Malaria breakthrough?

Malaria is not much of an issue in the US but in many parts of the world it is the biggest health issue. Foreign travelers can easily take anti-malarial pills for short periods of time but for those living in infested areas, it's not possible. The pills are only to be used for a couple of months and even then, they're expensive. There may be hope for this problem though they will still have to confirm that the new mosquitoes don't cause another problem. The Independent:

However, a new study has shown that it is possible for GM mosquitoes to rapidly pass on malaria-blocking genes to wild mosquitoes with the help of a second gene that spreads the GM trait within the sperm-producing cells of male mosquitoes.

The plan is to physically attach the synthetic gene, called the homing endonuclease gene, to an anti-malaria gene and insert the entire genetic construct into male GM mosquitoes released into the wild. The endonuclease gene should then ensure that nearly all the sperm cells produced by these GM males will carry the anti-malaria trait into the next generation of mosquitoes.

Without the endonuclease gene, only half of the GM male's sperm will carry the malaria-blocking gene, as expected from the normal 50:50 ratio rule of classical Mendelian inheritance. This severely limits the ability of GM mosquitoes to outbreed and outnumber their wild cousins, whereas the endonuclease gene causes the trait to spread rapidly through the wild population of mosquitoes.

Read the rest of this post...

The modern anti-abortion conspiracy in America

If anyone doubts that there is a right-wing anti-abortion murder conspiracy in this country, those doubts should be fading fast. Another nail in the "it's not a conspiracy" coffin, via Rachel Maddow:



There is a threat of terrorism domestically, it comes from many sources, and right-wing anti-abortion terrorists is certainly one of the most significant.

As Katherine Spillar said so clearly (10:55 in the clip):

There has not been a single murder of a doctor in this country by an individual who was a lone wolf. In every single case the person who actually committed the murder has been an active participant in a network of extremists who promote the murder of doctors, who advocate the murder of doctors, who many of them, themselves, have committed violence.

And they start with threats, with gluing doors, and other acts of vandalism. That Kansas judge's decision is puzzling, isn't it. I wonder if Kansas elects judges.

GP Read the rest of this post...

73 killed after Syrian security forces open fire on anti-govt protesters

VOA:

Rights groups and activists say at least 73 people were killed in Syria on Friday, after security forces opened fire on anti-government protesters who rallied across the country.

The toll would make Friday the deadliest single day of protests in the country since the anti-government uprising began in March.

Witnesses and activists say security forces used live ammunition and tear gas on protesters, who poured onto the streets after Friday prayers and called for President Bashar al-Assad's immediate departure.

Read the rest of this post...

Where we are with the Wisconsin recalls

Now that we have the Kloppenburg challenge gauntlet thrown (good for you, Ms. Kloppenburg), let's take stock of where the Wisconsin Recall effort sits.

As I understand it, eight GOP senators are eligible to be recalled; all eight are being challenged via petition drives; and only three overturns are needed to potentially re-blue the Wisconsin Senate with Democrats in the majority. Petitions have been turned in for four (CORRECTION: five) of the eight senators.

The Republicans are playing Mirror-Mirror by pushing to recall some Dems, but as you'll see in the Maddow Show clip below, that's not likely to go well. Rachel has done two segments on this, one on Wednesday and the follow-up on Thursday. Click the link to see the Wednesday clip. This is the follow-up; enjoy.



It's worth pausing on that chart about 0:25 into the clip, the one that overlays the map of how much bluer the districts have become since the last election, with the map of who is being recalled in those districts. Looks promising.

Let's recall all eight. We're still raising money here at AMERICAblog for the Recall effort. Just click the image in the upper right to contribute. If you haven't given already, please consider doing so now — and thanks.

GP Read the rest of this post...

Obama "stimulus czar" leaving because his advocacy for more stimulus was going nowhere

Jared Bernstein meets with progressive bloggers in February 2010

I'm just calling him a czar to give Glenn Beck an aneurism, Jared Bernstein really is Joe Biden's economic adviser and in charge of the stimulus for the White House.  According to Jonathan Weisman at the WSJ, Bernstein is leaving because his advocacy for more stimulus monies is going nowhere with the Republican House.  In fact, it was going nowhere from day one, when the President advocated for, and got, a much smaller stimulus than was needed to pull the nation out of its economic funk.

Who can forget the infamous meeting Rahm had with Olympia Snowe when she demanded the proposed stimulus, already too small, be cut another $100 billion.  As Joe wrote a year ago:

Washington Post:

When it came time for the economic stimulus plan, Emanuel -- arguing that "you never want a serious crisis to go to waste" -- was the White House's point man in the Senate. There, too, he valued the plausible over the perfect.

Snowe said he was "responsive" to her interest in removing $100 billion in spending from the stimulus bill. "He understood it operationally and legislatively, what needed to be accomplished, and was very straightforward," she said.

At the time, the President's approval rating was soaring and the economy was on the brink of collapse. Everyone was talking about another Great Depression, and economist were saying we needed $2 trillion in stimulus spending. The President's own chair of his Council of Economic Advisers said we needed $1.2 trillion. So Emanuel's first instinct was to compromise and go for less (less than what was needed to avert a Depression and keep unemployment far below 10%). If he were the hard-ass we'd all been led to believe he was, Emanuel would have sent Obama to Maine to campaign for the strongest bill possible, in order to get Snowe's and Collin's votes. That's what a real tough Chief of Staff would have done, instead of caving as quickly as possible on the medicine needed to save the country from economic collapse. Emanuel made Obama look weak right off the bat -- and the Republicans saw it immediately.

Interestingly, Bernstein is the man I met with last year, with a small group of bloggers at the White House, to talk stimulus.  And he's the one who was apparently not very happy when I questioned him about the White House's failure to push for a bigger initial, and then second, stimulus, and their failure to sufficiently defend the stimulus they got against GOP attacks claiming it didn't do anything.  It did do something, just not enough because it wasn't big enough, and everyone should have known it at the time.  Berstein also proceeded to blame the Netroots for the White House's failure to counter the GOP PR attack on the stimulus.

So it's somewhat ironic that Bernstein is leaving because his advocacy for more stimulus is going nowhere.  Those of us who were his allies sure weren't treated as such. Read the rest of this post...

Google Android phones are spying on you too

Et tu, Android.

We reported previously that iPhones are secretly tracking your location, second by second, sending the data to Apple and then saving the data on your computer's hard drive when you synch the phone to your computer.  That data then sits on your computer, seemingly forever, just waiting for someone to grab it and see exactly what you've been doing every second of your life.

Well, all you Android owners who laughed yesterday, you're not laughing now. WSJ:

Apple Inc.'s iPhones and Google Inc.'s Android smartphones regularly transmit their locations back to Apple and Google, respectively, according to data and documents analyzed by The Wall Street Journal—intensifying concerns over privacy and the widening trade in personal data.

Google previously has said that the Wi-Fi data it collects is anonymous and that it deletes the start and end points of every trip that it uses in its traffic maps. However, the data, provided to the Journal exclusively by Mr. Kamkar, contained a unique identifier tied to an individual's phone.

Google says the location information helps it determine traffic patterns, which is then can show on your phone. And that's very cool. But if the company's were using the data for something this innocuous, why are we finding out about it from a hacker? And what safeguards are there to protect the info from prying eyes, governmental or otherwise? Read the rest of this post...

Obama takes on high gas prices

He's talking again about speculators, which is a good thing. But what about OPEC, and particularly Kuwait, Iraq and Saudi Arabia? Iraq might be debatable, but we saved Kuwait's ass, and Saudi Arabia's as well. At this point, we ought to own at least half of Kuwait for what we did liberating that country, and ditto for Saudi Arabia. We should have been guaranteed a lifetime of special rates on oil. And while I'm not particularly a fan of Donald Trump's newfound faux populism, someone really needs to stand up to the Saudis and Kuwait (and Iraq). Judging by the incessant ad campaigns, touting Saudi Arabia, every time criticism builds, they clearly care. As for Kuwait and Iraq, they can't afford not to care. Read the rest of this post...

Rise of gas and food prices could trigger another recession

But at least the bankers are comfortable making the riches that they believe they are owed by the rest of us. The inflation has a lot to do with Bernanke's policies of propping up the banks via QE2. It also has a lot to do with the bad economic policies of the last thirty years. Too bad neither party gets it yet that we need real change. Too many Democrats afraid of a fight and too many Republicans believe any tax increase is against the law of Reagan. (Even though he raised taxes eleven times.) As usual, Washington won't do much until the problem is too far gone which means it will take that much longer to settle. CNBC:

The combination of rising gasoline prices and the steepest increase in the cost of food in a generation is threatening to push the US economy into a recession, according to Craig Johnson, president of Customer Growth Partners.

Johnson looks at the percentage of income consumers are spending on gasoline and food as a way of gauging how consumers will fare when energy prices spike.

With gas prices now standing at about $3.90 a gallon, energy costs have now passed 6 percent of spending—a level that Johnson says is a "tipping point" for consumers.

Read the rest of this post...

Republicans say "no tax increases" while Dems concede on Social Security and program cuts

This negotiation is already going to hell in a hand basket. The GOP is saying "no tax cuts," while demanding huge program cuts, and all the while Senator Durbin is off talking about cutting Social Security (I wonder what concession he got from the Republicans in exchange for that cave? Nothing, you say? Way to go, Dick.), and Claire McCaskill has an idea that will get Medicare and Social Security and has the added benefit of possibly killing growth for the next decade.

Republicans should go on an extended vacation while the Democrats argue amongst themselves about how much they can cut essential programs while not touching taxes.

But seriously, note how the Republicans keep saying "no" and the Dems keep coming up with more ideas as to how to move the ball closer to the Republican side. Read the rest of this post...

Krugman on the GOP's ludicrous health care "plan"

NYT:

Now, what House Republicans propose is that the government simply push the problem of rising health care costs on to seniors; that is, that we replace Medicare with vouchers that can be applied to private insurance, and that we count on seniors and insurance companies to work it out somehow. This, they claim, would be superior to expert review because it would open health care to the wonders of “consumer choice.”

What’s wrong with this idea (aside from the grossly inadequate value of the proposed vouchers)? One answer is that it wouldn’t work. “Consumer-based” medicine has been a bust everywhere it has been tried. To take the most directly relevant example, Medicare Advantage, which was originally called Medicare + Choice, was supposed to save money; it ended up costing substantially more than traditional Medicare. America has the most “consumer-driven” health care system in the advanced world. It also has by far the highest costs yet provides a quality of care no better than far cheaper systems in other countries.

But the fact that Republicans are demanding that we literally stake our health, even our lives, on an already failed approach is only part of what’s wrong here.

Read the rest of this post...

GOPers will likely hold debt-limit increase hostage to spending caps

From Sam Stein:

There is increasing concern among Democratic officials both on and off the Hill that Republicans will draw out negotiations over raising the nation’s debt ceiling in an effort to institute one of several blunter deficit-reduction measures.

In recent days, chatter among operatives and Hill aides has centered on one specific addition the GOP is pushing in exchange for signing off on a debt limit increase. A cap on overall government spending -- bringing it to 20.6 percent of GDP over the course of ten years -- has been sharply criticized as too crude and potentially damaging for a fragile economy. But the proposal, known as the CAP Act, has bipartisan support in both chambers of Congress. And as Republican leadership surveys the landscape to see what type of concessions it can extract during the debt-ceiling debate, members have homed in on caps, viewing them as an easy sell to both on-the-fence lawmakers and the public.

Anyone surprised?

Of course, there are Democrats, notably Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill, who have been supporting spending caps, thus abetting the hostage takers. As I wrote on Wednesday:

Another dangerous idea gaining traction on the Hill is a mandatory spending cap, which has been proposed by Senators Corker (R-TN) and McCaskill (D-MO). My Hill sources tell me that Republicans plan to push this as part of the negotiations over the debt limit (yes, they're still paying politics with the debt limit.) Any proposal that focuses solely on spending caps is really a back door way of agreeing to the Ryan/House GOP plan. A spending cap would ultimately lead to massive cuts to Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security. And, it would mean reducing deficit by spending cuts alone, not increasing revenue. Too many of the very smart people in DC seem to ignore the concept of raising revenue (that would mean a tax increase for most of them.)

Also, keep in mind that Boehner has been warned about the serious economic consequences that could result from playing politics with the debt limit. And, that warning came directly from "top Wall Street executives." Those are his people. They bankroll the GOP.

The GOP got away with ruining the economy in 2008. The Obama administration didn't hold Bush and Congressional GOPers accountable for the economic havoc. So, my guess is that the Republicans are probably convinced that Obama and the Democrats will cave to their latest hostage-taking. And, if not, Republicans are confident they won't get the blame. Read the rest of this post...

Obama approves missile drones in Libya

Mission creep alert! And that budget issue must be fully resolved since we obviously have plenty of cash to throw around. When it comes to the military industrial complex, spending is somehow never an issue.

Coalition commanders have been privately urging the Americans to provide the specialist unmanned aircraft, which have become a favoured – if controversial – weapon in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Their ability to hone in on targets using powerful night-vision cameras is considered to be one way of helping rebels in the besieged city of Misrata, where a humanitarian crisis has unfolded in the last week.

The US defence secretary, Robert Gates, said Barack Obama had approved the use of the Predators which are armed with Hellfire missiles, signalling a marked growth in the US contribution to the Nato effort.

Of course, the missile drones don't have the best reputation among civilians or human rights groups so it's not obvious that this addition is a good thing. Read the rest of this post...

Protests expected across Syria today

The state security team is large, but covering forty cities won't be easy. Al Jazeera:

"The big question on everybody’s minds is; what will we see here in the capital [Damascus]. Last Friday people tried to march into the capital but they were turned back by tear gas.

"What we see now is that security forces are pre-empting protests by positioning themselves in the centre of towns like Homs and Daraa, so it will be difficult for the protesters to get to the centre of these towns when the security forces are already there."

The demonstrations will test whether Assad's decision on Thursday to lift emergency law, imposed by his Baath Party when it took power in a coup 48 years ago, will defuse mass discontent with repression and corruption.

"We are determined on totally peaceful protests... we rejoice at the downfall of the state of emergency. It was not lifted, it was toppled... With the help of God, we will embark on freedom," a comment on a Facebook page run by activists said.

Read the rest of this post...

France bans alocholic drinks for riot police on duty

It's hard to believe that it was still even allowed. It's not unusual for people to have a beer or wine at lunch in Europe, even in office canteens. But of course, they're not normally heading into a potentially dangerous situation where they are meant to keep the peace. The Guardian:

A glass of wine, beer or cider – but not spirits – was always permitted with lunch, including while on duty. Even packed lunches provided out of riot vans while they were patrolling demonstrations came with a can of beer or glass of wine.

But in October last year, authorities were annoyed when pictures published on the website Bakchich showed uniformed riot police swigging beer from cans on the sidelines of a sixth-formers' street-protest against pension reforms in Perreux-sur-Marne, north of Paris. The website reported that having told locals it was too dangerous to go outside during the high-school demo, uniformed officers stopped for a beer on a street corner in full view of the public.

Police unions expressed their fury at the new decree. Paul Le Guennec, of the biggest riot police union, Unité Police SGP-FO, said the French public had not seemed shocked at the notion of a CRS officer drinking at lunch.

Read the rest of this post...