Insurance Brick Wall
(AP / CBS)
For virtually all of my working life my family and I have been covered under a large health umbrella with thousands of other company employees. During that time I've paid thousands more in premiums than were ever been paid out, and that's okay, because so-called "shared risk" is what large group plans are all about.
But not, it appears, individual insurance.
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My Snowy Day In Shawano
(CBS)
By the time Producer Michael Rey and I arrived in Shawano we'd already interviewed Bob Cameron, the man who says that he was hired to be a "hit man," and conducted a contentious interview with Alan Eisenberg, the Milwaukee attorney who represents SIST, the secretive group at the center of our investigation.
I can't say I've ever interviewed a Hit Man before, alleged or otherwise. Cameron turned out to be serious and edgy. He was highly concerned about the welfare of his family, which he said had already spent several days in protective custody in the wake of his decision to turn over the alleged hit list of 60 names to authorities. That's because, Cameron said, there were actually 63 names on the list. Shortly after he provided the list to authorities a "pretty big rock" went through the window of his motor sports business in Canada. Nothing made sense until, he said, he turned it over.
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Setting The Record Straight On Attempted Suicides
(CBS)
In both written and oral statements before the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, Peake, a medical doctor and retired Lt. General in the Army, characterized the 790 figure as -- "not reliable" and "misleading" – questioning the manner in which it was obtained.
"VA has since reviewed its records to try and understand where CBS might have gotten their information," said Peake, seen in the above photo on the near left, "and believes the number stemmed from a response to a Freedom of Information Act Request CBS made…"
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My "Date" With the D.C. Madam
(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, file)
I met Ms. Palfrey shortly after the ABC News story aired that revealed a small sliver of her clientele. We met at a dodgy Greek diner not far from my office. She arrived in a hurry accompanied by her attorney and a particular point of view: disappointed the ABC expose she'd invested so much time and effort had failed to live up to her expectations; dropping unverifiable hints about her theory of a dark Disney conspiracy, while making clear she was far from finished. As we spoke, investigative reporters in Washington were digging into phone records from the Clinton years; a "Vanity Fair" profile was in the works. For me, there would be a fresh set of phone records, from another era, if I could pass the Deborah Palfrey test.
She was dressed much like you'd expect a high-class Madam might look – conservatively, her only real accent a set of tired, knowing eyes. Deborah Palfrey was clearly nobody's fool. She knew how important the "name game" was to some members of the media but she was not in the business of giving them up. If you got the records and you wanted to do what ABC had done, spend endless hours tracking down numbers and verifying names there could well be some certified gold, some high-ranking government officials at the end of that rainbow. But not once, despite my efforts, would she offer a hint on who that might be.
And, frankly, I wasn't all that interested in playing Gotcha. As our time ticked away Palfrey spun the story she really wanted told: how her prosecution was based on an insidious government conspiracy involving a certain police official's attempt to save his own skin in a corruption case by offering her up and Palfrey's refusal go quietly, to the point of calling a high-ranking Justice Department official – a client -- and threatening to take his name public. A dangerous game, to be sure.
In the end, the phone records were never offered. Mainly, I think, because she sensed, correctly, at the time my reluctance to devote enormous manpower and energy to what was a fishing expedition. Now about a year after our meeting Ms. Palfrey has done what she evidently promised she would do – commit suicide rather than go to prison for up to six years after being convicted in April of running a prostitution ring and money laundering.
I never saw Deborah Jeane Palfrey again after one meeting. But I won't soon forget the story behind those sad, knowing eyes.
The Power of a Paper Trail
(CBS/iStockPhoto)
So it was last December when the VA's head of mental health, Dr. Ira Katz, went before Congress and went after CBS News and our data revealing an "epidemic" of suicides among those who have served in the military.
I knew how much work producer Pia Malbran and other members of our investigative unit had put into the five-month investigation that aired last November; how we'd checked and double-checked and triple-checked our numbers, knowing full well the potential impact of our story. I knew when we said that 6,256 people who have served in the military had committed suicide in 2005 we had the goods to back it up – despite Dr. Katz's criticism. I knew when we said that, overall, suicide rates among veterans were double of those of the general population (per 100,000) and quadruple for those ages 20-24, we were on solid ground. I felt the very same way when last month we raised questions about how many veterans under VA care were attempting suicide.
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A Broken Trust? Congress Takes On The CDC
(CBS)
As part of its continuing investigation into the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a major House subcommittee is now taking dead aim at whether "political pressure" caused the CDC to "scale down or cancel" beryllium testing in Elmore, Ohio, the subject of our exclusive investigation on the CBS Evening News.
In recent months the CDC has come under increasing pressure from agency insiders and other sources who question whether political or corporate pressure have resulted in "deficient, incomplete and/or muted reports, studies or Health Consultations." Three cases stand out: what critics have called the CDC's "indefensible handling" of the issue of formaldehyde in FEMA trailers; a study on toxic dumping sites in the Great Lakes region; and community testing for the toxic dust beryllium around Brush Wellman plant in Elmore.
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The Government's Pitch To Clemens
(CBS/AP)
As anyone with even a remote interest in sport knows, Clemens has repeatedly – and defiantly – claimed that he never used performance-enhancing drugs during his 24-year career. Not once. Ever. Never. All of which stands in stark contrast to sworn testimony by former personal trainer Brian McNamee, who says he injected Clemens with anabolic steroids and human growth hormone at least 16 times between 1998 and 2001; and statements and affidavits provided by ex-Yankee teammate Andy Pettitte who says Clemens admitted using HGH in 1999 or 2000. In something out of the Theatre of the Absurd we also have issues involving testimony from a former nanny, pictures taken at Jose Canseco's house; and, we kid you not, discussions involving breast augmentation (wives not ballplayers).
No telling how this will all play out but one thing is certain: Roger Clemens is now, officially, playing in a different ballpark. He has left the confines of Congress and likely moved into the Northern District of California, home of IRS agent Jeff Novitzky, the lead investigator in the BALCO steroid scandal, and prosecutors from the United States Attorney's branch office in San Jose. You may remember this team. They're the ones responsible for indicting home run king Barry Bonds on four counts of perjury and convicting former Olympic superstar Marion Jones of lying to a federal grand jury. Down the line they'll almost certainly be asked to assist in – if not spearhead – the investigation of Clemens.
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On The Road To Prosperity
(CBS)
It was back in the early 1980s that Copeland, a former personal pilot for Oral Roberts, was given these 1,500 acres by a rich oil baron named Paul Pewitt. On this cold winter day it gives the godfather of "Prosperity Gospel" a very good name.
From across the main road it was easy to see parts of his sprawling religious empire – the low-lying Eagle Mountain International Church and shiny new ministry headquarters. To the right the framework of a $10 million "children's building" is on the rise; far, far beyond, we are told, is the Copeland's 18,000 square-foot lake-front parsonage where Copeland and wife Gloria often lay their head at night. To the left is the ministry's private airport and planes; just beyond, cattle stand grazing. Somewhere beyond sight are the gas and oil wells.
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Union To Get 'Prior Read' Before Mitchell Report Released
(CBS)
According to a high-ranking source within baseball, union officials will be given a "prior read" of the Mitchell Report for an unspecified period of time to determine whether it complies with the current Collective Bargaining Agreement between baseball owners and the players' association.
John J. Clarke, an attorney at Mitchell's law firm and a spokesman for the 21-month investigation, did not immediately return a call for comment. Gene Orza, second in command at the players' union, was traveling and not available for comment.
Playing Cat and Mouse in the Desert
By Armen Keteyian and Michael Rey
The sun had long since set as we scanned the desert with night vision lenses, a green phosphorescent glow visible in the distance, specks of bright white light dancing before my eyes. Off to my right stood Sgt. Jim Murphy, head of the Pima County Border Crimes Unit. On this night a small army of men were searching for so-called bajadores, modern-day desert bandits that, increasingly, are bringing violence along the Mexican border into America's backyard.
Tall and square-jawed Murphy is an ex-military operative who drives a SUV like Jeff Gordon and speaks with the quiet, confident air of an NFL quarterback in a linebacker's body. He's got a tough job, no two ways about it. For a little over a year now rival gangs of bajadores have been in the midst of a what authorities here call an "all out war" just beyond the back nine of some of the state's nicest retirement communities in Green Valley, Arizona – jacking valuable loads of drugs and human cargo coming from Mexico. The drugs resold on the street, the illegals often held hostage until family members across the border pay thousands of dollars in ransom.
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(AP)
Tall and square-jawed Murphy is an ex-military operative who drives a SUV like Jeff Gordon and speaks with the quiet, confident air of an NFL quarterback in a linebacker's body. He's got a tough job, no two ways about it. For a little over a year now rival gangs of bajadores have been in the midst of a what authorities here call an "all out war" just beyond the back nine of some of the state's nicest retirement communities in Green Valley, Arizona – jacking valuable loads of drugs and human cargo coming from Mexico. The drugs resold on the street, the illegals often held hostage until family members across the border pay thousands of dollars in ransom.
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BUNDLERS: A PACKAGE DEAL?
(CBS/AP)
Producer Laura Strickler and I were on the street to get a first-hand look at how the vast majority of campaign money is raised these days. Because federal law limits individual donations to $2,300 per person, candidates call upon an elite group of Americans – about 2,000 in all – to package together small donations into big bundles of cash, often $100,000 or more. In the world of political fund raising they are known as Bundlers. Outside Barr's house they appeared more blue blood than blue collar -- industry titans, CEOs, lawyers, lobbyists, hedge fund managers and philanthropists. It was much the same story at a major Hillary event at Town Hall in New York, a seven-member Host Committee including philanthropist Barbaralee Diamonstein, Susan Ness from Greenstone Media, Rosina Rubin of Attitude New York, a limousine company and Matt Mallow from the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.
Our story tonight asked perhaps the most obvious question: What do these bundlers GET for delivering all that cash? If you turn out to be like Ken Langone, a co-founder of Home Depot who has raised millions for Rudy Guiliani and other candidates, the answer is probably nothing. A while back I interviewed Langone in his impressive corner office in the Seagram Building, the classiest of Manhattan office space. Langone is equally classy, if not more so. When he says he wouldn't want anything for all he does, that he's in it because he believes in America, believes in who he's backing…you believe him. Lord, we had a helluva good time going back and forth, engaged in a spirited give and take. I absolutely love talking to people like Ken, who, unlike 40 others we contacted, wasn't afraid to defend his actions. Maybe it's because he finds it "most disrespectful…. to take money from friends to get something for me."
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FDA Oversight
No matter how you slice it Wednesday was not a great day for the FDA. 
In back-to-back stories on our Evening News broadcast we detailed widespread concerns about possible links between teenage suicide and anti-depressant drugs followed by my piece based upon a scathing Senate Committee report that raised troubling questions about a relatively new antibiotic, Ketek, and its links to serious liver damage.
Both the sale and use of Ketek has skyrocketed since its approval on April Fools Day 2004. Last year alone, 3.3 million prescriptions were written, all for a drug that, despite assurances from both the manufacturer and FDA of its safety, has some "serious data integrity problems," to quote Senator Charles Grassley's detailed report.
You have to hand it to Grassley and his investigative staff. At a time when Big Pharma seems in control much of Congress, or at least its legislative agenda, the straight-talking Senator from Iowa has stood up and called out companies like Sanofi-Aventis, maker of Ketek, over the integrity of its clinical trials, and the FDA for putting up with it.
"The Food and Drug Administration can't be in the business of misleading the public and hiding the truth," Grassley said, hard on the heels of the release of his report. "The integrity of the agency is at stake. The new commissioner [Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach] has promised to improve the way the FDA operates. If he lives up to his word, maybe something good will come of this."
I hope so. Although I'm not so sure given what Dr. David Ross told us. Dr. Ross headed the FDA's safety review of Ketek only to leave the agency after his superiors, including Dr. von Eschenbach, failed to act on his warnings. Worse, Ross said, von Eschenbach told him to pipe down, to keep his concerns inside the "locker room" or
he would "be traded."
Today America is a drug dependant nation. We take pills to wake us up, put us to sleep, soothe our stomach, increase our libido, ease our pain and anxiety, balance our moods, for just about every illness known to man or woman – and some that seem created by some magical medical mystery board (If you suffer from RLS or Restless Leg Syndrome…).
Are we really that addicted to what's in our purse, palm or medicine cabinet? What can be done to break Big Pharma's growing control of our minds and bodies?
I wish I knew.
(CBS/60 Minutes)
Both the sale and use of Ketek has skyrocketed since its approval on April Fools Day 2004. Last year alone, 3.3 million prescriptions were written, all for a drug that, despite assurances from both the manufacturer and FDA of its safety, has some "serious data integrity problems," to quote Senator Charles Grassley's detailed report.
You have to hand it to Grassley and his investigative staff. At a time when Big Pharma seems in control much of Congress, or at least its legislative agenda, the straight-talking Senator from Iowa has stood up and called out companies like Sanofi-Aventis, maker of Ketek, over the integrity of its clinical trials, and the FDA for putting up with it.
"The Food and Drug Administration can't be in the business of misleading the public and hiding the truth," Grassley said, hard on the heels of the release of his report. "The integrity of the agency is at stake. The new commissioner [Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach] has promised to improve the way the FDA operates. If he lives up to his word, maybe something good will come of this."
I hope so. Although I'm not so sure given what Dr. David Ross told us. Dr. Ross headed the FDA's safety review of Ketek only to leave the agency after his superiors, including Dr. von Eschenbach, failed to act on his warnings. Worse, Ross said, von Eschenbach told him to pipe down, to keep his concerns inside the "locker room" or
he would "be traded."
Today America is a drug dependant nation. We take pills to wake us up, put us to sleep, soothe our stomach, increase our libido, ease our pain and anxiety, balance our moods, for just about every illness known to man or woman – and some that seem created by some magical medical mystery board (If you suffer from RLS or Restless Leg Syndrome…).
Are we really that addicted to what's in our purse, palm or medicine cabinet? What can be done to break Big Pharma's growing control of our minds and bodies?
I wish I knew.
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