Big Pharma’s ‘Screwball’ Marketing Scheme

An exec at the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, or PhRMA, came up with the idea to commission a novel. The plot was to focus on the danger of importing cheaper drugs from Canada.

“According to the proposal, PhRMA would pay Phoenix a six-figure sum for the marketing and production of a written-to-order fictional thriller. The plotline was what Hollywood would term high-concept — a group of shadowy terrorists conspires to murder thousands of Americans by poisoning the medicine they're importing from Canada to beat U.S. drug prices.”

Eventually, higher-ups discovered the "screwball" idea and pulled the plug. The authors “were informed that PhRMA didn't like the book and was pulling out. He says the group offered them $100,000 if they would agree never to speak ill of PhRMA or the drug industry for the rest of their lives. They refused.”

Also noteworthy: PhRMA’s new president is former Rep. W.J. "Billy" Tauzin (R-LA). Another one through the revolving door.

William O'Neill Will Run for Ohio Supreme Court

Judge William O'Neill has announced that he will run for Ohio Supreme Court. His reputation is one of integrity and incorruptibility. Last year he refused any campaign contribution over $10 and still raised over a million. But he didn't win.

O'Neill is exactly the type of person we say we want and then don't vote for. Now that we've confirmed that corrupt officials tend to bring corruption, perhaps it's time to go for old school integrity.

Pentagon Lied, No One Di... Oh, Wait a Minute

Last year the Pentagon denied that it kept figures of Iraqi deaths, but since it submitted those figures in a report to Congress a few weeks ago, it looks like the Pentagon was full of shit.

OSU Study Pleases Dan Quayle More Than Murphy Brown

“It's more difficult for unwed mothers to get married, and if they do, they tend to not marry well,” said OSU sociology professor Zhenchao Qian, summarizing in one sentence his latest research study.

The findings:

Women who have children outside of marriage are less likely than other single women to marry, and when they do marry... mothers are more likely to have husbands who are significantly older and less educated than those of childless women.

...among never-married mothers slightly more than half -- 55.8 percent – were black, while about 10.3 percent are Hispanic.

[unwed mothers] are far more likely to live below the poverty line than married women. Over one-third of female-headed families with children live in poverty compared to only 6 percent of married couples with children.

Qian also suggests that Federal programs to promote marriage among low-income Americans should begin to address out-of-wedlock childbearing as well.

Why Can't Sam Malone Be More Like Sam Malone?

I came across this by surfing happenstance, but its irony is sure to effect a chortle from fellow Cincinnatians.

Non-locals will get up to speed with this .

Now that you get the idea, you'll find this ironic as well.

Perspectives from an Iranian Dissident

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad recently said that Israel should be “wiped off the map.” Is his attitude typical of Iranians? Butterflies & Wheels has an interesting interview/discussion among anti-establishment Iranians. It is interesting in itself, but more so because of some unexpected (at least to me) parallels to the U.S.

The interviewer, Maryam Namazie, is a key figure in-- and I am not making this up-- the Iran’s Worker-Communist Party.

Here is another article in which she addresses those Iran-U.S. parallels directly.

Could This Be the End of Celebrity Viagra Spokespersons?

Leading figures in the medical academe are calling for an end to direct-to-consumer pharma advertising. They say at the very least the FDA should regulate it.

The "I" is for INDICTED

I. Lewis Libby won't be saved by his warm, fuzzy nickname now. Out of the 5 violations which the investigation looked into, Libby has been charged with violating 3 of them, two of them twice. The charges are obstruction of justice, false statements (2) and perjury (2).

You can read the indictments here (skip to page 9).

The Next Best Thing to Being Patrick Fitzgerald...

...is reading this article called " Background to Betrayal: Behind the CIA leak investigation." I'm thinking this is as much as one could know about the case without being Fitzgerald himself.

A more readable version (formatting-wise) is at the Chalabigate blog, if you prefer.

Rove Connected to DeLay, Abramoff

Karl Rove's assistant worked for Jack Abramoff before her White House job, reports the NYTimes. She's a key witness in the Special Prosecutor's case.