JEB BUSH TO HEAD REPUBLICAN TICKET IN 2012

Here's how...

Trump, Bachman, Huckabee rush out as early spoilers. They incite the base of the Republican party with anti-Obama rhetoric and the birther issue. Palin, Huckabee and Trump may not run leaving the Tea Party plank wide open for Bachman. PALIN WILL NOT RUN - Unions and Democratic base will show up at every rally, as they did in Wisconsin this week, and boo her off the stage. Her one time supporters will move to Bachman and/or Huckabee. The Republican establishment and the Karl Rove machine become increasingly frantic.

IOWA goes to Bachman or Huckabee. They play up religious themes (gay marriage, abortion) and birtherism. Trump does surprisingly well for a well known libertine. His "star" appeal and his newfound admiration for "birthers" will play well in Iowa. Romney and Pawlenty are ghosts. Paul gets his standard showing, nabbing any young Republicans who vote in the primaries.

NEVADA goes to Trump if he runs - he sucks all the air out of Las Vegas and plays well with Hispanics due to his fairly liberal past on immigration. If Trump doesn't run, Romney and Pawlenty have a shot. Romney will win if Trump doesn't run. Even Mormons like to gamble sometimes, and Nevada has a lot of Mormons living there.

NEW HAMPSHIRE is Romney's last hope of a candidacy. Look for him to put all his money here and do well or even win. Bachman (or Huckabee) begin to fade. Trump once again is the wild card - if he stays in - he will place or show ahead of Bachman/Huckabee in the horse race but not likely win. Pawlenty comes in a distant third or fourth and commits seppuku for the sake of the GOP.

SOUTH CAROLINA likely goes to Romney by default. Bachman/Huckabee finally lose steam asthe Tea Party plank finally takes a hard look at their polling against Obama. Paul could stage a surprising showing here as the last hope of the most desperate Tea Party groups.

Result of January primaries - FIASCO! Romney cannot convincingly argue against Obamacare and he will have to say some harsh things against the Tea Party folk in order to gain ground with independents. Bruised and battered from a three ring circus of January primaries - Romney looks like he may just be able to win the nomination.

Rove tells Republican power brokers that he cannot come up with a winning scenario for Romney no matter how the polls are sliced and diced. Romney will do better than Obama with religious conservatives, creationists, right wing white groups and Wall Street. But he will take only a tiny percentage of Blacks, Hispanics, and independents. Of course he will not get ANY support from unions and the liberal base who will flee from the "nasty milliionaire businessman" to Obama's welcoming arms.

The alarm will be raised (phones probably already are ringing) among the the Republican big donor community. Blue Blood Republicans will hold secret meetings at Point Vesuvius (aka Walker's Point, aka the Bush Compound in Maine). Koch brothers have a seat at the table as does Wall Street led by a contingent of Goldman Sachs alumni. The goal - launch a volcanic barrage to reinstate the Bush royalty.

While it is true that George II tarnished the Bush family image, Bush remains a gold standard Coat of Arms among Republican oligarchs. Remember that Obama awarded the Freedom Medal to George I in February. This will help Rove, backed by Koch and Sachs money among others, to remind the public that George I is still KING of the Bush clan. George I will help take back the crown from his wayward son George II and pass it on to Jeb, thus assuring the continued hegemony of the Reagan-Bush trickle down/supply side wing of the Republican Party.

Jeb and Romney will be called to a "come to Jesus" summit. Romney will be told that Jeb represents the better hope for defeating Obama because:

- He has an amiable style, that wears well with independents. It is hard not to like him as a person.

- He is VERY Catholic, Fourth Degree Knight of Columbus, which will keep the Christian Right more firmly in line than someone who is a Mormon.

- He is married to a Hispanic, and has very good numbers with them (being Catholic doesn't hurt).

- He OWNS FLORIDA, especially the Cuban population which OWNS Miami Dade, a key democratic stronghold. Jeb has worked for a multimillionaire Cuban real estate firm.

- He has always been a strong supporter of Israel and is well liked in the Jewish community.

- His father and the Rove machine have enough dirt on every member of the Republican leadership (including new Tea Party leaders) to keep them firmly in line.

Romney will be asked to continue in the primaries to make sure Bachman/Huckabee/Trump remain dead and that no one else like Rand Paul is taken too seriously. Jeb will begin to be casually mentioned by the media as an alternative. Jeb's "stealth campaign" may start as early as late summer or fall of 2011. He will refuse comment and remain out of the public eye at least until the really big primaries in Texas and Florida. It's interesting that no primary date has been set for Florida and that many states are still discussing the dates. Perhaps it is normal to be 8 months away from the first primary without knowing the timing of all caucuses. Or perhaps Republicans are leaving themselves some wiggle room for a last minute candidacy by Jeb or someone like him. Here's the current schedule:

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Rumors will be started (perhaps even using clips from the Oliver Stone movie "W") that Jeb was the first pick for the successor to the Reagan-Bush crown. They will say things like, "George II jumped the gun. Now it is time to put things right. The nation is in great peril - time to return to the first draft pick."

The pitch will be simple.

"Don't you want to return to the good old days of the Regan-Bush years? A time when Republicans were truly Republicans? George I was right there with Ronald. True, George II may have been a little bit of a disappointment, but look at has happened since he left. Didn't things get even worse? Isn't it time to return leadership to a True Republican like Jeb Bush? Socially conservative but not a fanatic, and fiscally conservative - his friends own the companies that can "drill baby drill" and he is comes from a financially elite family of "job creators" who were there when "trickle down" economics first began to drip.

I think Jeb could give Obama fits. Sooner or later Rove and company will figure this out as well. They probably already have. Rove has already begun trashing Trump. Rove, and the power brokers of the Grand Old Party, support none of the current contenders. Yet they have not offered alternative. Why?

Is it because it is too early to bring Jeb in? That they have to wait until rank and file Republicans get sick of the current Tea Party darlings? Are they waiting to launch a late campaign for Jeb or even have him emerge as a last minute superman at the convention?

Who knows the answer? Certainly not me. After all, I am a nut case. I have the papers to prove it.

AIN'T I A HUMAN?

I have been reading the Tell-Tale Brain by V.S. Ramachandran. The experience is like having someone open up my skull and stir a spoon through my previous notions of what it means to be me, to be a human. I think the introduction, A Brief Tour of Your Brain, should be required reading for all psychiatric patients and their families. The knowledge it contains could help eliminate a lot of the guilt and self castigation that accompanies diagnoses of “mental illness”.

As always with science, we must say that what we “know” is based on current evidence. Our ideas will change as we discover more. However, if our current observations hold true, the impact will be mind blowing (pun intended). Philosophy, art and religion will have a lot of catching up to do. Many of our most cherished concepts of things like mind, soul, God and our moral compass will be changed forever. Unless, of course, we ignore science if favor of things like “creationism”.

For example, several regions of the brain appear to be critical to the “human” view of who we are and how we relate to the world. Damage to these areas results in the loss of what it means to be human, at least in any real sense of the word. Without these functions our external bodies might appear the same but our thoughts, behavior and culture would not exist.

Here are a few of the areas most critical to being what is typically defined as “human”. Quotations are from Ramachandran.

WERNICKE'S AREA (upper left temporal lobe) – A uniquely human area (seven times larger than a chimp) provides comprehension of meaning and semantic aspects of language. Damage can result in the loss of ability to process language – no Wernicke's area, no Shakespeare.

PARIETAL LOBES – The left uses sensory input (including muscles and touch) to provide “multimedia” sense of corporeal self. The right provides a “mental model of the spatial layout of the outside world: your immediate environs, plus the location (but not identity) of objects, hazards and people within it”. Damage to the right lobe can cause the phenomenon of hemispatial neglect (loss of awareness of what occurs in the left field of vision) or somatoparaphrenia (belief that left arm belongs to someone else). If you zap the right parietal lobe with an electrode you will have an “out of body” experience.

INFERIOR PARIETAL LOBES (IPL) – Is much larger in humans than any other species and is divided into two regions (angular gyrus and supramarginal gyrus). The left angular gyrus provides functions “such as arithmetic, abstraction, and aspects of language such as word finding and metaphor”. The left supramarginal gyrus provides “images of intended skill actions (e.g. sewing, hammering a nail, waving goodbye) and executes them”. Damage to left IPL eliminate abstract skills like reading, writing, arithmetic, etc. and hinders ability to complete skilled movement. No IPL means no Kobe Bryant and no extravagant metaphors for sports writers to use in describing his talent. Damage here may even mean the end of “free will” - the ability to imagine and execute complex actions.

PREFRONTAL CORTEX – Often called the “seat of humanity”. Can sustain massive damage with no obvious signs of neurological or cognitive deficits, but can cause major personality changes including withdrawal from social world and marked reluctance to do anything at all. This is sometimes called pseudodepression because it looks a bit like depression but is not accompanied by bleakness and chronic negative thoughts. In fact, the person will seem euphoric. Damage also results in loss of: interest in his own future; moral compunctions – may laugh at a funeral or urinate in public; ambition; empathy; dignity as a human being. No prefrontal cortex means no society or culture – at least as we humans describe it.

So what? What does this mean for me? How can I use this information?

First, I can let go of a lot of guilt. I am not ready to completely let go of the idea of free will and my personal accountability, but I can accept that I have a lot less control over my actions than I once thought. Many of the mistakes I have made are not my “fault” anymore than a friend of mine is at fault for the fact that cerebral palsy has robbed him of the ability to control his arms and legs. This information lets me directly refute the thoughts in my head that tell me that I am a “bad” person for making mistakes. With work I can gain some control over my emotions and behavior, but I will never be “fully” in charge. No one has complete control of their thoughts and behavior, and it doesn't appear they ever will. Knowing this gives me evidence that I am not broken. I am human.

Second, I can have a more solid foundation of compassion for the failings of others. When I look at someone who was traumatized or injured at an early age I can better understand and accept their "character defects". I can see that I struggle to grow emotionally, that another of my friends struggles at least in part (perhaps in a very large part) to malfunctions in the Prefrontal Cortex. I can see peoples problems with social awareness and “humanness” the same way I see problems with motor control of a person's arms and legs.

Reducing my sense of guilt and increasing my compassion for others are things that I have heard before – mostly couched in “spiritual” or religious terms. Knowing they are linked to something tangible in my brain makes them more real.

Others may choose to dismiss the scientific study of the brain and body as reductionist nonsense. I do not. To use a metaphors straight from the Weirnecke's Region and IPL of my brain, neuroscience has been a greater source of freedom and “salvation” for my “soul” than literature, philosophy and art combined. To me, science does not reduce or diminish my love of life's beauty any more than knowing that sunlight comes from a ball of gas diminishes my ability to enjoy its warmth on my skin.

David's New Beginning

David Young is at the edge of a new landscape - a new life in California. He is intelligence personified, working its way through a completely new set of possibilities. I have been given the rare gift of watching the process first hand.

At least that is how I feel most of the time. Sometimes I get frustrated. Frustrated that I cannot relieve the suffering that began for David when he was seven years old. At times I see beyond the fifty something body to the heart of a seven year old taken from his adopted parents and I want to cry out. What pain he must have felt. Its sharpness still stabs him when he is frustrated or frightened or just tired. What a joy it is to see him find new ways to put the suffering aside.

David and I are moving past old hurts today. We are waiting for the curtain to rise on the final act of a miracle. His life in Iowa, capped by a 26 year imprisonment in a tiny apartment, is over. He is Columbus in a new world. Something many said could never happen is in fact materializing from the mist of what once was but a dream, David's Dream. Two years ago he could scarcely imagine seeing the Pacific Ocean and the Castro District of his beloved “SanFra”. Now he is preparing for a new beginning at Acorn Apartments in Oakland.

We had doubts, doubts that were encouraged my some, thankfully, they were not reality. Acorn has approved the application for David's new apartment. Oakland Housing Authority will come to inspect it on April 25. After that we sign the lease. Ten days from now, David should be moving into his new home.

I sip my coffee and remember the journey. If you think only of David's living arrangements (the same tiny apartment for 26 years) or allow yourself to be distracted by his clothes (hand me downs and Goodwill) you might conclude that he is “challenged” in some way. You would be wrong. Since meeting him seven years ago I have been constantly entertained by his surprising wit. We'll be driving along the highway or I'll be listening to him growl his way through a meal and suddenly he will spout out an observation worthy of a poet, stand up comedian or philosopher. Some of my favorites...

The hills of California - “These hills are fuzzy. Soft. Made of velvet.”

California's wild array of vegetation - “Those plants are whimsical. Some of them look like tribbles.”

Passing through Pottawatmie county in Iowa - “This is the home of the Pottawatmies. They are 99.9% fur. They are very sought after because they don't exist.”

After buying a new map - “You know, if you turn it sideways,Iowa looks a lot like a hot water bottle. The east is the top and the west is the bottom. Nevada looks like one of the cases a new microscope comes in. California is a wine flask.”

Crossing the Missouri and leaving Iowa - “Iowa is like an old mattress – comfy, but tired and worn out.”

Driving across the high plains he noticed sedimentary layers of the cliffs - “We are driving across an ocean without getting wet.”

One of the greatest sources of amazement for David is California's flora and fauna. “I will have to get an entire new 'degree' in biology. There are so many new creatures in my new lake (his name for the Pacific) that I cannot name them all.”

David also has a temper. Honed by years of frustration and fear he can burst out in rage. Yesterday we stopped for an emergency piss break. David charged into a restaurant and was turned away. He was hopping mad when he returned to the car.

“That damn lady let me walk all the way to back into her restaurant before she told me, 'Only customers can use the bathroom.' I really had to pee damn it!”

But David's anger never lasts. He is soon overcome with remorse and fear that he has offended or hurt someone. Beneath the crustiness, baked into him by fear, lies an ocean of compassion.

Two days ago, he came to the door of my room, sobbing so hard I thought he would suffocate. He had just heard that Linda, a friend of many decades, has cancer. I heard a lifetime of pain in his crying. I was struck dumb. I could only sit silently as he poured out grief beyond measure. I finally spoke.

“Maybe Linda would be happy for you today. Remember, you are starting a new life.”

I felt like I worked for Hallmark, but David seemed to appreciate the offer of consolation.

“Thank you,” he said. “You know Dale, a few years ago, after my stroke, I felt like giving up. Then you took me to California and Barry showed me the Pacific.”

Embarrassed, I said, “It seemed like a good idea at the time.”

We laughed.

“Thank you, Dale.” he said again as he left for his room.

I stared out the door at the broken fountain gurgling in the courtyard of our mouldering motel.

“No David,” I said. “Thank you.”