>IS BUSH NUTS?
>
>By William Thomas
>Senior Reporter, Lifeboat News
>
>Feb. 12, 2003
>
>What drives a man to go against the wishes of his countryfolk and
>the entire world community - including the presidents of Russia,
>China, France and Germany?
>
>How can a professed Christian continue to defy church leaders
>worldwide - including the Bishops of Britain and the Pope? How does
>he rationalize breaking the commandments of his God, which clearly
>prohibit coveting another's property, theft of their oil, and mass
>murder of defenseless populations?
>
>How can he ignore his own generals when they complain, "We're
>advocating a policy that says we will invade another nation that is
>not currently attacking us or invading any of our allies." [Capitol
>Hill Blue Jan, 22, 2003]
>
>To those who deem it unseemly to count the bricks on one man's load,
>let us recall that this unelected President is one brick short of
>killing what the UN fears could be up to a half-million people in
>Iraq. This massacre could easily see Pakistan's government - and its
>30 to 40 nukes - falling to an al Qaeda/Taliban majority. Bush's
>announced plans to attack North Korea and Iran have already prompted
>both countries to hit the nuclear gas pedal, virtually assuring a
>"nuclear event". And his $5 trillion blowout has taken the American
>economy to a $2 trillion deficit in two short years. As ignored
>global warming triggers Extreme Weather Events, frightened Nobel
>price-winning economists warn that GW's proposed $600 billion tax
>cut is "fiscal madness" - "a very serious economic error" that will
>collapse the country in exactly the same way the ex-Soviet Empire
>went bust buying and deploying so many arms in so many places. Ditto
>Imperial Rome.
>
>Are these the acts of a rational person?
>
>Not since Nixon's famous freak-outs in the White House, which saw
>National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger ordering military
>commanders to ignore nuclear launch orders from their
>Commander-In-Chief, is it so urgent that we examine a president's
>cognitive capacities. [The Trial of Henry Kissinger]
>
>It might be useful to scrutinize the following findings. While
>everyone "goes nuts" from time to time, the salient question is
>whether traits described below dominate and drive today's
>presidential decisions. Is a man called by other government reps,
>"an idiot" "an imbecile" "dangerously incompetent" and "a moron"
>competent, capable and qualified to direct America's unchallenged
>military might?
>
>Read on. If you dare.
>
>PATTERN RECOGNITION
>
>"Is The 'President' Nuts?" asks Carol Wolman, M.D. "Many people,
>inside and especially outside this country, believe that the
>American president is nuts, and is taking the world on a suicidal
>path." [Counterpunch Oct. 2, 2002]
>
>A board-certified psychiatrist in practice for 30 years, Dr. Wolman
>feels compelled to understand the "psychopathology" of man "under
>tremendous pressure from both his family/junta, and from the world
>at large." Dr. Wolman wonders if GW is suffering from Antisocial
>Personality Disorder, as described in the Diagnostic and Statistical
>Manual Fourth Edition:
>
>"There is a pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the
>rights of others: 1) failure to conform to social norms with respect
>to lawful behaviors as indicated by repeatedly performing acts that
>are grounds for arrest; 2) deceitfulness, as indicated by repeated
>lying, use of aliases, or conning others for personal profit or
>pleasure; 5) reckless disregard for safety of self or others; 7)
>lack of remorse by being indifferent to or rationalizing having
>hurt, mistreated or stolen from others."
>
>DRY DRUNK
>
>GW Bush is highly regarded for "kicking" the twin demons of cocaine
>and alcohol addiction. If he is still off both wagons - and there is
>no proof that isn't - such a triumph, encouraged and aided by his
>wife, is commendable.
>
>When probing the mysteries of GW's brain chemistry, a key point to
>ponder is that damage done to brain cells from drug abuse is
>permanent and irreversible.
>
>Quaker and university professor Katherine van Wormer co-authored the
>definitive, 2002, Addiction Treatment. This expert writes that
>"George W. Bush manifests all the classic patterns of what
>alcoholics in recovery call 'the dry drunk'. His behavior is
>consistent with being brought on by years of heavy drinking and
>possible cocaine use." [Counterpunch Oct. 11, 2002]
>
>"Dry drunk," explains the professor, "is a slang term used by
>members and supporters of Alcoholics Anonymous and substance abuse
>counselors to describe the recovering alcoholic who is no longer
>drinking - one who is dry, but whose thinking is clouded."
>
>Such an individual is 'dry' but not truly sober. Such individuals
>tend to go to overboard. A good example of Bush' "polarized
>thinking" is his call for "crusades" based on "infinite justice" for
>"evil-doers" comprising an "axis of evil".
>
>Bush's "obsessive repetition" also remind this professor, "of many
>of the recovering alcoholics/addicts I had treated." Van Wormer
>worries, "His power, in fact, is such that if he collapses into
>paranoia, a large part of the world will collapse with him."
>
>Paranoia? Impatience? Rigid judgmental outlook? Grandiose behavior?
>Childish behavior? Irresponsible behavior? Irrational
>rationalization? Projection? Overreaction?
>
>
>- these are all "dry drunk" traits.
>
>Van Wormer observers that Bush's pompous pledge: "We must be
>prepared to stop rogue states and their terrorist clients before
>they are able to threaten or use weapons of mass destruction" is a
>projection from the world's leading rogue state preparing to attack
>with nuclear weapons.
>
>"Bush's tendency to dichotomize reality" should be emphasized. Prof.
>van Wormer describes this is as either/or reasoning - "either you
>are with us or against us". A White House spokesperson puts it this
>way: "The President considers this nation to be at war, and, as
>such, considers any opposition to his policies to be no less than an
>act of treason.'' [Capitol Hill Blue Jan, 22, 2003]
>
>BUSH'S BINGES - HISTORY IMPACTS THE PRESENT
>
>Bush's binges were legendary. Van Wormer describes "years of binge
>drinking starting in college, at least one conviction for DUI in
>1976 in Maine, and one arrest before that for a drunken episode
>involving theft of a Christmas wreath." She adds:
>
>"The Bush biography reveals the story of a boy named for his father,
>sent to the exclusive private school in the East where his father's
>reputation as star athlete and later war hero were still remembered.
>The younger George's achievements were dwarfed in the school's
>memory of his father. Athletically he could not achieve his father's
>laurels, being smaller and perhaps less strong. His drinking bouts
>and lack of intellectual gifts held him back as well. His military
>record was mediocre as compared to his father's as well. [He went
>AWOL] "
>
>In Fortunate Son, Bush himself explained: "Alcohol began to compete
>with my energies ... I'd lose focus". Though he once said he
>couldn't remember a day he hadn't had a drink, he quickly added the
>giveaway phrase that he didn't believe he was "clinically alcoholic".
>
>Van Wormer notes that "Bush drank heavily for over 20 years until he
>made the decision to abstain at age 40. About this time he became a
>'born again Christian' - going as usual from one extreme to the
>other." When asked in an interview about his reported cocaine use,
>he answered reasonably, "I'm not going to talk about what I did 20
>to 30 years ago".
>
>One motive driving Dubya could be his need "to prove himself to his
>father - to achieve what his father failed to do - to finish the job
>of the Gulf War, to get the 'evildoer' Saddam." Adds van Wormer,
>"His drive to finish his father's battles is of no small
>significance, psychologically."
>
>BRAIN DAMAGE
>
>According to Van Wormer, "scientists can now observe changes that
>occur in the brain as a result of heavy alcohol and other drug
>abuse. Some of these changes may be permanent."
>
>Van Wormer characterizes this damage as "barely noticeable but
>meaningful." Researchers have found that brain chemistry
>irregularities caused by long bouts of drinking or drug abuse cause
>"messages in one part of the brain to become stuck there. This leads
>to maddening repetition of thoughts."
>
>One of these powerful "stuck" thoughts, says van Wormer, is that
>"President Bush seems unduly focused upon getting revenge on Saddam
>Hussein ('He tried to kill my Dad'), leading the country and the
>world into war, accordingly."
>
>Grandiosity is another major trait of former addicts brain-damaged
>by their addiction. Bush has reversed the successful, five-decade
>old U.S. policy of containment and no first strikes. Now he says,
>Americans can attack anyone, anywhere at any time with any weapons
>of their choosing - including banned cluster bomb munitions,
>radioactive explosives and nuclear bombs.
>
>AN AGENT OF ARMAGEDDON?
>
>According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, a person
>suffering from Narcissistic Personality Disorder, "Has a grandiose
>sense of self-importance-exaggerates achievements and talents,
>expects to be recognized as superior without commensurate
>achievements."
>
>Sound familiar?
>
>This personality is preoccupied with fantasies of power and being
>loved. Such a person requires "automatic compliance". He or she is
>"exploitative" of others, "lacks empathy, is unwilling to recognize
>or identify with the feelings and needs of others." And also "shows
>arrogant, haughty behavior or attitudes."
>
>"This set of characteristics," says Dr. Wolman, not too
>reassuringly, "may describe Rumsfeld and Cheney better than Dubya."
>
>For those who, like Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stieglitz, warn that
>Bush "has been captured by a small group of ideologues," Dependent
>Personality Disorder describes someone who "has difficulty making
>everyday decisions without an excessive amount of advice and
>reassurance from others." [CBC Feb. 10, 2003]
>
>>From a Jungian perspective, writes Dr. Wolman, "Dubya may be
>>identifying with an archetype - something out of Revelations,
>>perhaps, whereby he sees himself as an instrument of God's will to
>>bring about Armageddon." Concurs Katherine van Wormer, "To fight
>>evil, Bush is ready to take on the world, in almost a Biblical
>>sense."
>
>A PRESIDENTIAL PATHOLOGY
>
>Is Bush's belligerence bent on securing another oil fix? Katherine
>van Wormer believes that a Portland peace protestor's sign, "Drunk
>on Power" nailed it. Says this quiet Quaker, "The drive for power
>can be an unquenchable thirst, addictive in itself."
>
>Senator William Fulbright agrees. His bestseller, The Arrogance of
>Power defined power politics as the pursuit of power. "The causes
>and consequences of war may have more to do with pathology than with
>politics," Fulbright wrote.
>
>A key "dry drunk" trait is impatience. Bush, who often describes
>himself as "a patient man", is not. Just four weeks after inspectors
>went into Iraq, he called for obliterating Baghdad. "If we wait for
>threats to fully materialize", Bush pointed out to West Pointers,
>"we will have waited too long". Translations: It's okay to attack
>projections of our own fearful imaginings - in case those phantom
>threats someday become real.
>
>Alan Bisbort's "Dry Drunk - Is Bush Making a Cry for Help?" appeared
>in American Politics Journal. Bisbort believes that Bush's
>"incoherence" when speaking away from prepared scripts is a classic
>sign of addicted brain damage.
>
>For Bisbort, another "dry drunk" tip-off is Dubya's irritability
>with anyone who dares disagree with him - including Germany's new
>leader, who insists he is opposing Bush's folly in Iraq as a
>concerned long-time friend of America. (Schroeder's wife is
>American.)
>
>Another "Dry drunk" sign says van Wormer, is Dubya's "dangerous
>obsessing about only one thing (Iraq) to the exclusion of all other
>things."
>
>Van Wormer's bottom line prognosis: "George W. Bush seems to possess
>the traits characteristic of addictive persons who still have the
>thought patterns that accompany substance abuse. The fact that some
>residual effects from his earlier substance abuse - however slight -
>might cloud the U.S. President's thinking and judgment is
>frightening, however, in the context of the current global crisis."
>
>DON'T LAUGH
>
>The Toronto Star recounts how NYU author and media critic Mark
>Crispin Miller attempted to catalogue GW's verbal gaffes. Some
>favorites: "The vast majority of our imports come from outside the
>country." "If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure."
>
>"The future will be better tomorrow."
>
>"He meant it for a laugh," wrote the Star. "Not now."
>
>The author of Boxed In: The Culture of TV believes "Bush is not an
>imbecile. He's not a puppet. I think that Bush is a sociopathic
>personality. I think he's incapable of empathy. He has an inordinate
>sense of his own entitlement, and he's a very skilled manipulator.
>And in all the snickering about his alleged idiocy, this is what a
>lot of people miss."
>
>Miller's judgment - that an unelected president might suffer from a
>clinical personality disorder - is much heavier than being called
>the global village idiot. "He has no trouble speaking off the cuff
>when he's speaking punitively, when he's talking about violence,
>when he's talking about revenge. When he struts and thumps his
>chest, his syntax and grammar are fine," Miller mentions. "It's only
>when he leaps into the wild blue yonder of compassion, or idealism,
>or altruism, that he makes these hilarious mistakes."
>
>Bush even has trouble repeating comforting clichés. "Fool me once,
>shame ... shame on ... you," Long, uncomfortable pause. "Fool me -
>can't get fooled again!"
>
>While the world was laughing, Miller saw something darker. "What's
>revealing about this is that Bush could not say, `Shame on me' to
>save his life. That's a completely alien idea to him. This is a guy
>who is absolutely proud of his own inflexibility and rectitude,"
>wrote Miller.
>
>Miller says that Bush saying, "I know how hard it is to put food on
>your family" is not 'cause he's stupid, but "because he doesn't care
>about people who can't put food on the table."
>
>When Bush is envisioning "a foreign-handed foreign policy," Miller
>contends it's because he can't keep his focus on things that mean
>nothing to him. "When he tries to talk about what this country
>stands for, or about democracy, he can't do it," Miller observes.
>
>According to Miller, this is why GW is so closely watched by his
>handlers. "Not because he'll say something stupid," the Star
>paraphrased, "but because he'll overindulge in the language of
>violence and punishment at which he excels."
>
>"He's a very angry guy, a hostile guy," Miller says. "He's much like
>Nixon. So they're very, very careful to choreograph every move he
>makes. They don't want him anywhere near protestors, because he
>would lose his temper." Adds this media expert, "It would be a grave
>mistake to just play him for laughs."
>
>DEPRESSION CAN BE DANGEROUSLY DEPRESSING
>
>Confronted by a man who will not listen to anyone but a few
>"chickenhawks" urging worldwide war, why shouldn't we feel
>depressed? Not surprisingly, we do.
>
>Seventy percent of U.S. pastors constantly fight depression. Right
>now, almost three million Canadians are seriously depressed.
>(Multiply by four or five for approximate U.S. figures.) We can't
>blame GW for this. Or the fact that suicide is the 3rd leading cause
>of death in 15 to 24 year olds. But as the man responsible for
>perpetrating a worldwide bummer, George isn't helping!
>[www.tonycooke.org; National Institute of Mental Health]
>
>If it's politically incorrect to ask these questions, how "correct"
>is it to launch 800 cruise missiles and thousands of one-ton bombs
>on a captive urban population already suffering the ravages of
>deliberately imposed hunger and disease?
>
>CHOKA COLA?
>
>Another big clue to Dubya's displays of dementia comes in
>"photo-ops" showing him slugging back diet Coke with other Aspartame
>addicts, like Chicago's mayor Richard Daley. Their beet red faces
>spell either embarrassment over Bush's hijacking of America, or
>aspartame poisoning. [Chicago Sun Times, Sept. 27, 2002]
>
>According to Carol Guilford, an Aspartame expert and support worker,
>the President-Select's "pretzel" pratfall was most likely an
>Aspartame seizure. Bush, like Carter, Al Gore and millions of
>Americans, is addicted to this constant caffeine hit. Among the
>FDA's listed 92 symptoms for Aspartame poisoning are: "Difficulty
>Swallowing", "Fainting" and "Unconsciousness".
>
>Bush's facial lesions, removed as a result of "Too much sun" is
>another sign of Aspartame poisoning. So was his recent knee surgery:
>Aspartame depletes synovial fluid lubricating the joints.
>
>Would you drink 6 to 12 cans of formaldehyde a day? It turns out
>that methanol in Aspartame converts to formaldehyde in the tissues.
>As Guildford wrote to USN Captain Eleanor Marino, Physician to the
>President (Feb. 21, 2002): 10% of a 200mg can of diet soda is
>straight methanol wood alcohol! Methanol is such a gross cumulative
>poison, the EPA's limit for drinking water is 7.8 mg daily. For
>serious addicts like Bush, the methanol intake can exceed 32 times
>the EPA's recommended limit..
>
>Now the punch line: Clinical case studies shows that, among other
>symptoms, Aspartame ingestion results in "mind fog", feeling
>"unreal", poor memory, confusion, anxiety, irritability, depression,
>mania, and slurred speech. [Neurology 1994]
>
>Alcohol-related brain damage is not helped by chugging formaldehyde.
>James Turner, consumer protection lawyer and author of The Chemical
>Feast learned that an Oct. 1980 FDA inquiry found that the
>formaldehyde formed by Aspartame actually eats microscopic holes and
>triggers tumors in the brain.
>
>That finding banned Aspartame from the food supply. But three months
>later, Searle CEO Donald Rumsfeld told that pharma giant's sales
>staff he would get Aspartame approved pronto. The next month, the
>FDA commissioner was replaced by Dr. Arthur Hayes. In Nov. 1983 the
>FDA approved aspartame for soft drinks. Under fire for accepting
>corporate bribes, Hayes went to work for Searle's public-relations
>firm. Searle lawyer Robert Shapiro coined the name NutraSweet.
>Monsanto bought Searle. Rumsfeld received $12 million for his help.
>Shapiro now heads Monsanto.
>
>The same "revolving door" swings wide for arms makers and the oil
>mafia. The Big Question is: Why hasn't Dick warned George that the
>diet drinks he's swilling are eating his brain and making him crazy?
>
>Crazy? Am I calling the President-Select of the Excited States
>crazy? Not me. As a journalist, I can only point out that published
>medical evidence goes frighteningly far in explaining GW's behavior.
>For certain, this good ol' boy should go in for a brain scan before
>being allowed to command more firepower than the next 11 nations
>combined. If George W. Bush is not crazy - he's sure acting like it.
Posted on Mar 13, 2003, 5:35 PM from IP address 4.33.84.242