Killing Cancer with a Smile

This cartoon got me reminiscing about my time as a cancer researcher.

Why did I quit? In short, it didn't make sense for me to save thousands of lives if the one I was leading wasn't worth living. I hate lab work and I wasn't making any money ... so I said "forget it". I wouldn't have gotten credit for anything, anyway.

But there were a few ideas I had for cancer treatments that I never expressed. Unfortunately, I've forgotten all my key words, so this is going to sound a little odd to anyone in the field.

First, we know that we can make antibodies for just about anything. You put a foreign protein in some lab bunnies and shake them, and viola, you have antibodies that stick to the foreign protein. So you do that with your cancer cells, then screen for antibodies that stick to the cancer cells but not the healthy cells. This should work for both common types of cancer and one-offs.

Now, you might get away with just injecting this crap right into the patient. The affinity of the antibody for the malignant cells might be enough to trigger the hosts' immune system.

If not, you can either: add a carbon chain and at the end use one of your "killer blocks". You know, one of those chemical clusters that kills just about anything. The antibody will attach to the cancer cell, then the killer crap will do its work.

Not satisfied? Use the antibody as the attachment vector for a virus. You know how HIV only attacks white blood cells. Do a little swap and replace the "white blood cell attachment do-hickeys" with your antibody ... do-hickeys.

Best of luck. Remember to get out of the lab occasionally.

Please Consider Supporting HR 1207

end the fed protests April 25th

We Need Better Ways To Protect Ourselves From Our Government

This has happened to me, too, though the consequences were not as severe. I was held for two days in Marin County for not agreeing with a police officer that I was DUI (I was stone sober).

I was also detained for 4 hours in San Francisco for pointing out that an officer was threatening me with an arrest for not wanting to give any information I wasn't legally required to provide.

Do not mistake my statements to mean that I think we don't need law enforcement, we do. But we need officers who will uphold the word and spirit of the laws, not thugs who abuse their position. We need to improve our ability to weed out bad apples before they cause harm, to detect bad apples that have gotten in, to remove or rehabilitate apples that are going bad, and to provide antidotes to those have been poisoned by the rot.

Finally, I want to point out that he was on a stretch of road that is riddled with violent crime these days. What if he had been a bad guy? What if he'd had a bomb in his trunk? What if the actions taken by the officers was the best way to ensure their safety against violent retaliation they've experienced in similar circumstances? Should we consider parts of the US more like war zones, and assume that in a war, you must take sides - and that in these regions you either need to side with the authorities or the outlaws? I think that's a more common sense solution: expect to be treated differently by police in different regions and under different circumstances. Pick your allies, enemies, and your battles. Realize that some environments may necessitate violation of the word of the law to fight for its spirit- but never loose sight of the goal of a country by and for the people. This requires balance of priorities: in my opinion the balance has shifted too far towards security and too far from freedom. I think the guy in the video would agree. I would also recommend that authorities learn to pick their allies, enemies, and their battles. Did this guy really come off as someone with a bomb or a person in their trunk? Even if he was doing something technically illegal, do you think it was worth violently violating his rights to prevent him from doing it? He just doesn't come off as someone who wants to do wrong. OK, I'm ranting ...

Hypocrite: Stewart Thinks it _is_ OK to Use (Military) Force ...

... so long as it's "our guy". Was there a UN resolution on pirates backed by France? Did congress declare war on Somalia?

http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/index.jhtml?episodeId=223907

Yep, Tea Time

I went to the Napa Tea Party, briefly. I think the San Fran one would have been too risky. It was a bunch (~50) of middle aged folk and their children waving flags and holding signs like "honk if you ..." - where ... was "want lower taxes", or "want less government spending", or the like. Lots of people honked. I saw one "impeach Obama sign", but didn't see anything like "audit the federal reserve", or "stop creating money with the Fed" like I'd hoped. They were happy and peaceful and boring for the most part. I'm not sure it accomplished anything, but I'm glad I went.

Davey Crockett + 1

... the amount was simply a matter of discretion with you, and you had as much right to give $20,000,000 as $20,000. If you have the right: to give to one, you have the right to give to all; and, as the Constitution neither defines charity nor stipulates the amount, you are at liberty to give to any and everything which you may believe, or profess to believe, is a charity, and to any amount you may think proper. You will very easily perceive, what a wide door this would open for fraud and corruption and favoritism, on the one hand, and for robbing the people on the other.

http://truthbeforedishonor.wordpress.com/2009/04/15/davey-crocketts-words-again/

Time for Tea?

I have recommended in previous posts that you go to a tea party. And if the world was a perfect place, I would not have to qualify that statement. However, I'm reminded that the original tea party participants were relatively anonymous, disguised as American Indians. You will probably not be anonymous, but rather may likely land yourself on international news. And you may be arrested.

If you think you can do more good for yourself and your way of life refraining from tea party participation, you may be right. I live in one of the most radically left regions of the US, and I'm second guessing the wisdom of participating, myself.

Stewart Pelosi Interview

Stewart Pelosi Interview

She admits that the Fed is creating money out of thin air, as Ron Paul has been talking about, and (imo) implies that the Fed printed the money for the bailouts and the recovery package.

This is why I recommend going to a tea party tomorrow, April 15th.

I'm not strictly opposed to money creation. Like the use of (military) force, I believe it's a powerful tool that should be used under particular, well thought out, extreme, circumstances. The only use I believe it should be used for now is to slowly pay down the national debt and the interest on that debt. It currently appears that money creation is being used to finance an ever larger government, to fund the extravagant lifestyles of insiders; and that honest, productive work is being systematically devalued, even mocked. If prudence, frugality, and trust are not restored; and if cronyism, inflationary theft, and boondogglers remain, I'm afraid the US is headed to further decline.

A Monetary Solution for the US

Skip to 3:11 for his recommendations.

Tea Party

Please consider an act of patriotism and capitalism by attending a tea party protest on tax day: http://taxdayteaparty.com.