"I'm Seeing Doctors For It," Said Steve Martin

It's long (a big more than 10 minutes) but worth it for seasickness, negative political ads, and a nice bedside manner from Dave Letterman.

PS: Why is Steve so pale?

Maybe because he spends so much time inside practicing his banjo!

Moz, The Mad Vegetarian

It's not every day that a former Smith takes aim at the Prime Minister of the UK--and lately two of them have. Morrissey has sided with his estranged guitarist Johnny Marr in taking exception to David Cameron's admitted fondness for their old group because...he is not opposed to hunting. In a dispatch from last weekend, Moz lets fly, and even if you are an unapologetic meat-eater and occasional suede-wearer, you have to agree: He is definitely one of the Top 50 Funniest People the world has ever known (especially when deadly serious). Zoiks, here's the rant, via True To You--

4 December 2010

Message from Morrissey.

I would like to, if I may, offer support to Johnny Marr who has spoken out to the media this week against David Cameron. To those who have expressed concern over Johnny's words in view of the fact that David Cameron has pledged immense allegiance to the music of the Smiths, I would like to try to explain why I think Johnny is right not to be flattered.
It is true that music is a universal language – the ONLY universal language, and belongs to all, one way or another. However, with fitting grimness I must report that David Cameron hunts and shoots and kills stags – apparently for pleasure. It was not for such people that either "Meat is Murder" or "The Queen is Dead" were recorded; in fact, they were made as a reaction against such violence.
I recall some years ago a party political broadcast on behalf of the Conservative Party where David Cameron spoke directly to camera as an LP copy of "The Queen is Dead" proudly displayed itself on the wall behind his right shoulder. It is, of course, a fantastic thrill when the music you make is acknowledged by virtually anyone at all. But David Cameron is not just anyone. Some months ago, as the long-beaked amongst you might recall, I was due to appear on the Andrew Marr Show alongside David Cameron, and however much I worship the words of Andrew Marr, I could not go through with the invitation.
This was because I knew, then, that David wanted to repeal the Hunting Act, which would mean the brutal killing of foxes, hares, deer, badgers, otters – just about anything that moves.
Often the excuse of 'culling' is tagged on to the argument of legalized killing of beings, yet as we all know, motorized vehicles manage the business of 'culling' foxes and badgers quite well without messengers of death on horseback. Wildlife (that is, freelife) has its own methods of balancing nature – foxes and owls and birds of prey tending to help themselves to whatever crosses their path.
The countryside, quite remarkably, does not need the Hunting Act to be repealed. You would need to be mindless to believe that it does. People who hunt are under delusions of possession and property and divine right, and their debasement of human standards is always evident in their outrage at ever being questioned about their activities. Meanwhile, the Hunt Saboteurs (who are always termed 'extremists' by the Daily Bra – as if opposing brutal killing is an extreme emotion) are themselves symbols of freedom. Hunt Saboteurs do not kill. High Court judges on horseback, dressed in blood-red outfits, are the ones who kill.
As we all know, law in England is applied with partiality: the police are quick to nab the hunt saboteurs, but slow to catch up with the very visible Cheltenham Hunt. The hunt saboteurs are jailed for up to 12 years (for what? attempting to prevent mindless violence?), whereas the unmanly reflex of fox hunting receives a rap on the knuckles (Odious Ferry.)
I beg you to notice the unbearable dimension of sorrow that David Cameron is attempting to inflict upon British wildlife/freelife (an animal is not 'wild' simply because it is uncaged.) If you can find the time, would you please write to the MP of your choice - if you can think of one that you half-trust - at The House of Commons, St Margaret's Street, London SW1P, urging them to vote against the repeal. It is not the hunt saboteurs who menace social order, but the Hunters themselves, and the moral climate of 2010 seeping into 2011 surely tells all intelligent people that the key to the extent of any person's humanity is in their relationship to – and protection of – animals. Politicians only care about the public as electorate, and once the victory vote has been seized there is no place for debate between The Prime Minister and the people who elected him. (I cannot use the him/her term in relation to a Prime Minister because, as we all know, Margaret Thatcher has ensured that a female Prime Minister would never again be risked.) However, please do not feel powerless against the views of politicians or, for that matter, so-called royalty, because it is they who are powerless against the collective spirit of the British people. I mention so-called royalty because Prince William – who has never made the faintest imprint on the English soul, is also a hunter of deer, as is his fiasco (fiancée) Kate Middleton. Although William and Kate are so dull as people that it is actually impossible to discuss them, it is worth recalling Prince Harry's thumbs-up as he sat beside a giant water buffalo, cowardly shot from a safe distance by the ignoble Prince some years back. Intellectually, it is true that the so-called Royal Family are not worth very much when it comes to moral standards. The Queen annually signs-off on the terrorizing slaughter of adult Canadian brown bears in order that her Guards are supplied with fancy hats. The babies of the adult bears who witness their own mothers' slaughter, are left to die slowly, and alone. The sober and bitter truth is that the Queen of England is indifferent to this barbarism, for she has never once expressed concern by it (although, let us speak quite plainly, there is not one person in the whole of England who can remember or repeat a single word ever spoken by the Queen, such is her command of communication.)
I apologize very deeply for my support over the years for the group Roxy Music. I had no idea until very recently that their singer Bryan Ferret is also an avid hunter, and is now managed by his Lord of the Hunt son, Odious Ferry.
Some are brutally indifferent to the feelings of animals. Many are not. Politically, I long for the day when it is finally acknowledged in the House of Lords that the indigestible business of the meat industry corrupts and destroys the planet more than any other profit organization. We continually hear of disappearing rainforests but the cause is never explained, for this would then force concerned world leaders to 'cull' meat production, and rather the world sizzle than it be admitted that the meat industry is the root of climate change. It was Sir Paul McCartney who said: "Save the planet – stop eating animals." It is the genius of Stella McCartney who has produced footwear made entirely of non-animal materials. As a glowing owner of such shoes, I can confirm to anyone interested that they appear - even on detailed examination - to be no different to shoes made from animals.
Refusing to eat animals remains a political gesture. The world apparently loves the simple, whether it be professional killers such as Jamie Horrible, or the dim-witted and good-natured David Peckham, both as certain of knighthoods as their mediocrity is bona-fide. David Peckham is so dull that he is yet to master his first words.
However, people like me exist, also, and by close of this piece I return to the opening issue of David Cameron and I remind him that the world loves a man who loves to listen. But we can't believe what you say when we know what you do.

MORRISSEY.

From Big Macs to Lipitor: Pfizer CEO Takes Early Retirement

By Kathy Merrell

We don't know if irony or cynicism was at play four and a half years ago when Lipitor manufacturer Pfizer picked former McDonald's executive (and Harvard-trained lawyer) Jeffrey Kindler to be both its new chief executive and chairman of the board. Kindler, 55 years old--who now says he's worn out and wants to retire (don't we all)--has lead Pfizer through one legal imbroglio after another, and has been rather richly rewarded for it. Just last year he pulled down a cool $14.9 million in total compensation according to Forbes; you'd think that kind of pay could buy him plenty of downtime at the spa on his days off.Jeffrey Kindler

Let's take a look at what the former junk food maven (before heading to Pfizer, Kindler chaired Boston Market Corporation and was president of Partner Brands, both owned by McDonald's) has been presiding over at Pfizer that's made him so very tired. In September 2009, Pfizer agreed to the largest healthcare fraud settlement in history, paying a $2.3 billion fine to resolve criminal and civil allegations that the company illegally promoted uses of four of its drugs (the painkiller Bextra; Geodon, an antipsychotic; Zyvox, an antibiotic; and Lyrica, an anti-epileptic drug). As part of the settlement, Pfizer payed a criminal fine of $1.195 billion, which at the time was the largest criminal fine ever imposed in the U.S. for any matter, according to the Justice Department.

A full $1 billion of last year's settlement was for illegally marketing Bextra for off-label uses at unapproved doses. One of the whistle-blower salesman said he was told by the company to distribute to rheumatologists and orthopedists double the F.D.A. approved dose of Bextra for arthritis. News to Pfizer, you can't supersize prescription drugs!

This year, Pfizer has already had three manufacturing related recalls of its cholesterol-lowering blockbuster, Lipitor. Lipitor's patent is set to expire in November 2011, a fact that's been hanging over Pfizer like an executioners axe for a couple of years now. According to the company the manufacturing problems--which caused a musty odor in Lipitor bottles--were all traced back to a third-party factory. Maybe new Pfizer CEO, Ian Rand, who apparently has a pharmaceutical background, will be a bit more circumspect as he tries to squeeze the margins out of the company's cash cows. After all, managing the production of life-saving drugs is not exactly like squeezing an extra couple of cents out of a the Boston Market Homestyle Meatloaf and Cheddar Sandwich.

This month, Pfizer even made the rogues gallery of Vanity Fair. In the investigative piece "Deadly Medicine" we learn that just before the company hired Kindler as General Counsel in 2002, Pfizer was getting into hot water for promoting Celebrex when studies were turning up serious concerns about possible link between Celebrex and the risk of stroke and heart attack. The F.D.A. even sent a warning letter. The company says it "acted responsibly in sharing its information in a timely manner with the F.D.A." It's a wonder the company even has a handle on drug safety testing information when so many of the complex web of tests it is conducting to satisfy regulatory oversite are taking place offshore, where test subjects are aplenty and scientific oversite rather scant.

According to Vanity Fair, "an informal, country-by-country accounting by Vanity Fair turned up no fewer than 207 Celebrex trials in at least 36 other countries. They ranged from 1 each in Estonia, Croatia, and Lithuania to 6 each in Costa Rica, Colombia, and Russia to 8 in Mexico, 9 in china, and 10 in Brazil." It really is exhausting to think of how difficult Mr. Kindler's job must be.

The company has had notable R&D failures with Kindler at the helm. The much ballyhooed inhaled insulin, Exubera, was pulled under swirling rumors of a link with lung cancer. The company has conceded failure with the oddly-named torcetrapib, its planned drug to replace Lipitor; Dimebon, an Alzheimers drug in late stages of development; Sutent, for kidney and stomach cancer; and Apixiban, a blood thinner. The pharm business just seems an awful lot harder than the fast food racket.

Kindler says he wants to spend more time with his family. We wonder if he won't head back to junk food, where margins are easier to tweak, and, let's face it, there's very little safety testing required before launching a new Roasted Turkey and Swiss on a Baguette.

Daily Dose of Humor

From The Onion

NEW STUDY FINDS BLACKS MORE LIKELY

CAMBRIDGE, MA—A Harvard University study of more than 2,500 middle-income African-American families found that, when compared to other ethnic groups in the same income bracket, blacks were up to 23 percent more likely. "Our data would seem to discredit the notion that black Americans are less likely," said head researcher Russell Waterstone, noting the study also found that women of African descent were no more or less prone than Latinas. "In fact, over the past several decades, we've seen the African-American community nearly triple in probability." The study noted that, furthermore, Asian-Americans.

Are You Ready For Some Football?

Neuro Kinetics, Inc. (NKI), manufacturers of noninvasive medical diagnostic equipment used worldwide to test for vestibular and neurological conditions, has received a two-part grant under the recently enacted Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to further the company's ongoing clinical studies to collect data for the objective diagnosis of sports concussions.

The Therapeutic Discovery grant was awarded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, an estimated three million sports-related concussions occur annually in the United States.  For people ages 15 to 24, sports are second only to automobile accidents as the leading cause of Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI) and mild Traumatic Brain Injuries (mTBI).

"With much attention focused recently on brain injuries in professional and high school football, there is widespread awareness of just how devastating brain injuries can be over time. Our I-Portal® eye-tracking technology is proving to provide repeatable and objective diagnosis of brain injuries inflicting all athletes in contact sports, from school through professional ranks," said Howison Schroeder, president and CEO of NKI. "As with so many medical issues, accurate and timely diagnosis means better patient care, and that can be a life-changer for a brain injury victim."

NKI is working with a major hospital to expand a database of baseline brain functioning for student athletes in Western Pennsylvania.

"We have already been able to compare a dozen concussion incidents with the baseline data," Schroeder. "We are encouraged that our technology appears to offer an early indication of whether there is brain injury."

The HHS grant will be used to further that research, Schroeder said. The company is also engaged in extensive research with a number of U.S. military hospitals and healthcare facilities to develop new techniques for early diagnosis of TBI and mTBI suffered by soldiers from roadside blasts in Afghanistan and Iraq.