PATHETIC!

I thought I'd take a rare break for a couple days from the usual comments on politicians and political issues...

Have you noticed the disgusting nature of some (many) of the TV ads these days? It seems that advertisers and networks will run virtually anything, at all hours of the day and night. I thought I'd single out a few products on which to vent a complaint or two. Perhaps you'll be familiar with some of these products and their ads and will share your two cents' worth on them, too. I find almost all of them nauseating.

Let's start with Viagra. We see ads for this erectile dysfunction medication running day and night on cable and satellite. While the current ad campaign has a nice spiffy musical signature which paraphrases the old Elvis tune "Viva Las Vegas," that's about all you can say for it. Why does this run all hours of the day, and when a young child sees it, how do you answer the inevitable "what is ED" question? Or "what is a 4 hour erection, daddy?" It just seems to me that advertising for prescription drugs, and particularly for this kind of prescription drug, should be directed at physicians, not consumers. And it would probably be best to run these ads after 9 or 10 PM rather than all day and night, don't you think?

Next we've got these ridiculous ExtenZe ads. You've seen the middle aged guy paired with the much younger woman, and both are talking about how this product will cause a man to become "larger" by using it, (and, of course, big macho guy nonchalantly says "of course, I wasn't so much interested in the 'larger' part, but when I heard it could help me perform better..." Yeah, sure, pal), and both will have more fun in bed and make love more often. How utterly ridiculous and insulting to our intelligence! Every time I see one of this product's ads, I start thinking of snake oil salesmen. And naturally, these stupid ads run in prime time, too, just like Viagra ads.

Then, there's good ol' Nutrisystems. The sound volume on their aggravating ads always jumps out at you, and they always show lots of shots of the most unappetizing food you've ever laid eyes on. That stuff looks HORRIBLE! I think a heaping plate of liver and brussels sprouts would look appealing next to that crud. If anybody ever put a plate of that plasticky, rubbery-looking Nutrisystems shit in front of me, I'd go on a hunger strike and die (no wonder the system is so effective in helping one to lose weight---NOBODY would eat that junk)! We always see a hyper blabber-mouthed, gravelly-voiced tomboy Jillian Barberie making as though she can throw a football (she can't), a super slender Dan Marino, or an ultra-dense Marie Osmond acting like a bimbo and urging us to get on the system. But the worst thing of all is that these ads run CONSTANTLY, 2-4 times each hour, and you never get a break. HELP!!!

Finally, we come to Cialis. Here we see numerous couples smiling, holding hands, hugging each other, and then---and then---a man in one bathtub and a woman in the other, out in a field somewhere, or at a beach. Now how ridiculous is THAT? Why TWO separate bathtubs? If you send in 10 Cialis proofs of purchase, do they send you an additional bathtub for free? Call me stupid, but I've never been able to figure out what two separate bathtubs in a weird, non-bathtub-type location have to do with curing erectile dysfunction! What kind of nonsense is this anyway, and, like Viagra and ExtenZe, why are these Cialis ads also featured during all hours of the day or night?

We are sure getting fed a lot of garbage through all-too frequent TV advertising these days. I say, let's nationalize the television networks (as they are in France, the UK, and the Netherlands) and ban obnoxious TV ads for a full year. We need a break from the constant barrage of nonsense we're hit with every hour of every day. It's PATHETIC! Is anybody with me on this? Let me know YOUR thoughts, or share with us YOUR most hated TV ads, ok?

UP NEXT: "BEWARE THE CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICAN PIRATES!"

TOP 10 REASONS YOUR PRESCRIPTIONS COST SO MUCH

"TAX THE VERY WEALTHY TO MAKE EVERYONE HEALTHY!"
- VIGILANTE, SOZADEE, CA -


As you know, my last two posts dealt with those who are profiting immensely from our current exclusionary private health "care" system, highlighting those from the health insurance racket. But they are only part of the reason your health care costs so much. Another guilty industry is the pharmaceutical industry, which I highlight here.

Below is my Top 10 list of pharma CEOs whose obscenely high salaries help contribute to the high cost of medical treatment in this country. Just like their greedy profiteering counterparts in the health insurance industry, they are ENEMIES OF THE PEOPLE. Unlike David Letterman's Top 10 lists, though, this one is not cute or humorous. In fact, it should make your blood boil. Remember, folks, that roughly 30% of the cost of expensive American drug company research and development is underwritten by YOU, the American taxpayer, in the form of subsidies. So how do these companies and their CEOs show YOU their gratitude for such support? By producing some of the medications in cheap labor countries overseas instead of employing American workers to make them here, by selling the very same drugs here, where these companies are headquartered, at TWICE the price they sell them to Canada, Australia, and other places in the world with so-called "socialized medicine" systems, and by rewarding themselves and their board members with piggishly high salaries at YOUR expense, that's how!

So here they are, the rip-offs who keep raising their prices at will and lining their pockets with YOUR money. I have included a photo of each so you'll know exactly who to verbally thrash should you ever encounter them in an empty elevator or a dimly-lit parking lot or ramp. I have their exorbitant 2008 salaries posted here (taken from a May 11, 2009 Fierce Pharmo report by Maureen Martino and Calisha Myers), as well as a few of the drugs/products their companies produce which do help you live and feel better, but which you also pay dearly for so that they can live luxuriously while you feel the financial pinch. These are the people who profit off of your sickness and misery. THEY ARE YOUR ENEMIES!




10. JOHN LECHLEITER
CEO, Eli Lilly
2008 salary: $ 13,000,000
(Cialis, Evista, plus a number of insulins for diabetics)


9. FRANK BALDINO
CEO, Cephalion
2008 salary: $ 14,5000,000
(Nuvigil, Fentora, Amrix, Gabitril)


8. JEFFREY KINDLER
CEO, Pfizer
2008 salary: $ 14,800,000
(Caduet, Xalatan, Benadryl, Lipitor, Viagra, Celebrex, Depo-Provera, Zoloft)


7. DAVID VASELLA
CEO, Novartis
2008 salary: $ 15,100,000
(Diovan, Lamisil, Lotrel, Exelon, Glivec, Exjade)


6. ROBERT PARKINSON
CEO, Baxter International
2008 salary: $ 16,000,000
(produces inhalation anesthesias, dialysis and cardiovascular products, and medicine delivery systems and units)


5. RICHARD CLARK
CEO, Merck
2008 salary: $ 19,900,000
(Zocor, Januvia, Zostavax, Vytorin)


4. JIM CORNELIUS
CEO, Bristol-Myers Squibb
2008 salary: $ 25,000,000
(Plavix, Abilify, Baraclude, Orencia)


3. BERNARD POUSSOT
CEO, Wyeth
2008 salary: $ 25,000,000
(Alavert, Premarin, Robitussin, Pinracil, Ambesol, Lumevax)


2. MILES WHITE
CEO, Abbott
2008 salary: $ 28,300,000
(Vicodin, Prevacid, Depacon, Humira, Leptos, Erythromycin)

And the number 1 reason your prescriptions cost so much:


BILL WELDON
CEO, Johnson & Johnson
2008 salary: $ 29,500,000
(Axert, Reopro, Doribax, One Touch diabetic blood glucose meters, Prezista, Doxil)


Remember these names, faces, and companies next time you must pay for an expensive prescription drug. These are the people who directly or indirectly cause many elderly on fixed incomes and millions of others low on money to have to sometimes choose between their product or food to eat. These are the people who want no price-lowering pressure to come from a government-run, public option health care plan. They would rather punp money into expensive ads designed to get you to suggest their particular product to your doctor than to have everyone able to afford medication. They would rather preserve their gigantic salaries than see everybody able to afford medical care. THEY ARE YOUR ENEMIES. For their primary interest is maintaining and increasing their profits, and your cure or relief from pain or misery is of a distant secondary importance.

UP NEXT: LEADERSHIP WE COULD USE TODAY!