourselves, we'll acknowledge that our own community has not always been true to King's vision of a beloved community.

We have scorned our gay brothers and sisters instead of embracing them. The scourge of anti-Semitism has, at times, revealed itself in our community. For too long, some of us have seen immigrants as competitors for jobs instead of companions in the fight for opportunity.

The political power of a good orator should not be underestimated. Bill Clinton knew how to speak to the people, as did Reagan. And it didn't just help them get elected, it helped them rule. Read More......

Another roundup of Bush's Middle East visit

Quack, quack, quack. That said, the Washington Post does a fine job of quoting the always popular John Bolton *and* Ed Gillespie just so we can have both sides of the debate. Nice work, fellows! They even manage to quote one person in the the region who complains about American isolationism. So after seven years of expensive overseas failure and a crashing economy at home, is it OK to just leave such a remark out there without question? It's more a sign of well-founded concern at home and frustration with Bush-specific failures and less a sign of any long term trend. Why has the Post become so lousy? Read More......

One More Year

One year from today, at noon, we get a new President. The Bush reign will end. He still has one full year to wreak destruction on the U.S. and the world. But there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Just need to make sure that it's a Democrat taking the oath of office a year from today. Read More......

How bad is the economy?

Bush and Paulson think it's bad enough to propose a rescue package that goes well beyond the post 9/11 stimulus plan. Paulson may be a pathetic little yes man and figurehead but he talks with enough people on Wall Street to have a pretty good idea about the problems at the moment and moving forward.

The administration is examining providing rebates of up to $800 for individual taxpayers and $1,600 for families.

That would be significantly higher than the $300 per individual and $600 per family that was provided in an economic stimulus package in 2001 to fight the last recession.

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Sunday Talk Shows Open Thread

Another weekend of presidential politics on the Sunday shows. And the big news is that yesterday's two-time sixth place finisher, Rudy Giuliani, makes an appearance.

Edwards has two appearances. Huckabee one. Romney's on Fox so they can all figure out how to destroy McCain's campaign. The rest are staff or surrogates for the various campaign.

Russert, however, is operating on a different plane this morning. He has nothing to do with the candidates today. He will "devote the full hour to insights and analysis" with among others, presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin. Apparently, he's going to put this all into context for us in a way that only Russert can. Aren't we all so lucky that Russert takes the time to do that for us? It's not easy defining history.

The full line up is after the break.

Rudy, Rudy, Rudy. What can he even say at this point?:

ABC's "This Week" — Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y.

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CBS' "Face the Nation" — Former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C.; David Axelrod, strategist for Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign; Howard Wolfson, communications director for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign.

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NBC's "Meet the Press" — Doris Kearns Goodwin, presidential historian.

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CNN's "Late Edition" — Edwards; Mike Huckabee; Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind.; Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C.; Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C.; Gov. Tim Kaine, D-Va.

"Fox News Sunday" _ Former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts and Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.

If you're watching, provide the commentary.

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A bit of Fry and Laurie

There are just a ton of great clips from Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie but this is especially funny. The subject is language. Read More......

EU study: biofuels not the answer

Meanwhile Bush still thinks it's a marvelous idea. At least, that's what the corporate farmers all tell him. I believe in competition but deciding between food or car fuel is downright ridiculous.

The cost-benefit study looks at whether using biofuels reduces greenhouse gas emissions, improves security of supply and creates jobs and delivers an unenthusiastic opinion on all three counts.

"What the cost-benefit analysis shows is that there are better ways to achieve greenhouse gas savings and security of supply enhancements than to produce biofuels," says the report.

"The costs of EU biofuels outweigh the benefits," the researchers state.

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