Leftists have been accusing conservatives of mental illness at least since 1950. Given the Leftist talent for projection, I think that tells you who the real mentally ill ones are. So the latest malicious diagnosis comes as no surprise at all. I have commented on a couple of such "diagnoses" of GWB previously (here and here). The Anchoress, News Busters, The American Thinker and others have taken the latest nonsense apart pretty comprehensively so all I want to do here is say a few words about the psychiatrist who was dragged into the article to give it some semblance of authority.
Kerry Sulkowicz, clinical professor of psychiatry at New York University Medical Center is the dude. He is a psychonanalyst -- a devoteee of the evidence-free theories of Sigmund Freud. Although Freud was a good observer and an innovative thinker, his theories have failed the only really important test -- the test of whether they work or not. At least since the 60s it has been known that the cure-rate among those who undergo Freudian psychotherapy is no different from placebo. Psychoanalytic theories DON'T WORK. And the reason why they don't work is not far to seek. They are all speculation-based, not evidence-based -- and the sort of speculation indulged in by Sulkowicz is a good example of that.
Almost any psychologist will confirm what I have said above and psychoanalysis now has little following outside New York. That a psychoanalyst is one of the few people in NYC who will listen to you is my speculation about why they remain popular there.
So Sulkowicz adds no authority whatever to the article. He is just speculating. That is his trade. Sounding good is the criterion for excellence in psychoanalysis -- very similar to the criterion for excellence in Leftist thinking. Evidence is turned to only when convenient.
Maybe I should do some speculative diagnoses too. If Leftists can speculate so can I. In my view, GWB's failings stem from the fact that he is a true Christian gentleman. He is too kind, too forgiving and too trusting -- and other people take advantage of that. I think that theory matches reality far better than the hate-crazed accusations that Leftists pour out at him.
Update:
In case it is not immediately obvious, I suppose I should mention a couple of really basic points about the Sulkowicz and Newsweek "diagnosis":
1). Psychiatrists are supposed to do an extensive personal interview with the person concerned before they offer a diagnosis. Absent that, the diagnosis is garbage.
2). Making a diagnosis public is ethically challenged, to put it mildly. That Sulkowicz took part in this exercise reveals him to be an unethical charlatan.
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EUROPE IS AGAIN FINDING RUSSIA A LOT LESS KINDLY THAN THE USA IS
When will they ever learn who their real friends are? Never, I guess -- or at least not for long
Germany is making a last-ditch attempt to rescue a European Union summit with Russia from disaster, amid increasing calls within the bloc for a rethink of policy towards Moscow. Frank-Walter Steinmeier, German foreign minister, will fly to Moscow on Tuesday to try to prevent this Friday's summit from being dominated by disputes between Russia and former Soviet-bloc countries such as Poland, Lithuania and Estonia. "We are discussing an existing conflict situation between individual European Union member states and Russia and between the EU and Russia," he said.
The summit in Samara, Russia, would be "difficult", Mr Steinmeier said. He could not guarantee success for his meetings on Tuesday with Vladimir Putin, Russian president, and Sergei Lavrov, foreign minister. But he hoped to resolve at least one of the disputes. EU officials have in effect given up on achieving the bloc's central aim for the summit - of starting wide-ranging talks with Russia to deepen relations. Germany is anxious to show that the EU policy of seeking a "strategic partnership" with Russia can produce concrete results.
A series of disputes have erupted between Moscow and neighbours in the EU. These range from a Russian ban on Polish food products to a row over Estonia's decision to move a Soviet-era war memorial. Tensions have also risen in the wake of the US's proposal to install missile defence bases in Poland and the Czech Republic.
In another sign of dissension within the EU, Anna Fotyga, Polish foreign minister, said she was not happy with the preparations Germany was making for the summit, saying the EU needed to show more solidarity with new member states over Russia's energy policy. Separately, Lithuania has said it is unwilling for the negotiations to begin while Russia does not resume oil supplies to one of its power stations, which have been interrupted for 10 months.
The election of Nicolas Sarkozy in France is also likely to bolster the ranks of those wanting a tougher EU line with Russia. In Russia, Konstantin Kosachyov, the head of the Duma's international affairs committee, said the EU's failure to agree to start negotiations because of Poland's veto was a "significant drop in pace in the level of co-operation between Russia and the EU". He added: "Russia and the EU are moving forward with the speed of a cart and not of a high-speed train and this can only lead to regret."
Source
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ELSEWHERE
Muslim Adam and Eve above
Prof. Brignell has put up a very good summary of Tony Blair's appalling legacy in Britain.
Canadian bureaucracy at work: "Every one of the RCMP's explosive-sniffer dogs were away on training the day baggage containing a bomb was loaded on to a doomed Air India flight in 1985 in Toronto, a federal inquiry was told Tuesday. RCMP dog handler Gary Carlson, who was stationed in Toronto, testified that he and his dog Thor were on an annual refresher course in Vancouver. The course also brought together all five other bomb-sniffer dog teams that the RCMP had stationed near airports across Canada, he said. Mountie drug dogs could not be used as backup because they were trained only to sniff out narcotics. Mr. Carlson said it is highly likely Thor would have found the bomb that blew up the Air India flight if the animal had been given the chance. The inquiry, headed by retired Supreme Court of Canada justice John Major, has heard previous testimony that the Air India flight out of Canada on June 22, 1985 was considered at high risk of an attack bu Sikh extremists. RCMP airport security protocols in place at the time would have required the use of a bomb-sniffer dog to help screen luggage".
Democrat divisions over cars. Dingell vs. Obama: "Not long after President Bush said he had ordered federal agencies to enact new regulations cutting gasoline consumption and greenhouse-gas emissions, Rep. John Dingell (D., Mich.) was in Detroit saying raising fuel-efficiency standards for U.S. cars and trucks was probably not the answer. Dingell, long a friend of the U.S. auto industry, told Detroit's Masonic Temple he doubted Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards were doing any good and that raising them would only punish auto makers.... He also criticized Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama of Illinois, who told the same Masonic Temple last week that the auto makers were the authors of their own miseries and also called for higher fuel standards. But Obama may be a closer friend of Detroit than he seems. Detroit Free Press columnist Mark Phelan last week pointed out that Obama drives a V8 Hemi-powered Chrysler 300C, which, in Phelan's words, "emits a whiff of hypocrisy along with its exhaust fumes."
For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, IMMIGRATION WATCH and EYE ON BRITAIN.
List of backup or "mirror" sites here or here -- for readers in China or for everyone when blogspot is "down" or failing to update. Email me here (Hotmail address). My Home Pages are here or here or here
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"Why should the German be interested in the liberation of the Jew, if the Jew is not interested in the liberation of the German?... We recognize in Judaism, therefore, a general anti-social element of the present time... In the final analysis, the emancipation of the Jews is the emancipation of mankind from Judaism.... Indeed, in North America, the practical domination of Judaism over the Christian world has achieved as its unambiguous and normal expression that the preaching of the Gospel itself and the Christian ministry have become articles of trade... Money is the jealous god of Israel, in face of which no other god may exist". Who said that? Hitler? No. It was Karl Marx. See also here and here.
The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party".
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