Rag Hand

ReGen Biologics demonstrated how you get something approved in spite of the objections of FDA staff.

The product is Menaflex, which is a surgical mesh used to help repair torn knee tissue. A product that had been rejected by FDA scientists on three different occasions.

Now a report released by the FDA concluded that federal regulators appear to have been swayed by outside political pressures in approving the device despite little evidence that it was effective and concerns that it was harmful.

From the Washington Post:
Mark A. Heller, who briefly registered as a lobbyist for ReGen in 2007, previously worked as the FDA’s associate chief counsel for medical devices. The FDA said Heller had regular contact with the agency about ReGen’s Menaflex device, which was approved over FDA staff objections last December.

Another top ReGen consultant, Michael H. Hutton, is a former chief of staff for Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), who was among four lawmakers who signed a December 2007 letter urging the FDA to review the case. ReGen has paid Hutton nearly $300,000 for lobbying services over the past two years, according to disclosure records.

Hutton has also contributed nearly $40,000 to Menendez and three other Democrats who wrote a letter to the FDA urging action in the case, campaign finance records show

Read all the details here.

This is typical. A person works for the right people or the right agency retires or quits then goes to work as a lobbyist or a consultant.

With the pentagon you have the traditional revolving door where a person goes from procurement to sales rep/consultant for the company they used to buy from. –Which is why the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle with an average of one failure for every four and a half hours not only earned General Dynamics over $60 million in bonuses, including $25.6 million in bonuses for a “very good” job in being on schedule and under cost it’s still in the works.

But if you have the right political connections the profits are much higher.

From Think Progress:
Last fall, New Jersey U.S. Attorney Chris Christie awarded his former boss, John Ashcroft, a lucrative no-bid contract to “monitor a large corporation willing to settle criminal charges out of court.” Ashcroft’s consulting company is set “to receive payments of $28 million to $52 million” in the deal, one of the biggest payouts ever reported for a federal monitor.

This government is run as a private mint for the elite and no matter how loud the peasants shout they will never be heard over the sound of money being counted.

It is my none to humble opinion that Jimmy Carter was a crappy president. Then after leaving office he seemed to change and became a voice of reason.

Now he’s turned into one of those grumpy old men who think they have the answers to everything. Whether they have the facts or not.

The problem with him is that when he runs his mouth the press lines up to quote him.

A senator shouted out that President Obama lied. -Ok this guy has a rep for being a confrontational loudmouth but former president Carter came out and said it was based on racism.

If the former president was so certain that this guy is a racist why didn’t he give the world something besides generalizations to back it up. And more importantly, why did no one in the press ask him for specifics?

Now he says that the Afghan election was “despicable” and that Karzai stole it. Really? Does he have an honest count to back this up? The answer is no. The recount isn’t finished.

There were problems with the election including rigged votes. But was it enough to tip the scales? I don’t know. Was Karzai or his cabinet directly involved? So far no one has shown any evidence to that effect.

In response to more troops the former president said it was wrong. Instead Carter said, “I would negotiate with locals.”
Of course he would. We all remember how well he negotiates with radicals. Do you recall a royal cluster fuck called the Iran Hostage Crisis?

This is the same Jimmy Carter who with the aid of Zbigniew Brezinski sponsored the radical Mujaheddin –Those same fine folks who became the Taliban– to fight the Russians.
The official story is that support began in 1980, after the invasion, but according to former CIA director Robert Gates’ memoirs aid to the anti Soviet rebels began in June 1979.
In an interview in 1998, Zbigniew Brezinski, Carter’s national security adviser, confirmed that U.S. aid to the rebels began before the invasion.

Former president Carter has gotten to the point where he says whatever he feels like without having to justify his attacks.

He has gone from a spokesman for what’s good about our country to just another loudmouth and it’s time the press stood up and called him on it.

This is from lasvegasvegas.com:

Las Vegas locals joint Sam’s Town is suffering from a rash of robberies of their customers and I say this from first hand experience. My spouse has now been robbed twice while playing slots at the Boulder Highway casino. The first time she actually ran the guy and restrained him until security caught up. He was handed over to Metro police and prosecuted thanks to her efforts which included a trip to court to testify resulting in the crook receiving jail time.

Last evening she was playing at the Boyd Gaming owned Boulder Highway Casino and once again she was approached by a down and outer and subsequently robbed. This time the perp got away with her cash. The property has fallen into a state of dereliction along with the surrounding neighborhood and the apparent lack of adequate security has made the joint easy pickings for the fleet of foot crooks. Sam’s Town clientele includes many retired elderly players and that appears to be a magnet for anyone looking for a quick cash grab.

You’d think this should be the end of this sordid tale but after suffering the trauma of being robbed for the second time while inside the casino the wife was then berated by the on-duty slot manager and he implied that since this was her second time to be robbed it was something she was doing that was causing the trouble.

Since the first incident a number of patrons have come forward and shared their horror stories of robberies, purse snatchings, and threats from the gangs often seen trekking through the casino. Anyone wanting to experience a strong arm robbery, loss of money, fear for personal safety, and management that will then blame you should, by all means, go to Sam’s Town. My advice is to stay far, far away from the place until they clean up their act, hire more security, and train their staff to respond to traumatized customers with a bit more compassion. Players have many choices of places to play in Las Vegas that won’t subject them to a crime.

If you look at the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Crime Map you will notice that casinos are never identified. Instead Sam’s Town is referred to as the 5100 block of Boulder Highway.

This bullshit has been SOP since the first casino was built. Believe it or not this new system is a big improvement. It used to be that unless they had to call out the coroner no crime was ever reported.

I was in Sam’s Town this morning just before 10. I walked through the parking garage and through the upper floor of the casino and never saw a uniformed security guard on patrol.

They seem to rely more and more on video surveillance. — This is because the easiest place for casinos to cut costs is in the number of warm bodies they hire.
(Just ask any cocktail waitress who’s worked there more than a few years about how many square miles they have to cover as opposed what it used to be.)

Once you understand that security is there to protect the casino, you begin to understand how they can rely on indirect security.

As I watch the ongoing debate on the president’s health care reforms I can’t help but wonder if anyone has a clue about what it all means and what the end result will be.

An incident from the president’s speech:

The night’s defining moment — which Democrats hope to transform into a turning point – came when Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) shouted “You lie!” as Obama claimed his plan wouldn’t offer free care to illegal immigrants.

The problem is not whether or not this outburst helped the president but how accurate Mr Wilson was in real terms.

All I can say is that until the bill, with it’s 4 million pounds of pork and nearly infinite number of pet projects folded in, is signed we can’t even guess. (Even then we won’t know, because it will be many thousands of pages of fine print that no mere mortal could possibly read in it’s entirety and fully comprehend.)

What I do know is that the waiting room at the local e.r. is always full of people who are here illegally. There is also a rapidly growing number of illegals using the kidney dialysis and other critical facilities in our local hospitals. Does anyone really believe that the hospital and insurance company lobbyists are going to let this go without getting their pet congressmen and senators to slip a little something into the bill to make sure that the government (as taxpayers that would be you and me) pays these costs in full?

The whole idea of this reform is to constrain the rampant profit making abuses by the insurance companies. Unfortunately if you believe that this bill will harm the insurance companies, I am forced to point out the part of the bill that’s circulating that says you will buy health insurance whether you can afford it or not, because of a multi-thousand dollar penalty if you don’t. —Do you think that maybe, just maybe, the insurance and health care industries might have had a little something to do with that?

I don’t know how the final the bill will read, but I am absolutely certain that our taxes will be higher, the insurance companies and the politicians will all remain fat and happy, and we will be so far down the road to socialism that we will never recover.

The only thing I am certain of in this whole God forsaken mess is that system is broken and the only people who can change it are the ones profiting from it.

The Neo-Cons tried to make this country the worlds’ policeman and started needless wars, while the Democrats, who ran on a platform of change, refused to allow that change rather than relinquish one iota of power once they were the one’s wielding it.

And those idiots we all know who vote Republican or Democrat just because they are registered as such, will continue to vote Democrat or Republican no matter how badly our so-called representatives manage to screw us.