Click on the LEFT COLUMN Political Map for more...let's play! The 2010 Political Season has started!

News from the Votemaster
Happy Election Year !

If you think 2009 was a politically active and contentious year, you ain't seen nothin' yet.

While the midterm elections are never as exciting as presidential elections, there are so many hotly contested races coming up this year--starting as early as March (the Texas gubernatorial primary)--that there will be plenty of food for political junkies.

At some point we will start updating the map with polling data, but it is much too early now.
(Click on the Map in the left column of this blog to see the updates....)

Case in point. In May 2009, Gov. Charlie Crist (R-FL) was leading former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio 53% to 18%. A Rasmussen poll taken two weeks ago puts them in a tie at 43% each. By the August primary, who knows where things will be.

Another problem with trying to do the map this early is that while in some states the Senate candidates are known now (e.g., in Missouri it will Robin Carnahan vs. Roy Blunt) in other states the candidates won't be known until the primaries (e.g., in the Kentucky Senate race it will either be Jack Conway or Daniel Mongiardo for the Democrats against either Trey Grayson or Rand Paul for the Republicans).

Averaging the polls for the four possible races is probably close to meaningless, certainly this far out. But at some point, this will all be sorted out and we will know the general election candidates and then it will make sense to starting updating the map daily.

Top Ten Political Surprises of 2009

To reaffirm the adage that in politics a week is a long time, here is a list of 10 political events that very few people were predicting on Jan. 1, 2009. Producing such a list is tricky enough, let alone trying to order the events, so they are in alphabetical order. No doubt an analogous list for 2010 can be produced a year from now.

•Arlen Spector jumped ship and became a Democrat
•Barack Obama was not the liberal his supporters wanted and his opponents feared
•Charlie Crist is no longer a shoo-in as the next senator from Florida
•Jon Corzine managed to lose his reelection race in very blue New Jersey
•Mark Sanford ruined his presidential prospects due to his love of hiking (and Argentinian women).
•Rod Blagojovich was impeached and convicted for trying to sell a Senate seat
•Sarah Palin resigned as governor, wrote a best seller, and became more popular than ever
•Tea parties captured the national spotlight all summer
•Ten 2010 Senate races have shaped up without the 2004 winner*
•The Democrats elected a congressman in NY-23 for the first time since the Civil War

* Arlen Spector won in 2004 but now he is running as a Democrat, which is clearly different from the normal reelection battle.

FD: Note that Politico has a top 10 White House surprises list and Huffington Post has a top 12 political surprises of the decade list. However, you need a consistent source of information, and I consider the Vote Master columnist one of the BEST POLITICAL COLUMNISTS. Click on the Politcal Map in the left column of my blog for even-handed, fair-minded, and objective observations on Politics --- our national sport.

I suspect that there were many FDR secrets that USa were not aware of during a REAL or shall we say MAJOR war... it was an issue for McCain in 2008...

Bet you that Churchill knew about it... note the McCain like jaw on FDR's left side (which was not photographed often during his life) in this later WWII photo.

A new book claims that President Franklin D. Roosevelt, right in February 1945, died from a tumor when his skin cancer metastasized.

It's hardly news that President Franklin D. Roosevelt was not a healthy man as he lead the nation during World War II. But aside from the cardiac problems that the public has known about for years, the authors of a new book argue that he suffered from a deadly form of skin cancer, and that it eventually killed him.

In "FDR's Deadly Secret," authors Eric Fettman and Dr. Steven Lomazow, a neurologist, claim that a melanoma above his left eyebrow metastasized over the last four years of FDR's life and caused a tumor that killed him in April 1945.

Fettman, one of the authors of the book, wrote about the findings in the New York Post Sunday. Fettman is an editor for the paper.

Fettman says he, his co-author and a respected dermatopathologist inspected dozens of photos of FDR's skin lesion, and says the president's "shockingly inept delivery of his final public speech strongly suggests that he suffered from hemianopia-- the inability to see the text in the left side of his field of vision."

Fettman and Lomazow say in the book that FDR ran for a third and fourth term in the White House while knowing "full well that he faced a likely death sentence."

The authors say the president's doctors lied to the public about his health before and after his death.

Ok, Folks. Now I know we are in an election year... I am getting emails from Anti-Conservative Groups with Support of the President

Chad Henderson sent a message to the members of Anti Conservative.
Subject: National Secruity

This morning , President Obama gave his weekly address , the very first in a new decade .

As we all know , the Tea Parties have focused on taxes and spending . However , now that a failed terrorist attack happened on Christmas Day , you know that national secruity will be a top issue this election year .

That is why i would like to have everyone read the following remarks from the President himself about the dangers we face and what his administration is doing to keep our nation safe :

It has now been more than a week since the attempted act of terrorism aboard that flight to Detroit on Christmas Day. On Thursday, I received the preliminary findings of the reviews that I ordered into our terrorist watchlist system and air travel screening. I've directed my counterterrorism and homeland security advisor at the White House, John Brennan, to lead these reviews going forward and to present the final results and recommendations to me in the days to come.

As I said this week, I will do everything in my power to make sure our hard-working men and women in our intelligence, law enforcement and homeland security communities have the tools and resources they need to keep America safe. This includes making sure these communities-and the people in them-are coordinating effectively and are held accountable at every level. And as President, that is what I will do.

Meanwhile, the investigation into the Christmas Day incident continues, and we're learning more about the suspect. We know that he traveled to Yemen, a country grappling with crushing poverty and deadly insurgencies. It appears that he joined an affiliate of al Qaeda, and that this group-al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula-trained him, equipped him with those explosives and directed him to attack that plane headed for America.

This is not the first time this group has targeted us. In recent years, they have bombed Yemeni government facilities and Western hotels, restaurants and embassies-including our embassy in 2008, killing one American. So, as President, I've made it a priority to strengthen our partnership with the Yemeni government-training and equipping their security forces, sharing intelligence and working with them to strike al Qaeda terrorists.

And even before Christmas Day, we had seen the results. Training camps have been struck; leaders eliminated; plots disrupted. And all those involved in the attempted act of terrorism on Christmas must know-you too will be held to account.

But these efforts are only part of a wider cause. It's been nearly a year since I stood on the steps of the U.S. Capitol and took the oath of office as your President. And with that oath came the solemn responsibility that I carry with me every moment of every day-the responsibility to protect the safety and security of the American people.

On that day I also made it very clear-our nation is at war against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred, and that we will do whatever it takes to defeat them and defend our country, even as we uphold the values that have always distinguished America among nations.

And make no mistake, that's exactly what we've been doing. It's why I refocused the fight-bringing to a responsible end the war in Iraq, which had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks, and dramatically increasing our resources in the region where al Qaeda is actually based, in Afghanistan and Pakistan. It's why I've set a clear and achievable mission-to disrupt, dismantle and defeat al Qaeda and its extremist allies and prevent their return to either country.

And it's why we've forged new partnerships, as in Yemen, and put unrelenting pressure on these extremists wherever they plot and train-from East Africa to Southeast Asia, from Europe to the Persian Gulf. And though often out of sight, our progress has been unmistakable. Along with our partners, we've disrupted terrorist financing, cut off recruiting chains, inflicted major losses on al Qaeda's leadership, thwarted plots here in the United States, and saved countless American lives.

Yet as the Christmas Day attempt illustrates, and as we were reminded this week by the sacrifices of more brave Americans in Afghanistan-including those seven dedicated men and women of the CIA-the hard work of protecting our nation is never done. So as our reviews continue, let us ask the questions that need to be asked. Let us make the changes that need to be made. Let us debate the best way to protect the country we all love. That is the right and responsibility of every American and every elected official.

But as we go forward, let us remember this-our adversaries are those who would attack our country, not our fellow Americans, not each other. Let's never forget what has always carried us through times of trial, including those attacks eight Septembers ago.

Instead of giving in to fear and cynicism, let's renew that timeless American spirit of resolve and confidence and optimism. Instead of succumbing to partisanship and division, let's summon the unity that this moment demands. Let's work together, with a seriousness of purpose, to do what must be done to keep our country safe.

As we begin this New Year, I cannot imagine a more fitting resolution to guide us-as a people and as a nation.
--------------------

To reply to this message, follow the link below:
http://www.facebook.com/n/?inbox%2Freadmessage.php&t=1076565971177&mid=1a95aafG3cdf81e0Gcfc8e4G0

___

Prions and Viruses remind us that the definition of life form is a bit grey instead of black and white.

'Lifeless' prions can 'evolve'

Scientists have shown for the first time that "lifeless" prion proteins, devoid of all genetic material, can evolve just like higher forms of life.

The Scripps Research Institute in the US says the prions can change to suit their environment and go on to develop drug resistance.

Prions are associated with 20 different brain diseases in humans and animals.

The scientists say their work suggests new approaches might be necessary to develop therapies for these diseases.

In the study, published in the journal Science, the scientists transferred prion populations from brain cells to other cells in culture and observed the prions that adapted to the new cellular environment out-competed their brain-adapted counterparts.

When returned to the brain cells, the brain-adapted prions again took over the population.

Charles Weissmann, head of Scripps Florida's department of infectology who led the study, said: "On the face of it, you have exactly the same process of mutation and adaptive change in prions as you see in viruses.

“ This is a timely reminder that prion concerns are not going away and that controls to stop abnormal prions being transmitted to humans through the food system or through blood transfusions must be vigorously maintained ”
Professor John Collinge, Medical Research Council Prion Unit

"This means that this pattern of Darwinian evolution appears to be universally active.

"In viruses, mutation is linked to changes in nucleic acid sequence that leads to resistance.

"Now, this adaptability has moved one level down- to prions and protein folding - and it's clear that you do not need nucleic acid (DNA or RNA) for the process of evolution."

Mammalian cells normally produce cellular prion protein or PrPC.

During infections, such as the human form of mad cow disease known as vCJD, abnormal or misfolded proteins convert the normal host prion protein into its toxic form by changing its conformation or shape.

"It was generally thought that once cellular prion protein was converted into the abnormal form, there was no further change", Mr Weissmann said.

"But there have been hints that something was happening.

"When you transmit prions from sheep to mice, they become more virulent over time.

PRION DISEASES

•Human prion diseases such as Creutzfeldt Jakob disease (CJD) can arise sporadically, be acquired by infection or be inherited because of a mutant gene coding for the prion protein
•They are relatively rare but have occurred in epidemic form in Papua New Guinea as a result of brain cannibalism
•Animal prion diseases include scrapie in sheep and goats, chronic wasting disease in deer and elk and transmissible mink encephalopathy
•Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) first appeared in UK in mid-1980s
•It is estimated that more than two million UK cattle were infected
•Variant CJD (vCJD) caused by the same prion strain as BSE was first recognised in the mid-1990s


"Now we know that the abnormal prions replicate, and create variants, perhaps at a low level initially.

"But once they are transferred to a new host, natural selection will eventually choose the more virulent and aggressive variants."

Professor John Collinge, of the Medical Research Council's (MRC) Prion Unit, described the research as exciting confirmation of a hypothesis that he had proposed two years ago, that there could be a "cloud" or whole array of prion proteins in the body.

He called it the cloud hypothesis.

He said: "The prion protein is not a clone, it is a quasi-species that can create different protein strains even in the same animal.

"The abnormal prion proteins multiply by converting normal prion proteins.

"The implication of Charles Weissmann's work is that it would be better to cut off that supply of normal prion proteins rather than risk the abnormal prion adapting to a drug and evolving into a new more virulent form.

"You would do this by trying to block the sites on the normal prion protein that the abnormal form locks on to to do its conversion.

"We know there is an antibody that can do this in mice and the Medical Research Council's Prion Unit have managed to engineer a human antibody to do this.

Chemical libraries

"It is currently undergoing safety tests and we hope to move to clinical trials by the end of 2011"

Professor Collinge said the MRC was also trying to find more conventional chemical compounds to do this and has been collaborating with the chemical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).

He said: "They have given us access to their chemical libraries, which contain millions of compounds, and we have already identified some that may work well.

"This is a timely reminder that prion concerns are not going away and that controls to stop abnormal prions being transmitted to humans through the food system or through blood transfusions must be vigorously maintained."

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/health/8435320.stm

If Gitmo contains the worse terrorists, where did they come from? Why are we "surprised" that Yemen is a terriorist center?

I’ve made a simple list: Notice the Top four countries.


Saudi Arabia…………..160
Yemen……………………85
Pakistan………………….82
Afghanistan……………..80

Jordan……………………30
Egypt……………………..30
Algeria……………………19
Morocco………………….18
Kuwait……………………12
China…………………….12
Tajikistan………………..11
Turkey……………………11
Britain……………………..9
Tunisia…………………….8
Russia……………………..8
France……………………..7
Bahrain…………………….7
Australia…………………..2
Canada…………………….2
Checnya…………………..2
Uzbekistan………………..2
Syria……………………….2
Georgia……………………2
Sudan………………………2
Bangladesh……………….1
Belgium……………………1
Denmark…………………..1
Germany…………………..1
Iraq…………………………1
Kenya………………………1
Libya………………………..1
Mauritania………………….1
Qatar……………………….1
Spain……………………….1
Sweden…………………….1

I have not posted a Synthetic Biology article in this new year, so why not about Life itself.....

Synthetic biology yields clues to evolution and the origin of life

Researchers in the field of synthetic biology are still a long way from being able to assemble living cells from scratch in the laboratory.

But according to biochemist David Deamer of the University of California, Santa Cruz, their efforts are yielding clues to the mystery of how life began on Earth. Deamer has been investigating the origin of life for more than 20 years, focusing on the molecular self-assembly processes that led to the first "protocells" nearly 4 billion years ago.

At the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Chicago this past year, he discussed evolution, biochemistry, and the origin of cellular life. His presentation was part of a symposium on evolution organized by Eugenie Scott, director of the National Center for Science Education in Oakland, Calif.

According to Deamer, life began with complex systems of molecules that came together through the self-assembly of nonliving components. A useful metaphor for understanding how this came about, he said, can be found in combinatorial chemistry, an approach in which thousands of experiments are carried out in parallel by robotic devices.

"I look at the origin of life as the result of combinatorial chemistry on a global scale," said Deamer, a research professor of chemistry and biochemistry at UCSC who is also affiliated with the Department of Biomolecular Engineering in UCSC's Jack Baskin School of Engineering.

The power of combinatorial chemistry lies in the vast numbers of structurally distinct molecules that can be synthesized and tested at the same time. Similarly, conditions on the early Earth allowed not only the synthesis of a wide variety of complex organic molecules, but also the formation of membrane-bound compartments that would have encapsulated different combinations of molecules.

"We have made protocells in the lab--artificial compartments containing complex systems of molecules," Deamer said. "The creationists charge that it's too unlikely for the right combination to have come together on its own, but combinatorial chemistry gives us a better way to think about the probability of life emerging from this process."

Life began when one or a few protocells happened to have a mix of components that could capture energy and nutrients from the environment and use them to grow and reproduce. Efforts to replicate this process in the laboratory are still in their infancy, but Deamer said he is optimistic that scientists will eventually be able to assemble a living cell from a parts list and thereby achieve a better understanding of how life began.

The first forms of life did not evolve in the usual sense, he said, but simply grew. "Evolution began when large populations of cells had variations that led to different metabolic efficiencies," Deamer said. "If the populations were in a confined environment, at some point they would begin to compete for limited resources."

The first evolutionary selection processes would have favored those organisms that were most efficient in capturing energy and nutrients from the local environment, he said.

In his talk at the AAAS meeting, Deamer outlined the conditions that scientists think were necessary for life to emerge on the early Earth. He is currently working on a book about the origin of life to be published by UC Press.