The Gonzales Cantata, a concert opera about Alberto Gonzales's Senate Judiciary Committee hearings, is playing at this year's Philadelphia Fringe Festival. It is a 40-minute choral work based on the hearings that punctuated the U.S. attorney-dismissal scandal back in 2007. (Actually, every word sung is from the transcript of the hearings.) Click here for WSJ reporter Evan Perez's story on the hearings, which links to a whole trove of other goodies. (Scroll to the bottom of the post to watch a video clip of the Cantata. Other clips can be found through the show's very cleverly designed Web site.)
In Disney's $4 billion acquisition of Marvel Entertainment, Disney paid a hefty premium for the parent company of Spidey, X-Men, and the Incredible hulk--about 29 percent, according to the WSJ. Leading the deal: Dewey & LeBoeuf's Mort Pierce for Disney (who, legend has it, bills 3300 hours, at least when the times are good); Paul Hastings's Carl Sanchez for Marvel. But now, no sooner than the ink has dried on the deal, comes a lawsuit. According to Bloomberg, a Marvel shareholder sued in the Delaware Chancery Court alleging that Marvel directors failed to conduct an appropriate sales process. The plaintiff, shareholder Christine Vlatos, is seeking a court order barring the deal as well as unspecified damages. WSJ Law Blog September 2, 2009

Justice Department Announces Largest Health Care Fraud Settlement in Its History
News release: " American pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. and its subsidiary Pharmacia & Upjohn Company Inc. (hereinafter together "Pfizer") have agreed to pay $2.3 billion, the largest health care fraud settlement in the history of the Department of Justice, to resolve criminal and civil liability arising from the illegal promotion of certain pharmaceutical products, the Justice Department announced today. Pharmacia & Upjohn Company has agreed to plead guilty to a felony violation of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act for misbranding Bextra with the intent to defraud or mislead. Bextra is an anti-inflammatory drug that Pfizer pulled from the market in 2005. Under the provisions of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, a company must specify the intended uses of a product in its new drug application to FDA. Once approved, the drug may not be marketed or promoted for so-called "off-label" uses–i.e., any use not specified in an application and approved by FDA. Pfizer promoted the sale of Bextra for several uses and dosages that the FDA specifically declined to approve due to safety concerns. The company will pay a criminal fine of $1.195 billion, the largest criminal fine ever imposed in the United States for any matter. Pharmacia & Upjohn will also forfeit $105 million, for a total criminal resolution of $1.3 billion. In addition, Pfizer has agreed to pay $1 billion to resolve allegations under the civil False Claims Act that the company illegally promoted four drugs–Bextra; Geodon, an anti-psychotic drug; Zyvox, an antibiotic; and Lyrica, an anti-epileptic drug–and caused false claims to be submitted to government health care programs for uses that were not medically accepted indications and therefore not covered by those programs. The civil settlement also resolves allegations that Pfizer paid kickbacks to health care providers to induce them to prescribe these, as well as other, drugs. The federal share of the civil settlement is $668,514,830 and the state Medicaid share of the civil settlement is $331,485,170. This is the largest civil fraud settlement in history against a pharmaceutical company."

Amazon Files Brief in Federal Court Against Google Book Settlement
bizjounrals: "Amazon.com Inc. this week joined the groups filing objections in court against Google Inc.'s settlement with authors and publishers. Amazon said in its 41-page brief filed in federal court that Google will stifle competition if the settlement is approved."

Hells Canyon, North America's deepest river gorge, encompasses a vast and remote region with dramatic changes in elevation, terrain, climate and vegetation. Carved by the great Snake River, Hells Canyon plunges more than a mile below Oregon's west rim, and 8,000 feet below snowcapped He Devil Peak of Idaho's Seven Devils Mountains.
Establishment: The National Recreation Area was established by Congress Dec. 31, 1975 (learn more)
Wilderness: The HCNRA includes 215,000 acres of wilderness (learn more).
Wild and Scenic Rivers: The Hells Canyon HCNRA has three rivers which are designated Wild and Scenic: the Snake, Imnaha and Rapid rivers (learn more).
http://www.fs.fed.us/hellscanyon/overview/index.shtml

American College of the Building Arts in Charleston, South Carolina is the first in the country with a four-year program teaching trades that seem to have vanished from the modern world. An entire curriculum is aimed at equipping a generation of students with the skills needed to preserve America's historic heritage. Not only do students today attend classes in the Charleston’s 1802 jail, where Union troops were held during the Civil War, they are also using what they learn to help restore this neglected vestige of Charleston's history. http://www.preservationnation.org/magazine/2009/september-october/hands-on-education.html
The Old Charleston Jail is the heart of the college’s campus and home to the General Education classes and to the Masonry, Plaster Working, and Architectural Stone programs. The jail is in the heart of Charleston and an official "Save America's Treasures" project of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the White House Millennium Council. Upon acquisition of the jail in 2000, after it had sat vacant for 61 years, an emergency stabilization program commenced to meet the immediate needs of this historic property. The college began in 1998 when a small team, led by John Paul Huguley, created the School of the Building Arts (SoBA) in Charleston, South Carolina. Inspired by legendary Charleston master artisan, Philip Simmons, SoBA was established to solve the growing problem in building preservation that became evident in 1989 when Hurricane Hugo swept through Charleston and severely damaged many of the city’s historic structures. Mayor Joseph P. Riley, Jr. and the citizens of Charleston sought to restore these buildings to their historic glory by using traditional building methods and materials. It was discovered that, in spite of Charleston’s commitment to historic preservation, there were only a few local craftsmen trained and qualified for the task. The lack of master craftsmen is not unique to Charleston as quality design and craftsmanship training have been steadily declining throughout the nation. After the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education licensed the School to begin recruiting on July 8, 2004, the name of the institution was changed to the American College of the Building Arts to more accurately reflect its place in the American educational hierarchy.
http://www.buildingartscollege.us/About/history.html

Whatever happened to Tanganyika? In 1964, it merged with Zanzibar, off the east coast of Africa, and became Tanzania. In Harry Campbell’s “Whatever Happened to Tanganyika?” the author brings a wry attitude and a historically rich perspective to what he calls “the ¬Museum of Dead Place Names.” He globe-trots in prose, using name changes as an ¬occasion to ¬describe an exotic culture or a ¬colorful history. Turkmenistan, for example, is one of those Central Asian republics that sprang into official existence with the break-up of the Soviet Union. And so it is, but Mr. Campbell reminds us that, long before, the region was called Transcaspia, a name that shakily ¬captured its position “east of the Caspian and south of the Aral Sea.” http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204619004574320640704902268.html

bird-dog (buhrd-dog) noun
a talent scout, especially in sports
verb tr., intr.: to seek out or follow a subject of interest
After bird dogs, various breeds of dogs trained to hunt or retrieve birds. A.Word.A.Day