Friday Open Thread
Welcome to the Friday edition of your semi-daily open thread. I’ve been out of the loop this week since I was attending a conference. All I know is that there’s a thread that just won’t die. Anyway, we welcome your thoughts and discussion right here. Type away!
Here’s something exciting from the world of science: the first artificially-produced living organism:
A chemically synthesised chromosome has for the first time been transplanted into a cell to produce a synthetic bacterium. The advance provides a basis for making organisms designed from scratch and represents a major step towards applications in biofuels and chemical synthesis through synthetic biology.
The man-made microbe is the work of a team led by Dan Gibson and genome sequencing pioneer Craig Venter, at Venter’s institutes in Rockville, Maryland and San Diego, California, US. Besides a few genetic ‘watermarks’ encoded by the team, its genome largely duplicates that of a goat parasite called Mycoplasma mycoides. Grown in a dish, the synthetic version looks much like the original and, like its natural counterparts, is capable of self-replicating.
Hopefully soon they’ll produce a bacteria that eats carbon dioxide and poops diamonds. I think we have a way to go before we see that.
I’m going to talk about Sue Lowden for the third day in a row because it looks like in a few weeks we won’t have her to kick around anymore. Her once-commanding poll lead has disappeared.
The Chicken/Barter story hit on April 12th. The two polls prior to that date — from mid-February and early April — had Lowden at 47% and 45% of the vote, respectively, in the coming GOP primary.
So that’s the pre-barter baseline — mid-40s.
…
Two more polls came out in late April — those had Lowden down to 41% and 38%. Then a poll came out on May 11th that had her at 30%. And the most recent poll, completed four days ago, has her down to 26%. In other words, about a 20 point drop in a month.
The new leader in the polls in Tea Party candidate Sharron Angle. I wonder if Angle will be as much fun as Rand Paul.
Tags: Open Thread
The blog 80beats has a great recap of the supposed first artificially-produced living organism. Here’s a sample:
Yes, they used a living cell to make an organism from a synthetic genome sequence. The experiment is just showing it can be done, which makes sense to me. Molecules don’t care where they come from and the genome is just a macromolecule.
Some news:
Rasmussen’s first poll since the primary has Sestak up on Toomey by 4%, 46%-42%.
Utah Senator Bob Bennett decides against a write-in campaign for senator.
Some bacon goodness.
NY’s Cuomo announces he’s running for governor
wjla ^
Democrat Andrew Cuomo made it official Saturday after months of playing coy: He will seek the New York governor’s job once held by his father. Cuomo, who as state attorney general has built a national reputation with his campaigns against public corruption, posted a video and statement online announcing his candidacy, promising to continue his crusade and change the notoriously shady culture of Albany.
from everybodies favorite polling organization…
Election 2010: Pennsylvania Governor (Pennsylvania Governor: Corbett 49%(R), Onorato 36%(D))
Rasmussen | May 21, 2010
Republican State Attorney General Tom Corbett is near the critical 50% mark in his race against Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato for governor of Pennsylvania. A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in Pennsylvania, taken Wednesday night, finds Corbett earning 49% support to Onorato’s 36%. Four percent (4%) prefer another candidate in the race, and 10% remain undecided. Both men won their parties’ respective primaries on Tuesday. Last month, Corbett posted a 45% to 36% lead over Onorato in a hypothetical match-up. In surveys stretching back to December, Corbett, who has long been viewed as the likely…
The most transparent administration ever…
Senators: Obama admin keeps Congress in dark on intelligence
The Washington Times | May 22, 2010 | Kara Rowland
The Obama administration has failed to keep congressional intelligence officials in the loop on the investigation into the botched Times Square bombing, as required by the law, the top Democrat and Republican on the Senate intelligence committee charged in a letter this week.
“Having to fight over access to counterterrorism information is not productive and ultimately makes us less secure,” wrote Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein and Vice Chairman Christopher S. “Kit” Bond in a letter to President Obama on Thursday.
The senators said the lack of information has “caused serious friction in the relationship of the committee, on both sides of the aisle, and the executive branch.”
In the letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Times, the senators say U.S. intelligence agencies have repeatedly refused to provide relevant information on the probe into suspect Faisal Shahzad that would allow the committee to conduct oversight activities without hampering the ongoing investigation. Senate intelligence staffers were told that the Department of Justice had instructed the agencies not to convey information on the Times Square plot without its approval, they said.
The administration didn’t immediately return calls and e-mails seeking comment Saturday.
Congressional oversight of intelligence matters has long been a thorny issue in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks, often playing out as tug-of-war between the administration and lawmakers who are tasked with holding it accountable.
In the case of the failed New York City bombing attempt, in which a Pakistani native tried to detonate an SUV in Times Square, the senators said the Obama administration has refused to provide the committee with FBI reports that are widely circulated within the intelligence community. The senators said the “great majority” of their information came through press conferences and media accounts that sometimes continued inaccurate information.