Pope Benedict XVI commands respect and reverence from his flock of 135 million Catholics in Africa, and that showed during his recent visit to Cameroon and Angola.

In response, he delivered a message of compassion and heartfelt recognition that the continent suffers disproportionately from poverty, famine, financial upheaval and climate change.

But he did flub one matter.

When asked to comment about the role of condoms in Africa’s war on AIDS, Pope Benedict stated, again, this time even more explicitly than usual, his belief that they are not just unhelpful in assuaging the epidemic, but that they exacerbate the scourge.

AIDS, he said, can be licked by abstaining from sex and following “correct behavior.”

He said this on a continent where 20 million have already died from AIDS and even more than that are HIV positive.

Certainly condom distribution by itself is not an answer.

Other strategies are required such as education, helping women achieve control over their sex lives, delaying onset of sexual behavior, broadening distribution of antiretroviral therapies and so forth.

But condom distribution programs work. According to the WHO, properly used condoms reduce HIV transmission by 90%. And when Uganda’s president, Yoweri Museveni talked openly about “ABC” habits—abstain, be faithful, use condoms, infection rates fell in his country.

Conversely, public figures that ignore the facts or get them wrong endanger the lives of many.

Harvard scientists estimated last year for example that that the callous behavior of South Africa’s Thabo Mbeki has caused 330,000 avoidable deaths due to AIDS.

In denying the facts about condoms in AIDS prevention, Pope Benedict turned a cold shoulder to the world’s weakest. That’s the group he should be working hardest to defend.

The economy’s doing its Titanic impression, nobody wants to play with Tiny Tim, and now his NCAA hoops bracket is shot to smithereens.

Is it any wonder the Big O’s going gray?

The Coronated One takes after his 2 predecessors when it comes to rapid acquisition of the Salt ‘n Pepa look.

Clinton went from  Mongrel Half-Brown to Silver in 2 years. George W. Bush morphed from Heavily Flecked, Blended Black-Brown to Neutral Gray almost overnight.

“I started noticing it toward the end of the campaign and leading up to inauguration,” Deborah Willis told the New York Times.

The co-author of “Obama: The Historic Campaign in Photographs,” Willis examined 5,000 Big O jpegs last year alone.

Obama’s gray-outs wax and wane with his haircuts, which happen every other week. His barber, who goes by Zariff and that’s it, is on record denying the flip-flops are caused by the Big O dyeing his hair.

“His hair is 100 percent natural,” Zariff thundered to the New York Times. “He wouldn’t get it colored.”

Obama claims his staff hasn’t been ribbing him about the unfortunate turn of events, but surely Rahm Emanuel wouldn’t miss an opportunity slip in a shiv here and there.

Meanwhile, noted authorities are eager to weigh in on the matter. For Walt Frazier, who knew a thing or two about cool back in the day, it was a no-brainer. Obama should dye his hair.

It’s “no play for Mr. Gray,” Clyde warned.

Young, stupid and naïve was the way Alex Rodriguez described his behavior during his tenure with the Texas Rangers between 2001 and 2003.

The latest A-Bomb from A-Rod was that he used performance enhancing drugs during that particularly prolific part of his career…after adamantly denying this for years.

So now Rodriguez becomes the poster-boy for Major League Baseball’s juicing era; he’s by far the most famous player to admit using performance enhancing substances.

Other players like Mark McGwire, Sammy “Captain Cork” Sosa, Barry Bonds and The Rocket are also widely believed to have juiced, and like A-Rod’s, their denials have become required viewing for YouTubers.

“When I arrived at Texas in 2001, I felt an enormous amount of pressure,” Rodriguez told ESPN reporter Peter Gammons. “I felt like I had all the weight of the world on top of me and I needed to perform, and perform at a high level every day.”

“Back then it was a different culture. I wanted to prove I was worth being one of the greatest players of all time. I did take a banned substance, and for that I am very sorry and deeply regretful.”

According to the New York Times, Rodriguez said he didn’t know what he took and emphasized he’s been clean since joining the Yankees before the 2004 season. His positive test dates to 2003, his last with the Rangers.

In keeping with terms of the collective bargaining agreement between MLB and the player’s union, testing that year was carried out randomly, was associated with no penalties, and the results were to be kept secret.

All that changed in April, 2004 when the Feds, in hot pursuit of perjury charges against Barry Bonds in the BALCO case, seized the positive urine specimens from 2003. One of those cups contained A-Rods’ urine, which was reportedly glowing in the dark.

Last week the Feds unsealed 200 pages of evidence against Barry Bonds.

They plan to use it in March when the former San Francisco Giants slugger stands trial on charges he perjured himself before a grand jury in the 2003 BALCO case by claiming he never knowingly used steroids.

The documents tie the all-time home run king to 4 positive tests. They also include doping calendars and transcripts of a secretly-taped conversation in which Greg Anderson, Bonds’ longtime trainer and confidant says he injected Bonds with the juice.

Anderson has racked up more than a year behind bars for contempt by famously refusing to testify before that very same grand jury. His obstinance may yet invalidate some parts of the Fed’s case.

Three of the 4 positive tests date to 2000-2001 and were performed at the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative. The fourth, a specimen collected by MLB in 2003 showed the designer steroid THG, a synthetic testosterone and clomid, a female fertility drug.

That specimen had come up clean using MLB-sanctioned tests, but it was seized by the Feds a year later and handed over to the UCLA Olympic Analytical Lab which found the goods. 

The tape-recorded conversation took place in 2003. It involved Steve Hoskins, a former Bonds business manager, and Anderson. Transcripts reveal Anderson saying he injected Bonds with designer steroids that weren’t detectable at the time.

Hoskins and Bonds had been childhood friends that reconnected when Bonds returned to the Bay area to play Left for the Giants in 1993. They had a spat in 2003 and next thing you know, Hoskins was wearing a wire for the Feds.

In sworn testimony before the BALCO grand jury, Bonds admitted using “the clear” and “the cream,” but claimed he did not know they were laced with performance enhancing substances.

When the Big O tapped Rahm Emanuel to be chief of staff, people thought it was because he’s good with a shiv.

Since then, the Clinton White House staffer and 3-term House member hasn’t exactly renounced his kneecapping style, but maybe he has toned it down a smidge.

Emanuel’s the guy who once said “the untainted Republican has not yet been invented” and that Republicans were “bad people who deserve a two-by-four upside their heads,” according to the New York Times.

But both colleagues and friends acknowledge the guy is trying to cool his jets, maybe even use less profanity.

That may be out of necessity because, as the Big O recounted during a 2005 Rahm roast, Emanuel lost some middle finger as a teenager while slicing beef at Arby’s, and it “rendered him practically mute.”

Regarding his demeanor in his new gig, Emanuel insists to the Times, “I’m not yelling at people; I’m not jumping on tables…that’s a campaign. Being the chief of staff…is different. You have different tools in your toolbox.”

No doubt he’s been busy. He helped select and court almost all members of the Big O’s cabinet and White House staff, and he’s in constant contact with Republicans, especially Top Gun.

Last week during a particularly hectic moment for Emanuel, Steny Hoyer claimed he was unable to get through to Emanuel so he called the president directly.

To which the Big O claimed he “was always happy to take calls for his chief of staff.”

Last month Steve Jobs Who-is-Apple acknowledged that, 5 years after being treated for a rare neuroendocrine tumor of the pancreas, he’s not altogether well.

Jobs emailed employees to say he’d be taking a 6-month leave from the company. His “health-related issues are more complex” than he’d known previously, and he’s cool with Tim Cook being “responsible for Apple’s day-to-day operations” while he’s gone.

Jobs Who-is-Apple also made it clear he’s coming back and he’s still CEO.

So now Tim Cook, Apple nation turns its lonely eyes to you.  Cook, Apple’s COO, has been running the show for years, but always with Jobs Who-is-Apple there to provide context not to mention the fairy dust.

Most people figured Cook would never cut it as Apple’s CEO, that he was an ops guy and not a visionary like Jobs Who-is-Apple.

But under these circumstances no one makes sense as a stand-in more than the guy who already oversees customer support, sales, the online store, the Macintosh division, and telecom relations not to mention operations.

But can he like, really do it all by himself?

“The company already has coalesced around (Cook),” a top Apple executive told Fortune, on condition of anonymity.

“Tim does almost nothing that would make you disrespect him, which you can’t always say about Steve,” he added.

Ten years ago Igor Panarin began predicting the US will experience economic and moral collapse and civil war leading to disintegration of the Union in 2010.

No one took him seriously for the longest time but now many in his native Russia find him to be a good listen.

“There’s a 55-45% chance right now that disintegration will occur” he recently told the Wall Street Journal.

Uncle Sam’s death spiral also includes, according to the soothsayer, the collapse of the dollar, ethnic strife and a tax revolt followed by a spectacular break into 6 pieces with Alaska reverting to Russian control.

In addition, California will become the hub of a “Californian Republic” which either becomes part of China or simply falls under Chinese influence.

Meanwhile, Texas and surrounding locales will form the “Texas Republic” which promptly cedes itself to Mexico.

Panarin says he based his predictions on classified data from FAPSI, the Russian version of the National Security Administration where he worked at one time preparing reports for Boris Yeltsin.

Panarin also did a stint with the KGB and holds a PhD in political science.

Russian state media is eating this up right now. Panarin is interviewed twice daily about his predictions. And he has presented them to the Foreign Ministry and the nation’s top school of international affairs.

During one interview, a state TV station cut between Panarin head shots and canned footage of breadlines, soup kitchens and homeless people in the US.

Americans hope President-elect Barack Obama “can work miracles,” Panarin told the Journal. “But when spring comes, it will be clear that there are no miracles.”

California Democrat Pete Stark has tried to expand health care coverage throughout his 36 year career, but now that the moon is in the Seventh House and Jupiter has aligned with Mars, some worry the congressman’s abrasive style might, ironically, complicate efforts to reform the industry.

As chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee’s health panel, Stark will have a seat at the table when the matter comes up which should be about 8 seconds after the Big O gets sworn in.

But the man is just not the conciliatory type. Last week for example, Stark dismissed the idea of negotiating with Big Insurance on the matter of healthcare reform.

“I think their intention is to see the Democrats fail, regardless of what it does for health care in this country,” the 77 year old told the Wall Street Journal.

That was just a warm-up for his touchy-feely description of Big Insurance which he called “the General Motors of medical care delivery.”

Doink!

Stark supports by the way, the Big O’s plan to retain employer-based insurance while organizing a new competitive government entity through which individuals and small businesses can purchase coverage.

Stark also wants Tom Daschle, the Big O’s soon-to be-confirmed secretary of HHS to negotiate prescription drug prices through Medicare and the new public program.

“This idea that we just pay anything pharmaceutical companies are going to charge is ludicrous,” Stark says in describing the current Medicare plan.

That remark was sure to pin back the Dobermans’ ears over at Big Pharma, and before long Ken Johnson,  senior VP at Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America popped up with a surface-to-air missile of his own.

“We remain opposed to restrictive policies that reduce access of medicines to patients in need and undermine the program’s success,” he told the Journal.

These parries don’t even make it to Stark’s “greatest hits” though. There was the time for example he called former Connecticut Republican Nancy Johnson “a whore for the insurance industry.”

And who can forget the time he addressed Colorado Republican Scott McInnis as “you little fruitcake.”

Stark’s coup de grace though had to be during hearings to override Bush’s veto of SCHIP legislation last year, when he said our government wouldn’t fund children’s health while it was sending young people “to Iraq to get their heads blown off for the president’s amusement.”

Stark later apologized for that one.

Gilbert Kaplan is obsessed with Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 (Resurrection), and that’s becoming a problem for some.

The business tycoon has studied the piece his whole life and is recognized as a leading authority on it. He owns the original manuscript and co-edited a recent edition that Vienna’s International Gustav Mahler Society points to as the official score.

Kaplan has also conducted the symphony with at least 50 orchestras around the world and recorded the work with the Vienna Philharmonic and the London Symphony Orchestra. The latter is the all-time best-selling recording of the Resurrection.

But people have a problem with the conducting part because Kaplan is an amateur who essentially willed his way onto the stage, and musicians who play for him don’t think he’s very good.

That disdain rose to a boil last month when Kaplan led the Second at the New York Philharmonic. Before the show, musicians demanded a special meeting with orchestra president Zarin Mehta and railed the whole time about Kaplan’s shortcomings.

But the matter remained more or less private until trombonist David Finlayson decided to lace into Kaplan on his blog.

“My colleagues and I gave what we could to this rudderless performance but the evening proved to be nothing more than a simplistic reading of a very wonderful piece of music,” he lamented.

Then he really got into it, belittling Kaplan’s obsession and career-odyssey as a “woefully sad farce,” subtily accusing orchestra governing bodies of supporting the folly, and hinting that an extra donation here or there might have greased the skids.

This sort of thing would seem a bit off-putting to many who exist in the genteel world of the New York Philharmonic, but Kaplan took it in stride.  “I don’t think anyone will confuse me with (music director) Lorin Maazel when it comes to technique…but I do get the results I want,” he told the New York Times.

“If some people are displeased, I can’t help it.”

Meanwhile, Times critic Steve Smith praised the Philharmonic’s performance. Smith wrote that the amateur conductor beat time and rendered cues adequately and that “his efforts were evident throughout a performance of sharp definition and shattering power.”

And the audience gave it a standing ovation.

The man had to know this day would come.

The fall of Joe Biederman began last summer when a Congressional investigation led by Iowa Republican Charles Grassley accused the famous child psychologist of failing to report more than $1 million in income from Johnson & Johnson and other drug makers.

At the time Biederman defended himself by saying his “interests are solely in the advancement of medical treatment through rigorous and objective study.”

So Biederman wasn’t saying much last week when J & J documents came to light showing he had lobbied the drug maker to fund a research center at Massachusetts General Hospital whose goal it would be to “move forward the commercial goals of J & J.”

Biederman is the man who almost singlehandedly put pediatric bipolar disorder on the map, in part by publishing many studies that were funded by drug makers. Diagnoses of pediatric bipolar disorder increased 40-fold between 1994 and 2003.

Biederman also happened to champion the use of expensive new antipsychotic medicines for this and other psychiatric conditions in children as young as 6 years of age, beginning at least 5 years before the FDA approved the drugs for this purpose.

The new medicines, so-called atypical antipsychotics include Risperdal, Zyprexa, Seroquel, Abilify and Geodon. J & J makes Risperdal. These drugs have nasty side effects including marked weight gain, metabolic abnormalities and tics. 1,200 children have suffered serious complications from Risperdal and 31 died.

The newly released documents were part of a routine filing made by lawyers representing individuals claiming to have been injured by the atypical antipsychotics produced by J & J, AstraZeneca and Eli Lilly. The filing ended up compelling Beiderman to testify under oath in the case. That will happen in January.

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When Gennady Rozhdestvensky found out the materials promoting his appearance with the Boston Symphony Orchestra didn’t show proper respect, he pulled out at the last minute. That left the BSO in the hands of a young assistant conductor and its genteel audience aghast.

The 77 year-old Rozhdestvensky is a towering figure in his field. He conducted Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker ballet at the Bolshoi when he was 20 and went on to become the pre-eminent conductor during a golden era for classical music in the Soviet Union.

Rozhdestvensky’s brilliance was not lost on the Communist party. It flaunted him as a symbol of the regime’s excellence.

But that was quite awhile ago and now the maestro had pulled into Boston for a 4-night gig.

Then Rozhdestvensky, while out on a stroll, happened upon a promotional poster for his performance.  It gave top billing to the soloist, a cellist by the name of Lynn Harrell. Her name appeared in big print and was accompanied by a photo. His name appeared in smaller print.

How can that be?

The conductor tracked down a BSO marketing brochure. He opened it to find a page titled, “Artists who inspire.” His name wasn’t on that page. He then flipped to a section titled “Distinguished Conductors.” Still, no mention of the conductor. Rozhdestvensky finally found his name in a third section titled, “The Cello Shines.”

Who is that blasted Lynn Harrell anyway!

The maestro wasn’t going to take this sitting down. “I felt insulted by the actions of the (BSO) administration,” he told the Boston Globe. “I feel not only slighted but I suffered what is called in Russian a moral insult, and I’m free to take any actions to defend myself in public.”

That sent everybody ducking for cover at the BSO but Mark Volpe, its managing director did tell the Globe, “All of us at the BSO greatly admire Gennady Rozhdestvensky’s artistry. We genuinely regret that Maestro Rozhdestvensy decided to cancel his concerts this week.” 

Then he scrambled back to the foxhole.

Last week, the Institute of Medicine presented its 2008 Gustav O. Lienhard Award to John E. Wennberg for his contributions to evidence-based medicine, outcomes research and informed patient choice.

John Wennberg

Dr. Wennberg is the Peggy Y. Thomson Chair for the Evaluative Clinical Sciences and Founder and Director Emeritus of the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice.

Wennberg became a household name in the 1980s when he and colleague Alan Gitlesohn began documenting marked variations in procedure rates from region to region, state to state and even physician to physician in the same locale. Wennberg was able to show that his findings were driven by physician preferences which were in turn based on their own anecdotal experiences rather than evidence from scientific trials. This research helped drive us toward evidence-based medicine and served as an impetus for legislation that created the Agency for Health Care Quality and Research.

Wennberg also founded, along with Al Mulley, the Foundation for Informed Medical Decision Making, a non-profit organization that provides objective scientific information to patients so they can participate more effectively in their own care.

Wennberg is the 23rd recipient of the Lienhard Award, which includes a medal and a $25,000 prize. The Award program is funded by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Lienhard was chairman of the Foundation’s board for sixteen years beginning in 1971.

As part of last week’s bailout legislation, Congress passed a bill requiring insurers to provide mental health benefits equivalent to those for physical illness.

It would not have happened without Pete Domenici, the 76 year old Republican from New Mexico who will retire soon due to a progressive neurologic disease.

Domenici’s interest in mental health policy began after his daughter was diagnosed with schizophrenia. He spent time with parents in similar circumstances and heard tales of financial ruin resulting from inadequate insurance.

In 1996, Domenici stood before his Senate brethren to announce “now is the time” to pass mental health parity legislation. The bill passed the Senate easily and was folded in to a larger legislative package. It was then dropped during negotiations with the House, which had been lobbied by insurance companies.

Domenici then had to shelve the cause for years because his fellow Republicans controlled the House and opposed the bill. Another tragic setback occurred when, in 2002, co-sponsor Paul Wellstone (D-Min) was killed in a plane crash.

The bill picked up steam again in 2004 but it took 4 more years before Domenici had a passable bill with teeth.

Remarkably, a week before the bill passed, Domenici wasn’t sure if it would. “Either it happens or it doesn’t,” he told the Wall Street Journal. “I’ve done the best I could. This is a tough one that should have been easy.”

This week’s Fortune magazine includes its annual list of the 50 most powerful women in business. The remarkable people on the list include Sunoco’s Lynn Elsenhans, the first woman to run a major US oil company and Google’s Marissa Mayer, who at 33 oversees thousands of engineers and is the youngest woman ever to make the list.

Congratulations to the women in health care who made the list:

Angela Braly, President and CEO of Wellpoint
Susan Desmond-Hellmann, President, Product Development, Genentech
Colleen Goggins, Worldwide Chairman, Consumer Group, J & J
Carrie Cox, EVP and President Global Pharmaceuticals, Schering-Plough
Melanie Healey, Group President, Global Feminine and Health Care, P & G
Dierdre Connelly, President, Lilly USA, Eli Lilly
Sherilyn McCoy, Worldwide Chairman, Surgical Care Group, J & J
Gail Boudreaux, President UnitedHealthcare, and EVP UnitedHealth Group

Already this year we’ve seen meltdowns in the housing and mortgage markets, skyrocketing foreclosure rates, the collapse of major investment banks and federal bailouts of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and AIG. And it’s only September!

Into these headwinds, John McCain spits “the fundamentals of our economy are strong!” It seems everybody but Top Gun knows what happens when you spit into the wind.

The crises have devastated millions of US households. 86% of those polled by ABC News last week said the economy was “not good.” GDP growth, anemic as it has been, is artificially propped by last spring’s one-time fiscal stimulus.

Now, unemployment is starting to accelerate. There are worrisome declines in retail and automotive sales, and there’s more debt out there than people can count.

Maybe Top Gun means we won’t crash and burn like the Great Depression? That’s true because modern economic shock absorbers do work. The recent surge in commodity prices helped US mining and agriculture interests, for example. The weakening dollar contributed to a hike in exports. Now these trends have faded and inflation worries have faded with them.

Maybe we’re not headed towards Great Depression II, but it’s time for some real Straight Talk from McCain: if current policies continue, we’re looking at years of little or no growth at best.

Yes Sara Palin was brilliant last night. But the content of her speech contained some nasty insinuations and code words that, although they may have sailed over Palin’s head, will not be missed by the very folks she was charged to seduce.

Specifically, Palin derided the Big O’s experience as a community organizer on the South Side of Chicago. In that role, Obama worked with people who had been left behind when steel plants closed or who had otherwise lost work.

As David Plouffe points out, community organizing is how regular folks respond to out-of-touch politicians and their failed policies.

Plouffe reminds us that for decades, ordinary people have forged their own versions of the American dream by driving change from the bottom up. Community organizing is what drove the women’s sufferage movement, labor rights and the civil rights movement for example. It’s going on today in churches, veteran’s clubs and many other venues. Do the Republicans understand this?

Sadly, Palin’s gaffe comes as no surprise. Her speech was after all, written by a speechwriter for George W Bush.