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Memory Hole

Yeah, it’s embarrassing that the New York Post ran a front-page headline that John Kerry had chosen Dick Gephardt as his VP candidate, the morning that John Edwards got the nod.

But for the Daily News to slam them for it is kinda pissy, especially since the News ran a back page headline last winter that definitively stated Mike Fratello was to be named the Knicks’ head coach. Lenny Wilkens got the job and, Fratello expressly TOLD the idiot NBA-writer at the News BEFORE THE ARTICLE RAN that he wasn’t offered the job and hadn’t even talked to Knicks about it.

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Back!

Not exactly rested and ready, but at least the big issue is wrapped, in time for my family’s visit for the next 7-10 days!

To get re-started, here’s a post by The Brooding Persian, about the 4th of July in Iran.

In the Persian calendar, today is 18 Tir, which has become a day of protest for Iranians. It marks the anniversary of the 1999 Iranian students national uprising, which was flat-out massacred by the troops of the theocracy. There are protests and demonstrations going on worldwide, a guide for which can be found here. If there was one in NYC tonight/this afternoon, I’d head out for it.

Update: Here’s a little more background on the events of 18 Tir back in 1999.

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Just Amazing

Someday, I’ll be able to tell my (brother’s) grandkids that I saw Derek Jeter play.

Unfortunately, for his two greatest plays (last night’s, and the incredible backup play he made in the 2001 playoffs against Oakland), I was in the car, and heard them on the radio.

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That hurts

Mickey Kaus just referred to my car (the Honda Element) as a “fake panzer” in his review of the new Scion xB. I considered buying the Scion, but discovered that it actually possesses a lawnmower engine, and thus would be impractical for the hills where I live.

Mickey also writes: Drive a Scion for a few days and you’ll see other cars the way Humbert Humbert saw college girls–as repulsively over-ripe.

Nice.

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Learn Something New Every Day

I’m writing up my profile of Aventis, going over the company’s late-stage drug pipeline to see what might be a good revenue source, when I come across a drug called Sculptra. What is it meant to treat, I wonder?

“Indication: Facial lipoatrophy”

Okay. I’m a smart guy. I guess it means “fat in the face is wearing out.” But I HAVE to look it up to see what it’s all about.

And now I know.

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Hiatus

No blogging for me. I’m sick as a dog (summer colds suck), and have to put together the annual Top Companies report (top 20 pharma, top 10 biopharma) for my magazine.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to explain why last year’s optimism about Merck was misguided . . .

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Solidarnosc

A leader of Poland’s Solidarity movement gave an interview to Dissent recently, explaining his support for the war in Iraq:

[W]e know what dictatorship is. And in the conflict between totalitarian regimes and democracy you must not hesitate to declare which side you are on. Even if a dictatorship is not an ideal typical one, and even if the democratic countries are ruled by people whom you do not like. I think you can be an enemy of Saddam Hussein even if Donald Rumsfield is also an enemy of Saddam Hussein.

. . .

[W]ho was worse, Ronald Reagan or Leonid Brezhnev? If I were American I would never have voted for Reagan, but as a Pole, I liked the tough position of Reagan toward Brezhnev. Perhaps Reagan did not quite understand what he was doing, and maybe Bush doesn’t understand either. But the facts are that, suddenly, Libya has begun to speak a different language. Syria has begun to speak a different language. Even North Korea has started to speak a different language. This is not to say that Bush is always right. Of course not. But you must see the hierarchy of threats, of dangers. I asked my French and German friends, Are you afraid that tomorrow Bush will bomb Paris? And can you really be sure that terrorists and fundamentalists will not attack the Louvre? So which side are you on?

Read more.