The Best Thing I've Heard All Year: It's About Damned Time Edition

It's been a while since I had a decent candidate.  This one has made up for the wait.

NEW YORK (AP) — Scientists are reporting the first clear success with a new approach for treating leukemia — turning the patients' own blood cells into assassins that hunt and destroy their cancer cells.

They've only done it in three patients so far, but the results were striking: Two appear cancer-free up to a year after treatment, and the third patient is improved but still has some cancer. Scientists are already preparing to try the same gene therapy technique for other kinds of cancer.

"It worked great. We were surprised it worked as well as it did," said Dr. Carl June, a gene therapy expert at the University of Pennsylvania. "We're just a year out now. We need to find out how long these remissions last."

While maintaining an appropriate sense of caution, this may be the beginning of a whole new level of medicine.  Manipulating the immune system into recognizing its blind spots has a potential that is limitless.  The fact that the T-cells are tricked into behaving differently makes me wonder if this breakthrough will eventually affect AIDS therapy and lupus treatments.  I will definitely update as more is published.

Somewhere Between "Holy Crap" And "It Could Be Worse"

Mobile apps are still not secure when it comes to storing certain personal information, according to a new study from security firm ViaForensics.

Dissecting a variety of apps for Apple's iOS and Google's Android, ViaForensics found that 76 percent of them store user names in cleartext without encryption, while 10 percent store passwords in the same way, making such data more vulnerable. Running a series of tests from November 2010 through June 2011, the security firm checked out apps from several categories, including financial, social networking, productivity, and retail.

I was happy to see they scored based on actual and potential.  It separated the apps that were a clear threat from the ones that were not encrypted but contained low risk data.  It paints a more accurate picture of the threat users face from not understanding how their phones work.  It would be great to see the heads of these companies make a good faith effort to establish a privacy standard.  We must draw clear lines of liability between user and creator.  Impartial and clearly defined standards of what data is stored, the level of security used to protect it, and how valuable that data is would go a long way.  There is a big difference between your SSN or current location and your Angry Birds high score.


The study itself is a very friendly read.  The overview says that more than 2/3 of the apps scored a warn or fail.  The lapses ranged from minor to account numbers.  Though some of the lapses are surely innocent our privacy should be overseen by those who know how exploitable unexpected types of information can be.  Here's hoping the good guys win the race and set the bar high.


We should put Wired on the case.  They've been doing some astonishing work over there, let them take a crack at this.  

Dinosaur Steve's Action Playland Gets My Tax Dollars

Kentucky doesn't quite have as huge a budget hole to fill as some other states, but it's the Democrats giving away massive tax breaks in my state to, I don't know, Bible theme parks, that kind of has me a little upset.

The city of Williamstown in Grant County has agreed to give a biblically themed amusement park a property tax discount of 75 percent over the next 30 years.

Mayor Rick Skinner said the offer is laid out in a memorandum of agreement that will be followed by a formal tax-increment financing deal with Petersburg-based Ark Encounters LLC in coming months.

The tax deal is in addition to almost $200,000 given to the company by Grant County's economic development arm as an enticement to keep the project located there, along with 100 acres of reduced-price land.

And that's not counting the state's promise of $40 million worth of sales tax rebates and a possible $11 million in improvements to the interstate near the project that would be financed by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet.

Officials say the theme park, which will feature a full-size replica of Noah's Ark, is generally supported in Grant County, but the array of state and local incentives worry some people, who aren't sure they will pay off in the end.

City Council member and former mayor Glenn Caldwell said he's still evaluating the numbers.

"I'm trying to be cautious in representing our city," he said, "making sure people will not be burdened with additional costs because of this project."

The property tax agreement means the Ark Encounter would pay 25 percent of the taxes due on 800 acres of property that is eventually expected to be worth $150 million. Most local property taxes are used to finance Williamstown Independent Schools.

And when Williamstown schools come up short next time, I'm sure Republicans there will be screaming to cut teachers instead of maybe charging the Ark Park guys what their property really is worth.

Can't wait until that happens.

A Quantum Leap

Quantum computing and microwaves are two great tastes that taste great together.

Physicists in the United States on Wednesday notched up a lab success in the quest for quantum computers, whose stellar capacities have already earned them the nickname of "super-computers on steroids."

Atoms can be excited to a quantum condition using microwaves, an advance over larger and bulkier lasers, until now the only way to achieve this essential state, they said.

In theory, it means that quantum computers -- if they are commercially feasible -- could be as tiny as a small book, the team reported in Nature, the British science journal.

"It is conceivable a modest-sized quantum computer could eventually look like a smart phone combined with a laser pointer-like device," said Dietrich Leibfried of the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

"Sophisticated machines might have an overall footprint comparable to a regular desktop PC."

Quantum computers the size of current desktop PCs instead of huge, complex laser installations is pretty much the breakthrough needed to make quantum supercomputers commercially viable.   I'm looking forward to the point where these things become residentially available.  You know, if we're not all killed in the apocalypse in the next couple years, that is.

Makers Vs. Takers

The new Republican class warfare game is straight out of the Ayn Rand playbook.  RNC chair Reince Priebus lays out the new (old) strategy:

"Well, Contessa, I mean, I view it as a 100 percent, absolute victory for not only the people in Wisconsin, but for all Americans that want to make sure that their government is listening, and that they can start living within its means," said Priebus. "And so after $30 million of big-government union money coming in, and a manufactured outrage that they've tried to put together in Wisconsin, we remain red. We won the Prosser [state Supreme Court] race in Wisconsin, we won again yesterday, we may win one or two next week.

"I think for the country, it's the start of having a debate, and winning the debate, that we need to have a country of makers, and not a country of takers. And I think that's important in saving not only Wisconsin, but a lot of other states that are watching. And I think it's a good signal, and a good sign, and a good tell, for the rest of America as to where the electorate is moving, and they're moving to winning a battle of individual freedom for America."

If you believe you might qualify as a maker, you're not. The top Republican in the land right now, the head of the Republican Party, just swore fealty to the top 2% of America's wealthy at the expense of the other 300 million of us or so.  And if Priebus's "makers vs takers" crap sounds familiar, that's because it's classic Randian social engineering.

The plan here is simply to convince millions of us on Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, farm subsidies, mortgage deduction users, child tax credit filers, people who work at a business with a government contract of any kind or anyone else who actually benefits from taxpayer dollars are in fact the "makers" and to vote against the "takers", which is the equivalent of a congress of various small tasty rodents electing themselves the largest meanest rat terrier they can find in order to protect themselves from the feline menace.

And they Republicans are absolutely counting on it so they can finish looting and mooching off the country and I guess move on to greener banana republic pastures.

StupidiNews!

• UK Prime Minister David Cameron has vowed to restore order by whatever means necessary as thousands of extra police seems to have calmed riots across Britain.
• A film about the special forces operatives who killed Bin Laden is getting help from the Pentagon, but the White House is denying right-wing claims of propaganda and classified leaks.
• Rep. Gabrielle Giffords's recovery from brain injuries suffered during her attempted assassination has brought focus on veterans suffering similar injuries in war.
• The world's central bankers are actively assisting the global financial community in dealing with this month's various financial crises.
• The London riots show that social networks can be used for more nefarious purposes sometimes.

Last Call

Republicans have named all six of their House and Senate members to the "Super Committee"/Gang of 12/Catfood Commission 2/Giant Charlie Foxtrot thing, and the six of them are exactly who you expected the Tea Party to appoint.

Republicans named their six members Wednesday to a congressional deficit-reduction super committee, including a favorite of the conservative Tea Party movement and other no-new-taxes hardliners.

In a move that could deadlock the 12-member panel over taxes, but perhaps set the stage for changes later, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell named Tea Party ally Patrick Toomey to the panel with Jon Kyl and Rob Portman.

The panel is known as the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction and was established to find $1.5 trillion in additional budget savings over 10 years, but markets have been looking for signs that it may be able to do more.

House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner, the top Republican in Congress, appointed Dave Camp, who chairs the tax-writing House Ways & Means Committee, along with conservative "young gun" Jeb Hensarling and Fred Upton.

For those of you keeping score, that's five bomb-throwing Tea Party jagoffs and Fred "We're going to make him pay for the CFL light bulb thing!" Upton, who will be made to throw bombs in order to save his place as House Commerce Committee chair.

Not a single one of these guys will accept a dime in taxes, revenue increases, tax expenditure reductions, or loophole closures.  They will, to a man, vote hard core Tea Party "our way or the highway".  The plan here is to force the trigger conditions and then blame the Democrats...or being really, really, amazingly nice to Sen. Max Baucus, and then blaming him when Republicans get exactly what they want:  massive Social Security and spending cuts.

This should be fun.  Not.

Walker-ing It Back, Part 2

Wisconsin Dems may have come up short in trying to retake the state senate through the recall process (and the fact they won two seats is amazing in and of itself) but if anything, the narrow loss has only made the recall next year of GOP Gov. Scott Walker all that much more important.

“If we can do all of this against entrenched Republicans on their own turf, imagine our success … when all of Wisconsin can have its voice heard on Gov. Walker’s extreme, divisive agenda,” Wisconsin state party chairman Mike Tate wrote in a memo to reporters Wednesday.

“The historic gains made tonight to restore balance and accountability to our state, and restore Wisconsin values, will continue when the entire state weighs in on the November 2012 elections — and with the recall of Scott Walker himself,” Tate said.

Standing before a cheering crowd of partisans on the Majestic Theatre stage late Tuesday — when it was still uncertain whether Democrats would flip control of the Senate — an animated Tate was even more defiant: “We will not stop, we will not rest, until we recall Scott Walker from the state of Wisconsin.”

In 2010, Walker carried both of the districts in which Democrats prevailed Tuesday — though in Senate District 32, where Democrat Jennifer Shilling easily unseated incumbent Dan Kapanke, Walker’s margin had been a single percentage point.

In the remaining four races, the first-term Republican governor notched between 54 and 58 percent. GOP incumbents matched or bested Walker’s performance in three of the four districts they defended.

Despite the Democratic losses, Madison-based Democratic pollster Nathan Henry calculates that the party achieved a 7 percent swing in its direction.

That's the real message Walker, Republicans, AND Dems need to take away:  in just nine months the GOP has cratered, even at the state level.  Scott Walker and other freshman GOP governors are largely responsible.

2012?  Republicans should be terrified.  No wonder they are pouring in the cash.  Walker's numbers in the state are miserable.  He knows he'd lose right now, so he's trying to end the idea of any more recalls.

"I've heard repeatedly from people who are just disgusted at all the ads, disgusted at all the money. They're tired of seemingly year-round campaigning, and whether it's a gubernatorial recall, any other recall, I don't think there's a whole lot of enthusiasm for having a whole 'nother wave of ads and money come into the state of Wisconsin."

I bet he's wrong.  I bet his job on it.

TARP 2: Eclectic Bugaboo Or Dow-ler Coaster Of Love

The major stock indices in New York gave up all of yesterday's big gains and then some today.

All 10 groups in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell at least 2 percent. Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc. dropped 11 percent, pacing losses in financial shares, as the costs to protect the government debt of Greece, Italy, Spain and France rose. Walt Disney Co. (DIS), the largest theme-park company, tumbled 9.1 percent on concerns that the slowing economy and consumer confidence may hurt its businesses.

The S&P 500 fell 4.4 percent to 1,120.75 at 4 p.m. in New York. The benchmark gauge jumped 4.7 percent yesterday as the Federal Reserve said it would keep borrowing costs at an all-time low and was prepared to use a range of tools to bolster the economy. The Dow declined 520.29 points, or 4.6 percent, to 10,719.48.

“The message is that the market is concerned about the financial industry,” Kevin Caron, market strategist in Florham Park, New Jersey, at Stifel Nicolaus & Co., said in a telephone interview. His firm has $115 billion in client assets. “The fact that Bank of America has said that they are comfortable with fundamentals is very positive. Still, the banks are exposed to a deteriorating economy. The European debt crisis has a whole set of issues. The concern is about a spillover effect of that.”

As you can guess, with Bank of America a dead man walking, the market is seriously expecting another financial windfall along the lines of TARP.  Good luck getting that passed with the Tea Party making governing the country impossible.

The Dow down 18% in 13 trading days?  Yeah, that's a bit of an issue.  Fluctuations like this in the major markets indicates things are fundamentally broken at the most basic level right now.  People keep saying how this isn't 2008 again, but brother, it sure feels like it.

I'm convinced the Fed will give us a TARP 2/QE 3 special, and do it soon.

Why Bon Keeps A Ball Bat

A Fullerton man convicted earlier this year for twice ejaculating into a female co-worker’s water bottle was ordered Monday to pay the woman more than $27,000 in restitution.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Walter Schwarm ordered Michael Kevin Lallana, 32, to pay $27,410.80 to the woman for loss of wages, therapy and medical expenses, including the money she paid to have the tainted water tested.

Twice.  I think that single word put this into a whole new light.  My first job out of high school was in an office in Kansas City.  Two weeks after I started a man was walked out and charges were pressed because he peed in the coffee pot.  I was so very grateful to be a Pepsi girl.  Five years later, I was slipped a hallucinogen by a nut who thought I was pretty.  I now pay great attention to seals and take every precaution possible.  There is no price tag on horror.  And seriously, ten minutes and a ball bat and I'd fix his wagon. 

This Week's WTH - First Amendment Edition

Sometimes I come across something that just leaves me blinking in disbelief.  The fact that this slid by at all is amazing to me.  What the hell was he thinking?

RENTON, Wash. -- The judge who signed a criminal cyber-stalking search warrant, seeking the name of an anonymous cartoon animator mocking the Renton police department, has apparently changed his mind.

King County Judge James Cayce, issued a "stay" of the search warrant Tuesday, pending full court hearing on the matter scheduled for August 19. The ruling is in response to a ‘motion to quash’ filed by a Seattle first amendment rights attorney.

The first article is short and sweet, but I am sad that it missed my radar on the first print.

Only KIRO Team 7 Investigative Reporter Chris Halsne holds a key document that really lays bare the city’s intent. The document was quietly filed in King County Superior Court last week. It’s a search warrant accusing an anonymous cartoon creator, going by the name of Mr. Fiddlesticks, of cyberstalking (RCW 9.61.260). The Renton Police Department and the local prosecutor got a judge to sign off as a way to uncover the name of whoever is behind the parodies. Halsne talked with three nationally respected legal experts who believe the use of the cyberstalking statute is likely stomping on the constitution. 

Without clearly defined laws and boundaries, this actually poses a risk.  A judge came to his senses this time, but I don't feel confident that we are safely removed from this type of invasion.  Cyberstalking?  While that is a very real problem, I don't think it usually comes wrapped in poor taste and jittery animation.  One stupid decision might open a door that we can never close again.  Right now there is a lot of wiggle room in how different companies and agencies store, share and publish information.  We control none of it.  That is a Very Bad Plan.

Numero Uno

How weird has the Dow been this week?  For a brief, shining moment Apple overtook ExxonMobil as the largest company on earth.

Apple Inc briefly edged past oil majorExxon Mobil to become the most valuable company in the United States after days of volatile stock market action.


The market value of Apple rose on Tuesday to $341.5 billion, just above Exxon's at $341.4 billion, even as the oil major rakes in more than four times Apple's annual revenue.

600 down, 400 up, things are getting ugly out there, folks.  Stay tuned.

The Badger Awakens, Part 13

It awoke yesterday, but Democrats came up just short, taking 2 of the 6 recall elections yesterday in Wisconsin when they needed 3 for control of the state Senate.

Wisconsin Democrats have fallen just narrowly short of an ambitious goal - the attempt to pick up three state Senate seats through recall elections and take a majority in the chamber. As of early Wednesday morning, with six incumbent Republicans on the ballot, Democrats have defeated two -- but narrowly missed out in two others.

Democrats defeated Republican state Sen. Dan Kapanke, who represented the most Dem-leaning seat of any Republican in the chamber, by a 55%-45% margin. They also won a 51%-49% victory over state Sen. Randy Hopper, whose campaign was also damaged by a messy divorce, and allegations by his estranged wife that he "now lives mostly in Madison" after having an affair.

This would get Democrats from their previous 19-14 minority, following the 2010 Republican wave, to a 17-16 margin. In two more safe Republican districts, incumbents Robert Cowles and Sheila Harsdorf won by margins of 60%-40% and 58%-42%, respectively.

But in the two remaining toss-ups, Democrats have lost close calls. State Sen. Luther Olsen won by a margin of 52%-48%. At time of writing the Associated Press had yet to officially call the District 8 race for incumbent state Sen. Alberta Darling, but other accounts indicated she would emerge the winner.

Also next week are two recalls targeting incumbent Democrats Robert Wirch and Jim Holperin. However, both Wirch and Holperin have significantly out-fundraised their challengers, and are at least favored to hold on -- but in this polarized environment, anything is possible.

Despite heavy turnout, Republicans in red parts of the state turned out as well to defend the policies of a Governor with an approval rating in the mid-30's.  It was a gamble but the Dems did come up short.  Republicans are jubilant this morning, and the reason they kept 4 of the seats yesterday was money, money, money.

Republican money groups poured cash into the state in order to save Republicans in Wisconsin, and it worked this time.  The Club for Growth, Republican legislative boiler room ALEC, the American Federation for Children (run by the sister of Blackwater founder Eric Prince), and the Koch Brothers front group Americans for Prosperity all poured a total of millions into the race, and they bought themselves a number of key wins, none more key than GOP state senator Alberta Darling defending her seat.

And surprise, surprise, Darling's district includes Waukesha County, the same county where in April's state Supreme Court race, county clerk Kathy Nickolaus "found" thousands of votes in favor of conservative Judge David Prosser to give him the win in the recount election.  Needless to say, Alberta Darling eked out a solid victory again based almost solely on big numbers in Waukesha County.

So Republicans did what they had to do to win.  I'm hoping Democrats will still go after Gov. Scott Walker next year, but you can bet that the right will be ready to save Walker's ass again and will be doing everything they can to buy another election, now that it's legal to do so...and have no problems with a bit of shady action on the side just to make sure they win.

Your Obama Second Term GOP Preview

Texas Republican Rep. Michael Burgess gives away the worst kept secret in Washington on upcoming GOP strategy on dealing with President Obama.  Talking to Tea Party folks back home in the Lone Star State, the question of the debt ceiling came up (not to mention the Congressman's numerous votes to raise the debt ceiling under Bush.)  But then things got interesting.

Then Burgess fielded a suggestion that the House move to impeach Obama. "It needs to happen, and I agree with you it would tie things up," he reportedly said. "No question about that."

The U.S. Constitution, in Article II, Section 4, requires a conviction on "Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors" before an office-holder can be impeached. President Obama faces no such charges.

Asked to clarify, "Burgess said he wasn't sure whether the proper charges to bring up articles of impeachment against Obama were there, but he didn't rule out pursuing such a course," reporter Aman Batheja concluded.

To repeat, a sitting member of Congress believes the President should be impeached, but can't give an actual legal or Constitutional reason as to why.  Not a single one.  But he should be just because.  Well, given the GOP's history on dealing with Obama, I think Burgess has a reason, but it's not polite to mention it in public.

Here's a hint, it has to do with President Obama's party, or more likely the most obvious of  his presidential firsts.

Just sayin'.

StupidiNews!

• A fourth night of rioting in the UK has spread from London to northern cities like Manchester and Liverpool as the country scrambles to maintain order.
• Senate majority leader Harry Reid has named Democrats John Kerry, Patty Murray, and Max Baucus to the "Super Committee" that will tackle the debt this year.
• President Obama marked the final journey for the 30 US troops killed in a helicopter crash after being attacked in Afghanistan last week.
• Germany's second-largest bank Commerzbank AG saw 2Q profits plunge 93% in the wake of the Greek debt crisis spreading to the rest of Europe.
• Apple has won a major copyright injunction against the Samsung Galaxy, keeping the tablet out of Europe.