Promising cancer treatment using cloned immune cells

This is amazing though it's in the very early stages and doctors say they were only successful in one instance. For anyone who has either been through or watched the "traditional" treatments for cancer, which can be very harsh, this new treatment offers hope for a better solution. Its use may be limited to a small number of patients but it's still worth following.

A patient whose skin cancer had spread throughout his body has been given the all-clear after being injected with billions of his own immune cells.

Tests revealed that the 52-year-old man's tumours, which spread from his skin to his lung and groin, vanished within two months of having the treatment, and had not returned two years later.

Doctors attempted the experimental therapy as part of a clinical trial after the man's cancer failed to respond to conventional treatments.

The man is the first to benefit from the new technique, which uses cloning to produce billions of copies of a patient's immune cells. When they are injected into the body they attack the cancer and force it into remission.

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MST3K: The Family Dinner

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AP's Liz Sidoti also ignores McCain's campaign finance crimes (while slamming Obama)

This is annoying, not unexpected, but very annoying.

Parroting the conventional wisdom, AP's Liz Sidoti wrote an "analysis" today slamming Obama's decision to forsake public campaign financing. It's quite sanctimonious. But guess what Ms. Sidoti failed to include? John McCain's campaign finance criminality. You'd think that an AP reporter writing an analysis about campaign finance might mention the fact that John McCain's illegal attempt to remove himself from the campaign finance system, after financially benefiting from it, is punishable by five years in jail. But you'd be wrong. Now, there was an AP article about McCain's campaign finance scandal just two days ago. Someone at AP knew about it. But, the facts might interfere with Sidoti's analysis.

What else would we expect from an "objective" reporter who recently served McCain doughnuts as she reminisced about her travels on the McCain bus? Not kidding. Read Jed's post - and he, of course, has video.

A lot of the chattering class seem to long for the good ole' days riding around on the Straight Talk Express. See, they really, really know John McCain. The rest of us don't. Did you know doughnuts were his favorite treat? Or how he takes his coffee? Of course not. But, all that camaraderie makes it hard for these reporters to be objective. Read More......

Coalition of the Drilling

But remember, invading Iraq had nothing to do with oil. For those curious about France's recent coziness with Bush, no need to look beyond French oil giant Total making the list of four who made the cut.

Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total and BP — the original partners in the Iraq Petroleum Company — along with Chevron and a number of smaller oil companies, are in talks with Iraq’s Oil Ministry for no-bid contracts to service Iraq’s largest fields, according to ministry officials, oil company officials and an American diplomat.

The deals, expected to be announced on June 30, will lay the foundation for the first commercial work for the major companies in Iraq since the American invasion, and open a new and potentially lucrative country for their operations.

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How can any pundit claim McCain has the "higher ground" on campaign finance? Only by ignoring McCain's criminality on campaign finance.

More and more, it seems Chris Cillizza from "The Fix" at the Washington Post has been basically regurgitating the prevailing conventional wisdom of the day. And, by "conventional wisdom" I mean the "inside-the-beltway, smarty pants" conventional wisdom, which is usually wrong. So leave it to Cillizza to completely distort the implications for John McCain of Obama's decision to opt out of the public finance system. Cilizza sees "potential" for McCain:

But there is real potential in this decision for McCain.

One of the central fights of this election will be over who is the true reformer/change agent. It was a fight that, at least in the early going, McCain seemed to be losing, but Obama's decision to opt out of the financing system gives McCain some higher ground from which to speak from.

That potential would only exist if in fact McCain were a "true reformer/change agent." Now, in the world of the pundits, like Cillizza, that's McCain through and through. But, it's wrong.

But, here's a suggestion for Cillizza: Do do your own research in your own paper before you talk about McCain's "higher ground." Read the article titled, "FEC Warns McCain on Campaign Spending" from February 20, 2008:

But McCain's attempts to build up his campaign coffers before a general election contest appeared to be threatened by the stern warning yesterday from Federal Election Commission Chairman David M. Mason, a Republican. Mason notified McCain that the commission had not granted his Feb. 6 request to withdraw from the presidential public financing system.

The implications of that could be dramatic. Last year, when McCain's campaign was starved for cash, he applied to join the financing system to gain access to millions of dollars in federal matching money. He was also permitted to use his FEC certification to bypass the time-consuming process of gathering signatures to get his name on the ballot in several states, including Ohio.

By signing up for matching money, McCain agreed to adhere to strict state-by-state spending limits and an overall limit on spending of $54 million for the primary season, which lasts until the party's nominating convention in September. The general election has a separate public financing arrangement.

But after McCain won a series of early contests and the campaign found its financial footing, his lawyer wrote to the FEC requesting to back out of the program -- which is permitted for candidates who have not yet received any federal money and who have not used the promise of federal funding as collateral for borrowing money.

Mason's letter raises two issues as the basis for his position. One is that the six-member commission lacks a quorum, with four vacancies because of a Senate deadlock over President Bush's nominees for the seats. Mason said the FEC would need to vote on McCain's request to leave the system, which is not possible without a quorum. Until that can happen, the candidate will have to remain within the system, he said.

The second issue is more complicated. It involves a $1 million loan McCain obtained from a Bethesda bank in January. The bank was worried about his ability to repay the loan if he exited the federal financing program and started to lose in the primary race. McCain promised the bank that, if that happened, he would reapply for matching money and offer those as collateral for the loan. While McCain's aides have argued that the campaign was careful to make sure that they technically complied with the rules, Mason indicated that the question needs further FEC review.

If the FEC refuses McCain's request to leave the system, his campaign could be bound by a potentially debilitating spending limit until he formally accepts his party's nomination. His campaign has already spent $49 million, federal reports show. Knowingly violating the spending limit is a criminal offense that could put McCain at risk of stiff fines and up to five years in prison.

Now, granted, this is a bit complicated. But, it's important -- or it should be important for political pundits who write about John McCain. Yet, for some reason (probably because it counters the conventional wisdom), most of the punditry ignores this -- like Cillizza did today.

The last line in that passage above should have turned some heads. I'll repeat it: Knowingly violating the spending limit is a criminal offense that could put McCain at risk of stiff fines and up to five years in prison.

If doing research in the Washington Post all the way back to February is too much work, there was an Associated Press article THIS WEEK that also addressed the McCain campaign finance scandal.

In the real world, John McCain is potentially a campaign finance criminal. Not a mention of that from Chris Cilizza today. No, in Chris Cilizza's world, he's potentially a "true reformer/change agent." Read More......

John McCain's house has "remote control window coverings"

It's good to be king.

Alas, the McCains have apparently hit on hard times. Like many an American family when times are tough, the McCains are selling their home. You know, the one with the "remote control window coverings." (I'm not exactly sure what they are, but considering the only thing remote control in my house is my 11-year old TV, I'm gonna assume this is a very cool, and expensive, luxury.) Of course, John McCain and his rich wife Cindy still own seven or eight other homes (they're not exactly sure how many homes they own, seriously), including one house where John McCain wanted to go fishing so he built his own personal lake, so I guess this isn't really like, well, any American family I've ever known. Here is the video promo of McCain's Barbie dream house that he's selling, it's the video from their realtor:

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Obama first general election ad is on the air in 18 states

The first ad of the general election is on the air. We're told it's on running on t.v. stations in 18 states: Alaska, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Virginia. Interesting combination.

Bush won fourteen of the states on that list -- all except Michigan, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Those other fourteen have been red states -- John McCain really, really needs to win all of them. This year, they're all in play.

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China stock market drops 6.54%

The Shanghai market has collapsed in recent months with countless falls. Lately the Chinese government has started to focus on inflation, a world problem. Previous rumors of government intervention helped boost the market yesterday but today it lost its previous gains and then some. If the Chinese government intervenes, it can expect even higher inflation though if it does nothing, the Shanghai market will continue to drop, losing even more money for speculators and investors who previous made money on almost everything.

All of this is dangerous territory for the Chinese government. Inflation drives up the cost of everything and China doesn't want to lose business to other developing countries. Foreign investment and becoming the world's factory is what made China the economic giant that it is today. Inflation also has a negative impact on the poor who continue to struggle in China. On the other hand, a tumbling stock market where investors are losing money causes problems with speculators losing their life savings. These are definitely tricky times for the Beijing government. Read More......

Steny Hoyer cut a bad FISA deal with immunity for telecoms on FISA and expects House Dems. to support it. They should oppose it.

The Hill reports that the House will vote on a new FISA deal tomorrow. The deal was negotiated by Majority Leader Steny Hoyer.

McJoan at DailyKos has more details on the bill, which does provide immunity for the telecoms.

This update from TPMMuckraker provides further confirmation of what is encompassed in Hoyer's bill:

Late Update: The Electronic Frontier Foundation says the deal offers broad immunity and says the Democrats caved in to pressure from the telecom industry and the White House.

"Whatever gloss might be put on it, the so-called 'compromise' on immunity is anything but: the current proposal is the exact same blanket immunity that the Senate passed in February and that the House rejected in March, only with a few new bells and whistles so that political spinsters can claim that it actually provides meaningful court review," said EFF Senior Staff Attorney Kevin Bankston. "We call on all members of Congress to reject this sham compromise and maintain the rule of law, rather than deprive the millions of ordinary Americans whose privacy rights were violated of their day in court."

EFF is representing plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit of AT&T; customers who claim their records were illegally handed over to the National Security Agency (NSA).

Call your member of Congress and tell them to vote NO on the bad FISA deal. The main number for the House is 202-225-3121. Let Steny Hoyer know this is a bad idea: (202) 225-4131.

UPDATE: Just got this statement from the ACLU:

"Congress is poised to once again pass disastrous surveillance legislation, now upping the ante with a thinly-veiled giveaway to some major campaign donors.

"This bill allows for mass and untargeted surveillance of Americans’ communications. The court review is mere window-dressing – all the court would look at is the procedures for the year-long dragnet and not at the who, what and why of the spying. Even this superficial court review has a gaping loophole – ‘exigent’ circumstances can short cut even this perfunctory oversight since any delay in the onset of spying meets the test and by definition going to the court would cause at least a minimal pause. Worse yet, if the court denies an order for any reason, the government is allowed to continue surveillance throughout the appeals process, thereby rendering the role of the judiciary meaningless. In the end, there is no one to answer to; a court review without power is no court review at all."

"The Hoyer/Bush surveillance deal was clearly written with the telephone companies and internet providers at the table and for their benefit. They wanted immunity, and this bill gives it to them.

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Bush's friend Berlusconi approves "Robin Hood" tax on Big Oil

Why is the President associating with a known Marxist?

Premier Silvio Berlusconi's government has included the measure in a three-year budget plan approved Wednesday in a Cabinet meeting.

Economy Minister Giulio Tremonti told reporters that the money gained from the tax will be used in part to help senior citizens buy food and pay less for electricity. The association of Italy's oil companies denounced the measure as "punitive."

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McCain vs. McCain on offshore drilling

Bush wants offshore drilling, so McCain now wants offshore drilling.

This is record time for a flip-flop from McCain, see the video via Jed.

McCain says the coastal drilling will help in the "short term." But, he's making that up. Via The Gavel, we learn that the U.S. Department of Energy doesn't see it that way:

“The projections in the OCS [Outer Continental Shelf] access case indicate that access to the Pacific, Atlantic, and eastern Gulf regions would not have a significant impact on domestic crude oil and natural gas production or prices before 2030. …”

2030 isn't quite the "short term." If we had a national energy strategy, we should be able to develop alternative sources of energy and much, much better fuel efficiency by then. Read More......

McCain screws up again. This time by using Fred Thompson to attack Obama.

Yeah, not very smart to use Fred Thompson to attack Obama over bin Laden. First off, Thompson said last year that Osama didn't really matter, he's "more symbolism than anything else." Yeah, the symbol of 3,000 dead Americans and others on September 11. That's a symbol worth catching. But Thompson didn't stop there. He said last year that bin Laden “"should get due process if he’s caught". Now, why is that a problem? Because McCain has been railing all week against Obama for saying that there's no reason we can't try suspected terrorists in US courts, even if they're military courts. McCain says that's naive. And now McCain is using Thompson to further that attack on Obama. Except that Thompson said pretty what Obama said, if not far worse in McCain's thinking. Yesterday Team McCain put Giuliani out there to attack Obama on national security after McCain had said that Giuliani has zero national security experience. And now this. Seriously poorly managed campaign over in McCain-land. Read More......

Obama says no to public financing of his campaign

Good:

U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said on Thursday he has decided to forgo public financing of his election campaign against Republican John McCain.

The decision frees him up to collect money privately, which could be a help to him strategically ahead of November's election. During the Democratic primary, Obama smashed records for fundraising, largely on the success he achieved in raising money over the Internet.

Here's the video from Obama announcing the decision.

John McCain can't be trusted when it comes to campaign finance. He already scammed the public finance system in the primaries. This is a very smart move by the Obama campaign. Read More......

If McCain is going to attack Mrs. Obama, he probably shouldn't use his drug addict/thief wife as the messenger

It's sleazy as hell for one candidate to attack the other's wife. But it's even weirder for him to use his own scandal-ridden wife to do it. I mean, with all due respect, what moral authority does Cindy McCain have to start throwing stones at Mrs. Obama? Only one candidate's wife is a drug addict who actually stole drugs from poor children in order to feed her addiction. And that candidate is not Barack Obama. It's John McCain. People who live in glass pill boxes shouldn't cast stones.

Oh, and not kidding about Cindy McCain being a drug addict and stealing drugs from children. The non-partisan Web site, Snopes.com, had this to say about Mrs. McCain's illicit drug addiction:

In 1989, following two back surgeries, Cindy McCain became addicted to the painkillers Vicodin and Percocet. To keep up with her daily need of 10 to 15 pills, she used other people's names for prescriptions and stole drugs from the American Voluntary Medical Team, a mobile surgical unit she'd begun in 1988 to provide emergency medical services around the world. A 1993 DEA audit of the amount of painkillers her charity had obtained quickly uncovered her thefts. She avoided prosecution for those crimes through an agreement with the Justice Department in which she submitted to drug testing, paid a fine, performed community service in a soup kitchen, and joined Narcotics Anonymous. She also closed her medical charity

Patriots don't steal drugs from children. Read More......

Thursday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

I'm back to my routine after a great trip to the other coast. I have to say they've got a pretty good lifestyle out there in the Bay area.

For the record, after same sex couples started marrying in California earlier this week, I can attest to the fact that the sky didn't fall out there. The sun still rose. People went on with their lives.

Based on the latest polls, a couple things are becoming clear: 1) McCain is a failed candidate. He's a disaster; 2) Republican House and Senate candidates are going to start freaking out even more; and 3) the GOPers are going to go aggressively negative sooner than we expect. They've got nothing going for them this year. Nothing. So expect a vicious attack on Obama from the Republicans and their sleazy allies.

So, let's get it started. Read More......

$1 trillion for the credit crunch?

Good grief, it just never ends. So is Phil Gramm ready to admit failure for his plan or is he still debating the issue?

Major U.S. investment banks this week announced yet another painful quarter amid the implosion of mortgage-backed securities and risky credit investments. Regional banks have scrambled to secure fresh capital to stay in business, and by Wednesday there was new talk that embattled investment bank Lehman Brothers might be forced into a sale.

With each passing quarter, Wall Street's top bankers have indicated that the worst of the market turmoil was over — only to face more pain months later. The uncertainty has caused already battered investors to lose confidence in financial companies, and expectations have increased that more layoffs, asset sales and capital raising will be needed in the weeks ahead.

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Morgan Stanley fires rogue trader after $120m loss

Morgan Stanley's CFO "did not think it was material" because really, who out there hasn't found a $120,000,000 loss on the books? Easy come, easy go. You would have thought that after the Societe Generale rogue trader, banks would have reviewed controls and this would have been found earlier or processes would have been been modified in light of the trading events at SG.

And to think these are the people McCain and the GOP want to work with for Social Security privatization plan that would liberate America. Sounds like there could have been a hiccup or two had the GOP managed to succeed. Interestingly enough, CNBC or the Wall Street Journal did not think this was important enough to cover. Read More......

China arrests critics of shoddy construction

This is a government that just can't change. Compared to the Bush/FEMA response to Katrina, the Beijing government performed well during a period of crisis following the deadly earthquake. Sadly, the government is back to its old ways.

A retired Chinese schoolteacher who criticized the construction of schools that collapsed in last month's powerful earthquake has been detained, a Hong Kong-based human rights organization said Wednesday.

Police detained Zeng Hongling in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, on charges of ''inciting state subversion,'' according to the Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy.

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Another cool shot of the US Capitol building

You might remember that last week I got some cool lightning shots, right in front of the US Capitol building. Well, today I got a cool rainbow literally ending on the US Capitol building. Very strange.

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