Posted on 11/19/2004 10:30:49 AM PST by Mo1
16 Dec 2004 | Pharmalife
Public Citizen Calls for a Change in Ethics and Lobbying Rules
WASHINGTON, Dec. 16, 2004 – The selection of outgoing U.S. Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-La.) to be president of the pharmaceutical industry’s main lobbying group is yet another example of how public service is leading to private riches, Public Citizen said today.
Tauzin played a leading role in shepherding the Medicare prescription drug bill through Congress. The bill was a huge win for the pharmaceutical industry and prevented the federal government from using its buying power to negotiate the cost of prescription drugs. The $2 million that Tauzin reportedly will be paid in his new position means that he will be one of the highest paid lobbyists in Washington.
“It’s a sad commentary on politics in Washington that a member of Congress who pushed through a major piece of legislation benefiting the drug industry, gets the job leading that industry,” said Public Citizen President Joan Claybrook.
Added Frank Clemente, director of Public Citizen’s Congress Watch, “The largest lobbying operation in Washington has just raised the price tag for hiring the services of a former member of Congress. The revolving door is spinning out of control.”
The appointment of Tauzin to head the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) should stand as a wakeup call to the public that the lobbying rules covering former members of Congress who choose to represent special interests are inadequate, Claybrook said. Public Citizen is calling for the following reforms:
Prohibit members of Congress from negotiating employment while serving in Congress.
Increase the waiting period before a departing member of Congress can lobby his former colleagues from the current one year to three years.
End the loophole through which former members can circumvent the lobbying ban by “supervising” lobbyists.
Remove the congressional privileges that give former members of Congress access to members-only restricted areas such as dining rooms, gyms, cloak rooms and even the Senate and House floors.
Contact Public Citizen:
(Membership and Publications, Auto Safety, Health Research Group, Litigation Group, Communications)
1600 20th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20009
(202) 588-1000
(Congress Watch, Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program, Global Trade Watch)
215 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20003
(202) 546-4996
Thu Dec 16,10:01 AM ET
Add to My Yahoo! Oddly Enough - Reuters
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A Mexican man killed his lover in a drunken, drugged fight then cooked the man's body in tomato and onion sauce and ate it over three days.
Police found Gumaro de Dios Arias grilling rotting human flesh for his breakfast, including part of a heart, when they raided a shack he lived in near the Caribbean beach resort of Playa del Carmen, a police chief said on Wednesday.
"He was preparing stews. There was a grill where he was cooking part of the heart and bits he had cut off the body. It was terrible, terrible," said local police chief Martin Estrada, who was among a dozen police who raided the shack.
Arias told police the victim, a young man, arrived at his cardboard hut in a wasteland area with a mutual friend who then left the two of them drinking and taking drugs.
The pair had sex and afterward a fight broke out during which he killed the man with blows to the head, police said.
Police arrested Arias, 25, on Tuesday after a tip off.
"They said there was a person eating a person," Estrada said.
"We found him lying on a folding bed and to one side was the corpse which had been torn apart and which it seems he had been eating for three days," he told Reuters.
The corpse, which had its back ripped open and its innards pulled out, was missing various parts, like a thigh, he said.
LOL!
*Smoochies*
I said you could taunt him whenever you wanted to. I said nothing of goading.
Hi Sweet!
Whoops! I'll go take my turn in the brillo pad rug next.
Have fun!
*Caterpiggle shrug*
I dunno.
Both are somewhat difficult while crawling like a caterpillar.
Which reminds me of getting stuck in a sleeping bag.
How could you possibly get stuck in a sleeping bag? Maybe I shoudn't ask. LOL
How is your sister-in-law? Is she going for therapy and treatment yet?
My military issue sleeping bag had a bad zipper, so when I tried to get out of the sleeping bag, I got stuck inside it.
So my platoon saw a 5 foot tall green caterpillar hopping around on one end yelling "Get me outta this d@#! thing!"
I promptly got a new sleeping bag.
Good Lord, swervie.... I'm so grateful that you're ok. The other car must have been traveling some kinda fast to have totaled your car. Those Roadmasters look like they could withstand a headon with a tank. I hope you are well lubricated by now with plans to remain so for the next 24 hrs. :) LOL.
Gracious, Mo, you're family is having its share of medical problems this year. I hope your sister continues to improve. Was her surgery an emergency ? What is the latest word on your sister-in-law ?
GRRRRRR ! you're = your
hehehe. Consistancy ! One of the many things to like about the South. LOL
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