Christopher Hall

Has anyone heard of Gerald Lyle Hemp?

The following article appeared in my city's local paper today:

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2010/jan/03/a-wanted-man/

I would bet that he knew Barry Seale and that they worked in similar CIA-sanctioned drug running activities.

He sounds a lot like Andrew (Drew) C. Thornton II, who "dropped into" Knoxville back in 1985:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_C._Thornton_II

I strongly encourage anyone interested in Barry Seale and his exploits to pick up a copy of "Bluegrass Conspiracy" by Sally Denton.

It was certainly a fascinating time, and I remember quite well Thornton's unfortunate and ignominious demise in a South Knoxville driveway in 1985.

It set in motion a series of events which resulted in an apparent aviation sabotage incident (which killed a parachutist who used to study near me in law school as well as 16 others) and some black bears dying of cocaine overdoses.

Ventura has noted that he'd be happy to cover the JFK assassination in a future season if he gets renewed, pending the number of viewers they can attract for this first season. On that note, TruTV put out a press release a few days ago stating that the first episode of Ventura's show were the highest rating in the history of the network (1.2 million viewers or similar) and they were very happy with it.

I am guardedly optimistic about the prospects of this show being a force for good (e.g. America's Most Wanted).

And I would certainly like to hear Jessie's opinion as to the JFK assassination (and the RFK assassination and the MLK assassination for that matter).

"I've always been interested in conspiracy theories. I am fascinated by the Kennedy assassination. I know how that happened. I won't tell you. But I know exactly what happened. This is a story for another time....."

Jesse Ventura interview with ESPN's Lynn Hoppes, December 1, 2009: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story...e=hoppes/091201

I saw the show yesterday afternoon on TruTV.com (used to be Court TV) around 3 pm. He went to the Alaska hinterland to try to go into the HAARP facility. The people there gave him a hard time and wouldn't tell what they do in that site. After an exchange of about 5 minutes, the cameraman's camera started acting up. The lens was moving around, you saw the cameraman's feet, the sound became static. They were actually controlling his camera with "waves."

Anyway, the reason HAARP exists is to change weather patterns, like altering the gulf stream. They may have had something to do with Katrina in New Orleans, a major experiment. New Orleans is 97% a black population... it makes you wonder. Also the waves can pull planes out of the sky with little or no residue. Which makes me think of the plane in Pennsylvania on 9/11.

Jesse said they will be concentrating on conspiracy theories that happened in the last 20 years, including 9/11. They will not investigate the Kennedy assassination.

The show will air on truTV at 10 pm Wednesday night.

Kathy C

I enjoyed last week's episode on HAARP quite a bit.

I hope that more investigative research follows.

I wish that he would give his opinion (and support for it) on the JFK assassination.

The Frank Olson case has always reminded me of Abe "Kid Twist" Reles:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abe_Reles

As the late Joe Valachi said in reference to Reles, "No one thought he went out that window on his own."

Kathy-

I appreciate your sharing this and I wish you the best and a full recovery.

Chris

There are a number of problems with this;

-this is a right handed, poly fiber, belt saddled, quick release holster.

-the gun and the holster in this picture did not exist in 1963.

While a loose fitting shoulder holster might sit like this, it could be a beer bottle, a rolled up magazine, a small flashlight.

I am sorry to say, but while these two are quite suspicious, the ideas of a dart/flechette firing umbrellas, multiple signalmen...none of it holds up.

It's like planning a surprise party:

The fewer that know the better...

One of the things I find surprising by contributors here is that in one thread, the suspension of disbelief used for one facet of this "investigation" and then ignored for another facet..

Lets ask a few questions:

You are part of a professional hit team with a highly visible target in a very visible place. You do NOT want to get caught, nor do you want anyone else tying you to the crime.

-Would you get and old guy to drop his hat as a signal?

-Would you get a guy to raise an umbrella?

-Would you get a Cuban looking fellow to stand in the street and wave?

-Would you put your other assets in a position where they could be photographed in a location you already know will be covered somewhat by people with cameras? A random variable like that? Then possibly detained/interrogated and the conspirators identified?

All one needs to do is look into how spotters and snipers work.

Two men. A shooter and a spotter. They know each other. They may not know any other teams. Probably better if they don't. Secure position with easy outs.

Low visibility. A disposable weapon. Job done, see ya later.

That is how that is done. Not "lets throw a party and invite 50 people to shoot the Prez!"

And as for drainpipes and a limo with hidden compartments, these are the results the overactive imaginations of some people who will invent a need where none is.

A professional hit team would be light and lean. In and out. Thanks goodbye.

If these UM/DCM theories were plausible, I would lean more towards the theory that this wasn't professional to the point of perfection but rather perpetrated by idiots of the highest caliber: stand in the road, invite 40 people to pull it off, leave questions everywhere that preclude the patsy....

the sheer stupidity of it is overwhelming...

(Sorry to ramble on here..)

I just think a large number of these theories are overdone. If you were going to steal a roast from your neighbors freezer, you wouldn't go to all this effort. You walk over, wait until the coast is clear , steal the roast and leave. Bad analogue I know, but when you change the conditions, the whole thing seems ludicrous. Roast Spotter man, Basting the roast man with baster, Babushka Roast Woman, Roast alteration evidence...

It's too complicated and contains far tooo many variables.

END RANT...

I know that sniping is currently done in the US military with a spotter and a shooter (at least that's what I see on the Military Channel), but the assassination of JFK in 1963 was not a military sniping.

There were other very successful snipings which took place in the civilian arena that lacked adherence to US military sniping protocals. Read "The Valachi Papers", for example.

And irrespective of the extent to which the method of the execution of the JFK assassination may have differed from the manner in which a US Army sniping team would handle the job, the JFK assassination was both successful and audacious.

I am agnostic about whether the man removing his hat is a signal, but I have no doubt that the UM and the DCM were casting a signal to commence sighting in the target and firing.

I don't find planting people to signal the arrival of the Presidential limo to be remotely complicated or fraught with variables.

To the contrary, I find it logical to have spotters at street level to signal the arrival of the target.

I also don't accept the notion that the raising or pumping of the umbrella on a sunny day by the UM and the raising of the DCM's hand, right before the bullets started flying, to be fortuitous.

It's good to hear from you, Maggie.

I enjoy reading your Deep Politics forum from time to time.

Take care.

I agree that Witt isn't the UM, but instead someone the CIA coached into perjuring himself for the benefit of the HSCA.

I half agree with you Christopher... I don't believe Witt was the Umbrella man. I'll fully agree with you if you can explain why the CIA coached him into saying completely the wrong story.

Umbrella man is clearly standing still with the Umbrella open Yet he told the HSCA "I think I got up and started fiddling with that umbrella trying to get it open, and at the same time I was walking forward, walking toward the street".

He has a clear view of the President. yet he told the HSCA he didn't see "because of this thing (the umbrella) in front of me....My view of the car during that length of time was blocked by the umbrella's being open".

Why would the CIA coach someone to tell completely the wrong story ?

I think that the CIA found Witt to take the fall as the UM.

I don't think that it gave him the rather amateurish and changing explanation.

Perhaps the CIA fed him parts of it, but the CIA didn't give him an inconsistent and shifting story.

Some people are good liars and others can't keep a story straight.

I suspect that Witt falls into the latter category.

If you read "Plausible Denial" by Mark Lane, you get the impression that lying comes easier to some CIA types than simply telling the truth.

Understandibly, these guys have to live a lie when they work undercover, so I would say that it comes naturally.

The UM and the DCM gave the "fire away" signal - nothing more, nothing less.

How many other umbrellas are observable in Dallas from earlier parts of the parade route?

Was waving an umbrella a popular form of deriding JFK?

To shoot a poison dart at JFK, one would have to aim it and pull off a great shot to hit him in the throat area.

The UM doesn't look like he's aiming the umbrella - he is just pumping it.

I agree that Witt isn't the UM, but instead someone the CIA coached into perjuring himself for the benefit of the HSCA.

Last night's show was great.

It was really interesting to see and hear all of the archival footage.

I plan to watch tonight's show as well.

John - I am sorry for starting this post when you had already opened a thread on this new topic.

The following series commences airing on the History Channel on Sunday:

http://www.politico.com/click/stories/0910...ries_redux.html

I suspect that it merits our attention, and I plan to watch it.

I stumbled across this at imdb.com:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1109300/

Maybe Bugliosi can play himself.

I don't know who is producing the movie, who will have the leading roles, etc.

My guesses for the leading and supporting roles:

1. JFK - Hugh Grant;

2. LHO - Billy Bob Thornton;

3. Jack Ruby - Robert DeNiro;

4. Jackie - Julia Roberts, Juliette Lewis;

5. LBJ - Tommy Lee Jones;

6. JEH - Phillip Seymour Hoffman;

7. RFK - still thinking about this one.

I think that's all the cast that will be necessary to present Bugliosi's assessment as to how the events of Dealey Plaza, Dallas unfolded on November 22, 1963.

Category: Fiction.

A trick that Cohn worked to perfection was calling Walter Winchell every Sunday afternoon, an hour or 2 before his notorious radio show, and feeding him with talking points of gossip against one or more of Cohn's numerous enemies.

This was actually one of Roy's more ethical and moral techniques when viewed in comparison to the many other sleazy and corrupt methods that he regularly employed.

At least no one has done an Obama version of this:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0853096/#Scene_1

And I hope that no one ever does.

You only think that you know how sleazy, corrupt, fraudulent and manipulative Roy Cohn was until you have read this book.

I don't blush easily, but it was almost disgusting reading how badly Cohn behaved.

One of the money quotes is what he would tell young associates helping him on a case: "Don't tell me what the law is. Tell me who the judge is."

He was disbarred a couple of months before he succumbed to AIDS.

He "dated" Barbara Walters for 25 - 30 years, which damns her by association.

He routinely held court at the Stork Club, he bought Malcom Forbes' 95" yacht (which sank as a result of a suspicious fire), he represented a host of Mafiosi (including John Gotti and Carmine Galente), as well as George Steinbrenner, Donald Trump, Si Newhouse and a whole bevy of other A-list New Yorkers.

He would routinely stiff people who did business with him.

He and RFK hated each other.

McCarthy apparently chose Cohn as his chief counsel, over RFK, to alleviate charges of anti-Semitism resulting from the number of Jews he subpoenaed for interrogation.

Ironically, I am almost through with a great book about Mickey Cohen (I will report on it when I finish it), and he seems like a solid citizen in comparison to Roy Cohn.

The book is well worth reading (because Cohn was a prominent figure who traveled in political circles for several decades), but it really doesn't shed much light on anything related to the Kennedys or the JFK assassination.

Your timing on starting this post is serendipitous.

I had planned to start a thread based on the following book ban by a Portugal Judge:

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-New...rtugese_Judge__

It appears that the Judge's book ban applies (somehow) across Europe and not just in Portugal.

I am not familiar with civil rights and liberties in Europe, but I have read items (e.g. stories about legal stops and searches and this book ban) which make me wonder about civil liberties across the pond.

For what it's worth, we have a problem with mall cops here, too.

And we now have "Free Speech Zones" when royalty (usually POTUS) is in town for a visit.

"[They] wrote like exiled English colonials from an England of which they were never a part to a newer England that they were making. Very good men with the small, dried and excellent wisdom of Unitarians…They were all very respectable. They did not use the words that people have always used in speech, the words that survive in language. Nor would you gather that they had bodies. They had minds, yes. Nice, dry clean minds.....

All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn."

The first paragraph reflects Ernest Hemingway's criticism of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Nathaniel Hawthorne.

These are excerts from Green Hills of Africa, which is a novelized account of Hemingway's first African safari in 1933 - 1934.

Not bad for someone wh never set foot in a college.

He was certainly the greatest prose writer of the 20th century, and he credits his much imitated writing style to writing instructions he received working as a newspaper reporter as a young man.

Chris, just a little personal story.

I recently became a Grandfather for the first time, the Baby(Rose May) had to be delivered by C section, as she had become turned in the womb, during the operation baby became very aggitated, and inhaled some amniotic fluid, she was on special care for nearly a week, with round the clock Nursing and medical care, and Mum was fairly poorly too, the "upfront" cost of all this to the Family was Nil. I have no idea how much it would have cost in America, but I shudder to think. Saying this the system is far from perfect, but I know which I'd rather have. Regards, Steve.

Thanks, Steve, and congrats on the new family addition.

I have no doubt that the cost over here would be outlandish.

Thank you, Mike and John, for your polite, patient answers to Chrstopher's questions, which shoulg have an eye opening effect, because Christopher is an educated man.

I predict your answers will have little or no effect on Christopher's opinion, because he seems to have strong faith in the American "free markets" system, which history actually demostrates is a rigged, predatory game, at least against those who don't get in on a generous share of the spoils. IMO, our "system" is broken, and for a long time.

The top ten percent own 70 percemt of all US assets, but Christopher's questions seem so similar to the topics injected into the publc's fear stream since Clinton's 1993 attempt to "reform" US healthcare. Yhose topics of concerned are created and distributed by those making fortunes off of the system as they've made it, aided by the political party who they've contributed the most money to.

The core concerns are about "losing the ability to see your favorite doctor", aboiut the "tort lawyers driving up medical malpractive premiums with phoney lawsuits, and splitting the profits with democrats in congress,", as you can see reflected in Chistopher's questions.

Yhis post ends with two stories, 75 years apart, of two former heads of major US stock exchanges, both men corrupt to the core and finally sent to prison after stealing huge amounts of money. One was John Train's next door nerighbor in 1930, Richard Whitney, and the other is Bernie Madoff.

My other examplse are pharma giant Pfizer stealing $14 billion a year, selling it's own branded and heavily advertised, very expensive version of a now cheap, staple drug,

only superior to the cheaper generic in that it does not lose effectiveness when the user also drinks large quantities of grapefruit juice. The US pharma industry sells unneeded, overly expensive drugs through shear bribery....like Whitney and Madoff , it is corrupt to the core!

I also document that the Federal gov's Medicare expenses for the elderly are robbed and raided of billions by private insurers who mugged the governmen,t 40 years ago, into allowing them, and only them, to examine and pay out on all submitted claims for the costs of care of those covered under the program.

The man who thought he could be president, Bill Frist, who as senate majority leader, blocked all efforts to insert an illness exception into a tough, 2005, anti-consumer bankruptcy bull, is himself a medical doctor from a family enriched with, by now, at least $2 billion from profits of it's hospitals and insurance business, Reas about this company called HCA, Senator Frist's greedy and deceptive stock sales, and about his family and the Tennessee lawfirm that made many millions, churning HCA and it's stock, taking the company public, and then back to private control again, making huge amounts for a select few at each manipulation.

Welcome to the US system, perpetuated by the brainwashed and the elite few who pay to feed them the very misinformation that ends up oppressing them. But, in the US, we're told by these corrupt elite, we are "different", we cannot have a successful single payer system of medical care as all other inductrialized states enjoy. Could it be because our "sytem" is the most corrupted, due to the crisis level concentration of wealth experienced here, which seems to go almost unnoticed, except by the rest of the world?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Frist

William Harrison "Bill" Frist, Sr., M.D. (born February 22, 1952) is an American physician, businessman, and politician.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Frist_me...nts_controversy

Bill Frist medical school experiments controversy

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/techinvestor/...lionaires_x.htm

New names among the richest on Forbes' billionaires list

Updated 3/11/2005 5:40 AM

....Tennessee had three entries on the list: Martha Ingram and family of Ingram Industries at No. 228 with $2.6 billion; Frederick Smith of FedEx at No. 306 with $2.1 billion; and Thomas Frist Jr. and family of HCA Inc. at No. 584 with $1.1 billion.....

http://www.theledger.com/article/20050309/...ictory-for-Bush

Bankruptcy Bill Set for Passage; Victory for Bush

By STEPHEN LABATON

New York Times

Published: Wednesday, March 9, 2005

But critics said the measure was a thinly disguised gift to banks and credit card companies, which, they contend, are largely responsible for the high rate of bankruptcies because they heavily promote credit cards and loans that often come with large and largely unseen fees for late payments. They said that the measure would impose new obstacles on many middle-income families seeking desperately needed protection from creditors, and that it would take far longer for those families to start over after suffering serious illnesses, unemployment and other calamities.

The votes on Tuesday were the second legislative victory in recent weeks both for Mr. Bush and the Senate majority leader, Bill Frist, himself a possible presidential contender in 2008. Mr. Frist nimbly moved both the bankruptcy bill and another bill last month making it more difficult to bring class-action lawsuits through the Senate.

In both cases, he unified the Republicans to beat back every effort by the Democrats to water down or delay the measures. In both cases, he also reached a deal with House leaders in which the Senate blocked any significant changes to the measure in exchange for a commitment from the House that it would adopt unaltered what the Senate approved.

The White House applauded the votes on Tuesday....

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/03/11/...ain679480.shtml

WASHINGTON, March 11, 2005

Senate OKs Bankruptcy Bill 74-25

Bush Urges House To Follow Suit On Measure Making Ch. 11 Harder

Font size Print E-mail Share By Joel Roberts

"This legislation restores personal responsibility and fairness to an abused system," said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn.

The bill's supporters argued that bankruptcy frequently is the last refuge of gamblers, impulsive shoppers, divorced or separated fathers avoiding child support, and multimillionaires, often celebrities, who buy mansions in states with liberal homestead exemptions to shelter assets from creditors.

Opponents, too, have a litany of stories. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., speaks of Zoraya Marrero, a single mother with three children from Woodbridge, Va., the eldest of whom has spina bifida. Having had to return $60,000 in state disability benefits and medical coverage for the child, and paying medical expenses, Marrero recently filed for bankruptcy.

Most applicants "did not seek bankruptcy relief willingly," Kennedy says. "Millions of ... Americans in similar situations have filed for bankruptcy only after exhausting all other options."

A recent Harvard University study found that costly illnesses led to about half of all personal bankruptcies and that most people who file for bankruptcy protection because of medical problems have health insurance.

Democratic opponents argued that the changes would keep people who are overwhelmed by medical costs or loss of a job hopelessly in debt for the rest of their lives....

....Over the past two weeks, Republicans knocked down Democratic attempts to ease the impact of the legislation on people facing huge debts they cannot pay, including single parents, the unemployed and the ill....

http://uk.biz.yahoo.com/060810/323/gj6je.html

Thursday August 10, 05:13 PM

Shareholders to vote on HCA deal

.... The next day, the offer was upped to $50.50 per share, which the special committee also rejected, but said it would consider a proposal at $52 per share, it said.

Later that day, Merrill Lynch representatives contacted the special committee and said the potential buyers would submit their 'best and final' offer of $50.75 per share. The special committee said it would only pursue a proposal at $51 per share, which buyers finally agreed to, it said.

The SEC filing also contained details of the expected buyout of shares.

It said that Thomas Frist Jr., who co-founded the hospital chain in 1968 with his physician-father, would put nearly 16 million shares of HCA stock back into the company.

Frist owns about 4 percent of HCA shares, but after the pending buyout he would own about 15 percent of the company.

Thomas Frist Jr. is the brother of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, who is under federal investigation for selling HCA shares last year around the time insiders were selling and when the stock price hit a 52-week high.

At least six members of HCA's senior management would invest a total of at least $46.5 million in cash or roll over a portion of their stock options into the deal, according to the SEC filing.

Of these executives, Chairman and Chief Executive Jack Bovender Jr., would put up the most -- about $20 million -- giving him 0.47 percent ownership of HCA after the buyout.

Richard M. Bracken, HCA's president and chief operating officer, would invest at least $10 million, for a 0.23 percent stake.....

http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?...ol-fundsnapshot

HCA owns and operates approximately 179 hospitals and approximately 104 freestanding surgery centers in 21 states, England and Switzerland. We are dedicated to providing healthcare services that meet each community's local healthcare needs. We seek to integrate various services to deliver patient care with maximum quality and efficiency. Our approach includes focusing on quality; streamlining operations; sharing technology, equipment and personnel where appropriate; and using economies of scale when contracting for medical supplies and administrative services.

11/16/06

HCA Shareholders Approve Merger With Private Equity Consortium632

Income From Total Operations (mil) (FYE) 1,424.00

http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ar...0334/1003/RSS03

Monday, 01/08/07

Firms cash in on merger mania

Midstate bankers, lawyers, accountants collect hefty fees

By GETAHN WARD

Staff Writer

....The biggest was the purchase of hospital chain HCA by three private equity firms and the Frist family for $33 billion, the second largest leveraged buyout in history.

Beneficiaries included the law firm Bass, Berry & Sims of Nashville, which offered HCA legal advice and had a share in an estimated $62 million of legal and consulting fees."We did several billion dollar-plus deals (nationwide). That's very unusual," said Jim Cheek, a senior partner in Bass, Berry & Sims. "The amount of private equity money and the ability to leverage that money with significant debt-financing have been unparalleled."

In such transactions, lawyers and other professionals play various roles. Lawyers help with negotiating terms, reviewing contracts, advising directors and preparing regulatory filings.

Investment bankers help in structuring the transactions, including determining the appropriate price and arranging funding sources.

Accountants help to verify that financial information provided by a seller to a buyer is accurate, offer tax advice on structuring the transaction, and might help a party with negotiations.

In Nashville, fees lawyers can earn for work on such transactions range from $135-$140 an hour for younger attorneys up to $400-$500 an hour for senior partners. New lawyers in larger cities such as New York, Chicago and Atlanta can earn $200 an hour and senior partners $600 to $650 an hour, said George Bishop, a partner in corporate mergers and acquisitions with the law firm Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis.

A big deal doesn't always mean more work, he said, adding that parties might not have the time to review every contract and that much information might already be available.

Nationwide, cash-flush private equity firms — with an ability to put down so little of their own money and borrow more than ever before — are a major force behind the mergers and acquisitions boom that kicked off in 2003.

But a Bloomberg analysis of last year's 246 Tennessee deals shows that only 29 involved such equity firms,with a total acquisition value of more than $36 billion. Most deals were acqui sitions of companies by another player in their industries, including foreign companies involved in 37 deals worth more than $3 billion.

Health-care and pharmaceutical companies accounted for 47 deals worth $83 billion, making Nashville's signature industry the most active sector in terms of total dollar volume.....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atorvastatin

Atorvastatin (INN) (pronounced /əˌtɔrvəˈstætən/) (Lipitor, Pfizer), is a member of the drug class known as statins, used for lowering blood cholesterol. It also stabilizes plaque and prevents strokes through anti-inflammatory and other mechanisms....

....Atorvastatin was first synthesized in 1985 by Bruce Roth while working at Parke-Davis Warner-Lambert Company (now Pfizer). With 2008 sales of US$12.4 billion, Lipitor is likely the top-selling drug in the world.[1] US patent protection is scheduled to expire in June 2011.[2] However, Pfizer made an agreement with Ranbaxy Laboratories to delay the generic launch in the US until November 2011.[3]

Market

Lipitor market analysis

In 2006, Pfizer’s Lipitor (atorvastatin) generated global revenues of $13.6bn, making it the best selling drug in pharmaceutical history. The blockbuster medicine has single-handedly driven the overall revenue margins of the cardiovascular segment, as this area continues to dominate the pharmaceutical market....

....Pfizer fight against simvastatin alternative

After doctors and patients began switching by the millions to a cheaper alternative within the same class of drugs called simvastatin, Pfizer launched a campaign including advertisements, lobbying efforts, and a paid speaking tour by Dr. Louis W. Sullivan, a former secretary of the federal Department of Health and Human Services, to discourage the trend.[4] The main clinical advantage of Lipitor over simvastatin is that it is not metabolised by certain liver enzymes, and thus its blood concentration is not increased when combined with grapefruit juice which inhibits these enzymes. Simvastatin patients should avoid drinking large amounts of grapefruit juice for this reason. An independent analysis showed that, at commonly prescribed doses, atorvastatin and simvastatin have no statistically significant differences in reducing cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.[34]

[edit] Advertisements withdrawn

On February 25, 2008, Pfizer announced that it will voluntarily withdraw all advertisements for Lipitor featuring Dr. Robert Jarvik and will commit to ensuring greater clarity in the roles and responsibilities of its spokespeople in its consumer advertising and promotion. [35] Dr. Jarvik is not a licensed physician and his use in advertisements was considered misleading. In addition, although he was shown rowing (and therefore implying that his heart was healthy) he in fact does not row and the advertisement employed a body double. Pfizer withdrew the advertisement as a result of bad press.[citation needed]

http://www.straight.com/node/160083

September 4, 2008

The pill pushers

By Alex Roslin

....Pushing pills involves fantastic amounts of money. In a study in January in the journal Public Library of Science Medicine, two Canadian academics, Joel Lexchin and Marc-André Gagnon, calculated that pharmaceutical companies spent $57.5 billion on marketing in the U.S. in 2004. That was nearly double the $32 billion spent on researching and developing drugs.

The marketing budget included $20.4 billion for an army of 100,000 detailers—one for every eight doctors. This sales force has almost tripled, from 38,000 in 1995.

Another $2 billion was spent on 371,000 pharma-sponsored lunch and dinner meetings, conferences, and other events for U.S. doctors.

According to a 2006 study by Cassels’s Drug Policy Futures, Canada is similar. The number of detailers here jumped from 3,990 to 5,190 between 1998 and 2002, working out to one rep for each 11.4 doctors.

But the numbers don’t tell the whole story. In fact, a very large portion of all that lucre goes to the secret weapon of the detailer: food. “Food is a pretty powerful catalyst for sales,” Ahari said from Berkeley, California, where he now works as a consultant to PharmedOut.org, a group of doctors working to counter pharmaceutical marketing. “I sometimes saw myself as a glorified caterer.”

While at Lilly, Ahari cozied up to doctors with invitations to dinner at Manhattan’s hottest eateries. “....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...2800896_pf.html

Drugmakers, Doctors Get Cozier

Gifts Continue, Contacts Increase Despite Guidelines

By Christopher Lee

Washington Post Staff Writer

Sunday, April 29, 2007; A03

Despite efforts to curb drug companies' avid courting of doctors, the industry is working harder than ever to influence what medicines they prescribe, sending out sales representatives with greater frequency and plying physicians with gifts, meals and consulting fees, according to several new papers.

One study published in the New England Journal of Medicine last week found that 94 percent of doctors have some type of relationship with the drug industry -- most commonly accepting free food or drug samples, which about 80 percent of physicians did. More than one-third of the 1,662 physicians who responded to a survey conducted from November 2003 to June 2004 reported being reimbursed by the drug industry for costs of going to professional meetings or continuing medical education, and 28 percent said they had been paid for consulting, giving lectures or signing up patients for clinical trials.

Two other papers examined in detail the strategies that pharmaceutical representatives, or "detailers," use and how effective the industry is at influencing doctors.

"We now know that virtually every doctor in the United States has some form of relationship with the pharmaceutical industry," said Eric G. Campbell, lead researcher of the New England Journal of Medicine study and an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. "They are common. A quarter receive honoraria or some form of payment for their services, and that was much higher than we expected." ....

..The ties between doctors and drug companies are deepening despite voluntary guidelines to curb excesses, adopted in 2002 by the American Medical Association, the American College of Physicians, the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. The inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services issued similar guidance in 2003.

Under the industry code, gifts must be worth less than $100 and should primarily benefit patients -- items such as stethoscopes or medical dictionaries. Meals should be "modest" in cost, and a physician's spouse should not be included. Gifts of cash or tickets to sporting events are inappropriate. Consulting arrangements must be for real services, and doctors should not be paid for listening to marketing pitches.....

....A former industry insider, however, painted a different picture in an article last week in PLoS Medicine, a journal published by the Public Library of Science. Shahram Ahari, a former drug company representative, and physician Adriane Fugh-Berman wrote that the estimated 100,000 representatives who visit doctors' offices look for details such as family photos or hobbies that they can use to forge a relationship. They use food, gifts and money to make often-overworked doctors feel more appreciated -- and more loyal to the company's drugs. If a physician will not meet with them, the representatives often woo the office staff with flattery and meals.

"Pharmaceutical gifting . . . involves carefully calibrated generosity," Ahari and Fugh-Berman wrote. "Many prescribers receive pens, notepads, and coffee mugs, all items kept close at hand, ensuring that a targeted drug's name stays uppermost in a physician's subconscious mind. High prescribers receive higher-end presents, for example, silk ties or golf bags."

Drug companies also purchase prescription records from pharmacies and, with the help of an American Medical Association database, identify individual physicians' prescribing patterns and rank doctors based on how many prescriptions they write, the authors wrote.

The tactics work. Another study in PLoS Medicine last week found that visits by detailers prompted nearly half of 97 physicians to increase prescriptions of gabapentin, a drug approved to treat seizures. In many cases, the drug representatives were pushing non-approved, or "off-label," uses of the drug, the study found....

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?.../12/MN63168.DTL

Medicare bilked for billions in bogus claims

Private watchdogs rife with conflicts make system an easy target for fraud

- Reynolds Holding, Chronicle Staff Writer

Sunday, January 12, 2003

The system of private contractors policing the $250 billion-a-year Medicare program is riddled with conflicts of interest, financial disincentives and regulatory breakdowns so severe that fraud and abuse bleed tens of billions of dollars from the program every year.

Several of the most egregious frauds have involved the watchdogs themselves -- private insurance companies the government hires to examine and pay Medicare claims -- court records show.

But even reputable companies lack incentive to search for fraud. They serve at the behest of medical trade groups and, in some cases, are business partners with doctors and hospitals. They skimp on oversight, checking for the proper completion of claims forms but rarely for deceit.....

....CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

Medicare's persistent breakdowns derive in part from its size. The program, created in 1965 to guarantee health care coverage for Americans over 65 or with certain disabilities, covered more than 40 million Americans last year and paid about a billion claims.

But critics say the system's fraud problems stem from a compromise Congress struck with the health care establishment 38 years ago. Fearing socialized medicine, doctors and hospital owners agreed to participate in the program only after being allowed to select the insurance companies that process the claims and serve as the program's watchdogs.

Today, 49 private insurance companies work for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the federal agency that runs Medicare.

The insurance companies receive bills from doctors and hospitals that treat Medicare patients, examine the bills for mistakes and then pay them with checks drawn on two federal trust funds. The trust funds are financed through payroll taxes, patient premiums and general tax revenues.

The government reimburses the companies for their costs of processing claims, and grants them a fixed budget for administrative tasks such as controlling fraud and abuse.

Typically, the U.S. government awards contracts through competitive bidding.

But the compromise with Congress allowed the American Hospital Association, an advocacy group for hospitals, to decide which insurance companies should handle hospitals' Medicare bills.

Virtually all the companies turned out to be members of the National Association of Blue Shield Plans, now the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, a frequent political ally of the American Hospital Association and the American Medical Association.

"'No sooner had the ink dried on that compromise than we began . . . to have horror stories," says Richard Kusserow, inspector general in the Department of Health and Human Services from 1982-1991. For every abuse the government tried to stop, says Kusserow, three would appear in its place.

Bilking Medicare became so lucrative that professional criminals got involved. In 1993, Gabriel Hernandez, a former "logistics coordinator" for the Medellin, Colombia, cocaine cartel, opened a chain of Florida health clinics that billed Medicare and state Medicaid programs for fictitious patients with phony ailments. Over two years, he received checks for more than $1.7 million.

"Everything was easy compared with being in the trafficking business," he says. "All I was doing was picking up checks every week. And I got caught, but I didn't get killed."

Hernandez was convicted in April 1997 of racketeering and spent five years in prison.

Three years ago, the General Accounting Office (GAO) cited "fundamental" conflicts of interest as a factor in the watchdogs' poor performance.

Hospitals and doctors not only help select their overseers, they go into business with them. Many of these companies also run health maintenance organizations. The HMOs funnel business to hospitals and doctors that the insurers may regulate.

Some of the companies even own hospitals. For example, one subsidiary of Cigna Corp. reviews and pays Medicare claims for doctors. Another subsidiary owns Lovelace Health Systems, a hospital and physician group in Albuquerque, N. M. Last month,. Lovelace agreed to pay $24.5 million to settle a whistle- blower suit charging that the company had submitted tens of millions of dollars in false claims to Medicare over 10 years. Cigna did not review the Lovelace claims.

And when a private insurer and Medicare cover the same patient, the insurer is primarily responsible for paying the patient's claims, with Medicare picking up anything left over. But some insurers exploit their Medicare roles by making Medicare the primary payer, a violation that has cost the national Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, Transamerica, Travelers and other insurers more than $100 million in legal settlements.

"Government contractors policing themselves," says Kusserow, "is not a very healthy situation to have."

CORPORATE ABUSE OF SYSTEM.....(read on...

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.p...toryId=16045685

Feds Fight Rampant Medicare Fraud in South Florida

by Greg Allen

Listen Now [5 min 13 sec] add to playlist

All Things Considered, November 6, 2007 · It doesn't sound sexy, but amid the bikinis, beaches and palm trees of South Florida, one of the most popular and lucrative crimes now is Medicare fraud, and a team of federal investigators and prosecutors are tasked with putting a stop to it.

The dollar totals are staggering: Law enforcement officials say they've uncovered more than a half-billion dollars in fraudulent claims this year in South Florida alone.

If you want to know how bad Medicare fraud is in Miami, a good place to start is with a study released by federal inspectors. They visited, at random, nearly 1,600 businesses in Miami that bill Medicare for services allegedly delivered to beneficiaries.

The U.S. attorney in Miami, Alexander Acosta, says the inspectors found that nearly one-third of the businesses — 481 — didn't exist.

"Those 481 businesses — so-called businesses that didn't exist — had billed $237 million in fraud over the past year," Acosta says.

That study helped focus national attention on the problem of Medicare fraud in Miami — especially among shell companies that purport to sell what's known as "durable medical equipment" — wheelchairs, walkers, respirators and the like.....

http://money.cnn.com/2008/12/16/news/madof...rtune/index.htm

70 years before Madoff, there was Whitney

Former New York Stock Exchange president Richard Whitney boasted a sterling reputation during the Depression, then became a symbol of Wall Street's betrayal of investors.

By James Bandler and Doris Burke

Last Updated: December 16, 2008: 3:50 PM ET....

http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/...f-ponzi-scheme/

It Was All Fake’: Madoff Aide Details Scheme

August 12, 2009, 3:58 am

....On Tuesday, Mr. DiPascali stood in a federal courtroom in Lower Manhattan and admitted that, for at least the last 20 years, he had helped Mr. Madoff carry out one of the biggest frauds in Wall Street history, The New York Times’s Jack Healy and Diana B. Henriques reported.

Indeed, he detailed for the first time how he and unidentified others helped Mr. Madoff perpetuate the crime — using historical stock data from the Internet to create fake trade blotters, sending out fraudulent account statements to clients and arranging wire transfers between Mr. Madoff’s London and New York offices to create the impression that the firm was earning commissions from stock trades.

“I knew it was criminal, and I did it anyway,” Mr. DiPascali told Judge Richard J. Sullivan, of Federal District Court, just before pleading guilty to 10 felony counts, including conspiracy and tax evasion.

But Judge Sullivan refused to release Mr. DiPascali on bail after his plea, despite a request by prosecutors that he remain free to better assist their complex, wide-ranging investigations, a jolt to both the government attorneys and the defense lawyers....

http://www.insurancenewsnet.com/article.as...nnID=1020495260

Accountants'' Liability in the Madoff Scheme: A CPA Journal Symposium

....Tax recovery is an important element to this scheme. Dan L. Goldwasser, shareholder and member of the accounting law practice group at Vedder Prince, said that the area of damage control in the Madoff situation really boils down to two or three things that you can do. The most important thing you can do is to protect your insurance coverage. FULL TEXT

Nice try, Tom.

I don't know how much education you have, but you obviously missed class the day they taught civil discourse in school.

Most of the other forum members, at least the ones with whom I engage in discussion, are respectful and civil, even if we have polar opporsite worldviews.

If I had wanted personalized attacks, sarcasm and shallow drivel which doesn't address substantive issues that I have respectfully raised with other forum members, I would have addressed my questions to you.

Saul Alinsky would be proud.

I will not communicate with you further.

New article by Gus Russo titled The Dallas-Cuba Connection - 2009 Update on Dale Myers' blog at his JFKFiles.com site.

Interesting information on Jeremy Gunn's AARB investigation of the CIA's file on Fabian Escalante, an FBI memo about Rolando Cubela (codenamed AMLASH by the CIA) that wound up in George DeMohrenschildt's 201 file at the CIA, and documents withheld by the CIA and the Kennedy Library.

http://jfkfiles.blogspot.com/2009/08/dalla...009-update.html

http://jfkfiles.blogspot.com/

Steve

This is great reading - thanks for posting it.

What a curious place for a memo regarding an erstwhile Castro assassin to be found.

Wasn't Cubela meeting with someone in Paris on 11/22/63 regarding a potential hit on Castro?

What choices do you, as a health care consumer, have under the NHS system?

What do you do if you don't like your doctor or if he or she is incompetent?

What kind of parameters does NHS give you to work within in making health care decisions?

Are your choices limited if you are old and/or infirm?

How are health care professionals and other providers compensated?

Who sets their compensation and who pays it?

Does GB have limits on the amounts that a patient can recover for malpractice?

These are questions about your system, not challenges to it.

Thanks for all of the info, guys.

I will try to read it tonight.

Fox News: US Targets Afghan Drug Lords

Is this a contemporary Operation 40 or PHOENIX?

Is this what Cheney's assassins squad was to do?

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/08/09...l-capture-list/

WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon has created a target list of 50 Afghan drug traffickers with ties to the Taliban to be captured or killed, The New York Times reported on Monday.

Citing interviews with two U.S. generals in a Senate Foreign Relations Committee report to be released this week, the Times said the strategy is aimed at disrupting the flow of drug money used to finance Taliban insurgents.

The addition of drug lords on the "joint integrated prioritized target list" reflects a major shift in counternarcotics strategy and means the traffickers will be given the same target status as militant leaders.

"We have a list of 367 'kill or capture' targets, including 50 nexus targets who link drugs and the insurgency," a general reportedly told the committee staff, the Times said.

Good hunting.

Health care reform would be nice. But we can't afford it right now. I guess this will come as a revelation to some people. America is hopelessly in debt. Obama and the Democrats have spent trillions in a few months. And no one to this point has a clue as to how this reform is going to be paid for. There are even rumblings that Obama is going to break his "read my lips, no new taxes on the middle class" pledge. Maybe that's why some people are mad.

When you can't afford something, you should abstain for now. This is basic living.

Someone should tell Obama the old joke about the Eisenhower doll: You wind it up and it doesn't do anything for eight years. Obama should just try doing nothing for a while. I know it's hard, but let some common sense come into play. This would even shut up Republicans.

When the Labour Government introduced the National Health System in 1947 they were heavily in debt (the cost of the Second World War). When they promised to do this in the 1945 general election they were described as Nazis (Churchill) and communists (they admitted to being socialists). However, the Conservative governments that followed, did not dare remove it because it was the most popular thing ever done by a British government. A recent survey showed that the NHS is the most popular aspect of British society. If Obama does bring in "socialised medicine", it will never be removed. That is why the far-right in America is spending so much money and energy on attacking the idea.

John-

How many people work for GB's national health care program?

I read that it was 1,400,000.

Is that true?

Also, does it ration care based on age, health, etc.?

Thanks.

Chris

I agree with you, Terry, that there is serious grassroots opporsition to an expensive wholesale revision of the healthcare delivery system in this country by the government.

Anyone who wishes to dismiss the widespread voter antipathy with respect this issue does so at his or her own peril.

A lot of Democrats in Congress are finding this out over the break.

They are hardly on vacation.

To the contrary, they are suffering the wrath of citizens who will organize and vote in 2010.

Many Congressional (at least House) Democrats sense a potential electoral ambush on this issue, and they are proceeding with a good bit of trepidation.

I think that the overriding issues in 2010 and 2012 will be the deficit, taxes and inflation.

Time will tell if I am right.

Obama inherited a country which was in a state of financial disaster.

But he augmented that crisis by:

(a) supporting (along with Bush, Pelosi and Reid (and McCain, for that matter)) TARP ($700 billion),

( pushing throught the $800 "stimulus" legislation,

© taking over the American auto industry via Federal subsidies and auto manufacturer ownership (I forget how many

billion this purchase of electoral votes involves),

(d) supporting the costly cap and trade proposal, and

(e) now supporting a health care reform proposal that no one believes will be revenue neutral.

Rightly or wrongly, Obama will own the issues of the deficit, taxes (they're coming, we all know it) and inflation (we all know that this is coming, too) by this time next year when Congressional mid-term elections occur.

I have no interest in seeing a bunch of free-spending Democrats replaced with a bunch of free-spending Republicans, and the Republican Party is in disarray.

They (e.g. my state's 2 Republican Senators) certainly don't represent my interests, which are largely libertarian.

The voters spoke last November and they are speaking now.

I respect people who think differently on this matter, and I think that trying to marginalize and malign large groups of voters who think differently is dangerous business.

People who believe that dissent is the highest form of patriotism need to remember that they are not the only ones entitled to dissent from the prevailing political power structure.