WASHINGTON – Good news for aging hippies: smoking pot may stave off Alzheimer’s disease.

New research shows that the active ingredient in marijuana may prevent the progression of the disease by preserving levels of an important neurotransmitter that allows the brain to function.

Researchers at the Scripps Research Institute in California found that marijuana’s active ingredient, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, can prevent the neurotransmitter acetylcholine from breaking down more effectively than commercially marketed drugs.

The researchers said their discovery could lead to more effective drug treatment for Alzheimer’s, the leading cause of dementia among the elderly.

Those afflicted with Alzheimer’s suffer from memory loss, impaired decision-making, and diminished language and movement skills. The ultimate cause of the disease is unknown, though it is believed to be hereditary.

Marijuana is used to relieve glaucoma and can help reduce side effects from cancer and AIDS treatment.

Copyright 2006 Reuters Limited.  

Let’s look at the political map in the wake of the resignation of Rep. Mark Foley, R-FL.

Dems really have their hopes up of taking the House and making a run at the U.S. Senate.

Sorry about that.

The Dems need 15 more to take control of the House.  In the 15 seats most competitive, the GOP holds leads in 4, the Dems have leads in 7 and four are just too close to call.

The problem is the GOP get out the vote effort in the last 72 hours of the election.  Starting Friday night before the Tuesday election, the GOP “microtargets” their most reliable voters (mostly evangelicals).  This is very effective.  It is so effective that the GOP outperforms the polling by about 3 percent.  In other words, if a poll shows a GOP candidate at 47 percent, that candidate will get to 50 percent on election day.

Factoring that in, in the 15 most competitive races, the GOP takes 8 or 9 of the races, leaving the Dems that many short of taking control of the House.

A similar analasis of U.S. Senate races brings us to the same place.  Dems need 5 seats to take control.  The Dems are losing in a N.J. race where the candidate is being smeared with corruption charges, so the Dems need 6 seats elsewhere.  It looks like the Dems will win in Penn. (against Santorum) and Washington, and are tied or have slim leads in places like Missouri and Tennessee.  However, when that 3 percent 72-hour GOTV machine kicks in, the Dems fall short.

So, how does the whole Foley thing play out?

The Dem hope is that the “values voters” that the GOP targets in the last 72 hours before election day will sit on their hands and not go vote, disenheartened by this latest attack on their core values and that Dems will, for once, outperform the polls because the energized “left” is angry and wants to “send a message” to Bush.

It could happen.

However, as Ring Lardner Jr. once wrote:  The race is not always to the swift, nor the fight to the strong, but that’s the way the smart money bets.

John X has posted new OKC NOIR clips.  It’s very kewl.  Please consider participating — if you can’t contact John X for some reason, let me know and I’ll get you together.  These new clips make me ever MORE excited about this project.  Here’s the link.

http://possibilityx.com/noir/noir.htm

I haven’t blogged since Sept. 21st?

Seems like just yesterday.

I’m not doing much of a good job with my personal journal, either.  I’ve routinely cataloged my every motion every day for years, but lately not so much.

Can’t explain it.

Even looking back at this blog, I’ve written about nothing but politics for several posts in a row.  Nothing personal at all.

(Political aside:  My prediction is that Brad Henry will beat Istook handily, that the GOP will retain control of the U.S. Senate 52-48 and the U.S. House 221- 214.  If you want to know why, ask me some time.)

Reading MCARP’s blog and talking to him, I’m concerned without freaking out about his health and pray he gets back on track without great troubles.

Suzart has made me very happy by accepting a new position at the OU Health Sciences Center that will provide her with more money and great benefits, chiefly health insurance.

So, what have I been up to lately?  You might well ask.  Or not.

Last night, I was again at the door as a volunteer for OVAC’s annual 12X12 show.  This year it was held at the old DPS building at 410 N. Walnut.  It was hot and it was crowded and the art was fairly strong.  I bid on a 3 dimensional piece, a copper covered clay bust, but I haven’t received a call that my minimum bid was accepted, so I don’t guess I got it.  I liked several pieces very much, including Oz’s horse, Michael’s smokey oil field, Brandenburg’s polkadot sillouette, Medina’s …  I liked my friends’ work, I guess.

Saw a lot of friends and acquaintences at the 12X12, but didn’t witness any dramas.  The Stringents were the only music act I caught and I liked the four girls on strings VERY much.

Last Wednesday, I had my first paid modeling gig.  It was for the Christmas catalog for SouthWest Publishing, the people who put out the magazines “Nichols Hills”, “Historic Homes” and “Downtown”.  Me and some very beautiful young women wore furs in a Heritage Hills home made up like Christmas and toasted each other at a lovely table set at Nonna’s in Bricktown at 8 a.m.  The most fun for me was being told by the SW people that they wanted me because I looked to them like Ralph Lauren.

Mostly, I’ve been working.  Sept. was a turnaround month for me and I made pretty good money after several months of being lazy and getting into big debt problems.  Now, I’ve paid off all the medical bills I rolled up in June plus a few others and have a small amount of money in the bank and I’ve billed more hours in the past 30 days than in the previous several months. 

However, the big turnaround in September wasn’t as visible as a checkbook register.  The big turnaround was between my ears.  Work that would set off a frenzy of procrastination in the past has been fun — for some unknown inexplicable reason, I’ve embraced the work and enjoyed the hell out of it.  Go figure.  I can’t explain it, I’m just going with it.  I can’t say this is related, but I took in a new client Friday and will meet a new client Monday morning.  I need the work and they need my help. Capitalism works, if not always fairly.

I’ve taken on a sponsee in AA and I take him to meetings at 8 p.m. every Tuesday and Thursday night at the Western Club.  I haven’t sponsored anyone in a couple of years and it was about time I took on that duty to pass along my sobriety.  It’s been gratifying to be asked and it helps me stay sober to watch him get sober.

My friend John X is involved in a project he’s calling OKC Noir.  He makes 30 second “films” in black and white of various people and little sound bites of their conversation covers the images.  Go to his website and catch a few — Sonic Sharon and Mara are good ones.  He’s asked me to help recruit folks for the project and if you would be willing to spend 45 minutes to an hour with a helluva guy and get to be UTUBE famous, please contact me or him.  It’s for art’s sake.

I’m sending out invoices this weekend, so it’s back to work.  As my fellow attorney, John Mc. at Starbucks, put it:  “Just two more working days until Monday.”  Ah, well. 

Peace out.