The City of Albuquerque took quick action in dismissing two employees whose malfeasance caused six million gallons of untreated sewage to spill into the Rio Grande. That threatened the public safety of many people downstream. Poor performance in their jobs cost them their jobs. (The ABCWUA Utility is run by a board comprised of city, county and others.)
Now think of how things have been handled at APD. Has it been as efficient? Hardly. How is it that sewage plant workers are dealt with in a timely manner, but bad cops are not? It is that whole P.R. aura that many sign onto that cops are special, no matter how they do their jobs.
There is great news for those folks who suffer from too much LDL cholesterol which leads to heart attacks and strokes. A new type of drug will help them greatly. It will only cost $10,000 a year. On the one hand I marvel at big Pharma's research and science that leads to the creation of such drugs, but I would truly like to see a cost breakdown of how these prices are arrived at. It is said one in three Americans suffer from high LDL but how many would be able to afford this cost? Is big Pharma looking to gouge everyone and Medicare in order to reap windfall profits? Does anyone look at the costs of creating such drugs and then do a fair analysis on the price to be charged? Or do we just trust the CEO's and Boards to be prudent in setting their prices? Dream on.
6 comments:
Jim,
The difference might be that the City does not run the South Side Water Rec Plant. It's the responsibility of the ABCWUA.
To bad some of APD's administration wasn't included in the Rio Grande dump. There is more sewage on the 5th floor that the Tidy Bowl man needs to be working overtime.
Channel 7 did a report last night where Rob Perry called "asinine" the suggestion that the Chief, Deputies, Commanders and Lts be terminated for poor job performance over the last six years in order to implement the DoJ reforms. Perry also called the Alb. Free Press an "underground newspaper". Bad managers should also be dealt with swiftly especially when they are costing the City millions in police misconduct cases.
It is true the ABCWUA runs the sewer plant. But it board has a lot of city reps on it. But I hope the the message is clear that what is good for the goose is good for the gander.
Do a simple search "cost of prescriptions drugs US vs other countries" and you'll find article after article after article explaining how US Big Pharma simply rips us off and the same drugs are sold for much less in other countries. It's called theft.
Even conservative Slate magazine puts it that in Canada there are price controls on drugs, so US Big Pharma makes up for the lower profits they collect there by charging us more. It's still theft. It's so-called free market Capitalism.
Remember when the US government put men on the moon? Won World War II? Cured polio? There's no basis for the lie that innovation won't happen unless Capitalists are allowed to steal from us and cause many people to die because they can't afford to get medicine.
Note how in McKinney, Texas, a 14 year old girl was abused by a cop one dsay, the next days protesters from around the country were there, with TV crews right behind them, and the next day the cop "resigned."
The powers that be in McKinney are trying to make it go away fast. Typically in cases like this the cop soon resurfaces somewhere else -- recall that the New Mexico state cop who emptied his pistol on that van full of kids and was fired was recently hired by a sheriff's department up there. But that doesn't lessen the fact that we the people have the power to affect any kind of change we so desire so long as we don't just hand our power over to some politicians and go home.
I find the ABQ Free Press to be the only paper in town who does not have an agenda and is interested in the truth. The Journal is interested only in protecting those they support and control. They want to run government agencies without having to hassle with the election process. The message is clear if you don't do as they dictate, they will make you their hobby. They can because they buy ink by the barrel. Look around and you can easily tell who they own. Berry and Perry get a walk in every instance. Their names weren't even mentioned in the Chief Schultz scandal. And they are so smug, they don't think the public is bright enough to see what is going on. I support the elected officials the Journal is critical of because I know they must be independent and doing what they think is right, not what the Journal tells them to do. The Journal is part of the corruption in this city. They need to go with Berry, Perry and the SPD chain of command.
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