-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1
Dr. Evil's Payday
,----[ Quote ]
| Who pulled off this publicity stunt? Credit Richard
| Berman, one of Washington's most notorious PR operatives,
| whose exploits Mother Jones and others have been
| chronicling for years. Nicknamed Dr. Evilâa moniker he
| embracesâhe's the force behind several industry-backed
| nonprofits that share staff and office space with his very
| for-profit communications and advertising firm, Berman and
| Company. The firm promises clients it will not "just
| change the debate" but "start" one, and a range of
| companies, from Anheuser-Busch to Philip Morris to the
| casino chain Harrah's, have signed up for Berman's
| "aggressive" and "hard-hitting" advocacy. Some clients pay
| Berman and Co. directly, while others donate to his
| nonprofitsâbut much of the cash winds up in the same
| place, via hefty management fees the front groups pay to
| Berman's company.
`----
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2009/09/hidden-interests-dr-evils-payday
HHS Investigates Medicare Providers' Massive Misinformation Campaign
,----[ Quote ]
| Today, the U.S. Health and Human Services Department took
| its first steps toward cracking down on misinformation
| disseminated by Medicare providers.
|
| During the recent health care reform hullabaloo, "Keep
| Government Out of Medicare" became a rallying call for
| some and a joke for others. As it became clear that
| tens of thousands of senior citizens across the country
| held irrational beliefs about the government's role in
| their health care, we asked, where is all the
| misinformation coming from? The answer: Medicare
| Advantage providers have been deliberately misinforming
| Medicare recipients about health insurance reform.
`----
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dawn-teo/hhs-investigates-medicare_b_293891.html
Recent:
Wendell Potter: How Corporate PR Works to Kill Health Care Reform
,----[ Quote ]
| It is easy to think of efforts to influence lawmakers as the
| exclusive domain of K Street lobbyists. Much has been said
| and written about the millions of dollars the special
| interests are spending on lobbying activities and the
| hundreds of lobbyists who are at work as we speak trying to
| shape health care reform legislation. Very little by
| comparison has been written about the millions of dollars
| that special interests are spending on PR activities to
| accomplish the same goal and that are vital to successful
| lobbying efforts.
`----
http://www.prwatch.org/node/8552
Size Matters, Reality Doesn't
,----[ Quote ]
| After some conservative bloggers wrote that they believe
| allies' guesstimates over official reports, CJR asked
| whether "the point of the whole exercise on Saturday was
| not, apparently, to gather a crowd in the numeric sense" but
| "to gather a crowd in the symbolic sense."
`----
http://www.prwatch.org/node/8554
P.S. to the Tea Party Express
,----[ Quote ]
| Blogger Lindsay Beyerstein reports that BusBank, "one of the
| featured corporate sponsors of the Tea Party Express had to
| pay millions of dollars to settle lawsuits for its role in a
| bus fire that killed 23 elderly nursing home residents
| fleeing Hurricane Rita in 2005."
`----
http://www.prwatch.org/node/8555
Revolving door for health care aides
,----[ Quote ]
| Some of the most influential aides in the closed-door Senate
| Finance Committee negotiations over health care reform have
| ties to interests that would be directly affected by the
| legislation.
`----
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0909/27155.html
Wendell Potter: Public Option Essential, Baucus Plan An "Absolute Gift" To Health Insurance Industry (VIDEO)
,----[ Quote ]
| 'Contrary to the misinformation being disseminated by the
| health insurance industry and its allies, the public
| insurance option would not have a competitive advantage over
| private plans," Potter told the committee. "It would have to
| meet the same benefit requirements and comply with the same
| insurance market reforms as private plans. "
`----
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/15/wendell-potter-public-opt_n_287733.html
Obama speech disrupter a health industry darling
,----[ Quote ]
| At that point the president was interrupted by Rep. Addison Graves âJoeâ
| Wilson (right), a Republican from South Carolina.
|
| âYou lie!â Wilson shouted from the crowd.
|
| Obama paused for a moment before continuing his address as Wilsonâs
| colleagues looked on in shock following the breach of protocol.
|
| Whether because of his outspokenness or in spite of it, Wilson is a
| major recipient of contributions from the health care industry.
`----
http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/09/10/obama-speech-disrupter-a-health-industry-darling/
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.9 (GNU/Linux)
iEYEARECAAYFAkq7LxUACgkQU4xAY3RXLo5MQQCdEk64+r1tOaATFtMGT8f9io5A
eUQAnR5e1Lldid53oNaFmWnSBAozWMAa
=i7TU
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
|
|
