Waterboarding Demo

Also check out this commentary on why Obama doesn't want to pursue torture investigations. But I agree with Benen, there is that damn "rule of law" thing going on.

Torture(gate) Another Watergate?

In the early Fall of 1972 I was enroute to my Navy duty station at the National Naval Medical Research Institute, Bethesda, MD. My cousin, who lived in DC at the time, kindly offered to pick me up at National Airport and bring me to Bethesda. He asked me "What do you thing about the Watergate scandal"? I answered...."huh"? In any event, the break-in at the Watergate complex became a history changing event. Many, many people were convicted of obstructing justice, illegal campaign activites, contempt of Congress and lying under oath. It wasn't until almost two years later that Dick Nixon was forced to resign by a Congress under Republican control.


The current debates over torture are now giving me the same feelings that were prevalent in the Fall of 1972. What was the purpose of torture? Was it to get information to support the invasion of Iraq? Were any laws broken in authorizing torture? Laws almost certainly were broken or the argument that it "wasn't torture" wouldn't be so prevalent. Who is lying and who is telling the truth? Did Democratic leaders know about the torture? Clinton was impeached for lying. Nixon resigned before he could be impeached for lying. Did G.W. Bush and Dick Cheney do anything less than Clinton or Nixon? We don't know because no one seems to want to find out.

I think things are coming to a head. I think there will be some sort of investigation and eventually someone is going to spill some startling information just as Alexander Butterfield reluctantly admitted that everything said in the Nixon Oval office was recorded (John Dean had already admitted that he believed there was a taping system in the Oval office).

Personally, I believe waterboarding is torture and is illegal. If this turns out to be the case, then the law was broken and those responsible need to be prosecuted.

The More I See The Less I know

Community

This comedy is bound to be successful this Fall. It's about a community college and a group of students that attend the college. One of the students is Chevy Chase! I found the link to this show on 'InsideHigherEd' in an article about how we make fun of community colleges.

ECAC Men's Rowing Championships

Men's ECAC rowing championships were held in Worcester, MA on Sunday. Here are a few pictures. In a bit of a surprising turn, Brown U. upset the favorites Harvard and Wisconsin to win the championship. My Alma mater, UW, placed 3rd.

MMWR

What do you do when a student comes to you and asks if there is a resurgence of TB in the USA? For me the answer is obvious.....go to MMWR. The Centers for Disease Control publishes a weekly online report, 'Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report', that provides current statistics on reportable diseases in the USA. The weekly report also contains articles on current events concerning diseases no matter where they may occur.

It was quite easy to go to the CDC MMWR website and immediately find an article entitled "Trends in Tuberculosis --- United States, 2008". The answer to the students question is "In 2008, the number of TB cases and annual TB rate reached all-time lows in the United States."

If you are interested in disease, MMWR is for you. My question....how many cases of leprosy have there been in the USA so far this year? A cookie for the correct answer.

Does Mike Pence 'Believe' in Evolution?

I enjoyed watching this last night. Here is one of the highest ranking Republican members of the House of Representatives that cannot or will not answer a question, however poorly the question is put. "Do you believe in evolution"? I would have asked whether he accepted the overwhelming amount of evidence that supports the theory of evolution and he might even have prefered that question.

Unfortunately, Rep. Pence may actually accept evolution but can't say so because it would put his political career in danger. Or, he doesn't accept evolution and doesn't want to admit it because it makes him appear ignorant or at least appear not to support science. In either case, he is too big a coward to answer the question. He typifies the type of person we have representing us in Congress these days whether they be Republican or Democrat.

But whose fault is that? It is we the voters that continue to send such people back to Congress every 2 years. In Pence's case, it is the Christian fundamentalists who insist upon having a science ignoramous represent them. Democrats sometimes have the same problems with "New Agers" who are probably even more ignorant in terms of science than are Christian fundamentalists.

Save Wardenclyffe

Todays NYT Science Times has a disturbing article. It seems that Wardenclyffe, Nicola Tesla's laboratory in Shoreham, NY is up for sale by the Agfa Corporation. Now, if ever there was a man that might have come from the future or an advanced civilization on another planet, that person was Nicola Tesla. It seems to me that 1.6 million dollars isn't too high a price tag to preserve a labortory of such an interesting scientist.

I found the two more recent pictures at the coyote.






Link to Science Times slideshow on Wardenclyffe.

Wolfram/Alpha is coming

Remember on Star Trek how Captain Kirk could as his computer questions and get an answer? That day is arriving momentarily with the Wolfrum/Alpha computer. Sure, you can google for information. But here we are talking about the computer that can provide new information. For example, you can ask the computer to compare the height of Mt. Everest with the length of the Golden Gate bridge and get an answer. Google can't do that.

The Wolfram/Alpha website is accessible to everyone yet, but it will be soon.

Check out this video on the Wolfram/alpha computer.

Falling Into a Black Hole

Colon Cleansing and Flu Protection - yes!

There is a surefire way to protect yourself against influenza. You can read all about it at the Huffington Post website. What is the magical potion? Colon cleansing of course. Kim Evens of 'antibiotics cause cancer' fame, explains how a good washing of your colon will protect you from influenza as well as almost anything else that ails you.

Colon cleansing gets rid of the 'bad' bacteria in your colon, yet antibiotics kill the 'good' bacteria in your colon. Oh yeah, cancer is also caused by a fungal infection.

Ok, now do you want to read the skeptic take on colon cleansing? Go here or here

Orac comments on Evens, influenza, colon cleansing and other woo here.

About Influenza

Human influenza is caused by infection with influenza type A and type B viruses. These viruses consist of 8 "genes" or segments of single-stranded RNA. Two major surface antigens can be found in influenza viruses - HA (hemagglutinin) and NA (neuraminadase). The hemagglutinin protein is used by the virus to recognize, attach to, and enter a cell. This results in influenza infection. Unfortunately, both the HA and NA genes are very good at slightly changing their structure over time. The figure below shows a model of influenza virus structure taken from Hampson, AW, Med. J. Aust. 2006 Nov 20;185(10 Suppl):S39-43 which is available free online and is recommended reading.



Influenza changes its antigenic makeup via antigenic drift (small changes) and antigenic shift (large changes). Pandemic influenza (a widespread infectious disease) occurs at irregular intervals of about twice a century and usually results from antigenic shift which occurs in Influenza A. The figure below (taken from the Hampson review article) shows how genetic reassortment through antigenic shift is thought to occur.


What is key is that pigs are susceptible to both avian and human influenza A viruses. This "dual-infection" provides an opportunity for the avian and human influenza virus to share and switch (reassort) their genes. This often results in the appearance of a much more infectious and pathogenic influenza virus. But, this is not always the case.

Below is a link to the current swine flu epidemic showing where cases are occuring in worldwide.

Current swine flu cases map

To Investigate or Not to Investigate

In a Banana Republic there would be no investigation of wrongdoing. Who said:

"It's important for people to understand that in a democracy, there will be a full investigation. In other words, we want to know the truth. In our country, when there's an allegation of abuse ... there will be a full investigation, and justice will be delivered. ... It's very important for people and your listeners to understand that in our country, when an issue is brought to our attention on this magnitude, we act. And we act in a way in which leaders are willing to discuss it with the media. ... In other words, people want to know the truth.

"That stands in contrast to dictatorships. A dictator wouldn't be answering questions about this. A dictator wouldn't be saying that the system will be investigated and the world will see the results of the investigation."

Ok, the bolded words give a pretty good hint. That was G.W. Bush explaining the difference between a dictatorship and a democracy. Bush things allegations of abuse (wrongdoing, law breaking) should be investigated. Maybe someone should ask him if he still feels this way.

Is the USA a Banana Republic?

Democrats control the government - all three branches. This is driving Republicans mad. Calling us liberals isn't working anymore so they are now trying to brand us fascists. Fascists really hasn't clicked, so now they are trying to brand us socialists. Socialist doesn't seem to be working either - so now we are a Banana Republic.

But what makes us a Banana Republic. The Supreme Court didn't appoint Obama president. We didn't ignore intelligence reports about attacks on our country. We haven't lied ours country into a war. We didn't tell people to shop rather than sacrifice to support our country in a time of war. We didn't send too few troops to fight the war. We didn't send ill-equiped troops to fight the war. We haven't held people in prison without due process. We haven't suspended Habeas corpus. We didn't sit around while a major city was destroyed in a hurricane. We didn't prevent people from attending presidential "town halls" because of their politcal view. We didn't fire assistant attorneys general for politcal reasons. We didn't keep the process about how just about every major policy decision was made. We didn't squander a surplus budget. We didn't make our country hated around the world.

What did we do? We voted overwhelmingly for a smart, relatively young man who happens to be black and has an unusual name. We elected him because we want to end the Iraq War. We elected him because we want to stop torture. We elected him because we need to do something about energy indepence to make our country safer. We elected him because we realize that every American citizen deserves health care. And yes, many of us agree that people in the previous administration should be held accountable if they broke the law.

If lying about a blowjob is a crime, certainly lying about torture is a crime.

More Display of Ignorance from Congress

Ever hear of plate tectonics and continental drift congressman? No? I didn't think so. You would rather display your ignorance to the public while supposedly serving us in Congress.

Turns out this is even worse than I thought. It was Congressman Barton's office that released that video. They really honestly believe they stumped Sec. Chu. Look at Rep. Barton's arrogant "tweet" below:


Hey look at me! I stumped Nobel Prize winner Energy Sec. Chu. I just baffled him. That's right congressman, you did baffle him. You baffled him with your stupidity.

Maybe reading the pdf at this link will explain why the congressman appears to be ill educated.

What is Fascism?

This short post from the American Prospect helps define fascism:

The following things are fascism:

* Universal health care coverage

* A 39% top tax rate

* Boosting funding for voluntary national service programs

The following things are not fascism:

* Idenfinite detention without trial

* Torture

* “Disappearing” suspected criminals

* Warrantless surveillance of American citizens

No Man-Bear-Pig in Louisiana

At the request of the Catholic church, Louisiana will make it illegal for scientists to create the man-bear-pig.

More Gary from Bloomingdale Wisdom

There has been an ongoing debate this week, concerning the Gay Marriage bill, on "Talk of the Town". Adirondack Moralist "Gary from Bloomingdale" is, of course, against marriage of gays. Today he claimed that anyone that could cite a study showing that animals perform homosexuality would be a millionaire. I hope I win the million dollars!

Here is my reply:

"Gary from Bloomingdale" said anyone that could cite a study on homosexuality in animals would be a millionaire. I hope I'm the first to write in. I'm not sure if Gary is giving the million dollars, if so he can tell me when I can collect it. If not, maybe Gary can tell me where I can collect my million dollars.

Evidence for homosexuality in animals:

Bruce Bagemihl, Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity, St. Martin's Press, 1999; ISBN 0312192398

Harrold, Max (1999-02-16). "Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity". The Advocate, reprinted in Highbeam Encyclopedia.

Or how about this reference from the University of Oslo: "The most well-known homosexual animal is the dwarf chimpanzee, one of humanity's closes relatives. The entire species is bisexual. Sex plays an conspicuous roll in all their activities and takes the focus away from violence, which is the most typical method of solving conflicts among primates and many other animals."

Maybe "Gary from Bloomingdale" could read this book: "Homosexual Behaviour in Animals": An Evolutionary Perspective by Volker Sommer, Paul L. Vasey

Maybe Gary would like to watch a little homosexual activity among animals. He can go here to this National Geographic video and see for himself (http://nationalgeographic-2.magnify.net/video/Homosexuality-in-Animals)

Male fruit flies have been made to act "homosexual" by genetically deleting their capacity to make dopamine as shown in this study:
Reduction of dopamine level enhances the attractiveness of male Drosophila to other males. Liu T, Dartevelle L, Yuan C, Wei H, Wang Y, Ferveur JF, Guo A.
Gary from Bloomingdale needs to stop relying on common sense so much. Common sense only means that a givem group of people have the same opinion about a given subject. It doesn't make them right. It was once common sense that disease was caused by bad humors in the body.

Be that as it may, I want my million dollars.

Angels Talk Back to Jesus

K-12 Textbooks - Why Texas Rules

What a screwed up system of selecting textbooks for use in our schools.
Read this article and I guarantee you will walk away shaking your head.