Friday, November 30, 2007

Amazon.com sells Uranium!


But that is not the wackiest part, people who actually buy uranium ALSO BUY THESE THINGS (click image to view):



Check out Uranium on Amaazon.

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Come to my budoir . . . in Russia.



Peter Nalitch is the 26-year-old Moscow music student who has become Russia's first YouTube cult celebrity.

The explosion in popularity for "Gitar", Nalitch's ballad in broken english, coincided with the launch this month of the Russian-language version of YouTube.

The 9 Most Badass Bible Verses

Think reading the Bible is boring?

Check The 9 Most Badass Bible Verses.

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Reader comment on Killer Drug

The novel - Killer Drug – I thought of the following:

Ayn Rand Tom Wolfe Clive Cussler Patricia Cornwell

I’m not kidding – even though I don’t particularly lean in their direction, I have read at least one if not two of each of their books.

The fans of Rand, Wolfe, Cussler, and Cornwell will love Killer Drug.

“Killer” was really fun reading. I do a lot of reading but I don’t do a lot of fun reading…and it kept me turning the pages way past my bedtime.

I would classify it a Man’s Romance Novel. There are a few others out there besides Cussler and Wolfe…I can’t think of his name – a big selling hardcover author – Not Philip Roth but the same genre and age group –starts with an S?

I don’t know…but you know what I’m talking about…its way better than a Bosom Crusher.. still sexy –but built around a serious topic/scenario – so men can be seen reading it on the beach… but they are really liking the lady painted blue and the lovely bright but sexy girl friend…while the women are going….What does the hero look like??????

And everyone will tell their friends to read it. Like “The Other Side of Midnight” SIDNEY SHELDON…that’s the S name.

Friday, November 16, 2007

Pfizer celebration: We lost the qui tam appeal against Rost!

Pfizer statement: “We are pleased that the Court of Appeals has recognized that Mr. Rost failed to allege that any false claims were submitted relating to Genotropin, and that neither Pfizer nor Pharmacia submitted any false claims. We are confident that we will prevail once the matter returns to the District Court. As the Court of Appeals noted, Pfizer moved quickly to voluntarily and fully self-disclose the Genotropin promotional issues, which arose at Pharmacia before its acquisition by Pfizer.”

Does Pfizer play legal roulette?

Yesterday the United States Court of Appeals For the First Circuit vacated the decision by the Distric Court to dismiss Peter Rost's qui tam suit against Pfizer.

The Court of Appeals decision demonstrates how Pfizer CEO Jeff Kindler's strategy to play legal roulette, which Kindler described in a WSJ interview, can backfire.

Pfizer was encouraged by the Department of Justice to settle the civil qui tam suit, but chose not to.

Now they face the possibility of fines in excess of $100 million, should Rost prevail, in addition to the $35 million they already paid.

Back in 2006 Kindler told the Wall Street Journal, "By virtue of being a large company we have a lot of resources. So we can go to war for a long period of time with plaintiffs lawyers if we need to. None of these cases are threatening the financial viability of this enterprise. We have the resources to take them on and we manage them, I think, very effectively. Plaintiffs lawyers are in business like anybody else. They think about how to most quickly and most easily get their rewards from their business. So we're hoping that when a plaintiffs lawyer is thinking about who to go after maybe they'll think Pfizer's going to make it a little harder for me than so-and-so, so maybe I'll go after so-and-so."

Peter Rost wins appeal in qui tam case against Pfizer Inc.

Peter Rost, the writer of BrandweekNRX, filed a qui tam suit against Pfizer Inc., during his employment as Vice President at Pfizer. The suit alleged illegal marketing of Genotropin, a growth hormone.

The information in the suit resulted in Pfizer paying a $34,7 million fine in April 2007, however, the district court ultimately held that "Rost failed to plead his fraud claims with sufficient specificity" and his civil suit was dismissed.

Yesterday the United States Court of Appeals For the First Circuit vacated the decision by the distric court to dismiss Rost's suit, and concluded in its ruling, "The dismissal of the action is vacated. The case is remanded to the district court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

What this means is that Rost gets an opportunity to amend his original complaint with additional information requested by the court.

Download United States Court of Appeals order.pdf

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According to an earlier article in Brandweek, Rost's qui tam suit resulted in Pfizer paying "$34.7 million to end the investigation by the Department of Justice into the off-label marketing of its human-growth hormone brand, Genotropin, and allegations that a unit of the company made kickbacks to “an outside vendor” in order to increase its sales."

Pfizer admitted in its statement that a company it acquired, Pharmacia, “improperly promoted Genotropin between January 2000 and March 2003 for anti-aging purposes, improved athletic performance, and enhanced appearance.”

Please note that in the Government’s Sentencing Memorandum (download here), the Department of Justice states that the violations took place . . . “with the knowledge and approval of Pharmacia’s senior business executives.” (Page 8.)

Brandweek has the amazing and comprehensive story here.

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Fox News Gone Wild



Of course, in order for Keith Olbermann to criticize FOX, he needs to show the same images . . .

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Flying? Then you need to pack this form.



Click to enlarge.

The dead terrorist.

Today I read about the Japanese tourist who was thrown off a train to D.C. because he was taking pictures through the window. Time to introduce the Achmed, the dead terrorist:

Thursday, November 01, 2007