“My third set of masters,” Malinali thought to herself. These people, these “Spaniards” were different from any others she had known or even imagined. They seemed to her to almost be not of this earth. Perhaps they were from the stars, she thought.

“Are you afraid of them, Little Miss Dry Grass?” she asked herself, summoning her courage, her sense of humor, and the memory of her father all at once. Yes, a part of her was afraid, of course. Who wouldn’t be? Then she heard her father’s counsel: “What reason do you have to be afraid? Have these strangers shown themselves to be cruel and unmerciful, or kind and forgiving? They are impossibly fierce in battle, yet impossibly generous in victory. Use your intelligence, learn how to gain the respect of these Spaniards. Never forget, Malinali, you are a still a Queen! Never show any fear!”

Her thoughts were interrupted by the words of the stranger who spoke Mayan. He addressed them all assembled on the floor of this great floating home.

People are more free and prosperous as a result of the work of Gary Becker, John Blundell, Leonard Liggio, Gordon Tullock and Henry Manne, all of whom passed away during the last eight months.

Henry Manne, dean emeritus of the George Mason University Law School, and one of the founders of the field of law and economics, died this past Saturday (1/17), at age 86.

Most lawyers know little about economics, and as a result, many judges make unnecessarily harmful decisions. Dr. Manne, who was both a lawyer and an economist, had been influenced by the work of Ronald Coase and Aaron Director (who had been professors of his at the University of Chicago Law School) and by economists Milton Friedman, Armen Alchian and others.

Henry Manne's impact will remain for generations, not only from his own writings, but from the influence he had on his students and others that he mentored (including yours truly), and the fact that courses in law and economics are now taught in many law schools.

In May 2014, one of the true economic giants, Gary Becker, at age 83 left us.

Becker had made important contributions to our understanding of the motivations for discrimination, crime and drug addiction. He was always a pleasure to be with because of his many original insights into human behavior.  Awarded the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 1992, his mentor Milton Friedman (Nobel Laureate in 1976), said that Gary Becker was the best student he ever had.

Emotions have a very liquid quality; they move, they flow, they take on the form of their container. Like water in a stream, when they are in active motion they have a clear purpose and direction; when they get stuck they can become stagnant and even putrid.

Ignoring negative feelings doesn't make them go away, it just makes us unaware of them; but dwelling on negative feelings after they have already served their purpose can keep us stuck in them, stagnant in emotions that should have long since run downstream.

Every emotion has a function. Anger is a response to trespass; when somebody crosses a line or a boundary, we get angry in response, and that anger provides us with the energy and motivation to get them to stop. Fear is a signal that there is danger, and it narrows our focus on that danger, and can give us the incentive and energy to escape that danger. Grief is a response to loss and it can allow us to feel and mourn the loss, and to appreciate what we had.

Our emotions are not always accurate, though...

All the smart talk seems to be about a "brokered" Republican convention, with the GOP in a confused mess all through the summer until somebody is finally chosen in Minneapolis in early September.

Yet the odds for that are decreasing, and may drastically do so if Romney takes Florida away from McCain next Tuesday.  Huckabee will be history, Giuliani wounded perhaps mortally, all the big conservative guns like Limbaugh will put McCain in the crosshairs, and Mitt Is It for the GOP.

The big difference between the GOP and Dem primaries, particularly those of Super Tuesday (2/5) is that most of the former's are winner-take-all, while the latter's are proportional.

Thus Hillary could "win" all the primaries from now to June and still not get a majority of delegates.  In fact, with the vicious catfight going on between her and Obama Hussein, that's the likely outcome.  It's the Dems who face a brokered convention, and it is going to be a disaster.

Malinali and Bernal returned to the camp to find all the Spaniards assembled in front of Cortez’s tent, talking loudly and arguing amongst themselves. In response to Malinali’s questioning glance, Bernal smiled. “Ah, the Captain’s trap is being sprung.”

Taking her aside, he explained. “Remember that I told you my cousin, Don Diego Velasquez, was governor of Cuba? The truth is that he is a greedy fat man who has many friends and many enemies - and our soldiers here are made up of both. Those who are friends of Velasquez want to return to their haciendas in Cuba. They think that Velasquez will share most of the gold Montezuma has given us with them. The enemies of Velasquez want to stay and found a colony with lands and haciendas of their own. They will get nothing from Velasquez if they return to Cuba.”

“And which side is Captain Cortez on?” Malinali wanted to know.

Bernal laughed long and hard. “Ah, Doña Marina, the stories of Cortez and Don Diego are already legendary in Cuba! I must tell them to you someday, then you will laugh as well. No, Cortez made such a fool of Don Diego that he has no thought of returning to Cuba. That is why a few days ago he asked for my help, which I was happy to give.