White House declines to disclose visits by health industry executives

White House declines to disclose visits by health industry executives
Citing an argument used by the Bush administration, the Secret Service rejects a request from a watchdog group to list those who have visited the White House to discuss the healthcare overhaul.

Reporting from Washington -- Invoking an argument used by President George W. Bush, the Obama administration has turned down a request from a watchdog group for a list of health industry executives who have visited the White House to discuss the massive healthcare overhaul.Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington sent a letter to the Secret Service asking about visits from 18 executives representing health insurers, drug makers, doctors and other players in the debate. The group wants the material in order to gauge the influence of those executives in crafting a new healthcare policy.

he Secret Service sent a reply stating that documents revealing the frequency of such visits were considered presidential records exempt from public disclosure laws. The agency also said it was advised by the Justice Department that the Secret Service was within its rights to withhold the information because of the "presidential communications privilege."Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics said it would file suit against the Obama administration as early as today. The group already has sued the administration over its failure to release details about visits from coal industry executives.A White House spokesman, Ben LaBolt, said, "We are reviewing our policy on access to visitor logs and related litigation."
As a candidate, President Obama vowed that in devising a healthcare bill he would invite in TV cameras -- specifically C-SPAN -- so that Americans could have a window into negotiations that normally play out behind closed doors. Having promised transparency, the administration should be willing to disclose who it is consulting in shaping healthcare policy, said an attorney for the citizens' group. In its letter requesting the records, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics asked about visits from Billy Tauzin, president of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America; Karen Ignagni, president of America's Health Insurance Plans; William Weldon, chairman and CEO of Johnson & Johnson; and J. James Rohack, president of the American Medical Assn., among others."It's extremely disappointing," said Anne Weismann, the group's chief counsel. Obama is relying on a legal argument that "continues one of the bad, anti-transparency, pro-secrecy approaches that the Bush administration had taken. And it seems completely at odds with the president's commitment . . . to bring a new level of transparency to his government." PhRMA, which represents the nation's drug companies, said it had taken part in two meetings with senior White House officials in the Roosevelt Room. Participants, according to Tauzin, included White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, along with the CEOs of some major drug companies. Both meetings were closed to the public.In an interview, Tauzin said most of the "real negotiations" took place with the Senate Finance Committee. At its meetings with the White House, the drug industry reported on progress made with the Senate and got a briefing from Obama officials "about how they saw" healthcare reform unfolding, Tauzin said.

Arnold's budget dealing: a public health issue?

Earlier this year, when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger hunkered down with legislators in budget negotiations, the result was a delay of regulations to crack down on cancer-causing diesel pollution from construction and farm equipment. It was a provision intensely sought by business interests, but one with little effect on budgetary or fiscal matters.
Now, once again, environmentalists are sounding the alarm that eco-issues are on the table in the budgetary arm wrestling that has paralyzed Sacramento in recent weeks.
Eight major advocacy groups wrote Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders on July 16 asking that they resist efforts to insert into the budget a provision that could enable the building of new power plants in the Los Angeles Basin.
The South Coast Air Quality Management District, a regional agency, is pushing the provision, incorporated in a stalled Senate bill, SB 696. The air district has been prevented by a recent court ruling from giving out emissions credits for power plants until it fully analyzes the environmental impact. Republican and some Democratic legislators, along with the Chamber of Commerce and other business groups, want any new budget deal to overturn the court decision.
South Coast officials said they view new power plants as necessary to serve a growing population and prevent blackouts. But as a result of lawsuits brought by the Natural Resources Defense Council and other environmental groups, the agency has delayed the permits for power plants, as well as for hundreds of other businesses, until the credits issue is resolved.
According to the July 16 letter from the Sierra Club, the American Lung Assn. and other groups, overturning the court decision in the budget deal would "add 10 tons per day of dirty particulate pollution to the Los Angeles Air Basin. ... Our organizations have argued strenuously against 11th-hour budget proposals to weaken environmental and public health laws that have nothing to do with the state budget."
Two other issues are also reportedly on the table. Bill Magavern, director of the California branch of the Sierra Club, said Schwarzenegger wants to insert a provision in the budget to overturn the State Lands Commission's denial of a plan to expand offshore oil drilling off Santa Barbara.
And, Magavern said, the governor is also seeking to use the budget deal as a vehicle for his earlier proposal to abolish a key scientific review agency, the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, which evaluates the impacts of chemical contaminants.
Aaron McLear, the governor's press secretary, said: "We don't comment on budget negotiations. Once there is a final agreement, we will share that with the press."

CIT Group may be near a deal for financing

CIT Group may be near a deal for financing
Funding would enable the business lender to avoid bankruptcy after the government turned down a request for a second bailout.

CIT Group Inc., the struggling lender denied more federal aid last week, may be close to securing needed funding to avoid bankruptcy, a source close to the matter said.A deal could be struck as early as today, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks were confidential.

The company's board met Sunday night to discuss its options, the source said.The New York firm is a key provider of factoring services, supplying quick cash for businesses that have significant upfront costs for material and labor. It plays a major role in keeping the retail industry running, financing about 2,000 vendors that supply merchandise to 340,000 wholesalers and retailers nationwide. Many in the apparel industry were concerned that a bankrupt CIT could lead to more troubles in the shaky retail industry.
A financing deal doesn't necessarily mean that the retail industry will be spared economic difficulties, said Ilse Metchek, president of the California Fashion Assn.

CIT's struggles probably portend stricter rules for lending in the garment industry, she said. "It will help in that it's better than disaster," she said about a potential deal. "But it's going to mean much stricter rules and higher limits on financing."CIT has $1 billion in long-term debt payments due in August, and says it needs $10 billion in funding by March.The company's troubles began when tighter financial markets made it difficult to secure funding for its loans to small businesses.

The company reported a loss of $438 million in the first quarter and $3 billion over the last two years. It has assets of $76 billion.CIT, which picked up $2.33 billion in federal bailout money in December, lost its bid last week for more federal funds.

The Treasury Department said it was sticking to a "very high threshold for exceptional government assistance to individual companies." Still, the new loan, which would come with high interest rates, would probably be a stopgap measure, according to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the potential deal.Its shares, which traded above $51 two years ago, closed Friday at 70 cents, up 29 cents.

Not guilty?

Russian human rights activist abducted, killed in Chechnya

Natalia Estemirova is the latest in a string of Russians slain after delving into human rights abuses.
Natalia Estemirova is kidnapped in front of her Grozny home by a group of men. Her body is found a few hours later with gunshots to the head and chest.

Reporting from Moscow -- A human rights worker known for her fearless criticism of the Kremlin and its Chechen proxies was abducted in broad daylight and shot to death Wednesday.Natalia Estemirova, who worked doggedly to document ongoing human rights abuses in war-wrecked Chechnya long after international attention had drifted away, was on her way to work when men snatched her off the street in front of her Grozny home. She shouted for help, witnesses later told her colleagues, but the men stuffed her into a car and drove away.

Russia high court overturns acquittals in slaying of journalist

A few hours later, her body turned up in the neighboring republic of Ingushetia. She had been shot in the head and chest.Estemirova was the latest in a string of well-known Russian activists and journalists who were slain after delving into human rights abuses tied to the government, especially those in Chechnya. Each successive death seems to deepen the fear, anger and sense of futility among remaining activists.Estemirova, 51, was the widowed mother of a 15-year-old girl. She worked as a history teacher in Grozny, the Chechen capital, before the first of two wars broke out in the 1990s. As bloodshed spiraled, Estemirova set about documenting the history she was living, first as a journalist and later as a seemingly indefatigable researcher for Memorial, a human rights group.
In recent years, she was one of the lone voices that still spoke out from within Chechnya to describe an underbelly of disappearances, extrajudicial killings, torture and heavy-handed autocracy that underpinned the rule of Kremlin-backed President Ramzan Kadyrov."There is a very, very big number of people who disappear for several hours or several days and return home beaten up and psychologically broken, and most of them never say what happened to them," Estemirova said in an interview last year. "This is being seriously hushed up."Like other critics who speak out against Russia's deeply entrenched power structures, Estemirova would have had a keen awareness of her own vulnerability. She had worked closely with investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya and human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov, who were gunned down in 2006 and early this year respectively in Moscow. Both were believed to be victims of contract killings.Neither crime has been solved. "We lost Anna. Now we couldn't protect Natasha," said Alexander Cherkasov, a board member of Memorial. "She was killed for her work."Estemirova had clashed repeatedly with Chechen authorities. She had contributed heavily to recent human rights reports documenting the extrajudicial punishment and burning of homes of people related to suspected anti-Kadyrov rebels.She had also contributed to a report released Wednesday that called for Russian officials, including Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, to be held accountable for human rights crimes."There's an atmosphere of impunity," Estemirova said in an interview last year. "We have a list of more than 4,000 people still missing and there are many cases in which we have hard evidence against people who kidnapped them, we even have their names and ranks, but it's impossible to initiate an investigation."Earlier this month, she had publicized the case of a man who was shot to death in the streets of a Chechen village, without trial or investigation, for alleged ties to the rebels."The Chechen authorities immediately made it known . . . that Memorial should not air the household garbage in public like that," Cherkasov said.In a sharp departure from the official reaction (or lack thereof) to the slayings of other critics, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's office offered condolences to her family and said she probably had been killed for her human rights activities. Investigators were dispatched to the Caucasus to open an inquiry.

Arturo Gatti death

Супруге экс-чемпиона мира по боксу в полусреднем весе Артуро Гатти предъявлено обвинение в его убийстве.

Тело боксера было найдено в одном из отелей бразильского курортного города Порту-де-Галиньяс. Полицейские считают, что именно 23-летняя Аманда Родригес после бытовой ссоры задушила спящего мужа ремнем от сумки.
В Бразилии в понедельник полицейские предъявили обвинение в убийстве при отягчающих обстоятельствах супруге канадского бывшего профессионального боксера Артуро Гатти. Тело 37-летнего экс-чемпиона мира в полусреднем весе, завершившего карьеру в 2007 году, было найдено в ночь на воскресенье в номере гостиницы в бразильском курортном городе Порту-де-Галиньяс. Он приехал на курорт со своей 23-летней супругой Амандой Родригес и годовалым сыном.
Изначально местные СМИ сообщали, что боксер был убит из пистолета: якобы криминалисты обнаружили два огнестрельных ранения на теле спортсмена – одно в голову, другое в грудь. Позднее, сообщает издание Los Angeles Times, сотрудники департамента по убийствам и личной защите гражданской полиции штата Пернамбуку, где находится курортный город, опровергли эту информацию.
По данным полиции, Гатти был задушен ремнем от сумки, который убийца не снял с его шеи. Убийство спортсмена сразу показалось следователям подозрительным: на затылке боксера зияла рана, а по всей комнате была разбрызгана кровь.
Чтобы восстановить картину произошедшего, полицейские допросили его супругу Родригес. На допросе женщина так и не смогла внятно объяснить, как она могла не заметить смерти мужа за те 10 часов, что провела с ним в номере. По итогам разговора с женой Гатти полицейские приняли решение арестовать ее. На данный момент, сказал один из представителей правоохранительных органов Пернамбуку, она является единственным подозреваемым.
Основным мотивом убийства следователи считают ревность.
По данным Associated Press, Гатти был убит в ходе бытовой ссоры: в минувшую пятницу он вернулся в свой номер пьяным и закатил жене скандал. Основной его претензией был тот факт, что она взяла с собой в Бразилию слишком откровенные наряды. Сдав годовалого сына на руки сестре Родригес, которая также поехала на курорт, пара выясняла отношения всю ночь, и весь следующий день. Ближе к вечеру воскресенья дело дошло до рукоприкладства, а потом, считают следователи, уставший Гатти уснул.

Воспользовавшись этим, разъяренная Родригес удушила его. Сейчас ей предъявлено обвинение в убийстве при отягчающих обстоятельствах, так как ее жертва была в заведомо беспомощном состоянии.
Новость о смерти Гатти шокировала его друзей, но обстоятельства его убийства их не удивили. «Его сердце было больше, чем его боксерский талант», – сказал его бывший тренер Гейб Лаконте, который сотрудничал с Гатти в начале 1990-х. «К тому же у него проблема с наркотиками, и они с Амандой вроде собирались разводиться. Я точно не знаю, что за проблемы у них были, но вообще он был хорошим человеком, был счастливым и о своих друзьях заботился», – отметил друг боксера Асельено Попо Фрейтас. Поводы для ревности в семье давал и сам Гатти. Три месяца назад он был выпущен из тюрьмы в Монреале, куда попал из-за неявки в суд. Боксер обвинялся в нападении на свою бывшую девушку в стриптиз-клубе во время празднования своего дня рождения.
Артуро Гатти родился в Италии 15 апреля 1972 года, получил гражданство Канады и жил в США. Женившись на Аманде Родригес, он переехал в Бразилию, поскольку его супруга была бразильянкой. На профессиональном ринге он провел 49 боев, в 40 из них победил. В 1995 году, получив за свою боксерскую технику прозвище Гром, он стал чемпионом мира в первой полулегкой, а в 2004 году – в полусредней весовой категориях.

R.I.P. MJ

In the end, they brought Michael Jackson to the one place where his life always made sense -- beneath a spotlight and in front of his adoring fans. The superstar, in a gleaming gold coffin, was celebrated in a Staples Center memorial service that was beamed around the world and, like the icon himself, strove mightily to be all things to all people.With family, celebrity peers, politicians, preachers and even professional athletes taking turns at the microphone, the polished but emotional service was meant both as a farewell and as a deeply sympathetic framing of the star's complicated legacy.

The Rev. Al Sharpton brought the crowd to its feet by drawing a direct cultural line between Jackson's incandescent 1980s pop success and the 2008 election of President Obama. "Those young kids," Sharpton said of Jackson's massive crossover audience, "grew up from being teenage comfortable fans of Michael to being 40 years old and being comfortable to vote for a person of color to be the president of the United States of America." Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) praised Jackson as "a uniquely American hero," and music veteran Smokey Robinson judged him to be, simply, "the greatest performer of all time."Sharpton and several other speakers alluded to media persecution of Jackson, who died June 25 at age 50, but one speaker who had known Jackson for more than four decades suggested that the reality is not that tidy."Sure there were some sad times and maybe some questionable decisions on his part, but Michael Jackson accomplished everything he ever dreamed of," said Berry Gordy, the Motown Records mogul who signed Jackson to his first record deal after an audition in the summer of 1968.
There were many memorable images, but for the years to come the signature moment may have been the public debut of sorts of Jackson's 11-year-old daughter, Paris Michael Katherine Jackson. Protected and, literally, veiled for much of her life, the youngster said through tears:"I just wanted to say, ever since I was born, Daddy has been the best father you could ever imagine. And I just wanted to say I love him so much."The ceremony was by turns somber, evangelical, thunderous and hushed.

There was humor, as well. Former Los Angeles Lakers star Magic Johnson recounted how his nervous first visit to Jackson's mansion ended with the pair sitting on the floor and feasting on Kentucky Fried Chicken; Brooke Shields, who was an especially moving speaker, told how she used to tease Jackson about his most famous fashion choice."I'd tease him about the glove," Shields said, referring to the solitary silver glove that became Jackson's trademark. " 'What's up with the glove?' and 'If you're gonna hold my hand, it better be the non-gloved one because the sequins hurt.' "Audience members danced along with some musical performances and stifled tears at some of the many tributes to the singer. There were also shouts from the audience of "Power to the people," "Long live the king," and "We miss you, Michael!"The memorial, a mix of measured grief and show-biz spectacle, was seen across the globe on television and computer screens and covered with the intensity of an election night and the overkill of a Super Bowl Sunday.Forty-seven theaters in 24 states showed the event live. As a local event, it was a surprisingly smooth affair; there was a 30-minute delay to the scheduled start time, but the predicted crush of crowds outside the arena never materialized, which Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton credited to "a steady drumbeat of media coverage in recent days" telling fans without tickets they wouldn't be permitted near the downtown venue.Excluding invited guests, the estimated 17,500 attendees were selected from about 1.6 million who sought entry.The event was produced by Ken Ehrlich, the longtime producer of the Grammy Awards telecast. Other key figures included Tim Leiweke, president and chief executive of AEG, and, somewhat surprisingly, Bratton, who was a presence just off stage throughout the service. He also worked the press line before the event (which, to underscore the circus atmosphere, required stepping over manure left in the wake of his mounted officers) and personally guarded the gilded casket as it arrived at the arena's underground garage.

The event that seemed so smooth and precise to television viewers was more chaotic up close. Ehrlich made a number of major decisions on the fly, such as asking Robinson to open the service by reading letters from Diana Ross and Nelson Mandela. "I think this might work," Ehrlich said, rushing to hand the letters to the surprised singer, who then calmly climbed the steps to the stage, looked into the camera and greeted the world. Ehrlich also had the lighting changed for the entire arena a few minutes into the show. "It's way too hot in here," he told his lighting crew, using a shorthand expression for glare.Jackson's casket was taken from Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills in a motorcade of ebony Rolls-Royces and SUVs on freeways cleared by police. It then was carried into the Staples spotlight by his brothers -- Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon and Randy -- who each wore a solitary sequined glove. Janet Jackson, the second most famous member of the family, left her seat and reached toward the procession, but instead of touching the casket she reached for her living brothers, giving each of them a reassuring grip on the arm.Janet Jackson did not perform as many had expected, but Jermaine Jackson did with a rendition of a "Smile," the bittersweet song of encouragement composed by Charlie Chaplin for his 1936 film "Modern Times." It was Michael Jackson's favorite song, the crowd was told, and the emotion-choked performance by his older brother added to the poignancy of the lyrics, written by John Turner and Geoffrey Parsons more than 70 years ago:

Smile tho' your heart is aching

Smile even tho' it's breaking

When there are clouds in the sky

Designer Anand Jon's sex assault conviction is upheld

Designer Anand Jon's sex assault conviction is upheld
Irfan Khan, Los Angeles Times
Anand Jon faces a mandatory life prison sentence.
The judge rules that a juror's contact with the designer's sister before the verdicts did not prevent a fair trial. The juror and sister are cited for contempt of court.

A Los Angeles County judge upheld the sexual assault conviction of Beverly Hills fashion designer Anand Jon Alexander on Monday, ruling that a juror's contact with the defendant's sister before the verdicts did not prevent a fair trial. Attorneys for the Indian-born designer argued that the conviction should be thrown out, alleging that the juror sought sex or money from the defendant's sister toward the end of last year's trial and voted to convict her brother when she refused to meet him alone.
Superior Court Judge David S. Wesley ruled that the juror, Alvin Dymally, committed misconduct by approaching Sanjana Alexander twice in the courthouse and speaking to her on two occasions when she phoned him. Wesley also said he believed the juror lied when he denied under oath ever speaking to Sanjana Alexander before the verdicts. But the judge found that Dymally's actions did not affect the jury's guilty verdicts. He ruled that there was no evidence to support the extortion claim.Wesley said a recording that Sanjana Alexander secretly made of one of the phone calls showed that Dymally, 46, flirted with her and was interested in meeting after the trial. Wesley said Sanjana Alexander and the juror knew they were violating a court order when they spoke to each other. The judge cited them for contempt of court and ordered them to return for hearings in September.
Outside the downtown Los Angeles courtroom Monday, Sanjana Alexander confronted Dymally, a Los Angeles building inspector."It's our lives you're playing with," she told him. "You know the truth." The juror left in silence.Sanjana Alexander, a fashion designer who was dressed in white with a pair of Prada sunglasses, tearfully told reporters that she had tried to do the right thing. "It's a travesty of justice," she said. "I believed in the justice system. I did not go meet up alone with him. If I had, this today wouldn't be happening."Alexander, 35, who goes by the professional name Anand Jon, was found guilty in November of raping one woman and sexually assaulting six other girls and young women. The conviction carries a mandatory life prison sentence. After court on Monday, his defense lawyers vowed to appeal Wesley's decision.The juror's "conduct was outrageous, and it deprived the defendant of a fair trial," said attorney Leonard B. Levine.The controversy began following the guilty verdicts. Sanjana Alexander told her brother's attorneys that a juror twice asked her to call him during the trial.She said the first time she phoned, Dymally reassured her, "We know he is innocent, so don't worry." The second time, she said, he told her: "We need to meet with you alone." She said she refused.During a recent court hearing, Dymally denied talking to her during the trial but invoked his right against self-incrimination when defense attorneys produced Sanjana Alexander's phone recording. According to a transcript filed by prosecutors, the recording shows that the juror complimented Sanjana several times, telling her, "I think that you're really sexy" and suggesting that they meet afterward."Definitely, we will," Sanjana Alexander replied.Deputy Dist. Atty. Frances Young argued that the recording contradicted assertions that Sanjana Alexander rejected the juror's overtures.