A story in the L.A. Times (on-line) today said G.W. Bush was “very proud” that he had denied pardons to high profile petitioners in his last days in office. He reportedly said as much to Nancy Pelosi in a chat they had on inauguration day. Wouldn’t it be ironic if Bush were prosecuted and convicted of war crimes and then a future president denied him clemency because he was “high profile”?

As for being “very proud”, I do believe Bush’s low self-esteem (on some dim level, he’s got to know he is missing some marbles) led him to use his power to punish those who are perhaps smarter, more cunning, more prominent in private endeavor (he was a failure in private enterprise). It’s the classic reaction of those with low competence and resentment of their betters.

Meanwhile, I am reading a book by Norman Doidge, “The Brain that Changes Itself” – a book about how researchers overturned the traditional view of the brain as “hardwired” and showed that the brain changes in response to injury to compensate. But the brain must be helped (trained, so to speak) to make new connections. Exercises were defined to help the process, with remarkable success. The book chronicles how difficult it was for the advocates to gain credibility and how those who resisted their findings have come around. The book contains incredibly fascinating case histories of how stroke victims and others with severe functional problems have improved greatly by exercises and treatments that help the brain compensate for lost function. What is even more impressive is how even the elderly have been helped, even years after their stroke. One such went on to mountain climb.

There is a chapter on pain and how the brain “remembers” pain and must be helped to break the connection that maintains it after the initial condition is gone. There was nothing on post herpatic neuralgia (my sister’s condition) that hangs on after an attack of shingles, but I plan to write one of the facilities to see what can be done. Tu’s shingles are over, but she is on constant medication for persistent pain. There was an ingenious exercise where the neural connection for sensation in a patient’s amputated limb was located in his face. Scratching his face allowed relief from an itch in the phantom limb that was driving the patient nuts. Continued therapy removed all phantom sensation.

Google “Taub clinics” and you will see a list of facilities in the states that have them – Alabama, Texas, Illinois, etc. I would certainly want such treatment if I was the victim of a stroke or any other condition where major function is lost.

That’s all for now.

xx, Teal