Cholesterol-Lowering Drugs for Children: When Is Enough Enough?
July 20, 2010
By Terry Smiljanich:
Could we really be headed for a future where kids take Lipitor with their Flintstone vitamins? Childhood obesity is an epidemic, but this has the potential of going too far. A new study in the latest issue of Pediatrics, the leading journal of pediatric medicine, argues that current standards for pediatric cholesterol screening are inadequate, and that universal cholesterol screening of children 8 years and older should be instituted. Children are now being shoved into the spotlight, even though questions still surround the widespread use of cholesterol-lowering statin drugs by adults.
Insider Trading – Hypocrisy, Thy Name Is Congress!
June 2, 2010
Remember when Martha Stewart got into criminal trouble back in 2003 for lying to authorities about her alleged insider trading in securities, based on a stock tip from her broker? The SEC, the Justice Department and Congress were all outraged that the entertainment and publishing maven would try to make money off of information about an investment not available to the general public.
The Ultimate Hypocrisy
A bad thing, insider trading – that is unless you are privileged enough to get elected to Congress.
Who Pays for the Massive Oil Spill Clean-Up in the Gulf?
May 7, 2010
By Terry Smiljanich:
The on-going tragedy of the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, caused by the catastrophic destruction of British Petroleum’s (BP) Deepwater Horizon drilling platform, has raised serious questions concerning legislative protections afforded to companies causing such environmental disasters. How will such legal limitations on liability serve to protect BP from being responsible for full compensation to the victims of this man-made calamity?
Oil Pollution Act of 1990
After the 1989 Alaskan oil spill caused by the Exxon Valdez, Congress passed the Oil Pollution Act of 1990.The Act increased federal oversight of maritime oil transportation and drilling, increased safety standards for such activities, set liability standards for such spills, and activated a trust fund to help pay for cleanup costs resulting from oil spills.
Responsible parties for causing such oil spills were made liable for removal costs and damages resulting from the incident, including economic losses resulting from damage to natural resources such as fishing and recreation. There is no liability for removal costs or damages if the spill incident is caused by an Act of God, an Act of War, a third party, or any combination of them.
As a trade off for requiring the creation of an industry-funded oil spill trust fund, responsible companies were provided a limitation on their liability for such removal costs or environmental damages. Such liability limits were set at $75 million.
Are such liability limits sufficient to protect the public? Obviously not. According to a study conducted by the Department of Homeland Security last year, since 1991 there have been 51 spill incidents in which the damages exceeded the liability caps. The potential damages resulting from the BP spill are already estimated at $1.6 billion, and this figure could rise further. Even at $1.6 billion, such damages exceed the current cap on BP’s liability by more than 20 times.
If, however, claimants can prove gross negligence by the responsible party (a much higher standard of proof), the limitations on liability would no longer apply. It would be up to courts and juries to make such findings and allow higher damages to be awarded beyond the $75 million total cap.
Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund
In 1986, Congress had created a trust fund, the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, to be paid for by the oil industry to provide contingency funds for clean-up and damage costs resulting from oil spills. This trust fund remained unfunded, however, until after the Exxon Valdez incident. In the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, the oil industry was required to put $1 billion into the trust fund, based upon a new tax (currently 8 cents per barrel). This reserve fund currently stands at $1.6 billion.
These costs on the oil industry are, of course, passed on to the consumer. It is estimated that the tax to cover the Oil Spill Trust Fund increases the cost of oil by about one tenth of a percent. Have no doubt about it, readers, but we consumers are the ones who actually paid for the $1.6 billion currently sitting in the fund. Meanwhile, BP’s profits just for the first three months of this year stand at $6.1 billion, after posting profits of $4.3 billion in the final quarter of last year (that’s not a typo).
BP’s Liability
BP’s CEO Tony Hayward announced that “this is not our accident, but it’s our responsibility.” BP has stated that it will pay “all necessary and appropriate clean-up costs,” and will pay compensation for “legitimate and objectively verifiable” claims for property damage, personal injuries and commercial losses.
If BP holds true to its word, the government will be compensated for its clean-up efforts and the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund will remain intact. There will undoubtedly be clean-up costs and liability claims that BP will dispute, and such disputes (given the example of the Exxon Valdez incident) will take decades to resolve.
If the oil slicks damage the sensitive wetlands of Louisiana, the rich oyster beds of the Gulf Coast and the coral reefs off of the Dry Tortugas and the Florida Keys, no amount of money in the world will compensate us for our ecological and economic losses. Such are the risks that need to be weighed against our overweening thirst for oil and desire to “drill, baby, drill.”
Status Update: Facebook Privacy Concerns, AGAIN
April 30, 2010
By Larry Wiezycki:
Our good ‘ole social networking friend, Facebook is up to something again. Never content to just let friends be friends, the free internet service that “helps you connect and share with the people in your life” now shares with people outside of your life!
As if we didn’t know it, Facebook loves to gather information on us. We’re motivated to provide that information in order to make stronger connections to friends, family, and others. But Facebook has other ideas. Click here to learn more and watch a CNN report on the latest privacy concern. Read more
Congress & Staff Travel Lavishly on Your Dime
April 22, 2010
When your Congressman or one of his staffers travels overseas, guess what? They get to travel business class on the taxpayer dime. They don’t have to bother with being uncomfortable in the cheap seats, or amazingly, what they refer to as “voter class.” If that makes you mad, click here to watch more from ABC News Correspondent Jonathan Karl’s investigation into how the government is traveling on your dime, no receipts necessary.
2010 Census Scams – Beware!
April 20, 2010
By Terry Smiljanich:
Now that the 2010 official census has started, consumers need to watch out for scam artists and their schemes to part you from your money.
By now, everyone should have gotten a census form in the mail and returned it to the government. Based on incomplete answers, or a complete failure to return the form at all, some followup visits by census employees will be necessary. That’s where the criminals can come into the picture.
Don’t Fall for Fakes
You may get an email from the “U.S. Census Bureau” asking for more information about your form, perhaps even asking for a social security number to “verify” your identity. You may get a telephone call from the “Census Bureau” (confirmed on your phone’s caller-ID) asking for more information. You may get a personal visit from a “Census Worker,” asking to come into your home to obtain further details for the Census Bureau. Don’t fall for these fraudulent tricks to obtain your private information. Before you know it, your bank account could be drained and your identity stolen.
The U.S. Constitution requires a population census every ten years. Your valid responses are required by law (Title 13), and the Census Bureau is required to keep your responses confidential and use them only for tabulations that do not reveal any personal data about individuals or households. In fact, any census employee disclosing information from a census form is subject to a five year prison sentence and a fine of $25,000. Everyone should cooperate with the Census Bureau, but beware of those who see an opportunity to steal.
Internet Inquiries
Although the Census Bureau does not guarantee it will never communicate with you through the internet, it does not conduct the census through the internet, nor does it send emails about participation in the census. “If you get an email from the Census Bureau that says we want information, that’s not us,” says Kim Hunter, a media specialist for the Census Bureau. Do not respond by clicking on any links within the email or opening any attachments. It is easy for fraudsters to mimic email sites, making you think you are communicating with an official government agency when, in fact, you are in contact with a criminal out to steal your money or infect your computer.
If you do receive an email, ostensibly from the Census Bureau, the safest course is to call the local office in your area and never respond directly to the email, which is probably fake. The Census Bureau has a a special website set up for you to forward any suspicious emails.
Telephone Inquiries
If you get a call from the Census Bureau, do not trust the fact that your caller-ID identifies the caller as the government. Caller-ID’s can be manipulated to mimic official callers. The Census Bureau does not conduct the census through telephone calls. Moreover, it will NEVER:
- Ask for your social security number;
- Ask for money or a donation; or
- Ask for PIN’s, passwords, or other access information to bank accounts or credit cards.
Again, if you get a telephone call from “the Census Bureau,” your safest bet is to state that you will call back. Then, get the number for your regional office and determine that the inquiry is a legitimate one from the government.
Personal Visits
The Census Bureau has hired 800,000 part-time employees to assist with the census. Much of this manpower is needed for follow-up personal visits to locations that did not respond to the census. If everyone mailed in their form as required, it would save the government $1.5 billion.
Official census workers will carry official government ID badges with an expiration date and the Department of Commerce watermark. They will also have carry bags with the Census logo. The visits will occur between May 1 and July 10. Census workers will never ask to come into your home and are trained to obtain their information from outside your house or apartment.
If you receive a visit from a census worker, you should take the following precautionary steps:
- Ask for a secondary ID to confirm the identity of the employee;
- Ask the worker for the name of his or her supervisor, and write down the information;
- If you are still suspicious, call your regional office before answering any questions;
- It is best not to invite the census worker into your home, and if he or she asks, definitely refuse to do so;
- Never answer any questions beyond the basic questions contained on the original form; and
- Never ever give out personal information regarding your social security number, accounts, etc.
No Donations
Census workers do not work for any political party, and are not there to collect for any charity, so never give them any money or donation. In fact, if they ask for any such thing, you should report them to their supervisor. You will probably discover that they are bogus employees.
The ten year census is important to you and your community. It determines the extent of your representation in Congress and your community’s share of government funding. Following these few simple rules will help to insure you are not taken advantage of by those who attempt to use the census to further their criminal schemes.
Are Cholesterol Lowering Drugs Safe for Healthy People?
March 31, 2010
A giant drug company is about to expand the market for its blockbuster cholesterol drug, Crestor, all with the government’s blessing.
Astra Zeneca will soon market Crestor to healthy customers as a way to prevent cholesterol problems.
The Food and Drug Administration approved the new criteria last month for Crestor, which is the nation’s second best-selling statin, behind Pfizer’s Lipitor. But is that such a good idea. A recent report in the New York Times says some medical experts question whether that’s a healthy move.
They point to mounting concern that cholesterol medications – known as statins– and already the most widely prescribed drugs in the United States – may not be as safe a preventive medicine as previously believed for people who are at low risk of heart attacks or strokes.
Among the risks raising new concerns, recently published evidence indicates that statins could raise a person’s risk of developing Type 2 diabetes by 9 percent.
Click here to read the full story.
Really Want To Reduce the Federal Debt? Step One – The Defense Budget
March 26, 2010
By Terry Smiljanich:
We are all concerned about the $12.6 trillion federal debt, the IOU’s for which will be flooding in on us, our children and our grandchildren. When we and our elected representatives decide to stop wringing our collective hands about the problem and actually start doing something about it, what do we need to do?
What’s the Most Serious Crime Problem Facing the Nation? Wrong!
March 16, 2010
By Terry Smiljanich:
Given the fact that the economic crisis of 2008 is costing this country trillions of dollars. And given that it was brought on in part by the criminal conduct of some financial institutions, not to mention all those who helped them, it stands to reason that federal prosecutions from October, 2008 to September 2009 (Fiscal Year 2008) would reflect that. Right?
Must See Explanation of Sub-Prime Mortgage Collapse
March 15, 2010
Best selling author and former Salomon Brothers bond trader Michael Lewis gives an insider’s perspective on what caused the sub-prime mortgage collapse. His blunt explanation and brutal analysis cut through all the excuses and lay blame directly on Wall Street. Click here to see part of his riveting interview with 60 minutes Correspondent Steve Kroft. Click here for more.
Banding Together and Fighting Back!
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Recalls and Product Safety News- No Specific Cause Found Yet Linking Dry Max Diapers to Diaper Rash
- Toshiba Recalls T Series Notebook Computers Due to Burn Hazard
- Swing Sets Recalled by Kompan Inc. for Repair Due to Fall Hazard
- CPSC Makes Recall Data Available Electronically to Businesses, 3rd Party Developers
- 32-Inch Sharp LCD-TVs Recalled Due to Risk of Injury
- Slow Cookers Recalled by Sensio Due to Fire Hazard; Sold Exclusively at Kohl's Department Stores
