Fall of the Golden Boy

"And now Spitzer's entire anal-retentive, good paper-writing life has collapsed in the horrifying image of a frenzied masturbator. This is the most complete coup de grace imaginable, short of an assassin's bullet." (Ann Coulter, March 12, 2008)

Fallon Fall-out

I hadn't been following Admiral Fallon very closely until his resignation last week. If this article is to be believed, it wasn't exactly a resignation but a firing. And for good reason. This so-called warrior hasn't exactly been giving his all for seeing to the protection of our troops in Iraq. So I wonder if he will be demoted, or have his retirement benefits trimmed-down a bit?

I serious doubt it.

Penicillin is Back??

Last week we were treated to another demonstration of the general uselessness of university press offices and the hype that often times is associated with minor scientific discoveries. Much like the "could be", "might be" of global warming.

It seems that researchers at the University of Warwick together with collaborators at the Université Laval, Ste-Foy in Quebec, and The Rockefeller University in New York have managed to work out the enzymology of the MurM protein. Yawn............

The Mur pathway is essential for the synthesis of the bacterial cell wall and MurM is specifically involved with the production of dipeptide bridges within the peptidoglycan molecule, the major component of the wall. These cross-links give the structure increased mechanical strength. So now it looks like the entire Mur pathway is essentially characterized. End of story.

The real shocker in this article is the following statement: "The results will allow the Warwick team, and any interested pharmaceutical researchers, to target the MurM reaction in Streptococcus pneumoniae in a way which will lead to the development of drugs which will disrupt the resistance of Streptococcus pneumoniae to penicillin. The same research also offers exciting possibilities to disrupt the antibiotic resistance of MRSA which uses similarly constructed peptide bridges in the construction of the peptidoglycan component of its cell wall. Therefore, thanks to this research, even MRSA could now be opened up to treatment by penicillin."

What the article fails to point out is that penicillin resistance (and betalactam resistance in general) in MRSA does not involve the Mur pathway but an alternate penicillin-binding protein-2 (PBP2'). This alternate protein is encoded by the mecA gene which is transferred between staphylococci rather easily by phage, plasmid, etc. Once bacterial pick-up this gene, they are considered MRSA. This is the primary reason that up to 60% of Staphylococcus aureus strains are penicillin resistant leading to the designation of MRSA.

Unfortunately, there also are various other betalactam resistance mechanisms that are due to the production of "betalactamases"; secreted enzymes that degrade penicillins before they ever reach the cell. And to make matters worse, the Mur pathway has been the subject of many failed discovery projects by pharma companies. I doubt seriously that this one characterization of the MurM protein will suddenly lead to the discovery of new antibiotics. This pathway as a target class is DOA.

Taken together, it is unlikely that we will see a major resurgence in the use or clinical efficacy of penicillin in either streptococci or staphylococci.

One would expect a higher level of journalistic competence from university press offices.

The Prince William Model for Change

Currently living in exile in "The Peoples Republic of Maryland", I take great pride in my long Virginia ancestry and up-bringing. I am particularly proud of having been born and raised in Fauquier and Prince William Counties as have most of my immediate and extended family. Our roots run deep there, and even though many parts of these counties have been taken over by outsiders and the usual suburban sprawl of the greater-DC metro area, pockets of rural solitude can still be found even if they are out of the price range of most average natives. Believe it or not, there still are people in these two counties that actual are FROM THERE as opposed to somewhere else.

As you might expect, I followed the illegal immigrant debate in PWC very closely last fall. It was much fun to watch as the PWC supervisors held fast while the usual suspects wailed and predicted all sorts of economic doom and class struggle. The libtards were really frothing at the mouth there for a while and there even were immigrant groups in suburban Maryland and DC working on legal actions like it is really any of their business to begin with.

Well guess what? It actually is working, and a fairly accurate description of the progress recently appeared in the WaPo of all places:

"Months after Prince William County began one of the country's toughest crackdowns on illegal immigrants, officials and residents report signs that substantial numbers of people have left the county, particularly from Hispanic neighborhoods." (Arlo Wagner, Washington Post, March 13, 2008)

I'll wait a few minutes for multiple rounds of applause to die down................

Could it really be that if concerned and determined citizens, backed by local governments with spines set their minds to it, something really can be done about illegal immigration? Surely it couldn't have anything to do with simply enforcing the law could it?

I AM SO PROUD OF THESE FOLKS! Sic semper tyrannis!

Of course the bad news is that these now "displaced" illegals will have to go somewhere and I doubt seriously they are re-boarding their banana boats and heading south. Most likely they are fleeing for suburban Maryland and DC where they will be welcomed with open arms and the usual nanny state benefits. So be it I guess, but let us hope that the Prince William model for change gets duplicated in other areas.

Which leads me to the concept of the southern border fence. What ever happened to that? I seem to remember a lot of talk about how that was a wacky idea and doomed to failure much as we heard about the Prince William plan. Fences work if you really want them to, just ask the Israelis.

The King Is Dead; Long Live the King

Last week was a sad time for those who followed the life and times of Bill Buckley and admired his wit and analysis.

Anyone who grew up in the 60s and 70s was no doubt familiar with that "walking dictionary" guy on PBS, and how could someone lean that far back in his chair to near horizontal status without ever crashing? As a kid at the time, I was completely oblivious to anything political, but the chair thing was very impressive and often imitated much to the chagrin of my parents and teachers. I am happy to say however that I was finally able to master the technique in graduate school and consider myself to be Bill's equal in at least one tiny aspect of my adult life. If only I had a fraction of the vocabulary that he forgot!

There have been a multitude of fine obituaries included one from Coulter (to be compared and contrasted with this one from Kathleen Parker) as well as the usual droll from the WaPo. Yes you morons; "Buckley Left His Mark on Politics" much like Armstrong left his footprints on the moon.

We will miss you Bill, and Western Civilization is but one step closer to the encroaching darkness.

The Well-Appointed Street Urchin

So it looks like this winter’s fashion statement is the North Face line of outdoor gear. I have to admit, the last time I looked (maybe ten years ago), North Face gear was of a very high quality and suitable for backcountry and expedition use. But now, they seem to have gone upscale trying to penetrate the mainstream market. This is easy to tell because not only do they sew their logo on the front pocket as before but also on the right shoulder area. Wow, that sure is impressive! I am going to go out and buy this stuff just so I can look cool and folks can see that I am well appointed both coming and going. I am seeing this stuff everywhere on the commute down to ground zero. It looks like the clothing of choice for most street urchins and gangsta types; kids mostly but also with hard core hoods. What a waste.

We saw similar fashion trends in the mid-1980s with the ubiquitous and completely dysfunctional Member’s-Only jacket and the more recent Timberline yellow work boot phenomena. The North Face anomaly is a bit different though in that it sure seems like a complete waste of good outdoor gear. Why on earth would urban street slime need a $300 mountaineering shell? Heading out to do a winter assault on Mt. Rainer for Christmas break are you? I serious doubt it.

I have to admit, I do own one piece of North Face gear; a pair of Windstopper gloves. These were on sale at a local backpacking store and well worth the price at the time. Windstopper fabric is superior for, well, stopping wind penetration. Keep in mind that Windstopper fabric is a Gore product (no not that Gore; the same guys who make Gore-Tex membranes). Perusing the Campmor catalog last year, they had nearly identical Windstopper hats, but the North Face version was $20 more than the one from Outdoor Research. That’s quite a mark-up just for a logo. Outdoor Research makes some excellent gear too and the urchins haven't discovered that yet. Neither have they found Mountain Hardware. Since this company is one of Ed Viesturs' sponsors and played a big role in his career, by all means have a look at their stuff before buying street urchin logos on the right shoulder.

Ann's column from November 14

"Now, with the surge in Iraq working, Democrats are completely demoralized. Al-Qaida was counting on them. (We know the surge in Iraq is working because it is no longer front page news.). In a tape released in early September, Osama bin Laden bitterly complained, "You elected the Democratic Party for this purpose" -- of ending the war in Iraq –- "but the Democrats haven't made a move worth mentioning." "

Privacy and the Banana Boat Crowd

You might remember Bob Cringley as the host of the extraordinary PBS documentery Triumph of the Nerds. I say extraordinary because even though the show was produced and aired on PBS, it is remarkable in that it gave a very good account of the development of the PC without the usual social and political commentery that PBS is known for.

Bob has other PBS shows describing the development of the intranet (and yes, Al Gore had very little to do with it) and electric money. Bob's weekly column I, Cringley is a nice way for non-computer geeks to stay up to date with currenty topics in computing. A recent column describes how if you think your social security number is safe, think again (on average it is in use by 3000 other folks). But much more informative from his analysis is how the major credit agencies have a very accurate count of the current ilegal alien population in the US and that number is somewhere very close to 17-million. Also of interest is the concept of using our "portable" cell phone numbers as a potential supplement to the SS# for identity purposes.

The Company One Keeps

So actually, the fact that fat Al got the Nobel Peace Prize is not such a big surprise after all. The Swedish Academy handles the scientific side of things (thank Goodness there still is hope for the hard sciences), but it is the Norwegians that handle the Peace Prize and all of the political silliness that goes along with it (going out of their way to embarass the Bush-Cheny-Halliberton side of things). Power Line lays it all out very nicely and helps us differentiate between the two.

So Fat-Ass Gets His Nobel

No big surprise here since the Goron will now be in the same company as Yasser Arafat (the terrorist) and Jimmy Carter (the buffoon), but at least ol' Jimmy would hammer a nail every now and then to help people out; poor misguided fool. Interesting how in the same week Gore gets the prize, a British judge ruled that his fantasy flick "An Inconvenient Truth" will now require prefacing by teachers before it can be shown in classrooms as a teaching aid due to a host of scientific inaccuracies. To do otherwise would be classified as political indoctrination subjecting the teachers to disciplinary action under sections 406 and 407 of the 1996 Education Act. The nine errors specifically listed by the court can be seen at the bottom of this article.

All the more reason to go out and buy several copies of this book for the children in your life.

If only this worked on the southern border

So it truly amazes me how on the one hand we can have Northcom and a senior commander specifically for the defense of United States territory (General Victor Renuart Jr.) and still have essentially an open southern border (not that the northern border is much better) and out of control immigration. We hear today that our missile defenses are finally nearing prime time and could even be deployed today if an emergency was to develop. If we can do that, why not be able to erect something as simple as a fence on the southern border. Maybe include some proximity sensors and claymores for added effect?

......Queer Eye for the Islamofascist Guy......

More poetry from our gal Ann Coulter (9/26/07).