A Congressional committee, concerned that the Lipitor ads could be misleading, has said it wants to interview Dr. Jarvik about his role as the drug’s pitchman.

Some of the questions may involve his credentials. Even though Dr. Jarvik holds a medical degree, for example, he is not a cardiologist and is not licensed to practice medicine. So what, critics ask, qualifies him to recommend Lipitor on television — even if, as he says in some of the ads, he takes the drug himself?

And, for that matter, what qualifies him to pose as a rowing enthusiast? As it turns out, Dr. Jarvik, 61, does not actually practice the sport. The ad agency hired a stunt double for the sculling scenes.

“He’s about as much an outdoorsman as Woody Allen,” said a longtime collaborator, Dr. O. H. Frazier of the Texas Heart Institute. “He can’t row.”

I don't know about that, but I hope they crush Jarvik for being so goddamned unethical. Direct patient advertising is the biggest load of bullshit already, much less with him purporting to be a cardiologist (which is what the ads infer). He may as well just be another actor.

-janelane

Drug Ads Raise Questions for Heart Pioneer - New York Times

While some New Yorkers shrugged off the mercury report, others worried about being turned into human thermometers. Given the likelihood that this is more than a local concern, it seemed worth seeking the views of the candidates who are still in the game of presidential Chutes and Ladders. They were all too busy traipsing around South Carolina and Florida to come to the phone, but their campaign staffs provided statements in their names.

After reading this piece, I agree more than ever with Lewis Black...

RE-ELECT RONALD REAGAN!

-janelane

Tuna Fish Stories: The Candidates Spin the Sushi - New York Times

As Idoya walked, CB walked at exactly the same pace. Recordings from Idoya’s brain revealed that her neurons fired each time she took a step and each time the robot took a step.

“It’s walking!” Dr. Nicolelis said. “That’s one small step for a robot and one giant leap for a primate.”

The signals from Idoya’s brain sent to the robot, and the video of the robot sent back to Idoya, were relayed in less than a quarter of a second, he said. That was so fast that the robot’s movements meshed with the monkey’s experience.

An hour into the experiment, the researchers pulled a trick on Idoya. They stopped her treadmill. Everyone held their breath. What would Idoya do?

“Her eyes remained focused like crazy on CB’s legs,” Dr. Nicolelis said.

She got treats galore. The robot kept walking. And the researchers were jubilant.

Cool! Probably will eventually lead to a superhuman robot army someday, but cool!

-janelane

Monkey’s Thoughts Propel Robot, a Step That May Help Humans - New York Times

Oh god yes

Their slogan is the best..."Everything should taste like bacon."

Hell, yeah, it should!

-janelane

Bacon Salt

Which comes closest to your feelings about the Bush administration?:

New Hampshire Democratic primary voters

Enthusiastic – 2 percent
Satisfied, but not enthusiastic – 4 percent
Dissatisfied, but not angry – 28 percent
Angry – 65 percent

Count me among them.

-janelane

CNN: Early exit polls: Dems' feelings toward Bush admin.

Once admired for its skill in treating a population afflicted by both social and physical ills, Grady, a teaching hospital, now faces the prospect of losing its accreditation. Only short-term financial transfusions have kept it from closing its doors, as Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital in Los Angeles County did last year. That scenario would flood the region’s other hospitals with uninsured patients and eliminate the training ground for one of every four Georgia doctors.

Ms. Vaughn feels the strain when she has to counsel 20 patients in a day, twice as many as she did only five years ago. Or when she has to tell diabetics at risk of blindness that it might take four months to get an eye appointment. “It makes me sad,” she says, “that I’m a Grady baby and we have to go through all of this.”

Although the hospital is unique in many ways, the code red at Grady is emblematic of the crippling effect America’s health care crisis has had on public hospitals around the nation. Though Grady is among the most distressed of the country’s 1,300 public hospitals, others have faced similar challenges in recent years, including those in Miami, Memphis and Chicago, said Larry S. Gage, president of the National Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems. There are 300 fewer public hospitals today than 15 years ago, with hospitals having closed in Los Angeles, Washington, St. Louis and Milwaukee, Mr. Gage said.

This article brings to light some of the troubles facing Grady (and similarly funded hospitals) as it tries to pull itself out of the mire. Basically, race, race and race. Also, a little illegal immigration thrown in for good measure.

I kind of felt like they glossed over the fact that it has been providing sub-standard care for a lot longer than it's been in a financial crisis. Yes, it would get better with more money, but it sounds from the article like it needs an entire management/logistics overall. Maybe closing would be a good thing, just to give it some time to re-make itself.

-janelane, compassionate yet objective

A Safety-Net Hospital Falls Into Financial Crisis - New York Times

The energy bill, boosting mileage by 40 percent to 35 miles per gallon, passed the House 314-100 and now goes to the White House, following the Senate's approved last week.

Woo-hoo! 2020 is a long way off, but this increase has taken over 30 years to wrestle from the Republicans. Will it come to fruition? Will it narrow our range of choices to Scions and Saturns? Who the hell knows?! But at least we've finally gotten the auto lobby off their butts and motivated them to REALLY do something, and I mean more than just a few hybrids here and there.

-janelane, super-thrilled

Congress sends bill raising fuel efficiency standards to Bush - CNN.com

CENTRAL ISLIP, New York (AP) -- A jury on Monday convicted a millionaire couple of enslaving two Indonesian women they brought to their mansion to work as housekeepers.

One look at the picture of the wife, and I'll believe they were capable of inflicting any amount of cruelty on anyone. You leave those housekeepers alone...and all dalmatians!

-janelane

Jury: Millionaire couple enslaved housekeepers - CNN.com

Romney's money
Net Worth: $202 million

These are top candidate financial profiles. Anybody who says a president is "just a regular guy" should be punched in the face.

-janelane

Millionaires-in-Chief - Romney's money (6) - Money Magazine

The agreement contains numerous limitations that would exclude many — if not most — subprime borrowers. It would apply to loans taken out between Jan. 1, 2005, and July 30, 2007, and scheduled to rise in 2008 and 2009. It would exclude those who are delinquent on their payments — about 22 percent of all subprime borrowers, according to First American LoanPerformance, an industry research firm.

Among those sure to be disappointed are borrowers whose introductory rates expire before Jan. 1. About $57 billion in subprime loans were scheduled to be reset at higher rates in the final three months of this year, according to estimates by First American LoanPerformance.

Mortgage companies could also exclude borrowers who they conclude are making enough money to afford higher monthly payments. Barclays Capital — extrapolating from a similar program recently unveiled in California — estimates that only about 12 percent of all subprime borrowers, or 240,000 homeowners, would get relief.

I guess this is an issue where I get pulled back from the left towards the middle. I just can't see a reason to bail out people from these bad loans for much longer than the President is advertising. The Dem Candidates are talking in terms of 7-year bail outs and funds to help people pay mortgages. I'm all for social services, but that's over the line. Go after the aggressive lenders, shut down the subprime lending pipeline, and put the people in homes they can actually afford sooner rather than later. The choice isn't between the house they're in now and the street...just a cheaper house.

-janelane, objectively

Bush Announces Mortgage Agreement - New York Times