July 2012 – Page 11 – Shall Not Be Questioned

We Need an Antibiotic Prize

It’s rare that I call for government intervention, but because government already raises the cost of drug development to such stratospheric heights, if they don’t do something to encourage new antimicrobial drugs to be developed, we’re going to be very very screwed. By the time this rises to the level of a real crisis (e.g. when there are enough sick people dying of diseases that haven’t been lethal for years) it’ll already be too late, and you’ll be waiting a decade or more before any effort started at the point of a crisis come to fruition.

The problem is this: new antibiotics are difficult to find, and any new antibiotic that would hit the market is practically guaranteed to be held in reserve for infections that can’t be treated by current antibiotics. The market will tend to be small. Because of these market realities, there have only been two novel classes of antibiotics produced in the past 40 years.

I would suggest a prize of sufficient size to guarantee a hefty return on investment to any research team or company that can successfully bring a new class of antibiotic to market, and that has a reasonable safety and pharmacological profile. For libertarians that are uncomfortable with government involvement with the market, you can justify it with the fact that antimicrobials are a critical component of our war fighting capacity as a nation. There’s definitely a military justification to spawn new development. The fact is that without some kind of incentive, new antibiotics just are not going to be developed, and I don’t think you’ll have any luck convincing the American people to drop the FDA requirements that raise the barriers for new drugs entering the market. A prize is the most efficient way to deal with this kind of problem.

ATF Using Bogus Brady Campaign Statistics

This is often a problem when we have unfriendly administrations in the White House. The ATF has maintained a sometimes cozy relationship with the anti-gun movement, which hasn’t exactly helped ATF achieve its mission. In order for ATF to be effective, they can’t be seen as working with the enemies of firearm freedom, and the fact that they often are, is what destroys their credibility with our community, and our cooperation is necessary for that mission to be fulfilled.

SB249 Opposition Heating Up

The heat in the kitchen must be getting rather high if Leland Yee is playing the race card. I have no doubt that Yee is getting some racist nastiness, because like any large and diverse group of people, some of us are assholes. But to represent all the opposition in this manner is as wrong and uncalled for as the people suggesting Senator Yee, who is as American as you or I, should “go back to Communist China.” It lowers the debate to the gutter and dismisses the legitimate concern many of us have for preserving the Bill of Rights and the Constitutional rights of all Americans, including Californians. We should aspire to more than the gutter, and so should Senator Yee. Even the Brady Campaign is turning on the legislation, suggesting this isn’t the proper way to go about things. They are pressuring the Attorney General to change the law through regulation, and are threatening a lawsuit over it.

I find the Brady Campaign’s position interesting, and I’m debating what their strategic thinking is, if they have any. If I had to theorize, they are largely out of the legislation business, since everything seems to be happening under the auspices of the Brady Center, the 501(c)(3), these days. Litigation is something they can fund, and a quick letter and a few meetings with a friendly Attorney General could accomplish the same goal as legislation without engaging in a knock-down drag out fight with our grassroots in a big legislative battle. California may have a very anti-gun legislature, but I think we can still cause headaches for them there, and they’d rather do this easily, and without risking their 501(c)(3) status.

We’re The Ones with the Conspiracy Theories…

I always love it when gun control advocates try to argue that even the most sensible pro-gun argument is rooted in conspiracy theories. I love it because it makes me laugh when I see these kinds of tweets from their backers:

The rich N war with the have not is that what the #NRA @GOP #KochBro planning?#think abt it!

— Carreramae (@carreramae) July 10, 2012

Yup, every single member of the National Rifle Association is clearly working with the Republican Party and the Koch brothers to wage war on the middle and lower classes. Because there are no poor gun owners. There are no middle class Republicans. There are no NRA card-toting Democrats. You know, such a black-and-white view of the world has to make for a very boring world.

Earlier in the day, the tweeter also ranted about how waiting periods of three months aren’t stopping the war against the “have nots.”

waiting period 2 buy a gun is 3months why @GOP #NRA need guns? War against the HAVE NOTS N THE END

— Carreramae (@carreramae) July 10, 2012

Anyone know where there’s a three month waiting period in place? I realize this is clearly a person who believes they are entitled to their own set of facts, but I’m trying to figure out if the tweeter is also exercising a right to his/her own reality.

I just had to respond and asked the tweeter just what evidence existed that NRA members were waging war on the “have nots” and how he/she explained the fact that NRA routinely supports Democrats in Congress if this conspiracy is actually being masterminded by the GOP. I did hear back, but it devolved into me being called “terrible” for acknowledging that minorities do, in fact, attend the NRA meetings and followed by claims that the NRA does want gun control if members are threatened by guns. Yeah, it didn’t make much sense to me, either.

What If There’s a Tie?

I know that the readership of this blog isn’t likely to need an explanation of what happens if the Electoral College ties. We know that it goes to the House of Representatives. But what about the actual votes from the House; how many folks have sat around discussing that aspect? I’ll be honest and say I haven’t really thought about it. The default thinking is that if the House is controlled by the GOP, they will vote for Romney. Of course, it’s not quite that simple…

Nonetheless, the fact remains that there are so many different ways to reach a tie that it behooves both sides to start dossiers on every House member to figure if any of them might be moved, under certain circumstances, to vote against their party, or to abstain. In the House, the vote is done not by individual member, but by state delegation. A state like Minnesota, with four Republicans and four Democrats, would presumably vote â€œpresentâ€ unless a member didnâ€™t vote for his/her own partyâ€™s nominee. By my armchair projections, Romney would probably win the support of about 28 delegations (26 are needed to win) â€” but several of those delegations would be by one-vote margins, meaning that if my projection is slightly off, or if a Member could be convinced to switch parties or to abstain, the margin would be even smaller.

How could this happen? Well, imagine a 269-269 Electoral College tie, but with Obama building up such large margins in populous states like New York and California that he wins a clear popular-vote margin. Cue the Occupy movement to protest in favor of the House voting to ratify the popular vote rather than by party. Cue the media to overwhelmingly push that same notion. Now look at a few GOP House members who won by only narrow margins, but in districts carried by Obama, where the media message would be that they have a duty to vote with the majority of their constituents. Obviously, all of this could get very dicey indeed.

Looking at your state, how do you think they could vote if it did result in a House vote?

For Pennsylvania, we’ll have 18 Congressmen. Five of those will absolutely be Democrats. One more will very likely be a Democrat. Six are safe for the Republicans, with five likely to lean that way. One is a GOP seat right now, but a true toss-up. I would say that Romney will have a solid lead in enough of the GOP districts that he’ll come out okay even with the Philly media going nuts over how it’s just not fair that we have to follow that stupid Constitution and the stupid election laws that allow those stupid Republicans to even have a vote.

UPDATE: And Dave Adams of VSSA has posted about how Virginia’s delegation could possibly vote if the presidential race went to the House. He outlines legitimate ways in which it could be 6-5 in either direction.

Sen. Casey Looking to Ruin Cough Syrup, Just Like Sudafed

Story at Capitol Ideas. I’d get all “This is why we need to boot Casey out on his ass in November,” but I’m afraid both parties love themselves some good warring on drugs, and that goes double if it’s For the Children^TM.

Road Raging Medieval Style

Apparently there was a road rage incident in Philadelphia, where the road raging driver threatened another motorist with a crossbow. Of course, normally I’d point out that you can find a lot of ways to harm others without using a firearm, but I’ve come to the conclusion that our opponents would have little issue restricting anything sharp, pointy, or that you could hurt yourself or others with. I don’t want to give them a new mission.

Hat Tip to the Outdoor Pressroom.

On the Lack of Scientists

The Higher Education bubble is a persistent theme over at Instapundit, and I thought an observation he made about the constant yammering about the need for scientists among politicians is pretty spot on:

I was talking with someone the other day who advanced the proposition that there are probably only 50 really first-rate scientific minds produced in the United States every year. And then came the question: Does the current system of training and funding scientists encourage those 50 to stay in the game, or to find something else to do?

Original post here.Â At my previous small pharma company that went under a year ago, I was one of the highest paid employees that wasn’t in executive management. The typical person in my field has a bachelors degree, or usually at most a master’s degree. I hold a B.S. in Computer Engineering. Many of the people making less than me held a Ph.D. in Chemistry or Biology. If we were truly short on this skill, the market would pay these people more. As it is, the pharmaceutical industry has a glut of scientists. Many of the people I’ve worked with have not found new permanent employment, and those that have took pay cuts.

The problem is, as Professor Reynolds mentions, that many scientists just have the wrong skills. Just because you have a Ph.D. doesn’t make you any more immune to marketplace changes than anyone else. The fact is that bench chemistry is something easily outsourced to places like China and India, where labs can be run for a fraction of the cost they can be run here. Also, not all bench chemistry requires an advanced degree. The people I know who are still employed, and who improved their lot in terms of career, were experienced medicinal chemists who were very good at analyzing data, and understanding what the data was telling them about where to go in their design process for a potential drug.

The fact is, the market right now is absolutely saying we need fewer, but better scientists. Anything politicians are telling you about a shortage, at least in the fields of Chemistry and Biology, is a load of bunk.

Building a Lightweight AR Upper

Exurban Kevin has a guide to building your own AR-15 upper receiver out of lightweight materials. I never really thought about building my own upper, but it could be an interesting project. Right now buying yet another AR, even a homebuilt AR, is a bit spendy considering how much money my house is sucking out of me at the moment.

Wayne LaPierre Before the United Nations

Wayne LaPierre spoke before the United Nations yesterday on the Arms Trade Treaty:

Let me state â€“ in the clearest possible terms â€“ that it is not.Â A preamble to a treaty has no force of law.Â We know that, and a strong bipartisan majority of the United States Senate and House of Representatives know it as well.

Any Arms Trade Treaty must be adopted by two-thirds of the U.S. Senate, which has 100 members.Â Already, 58 Senators have objected to any treaty that includes civilian arms, and a majority of the U.S. House of Representatives also opposes such a treaty.

The NRA represents hundreds of millions of Americans who will never surrender our fundamental firearms freedom to international standards, agreements, or consensus.

NRA is essentially threatening to push the US out of the Treaty if the scope at all extends to civilian weapons, and the delegates know NRA can follow through on that threat. It’s a firm speech, but one that’s entirely for domestic consumption. I wish Wayne, rather than only concentrating on American rights and freedoms, had spoken a bit more about the fundamental human right to self-preservation, and the right all people have to the one tool most effective at affecting that defense: the firearm. He’s essentially conceding the ground that this is some peculiar American right, and while it practically may be, we can’t accept that philosophically.