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.

Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands. Cayman is prosperous, in part, because of a great global lie, which causes many big rich nations to pursue bad economic policies. The global lie is that the developed countries have too little government, rather than too much.

The simple and obvious empirical fact that most developing and developed countries with smaller government sectors have grown faster in recent decades than those countries with big government sectors is ignored both by the politicians and many in the media.

The political classes in these big government countries, rather than taking responsibility for their own misguided policies, look for scapegoats. Their favorite scapegoats are high-growth countries with low tax rates on savings and investment. They blame offshore financial centers like Cayman, Hong Kong, Bermuda, and even mid-sized countries like Switzerland for engaging in "unfair tax competition."

The truth behind the great global "tax haven" lie is that offshore financial centers owe their prosperity to tax transparency, not tax evasion.

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.