WTF is wrong with Rev. Wright?

[MrFun]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara
Wright has a bigger concern than whether or not a Black man gets elected President or whether or not a member of his congregation gets elected president. He has an opportunity to raise issues in the media in a way where they might be discussed, which he won't have after the election. If he was willing to sacrifice his principles for the sake of getting Obama elected, he wouldn't have been a very good pastor, would he?

Is it possible for a mentally-unstable person to be a good pastor?

[Krill]

I thought that was the defining feature...

[Berzerker]

The plague was suggested as a possible mechanism to explain the timing of the spread of the CCR5 mutation (which is homozygous, ie protective, in about 1% of northern europeans) across the parts of Europe where the Vikings "visited". Smallpox makes much more sense on many levels though as the selective pressure necessary to maintain the mutant CCR5 allele.

Why does the mutant CCR5 allele need selective pressure to be maintained within the population unless it has a big downside? I'd think small pox would leave behind a much higher percent of people with protection. That 1% sounds like a left over from an older event based in part on geography. Furthermore, its interesting the Vikings may have spread this immunity to the plague when climate probably inhibits the spread into northern latitudes calling into question when or how they acquired their own immunity.

[SpencerH]

Originally posted by Krill


Wouldn;t hte small pox vaccine therefore remove the necessity of this allele and hence make the population "more" at risk to AIDS? Could be an arguement to stopping vaccinations...

If smallpox provided the selective pressure to maintain the CCR5 mutant allele then eliminating smallpox, as we have essentially done, would mean that the allele frequency would decline over time (assuming that the mutant allele is a risk factor for some other disease - which it likely is).

Assuming smallpox came back, the 1% gain of HIV resistance would be swamped by the death toll from smallpox.

[SpencerH]

Originally posted by MrFun


As early as late 1980, a handful of scientists/doctors already recognized the "strange, new disease" as something that was destroying the victims' immune system. We were not as clueless as Reagan-bobble heads would like us to believe at that time.

Great, a "strange new disease". What would they have done then, looked into their crystal balls for answers? HIV wasnt even described as a virus until Montagnier and Gallo's publications in late 83 and mid 84. It wasnt until HIV was found that the epidemiology and basic research could really begin. In fact, hard evidence that HIV was the etiological agent of AIDS wasnt published until much later. Some scientists would argue that we still havent fulfilled Kochs postulates for this disease even today. I'd say the point is moot unless we want to try human experimentation.

[SpencerH]

Originally posted by Berzerker


Why does the mutant CCR5 allele need selective pressure to be maintained within the population unless it has a big downside?

CCR5 is a chemokine receptor which means that it is involved in the migration and activation of certain types of lymphocytes during infections (mostly bacterial). I would guess that homozygous individuals are more susceptible to certain infections. I doubt we will know which infections though given the low frequency of the homozygous individuals and the way science is funded.

I'd think small pox would leave behind a much higher percent of people with protection. That 1% sounds like a left over from an older event based in part on geography.

One of the arguments favoring smallpox over Yersinia pestis is that it provided a constant selective pressure until very recently while the plague did not. Estimates of the effects indicate that deaths caused by the plague could not account the frequency with which the allele is present today given an emergence 700 years ago.

Furthermore, its interesting the Vikings may have spread this immunity to the plague when climate probably inhibits the spread into northern latitudes calling into question when or how they acquired their own immunity.

By plague do you mean AIDS? Climate?

It is interesting to wonder why the mutant allele seems to have originated with the Eastern Vikings ie the Swedes.

[rah]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara


Resco was seriously a non issue. Who of us hasn't had a friend that was up to no good?

As for Wright turning on Obama, if you really thought you could do greater good for the world by turning on a friend, what would you do?

I'd stand by my friend, and try to figure out a different way to do a greater good.

[Arrian]

Hmm. A crazy(ish) preacher thinks that the greater good is best served by wrecking the Presidential campaign of Barack Obama. Clearly, the wise thing to do is to elect Mr. Obama. QED.

-Arrian

[Kidlicious]

Originally posted by Elok
he could somehow claim the whole church was a bunch of Oreos.

He'd be 100% correct.

[Kidlicious]

Originally posted by DinoDoc
Then what was the point of wasting bandwidth with the cartoon?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satire

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by MrFun
Is it possible for a mentally-unstable person to be a good pastor?

If you believe in an all powerful being who created the universe and takes a personal interest in your life, I think that you don't have a **** lot of ground to be questioning the mental stability of others.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by rah
I'd stand by my friend, and try to figure out a different way to do a greater good.

If you'd sacrifice the world for your friend, I hope your friend would be pissed at you.

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by Kidicious
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satire

Except it had nothing to do with the issue at hand. I already know che likes heretical Christian ideaologies when they agree with him. What does the comic have to do with che's contention that Wright's isn't an ego maniac?

[chequita guevara]

Where did I contend that?

[DinoDoc]

You were mewling something about him just being a good pastor, were you not?