The DHEA piece cited does seem to do an excellent job of addressing the medical issues and doing the backroom legwork that we normally don't get to see the results of.

However, the piece doesn't seem to follow the money. It hints that Hatch is serving Utah's business interests but never mentions examples where Hatch obviously benefited, depending inference and unnamed sources to fill in the blanks. The case made isn't bad, but it could be better.

Would it matter more, for example, that his son's PAC gave $1000 in Hatch's last election and his son threw him a few hundred bucks, too?

Okay, small potatoes, but what about the roughly $200,000 he got from pharmacutical and nutritional supplement PACs, including American Association for Health Freedom and Consumer Healthcare Products Association? (I did a very rough scan of the FEC disclosures from the 2000 election and didn't even try to link individual donations to interest groups; please don't quote that number with authority.)

Following Hatch's financial interests is more concrete than linking Utah and a burgeoning industry indirectly.

(Also, it's just flat-out weird to see so many tobacco, alcohol, gun, and gambling donations to a Mormon Republican senator from Utah, even considering the committees he influences.)

- Dennis

Exactly - good job, Dennis. It's not hard to follow this stuff, but no one's doing it. WHY NOT?

I just finished reading the Duff article in the NY Times. Some one has to go after Orin Hatch, please. The hypocricy is overwhelming. Does anyone see how bizarre all of this is in terms of the "drug war" our country has been involved in for decades? Pot is the illegal drug most often used and does the least harm and people are getting thrown into jail for a joint STILL. And then we have DHEA that is sold over the counter and does show from the few experiments it's been involved in that it develops muscles. And that is how its sold over the net to teenagers. Orin Hatch doesn't concede this or doesn't think it will be used or has been used in cheating in sports. Personally I'd rather my sons smoke pot than take steroids of any kind. Orin Hatch should be ashamed of himself and so should his "prissy" son. I hope someone is reading this article today that can address this issue and demand some sort of explanation from Orin Hatch. He claims it's an "anti-aging" drug and I think pot is much more an "anti-aging" drug than DHEA.
Orin Hatch is pompous and stupid, bad qualities for a lawmaker. And it doesn't appear DHEA is working antiaging wonders on Hatch, now does it?

I just finished reading the Duff article in the NY Times. Some one has to go after Orin Hatch, please. The hypocricy is overwhelming. Does anyone see how bizarre all of this is in terms of the "drug war" our country has been involved in for decades? Pot is the illegal drug most often used and does the least harm and people are getting thrown into jail for a joint STILL. And then we have DHEA that is sold over the counter and does show from the few experiments it's been involved in that it develops muscles. And that is how its sold over the net to teenagers. Orin Hatch doesn't concede this or doesn't think it will be used or has been used in cheating in sports. Personally I'd rather my sons smoke pot than take steroids of any kind. Orin Hatch should be ashamed of himself and so should his "prissy" son. I hope someone is reading this article today that can address this issue and demand some sort of explanation from Orin Hatch. He claims it's an "anti-aging" drug and I think pot is much more an "anti-aging" drug than DHEA.
Orin Hatch is pompous and stupid, bad qualities for a lawmaker. And it doesn't appear DHEA is working antiaging wonders on Hatch, now does it?

Pulitzers were announced last week, Fainrau-Wada was shut out - surprisingly.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A25368-2005Apr4.html