The CVS Caremark / CVS Pharmacy expired products problem

CVS Caremark Corp is a large national corporation which operated over 7,000 US drugstores under the name CVS Pharmacy. CVS Caremar Corp, or "CVS", or "CVS Pharmacy" for this blog post, has been the focus of lawsuits by state attorney generals in Connecticut and in New York for selling expired products, according to the Boston Globe.

In California, CVS Caremark was the focus of California Attorney General Jerry Brown, who in June of 2009, negotiated a $975,000 settlement of a civil lawsuit with CVS Pharmacy along with an agreement to give $2 coupons to anyone who found expired products on their shelves, and designates a toll-free number to call to report such items.

Now, there's a charge from a reliable source that CVS (formerly Long’s Drug stores in California) as well as Krogers, Ralphs, and other major chain stores are selling ‘diverted’ or grey market products that may counterfeited.

In some cases, the claim is the California consumer is even getting products that can be dangerous.

“Diverters” are companies are selling these stores products that have been diverted from their intended sales point or they may even be selling counterfeit products.

If this turns out to be the case, CVS will again be in violation of the same California laws under the Business and Professions Code 17200 and the Civil Code 1798.81 by misleading customers.

On August 14th of 2009, the Modesto Bee wrote wrote that a number of county district attorneys, including Stanislaus San Joaquin, Sacramento, San Bernardino and Solano counties have joined in the statewide lawsuit against several national retailers who stock beauty supplies alleged to violate California environmental law.

That lawsuit, originally brought by the District Attorney of Stanislaus County, sought penalties of at least $17 million, with amounts to be levied based on each day a prohibited hair product is offered for sale, according to court papers. The case also named Longs Drug Stores, Target, Rite Aid, Walgreens and Ralphs, among other defendants.

That lawsuit named a New Jersey company, Pro Choice Beauty Care Inc, that provides the products to the retail stores — without approval from the brand manufacturers. It is unclear how clear where Pro's Choice Beauty Care Inc. gets its products. It is believed to be a “diverter” of products.

The hair products that were being sold were found to contain elevated levels of smog-forming volatile organic compounds, state environmental authorities said, according to the Modesto Bee.
Stay tuned for more information as this story unfolds both here in the Bay Area and around California. I've made several calls to sources; I expect follow-ups soon.

Tiger Woods reportedly sends apology letter to daughter's school

According to Florida television station WFTV, Tiger Woods has "offered another apology" and this one to the parents of children at the school his 2-year-old daughter attends. Here's what WFTV reported on it's own website:

WFTV reported on its Web site that it has obtained a letter that Woods and his wife, Elin, wrote to parents of children attending the school to apologize for increased media scrutiny around the school.
"We hope that the paparazzi will find something better to do with their time in the near future," the letter said.
Media coverage around Woods and his family has been intense since the Nov. 27 accident outside his home led to revelations that the world's No. 1 golfer had been cheating on his wife. Woods did not make his first public appearance until Friday at the TPC Sawgrass clubhouse in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla..
Woods' wife did not attend his nationally televised appearance, and photographers were seen outside the Premier Academy that day. WFTV says an off-duty sheriff's deputy has been hired to sit outside the school.

WFTV did not explain when the letter was sent or show a copy of it. Moreover, WFTV writes the account as if it was from another television station. It took the Associated Press version of the story about its report, and reposted it on its own website.

Wild.

Stay tuned.

Tiger Woods apology poll - 39 percent aren't convinced

In the Tiger Woods apology poll conducted on the very day Tiger Woods gave his famous and widely seen apology, there have been 133 votes cast.

While the sample size needs to be larger to be more relevant, the current results are that 39 percent - the majority in the poll - aren't convinced that Tiger Woods was honest.

The response itself may be an indication that overall the public's tired of the news of Tiger Woods affairs, it's even evident that the once automatic buzz generated by the Tiger Woods mistresses has greatly diminished. Still, the poll records on.

The overall results thus far:

1) 39 percent are not convinced
2) 23 percent think the Tiger Woods speech was not necessary
3) 23 percent think he said the right things
4) 12.78 percent think it was honest, but are taking a wait and see position
5) .75 percent think he should have had his wife by his side.

The last one's interesting. Count this blogger as one who thinks Tiger Woods said the right things in his speech. But it would have been much better for him to have his wife Elin Nordegren there with him. It was a mistake to go forward without her.

Here's the Tiger Woods speech poll:

create text & photo polls on pollsb.com

Stay tuned.

American Red Cross explains unallocated Haiti donations in blog

The matter of the unallocated $175 million in American Red Cross Haiti donations focused on earlier, finally received attention via the American Red Cross' own blog, which this blogger happened to visit Tuesday. The post, written by Gloria Huang, reads as follows:

Recently, we’ve been seeing some confusion from readers and bloggers online about the allocation of funds for Haiti relief. We would like to clarify how our Haiti relief funds are being used and how we are planning for their allocation in the future.

In just over a month, the American Red Cross has already spent or allocated $80 million of the $276 million donated to meet the most urgent needs of Haiti’s earthquake survivors.

The $80 million allocated so far has gone towards immediate relief for Haitians – 69% for food and water, 20% for shelter, and 11% for health and family services. The remaining $196 million will be spent as the Red Cross continues to focus on finding communities and populations in need in Haiti in order to give them the things they can use to survive this difficult situation.

Every donated dollar will be spent on relief in Haiti; because of the generosity of our donors, people in Haiti will receive resources, support and training from the Red Cross that will help them recover and rebuild in the years ahead.

The error, then, is in the initial American Red Cross report, which still reads as follows:

Since the earthquake, the American Red Cross has raised approximately $255 million for the Haiti relief and recovery efforts. To date, it has spent or committed $80 million, with approximately 69 percent of the funds spent or committed for food and water; 20 percent for shelter; and 11 percent for health and family services. As the response progresses and recovery begins, the Red Cross will continue to support these priority areas and longer-term assistance initiatives.

The words "spent or committed $80 million" are what caught this blogger's attention. Note that the report fails to mention $175 million or $196 million for that matter. It was done only after attention was brought to the problems in the American Red Cross report by me.

Since then I've received a number of interesting emails and phone calls. Look, of an estimated $644 million raised for Haiti relief, one company, the American Red Cross, is responsible for one-third of that. Someone told me that the real reason for the omission of the $175 million was that when a person donated online they had to specifically designate where their money was going; if they did not click "Haiit", the donation went to the Red Cross' International Response Fund. The caller claims the International Response Fund money does not go to Haiti.

This link is to the donations page - DONATE. Note that Haiti is one of several choices. So the question is this: is the $175 million or now $196 million really donations just taken in, and only $80 million was captured because some donors clicked on the "Haiti" tag? And why doesn't the American Red Cross have a specific webpage and link button just for Haiti?

To this eye, it seems that the ARC is trying to use the Haiti issue to increase all of its donor coffers, not just that for Haiti.

So this matter's still open and is getting even more interesting. What's really funny is that because some disagree with these posts, and may be paid by the American Red Cross to respond to them via comments on the blog, they reach for the "wouldn't a journalist..." blast. That always happens when they don't agree. I remind them that I'm a blogger, far beyond a journalist. Bloggers have to mention their biases and can't hide behind the statements of false "experts". Bloggers - video or text - make it happen. Bloggers - especially video-bloggers - rock.

Robert Pattinson and "Negroes": what's he got against blacks like me?

Video update:

Getting away from Negros? 

Here we go again. Just two weeks after popular, 3-million-Twitter-user followed John Mayer has a great 16-year old scotch called Lagavulin neat (that's without ice) and gets off an N-word blast and explains how he's not attracted to black women, we have Twilight star Robert Pattinson doing an interview in Details and over more than one beer and opening his mouth to reveal his own prejudice against blacks like this blogger.

Moreover, he's enabled by the author of the interview.

In the March issue of Details Magazine, he has several beers with the interviewer, a woman named Jenny Lumet. At first, they start with coffee. But then they have a succession of beers. Ms. Lumet's so interested in the beer aspect of her meetups she divides her talks into beers: "Beer 1," etc.

At Beer No. 3 Pattinson and Lumet have this exchange:

Jenny Lumet: Rob, did you know that every time you say actor or acting you lower your voice to a whisper?

Robert Pattinson: He's genuinely startled. "I do?"

Jenny Lumet:Yes, so quietly it's like you're saying Negro.

Robert Pattinson: He laughs, lightens up. "What if we were 'acting' like 'Negroes'? Then we'd be fucked—we couldn't hear anything. . . ."

What the does it mean: "What if we were 'acting' like 'Negroes'? Then we'd be fucked—we couldn't hear anything. . . ." The comment leaves more to question. When Robert Pattinson says "what if we were acting like Negroes" what's he talking about? Ms. Lumet also apparently has her own issues with blacks like me, because she started him on this racist path.

Does Robert Pattinson have any black friends? What do they think about this? And if Robert Pattinson doesn't have black, er, Negro friends, perhaps that's the problem. It certainly seems to be the problem for Jenny Lumet.

To be racist is to put someone else down because of the color of their skin. That's what both Jenny Lumet and Robert Pattinson did. What's Robert Pattinson got against blacks like me? Does that mean he'd snub me for an interview? And why would Details hire a person like Jenny Lumet who's obviously got some of her own issues with blacks like me?

And what's this sudden small rash of racist comments by young white male pop culture stars all about anyway? You may say it's just two guys, but it's two guy too many. John Mayer and Robert Pattinson both have some issues with, er, Negroes, they need to work out and in such a way that both can have scotch or beer and not run off at the mouth.

What's happening - John Mayer and Robert Pattinson's racist blasts and Vanity Fair's "all white" Hollywood actress cover - is disturbing. Someone please remind these icons that racism is a horrible mental illness; help for them is needed.

Meanwhile, Details should not fire Jenny Lumet; just make her inteview blacks like me about this issue. That will be enough.

Are Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart really a couple?

The buzz is that Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart are a couple. But it's fair to ask: are Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart really a couple, or just hanging out to gain publicity for the next Twilight movie?

If you don't know this by now, Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart play the young vampire and his love interest in the Twilight movie series. The smash hit and its followers are so fanatical and devoted that, for them, having the pair "hooked up" in real life brings reality closer to the fantasy World of Twilight.

So notice that every time, just a few months before the release of the latest Twilight movie, the Internet and gossip TV news programs blast out the newest claim that Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson are a couple. The BAFTA's are the current example.

Kristen Stewart was one of the awards winners - The Orange Rising Star Award - at the UK's version of the USA's Academy Awards called The British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards. (Congratulations to Ms. Stewart here!)



Where Robert Pattinson was a presenter:



Afterwards, it was noted that she and Pattinson attended the BAFTA after party but "left early" at 11:30 and were spotted in a car. One gossip site by Ted Casablanca called this "getting quality time", and wrote that they were "together" after hours! The implication being that they were getting hooked up. (Nothing against Ted; he's doing his job.)

The idea that Kristen Stewart is Robert Pattinson's real girlfriend is questionable. In the March 2010 issue of Details, Robert makes some statements that can lead one to wonder if he's really interested in women at this point in his life. He says:

"I really hate vaginas. I'm allergic to vagina. But I can't say I had no idea, because it was a 12-hour shoot, so you kind of get the picture that these women are going to stay naked after, like, five or six hours. But I wasn't exactly prepared. I had no idea what to say to these girls. Thank God I was hungover."

There's nothing to indicate Pattinson and Stewart are a couple in real life. But it sure makes for great headlines in the New York Post.

Besides, Robert Pattinson seems to have a "Negro" issue...

Stay tuned.

PRVCY Jeans: Privacy Jeans goes viral to help breast cancer research

From out of nowhere comes PRVCY Jeans, and Privacy Jeans has gone viral online. In a very clever use of search, social networks, and video distribution platforms (well, just one, YouTube), PRVCY Jeans vaulted to the top of search trends, Monday. The strategy, coupled with provacative videos and catchy music threatens to catapult PRVCY Jeans to amazing sales levels.

Here's one video:



Moreover, stars like Miley Cyrus, Eva Longoria, and Carrie Underwood at Super Bowl XLIV and Jennifer Garner have been photographed in PRVCY Jeans. A brief online search shows that the trend started in mid-year 2009, then increased steadily as celeb after celeb doned PRVCY Jeans.

The company website reveals PRVCY Jeans mission:

The Privacy label is more than a fashion statement; it is a statement of values. The driving force of our organization is to bring breast cancer awareness to the fashion marketplace. We use a generous portion of our annual revenue to fund breast cancer prevention and research. When you purchase from the Privacy collection it announces your "Commitment to the Cure." It allows us to provide free mammography screening for underprivileged women, and to fund breast cancer education and clinical trials. We believe in quality, for our apparel and for human life. We pursue a "double bottom line": people as well as profit.

This video introduces Privacywear's CEO Carolyn Jones:



The force behind PRVCY Jeans is Carolyn Jones, who started the company to produce jeans and raise money for breast cancer research at the same time. 10 percent of revenue reportedly goes to Breast Cancer research. As a person who's mother survived Breast Cancer in 2005, PRVCY Jeans and it's mission and marketing direction is one I totally support and encourage.

You can learn more about PRVCY Jeans at Privacywear.com

Andrew Koenig ATM card and cell phone used after February 14th

An update in the search for the missing actor Andrew Koenig in Vancouver. On Monday, the Vancouver Sun reports that Koenig's cell phone and ATM card were used after February 14th. Here's what the Vancouver Sun posted via E!Online:

Vancouver Police Constable Tim Fanning is telling ET the very latest about the search for former "Growing Pains" star Andrew Koenig.
Fanning tells ET that Koenig's ATM card and cell phone were used after February 14, the date the actor was last seen. Fanning did not disclose when the items were used because the search for Koenig is still an ongoing investigation.
Koenig played Boner, the best friend of Mike Seaver on the hit '80s sitcom "Growing Pains."
Anyone with information on Koenig's whereabouts should call the Vancouver police at 604-717-2534.

That reports leaves more new questions: 1) Where was the ATM card used and at what time? 2) What number was called? At what time? Does anyone have the number to make a test phone call?

It's not the expertise of this blogger but the police could take his whereabouts on the 14th, then determine the location of the cell phone call (which, according to this CNET post is possible),and at least determine where Andrew may have went to along that path between the two calls.

Disturbing.

Stay tuned.

More: Andrew Koenig missing in Winter Olympics city.

Andrew Koenig still missing in Winter Olympics city

Andrew Koenig, the son of Star Trek's Walter Koenig and star of Growing Pains, is still missing in Winter Olympics city of Vancouver. The USA Today reports that Vancouver mounted police have been searching for Koenig, who was last seen on Valentine's Day in Vancouver.

Now, Vancouver investigators believe Andrew Koenig is in the area and doesn't want to be found. One can only hope that Vancouver police aren't considering giving up the search for him, and have developed a rationale that justifies cutting back.

Andrew Koenig's parents have said that he was suffering from severe depression.

Stay tuned.

Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums State of The City via Twitter #oaksotc

If you're away in a place like Suburban (OK, rural) Atlanta, Georgia, and are too busy to sit for a live stream of the Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums State of The City Adress, you can catch what he's saying via Twitter.

In this case, following the tweets of the hashtag #oaksotc reveals some interesting news. For example, The Mayor says he believes in local control of the Oakland Public Schools. Here's the last most resent tweets, most of them sent by @reginaldjames:

reginaldjames Dellums: I believe in local control, referring to OUSD #oaksotc
38s ago via The Remote

bakseet Wondering... SF has a stimulus-funded "SF Jobs Now" program. Where is Oakland's version? #oaksotc
1m ago via web

reginaldjames MD: When people are engaged, their relationsips improve #oaksotc
3m ago via The Remote

reginaldjames MD: Supported Laney College clean energy grant. 'all earmarks are not a bridge to nowhere' #oaksotc
6m ago via The Remote

vanlenning @ReginaldJames tweeting live Mayor Dellums' state of the city of #oakland: Turn this spaceship over to the next generation #oaksotc
6m ago via web

majeeda RT @ReginaldJames Dellums: Turn this spaceship over to the next generation #oaksotc
8m ago via Tweetree

reginaldjames Oakland green jobs corps led to 'Pathways out of Poverty' #shoutout to Van Jones #oaksotc
8m ago via The Remote

vanlenning RT @reginaldjames: Dellums proud that Oakland Green Jobs Corps is a model for the state #oaksotc
9m ago via The Remote

reginaldjames Dellums proud that Oakland Green Jobs Corps is a model for the state #oaksotc
9m ago via The Remote

reginaldjames MD: We are not training our people for obselesence, were training them for imperative #oaksotc
10m ago via The Remote

reginaldjames Dellums: Turn this spaceship over to the next generation #oaksotc
11m ago via The Remote

reginaldjames Dellums: Green corridor partnership is unprecedented. Only in the country, if there another, they follow us #oaksotc
11m ago via The Remote

reginaldjames End the dichtonomy of the port and the city. We are a port city. One city, one vision, one strategy #oaksotc
12m ago via The Remote

dto510 Dellums on Army Base development: "We are a Port City. Come together - one city, one vision, one strategy." #oaksotc
13m ago via web

reginaldjames Oakland is ne of the greenest cities in the nation. #4 Top 20cities to live. not Oaktown, Oakland #oaksotc
14m ago via The Remote

dto510 Dellums naming some new businesses. This newly-built industrial facility in West O caught my eye in the handout. #oaksotc
16m ago via web

reginaldjames Broadway Valdez retail area to combat 1billion dollar retail leakage #oaksotc
17m ago via The Remote

dto510 Dellums notes Specific Plan for Broadway / Valdez retail. Transit vs parking debate over that plan is about to explode. #oaksotc
17m ago via web

reginaldjames Dellums: Lake Chalet created 142 jobs #oaksotc
18m ago via The Remote

das88 #oaksotc hard to parse statement on A's. "Absolutely confident" will get msg in few days-not sure what Mayor saying about content
18m ago via twidroid

Taylor Swift turning into a diva?

Taylor Swift, the country-pop singer with the great voice who's won seemingly every award known to fandom, has presented a good-girl, gee-whiz-this-is-great persona every time she took the stage or appeared before a camera.

Taylor Swift, it seemed, really was the charmed young woman who was nice to everyone. Kanye West's now famous interruption of her acceptance speech at the Teen Choice Awards , and the way the World came to her defense, only solidified her image. Only a slip in the form of a photo with an "accidental" Swastika-T-Shirt wearing Hollywood model A.J. English entered to even threaten to muck her image...



...It didn't.

Now, there's a report that once down under, Taylor Swift has become a diva. All of those awards got to her head. Sydney Confidential reports that Taylor Swift went to a restaurant called a "Teppanyaki" where chefs cook at the table and the customers help out in the process. This is what was reported:

"The chef asked her if she was ready to catch the egg, she said yes and it fell on her. She completely flipped out and ranted and raved," our source revealed. "After being calmed down the chef asked her if she was ready for some rice, again she said yes, but once she caught it she threw it back at the chef."

And Sydney Confidential reports that Taylor Swift wanted hotel staff to open all doors for her. Every one? Even the bathroom? I wonder.

WonderWall checked with Taylor Swift's rep, who said "That didn't happen." But I wonder if that didn't happen in the same way the rep explained away the Swastika incident. In that case, the rep said Taylor Swift had no idea what the T-Shirt was or who A.J. English was.

I wonder.

GOP hates Obama Health Care Plan; GOP refuses to offer own plan

Earlier Monday the White House held a press conference to introduce the Obama Health Care Plan as the one that stands the best chance of actually gaining bipartisan support. Now, with the day not over, it's reported that Republicans hate Obama Health Care Plan, but the GOP refuses to offer their own plan!

It must be asked if the GOP is really serious about fixing the American Health Care system? What else can one infer if the Republicans don't have their own plan? Moreover, the only way voters in GOP districts could reelect any one of their representative is to fail to understand what's going on in the economics of Health Care. Controlling the growth of rates is paramount; it's also something the GOP doesn't want to do.

Over at ThinkProgress a commenter observed that the new plan caves in "to the special interests and wingnuts" but if the GOP doesn't go for it, perhaps they're even wing-nuttier than advertised.

The "party-of-no" GOP strategy can only go so far before it crashes and burns. It did so today in the matter of the jobs bill, where five Republicans bolted from the party line filibuster plan and cast a procedural vote for it. Scott Brown, who was considered to be a major opponent of the bill, one one of the GOP Senators who cast a vote for it. Apparently, even on the GOP side, there are elected officials who want to get things done. The vote passed 62 to 30.



The question is will that desire to get things done carry over into the Obama Health Care Plan? Will the GOP stop playing games?

Stay tuned.