Go Warren Buffett!

Amazing. Warren Buffet donates 37 billion dollars to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

I saw a number of research projects at the gene therapy convention funded by the Gates Foundation. It might be lonely at the top, but lately it's been pretty compassionate up there too.

Iraq Developments

We say we'll stand down as they stand up. If Kevin Drum has this right, it looks like the Iraqi legislature will request a UN resolution to monitor conditions and guide our withrawl from Iraq. Leaving at the official request of a democratically installed government would be a stunning success. Let's hope we can get along with Iraq and the UN to make that happen.

Start of a bad day

Awoke this morning to a dull thumping noise. That's not too unusual, people in my neighborhood are perpetually doing rennovations. What is unusual is to be woken up before I've hit snooze a few times on my alarm. So I looked to see what time they got started today and saw that the clock wasn't reading. Uh-oh! My computer wasn't humming, so I got up and discoverd my lights don't work. Tripped a breaker? Then I noticed it was warm and my AC wasn't running. Tripped the main breaker? I know the power was on last night at 2. And I know it was gone by 9.

More likely, that the nearby construction had the power turned off. "Kinda rude not to let me know first", I thought. Lo and behold the construction was 2 houses away, and they still had power. The house on the other side of me had power too (I could see the outdoor meter turning). So I dug up a flashlight and climbed over the mess in my basement to find the circuit breaker. It didn't look like any of the breakers had tripped. In retrospect I should have switched them off and then on again, but truth be told, I don't like messing with the circuit breaker even when the basement lights are on. Then, just to be sure, I verified that PECO had recieved their last payment (which they had).

So I called PECO and got routed to an automatic system. I fed the cats and changed the litter. The upstairs was getting toasty, I got a drink out of the fridge, which was still cool, even though the light didn't go on. Then I went to work stinky and pissed. You don't realize how important power is and how much we take it for granted.

UPDATE:
Even as I write this PECO's autodialler called me up. Evidently the power's on at the meter which means I own the problem. (gratitious string of swearing)

HPV, cancer, and STD vaccines

DISCLAIMER: Lanky has old ties to Merck and the production of the HPV vaccine.

So the good news is there's a Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccine coming out . It's touted as the first ever vaccine for cancer. (Which is a little silly to say because vaccines are for viruses and cancer is a condition....but the HPV virus causes a cancerous condition, so a vaccine that prevents its transmission prevents cancer. All clear now?) This Time article delves into a peculiar pseudoconflict behind it's release: there are concerns that making people safer from cancer might encourage more unprotected sex. The whole article's worth reading, but I wanted to pull out a few tidbits.

Tidbit one, there are a number of strains of HPV and together they infect 70-80% of the population. While it only causes cervical cancer in people with cervixes (ie women), 4000 domestic deaths per year is a lot for a disease, and it would be a good thing to prevent. The Time article has a curious line here:

HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection; the Centers for Disease Control estimates that 20 million Americans carry it.

I don't know how 75% of the US boils down to 20 million Americans, but I'm guessing that's the number with the virulent cancerous strain. I should really visit the CDC to find out, but regardless of whether it's 20 million or 200 million, that's a lot of folks.

Second tidbit:

Public health experts say that vaccines generally work best when everyone gets them: the laws of "herd immunity" dictate that the more people are protected against a particular virus, the more likely it is to eventually disappear altogether.

Now I'm not going to argue with public health experts, but sometimes it pays to contextualize. There are diseases that can be eradicated, and diseases that cannot be. The most common reason for a disease to be non-eradicable (is that a word?) is that it has an animal reservoir that can re-transmit the disease to humans. And HPV has a pretty big reservoir in the entire male population. Unless the decision is made to vaccinate males (which it won't be), drug companies are going to be selling HPV vaccines as long as they care to make them. Good marketing, I suppose.

Third tidbit: Conservative organizations are now saying they aren't against the drug, they're just against making it mandatory. It hurts me to say this, but I have to agree. The rationale for forced immunization is that exposure to the non-immunized constitutes a threat to the greater public health. Since in this case "exposure" means, (pardon my technical terms) "nookie". I think you can make a case that being surrounded by non-immunized people is only an issue if you get it on with them. I am mindful of the case for making it required, mostly because insurance will be more likely to fund it, and you won't have to decide whether your sweet angel needs a $300-400 dollar shot to keep safe from a STD.

Third and a half tidbit: All of these people running around claiming it will make people "disinhibited" shouldn't be hiding behind the libertarian argument. These people are opposed to the vaccination. And they're stupid to be. Maybe their daughter is going to be pure as the driven snow up to her wedding (yeah, right), but how are they going to know her husband was? Giving your children better health is a no-brainer. I might philosophically oppose legislating mandatory immunization, but you bet your ass I'll have my kids immunized.

And finally, this passage kills me. Time says:

So conservative groups met with representatives from Merck, the vaccine manufacturer, which among other things presented evidence at the CDC hearings that there was no data linking access to the vaccine with increases in sexual behavior. "We did what we ordinarily do when we are prepared to launch a vaccine," says Merck spokesperson Kelley Dougherty. "We met with physicians, consumer groups and in this case faith-based organizations, to talk about what the disease looks like, what the vaccine does; it was part of a broad communications strategy." Merck also launched an ad campaign, "Tell Someone," that aims to teach viewers about the prevalence of HPV and its link to cervical cancer.

Boy do I love that. Two politically conservative powerhouses meeting to resolve their differences. I wish I could have been a fly on the wall there. Merck is incredibly sensitive and responsive. They're scientific innovators AND politically smooth as silk. Getting the opponents all together and addressing the specific "parental concerns" is genius. They dealt with hostile consumers the same way they deal with the government. They identified the issue, studied it, built a scientific argument to support their case, and explained it as clearly as possible. If nothing else, a detailed explanation of the science and the disease and how it kills people gives them a moral high ground. This is the disease, this is what it does to people, this is them dying. We have a product that prevents that. We'd like to sell it so people won't have to die, if that's ok with you. I'm sure it was less passive aggressive, but I'm also sure the point was made.

You try to argue that people should have to die because you're worried that your child might become disinhibited and have sex.

My sources tell me Merck is very pleased with the vaccine and they're continuing work on another version that confers immunity to a wider variety of strains. Preventing people from dying. We could use more of that.

Hardball

They bring a knife, you bring a gun...That's the Chicago way.
-The Untouchables

Today Steve Benen of the Carpetbagger Report plays hardball with sexual politics, and points out that three GOP presidential hopefuls have problems keeping it in their pants. As he writes in Washington Monthly:

Lurking just over the horizon are liabilities for three Republicans who have topped several national, independent polls for the GOP's favorite 2008 nominee: Sen. John McCain (affair, divorce), former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (affair, divorce, affair, divorce), and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani (divorce, affair, nasty divorce). Together, they form the most maritally challenged crop of presidential hopefuls in American political history.

This is hardball at it's finest. It's a knife in the back at three prominent Republicans + a fine wedge issue between "values voter" social conservatives and fiscally conservative "moderate Republicans" + payback for the Clinton years + a reminder that even if Hillary is married to an adulterer, at least she hasn't been caught cheating, and she hasn't abandoned her spouse or child.

Obviously this line of attack is a little below the belt (pun intended). Is it Drudge-worthy slime, or fair game? Juxtaposed against the recent "[gay] Marriage Amendment", it does seem like ripe ground for the holier-than-thou to cast out the sinners. Will the Born-Again crowd agree to be represented by men who can't follow God's #7? rule? My money's on "yes, they will". After all, this administration doesn't do too well with #6 or #9, and they enjoy strong religious support.

I like Steve's blog, even if it is partisan red-meat. If he wants to make social conservative righteousness a wedge issue, more power to him. It has a lot of humor potential too, like asking Jerry Falwell why he had an adulterer give the commencement address at Liberty University.

Just don't fill the airwaves with so much adultery and divorce that there's no time to talk about torture, war, or screwing the 99% of us who don't have trust funds. There's much more important stuff going on today than anyone's sex life.

Myself, I rest easy knowing that even if the press runs the story, it won't hit Clinton levels. Not unless any of those mistresses saved a "stained dress".

Trouble for Lieberman

Having grown up in CT I keep meaning to put in my 2 cents on Lieberman. But there's so much to cover I probably never will. I don't like him, and as I've pointed out before, that's not so much because of the fact that he breaks party dogma, so much as the issues he chooses to break on.

This past weekend I learned that my 83 year-old grandmother doesn't like him. Grandma's a big fan of the New London Day, Don Imus, and whatever gossip floats around the Senior Center. Missing from that equation is the blogosphere. Grandma doesn't own a computer, and I'm not sure she's ever used one. She's decided that Lieberman doesn't really represent her.

I imagine if Lieberman goes down both credit and blame will go to the "netroots", but they'll be missing a big chunk of the story.

Having fun with captions and bylines.

Somebody over at WaPo is having too much fun...

( Doh!, I was going to make fun of the the byline on the teaser, it said something about leaving a deep hole in White House...but in the last 2 minutes it has been replaced. )

Well, this is less fun without the image, but the article itself isn't bad either: "Bush's Favorite Author Leaving The White House". Who did you think was Bush's favorite author?

Seriously though, the whole article is damning with faint praise. Below are some quotes from the article. And also some garbage I made up.

• "Mike was substantively influential, not just a wordsmith, not just a crafter of language for other people's policies, but he influenced policy itself."
• Asked about his unprecedented degree of influence, Gerson replied "It's absolutely critical that the speechwriters understand the administration's goals and policy in their entirety. That's why they let me set them."
  
• In meetings with foreign heads of states, Gerson would sometimes aid the President in communicating through language barriers.
• He crafted the State of the Union language that labeled Iraq, Iran and North Korea an "axis of evil" and the inaugural address that committed the United States to "ending tyranny in our world."
  
• The most repeated phrases coined by Gerson are: "Stay the course" and "It's going to be hard work"
  
• He found a way to channel Bush's thoughts, colleagues said, transforming a sometimes inarticulate president into an occasionally memorable speaker.
• Gerson wrote or co-wrote every major speech Bush gave since announcing his candidacy, including convention and inaugural addresses and State of the Union messages.
• "Mike was a rhetorical genius who could not only put lipstick on a pig, he could teach the pig to sing."
  
• The most repeated phrases coined by Gerson are: "Stay the course" and "It's going to be hard work"
  
• "He's a policy provoker, a grand strategist and a conscience who in many cases has not only articulated but reflected the president's heart."
• He plans to look at writing, speaking and think-tank opportunities, with help from Robert B. Barnett, the high-powered lawyer who represents major figures such as former president Bill Clinton and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.).
• He came up with the phrase "soft bigotry of low expectations" to focus on minority education problems.
• The most repeated phrases coined by Gerson are: "Stay the course" and "It's going to be hard work"
  
• Gerson's replacement as the primary speech author will require someone with a strong background in fiction or fairy tales.

Let's hope the next guy is better.

Zarqawi down - and then there was one

The big news this week was the elimination of Zarqawi. I feel a little guilty to be so pleased a man is dead, but there's no doubt this is good news for anyone opposed to the terrorist ideology he represented. I'm a little dissapointed that a number liberal sources couldn't acknowledge a US victory without the cheap observation that we should have killed Zarqawi in a number of previous attempts. It's a very rare thing when we accomplish a 3-year goal, and frankly it's time to be proud of the accomplishment. Coupled with the long awaited completion of the Iraqi parliment, this has been a nearly optimal week in Iraq. Maybe this momentum be used to build hope and peace.

As for the US, we're up to 2 of 3 on our major target list (Saddam, Zarqawi, Bin Laden), which is twice as impressive as last week. One to go.

Everyone acknowledges that the death of one Jordanian terrorist might not change much within the Iraqi insurgency, and all the usual suspects are trying to manage the public relations yo-yos of Iraq hopes and expectations. Whatever concerns I have over how this could play out can wait until later. Rght now it's time to celebrate the accomplishment of a long stated goal and give credit to those responsible. Well done. It's really really nice to have a good week in Iraq.

A page from the book of Rove

Free advice to Democrats. Just as republicans bang on the anti-gay drums and add legislation to state ballots in an effort to draw their base to the polls, I'd like to point out that Democrats could do the same thing if they had their act together.

One take home lesson of the California special election is that while Independents might lean Democratic, they don't really turnout for special elections. The same is true for midterm elections.

But add a resolution to the ballot calling for a full troop withdrawl by May 2008 (5 years after the invasion) and suddenly you'll have people's attention. Or have a state legislature issue a refferendum on whether to recall that state's national guard.

You want to electrify the midterm and get lazy Dems and Indies to the polls? Put something on line and give them a reason to show up.

Page number two. If the Republicans are going to clamor about adding garbage to the Constitution like anti-gay marriage ammendments or anti-flag-burning ammendments, then how about some liberal ammendments too?

1: Codify a right to privacy. Conservatives like to point out there's no such right in the Constitution, but the general populace seems to think there is. Let's please the populace by adding one. In fact, we can compromise. I'll gladly part with my right to burn a flag in order to obtain Constitutional privacy law.

2: Make a Constitution ammendment on presidential signing statements. That's a little more red-meatish, but could be politically useful.

Light Posting

Sorry posting's been light. I was at a American Society of Gene Therapy last week. There is some awesome technology coming in the next decade or two. Hopefully I'll feel motivated to blog about it someday.