When Obama appointed Salazar to the Interior job, I hoped against hope that the corporate dirtbag wouldn't be as bad as I thought he'd be. But as always, the "business as usual" Beltway revolving door wins again. Heckuva job, Ken!

In the weeks since BP's Deepwater Horizon well started spewing into the Gulf of Mexico, there's been increasing attention to the "cozy" relationship between the Minerals Management Service (MMS) and the oil industry it's supposed to regulate. How cozy? Just last summer the Obama administration tapped a BP executive to serve as a deputy administrator for land and minerals management.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar last June appointed Sylvia V. Baca to the post, which did not require Senate confirmation. The appointment follows eight years at BP. From her MMS bio:

Baca had been general manager for Social Investment Programs and Strategic Partnerships at BP America Inc. in Houston, and had held several senior management positions with the company since 2001, focusing on environmental initiatives, overseeing cooperative projects with private and public organizations, developing health, safety, and emergency response programs and working on climate change, biodiversity and sustainability objectives.

As Director of Global Health, Safety, Environment & Emergency Response for BP Shipping Ltd. in London, Baca led a worldwide team to develop innovative and proactive energy and the environment initiatives. Among her accomplishments, she oversaw health, safety and environmental outcomes for an $8 billion ship building program, resulting in the youngest, greenest and most technically advanced fleet in the world. The project has received numerous awards for its safety and environmental advancements.

Baca is also an excellent example of the revolving door between government and industry that MMS has been accused of facilitating. From 1995 to 2001, she was an assistant secretary for land and minerals management at the Department of Interior before leaving to work for the oil giant.

So now that we know BP's "safety" record on drilling was actually a matter of cheating on tests or sidestepping them completely, I have to wonder how, exactly, Ms. Baca earned her safety awards.

Congressional Democrats are calling for two inquiries after the New York Times reported earlier this week that drug companies were jacking up their prices, negating savings they promised for healthcare reform:

Responding to news reports of unusually high wholesale price increases in brand-name prescription drugs, four House leaders and one senator asked for government reviews of the pricing practices.

Although drug makers challenge the theory, some experts say the run-up in wholesale prices may be partly related to the industry’s concerns about future cost containment under any health care legislation.

“Recent studies have indicated that the industry may be artificially raising prices for certain pharmaceutical products in expectation of new reforms,” the House Democrats wrote in a letter to the Government Accountability Office, a nonpartisan investigative arm of Congress. “Any price gouging is unacceptable, but anticipatory price gouging is especially offensive,” the letter added, asking the G.A.O. to conduct an expedited review of the price increases.

[...] Separately, Senator Bill Nelson of Florida, a Democrat who has led efforts in the Senate to seek more concessions from drug makers, wrote to the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services asking for “an immediate and thorough investigation into drug industry pricing and recent increases, and the extent to which these increases may affect the Medicare and Medicaid programs.”

Harris is down by 30 points to Bill Nelson.

Orleans: Free Download

They're still at it and Still The Ones... the band ORLEANS has a new CD. Politically active over its 33 years, the band's Sly/Tower of Power-tinged, pro-life-wingnut-trashing "Get A Life" is offered as a FREE download here: www.OrleansOnline.com

The group is donating 10% ($1.50) per CD sale to ACORN, Higher Ground Relief Fund (musician-specific help) and Red Cross Hurricane Relief.

You may remember that last October the RNC / Bush Re-election Campaign used "Still The One" as their campaign theme song. Orleans demanded they stop. The band has since offered Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) the AUTHORIZED use of the song for his re-election bid (Katherine Harris is his opponent)

Two local businessmen active in Republican Party politics say the GOP is courting cable TV host Joe Scarborough to replace U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris in the 2006 Senate race against incumbent Democrat Bill Nelson...read on (hat tip Intoxination)

Don't even get me started on this one. Will Scarborough appear on H&C and do a Chippendale's strip routine to counter Katherine's pole appearance?