at least he didn't abolish communism without a reason. From the alcoholic perspective, hes a lot like Bushc also: Cholesterol-HypocholesterolemiaCerebrumRussian leader Boris Yeltsin was once found near the White House late at night dressed in his underwear, seemingly drunk and looking for pizza, according to a new book detailing Bill Clinton's presidency.
The claim comes in a 700-page expose, parsed from hours of secret recordings made by the former US president and Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Taylor Branch, excerpts of which were published in USA Today on Tuesday (link).
Clinton "relayed how Boris Yeltsin's late-night drinking during a visit to Washington in 1995 nearly created an international incident" Taylor told the paper.
Yeltin had been staying at Blair House, meters from the White House, when he was discovered roaming by secret service agents. When confronted trying to hail a taxi, the former president slurred that he was looking for pizza.
Yeltsin, who died in 2007, is remembered with embarrassing drunken incidents, once seizing the baton from a bandmaster in Germany to himself conduct and playing the spoons on the president of Kyrgyzstan's bald head.
In addition, Mother Jones' David Corn, who obtained his own copy of the book, reveals more details on an "explosive conversation" Clinton had with his former vice president following the 2000 election.
Corn reports,
During the discussion, Clinton told his vice president that he was disappointed that Gore had not used him in the last ten days of the 2000 campaign in strategically significant states--Arkansas, Tennessee, New Hampshire, and Missouri. But Clinton said he could understand that. What was more upsetting for him, Clinton remarked to Gore, was that Gore had not crafted a more winning message during the campaign, that he had not campaigned on any grand themes. Clinton insisted to Gore that he hadn't cared about how Gore had referred to Clinton—and his personal scandal—during the campaign. Paraphasing this portion of the conversation, Branch writes that Clinton told Gore, "To gain votes, he would let Gore cut off his ear and mail it to reporter Michael Isikoff of Newsweek, the Monica Lewinsky expert."
At one point in the conversation, Gore told Clinton that he was still traumatized by having been caught up in the fundraising scandals of the 1996 Clinton reelection campaign, and he indicated that he blamed Clinton. Clinton could hardly believe this, and he told Branch that Gore was probably in shock from the election or unhinged, remarking, "I thought he was in Neverland."
In this same conversation, Gore pressed Clinton for an explanation of his affair with Lewinsky, noting that Gore had stood by him throughout the ordeal without Clinton ever confiding in him. There was little to say, Clinton replied. But Clinton did say that he was sorry. Gore responded that that this was the first time Clinton had apologized to him personally. This angered Clinton, who countered that he was only repeating what he had already said publicly. Moreover, Clinton noted, Hillary had more to resent that Gore did, and she had just campaigned successfully for Senate by unabashedly citing the Clinton-Gore record—not running away from it. Gore responded with his own anger, insisting that Clinton's character had been at the root of his failure to win the White House. Clinton acknowledged that he had not confessed to those closest to him, but that he was glad he had not talked more about the affair, for that would have made the controversy even worse.
The book, by a long-time Clinton friend, also details the then president's views of candidates vying to succeed him. In Clinton's view George W. Bush "was unqualified to be president... but he had shrewd campaign instincts."
John McCain, who would eventually lose to Bush and again to Barack Obama in 2008, "might make a good president, but he had no idea how to run."
The book, released next week, is based on 79 taped interviews, which where kept largely secret from Clinton's staff, despite being conducted in the Treaty Room and other locations around the White House.
The tapes were apparently hidden in Clinton's sock drawer.
Clinton was said to be squeamish about the release of the book, not surprising given the history of audio tapes in US presidential history.
Recordings of president Richard Nixon discussing the Watergate break in with aides eventually forced him from office and sullied his reputation.
On the subject of Clinton's most notorious acts in office -- his liaisons with Monica Lewinsky, the former president appears to have been guarded.
After months of standard responses Clinton said the affair began because: "I cracked, I cracked, I just cracked."
(with AFP report)
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The
cerebrum or
telencephalon, together with the
diencephalon, constitute the
forebrain. It is the most
anterior or, especially in humans, most
superior region of the
vertebrate central nervous system. "Telencephalon" refers to the embryonic structure, from which the mature "cerebrum" develops. The
dorsal telencephalon, or
pallium, develops into the
cerebral cortex, and the
ventral telencephalon, or
subpallium, becomes the
basal ganglia. The cerebrum is also divided into symmetric left and right cerebral hemispheres.
Development
During vertebrate embryonic development, the prosencephalon, the most anterior of three vesicles that form from the embryonic neural tube, is further subdivided into the telencephalon and diencephalon. The telencephalon then forms two lateral telencephalic vesicles which develop into the left and right cerebral hemispheres.
Hemispheres
- left side controls right side of body
- right side controls left side of body
Structure
The cerebrum is composed of the following sub-regions:
Composition
The cerebrum comprises what most people think of as the "brain." It lies in front or on top of the brainstem and in humans is the largest and most well-developed of the five major divisions of the brain. The cerebrum is the newest structure in the phylogenetic sense, with mammals having the largest and most well-developed among all species. In larger mammals, the cerebral cortex is folded into many gyri and sulci, which has allowed the cortex to expand in surface area without taking up much greater volume. See also Cerebral Cortex.
In humans, the cerebrum surrounds older parts of the brain. Limbic, olfactory, and motor systems project fibers from the cerebrum to the brainstem and spinal cord. Cognitive and volitive systems project fibers from the cerebrum to the thalamus and to specific regions of the midbrain. The neural networks of the cerebrum facilitate complex behaviors such as social interactions, learning, working memory, and in humans, speech and language.
Functions
Note: As the cerebrum is a gross division with many subdivisions and sub-regions, it is important to state that this section lists the functions that the cerebrum as a whole serves. See main articles on cerebral cortex and basal ganglia for more information.
Movement
The cerebrum directs the conscious or volitional motor functions of the body. These functions originate within the primary motor cortex and other frontal lobe motor areas where actions are planned. Upper motor neurons in the primary motor cortex send their axons to the brainstem and spinal cord to synapse on the lower motor neurons, which innervate the muscles. Damage to motor areas of cortex can lead to certain types of motor neuron disease. This kind of damage results in loss of muscular power and precision rather than total paralysis.
Sensory processing
The primary sensory areas of the cerebral cortex receive and process visual, auditory, somatosensory, gustatory, and olfactory information. Together with association cortical areas, these brain regions synthesize sensory information into our perceptions of the world around us.
Olfaction
The olfactory bulb in most vertebrates is the most anterior portion of the cerebrum, and makes up a relatively large proportion of the telencephalon. However, in humans, this part of the brain is much smaller, and lies underneath the frontal lobe. The olfactory sensory system is unique in the sense that neurons in the olfactory bulb send their axons directly to the olfactory cortex, rather than to the thalamus first. Damage to the olfactory bulb results in a loss of the sense of smell.
Language and communication
Speech and language are mainly attributed to parts of the cerebral cortex. Motor portions of language are attributed to Broca's area within the frontal lobe. Speech comprehension is attributed to Wernicke's area, at the temporal-parietal lobe junction. These two regions are interconnected by a large white matter tract, the arcuate fasciculus. Damage to the Broca's area results in expressive aphasia (non-fluent aphasia) while damage to Wernicke's area results in receptive aphasia (also called fluent aphasia).
Learning and memory
Explicit or declarative (factual) memory formation is attributed to the hippocampus and associated regions of the medial temporal lobe. This association was originally described after a patient known as HM had both his hippocampuses (left and right) surgically removed to treat severe epilepsy. After surgery, HM had anterograde amnesia, or the inability to form new memories.
Implicit or procedural memory, such as complex motor behaviors, involve the basal ganglia.
Cell regeneration
Xenopus laevis
[edit] Larval stage
In a study of the telencephalon conducted in Hokkaido University on African clawed frogs (xenopus laevis)[1], it was discovered that, during larval stages, the telencephalon was able to regenerate around half of the anterior portion (otherwise known as partially truncated), after a reconstruction of a would-be accident, or malformation of features.
The regeneration and active proliferation of cells within the clawed frog is quite remarkable, regenerated cells being almost functionally identical to the ones originally found in the brain after birth, despite the lack of brain matter for a sustained period of time.
This kind of regeneration depends on ependymal layer cells covering the cerebral lateral ventricles, within a short period before, or within the initial stage of wound-healing. This is observed within the stages of healing within larvae of the clawed frog.
Developed stage
The regeneration within the developed stage of the clawed frog is different from that in the larval stage. Because the cells adhere to one another, they are unable to form an entity that can cover the cerebral lateral ventricles. Thus, the telencephalon remains truncated and the loss of function becomes permanent.
Effects of abnormality
After removing over half of the telencephalon in the developed stage of the clawed frog, the lack of functions within the animal was apparent, manifesting with obvious difficulties in movement, nonverbal communication between other species, as well as other difficulties thought to be similar to those seen in humans.
This kind of regeneration is still relatively unknown in regard to regeneration within larval stages, similar to the human fetal stage.
