Obama Like Satan? No, More LIke Jesus
Posted on May 21, 2012 in Political Cartoons
#Truthbomb
What Can We Learn From India? A Lot
Posted on May 21, 2012 in Articles
The Article: India’s Patent Law: A Standard We Should All Follow by Nima Desai in The Speckled Axe.
The Text: Recently, The New York Times featured an eye-opening series of articles about lawsuits filed by Bayer and Novartis in which the Indian Supreme Court has controlled the prices of expensive cancer drugs under the country’s own patent laws as well as new public health laws created by the World Trade Organization (WTO).
While there are nuanced legal issues that frame these decisions, mainstream media outlets do not report on them fully. A possible reason for the lack of coverage may be because the ruling struck a serious financial blow to the pharmaceutical industry—one that will most likely total billions of dollars lost in annual revenue. One of the major issues left unaddressed? Evergreening, a cunning pharmaceutical business tactic that will soon become a huge issue in courts around the world.
The sly tactic focuses on patent owners making superficial changes to a patented drug to extend the life of their exclusive right to manufacture and sell said drug beyond its legal expiration date. For example, some of these changes could be as minor as the color of a capsule, dosage amounts, or the use of the isomer or mirror-image of the molecular structure of the patented drug.
Justice Kennedy: The Man Running The Supreme Court?
Posted on May 21, 2012 in Articles
The Article: Does The Supreme Court Rely On One Man’s Decision? by Benjamin Siegel in The Speckled Axe.
The Text: The fate of President Obama’s crowning achievement of his first term — the passing of the healthcare reform law — seemingly rests on the shoulders of one Supreme Court Justice. After repeated 5-4 rulings decided recent cases, what initially seemed to be mere suspicions of a court neatly divided along party lines has become something of a known fact. Divided between four staunchly conservative and four staunchly liberal justices, Anthony Kennedy has become the one and only swing vote on the Supreme Court.
Dialogue-shifting decisions that have painted a picture of a bench divided along liberal/conservative lines include 2010’s Berghuis v. Thompkins ruling, in which the court essentially ruled to loosen an arrested citizen’s Miranda rights. That same year, the Supreme Court ruled on Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, where they determined that political spending is protected under the First Amendment. This year brought the decision on Florence v. Burlington County, in which the court ruled that police may strip search anyone arrested for any offense, even if there is no reason to suspect contraband.
In each of the above Supreme Court decisions, Justice Anthony Kennedy was the deciding factor. Siding with the conservative wing of the court (Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, and Chief Justice John Roberts), Kennedy was able to swing cases with significant impact on how the Constitution is interpreted and enforced.
Swapping Farmland For Faith
Posted on May 20, 2012 in Quotes
Well, so long as they have God it doesn’t matter if they’re stripped of their livelihood, right?
Want A Raise? Sorry, It’s All Gone To CEOs
Posted on May 20, 2012 in Articles
The Article: Study: CEO Pay Increased 127 Times Faster Than Worker Pay Over Last 30 Years by Travis Waldron in ThinkProgress.
The Text: Compensation for chief executives at American companies grew 15 percent in 2011 after a 28 percent rise in 2010, part of a larger trend that has seen CEO pay skyrocket over the last three decades. Workers, on the other hand, have been left behind.
Since 1978, CEO pay at American firms has risen 725 percent, more than 127 times faster than worker pay over the same time period, according to new data from the Economic Policy Institute:
From 1978 to 2011, CEO compensation increased more than 725 percent, a rise substantially greater than stock market growth and the painfully slow 5.7 percent growth in worker compensation over the same period.
