I've written about how willpower takes energy, and when our reserves get depleted - through fatigue, hunger, or overuse - our willpower can weaken. But what if you have to take care of things anyway?

What if you're tired, you're hungry, you've been overworking all day, and you still need to take care of something that's very important?

I think we've all been in that situation, and we've all found that somehow we take care of things. How can this be? What makes the difference?

It has to matter enough to us.  Here's how to tell the difference.

What is it with little guys with egos as big as their billionaire bank accounts who think they can get elected President of the United States as a third party independent?

Beats me.  But while it was horrifically destructive the last time - in 1992 - it may be marvelous today.  Right now, I'm rootin' for Bloomie.

Ross Perot was five-foot-six.  Michael Bloomberg is maybe a half-inch taller.  We owe the Clinton Presidency to Perot - the 19% of the vote he gained was mostly a protest against George H. W. Bush.  If Perot had not run, Clinton would have lost.  Thanks, Ross.

Now Little Mikey thinks it's his turn to come to America's rescue.  I can see the ad now, Bloomie strolling along a sun-kissed beach, looking straight into the camera, and saying:

"Hi, America!  I know what you're suffering from, causing you so much frustration and anxiety.  You're a victim of Electile Dysfunction - the inability to become aroused over any of the choices for president put forth by either party in the 2008 election year.  You want a cure for this terrible malady, America?  Well, you're looking at it - me, Mike Bloomberg for President."

Chapter Fifteen: The Hill of Tzompachtepetl

China's approach to international energy and environmental policy can be summed up very simply: tell the idiot yang guizi whatever they want to hear - then carry on doing what China wants, regardless.

Fortunately for the prospects of the US economy, it would appear that not every US politician has fallen for the risible line, heavily promoted by the Obama administration and its amen corner in the environmental movement, that China cares every bit as much as the West does about the allegedly urgent need to curb global CO2 emissions.

Two who very much haven't are Republican senators Roy Blunt of Missouri and Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma who have just launched a challenge to the bilateral climate change "agreement" reached by Mr. Obama with China last year, whereby both countries have supposedly made a commitment to reducing their "greenhouse gas" emissions.

In addition, there is, as this ACCF policy research special report notes, a good deal of further legal trouble ahead for Obama and his eco-fascists at the EPA.  Mr. Obama may yet be prevented from being China's Useful Green Idiot - however much he wants to be.

We begin with an act of political genius, the greatest campaign ad of modern times: 

What is the greatest obstacle confronting the new congressional Republican majority in enacting good policy? It may not be President Obama, because there is an even more formidable force in Washington that crushes good policy: the Permanent Bureaucracy.

The permanent bureaucracy is made up of federal employees, government contractors and their employees, congressional staff and the special-interest lobbying community (including law and accounting firms). It also includes the media establishment, which depends on leaks and information from those in government for stories in exchange for protective coverage.

Hardworking taxpayers never cease being ripped off by wasteful and fraudulent government spending and regulation. Unlike what happens in the private sector, people in government rarely go to jail or are even fired for financial misconduct.

The government requires financial and senior officers of companies to sign off on the accuracy of their financial statements in order to protect stockholders. Company officers are subject to civil and criminal penalties, including jail time for misstatements, and their names are released to the press.

There is no reason for taxpayers to be any less protected than stockholders from financial negligence or fraud.  Here's how to do it.

One of my favorite researchers is Barbara Fredrickson, of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Her new book is Love 2.0, in which she looks at "love from the body's perspective" -- meaning that she has been studying how the experience of the emotion of love affects your physiology, including your physical health.

Now, when we hear the word "love," we think of romantic love, or how we love our kids, other family members, and friends.

We even feel it in what Fredrickson calls "micro-moments of connection." The nice conversation you have with the checkout person at the grocery store; the warm greeting of welcome by a new acquaintance at a meeting; even the moment of eye contact with a stranger who holds open a door.

It turns out that these micro-moments of connection are actually filled with stuff that is good for you, like a good meal is filled with nutrients; emotionally, psychologically, and in terms of your overall health.