On 4/19/2014 11:41 AM, F*O*A*D wrote:
On 4/19/14, 11:09 AM, Tim wrote:
Harry, it seems you idolize thugs and approve of their methods. What a
sad way to live


If I were as you described, I'd be a big fan of corporations and
banksters, as they've been the major players in "thuggery" for the past
three decades.

You want thuggery?

"On March 19, 1997, investigators from the FBI, the Internal Revenue
Service and the Department of Health and Human Services served search
warrants at Columbia/HCA facilities in El Paso and on dozens of doctors
with suspected ties to the company. 8 Days after the initial raid,
Scott* signed his last SEC report as a hospital executive. Four months
later the board of directors pressured Scott to resign as Chairman and
CEO. He was paid $9.88 million in a settlement. He also left owning 10
million shares of stock worth over $350 million. The directors had been
warned in the company's annual public reports to stockholders that
incentives Columbia/HCA offered doctors could run afoul of a federal
antikickback law that seeks to limit conflicts of interest in Medicare
and Medicaid.

In settlements reached in 2000 and 2002, Columbia/HCA pled guilty to 14
felonies and agreed to a $600+ million fine in the largest fraud
settlement in U.S. history. Columbia/HCA admitted systematically
overcharging the government by claiming marketing costs as reimbursable,
by striking illegal deals with home care agencies, and by filing false
data about use of hospital space. They also admitted fraudulently
billing Medicare and other health programs by inflating the seriousness
of diagnoses and to giving doctors partnerships in company hospitals as
a kickback for the doctors referring patients to HCA. They filed false
cost reports, fraudulently billing Medicare for home health care
workers, and paid kickbacks in the sale of home health agencies and to
doctors to refer patients. In addition, they gave doctors "loans" never
intending to be repaid, free rent, free office furniture, and free drugs
from hospital pharmacies.

In late 2002, HCA agreed to pay the U.S. government $631 million, plus
interest, and pay $17.5 million to state Medicaid agencies, in addition
to $250 million paid up to that point to resolve outstanding Medicare
expense claims. In all, civil lawsuits cost HCA more than $2 billion to
settle, at the time, the largest fraud settlement in U.S. history.


* Scott is Rick Scott, the felon who is the current Republican governor
of Florida. The fraud mentioned got rolling during Scott's tenure as CEO
of HCA.

Look up the definition of thuggery. Yur book learnin has failed you
miserably.