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Some Frank Reporting From KYW 1060

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As you may have heard, Ed Rendell wants to buy prescription drugs for the entire state. Or something like that. He wants to expand healthcare for the poor and needy. Or something like that. But before he does any of that, he wants to make drugs cheaper. Not for you or me, though. (We’re not that lucky.)

Rendell wants to streamline the current programs and save money on how much the state pays for prescription drugs. You might wonder why this hasn’t been done before. And KYW 1060’s David Madden explains why:

This plan has been proposed before but fell victim to budget negotiations (translation: lobbyist pressure). If the plan is implemented as proposed in October, it could save the state about $94 million a year.

Ohh, those wacky lobbyists. What won’t they think of next?

Pa. Seeks ‘Preferred Customer’ Rates from Drug Companies [KYW 1060]

Ex-Rep From Bucks Smartest Man On Earth

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Former U.S. Rep Jim Greenwood — who held the seat now held by Patrick Murphy and formerly by Mike Fitzpatrick — is a lobbyist (of course). And, currently, he’s CEO of Biotechnology Industry Organization, where he is lobbying to not have labels on food saying it came from cloned animals.

Yes, Greenwood doesn’t want labels on cloned food that says it, nor does he want labels on meat that say it was produced the old fashioned way (boinking, then slaughtering). Of course he does. He works for Biotechnology Industry Organization. You think having labels on food from cloned animals would be nice to have, since consumers have the right to know what’s in their food, some people may not want to eat cloned food (for creep factor/religious reasons I guess), etc.

But no. Why let the consumer make the decision when we have Jim Greenwood to tell us what to do! You see, he knows that cloned food is the same exact thing as regular food. (It very well may be.) And rather than let us decide, he wants to decide because he is just! that! smart!

Greenwood said the uproar over cloned foods can be blamed on the public’s “science-fictiony view” of the process.

“When electricity was created, some people thought that was going to be the end of the world,” Greenwood said.

Ahh. You see, Jim Greenwood knows! And rather let market forces show how right he is — i.e., let’s say a prized cow keeps being cloned to produce the finest-quality meats — he wants to eliminate the market forces because we peons might be too stupid to make the decision for ourselves. Thanks, Jim! Hey, remember when you voted for the Iraq War and you were so smart and right about that? Good thing you got out of Congress before you had to answer to anyone!

Greenwood finds self in cloning controversy [Bucks County Courier Times]