There is no nonsense so gross that society will not, at some time, make a doctrine of it and defend it with every weapon of communal stupidity.
– Robertson Davies
On the eve of the final Iowa debate before the Jan. 3 caucuses, Clinton campaign insiders are increasingly questioning the cautious, poll-driven approach taken by Mark Penn, Hillary Rodham Clinton’s top political aide, sources familiar with the situation say.
With Clinton barely holding her own against Barack Obama and John Edwards in Iowa, dissatisfaction is growing with Penn, who some say has mistakenly run Clinton as a de facto incumbent.
“There are two people who have come up with this strategy — one Hillary Clinton and one Mark Penn,” said a top Clinton ally, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Mark wanted to run her, basically, for re-election, and we are seeing what happened.”
I think that “I’m the front-runner” schtick after the Philly debate didn’t help her any either….I’m tired of having her presented as the inevitable nominee.
I found this part especially interesting (bolding mine):
The brain, like every other part of the body, changes with age, and those changes can impede clear thinking and memory. Yet many older people seem to remain sharp as a tack well into their 80s and beyond. Although their pace may have slowed, they continue to work, travel, attend plays and concerts, play cards and board games, study foreign languages, design buildings, work with computers, write books, do puzzles, knit or perform other mentally challenging tasks that can befuddle people much younger.
But when these sharp old folks die, autopsy studies often reveal extensive brain abnormalities like those in patients with Alzheimer’s. Dr. Nikolaos Scarmeas and Yaakov Stern at Columbia University Medical Center recall that in 1988, a study of “cognitively normal elderly women” showed that they had “advanced Alzheimer’s disease pathology in their brains at death.” Later studies indicated that up to two-thirds of people with autopsy findings of Alzheimer’s disease were cognitively intact when they died.
“Something must account for the disjunction between the degree of brain damage and its outcome,” the Columbia scientists deduced. And that something, they and others suggest, is “cognitive reserve.”
And of course, the article goes on to say that being active and mentally challenged throughout your life contributes to your cognitive reserves.
My boss is 88 and still going strong. He’s a super guy so I hope he continues for years to come. It has been long known that people who stay active, live longer, but the new studies as to the whys of this are fascinating.
The EU was in a showdown with the US over climate change policy today, demanding Washington “wake up” and describing next month’s US-led talks on emissions cuts as “senseless” without binding targets.
Speaking as the deadlocked UN climate change conference in Bali entered final hour talks, EU officials said president Bush’s climate change meeting next month in Hawaii was “meaningless” if Bali did not produce an “ambitious roadmap”.
Stavros Dimas, the European commissioner for the environment, insisted a cut of 25-40% in emissions by 2020 for rich countries was an “indispensable” part of a text that must be agreed in Bali tomorrow night if nations are to join together to fight climate change.
The US wants the figures removed from the document, which will provide the foundation for a new global treaty on global warming after the current Kyoto protocol expires in 2012.
EU officials argue the targets are crucial because the world needs an idea of where it is heading, whereas Washington argues nations have been quick to agree to targets and then have failed to meet them. The disagreement threatens the prospect of the talks in Bali, where there are representatives from more than 180 countries, ending in failure.
This is very discouraging; the tough language is ‘too little, too late’. The world really cannot afford to wait for a new US administration in order to make substantive progress on climate issues.
Climate change talks lurch into final day after Gore blasts US
Al Gore on Thursday delivered a rousing call for the world to fight against climate change without the United States, which he accused of blocking tactics at the key UN conference in Bali.
Exhausted negotiators at the Indonesian resort island grappled over deadlocked text early Friday, just hours before the talks were scheduled to conclude.
But delegates questioned by AFP saw little hope of any early breakthrough on the biggest problem.
To warm applause at a conference side event, Gore took the lash to the United States of President George W. Bush and demanded tough commitments to crack down on the greenhouse-gas emissions that drive global warming.
Gore, who narrowly lost to Bush in 2000, told the packed conference room that he was no longer in office and “not bound by diplomatic niceties.”
“So I am going to speak an inconvenient truth,” said Gore, referring to the climate film that won him an Oscar.
“My own country, the United States is principally responsible for obstructing progress here in Bali. We all know that,” he said to loud cheers.
Who Wants to be a Millionaire just came on (I was watching the weather at lunchtime, really), and they asked a question about “What did John Edwards pay $400 each for in 2007?” Answers included haircuts, massages and 2 other things.
The best part: the woman wasn’t sure, and she had to ask the audience for help with the answer (of course, plenty of them knew the right answer).
I just love how the media sets these things up to become household knowledge and future quiz show questions.
NEW YORK (Washington Post) Dec. 13 — New Jersey is set to become the first state to legislatively abolish the death penalty since the Supreme Court restored it in the mid-1970s. Opponents of capital punishment hope the state’s action may prompt a rethinking of the moral and practical implications of the practice in other states.
New Jersey’s Democratic-controlled General Assembly voted 44 to 36 to repeal the death penalty and replace it with life in prison without parole. The action followed a similar vote by the Senate on Monday. Gov. Jon S. Corzine, a Democrat and a death penalty opponent, has said he would sign the legislation.
The repeal bill follows the recommendation of a state commission that reported in January that the death penalty “is inconsistent with evolving standards of decency.” But equally persuasive to lawmakers was not saving lives but money — it costs more to keep a prisoner indefinitely on death row than incarcerated for life.
And now people’s heads are exploding…they had the parents of a murdered child on last night, absolutely furious that they would never get to attend the execution of the man responsible.
your campaign is so last century: Newsday
I think that “I’m the front-runner” schtick after the Philly debate didn’t help her any either….I’m tired of having her presented as the inevitable nominee.
about mental reserves and aging: NYT
I found this part especially interesting (bolding mine):
And of course, the article goes on to say that being active and mentally challenged throughout your life contributes to your cognitive reserves.
My boss is 88 and still going strong. He’s a super guy so I hope he continues for years to come. It has been long known that people who stay active, live longer, but the new studies as to the whys of this are fascinating.
US told to ‘wake up’ over climate change
This is very discouraging; the tough language is ‘too little, too late’. The world really cannot afford to wait for a new US administration in order to make substantive progress on climate issues.
What is a goal without specific targets and deadlines?
A pipe dream, that’s what.
The arrogance and hubris being displayed by Washington is sickening.
2007 data confirms warming trend
1998 was only that hot because of all the hot air and smoke the Republicans blew around about an act of fellatio.
speaking, as he called it: an inconvenient truth:
run al, run!
lTMF’sA
Who Wants to be a Millionaire just came on (I was watching the weather at lunchtime, really), and they asked a question about “What did John Edwards pay $400 each for in 2007?” Answers included haircuts, massages and 2 other things.
The best part: the woman wasn’t sure, and she had to ask the audience for help with the answer (of course, plenty of them knew the right answer).
I just love how the media sets these things up to become household knowledge and future quiz show questions.
.
NEW YORK (Washington Post) Dec. 13 — New Jersey is set to become the first state to legislatively abolish the death penalty since the Supreme Court restored it in the mid-1970s. Opponents of capital punishment hope the state’s action may prompt a rethinking of the moral and practical implications of the practice in other states.
New Jersey’s Democratic-controlled General Assembly voted 44 to 36 to repeal the death penalty and replace it with life in prison without parole. The action followed a similar vote by the Senate on Monday. Gov. Jon S. Corzine, a Democrat and a death penalty opponent, has said he would sign the legislation.
The repeal bill follows the recommendation of a state commission that reported in January that the death penalty “is inconsistent with evolving standards of decency.” But equally persuasive to lawmakers was not saving lives but money — it costs more to keep a prisoner indefinitely on death row than incarcerated for life.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."And now people’s heads are exploding…they had the parents of a murdered child on last night, absolutely furious that they would never get to attend the execution of the man responsible.