corrente

And I'm sure Mr. Leavitt is just so very, very sorry that the people named just MUST be sacrificed to pay for tax cuts for the rich:

(via Clarion-Ledger (I think))

Michael Leavitt, President Bush's choice to be secretary of Health and Human Services, may have to cut billions of dollars from the government's mammoth health programs for the elderly, poor and disabled to pare the budget deficit.

The Medicare and Medicaid programs, consuming nearly $500 billion a year and growing quickly, could be vulnerable in the context of last year's $413 billion budget deficit, the ongoing war in Iraq, costly domestic security commitments and administration plans to revamp Social Security without raising taxes.

Bush selected Leavitt, the Environmental Protection Agency chief, on Monday, filling one of the last two openings in his second-term Cabinet. Bush praised Leavitt as a "fine executive" and "a man of great compassion ... an ideal choice to lead one of the largest departments of the United States government."

Before becoming governor, he was chief operating officer of the Leavitt Group, a family insurance firm in which he maintains an investment worth between $5 million and $25 million, according to a financial disclosure report he filed in 2003.

The company owns 100 independent insurance agencies that sell supplemental Medicare policies, among other insurance products, according to company literature.

White House spokesman Trent Duffy said, "We're confident that Gov. Leavitt will take the necessary steps to avoid any conflicts of interest." Donna Shalala, a Democrat, called him "a very skillful administrator and manager."

Leavitt shares Bush's enthusiasm for market-based approaches to fixing problems.

I'm also sure Mr. Duffy has had his already-atrophied ethics gland surgically removed in order to be able to make those "conflict of interest" statements with a straight face.

O Loyal Opposition, go forth and oppose this dipshit, okay? And may Donna Shalala be cast as Zell Miller's sidekick on his new Fox TV gig and never cited as a "Democrat" in public again.