Thoughts on thoughts . . .

THE HUMAN BRAIN is astoundingly complex, according to a report on ScienceDaily, "Human Brains Share a Consistent Genetic Blueprint and Possess Enormous Biochemical Complexity". Indeed, the human mind is astoundingly complex in both construction and operation. Scientists at the Allen Institute for Brain Science reported in the latest issue of the journal Nature that human brains share a consistent genetic blueprint and possess enormous biochemical complexity. The findings stem from the first deep and large-scale analysis of the vast data set publicly available in the Allen Human Brain Atlas.

And while we all don't think alike, our minds are all pretty much the same:This dataset profiles 400 to 500 distinct brain areas per hemisphere using microarray technology and comprises more than 100 million gene expression measurements covering three individual human brains to date. Among other findings, these data show that 84% of all genes are expressed somewhere in the human brain and in patterns that are substantially similar from one brain to the next.
• 84% of all genes are expressed, or turned on, somewhere in the human brain.
• Many previously uncharacterized genes are turned on in specific brain regions and localize with known functional groups of genes, suggesting they play roles in particular brain functions.

But it's when brains malfunction, that is of concern. Psychoanalysis is a process of conjecture, when contending with human minds and their mysterious motivations, and as the West became urbanized, it appeared that more and more people were experiencing mental maladjustment, indeed, head problems.

Then Miltown, or Meprobamate was discovered in 1950, launched in 1955, the first blockbuster psychotropic drug. Right after, came Thorazine, or chlorpromazine, and the side-effects blossomed, as the "thorazine shuffle" became the gait of the afflicted.

And Big Pharma jumped in on this with both feet. 

Decades later, the effectiveness of these psychotropics is being rightly questioned.

THE WILSON QUARTERLY is a delightful, thoughtful site, with a wonderful article by Tanya Marie Luhrmann, "Beyond the Brain", which looks at the failure of the pharmaceutical industry to deal with schizophrenia:

In the 1990s, scientists declared that schizophrenia and other psychiatric illnesses were pure brain disorders that would eventually yield to drugs. Now they are recognizing that social factors are among the causes, and must be part of the cure.
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Psychoanalysis and even psychotherapy were said to be on their way out. Psychiatry would focus on real disease, and psychiatric researchers would pinpoint the biochemical causes of illness and neatly design drugs to target them.
• • •
Yet the outcome of two decades of serious psychiatric science is that schizophrenia now appears to be a complex outcome of many unrelated causes—the genes you inherit, but also whether your mother fell ill during her pregnancy, whether you got beaten up as a child or were stressed as an adolescent, even how much sun your skin has seen. It’s not just about the brain. It’s not just about genes.

But orthodox medical people are slow to change, and the prescription drug abuse and damage is becoming even more of a problem, according to Dr. Peter Breggin, whose web site, Psychiatric Drug Facts is a useful compendium of information and ideas, including his latest book, "Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal: A Guide for Prescribers, Therapists, Patients and their Families". So, why should you care? Because information and knowledge are your best defence against the horrors that could be prescribed for you or those you love.

El Degüello Pasa

ACCORDING TO WIKI, El Degüello means "no mercy" or "to put to the sword". The literal translation is "a throat slitting". Originally a bugle call, it was used by Howard Hawks in the 1959 flick, "Rio Bravo".

Well, FABIUS has an article, "Stratfor looks at Mexico: “The Struggle for Balance” featuring a by-permission re-post from STRATFOR on the Mexican Problem, written by Scott Stewart.

Why should you care?

The drug cartel problem in Mexico is getting worse as time goes on, to the point where some pundits are using dire descriptions like "failed state" in their ruminations about this very violent situation. The Mexican gangs have moved into the US big-time, and they'll be here soon. We have the taser-happy RCMP, who can't shoot straight. Makes you feel warm and fuzzy.

Certainly at that macro level, there is a lot of money flowing into Mexico and a lot of people, from bankers and businessmen to political parties and politicians, are benefiting from the massive influx of cash. The lure of this lucre shapes how many Mexicans (particularly many of the Mexican elite) view narcotics trafficking. It is, frankly, a good time to be a banker, a real estate developer or a Rolex dealer in Mexico.

However, at the tactical level, there are a number of issues also shaping the opinions of many Mexicans regarding narcotics trafficking, including violence, corruption and rapidly rising domestic narcotics consumption. At this level, people are being terrorized by running gunbattles, mass beheadings and rampant kidnappings — the types of events that STRATFOR covers in our Mexico Security Memos.

Mexican elites have the money to buy armored cars and hire private security guards. But rampant corruption in the security forces means the common people seemingly have nowhere to turn for help at the local level (not an uncommon occurrence in the developing world). The violence is also having a heavy impact on Mexico’s tourist sector and on the willingness of foreign companies to invest in Mexico’s manufacturing sector. Many smaller business owners are being hit from two sides — they receive extortion demands from criminals while facing a decrease in revenue due to a drop in tourism because of the crime and violence. These citizens and businessmen are demanding help from Mexico City.

These two opposing forces — the inexorable flow of huge quantities of cash and the pervasive violence, corruption and fear — are placing a tremendous amount of pressure on the Calderon administration. And this pressure will only increase as Mexico moves closer to the 2012 presidential elections (President Felipe Calderon was the law-and-order candidate and was elected in 2006 in large part due to his pledge to end cartel violence). Faced by these forces, Calderon needs to find a way to strike a delicate balance, one that will reassert Mexican government authority, quell the violence and mollify the public while also allowing the river of illicit cash to continue flowing into Mexico.

And the proposed North American trade corridor . . . looks like a continuation of that drug map.