The Lives They've Saved

A glass of the premium stuff is tipped heartily in the direction of the ATF this morning:

Federal agents have broken up a plot to assassinate Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and shoot or decapitate 102 black people in a Tennessee murder spree, the ATF said Monday.

In court records unsealed Monday, federal agents said they disrupted plans to rob a gun store and target a predominantly African-American high school by two neo-Nazi skinheads. Agents said the skinheads did not identify the school by name.

Jim Cavanaugh, special agent in charge of the Nashville field office for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said the two men planned to shoot 88 black people and decapitate another 14. The numbers 88 and 14 are symbolic in the white supremacist community.

The men also sought to go on a national killing spree, with Obama as its final target, Cavanaugh told The Associated Press.

It can be easy, when police departments are used to crush peaceful demonstrators, when the entire Justice Department is rotting away from the inside due to partisan plants, and when the FBI is haring off after ACORN, among other stupid law enforcement tricks, to forget that these men and women perform a ridiculously hard job. It's easy to forget the good they do on a daily basis.

The ATF just prevented two fuckheads from murdering a great many people. They're out there keeping these violent hate groups from making bloody statements. With the frenzy that's been whipped up lately, and the Republicons pulling resources away so they can go chase voter fraud chimeras, the pressure on agencies like the ATF has got to be insane.

So I want to extend my sincere appreciation to them, and to the Secret Service: all of the officers who work to ensure that Obama doesn't end up a Kennedy, who bust their asses keeping our abundant supply of domestic terrorists from succeeding in their plots to murder and maim our citizens, and who walk that fine line between democracy and repression with due caution. Muchos gracias, mis amigos.

Salud.

HA HA HA HA! Have Fun, Dino!

This news from the WA governor race tickles me to death:

Here's a break for Christine Gregoire, not to mention a blow for justice, finally. Via HorsesAss, Dino Rossi is going to be forced to testify, under oath, this Wednesday about his role in illegally coordinating with the Building Industries Association of Washington for campaign contributions.

You'll remember, this is the same asscrunch who's so shit-scared of being known as a Republicon that he's opted to put "Prefers GOP Party" next to his name. Who knows? Maybe GOP really stands for Grand Old Prisoner, which is what I do hope he will someday become.

AZ Poll Porn

Yep. I've been viewing poll pornography on the intertoobz. Lots of it. And it's so good.

Arizona's just fucking fascinating, which is why I've been harping on it for the past three days. Here's a state that should have been handed to McCain on a velvet pillow, without quibble, and yet poll after poll shows a devastating drop in McCain's lead. This latest has got to feel like a punch to the gut:

The Arizona Capitol Times has news of an internal Republican poll showing McCain only leading Obama by three points in Arizona:

More disturbingly for Republicans, at least one internal Republican poll conducted toward the end of the week showed McCain clinging to a tiny 3-point lead. McCain is tied in Maricopa County, usually seen as a death knell for any statewide Republican candidate, but he makes up the difference with a strong performance in the northern part of the state.

and:

"This is shaping up to be the worst landslide for a Republican since (former Arizona Senator Barry) Goldwater. I realize the irony in that," said one distraught Arizona Republican operative who asked for anonymity to speak frankly. "If I were to place a bet today, I'd say McCain loses" his home state.

And it keeps getting better:

Still, other Republican strategists with ties to Arizona said, on condition that their names not be used, that there was reason for concern.

Internal Democratic polls in individual congressional districts in Arizona show McCain dramatically underperforming President Bush's 2004 numbers.

Dramatically as in double-digits, in many cases. District by district, the news for McCain is nothing but bad. And I lurves bad. Bad is good.

Now might be an excellent time, then, to give Shadegg a sharp kick in the nads:

I've been obsessed with this race for two reasons: 1) John Shadegg is the GOP's topmost conservative in the House, the guy conservative bloggers and publications endorsed for House Minority leader last year, the guy who helped orchestrate the "drill, baby, drill" theatrics in the empty House chamber a few months ago, while Congress was in recess. If you want to decapitate the Republican leadership, he's our best target in the House. And 2) this was John McCain's old House seat. I want to rub salt in their wounds.

The latest poll gives a ten-point lead to Shadegg, but early voting totals give a ten-point lead to Lord. Shadegg also just had a supremely embarrassing week. So, you know, if you're interested in booting out an obnoxious prick of a Republicon and installing a brilliant Dem instead, you could toss a few bucks Lord's way. He actually does have a chance of winning this thing.

I'll make a pact with you: if Arizona goes blue, I'll put up some homemade poll porn. You can all vote on some crazy-ass thing you can make Dana do in celebration of her home state planting a boot right up McCain's arse. Sound good?

A Thing of Beauty

Talking Points Memo's Poll Tracker, as of yesterday:


That map is turning decidedly blue, my darlings. Compare that to the 2004 presidential election, and you realize how very far we've come:

It's been a long time coming.

We may indeed be looking at a landslide here. I've got a map for the more geologically inclined, courtesy of glutz78 at Daily Kos:



A thing of beauty, that is.

Thank you, Sen. Obama.

Curses! Tagged Again!

Reader N.B. shares some eerie similarities with my dear friend and co-blogger N.P. The initials, of course, stand out. Both write wonderful blogs: N.P at The Coffee-Stained Writer and N.B. at Secundum Artem. And both seem to take perverse pleasure in tagging me for memes so they can watch me scream.

This, with the election heating up, and my every waking moment spent obsessing over tight races all over the country.

But what the hell. It gives me a prime opportunity to tackle N.P. with a meme instead of being the one on the bottom of the dog pile. And N.B. is a fellow tuxedo cat slave, not to mention having exquisite taste in potty-mouthed political blogs. So why the fuck not?

Here are the rules for the game.

1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.
5. Let each person know they've been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

Right, then. Let's have a rummage around the old brainpan.

Random bit numero uno: I once came within spitting distance of being certified as a pharmacy worker. I threw that over for a brief career in the credit card industry because I couldn't survive a training class in which the majority of our time was spent watching the instructor stare hopelessly at his computer screen, wondering what he was supposed to be teaching next.

Random bit numero dos: The tuxedo cat who owns me has a disconcerting habit of startling herself awake, meowing at me, and then biting me gently on an exposed limb before jumping off the bed. I have no idea why.

Random bit numero tres: I have a bust of Alexander the Great by my bedroom door. Alexander the Great, in fact, is one of my favorite people of all time. Despite being a conquerer, he was actually an astonishingly nice guy. This is how nice he is: as he lay dying, he was asked when he wanted his subordinates to perform his funeral rites. "When you are happy," he said. Thinking of his people to the last.

Random bit numero quatro: I used to be an enormous Dukes of Hazzard fan. My bike was named The General Lady. Somehow that squared with my obsession with Knight Rider, which led to me attempting to persuade my mother to buy me a Trans Am when I was eight years old. She was unswayed by my passionate logic that it would be only another eight years before I could drive it. (I did end up getting a Firebird from that era when I was seventeen, so it all worked out.)

Random bit numero cinco: Greatest moment in smoking evah: Years ago, I was having a quiet smoke out in front of the mall where I worked when a woman stumped up and launched into a lecture. "You shouldn't smoke. That's going to kill you someday." I took the cigarette from my mouth, looked at her somberly, and said, "Yes, ma'am, I know. It's called population control." Her jaw slammed into the sidewalk, and she did about thirty seconds of a beached salmon impression before the guy who was with her managed to stop laughing long enough to haul her away. Priceless, I tell you.

Random bit numero seis: I used to hate J.R.R. Tolkien, politics, and alcohol. Now I'm a Lord of the Rings fanatic with a political blog who adores tequila and wine. Funny ol' world, innit?

I do hereby annoint N.P at The Coffee-Stained Writer as my successor. I do not, as a matter of policy, foist these things on others, and so it's up to the rest of you to annoint yourselves. If any of you tackle this meme, let me know in comments, and we'll have a special linkfest of a post a bit later on.

Enjoy!

Happy Hour Discurso

Today's opining on the public discourse.

Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska goes down:

Today, a federal jury found Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) guilty on all seven counts of making false statements on his financial disclosure regarding “$250,000 in home renovations and other gifts he received from an oil contractor.” According to the AP, Stevens “faces up to five years in prison on each count, but under federal sentencing guidelines, he would likely receive much less prison time, if any.”

Looks like we may just be picking ourselves up another Senate seat:

Stevens' initially took a huge dive in the polls after his indictment over the Summer, falling behind Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich (D) by about 20 points. As the controversy settled down and Stevens vowed to beat the charges at trial, his numbers began inching up again -- and a poll last week from local pollster Ivan Moore put him behind Begich by
only one point.

But with Stevens now officially a convicted felon, any good will he built up with voters will probably be falling away very quickly. Over the next eight days, voters are likely to swing heavily to Begich in a state that hasn't elected a Dem to federal office since 1974. And this also puts the Democrats one step closer to that magic number of 60 seats.

Wouldn't that be lovely?

Of course, Sarah Palin's laying the blame for Stevens' rampant corruption on Big Oil, and she's just sure that Stevens has learned his lesson, so no need to vote the fucker out on his ear:

Hotline reports that Sarah Palin issued a statement about the guilty decision in the Ted Stevens corruption case:

Thanks for your patience there. It’s a sad day for Alaska, and a sad day for Senator Stevens and his family. The verdict shines a light though on the corrupting influence of the big oil service company up there in Alaska that was allowed to control too much of our state. And that control was part of the culture of corruption that I was elected to fight. And that fight must always move forward regardless of party affiliation or seniority or even past service. And as governor of the state of Alaska, I’ll carefully monitor now the situation, and I’ll take any appropriate action as needed. In the meantime, I do ask that the people of Alaska join me in respecting the workings of our judicial system, and I’m confident that Senator Stevens, from this point on, will do the right thing for the state of Alaska.

Riiiight. Thanks anyway, but I think the people of Alaska will do the right thing for the state of Alaska and run that bastard out of office.

I don't think we need trust the judgement of a woman who can't even survive a five-minute chat with the press:

Earlier this month, reporters were told they could attend a Sarah Palin rally, but all journalists would be prohibited from talking to voters who attended the event. A week later, Palin aides told an NBC affiliate in Maine that she's willing to be part of an interview, but only if the McCain campaign could choose the reporter asking the questions.

Taking this bizarre attitude one step further, Palin offered a CBS affiliate in Des Moines five minutes for an interview. Reporter
Cynthia Fodor explained the catch: "[W]e had to submit which topics we wanted to discuss ahead of time which is not standard procedure."

Think about that for a second -- Sarah Palin was afraid she couldn't get through a five-minute interview with a local television station without getting a few hints first.

[snip]

For what it's worth, the station agreed to Palin's demands and gave her the topics in advance. Not surprisingly, the interview was dull, and featured Palin rattling off a series of talking points.

Unless she's talking about clothes, she has to have a script. How fucking pathetic is this?

The McCain campaign, lagging badly in the polls, without a single good idea between them, and running out of slime to hurl, has been forced to resort to screams of "Marxist!" in a desperate attempt to derail Obama. Methinks they should've been a little more careful about what accusations they decided to push:

In recent days, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK), has begun referring to Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) as “Barack the Wealth Spreader,” referring to his proposed tax plan that would provide greater tax relief for lower income individuals than those with higher incomes. Obama recently explained his support for progressive taxation, saying, “I think when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody.”

Palin contends that Obama’s characterization of his tax plan revealed him to be a “socialist” who wants to “redistribute” American wealth. Palin argues that the Obama tax plan “discourages productivity,” will “punish hardwork,” and will “stifle the entrepreneurial spirit.”

[snip]

But Palin’s criticisms of Obama’s “spread the wealth” remarks are ironic, as she recently characterized Alaska’s tax code in a very similar way. Just last month, in an interview with Philip Gourevitch of the New Yorker, Palin explained the windfall profits tax that she imposed on the oil industry in Alaska as a mechanism for ensuring that Alaskans “share in the wealth” generated by oil companies:

And Alaska—we’re set up, unlike other states in the union, here it’s collectively Alaskans own the resources. So we share in the wealth when the development of these resources occurs. … It’s to maximize benefits for Alaskans, not an individual company, not some multinational somewhere, but for Alaskans.

In fact, Alaska’s Clear and Equitable Share (ACES) program, which
manages the redistribution of oil wealth in Alaska, brings in so much money that the state needs no income or sales tax. In addition, this year ACES will provide every Alaskan with a check for an estimated $3,200.

Collective ownership, sharing the wealth.... Soooo, Sarah... who's a Marxist, again?

Can the news get any worse for McPalin's failin' campaign? Oh, indeed it can:

A new Suffolk poll of Florida, which shows Barack Obama ahead 49%-44%, has another statistic that could affect the outcome on Election Day: Among early voters, Obama is ahead by a 60%-40% margin.

Early voting has become a big thing in Florida, and current statistics show that enough early votes have already been cast to equal more than a quarter of the total votes that were cast in 2004. So Obama has already banked a good lead in a major swing state, if this poll is accurate.

Daaamn. No wonder some Rethuglican sympathizers are attempting to lie Dems out of voting:

A phony flier, purporting to be from the Virginia Board of Elections, is circulating in the African-American-heavy Hampton Roads region of the state, falsely informing people that, because of expected high turnout,
Democrats should vote on November 5th.

The election is November 4th.

State election officials informed the local press of the flier, which was posted on the website of The Virginian-Pilot, and is designed to look like an official announcement. It even uses images of the state board logo and the state seal, both of which are available online.

Nice try, whoever did this. Maybe if you're lucky, you'll end up in a cell with Sen. Stevens.

More Meet the Press Fun with John McLame

I think they're keeping the wrong damned candidate off the Sunday talk show circuit:

Total meltdown for McSame on "Meet the Press" this morning. Watch how defensive he gets when Brokaw's cites poll after poll that indicates people don't think Palin is qualified to be Vice President. "Because?! Not qualified...because?!" he snaps.

Then, after some creepy, nervous giggles about the Veep debate, McSame starts ticking off the reasons Palin is qualified to be President and gets completely lost in the bullshit.

MCSAME: She has more executive experience than Sen. Biden and Sen. Obama, together. She took on the governor of her own party because she had seen what she's thought was corruption. She's been a mayor. She has 24,000 people underneath her. Her husband is a, uh, works the third shift on the oil who...in...facilities in the North Slope. He's a, ah... the-they have a won...she has executive experience...

Fail.

No kidding. When you have to tell the nation that your VP pick is qualified because her husband works graveyards for an oil company, you picked the wrong fucking VP.

It would be hysterically funny if it wasn't so appalling.

For yet more Meet the Press Fun with John McLame:

Senior Moment: McCain Forgets Which Secretary of State Endorsed Him

Brokaw nails McCain on taxing the wealthy, Reagan's record

McCain to Brokaw: I reject your objective measures of reality and substitute my own


Fun fact: McCain was speaking to Brokaw from Waterloo, Iowa. Could this be a sign?

Dead Heat

Darcy Burner has withstood a firestorm, including a hit-job by the Seattle Times, and managed a near-miracle:

Research 2000 for Daily Kos. 10/21-23. Likely voters. MoE ±5% (10/5-7 results).

Reichert (R) 46 (49)
Burner (D) 46 (41)

Now that's a sight for sore eyes, huh? The Right, on the retreat nationwide, has decided that this will be one of their "line in the sand" districts. The NRCC, the wingnut 527s, and the well-funded incumbent Reichert are dumping everything on Darcy, but she's still somehow managed to close an eight-point gap in two weeks.

"Line in the sand," eh? Looks like we're about to cross right over it.

This election is shaping up to be more than a defeat for the Cons. It's starting to look very much like a rout.

Good.

Holy Fucking Shit Batman! The AZ Reprise

Dos mas. DOS FUCKING MAS!!

The two most recent polls show that Senator Obama has cut into John McCain's once seemingly insurmountable lead in.... his home state of Arizona. Long considered a given for John McCain, Arizona's ten electoral votes are an absolutely necessary component of his path to 270. Perhaps more important than those ten electoral votes themselves is what a tight race in Arizona foretells: If Arizona winds up being a 1 or 2 point race on election night, that likely means that Obama has already taken Colorado, New Mexico, and Nevada.

The latest polls, released today, suggest that McCain maintains a slight lead:

Project New West: McCain 44; Obama 40
Zimmerman & Associates: McCain 44; Obama 42

This is how fucking lame McCain is - he's lost the state he represents. He should have carried Arizona with double-digits. He wasn't all that unpopular in the state when I was there - virtual fucking love fest, in fact, despite the occasional rumbling about his temper and his shoddy Republicon ways.

The fact that Obama is withing striking distance is phenomenal.

It's Not Just the "Occasional Nut" Getting Violent

Congressman Frank Wolf (R-VA) really doesn't like to answer questions, and is more than happy to let his thugs beat citizens asking about tax policy:

On Friday, two Feder staffers approached Congressman Wolf in a public location to ask him some questions. Two different individuals who were accompanying Congressman Wolf (staffers? relatives? friends?) assaulted the Feder staffers, as you can see quite clearly in the video. The first Feder staffer was hit with a cane and then punched. The second staffer (as you will see on the video) was pinned to a wall and forcibly held there. All of this took place in the presence of Congressman Wolf, who stood by and did nothing to intervene.

Note: this is a "moderate" Republicon. He's supposedly not in thrall to the batshit sane elements of the party. Yet he seems to enjoy the violence just as much.

This should be a career-ender. I hope Judy Feder takes that cocksucker down. You do not, in a civilized society, tacitly encourage your hangers-on to beat citizens in your presence. These fucking thugs need to understand that there are consequences for such behavior.

Virginia. Do the right thing.

(Tip o' the shot glass to Mark A R Kleiman at Daily Kos)

Happy Hour Discurso

Today's opining on the public discourse.

A while back, I mentioned that Bush likely wouldn't leave office without starting more wars. Looks like he has indeed decided to go out with a bang:

Seems the US attacked a village 10 miles inside Syria, two helicopters landed and disbursing commandos who then killed a bunch of, what Syria claims, were construction workers. As Brandon notes, 10 miles means it wasn't a "mistake" and this is the first time the US has attacked there. I know Syria isn't considered all that friendly to the US, despite having helped
quite a bit against al-Q'aeda, but either destabilizing them or encouraging them to retaliate through underhanded means (i.e., supporting terrorism or the Iraqi insurgency) seems... unwise. The foreign policy clown car that is the Bush administration continues to accelerate.

Further reports confirm this attack took place:

As Ian noted earlier, the newswires are abuzz with reports of an attack on a Syrian village near the Iraqi border:

Local residents in a Syrian border town said that American forces killed seven men in a helicopter-borne commando attack inside Syrian territory.

Doctors in the town of Al-Sukkariya, some eight kilometres from the Iraqi border, said seven corpses and four wounded had been delivered to a nearby clinic after
the attack.

The eyewitness accounts said that four helicopters were involved in the operation, with two of the helicopters landing in the town and eight American soldiers disembarking. The eyewitnesses said that the seven killed men were supposedly construction workers.

Afterwards, the US helicopters then left Syrian airspace with all the soldiers again on board.

No explanation or comment yet from US forces though as more reports come in, the number of dead has been increased to 9 with 14 wounded.

So, Bush has apparently decided that leaving office with two wars isn't enough: he wanted a third, and Syria seemed like a country easy to kick around. What better way to announce that you mean business than to kill some construction workers? I'm sure he'll try to spin us a good story about fighting the terrorists, but it's sheer bullshit. Everything with Bush is.

That being so, it's even more disturbing that McCain just today said that he "shares a common philosophy" with Bush:

Under the circumstances, one might assume that John McCain would try to avoid talking about George W. Bush altogether. Just pretend he doesn't exist. If asked, he'd say, "George who?"

But, no. McCain keeps pushing his luck. A few days ago, McCain brought up Bush in order to
talk about how much Obama has in common with the president. A day later, McCain brought up Bush again in order to argue, unpersuasively, that he disagrees with the president about several key issues. McCain talked about Bush again this morning, acknowledging that he and the president "share a common philosophy of the Republican Party."

I suspect the Obama campaign couldn't be happier to have the discussion head in this direction. Indeed, Obama, campaigning in Denver today, plans to help McCain get his message out.

"Just this morning, Senator McCain said that he and President Bush – 'share a common philosophy.' That's right, Colorado. I guess that was John McCain finally giving us a little straight talk, and owning up to the fact that he and George Bush actually have a whole lot in common."

Look, this isn't even a close call. By now, we've all seen the clip with McCain bragging to a national television audience about having voted with Bush 90% of the time, "higher than a lot of my even Republican colleagues."

But the connection obviously goes far deeper. As Tom Brokaw reminded McCain this morning, the senator has insisted, "[O]n the transcendent issues, the most important issues of our day, I have been totally in agreement and support of President Bush." A few months ago, McCain vowed to campaign alongside Bush as much as possible this year.

That, combined with McCain's penchant for singing about bombing other countries, should give us pause. It's a damned good thing Obama's so far ahead in the polls, but still, I worry.

And that's not all. McCain had a lot more to say on the topic of aggression:

Last weekend, Joe Biden predicted that U.S. enemies may try to "test" Barack Obama with an international crisis early on if he's elected president, but Obama's "spine of steel'' will serve him well when faced with these challenges. The McCain campaign, ever since, has tried to characterize Biden's remarks as some kind of important development.

Yesterday, McCain, again citing Biden's comments, added some new rhetoric to the mix.

"I'm gonna test them,'' Republican John McCain said at a campaign rally in New
Mexico this morning. "They're not gonna test me.''

So much for walking softly.

Maybe McCain could take a moment to elaborate on what this means, exactly. He's going to "test" rivals? Which ones? How will he "test" them?

If Biden's remarks suggest U.S. enemies may try to create an international crisis, it sounds as if McCain's message is, "I'll show them; I'll start an international crisis first!"

Looks like Bush got there first.

This saber-rattling and attack come courtesy of the same party that's so desperate to stop a Democratic tsunami that they've resorted to outright insanity:

They actually went there:

"Pennsylvania Republicans are disavowing an e-mail sent to Jewish voters that likens a vote for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama to events that led up to the Holocaust.

"Jewish Americans cannot afford to make the wrong decision on Tuesday, November 4th, 2008," the e-mail reads. "Many of our ancestors ignored the warning signs in the 1930s and 1940s and made a tragic mistake. Let's not make a similar one this year!""

The Pennsylvania Republican Party claims that this mailer went out without their authorization, and that they have fired the consultant who was responsible. That consultant, however, says
this:

""I had authorization from party officials" to send the e-mail, Rudnick said, but he declined to say who had signed off on it. "I'm not looking to drag anyone else through the mud, so I'm not naming names right now," he said."

"Despicable" is a word that comes to mind here. Disgusting, beyond outrageous, and appalling all queue up, but nothing quite seems to express my feelings. A sane, stable, and sober political party does not do things like this. A desperate bunch of power-mad, self-righteous, amoral shitheads, on the other hand.... they'll stop at nothing.

I hope their defeat on November 4th can be described as "crushing." The last thing we need is to validate this kind of vitriol by voting for them.

Sunday Sensational Science

Flies like us.


We had a pet fly for a few weeks one summer in Page, AZ. Friendly little bugger - he liked to hang out with us in the kitchen, never caused trouble, and would sit contentedly on a knee cleaning himself while we chatted. We felt a kinship with him.

Turns out there may be good reason for that.

Meet Drosophila melanogaster, the fruit fly. Yes, the same fruit fly Sarah Palin disparged just a bit ago. She mightn't be putting dear old Dro down if she knew how much we share. 61% of disease genes, in fact. 50% of mammalian genes, even so. Fruit flies have led to some - forgive me - fruitful research when it comes to understanding how genes affect everything from birth defects to why alcohol leads to lust.

They have a lot to tell us about how genes affect embryonic development, and about the diseases that result when our genes turn against us. They make effective research subjects for a variety of reasons. For one, they're not cute, so it's unlikely PETA's going to show up demanding we set them free. Secondly, their genes are elegantly simple, which makes them much easier to research and manipulate. Thirdly, their short life spans and profligate procreation means we can study them over generations in a usefully short amount of time. And finally, the fact we all evolved from the same source means we can apply what we've learned from them to other research animals, and eventually to us.

It starts with Hox genes. Those are the subgroup of homeobox genes that come in clusters on vertebrates, and basically let the developing embryo know what bits are where. They can get a little complicated in mammals, but they're dead easy in fruit flies:



I filched that illustration from PZ, who 'splains a lot better than I can sum up. All we need to know for today's purposes is this: Hox genes - fruit flies has gots 'em, and so do we.

This becomes critically important when we try to understand how genes make the mammal. Studying Drosophila gives us a basic outline of the processes involved. Once we've got those basics down, we can start translate that understanding to more complex critters. Like us.


Understanding the basics of how genes work is vital to understanding what happens when they don't work. Take birth defects. A lot of medications cause them, and mitigating those side effects is a huge thing. Imagine if we could understand how and why the medication is affecting genes, and come up with either alternative therapies or develop "rescue" therapies that will prevent the problem. Enter the humble fruit fly, who is now helping scientists do just that with MTX, a drug that treats everything from cancer to arthritis - but at a horrible cost. The flies suffer the same defects. Through them, we've discovered something important: "Many of the genes found to be affected by MTX are involved in cell cycle regulation, signal transduction, transport, defense response, transcription, or various aspects of metabolism."

Knowing is half the battle. And the humble little flies will allow us to test therapies as they're developed, eventually leading to fewer birth defects due to life-saving and life-enhancing drugs.

Need a bigger brain? Studies with Drosophila lately identified "timer" genes that regulate when and how stem cells stop producing more neurons. I'll let Dr. Alex Gould, who led the research, explain the importance:

Dr Gould said: "This discovery has relevance for future stem-cell based therapies in two ways. Firstly, while we know how to grow massive quantities of neurons from neural stem cells in a petri-dish, it’s also important to understand how to stop them growing if they are to be transplanted safely into a human brain."

"Secondly, we know that the human brain retains a few neural stem cells into adulthood. If we could learn how to influence the internal clock of these cells it might be possible to rejuvenate them so they can make replacement neurons. These could then be used to help repair damage caused by neurodegenerative conditions like Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease.

That's tremendous. This research could end up helping us regrow damaged areas of the brain. It could end the tyranny of neurodegenerative diseases and brain injury. (And, as an SF author, let me just say it's fun to extrapolate this into the idea of a strap-on brain - who wouldn't want to grow an extra one to help us remember and comprehend things?)

From growing new brains, it's just a short hop over to understanding why some of them grow wonky. Take autism, for instance. We've got pretty good evidence that abnormalities in the gene neurexin 1 has something to do with autism. Neurexin is a critical protein - it's the stuff required for connections between neurons to form and function the way they should. How do we know that? Drosophila told us. And now it's going to tell us even more:

The discovery, made in Drosophila fruit flies may lead to advances in understanding autism spectrum disorders, as recently, human neurexins have been identified as a genetic risk factor for autism. “This finding now gives us the opportunity to see what job neurexin performs within the cell, so that we can gain a better insight into what can go wrong in the nervous system when neurexin function is lost,” said Dr. Manzoor Bhat, associate professor of cell and molecular physiology in the UNC School of Medicine and senior author of the study. The study, published online Sept. 6, 2007, in the journal Neuron, is the first to successfully demonstrate in a Drosophila model the consequences that mutating this important protein may have on synapses.

Pretty incredible stuff. Drosophila turns out to be quite the font of information - and it can tell us about ourselves even when it doesn't share our heart. Heartless (well, multi-chambered heartless) Dro has taught us quite a bit about the genes that play a role in the development of one of our most vital organs. It's also got plenty to teach on the subject of diabetes. While fruit flies don't suffer from that disease, they share almost all of our insulin-signalling circuits. That wonderful fact has already, in just two short years, led to three new drug targets.

Amazing that an insect, a pest no less, shares enough in common with us to help us understand how our biology works and how to fix it when things go awry. Drosophila, it turns out, may be among our best friends. Move over, Rover.

Just be careful if you buy Dro a drink to celebrate our commonalities. They, ah, lose their inhibitions and, well, might get a little fresh. Among other things.





See here for an eye-popping list of Drosophila research. As always, click the pics for sources and additional delights.

Yet Another Reason to Vote for Obama

Aside from his policy, leadership qualities, intelligence, caring, and other excellent things too numerous to list, he actually used Batman to hammer McCain in a political speech:

"It’s like Robin getting mad at Batman," he says of McCain's recent efforts to distance himself from Bush.

McCain as Bush's sidekick. Masterful. I adore this man.

On the relative enthusiasm front, Obama and McCain were both campaigning in Albuquerque today, which gives us an unprecedented chance to compare respective crowd sizes. Obama outdrew McCain (if I have my ratios right) 45:1.

That's right.

45,000 people showed up to see Obama. 1,000 came out for McCain.

No. Fucking. Comparison.

(Disclaimer: to all of you comic book geeks who might be inclined to dig deep within the Batman mythology and find instances where Robin showed independence from Batman, got mad at him, etc., stop. Just stop. Take a moment to appreciate the fact that the majority of the American public only sees Robin as Batman's bitch. That's what Obama meant. All right? Jeez.)

Mormon Mafia Getting Asses Kicked

The Mormon Church is in lust with Prop 08, which would amend California's constitution to destroy same-sex couples their chance at wedded bliss. They've spent upwards of $10 million, deployed doorknockers, engaged in extortion, and made a general nuisance of themselves trying to legislate their morality. If you're in California, you've likely gotten a phone call from these fuckers trying to arm-twist you into voting yes for discrimination.

They won't be calling you again:

The Mormon church, whose members have emerged as the leading backers of a ballot measure to end same-sex marriage in California, is scaling back its Utah campaign operation but will continue to support the initiative.

Church members will no longer be making phone calls from Utah to California voters, Kim Farah, a spokeswoman for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said in a prepared statement Friday.

And what led to this welcome state of affairs? People like you. The Courage Campaign and NO activists exposed their fuckery, applied public pressure, and sent them reeling.

If you want to apply the boot and kick some self-righteous ass, you can sign a letter to President-Prophet Thomas Monson expressing your desire for him to knock off the moral mafiosi tactics. Then you can donate a few bucks to NO. Send them a message:

The lesson we should take from all of this is to keep it up. Keep up the focus on the Mormons. Keep exposing their lies and blackmail. Keep pointing out the hypocrisy of a religion funding lies and distortions. We can respect their freedom to choose not to conduct same-sex marriages, we only ask that they respect Californians to make up our own minds on whether we should take away the rights of loving couples to marry.

The moral mafiosi are relentless.

So are we.

(Tip o' the shot glass to Teddy Partridge at Firedoglake)

After AZ Poll, My Computer is Wearing My Coke

Holy fucking shit, Batman!

AZ-Pres: Hold on to your hats!

Myers Research (D) & Grove Insight (D). 10/23-24. Likely voters. MoE 4% (No trend lines)

Likely voters

McCain (R) 44
Obama (D) 40

Early voters (34% of the sample)

McCain (R) 46
Obama (D) 47

The sample was 40 percent Republican, 33 Democratic, and 26 percent independent. ASU has its own survey coming Monday, and they've hinted at similar results. Makes me wish I would've polled Arizona instead of Tennessee.

Four points? Four fucking points?! And ahead in early voting? This is fucking Arizona we're talking about, right? McCain's home state? His stronghold? The one he should have walked away with for free? Rassmussen had it at fucking 59-38% last month, for fuck's sake! Myers showed a 14-pt lead! And now we've got Obama within spitting distance?

Hot damn, home state! You go! Kick that carpetbagger in the nads!

I'm so proud of you! *sniffle*


(And before you all start screaming "outlier," consider this. Maybe the locals at KAET knew something the nationals didn't. Not to mention Bruce Merrill, professor emeritus at ASU's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism, thought just a few days ago that new polls would show McCain with a very narrow lead. You can take him, AZ!)