You post something the corporate shills don't like
and one of them posts a porn link as an insult?

Apparently the article upset them!

IR > O Good ... another Pervert for the Snake-oil
IR > Team! Get you going, Frankie???
IR >
IR > Hey " Frank" ... since today you're posting
IR > from Raleigh, NC ... why is it that Coleah
IR > Penley Ayers claimed you were an
IR > old man from NY ? ?
IR >
IR > What is your relationship with her that
IR > she would know that, even if true ? ?

CPA > Why do you care??????
CPA > How very sick you are that you fancy the
CPA > world revolves around 'you'.  It is none of
CPA > your busines.  Move on to yet another
CPA > 'conspiracy theory'.......

[ Frank's Posting History ]

http://groups.google.com/groups/profile?hl=en&enc_user=AylsnBMAAACtINl73zYlEdvvI
fqgCbc9h-kUg4S0n7nbF1Te82ZIng

Here is a link to the FDA's own [ admission] they were unable to do
their
jobs and protect the public ... (not enough money was one of the many
excuses).

Complete report here:
http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/ac/07/briefing/2007-4329b_02_01_FDA%20Report%20
on%20Science%20and%20Technology.pdf

http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/ac/07/briefing/2007-4329b_02_00_index.html
Full index

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

FDA Distributes $30, 000 Cash Bonuses
http://ahrp.blogspot.com/2007/08/fda-distributes-30-000-cash-bonuses.html

Not only [ is FDA getting ] failing performance grades from every
independent reviewing agency--including the General Accounting Office
and the Institute of Medicine--its mediocre high paid managers get
rewarded for their poor performance.

The Washington Post reports that FDA bureaucrats have been getting
annual cash bonuses ( $30,000 to $50,000) not because of merit, but
rather they are given to FDA bureaucrats who simply declare: "If I am
unable to receive a retention allowance, I am likely to leave the
federal government for a higher paying position in the private... "

For example, Margaret Glavin received a $48,823 cash bonus despite
the
fact that her tenure at the FDA has been marked by controversy. "Her
office angered lawmakers by proposing to close seven of the agency's
13 food-safety labs -- although the FDA suspended the plan yesterday
-- and she personally wrote an internal memo critical of FDA
employees
who told a congressional hearing last month that the FDA had
performed
poorly in protecting the safety of the food supply.

The bonuses, which are funded in part with fees paid by industry for
product reviews, are have been awarded disproportionately to those
who
already have large salaries. The House Energy & Commerce Committee
analysis of FDA bonus data shows that 33 of the most senior career
managers -- who earn more than $165,000 a year because of their
special talents and experience -- received a total of $900,000 in
bonuses last year. [Link]

"FDA officials have raided the U.S. Treasury of $10 million a year,
not to hire more inspectors or better compensate the field personnel
working to protect us from botulism and E. coli, but to award each
other $50,000 bonuses. Given their recent performance, I doubt the
taxpayers would agree that FDA management officials deserve an extra
dime, much less tens of thousands of dollars." That was the
assessment
of FDA's cash reward system by Cong. John Dingell, the Chairman of
the
committee.

The bonuses bring no guarantee of retention. FDA officials
acknowledge
that employees are free to leave the agency even if they receive the
awards.

Rep. Joe L. Barton of Texas, the ranking Republican on the committee
agreed: "Somehow the FDA has institutionalized the open till, and
some
of their least distinguished bureaucrats seem to be grabbing as much
as they can. When all you have to do for $30,000 or $40,000 is send
in
a note saying 'Pay up,' something's rotten."

Indeed, there is a great deat that's rotten at the FDA--and it is
undermining public health.

[Link] Washington Post FDA's Retention Bonuses Rise to the Top
Critics
Say Money Goes to Managers, Not Scientists Coveted by Drug Firms
By John Solomon and Marc Kaufman Thursday, August 2, 2007; A01

Before paying $48,823 in cash bonuses to its chief of regulatory
affairs in 2005, the Food and Drug Administration asked her to sign a
simple declaration: "If I am unable to receive a retention allowance,
I am likely to leave the federal government for a higher paying
position in the private sector," wrote Margaret O'K. Glavin.

Glavin's statement did not detail a specific job offer, but that did
not impede the payment. Over the past 4 1/2 years, she has collected
more than $178,000 in cash bonuses -- on top of her $159,840 annual
salary.

FDA officials justified Glavin's bonuses by saying her pay should be
close to the salaries of those employed by companies she regulates,
namely Washington lobbyists. The private-sector comparison has
prompted large cash bonuses for top agency officials to quadruple
since 2002, to $13.6 million in 2005, according to FDA officials and
salary information provided to Congress.

The bonuses were paid during a rough patch at the FDA, encompassing a
shortage of flu vaccine and embarrassing recalls of the pain-
relieving
drug Vioxx and malfunctioning heart defibrillators. Throughout, the
agency repeatedly insisted that it lacked the resources to conduct
adequate food and drug inspections.

The payments, which have attracted bipartisan criticism from
lawmakers, offer an unusually detailed look at how the administration
has implemented a cash bonus program that Congress expanded in 2004
to
attract and retain talented federal employees.

Lawmakers say that at the FDA, many of the bonuses went to the
highest-paid officials rather than the scientists, inspectors and
doctors most at risk of jumping to the private sector. To critics,
the
payments bore little relationship to the agency's performance and
reputation or to the likelihood that someone might depart. Agency
officials disagree and call the program a success.

Federal workers in Washington make an average of about $88,000 a
year.
As a result of the bonuses, scores of FDA managers and employees earn
double that and more -- pay in some cases greater than that of
members
of Congress, federal judges and Cabinet secretaries, according to the
data shared with Congress.

The bonuses appear to have spiked in 2005 -- to $13.6 million, from
$7.2 million in 2004 -- when the embattled Lester M. Crawford was
fighting to win and then keep his job as FDA commissioner. One
program
aimed at physicians accounted for $4 million of the increase, the FDA
records show.
The commissioner's office -- which mostly includes policy officials
and not practicing scientists -- nearly doubled the amount of its
retention bonuses,

from about $415,000 in 2002 to nearly $800,000 last year, the data
also show.

Glavin, an English major who rose through the ranks of the
Agriculture
Department's Food Safety and Inspection Service before joining the
FDA
in 2003 as assistant commissioner for counterterrorism policy,
collected $44,614 in bonuses in 2006 alone, according to the records.
That accounts for 11.1 percent of all the cash bonuses exceeding
$5,000 that were awarded to her entire 3,500-employee Office of
Regulatory Affairs.

In contrast, the FDA investigator who won the agency's top national
award last year received a much smaller bonus. "I was nominated for a
cash award for $2,500, but after taxes I got just $1,400," said
Rebecca Parrilla, a chemical engineer who said she has worked at the
FDA for more than eight years and was unaware how much her bosses in
Washington were collecting in bonuses.

John R. Dyer, FDA's chief operating officer, said yesterday that
while
the FDA provided the raw data to the House Energy and Commerce
Committee, he cannot verify that the tallies made by committee aides
are accurate or complete. He said the cash-bonus policy has largely
succeeded.

"With these programs, we've been able to recruit better and keep more
of the people we need," Dyer said. In 2002, the FDA lost 12 to 13
percent of its employees, while in 2006, with the bonus program in
place, it lost 5 percent. Even a few high-profile agency
whistle-blowers have received substantial retention bonuses in recent
years.

Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), who as chairman of the Energy and
Commerce Committee is investigating the bonuses, disagreed with the
FDA's assessment of its bonuses. "FDA officials have raided the U.S.
Treasury of $10 million a year, not to hire more inspectors or better
compensate the field personnel working to protect us from botulism
and
E. coli, but to award each other $50,000 bonuses," Dingell said.
"Given their recent performance, I doubt the taxpayers would agree
that FDA management officials deserve an extra dime, much less tens
of
thousands of dollars."

Some Republicans also expressed concern. "Somehow the FDA has
institutionalized the open till, and some of their least
distinguished
bureaucrats seem to be grabbing as much as they can. When all you
have
to do for $30,000 or $40,000 is send in a note saying 'Pay up,'
something's rotten," said Rep. Joe L. Barton of Texas, the ranking
Republican on Dingell's committee.

Glavin's tenure at the FDA has been marked by controversy. Her office
angered lawmakers by proposing to close seven of the agency's 13
food-safety labs -- although the FDA suspended the plan yesterday --
and she personally wrote an internal memo critical of FDA employees
who told a congressional hearing last month that the FDA had
performed
poorly in protecting the safety of the food supply. Dingell and Rep.
Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) accused Glavin of sending the memo as part of a
"campaign of intimidation and retaliation."

Glavin did not respond to a request for comment.

The FDA also caught congressional fire in 2004 over its slow response
to evidence that Merck's pain reliever Vioxx was linked to fatal
heart
attacks and strokes. The agency was caught by surprise that year when
British authorities shut down Chiron, a major producer of the
nation's
flu vaccine. In 2005, after a long controversy, at least seven deaths
caused the FDA to suggest that thousands of heart patients should
have
their defibrillators, made by Guidant, removed because of defects.

The agency's cash awards were parceled out in more than half a dozen
categories: meritorious work rewards, Senior Executive Service
bonuses, relocation assistance, student loan payoffs, recruitment
awards for employees lured from the private sector, physician
services
bonuses and retention awards. It is the category in which all
recipients were required to sign statements similar to Glavin's that
ballooned under the Bush administration, from $2.7 million in 2003 to
$8.3 million last year.

The rules for retention bonuses state that employees can be awarded
up
to 25 percent of their base salary if it is likely that they would
leave government and if their retention is "essential" for the
agency.
"Generally, a retention bonus is used when necessary to match a
current competing offer from a non-federal employer," the rules
state,
requiring a written justification.

But in arguing that entire categories of workers -- such as
experienced drug reviewers -- should receive additional pay to remain
at the agency, the FDA effectively converted many retention bonuses
into automatic annual payments. Dyer said that the agency took up the
issue with the Office of Personnel Management, and that it approved
the policy. He said the FDA bonuses mirror those at some other
federal
agencies.

The bonuses have disproportionately gone to those who already have
large salaries. The House committee's analysis of FDA bonus data
shows
that 33 of the most senior career managers -- who earn more than
$165,000 a year because of their special talents and experience --
received a total of $900,000 in bonuses last year.

The bonuses -- which are funded in part with fees paid by industry
for
product reviews -- bring no guarantee of retention. FDA officials
acknowledge that employees are free to leave the agency even if they
receive the awards.

One of the biggest winners has been Terrell L. Vermillion, a retired
Secret Service agent who now heads the FDA's Office of Criminal
Investigations. He has received nearly $129,000 in retention bonuses
and cash merit awards in the past four years on top of his base
salary
of about $160,000. Last year, the bonuses pushed Vermillion's total
FDA compensation to $198,389, putting him above the $194,200 salary
of
an associate Supreme Court justice or the $165,200 salary of a member
of Congress.

Vermillion founded the FDA investigations office and in supporting
his
bonuses, his bosses listed his successes and said that "based on our
experience, it is impossible to recruit someone of Mr. Vermillion's
stature." His "loss to FDA at this critical juncture with increasing
criminal activity and terrorism threats would be devastating to
agency
effectiveness."

Vermillion has worked in government for more than three decades,
including 14 years as head of the investigative office. Still, he
signed a declaration in 2004 to support his bonus that stated:
"Reference our past conversations and after due consideration, I am
likely to leave the federal government for a higher paying private
sector position if the retention allowance is not approved."

Vermillion did not respond to requests for comment.