So that explains it! The disturbed psyche of George Bush

I tend to look at the world from a Jungian perspective, although I'm not a psychologist. So I was fascinated when I came across a review of a book, Bush on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President, published in 2004 and updated in 2007, by psychoanalyst Justin Frank. Frank has impeccable professional credentials, writes for Salon and blogs at the HuffPost (His political leanings are obvious.)

In a precis of his book for the History News Network, Frank imagines his reaction if Bush came to him for analysis.

If he presented an inflexible worldview characterized by an oversimplified distinction between right and wrong, good and evil, allies and enemies, I would question his ability to grasp reality. And if his actions revealed an unacknowledged – even sadistic – indifference to human suffering, wrapped in pious claims of compassion. I would worry about the safety of the people whose lives he touched.

Although I don't think that psychotherapy could help W (his personality disorders are so deeply rooted) it's nevertheless illuminating to read that Bush, as a child, blew up frogs (I'm not kidding!), is most likely a dry drunk, and was profoundly affected by the death of a younger sister from leukemia when he was seven. (His parents went golfing the next day; Barbara later sank into a depression.)

There's also an interesting review of Bush on the Couch by Lauren Langman, a Professor of Sociology at Loyola University. Adding a sociological perspective to Frank's psychoanalytic approach, Langman says that

Dubya embodies qualities that have long been part of American culture, beginning with its Puritanical moralism.

Interesting stuff.

Jesse Helms and the zoo

North Carolina has a wonderful zoo, in Asheboro. My next door neighbor was there last week and reported that, despite an active donor group, some of the exhibits are being closed because the NC government isn't providing adequate funding.

This isn't the first time there's been a challenge in getting money for the zoo. When the initial appropriation was being discussed some years ago, the late Jesse Helms (he became "late" today) delivered what is probably his most famous quote: "Why build a zoo when we can just put up a fence around Chapel Hill?"

For a quick look at Chapel Hill, which has more Ph.D's per capital than anywhere else in the US, look at this article from the New York Times.