Another little coup for the big drug companies who, more than any other industry, have improved and saved the lives of countless people. You can now stop baldness and reduce your risk of prostate cancer. I gave up on Propecia a while back – I’ve gotten to like being bald – but now I’m thinking of taking it up again. What I particularly like about this new finding is that it conflates drugs for vanity and drugs for health. The distinction is not a scientific one; it’s cultural (like the distinction between medical and recreational marijuana). And one reason we discovered this therapeutic effect was because large numbers of men started taking finasteride in small doses for cosmetic reasons. In pharmaceuticals, all sorts of unexpected effects like this are discovered all the time (like the way in which Ecstasy has been found to help people with Parkinsons). The more we chip away at the puritanical stigma of taking pharmaceuticals for anything other than basic health, the happier and healthier a lot of people will be.
SONTAG AWARD NOMINEE: “The other day Bush said, ‘I would urge the Iranian administration to treat [the protesters] with the utmost of respect.’ Okay, but how about treating your own dissidents with some respect, Mr. President?” – Katrina Vanden Heuvel, the editor of the Nation, equating dissent in a democracy with dissidence in a theocracy.
THE G-WORD: The president finally says it.
THE DISSIDENTS: Pejman tells you more about Iran’s equivalent of the founding fathers.
RELIGIOUS SANITY: I loved this email posted by Jonah G. at NRO.
THE EU THOUGHT POLICE: Now they’re trying to ban all “sexual stereotyping.” Try that in Italy.
THE PERFECT CUPPA: It’s official now: how to make a cup of tea. Do not mention tea-bags. They’re vile.
The Dish 