The Brain in Love

Why do we crave love so much, even to the point that we would die for it? Why do we have a very real, very physical need for romantic love? "Love is an urge, a need, like hunger or thirst". This Ted Talk with Helen Fisher goes through the science and chemistry behind love, and explains what happens in your brain when you are in love.

Change.gov

Wow! This is what I'm talking about...When has an administration ever been so proactive in listening to the people??...I mean it could all be a sham to make us hope and feel better. But I honestly think that Obama is trying to be the best leader our country has ever had!

Obama's Presidential Transition Team just launched this new website Change.gov which will document the Obama administration's transition into power and solicit ideas and stories from the public. I will definitely be taking an opportunity to write to our new president and share my ideas for the future...and I hope you will do the same. Let our voices finally be heard!

Obama

I finally realized today what an Obama presidency really means to the world...Not only does it mean an era of calm and peace. But it gives a sense of hope to countries all over the world that democracy does work! And that people can rise up and overcome any tyrant. To the Jews 'Barack' means blessed, to the Shi'ite Muslims 'Hussein' is the ultimate symbol of an underdog fighting against injustice, and to the world 'Obama' means believing in the American Dream once again.

Now is the time for the neoconservatives of all cultures and nations to be pushed back and a new era emerge out of the ashes of hate that has been building for the last 8 years.

I'm reposting a Thank You letter by Jamie Lee Curtis because I too want to give my thanks to Obama.

Thank you Barack Obama.

Thank you for four years ago making me say out-loud " Why can't he be our candidate?"

Thank you for blowing away the ether of complacency.

Thank you for beating that maver-"ICK" and his running date.

Thank you for being patient with this insane process we call Democracy.

Thank you for your ambition and your drive, your mind and your gravitas.

Thank you for recognizing the needle and the damage done, the needle, our addiction to more, better, faster, greasier, dirtier, celebrity lifestyles and prescription poisons and the damage done, the Economic Crisis, the Health Care debacle, the State of Education. This is AMERICA. Health and Education should be #1.

Thank you for understanding World History, Geography, countries and cultures, religions, customs and America's tarnished reputation in those very countries.

Thank you for voting against the War and for continuing to voice that opposition.

Thank you for your brilliant campaign and campaign managers and your staff.

Thank you for choosing Joe Biden.

Thank you for leading and inspiring me.

You didn't do this alone. You knew it was going to take the three generations of black women in Ypsilanti, Michigan as well as Jose, the latino plumber in Miami or Ron Howard putting on Opie's toupee or my daughter, Annie and her friends at an Ohio college who are voting for the first time in their lives or my local friends, the busy multitasking hordes who called and knocked and walked your walk or Wendy Riva, the mother and activist in Santa Monica, who grabbed me on the street and within hours had me, t-shirted and bumper-stickered and hooked up to the Obama campaign. Me, this middle aged, privileged, white woman whose own mother was once such an ardent Democratic ( Kennedy ) supporter, that she was offered an ambassadorship in the Johnson administration. Me, who prior to this election did shit. Oh, I gave some money to Gore and Kerry and except for my husband's trip to Florida to canvas for Kerry, we just bitched and complained and did nothing.

Thank you for making me, after another dinner of political bitching by left leaning, well meaning, show off business types, say...well, what are you doing to change this?

Thank you for getting me to Michigan to see places I never would have seen and meeting people I would have never met and getting me to see the abandoned factories and businesses that can be re-tooled and retrofitted to a green technology and a green industry.

Thank you for getting us all, both sides of the Divided States of America to pay attention to our civic duty and moral responsibility.

Thank you for reminding us that this next period of time will be hard. That there are no easy answers. That there will be sacrifice. There will be blood. There will be sweat. There will be tears.

Thank you for marrying Michelle Obama and being the kind of father you are to your daughters.

Thank you for your grace.

Thank you for your leadership.

Hillary Clinton, who I supported and whom I believe you should bring in to your cabinet (see Team of Rivals) wrote: it takes a village to raise a child. I say it takes a leader to raise the village.

The village needs one leader and you, thank God and your hard work and the grass rooted folks who helped you, are that leader.

So lead us Barack Obama...We will follow you...

Thank you Barack Obama for making me believe again in the American Dream.

Quote of the Week

"And now -- now we must look to the future. Let us heed the voice of the people and recognize their common sense. If we do not, we not only blaspheme our political heritage, we ignore the common ties that bind all Americans. Many fear the future. Many are distrustful of their leaders, and believe that their voices are never heard. Many seek only to satisfy their private work -- wants; to satisfy their private interests. But this is the great danger America faces -- that we will cease to be one nation and become instead a collection of interest groups: city against suburb, region against region, individual against individual; each seeking to satisfy private wants. If that happens, who then will speak for America? Who then will speak for the common good?

This is the question which must be answered in 1976: Are we to be one people bound together by common spirit, sharing in a common endeavor; or will we become a divided nation? For all of its uncertainty, we cannot flee the future. We must not become the "New Puritans" and reject our society. We must address and master the future together. It can be done if we restore the belief that we share a sense of national community, that we share a common national endeavor. It can be done.

There is no executive order; there is no law that can require the American people to form a national community. This we must do as individuals, and if we do it as individuals, there is no President of the United States who can veto that decision."
-Barbara Jordan, 1976 DNC Keynote Address

Change Has Come to America

Obama's Victory Speech...

Why Bolivia Quit the U.S.

Why Bolivia Quit the U.S. War on Drugs
By Jean Friedman-Rudovsky for Time

Some may see Bolivia's decision last weekend to opt out of Washington's war on drugs as the inevitable consequence of electing a president who was not only a leftist opponent of U.S. influence in the region, but also a coca farmer himself. But President Evo Morales, elected in 2005, cast his decision on Saturday to suspend the activities of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency in his country as a matter of national security. "We have the obligation to defend the dignity and the sovereignty of the Bolivian people," said Morales. "There have been DEA agents who, carrying out espionage, financed rogue groups with the intention of taking the lives of [Bolivian government] officials, though not the President's."

Morales' government has accused a DEA agent of delivering money to opposition groups in the Amazon region during the wave of antigovernment violence that peaked on September 11, claiming the lives of more than 25 indigenous peasants and wounding hundreds more. Over the past year, Bolivia's eastern lowlands have been racked with conflict as opposition groups have sought to wrest control from the central government over vast natural gas reserves and laws governing the ownership of land. The Bolivian government has continually blamed the U.S. for fomenting the violence, but Washington routinely denies any malicious meddling...

...Morales' government, in fact, was acknowledged by the U.S. earlier this year to have successfully brought coca cultivation under control, and increased Bolivia's rate of interdiction of coca destined for cocaine production. But Washington has been skeptical of Morales' talk of expanding the production of coca for non-narcotic uses such as teas and other products. Morales, for his part, was elected in part because of his strident opposition to the decades-long U.S. war on coca cultivation in his country. The leaf has traditionally been brewed in tea for centuries to stave off hunger and fatigue, and combat altitude sickness, and the U.S. led campaign to militarily eradicate the crop had claimed over 70 lives and wounded more than 1,000 people in Bolivia since the late '80s...

...But Morales points to his track record over the past three years in containing coca cultivation and improving interdiction numbers. He says Bolivia is capable of fighting drug trafficking without U.S. intervention, and has called on the Union of South American Nations to begin playing the international coordination role that the U.S. DEA has been playing...

..Bolivians are hoping that Tuesday's U.S. election produces a government with which La Paz can make a fresh start. "I don't want this to be taken as me campaigning for anyone, but let's hope the U.S. goes blue too," said Morales on Saturday — his own party's colors are the same as those of Senator Barack Obama. The Bolivian President made clear he envisages repairing the relationship once President Bush has gone. More than once, he referred to his own victory in Bolivia as having brought "the change we need".

I'm posting Evo Morales' interview on the Daily Show from about a year ago...I'll let you decide what type of person he is.

Bush Lies About Closing Guantanamo Bay

A New Vision for Refrigeration

This is amazing...Adam Grosser talks about a project where by tweaking some old technology, he has built a refrigerator that works without electricity. Think of all the uses this will have and what a vital tool to villages and clinics worldwide this will be.

It Happened to People Like Us

These video clips are frightening....Is MTV trying to 'remember' the holocaust or prevent a new one, I'm not sure? Is this what martial law will look like?

Ah Clever Lawn...

"What if human consciousness isn't the end-all and be-all of Darwinism? What if we are all just pawns in corn's clever strategy game to rule the Earth?" I love this Ted Talk, The Omnivore's Next Dilemma with Michael Pollan, that explains plant's relationship to us as humans and a view of the world from the plant's-eye.

Why are We Bailing Out Executive Pay?

WHY ARE WE BAILING OUT EXTRAVAGANT EXECUTIVE PAY?
from Jim Hightower's Common-Sense Commentaries

Well, isn’t this special? Despite Washington’s assurance to us angry commoners that its Wall Street bailout scheme would, by gollies, include a crackdown on excessive pay to top executives – there seems to be a few loopholes.

The Guardian newspaper in London analyzed corporate pay plans that were recently drawn up by Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase, and Lehman Brothers. The highest-ranking executives of these banks are to split a total of $70 billion in salaries and bonuses this year.

Bonuses? The stock prices of the firms have plummeted in the past year, Lehman Brothers has collapsed completely, the bungling executives have caused a global financial crisis, and the five remaining banks are down now down in Washington loading up their share of a $700 billion taxpayer bailout. They get bonuses for that?

The math is infuriatingly easy here: This $70 billion executive payout means that honchos in these firms will siphon off 10 percent of the bailout funds that were supposed to shore up our economy – not reward executive failure.

Meanwhile, there’s the loudly ballyhooded effort by Congress to restrict future pay for the big shots at banks getting bailout money. Congress’s bark was ferocious, but its bite turns out to be harmless. The banks are limited to a tax deduction of only $500,000 for each executive’s pay. But there’s no limit on how much total money is doled out to the execs – meaning they can still be paid $5 million or even $50 million a year. The banks wouldn’t get a tax break on the big sum, but – hey – they’re already getting billions of our tax dollars from the bailout, and that money can be used to maintain the extravagant paydays of those at the top.

These are not merely loopholes in the bailout scheme – they amount to blantant frauds.

Our New Metaphor for the Economic Crisis

Definitely a little dire but poignantly written description of our current economic condition...

The Long Road Ahead -- Are You Ready for the Worst the Economy Has to Offer?
By James Howard Kunstler of Kunstler.com

...let's say that we are witnessing the two stages of a tsunami. The current disappearance of wealth in the form of debts repudiated, bets welshed on, contracts cancelled, and Lehman Brothers-style sob stories played out is like the withdrawal of the sea. The poor curious little monkey-humans stand on the beach transfixed by the strangeness of the event as the water recedes and the sea floor is exposed and all kinds of exotic creatures are seen thrashing in the mud, while the skeletons of historic wrecks are exposed to view, and a great stench of organic decay wafts toward the strand. Then comes the second stage, the tidal wave itself -- which in this case will be horrific monetary inflation -- roaring back over the mud flats toward the land mass, crashing over the beach, and ripping apart all the hotels and houses and infrastructure there while it drowns the poor curious monkey-humans who were too enthralled by the weird spectacle to make for higher ground. The killer tidal wave washes away all the things they have labored to build for decades, all their poignant little effects and chattels, and the survivors are left keening amidst the wreckage as the sea once again returns to normal in its eternal cradle...

ACLU's Request for Info Re: the Deployment of the 1st Brigade

Many of you are already aware of the Army Times article, that reported an army brigade, the 1st Brigade Combat Team of the 3rd Infantry Division, will now become the first army brigade to have active duty service and be assigned essentially to the United States and many of you also realize the serious implications this could have on us and the laws that are being broken by this deployment. But I was happily just made aware that the ACLU filed the Freedom of Information Act, requesting a whole variety of info from the government on the deployment. So hopefully we will have some answers soon...

Australia to Implement Mandatory Internet Censorship

AUSTRALIA will join China in implementing mandatory censoring of the internet under plans put forward by their Federal Government.

The plan was first created as a way to combat child pronography and adult content, but could be extended to include other controversial websites....

Resignation Letter

"Amidst the chaos of the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression, one head-honcho of the financial industry has decided to turn over a new leaf. Andrew Lahde, the now-former head of California-based hedge fund Lahde Capital Management, recently quit his job despite posting gains of 870 percent over the last year.

His resignation letter reflects his disillusionment with both the financial industry and the federal government, and contains scathing criticisms of American materialism, economic deregulation, and the philosophical fortitude (or lack thereof) of our country's leaders."-Over the Hedge


Letter: Andrew Lahde, Lahde Capital Management
Posted in the FT.com
By Andrew Lahde
October 17, 2008

Today I write not to gloat. Given the pain that nearly everyone is experiencing, that would be entirely inappropriate. Nor am I writing to make further predictions, as most of my forecasts in previous letters have unfolded or are in the process of unfolding. Instead, I am writing to say goodbye.

Recently, on the front page of Section C of the Wall Street Journal, a hedge fund manager who was also closing up shop (a $300 million fund), was quoted as saying, “What I have learned about the hedge fund business is that I hate it.” I could not agree more with that statement. I was in this game for the money. The low hanging fruit, i.e. idiots whose parents paid for prep school, Yale, and then the Harvard MBA, was there for the taking. These people who were (often) truly not worthy of the education they received (or supposedly received) rose to the top of companies such as AIG, Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers and all levels of our government. All of this behavior supporting the Aristocracy only ended up making it easier for me to find people stupid enough to take the other side of my trades. God bless America.

There are far too many people for me to sincerely thank for my success. However, I do not want to sound like a Hollywood actor accepting an award. The money was reward enough. Furthermore, the endless list of those deserving thanks know who they are.

I will no longer manage money for other people or institutions. I have enough of my own wealth to manage. Some people, who think they have arrived at a reasonable estimate of my net worth, might be surprised that I would call it quits with such a small war chest. That is fine; I am content with my rewards. Moreover, I will let others try to amass nine, ten or eleven figure net worths. Meanwhile, their lives suck. Appointments back to back, booked solid for the next three months, they lookforward to their two week vacation in January during which they will likely be glued to their Blackberries or other such devices. What is the point? They will all be forgotten in fifty years anyway. Steve Balmer, Steven Cohen, and Larry Ellison will all be forgotten. I do not understand the legacy thing. Nearly everyone will be forgotten. Give up on leaving your mark. Throw the Blackberry away and enjoy life.

So this is it. With all due respect, I am dropping out. Please do not expect any type of reply to emails or voicemails within normal time frames or at all. Andy Springer and his company will be handling the dissolution of the fund. And don’t worry about my employees, they were always employed by Mr. Springer’s company and only one (who has been well-rewarded) will lose his job.

I have no interest in any deals in which anyone would like me to participate. I truly do not have a strong opinion about any market right now, other than to say that things will continue to get worse for some time, probably years. I am content sitting on the sidelines and waiting. After all, sitting and waiting is how we made money from the subprime debacle. I now have time to repair my health, which was destroyed by the stress I layered onto myself over the past two years, as well as my entire life – where I had to compete for spaces in universities and graduate schools, jobs and assets under management – with those who had all the advantages (rich parents) that I did not. May meritocracy be part of a new form of government, which needs to be established.

On the issue of the U.S. Government, I would like to make a modest proposal. First, I point out the obvious flaws, whereby legislation was repeatedly brought forth to Congress over the past eight years, which would have reigned in the predatory lending practices of now mostly defunct institutions. These institutions regularly filled the coffers of both parties in return for voting down all of this legislation designed to protect the common citizen. This is an outrage, yet no one seems to know or care about it. Since Thomas Jefferson and Adam Smith passed, I would argue that there has been a dearth of worthy philosophers in this country, at least ones focused on improving government. Capitalism worked for two hundred years, but times change, and systems become corrupt. George Soros, a man of staggering wealth, has stated that he would like to be remembered as a philosopher. My suggestion is that this great man start and sponsor a forum for great minds to come together to create a new system of government that truly represents the common man’s interest, while at the same time creating rewards great enough to attract the best and brightest minds to serve in government roles without having to rely on corruption to further their interests or lifestyles. This forum could be similar to the one used to create the operating system, Linux, which competes with Microsoft’s near monopoly. I believe there is an answer, but for now the system is clearly broken.

Lastly, while I still have an audience, I would like to bring attention to an alternative food and energy source. You won’t see it included in BP’s, “Feel good. We are working on sustainable solutions,” television commercials, nor is it mentioned in ADM’s similar commercials. But hemp has been used for at least 5,000 years for cloth and food, as well as just about everything that is produced from petroleum products. Hemp is not marijuana and vice versa. Hemp is the male plant and it grows like a weed, hence the slang term. The original American flag was made of hemp fiber and our Constitution was printed on paper made of hemp. It was used as recently as World War II by the U.S. Government, and then promptly made illegal after the war was won. At a time when rhetoric is flying about becoming more self-sufficient in terms of energy, why is it illegal to grow this plant in this country? Ah, the female. The evil female plant – marijuana. It gets you high, it makes you laugh, it does not produce a hangover. Unlike alcohol, it does not result in bar fights or wife beating. So, why is this innocuous plant illegal? Is it a gateway drug? No, that would be alcohol, which is so heavily advertised in this country. My only conclusion as to why it is illegal, is that Corporate America, which owns Congress, would rather sell you Paxil, Zoloft, Xanax and other addictive drugs, than allow you to grow a plant in your home without some of the profits going into their coffers. This policy is ludicrous. It has surely contributed to our dependency on foreign energy sources. Our policies have other countries literally laughing at our stupidity, most notably Canada, as well as several European nations (both Eastern and Western). You would not know this by paying attention to U.S. media sources though, as they tend not to elaborate on who is laughing at the United States this week. Please people, let’s stop the rhetoric and start thinking about how we can truly become self-sufficient.

With that I say goodbye and good luck.

All the best,

Andrew Lahde

Transparency

So I came across this great new website BailoutSleuth.com that is seeking to add transparency to the bailout program. They are and will be tracking the government's $700 billion rescue plan. This site will monitor the government's purchase, and eventual sale, of bad mortgages and other distressed assets. Analyzing deals and providing information about the companies and people involved in them. They will be looking at whether banks that got billions in government bailout money are using some of it to pay executive year-end bonuses and whether the banks that received taxpayer money will be using it to make loans and ease the credit crunch, like they are suppose to.

Bailoutsleuth will be keeping up with how our tax dollars are spent and the people and companies that are impacted by this program and will be keeping an eye out for favoritism, political influence or anything else that could undermine the potential returns to taxpayers.

And although the investment program is only a few weeks old, BailoutSleuth has already uncovered government and corporate shenanigans, "none of the companies that have signed on for federal bailout money have announced plans to slash salaries and bonuses, or to substantially overhaul their executive compensation schemes"...

Déjà vu

Wow!!..Deja vu..I just listened to Mario Cuomo's 1984 DNC Keynote speech (If you have sometime you really should listen to it), not only is it beautiful and inspiring, it's frighteningly similar to the political and social issues we are dealing with at the present moment.

Quote of the Week

"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
- Thomas Paine

Obama Demands Hippies Put Down Bong, Actually Go Vote On Tuesday

Posted on Wonkette

This is a pretty hilarious Web Commercial from Mr. Sincere McDignity, “That One.” It makes the obvious point that if you are a dumb libtard who is somehow winning the race, you will comically start celebrating before you reach the actual finish line, and you will FAIL, and a terrible giant-bobble-head Walnuts McCain will beat you, the way the Desert Tortoise beat the Jackrabbit.

Your co-editor Jim Newell got in trouble with The Ladies over at the lady website today for casually saying he probably wouldn’t vote, because he lives in D.C., and what the hell, etc., and his pills run out on Sunday, so by Election Day he’ll probably just be crying in the tiny crack-pipe-filled back yard, hundreds of fat greasy rats just cold climbing over his head, for sport.

But he does at least have a semi-valid lazy-ass point, as Washington voters are so deep in the tank that most of them have drowned, yet they just keep voting. Ghouls, all of them.

And hell, something like a third of all voters may have already voted. Why not just get high now, and stay that way, so you’re “prepared” to deal with whatever happens, good or ill?

Because you must make sure your other loser friends and jobless relatives are sober enough to haul their ACORN-registered selves to the polls, dressed as Mickey Mouse, so they can vote for Communist Terror, forever.
And that is your Wonkette Public Service Announcement, until we get nervous and do another one in six or nine hours. It is kind of sad, to be in the tank when a Walnuts/Palin administration would provide so many laffes & gaffes. But we are willing to lose a few jokes [How about MILLIONS of jokes? -- Ed.] for the team, if it means not being burnt to death in the NUCLEAR HOLOCAUST which Palin/McCain would most surely cause.

Very cool....Dozens Of Call Center Workers Walk Off Job In Protest Rather Than Read McCain Script Attacking Obama