PA in the WSJ

I finally finished reading this week's Wall Street Journal and found a few interesting Pennsylvania-related items:

Mullins, Brody, "Strings Attached: As Earmarked Funding Swells, Some Recipients Don't Want it," Dec. 26, p. A1+. This is from p. A10:

Leaders in both parties use earmarks to reward lawmakers. For example, Pennsylvania Democratic Rep. John Murtha, who will be chairman of the defense spending panel, won't allow members to add earmarks to the defense-spending bill unless they agree to support it, according to aides on the appropriations committee. This year's defense bill, which included nearly 3,000 earmarks took a mere 20 minutes to pass the House in October.

Megan Grote, a spokeswoman for Mr. Murtha, says that "members of Congress who appreciate the synergy between local communities and the [Department of Defense] are much more likely to support the bill, and that is the essential goal -- to get members to support the defense bill."

According to the article about 4% of the nation's budget, about 40.8 billion dollars, goes to earmarks.

In the Saturday/Sunday, December 23-24 issue, a front page article, "By the Bedside: In Nursing Homes, A Drug Middleman Finds Big Profits," by Sarah Lueck, a Pennsylvania company gets a mention on the p. A7 continuation:

Omnicare isn't the only company in the field receiving rebates. AmerisourceBergen Corp. of Chesterbrook, Pa, which has a subsidiary supplying drugs to nursing homes, also gets them. "It's part of how we get paid," says AmerisourceBergen spokesman Michael N. Kilpatrick, adding that the rebates are for medically beneficial drugs.

Since 1994 Omnicare has hired he College of Pharmacy at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia to compile an annual book -- now running to about 800 pages -- that lays out the best drugs to use in the elderly based on research. The company says the book is the basis for its drug recommendations. "This book is scrutinized by people who have no vested interest in helping Omnicare financially," says Catherine Dragon, driectory of the guidelines project at the university, describing the editorial process.

I found the entire article a little alarming. In the interest of full disclosure let me mention that the investment club I belong to owns Omnicare stock.