Minority Report

Stealing from the Poor and Elderly

It turns out that Big Pharma isn't content just to steal from the elderly - they've been caught overcharging thepoor too:

Federal investigators said Tuesday that drug companies had repeatedly overcharged public hospitals and clinics for low-income patients, making them pay more than the maximum prices allowed by federal law.

Such taxpayer-supported hospitals, community health centers and clinics for people with AIDS are supposed to have access to the government's best prices for outpatient drugs.

The investigators, at the inspector general's office in the Health and Human Services Department, found that prices charged to those agencies frequently exceeded the limits set by the Public Health Service Act. In one month, the investigators said, the overcharges totaled $41.1 million, raising the cost of prescription drugs to public hospitals and clinics 18 percent, to $269 million, from $227.9 million.

The inspector general said the Public Health Service should develop a legislative proposal to establish fines and civil penalties for manufacturers that overcharge.

"In effect," the report said, "no penalties exist for manufacturers that violate the terms of the Public Health Service Act."

If the government detects evidence of overcharges, "it does not have the legislative, regulatory or contractual authority to effectively remedy the situation," George F. Grob, an assistant deputy inspector general, said. If the hospitals and clinics are not overcharged, Mr. Grob said, they could "serve more patients and improve the quality of service."

The Bush administration said that it "concurs with the overall findings in the report" and would try to monitor drug prices more closely. But it said it did not want to ask Congress for authority to impose fines and other penalties on drug companies.

Lessee - poor getting screwed? Check. Large corporation? Check. Bush Adminstration lax on penalties? Check. Same shit, same people getting screwed.

Welcome to America! Now Submit to a Strip Search

The US Customs and Border Patrol has been directed to start strip-searching people of Pakistani descent for signs that they might have participated in terrorist training camps.

A two-page "action" bulletin, dated June 17, says recent intelligence from Pakistan and elsewhere indicates that people of Pakistani descent "are increasingly being identified with" extremist activities, "including supporting [and] protecting the operations of terrorist training camps in Pakistan."

The document says U.S. officials believe "many of the individuals trained in the Pakistani camps are destined to commit illegal activities in the United States."

However, a U.S. official told CNN there is no specific information to suggest such individuals are headed to the United States.

The official also said that the department of Customs and Border Protection does "not target anyone based on race," but it does pay close attention to areas where terrorists are known to operate.

...In the bulletin, airport inspectors are advised to closely look at people of Pakistani descent who have taken short trips to Pakistan that were not related to family or business reasons and examine them for injuries like "rope burns ... unusual bruises ... [and] scars," -- injuries that may have come from training in terror camps.

"Officers should look for indications the individual engaged in rappelling activities (rope burns on arms/legs)," the bulletin said.

They should also examine people for "unusual bruises resulting from obstacle course activities."

At risk of sounding shrill, the key point here is that they're looking for individuals of Pakistani descent - that includes Pakistani American citizens - as opposed to simply anyone who might've visited Pakistan recently. So much for not being racially-targeted, as if only Pakistanis visit Pakistan.

Second is the assumption that going to Pakistan is grounds for suspicion of participating in a terrorist camp. That's like suggesting a black man driving a Mercedes is grounds for suspecting that he's a drug dealer. Oh, I guess they do that too. So much for justice.

America, Land of the Free

This is shameful, coming from a country and an Administration that espouses itself as the epitome of liberty, justice, democracy, and freedom. You need to read the whole thing to appreciate the horror of it.

He was a Buddhist from Nepal planning to return there after five years of odd jobs at places like a Queens pizzeria and a Manhattan flower shop. He was taping New York street scenes to take back to his wife and sons in Katmandu. And he had no clue that the tall building that had drifted into his viewfinder happened to include an office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Yet by the time Mr. Wynne filed his F.B.I. report a few days later, the Nepalese man, who spoke almost no English, had been placed in solitary confinement at a federal detention center in Brooklyn just because of his videotaping. He was swallowed up in the government's new maximum security system of secret detention and secret hearings, and his only friend was the same F.B.I. agent who had helped decide to put him there.

Except for the videotape — "a tourist kind of thing," in Mr. Wynne's estimation — no shred of suspicion attached to the man, Purna Raj Bajracharya, 47, who came from Nepal in 1996. His one offense — staying to work on a long-expired tourist visa — was an immigration violation punishable by deportation, not jail. But he wound up spending three months in solitary confinement before he was sent back to Katmandu in January 2002, and to release him from his shackles, even Mr. Wynne needed help.

The clearance process had become so byzantine that the officer who had set the procedure in motion could not hasten it. Unable to procure a release that officially required signatures from top antiterrorism officials in Washington, Mr. Wynne took an uncommon step for an F.B.I. agent: he called the Legal Aid Society for a lawyer to help the jailed man.

...Within 10 days of the Sept. 11 attacks, the Justice Department instructed immigration judges that all cases designated as "special interest" were to be handled in separate closed courtrooms, without visitors, family or reporters, and without confirming whether a case was on the docket. The secrecy left detainees with little access to lawyers.

Visa violators would be held indefinitely, until the F.B.I. was sure the person was not involved in terrorism. As a visa violator under suspicion, Mr. Bajracharya was among hundreds placed in the special interest category, and his case was wiped from the public record.

Mark Corallo, a spokesman for the Justice Department, said that though he was unfamiliar with the case, the system of secrecy Mr. Bajracharya encountered is lawful and necessary. "The idea that someone who has violated our immigration laws may be of interest on a national security level as well is an unfortunate reality, post-9/11," he said. Closed hearings are legal as long as due process is provided, he said, and all abuses will be dealt with.

But Ms. Cassin, of Legal Aid, argues that under this secret practice, there is no way to know whether other noncitizens are even now being unfairly detained. "By its very nature," she said, "it can happen again without our knowing about it."

Mr. Bajracharya was finally returned to Nepal on Jan. 13, 2002. By then he had spent almost three months in a 6-by-9-foot cell kept lighted 24 hours a day. The unit of the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn where he was kept has become notorious for the abuses documented there by the Justice Department's own inspector general, who found a pattern of physical and mental mistreatment of post-9/11 detainees. Videotapes showed officers slamming detainees into walls, mocking them during unnecessary strip-searches, and secretly taping their conversations with lawyers.

...By telephone from Katmandu, Mr. Bajracharya recalled the fear, humiliation and despair he had experienced in prison. "I had nothing but tears in my eyes," he said through a translator. "The only thing I knew, I was innocent, but I didn't know what was happening."

He said he was stripped naked in the federal jail. "I was manhandled and treated badly," he said, becoming agitated. "I was very, very embarrassed even to look around, because I was naked."

The ordeal began when his videotaping aroused the suspicions of two detectives from the Queens district attorney's office, which has space in the same 12-story building where the F.B.I. occupies three floors. After taking him inside for questioning, they called upstairs to the F.B.I., and Mr. Wynne was dispatched to take over the interrogation. With no translator, Mr. Bajracharya tried to explain himself to half a dozen law enforcement officers, including two federal agents from the Immigration and Naturalization Service who verified his illegal immigration status.

If this had been a white tourist taking the video, you know this wouldn't have happened. Moreover, even if it had, there is no way that they would have been held for this long nor in the same conditions. With a community as disenfranchised as this one - there are fewer than 100,000 Nepalis in the US - the need for transparency and accountability is even greater.

The Corruption of Ralph Nader

It's not difficult to see how power and money often corrupts the hearts of lesser persons. That's why people like Ralph Nader stand out as such heroes - they have the moral mortitude to stand against it. Unfortunately, it appears that power has gotten the best of Ralph Nader. The fearless crusader of the public interest appears more interested in making a name for himself than championing any moral principle.

After being abandoned by the Green Party this week, Nader continues to defend his candidacy by suggesting that he's drawing more Republican support away from Bush than Democratic support from Kerry. Unfortunately for Nader, as Joe Conason points out, Republicans are overtly supporting his candidacy to draw help out Bush.

According to Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington -- whose name sounds as if Nader could once have been its founder -- the Nader presidential campaign received illicit assistance for its petition drive in Oregon last weekend from two local conservative organizations, which were "encouraged" by President Bush's campaign committee.

Melanie Sloan, CREW's executive director, plans to file a complaint on Tuesday with the Federal Election Commission, charging that Nader and his conservative enablers in Oregon violated the federal statute prohibiting corporate contributions to presidential candidates.

Accused in Sloan's complaint along with the Nader and Bush campaigns will be Citizens for a Sound Economy and the Oregon Family Council, whose leaders have acknowledged that they are trying to help the "independent" gadfly win a place on the state's November presidential ballot. The two conservative groups admit that they are backing President George W. Bush, and quite frankly describe Nader as nothing more than a convenient instrument to drain support from Democrat John Kerry in a closely fought battleground state.

In recent weeks, the Oregon conservative groups deployed their phone banks to contact Republican voters, urging them to attend a Nader rally in Portland on Saturday, where the candidate's organizers sought to gather enough signatures to place him on the ballot. Although only 1,000 valid signatures are needed, the Nader campaign had already tried once and failed last April, when only 750 voters showed up at a similar event. On Saturday, with CSE and OFC phoning and organizing their members to rally behind Nader, more than 1,150 voters turned out and signed the petition.

Nader's acceptance of support from openly pro-Bush organizations shows the depth of Nader's moral bankruptcy. No responsible progressive individual can justify a vote for Nader this year - four years of the Bush Administration have proven how quickly and thoroughly they can destroy America's domestic and foreign policy. A vote for Nader is clearly a vote for President Bush.

Which is probably why Nader has been having such trouble getting onto the ballot. Most responsible progressives do see that problem and are not supporting his candidacy (that's why I'm not worried about Nader - let the Republicans throw their money away).

What should be more cause for alarm is that Nader himself doesn't see it this way. If we can't count on Nader to be responsible now, how can we ever trust him again?

Does Farenheit 9/11 Have Legs?

I haven't seen it yet but the $22B it raked in and taking the #1 spot in the weekend box office suggests that it has a lot of traction. But don't take it from me, take it from this ultra-conservative from Appleton, Wisconsin:

The film itself very much reflects its creator: It's shaggy, flabby, occasionally witty, and frequently infuriating. It will have a HUGE impact because Moore – his facile leftist economics notwithstanding – has nailed his case against the Bush regime flush to the plank. It will be all but impossible for anybody who sits still and watches this film to view Bush the Lesser as anything other than a petty, spiteful, dim-witted, bloody-handed little fool – and the figurehead of a murderous power elite. This explains why the Bu'ushists are threatening to go Abu Ghraib on Moore: They're busted.

The Party of Family Values

Interesting that a party that has centered its message on religious piety and have gone so far as appeal to Catholic ministers for support for this campaign cycle are big business for prostitutes:

With thousands of Republicans set to invade the city this summer, high-priced escorts and strippers are preparing for one grand old party.

Agencies are flying in extra call girls from around the globe to meet the expected demand during the Aug. 30-Sept. 2 gathering at Madison Square Garden.

"We have girls from London, Seattle, California, all coming in for that week," said a madam at a Manhattan escort service. "It's the week everyone wants to work."

"It's going to be big," agreed one operator at a midtown escort service.

Can't They Do Anything in Public

Keeping with their modus operandi, the Bush Administration transferred authority to the Iraqi government in a secret meeting, deep within the Green Zone, two days before the handover was supposed to occur:

President Bush quietly took note of the secret handover by checking his watch at a NATO summit in Istanbul and shaking hands with his closest war ally, British Prime Minister Tony Blair. The two exchanged knowing smiles and shook hands as they sat around a table listening to speeches.

While backroom deals might be the standard for the Bushies, I think that might set a bad precedent for a modern democracy, if that's what you want to call it. It doesn't look like Iraqis will be drinking the sweet nectar of freedom anytime soon:

U.S. and British officials say the handover is a key step on the path to democracy in Iraq, but one of the government's first actions as a sovereign power is expected to be the imposition of emergency laws, including curfews, to crack down on guerrillas.

...Although Allawi's government will have "full sovereignty," according to a U.N. Security Council resolution earlier this month, there are important constraints on its powers.

It is barred from making long-term policy decisions and will not have control over more than 160,000 foreign troops who will remain in Iraq. The government has the right to ask them to leave, but has made clear it has no intention of doing so.

And as long as we're into some truth-telling, let's get to the real reason why the handover took place early:

U.S. officials attending the NATO summit admitted that thwarting a surge in attacks believed to be planned for the formal Wednesday handover date was a factor in the decision to advance it to Monday, which they said Allawi had requested.

"We have said all along that we believed that the terrorists on the ground were going to do everything they can to literally and figuratively blow up the handover of sovereignty," one said.

Such an attack could have damaged attempts by Bush, who faces a presidential election in November, to be seen to be starting to disengage from Iraq, where hundreds of U.S. soldiers have died since last year's invasion. (emphasis mine)

Nothing like the birth of a "democracy" to lift your spirits...

Be Afraid... Be Very Afraid

I've been meaning to comment on the State Department terrorism report goof-up - you know, the one in which they claimed that in 2003 that terrorism was at an all time low, but then backtracked recently said "oops - 2003 was the highest level of terrorism in 20 years."

It appears that the report ignored all the terror attacks that occured after November. That seems like kind of a big goof-up, huh? Even more screwy was the excuse - that they needed to get the report to the printer in November and that's why they didn't have all the data in it by then (I kid you not - that's really their excuse!). It seems a little dubious that an analyst somewhere in the State Dept. is thinking that they can submit a report on 2003 terrorism before the year is even up, doesn't it? Yet, the State Department insists this was just an honest mistake, not something done for the sake of political expedience.

Paul Krugman takes apart this little State Department lie:

Was the report's squishy math politically motivated? Well, the Bush administration has cooked the books in many areas, including budget projections, tax policy, environmental policy and stem cell research. Why wouldn't it do the same on terrorism?

The erroneous good news on terrorism also came at a very convenient moment. The White House was still reeling from the revelations of the former counterterrorism chief Richard Clarke, who finally gave public voice to the view of many intelligence insiders that the Bush administration is doing a terrible job of fighting Al Qaeda. Meanwhile, Mr. Bush was on a "Winning the War on Terror" campaign bus tour in the Midwest.

...In any case, the incompetence explanation is hardly comforting. In a press conference announcing the release of the revised report, the counterterrorism coordinator Cofer Black attributed the errors to "inattention, personnel shortages and [a] database that is awkward and antiquated." Remember: we're talking about the government's central clearinghouse for terrorism information, whose creation was touted as part of a "dramatic enhancement" of counterterrorism efforts more than a year before this report was produced. And it still can't input data into its own computers? (It should be no surprise, in this age of Halliburton, that the job of data input was given to — and botched by — private contractors.)

Auto & Oil Industries Cash in Their Political Contributions

A new series of whimsical public service announcements from the Environmental Protection Agency are lampooning the notion that cars can be made more energy efficient while the ads encourage conservation at home.

A top E.P.A. official said the $1 million campaign was developed by a branch of the agency that specializes in energy-saving home appliances and was not intended to send a message about cars. But it comes at a time of heightened awareness of oil consumption and energy security, and despite the fact that many analysts say consumers can make their greatest single contribution to air quality when choosing a car.

In a 60-second version of the public service announcement, a woman named Suzanne says she is concerned about pollution and global warming, but laments the homegrown efforts of her husband, Mark, to cut emissions from the family car. Mark - nerdy, pudgy, harried - is shown rigging up their car, first with a sail, then a microwave contraption using huge satellite dishes, and finally a helium tank with a bulbous hose.

Shorter EPA: Keep buying SUVs - you can cut out more greenhouse gases by turning off the lights in your house.

It just amazes me how much sneaky shit they think they can get by us - clearly, this Adminstration thinks the citizens are a bunch of morons.

The Sky is Not Falling Due to Malpractice Suits

I have a number of friends who are practicing physicians, including my best friend, who have insisted passionately that frivolous medical malpractice suits have caused their premiums to skyrocket and threaten the accessibility of health care. I've personally found those claims incredible, since there can't possibly be enough malpractice suits to keep up with the double-digit inflation of their malpractice insurance rates. These are otherwise very intelligent people who seem to be falling for the Republican-manipulated, AMA-delivered scheme to turn doctors against trial lawyers.

Bob Herbert comes through with a great article which tells the truth - the AMA (and my friends) are wrong. If anyone is to blame for the high costs of malpractice insurance, it is the insurance companies themselves which are falsely blaming the trial lawyers to cover up the losses they suffered when the stock market collapsed.

The newspaper reported that an analysis of the data showed that malpractice payments in New Jersey had declined by 21 percent from 2001 to 2003. But malpractice insurance premiums surged over the same period. A.M.A. officials told me yesterday that they thought the New Jersey data was "incomplete," but they did not dispute the 21 percent figure.

...There is no question that malpractice insurance premiums have increased sharply over the past few years. In some instances they have skyrocketed. But, as the Congressional Budget Office has noted, there are a variety of reasons for that, including the cost of malpractice awards, decreases in the investment income of insurance companies and cyclical factors in the insurance market.

"Insurance companies' investment yields have been lower for the past few years," the budget office said in a report in January, "putting pressure on premiums to make up the difference."

The disinformation campaign of the tort reform zealots, and their sustained attacks on the rights of patients who have been harmed by doctors, have been disgraceful. The proper prescription for this apparently chronic disorder is a strong dose of the truth.

Bob's dead-on - the correct policy prescription requires a truthful look at why the problem exists.