Menendez Intervened on Melgen’s Behalf
Sen. Robert Menendez raised concerns with top federal health-care officials twice in recent years about their finding that a Florida eye doctor — a close friend and major campaign donor — had overbilled the government by $8.9 million for care at his clinic, Menendez aides said Wednesday.
Menendez (D-N.J.) initially contacted federal officials in 2009 about the government’s audit of Salomon Melgen, complaining to the director overseeing Medicare payments that it was unfair to penalize the doctor because the billing rules were ambiguous, the aides said.
Last year, in a meeting with the acting administrator of the agency in charge of Medicare and Medicaid, Menendez again questioned whether federal auditors had been fair in their assessment of Melgen’s billing for eye injections to treat macular degeneration, the senator’s aides said.
Those shoes, they keep dropping.
Wonder who his funders are.
What? No railing against the rich liberal supporters?
Rodney King's Spirit (951136) — 2/7/2013 @ 7:52 amHey, let’s at least give Menendez some credit. Once bought he stays bought.
Schumer and Frank would have already perp walked one of their rich buddies before a committee by now if they caused this much trouble. Just to provide cover for their prodigious tails.
Steve57 (bc3ba2) — 2/7/2013 @ 8:10 amWell, it’s good to know that he is an all-around maggot.
Icy (22d173) — 2/7/2013 @ 8:39 amonly racists are pursuing this story.
redc1c4 (403dff) — 2/7/2013 @ 8:41 amIt’s like you know me.
Steve57 (bc3ba2) — 2/7/2013 @ 8:47 amI suppose that in the “New Senator Familiarization Class”, they don’t teach about the Keating Five any longer.
askeptic (b8ab92) — 2/7/2013 @ 8:51 amIt’s good to know that Dr.
MengeleMelgem wasn’t just ripping off the Dominicans by overcharging them for that port security contract.Which, bye the bye, Menendez also intervened on the doctor’s behalf to force the Dominicans to pay up after they balked once they figured out how badly they were getting fornicated.
Steve57 (bc3ba2) — 2/7/2013 @ 8:52 amredc1c4, durn it!
I just lost my job at Disney because you outed me.
JWF – Grievance Theater: Black Family Sues Disney Over ‘Racist’ White Rabbit
Steve57 (bc3ba2) — 2/7/2013 @ 8:58 amThis is me pretending I’m shocked.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 2/7/2013 @ 9:04 amOT heads-up
Hopkins pediatric neurosurgeon ben carson at national prayer breakfast this morning schools the audience on numerous things,
his talk was not previewed by the president’s people, apparently.
includes criticism of political correctness, the national debt, and Obamacare-suggesting health savings accounts from birth that are transferable to descendents upon death
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/02/07/prayer-breakfast-speaker-praises-jesus-gets-political-calls-political-correctness-dangerous-hammers-fiscal-irresponsibility/
MD in Philly (3d3f72) — 2/7/2013 @ 9:48 amRichard Fernandez over at Belmont Club opines on the Menendez fiasco:
“Do You Know Who I Am”?
I love reason number four. Like the “sophisticated electorate” of Massachusetts the voters of New Jersey aren’t about to let the moralists spoil their ride on the gravy train. And, really, isn’t one girl and an Oldsmobile a small price to pay for free health care? So, come on, what’s a little sex slavery amongst friends. We’re all sophisticates; every body lies about sex.
And commits perjury and suborns perjury about sex. Because that’s what you have to lie about when you’re being sued for sexual harassment. There’s no point to lying about the weather in a sexual harassment trial.
Someday, hopefully, the whole country will be as sophisticated as New Jersey and Massachusetts. Right now a congressman doesn’t have a prayer of getting reelected in Alabama if the voters find out there’s a gay prostitution ring operating out of his DC home.
The heathens!
Steve57 (bc3ba2) — 2/7/2013 @ 10:13 amhe likes the young stuff
happyfeet (4bf7c2) — 2/7/2013 @ 10:21 amI should add that Whoopi Goldberg tells me if you can make a movie like “Chinatown” it’s not really “rape rape” if you drug and violate a 14 year old girl.
So if Menendez waited until these girls were 16 to exploit them he deserves a place in the liberal pantheon for demonstrating his restraint.
Steve57 (bc3ba2) — 2/7/2013 @ 10:23 amCompromised and compliant, just the way they like their Senators.
mojo (8096f2) — 2/7/2013 @ 10:23 amAfter watching Chuck Hagel’s performance before the Senate the other day, this is no longer a barrier to becoming Secretary of Defense.
Steve57 (bc3ba2) — 2/7/2013 @ 10:34 amOr Senator from New Jersey.
Steve57 (bc3ba2) — 2/7/2013 @ 10:36 am10. Ha, “do not give a thought to yourselves or what you will say”.
There is someone who knows to seize the moment. Thanks.
gary gulrud (dd7d4e) — 2/7/2013 @ 10:38 amomment by MD in Philly (3d3f72) — 2/7/2013 @ 9:48 am
I hope he’s circulating his CV.
askeptic (b8ab92) — 2/7/2013 @ 10:43 amComment by MD in Philly (3d3f72) — 2/7/2013 @ 9:48 am
Can you imagine some poor White House flunky who suggested that Dr. Carson be invited to address the prayer breakfast and is now probably being screamed at full-throated by David Axelrod? The poor flunky is probably saying, “But the doctor is African-American as well as an academic, so I just assumed that he would be fully supportive of our agenda. How was I supposed to know?”
Racist.
JVW (4826a9) — 2/7/2013 @ 11:03 am“The United States military is not and should not be a global 911 service capable of arriving on the scene within minutes to every possible contingency around the world,” Panetta told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
And really, what better way to drive that point home than to put a drooling idiot in charge?
Speaking of drooling idiots:
Of course not. The guy in charge of the Army that couldn’t detect a motive as to why some Major with “Soldier of Allah” on his business card who shot up Fort Hood shouting “Allahu Akbar” and just chalked it up to generic “workplace violence” just can’t figure out who, if anyone, is to blame for Benghazi.
Obama was right. It wasn’t terrorism. It was “workplace violence.”
Defending sovereign US territory? Too hard!
Best to spend time just doing busy work like integrating gays into the military.
And why not put women into the infantry. I mean, if you’re not going to send them…
It occurred to me that a country that has states that will make characters who’ve committed vehicular manslaughter or traffic in sex slavery into Senators is getting exactly the government it deserves.
You almost can’t blame Dempsey for his transparent arse covering. I mean, Bob Menendez is going to hold him accountable?
Steve57 (bc3ba2) — 2/7/2013 @ 11:11 amBoy, this 2013 crew of Ogabe’s recruits are going to have a sparse class picture.
gary gulrud (dd7d4e) — 2/7/2013 @ 11:35 amgary, Princess Nan will just photo-shop it for him.
askeptic (b8ab92) — 2/7/2013 @ 12:05 pmI think Carson “walks the walk”, not just “talks the talk”. People with integrity seem to be pretty sparse in the Obama administration, maybe the person that picked Carson didn’t even know such people still existed.
As far as his CV goes, Ben Carson is probably on the list of truly irreplaceable people, he is so good at what he does.
Great life story, too, if not familiar with it, in both book and movie form. He was 1/2 inch away from being locked up as a juvenile for assault with a deadly weapon when his life turned around.
re panetta- hopefully there is somewhere a mid-level officer personally privey to the events who considers his oath to uphold as reason to go to Congress to tell them what really happened, instead of what his/her superiors are saying.
MD in Philly (3d3f72) — 2/7/2013 @ 12:14 pmI think “Profiles in Courage” is what it is called, no matter who really wrote it.
Sounds like maybe Panetta was coached by the same person as Clinton, when to throw out a loud comment of “righteous indignation” when the facts are only getting them in trouble.
MD in Philly (3d3f72) — 2/7/2013 @ 12:16 pmYeah, Doc, where’s that VRWC when you need them.
askeptic (b8ab92) — 2/7/2013 @ 1:03 pmno, that’s Steve57 😎
redc1c4 (403dff) — 2/7/2013 @ 1:23 pm“I had, through General Ham,” responded Dempsey, referring to the commander of AFRICOM. “But we never received a request for support from the State Department, which would have allowed us to put forces–”
Steve57 – As I mentioned on the other thread, Hillary testified she was not aware of the warnings even though the cables were sent to State.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 2/7/2013 @ 1:56 pmdaley, you’d probably have to turn over a lot of stones in DC before finding someone besides Hillary! who didn’t know about the warnings.
Seriously, is anybody buying this act? The administration has obviously decided to quit even pretending they have any respect for anyone’s intelligence.
And I can see why. Hillary!’s table pounding “what difference does it make moment” was completely nonsensical. After she declared that it was her’s and the Senate committee’s task to figure out what went wrong and why so it doesn’t happen again, in the next breath she declare it makes no difference at this point. Err, what happened and why.
And the peanut gallery went wild with enthusiasm. I got the distinct impression that everyone in the MFM thought that confused utterance made her look presidential or something.
I guess coherence is a bit much to expect from the crowd in Obama’s clown car of an administration.
Steve57 (bc3ba2) — 2/7/2013 @ 2:18 pmWhen you have a press-spokeshole like Carney, how much respect can you have for other’s intelligence?
askeptic (b8ab92) — 2/7/2013 @ 2:40 pmMeanwhile, let’s catch up on another congressional bad boy, shall we?—
From SunTimes columnist Michael Sneed:
Sneed has learned a plea deal is now on the table between former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. and federal authorities probing allegations of campaign fund misuse.
Sneed is told the plea deal includes Jackson serving time in federal prison.
“Significant jail time is now definitely a part of the deal,” said a top Sneed source close to the probe.
“But I think [Jackson’s wife] Sandi, feels like she was thrown under the bus by her husband, ” now that a separate probe has begun on her, a second source added.
Sandi Jackson claims she was stunned by campaign finance abuse disclosures against her husband, who has been treated for mental disorders and allegedly spent $40,000 on a Rolex watch purchased with campaign funds.
Don’t feel bad for Sandi. She’s not clean as a whistle either.
elissa (adf165) — 2/7/2013 @ 2:50 pmI would say something about apples and trees, but what is dropping, and from whence it has dropped, are not quite prime-time material.
askeptic (b8ab92) — 2/7/2013 @ 3:02 pmNeedless to say, the difference between Pere & Fils is that Pere has managed to slither out from under any criminal indictments, though I don’t doubt that along the way he’s earned one or two.
askeptic–the following was left today on a comment thread elsewhere by someone calling himself or herself “anonymous”, so I can’t give proper credit. But I kind of got chills when I read it:
In The Tudors, Brandon has Ann Bolyen’s father by the neck, pressed against the wall, and referring to his now beheaded children said, ” Was It All Worth It , Bolyen??!!” For some reason I think of Jesse Jackson Sr. when I see that powerful scene.
elissa (adf165) — 2/7/2013 @ 3:10 pmFlexible standards with this fellow,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2013/02/07/sen-robert-menendez-and-the-mainstream-media-malfeasance/
narciso (3fec35) — 2/7/2013 @ 5:29 pmhttp://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/05/nyregion/port-deal-pushed-by-menendez-could-also-benefit-ex-aide.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/07/nyregion/investigators-say-menendez-intervened-on-friends-
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/11/us/politics/menendez-discouraged-giving-port-security-equipment-to-dominicans.html?_r=0&pagewanted=all
Sammy Finkelman (d22d64) — 2/11/2013 @ 1:27 pmMiddle URL should be:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/07/nyregion/investigators-say-menendez-intervened-on-friends-behalf.html
Is Senator Menendez Melgren’s lawyer? And did Dr. Melgen actually treat two or three or even four patients per vial?
Sammy Finkelman (d22d64) — 2/11/2013 @ 1:30 pmThe tale is even more complicated;
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/02/06/The-Corrupt-Origins-of-the-Melgen-Menendez-Dominican-Port-Security-Deal
narciso (3fec35) — 2/11/2013 @ 1:32 pm