BACTERIA RESISTANT TO ANTIBIOTICS

EIN News says, "A Looming Drug Crisis: The Dearth of New Antibiotics. In recent years, efforts to combat drug-resistant bacteria have focused on the immediate goal of reducing rates of hospital-acquired infections. But now global health officials face an approaching crisis: the number of different antibiotics available to treat such infections when they do occur is dwindling because pharmaceutical companies have neglected to invest in the development of new types of drugs. (time.com)".

This is baloney! The reporter appears to be castigating pharmaceutical companies, for whatever agenda he may have in mind, perhaps related to government health care. Pharmaceutical company management is not stupid. When they see an obvious market, such as control of antibiotic resistant bacteria, they make every attempt to fill it. They do so for the profit motive, which is the basis of their business.

We have known about the developing resistance of pathogenic bacteria to antibiotics for at least 10 years, and the pharmaceutical industry has been doing a good job in introducing new antibiotics, which are effective against the new resistant bacteria. However, this is an ongoing problem, because bacteria are able to modify their metabolism to again develop resistance to the new antibiotics. This is similar to the ability of influenza viruses to modify their genetic program to avoid being inhibited by flu vaccines. This is why the Center of Disease Control has a continuing problem of trying to predict what form of flu virus to protect against each year.

Recent research on the basic chemistry of antibiotic resistance has shown that nitric oxide is an integral part in the resistance development. This work is being continued in an effort to determine how nitric oxide in that particular genomic system can be removed, while also not affecting necessary nitric oxide for other genomic operations.

Water on the Moon

E-mail to Congress:

EIN News says, "India's Lunar Mission Finds Evidence of Water on the Moon. Dreams of establishing a manned Moon base could become reality within two decades after India's first lunar mission found evidence of large quantities of water on its surface. Data from Chandrayaan-1 also suggests that water is still being formed on the Moon. Scientists said the breakthrough — to be announced by Nasa at a press conference today — would change the face of lunar exploration. (timesonline.co.uk)".

Please don't be misled by this "pie-in-the-sky" report. The questions to ask are how much water is there? And, how available is it? It is obviously not available in the same manner as it is on earth; i.e. rivers, lakes, ponds, and oceans. Even if you have a lot of damp sand, how do you separate the water from the sand? It can theoretically be done, but that would take energy. What's the energy source? It might be the sun, but that energy is too widespread for practical use. We see that in our attempts to use solar energy here on earth, wherein we need acres and acres of solar panels, in order to harvest solar energy.

In essence, this is an interesting scientific observation which has no practical use at this time, but which should be filed for later reconsideration, depending upon other technological developments.

The idea that "water is still being formed on the Moon" seems like super pie-in-the-sky. It will be interesting to hear on what basis that claim has been made.

Iran on Nuclear Weapons

E-mail to Congress:

EIN News says, "Obama Issues Ultimatum to Iran to Open Secret Uranium Plant to UN Inspection. Barack Obama has issued a strongly worded ultimatum to Iran after it admitted having a secret uranium plant that was revealed earlier today by US officials. Obama demanded UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) be allowed access to the secret site, which according to US officials is built inside a mountain near the ancient city of Qom, one of the holiest Shia cities in the Middle East. (guardian.co.uk)" area
An ultimatum means, "You must do this, or I will----. I don't see any of the "or I will----" in the above statement. Therefore, it is a hollow remark.
I have no particular suggestion on how to handle Iran, but I have a comment on what Pres. Obama said to the United Nations. In essence, he said we are going to ban atomic weapons from use in the world. This is in the same category as banning sin, fraud, prostitution, drug use, etc.. It can't be done. When will this president confront reality?
My only hope is that Congress has more common sense.

It has been said that one should always speak favorably about the dead. We can say the following about recently departed Sen. Edward Kennedy:
He had extreme perseverance in following a project or point of contention. He defended his position on Chappaquiddick to the very end.
He was extremely capable in relating himself to the "poor and impoverished. A memorial service was even arranged in a church in one of the poorest sections of Boston.
He was able to speak forcefully and with conviction on subjects about which he had no knowledge.
He had a strong influence in promoting worldwide egalitarianism (division of wealth so that all persons are equally endowed.) This helps bring up the living standards of Mexicans and other impoverished through justifiable sacrifice on your part.
By his great charm and wit, he was able to obtain the support of a majority of Massachusetts voters, so that they continually reelected him to office.
He was able to do all of the above while maintaining his multimillion dollar family fortune.