Truthdig:

The ridiculous Supreme Court decision to let corporations spend whatever they want on behalf of political candidates just got more ridiculous: Lawyers say that under the ruling there’s a loophole that would allow companies to do so anonymously.

Experts say the ruling allows corporations and unions to give anonymously to nonprofits, which then can turn around and finance political advertisements for a particular candidate.

And totally insane.

Truthdig:

The president has signed a one-year extension of several provisions in the Patriot Act that would have expired Sunday, renewing the government’s authority to spy on phones and seize records and property of citizens.

The renewal has already been passed by the House and the Senate

George W. Bush II.

Truthdig:

Plans to create an independent agency to offer consumer financial protection have probably been scrapped. According to a leaked document, Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd is proposing that the protection office be within the Treasury Department instead of being independent, a clear capitulation to the Republicans.

Why does this lame duck get any say at all?

Paul Krugman:

So, on the This Week panel today I didn’t get a chance to weigh in on the biggest whopper from Sen. Lamar Alexander, who told Elizabeth Vargas that reconciliation — I don’t have the exact transcript — had in the past been used for small things and “to reduce the deficit”.

In fact, reconciliation was used to pass the two major Bush tax cuts, which increased the deficit — by $1.8 trillion.

And there’s no penalty for this kind of deception.

Correct. No penalty. You can lie with impunity on national broadcast news shows, and keep getting invited back.

Edward Luce in the Financial Times:

American presidents with the greatest record of bipartisan legislative achievement, notably Franklin Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson and Ronald Reagan, got their way by intimidating opponents, not by splitting the difference. As Machiavelli famously observed, it is better for a prince to be feared than loved. For all his intelligence, nobody fears Mr Obama.

During his campaign, Mr Obama electrified Americans by promising bold action to suit turbulent times. “Did John Kennedy look at the moon and say: ‘That looks kind of far away. Let’s be realistic’?” Mr Obama said on the hustings.

As president, Mr Obama has argued that joblessness and idle capacity are a blight on America’s future. But he has not yet found the ideas, or the political will, to propose any remedies. It is as though he is prescribing aspirin having diagnosed cancer.

Where is the evidence of intelligence in Mr. Obama, Mr. Luce?

The hope of music’s healing powers

Increasing Neurogenesis Might Prevent Drug Addiction and Relapse

Marijuana Use Can Up Psychosis Risk

Over-the-counter retinol formulations gaining skin cred

Plus lots more.

Reading Remediation Seems to Rewire the Brain

Physically fit students do better academically too: study

Zen May Thicken Brain, Thwart Pain

Flower Power May Reduce Resistance to Breast Cancer Drug Tamoxifen

Plus lots more.

How to slog safely through ice and snow

Obesity, Lack of Exercise Heighten Arthritis Risk for Women

Lose Fat Just by Standing?

Study: Food ’sin taxes’ effective

Plus lots more.

Genetic Link Between Misery and Death Discovered

Strokes Up Among the Young, Down Among the Old

Soy unlikely to trim body fat after menopause

Magnesium may be vital to memory

Plus lots more.

Healthday News:

Happy People More Likely to Try Something New

“The research helps us understand. . . why incumbent politicians seeking re-election fuel a negative, apprehensive mood and then offer up such tried-and-true symbols as the flag and apple pie,” [Piotr Winkielman, co-author of the new study,] said.

So, it’s in their best interest to keep us unhappy—but not so unhappy that we grab the pitchforks and drive them out of town.

Political Wire:

Midterm Elections Will Cost Nearly $4 Billion

A new report from the Center for Responsive Politics estimates that this year’s midterm elections will cost at least $3.7 billion — about 30% more than four years ago.

Major caveat: The estimate does not include how much money could come directly from corporations, unions, trade associations or other interest groups stemming from the recent Supreme Court decision allowing unlimited contributions.

How many jobs could be created, how many people fed, how much health care provided, for $4 billion?

Besides, much of the spending is on media. So if you contribute to a candidate, you’re putting money in the pockets of the very media moguls who are paying their employees to further right-wing-ize America.

Overweight Middle-Aged Adults at Greater Risk for Cognitive Decline in Later Life

When life is a grind, teeth suffer

Exercise Can Quiet Anxiety

Belief in a Caring God Improves Response to Medical Treatment for Depression, Study Finds

Plus lots more.

GOP betting America fails

By Brent Budowsky

In the worst riverboat gamble in modern political history, the Republican Party is betting that America fails, a bad bet that hands Democrats the narrative to bring a blue comeback in 2010…

I talked on Monday with Lakshman Achuthan, the managing director of the Economic Cycle Research Institute, which has a long history of correctly forecasting major economic turns based on his idea that the great battleship of the American economy moves upward and downward in powerful waves based on turns in the economic cycle.

Achuthan told me “we are now in the strongest economic recovery since the early 1980s that will continue through 2010.” He calls this “the Rodney Dangerfield recovery” that he first predicted last spring and now believes is strongly underestimated. (more…)

High blood pressure in U.S. a “neglected disease”

Patients Do Better at Hospitals That Follow Stroke Guidelines

Neuroimaging Study May Pave Way for Effective Alzheimer’s Treatments

Statins May Benefit Prostate Cancer Patients

Plus lots more.

Politico:

President Barack Obama released a health care reform proposal Monday aimed at pleasing the warring wings of his own party and bringing along skeptical voters, in part by including a provision to put off an unpopular tax on high-cost health insurance plans until 2018.

One notable absence in Obama’s plan – any provision for a public health insurance option

Obama is a loser. Period.