Monthly Archives: August 2012

The Real Problem with Psychotherapy

‘The really appalling problem with psychotherapy is that, as it proceeds, you become increasingly unable to blame your  negative mood or mental state on others and have to take responsibility for it. This really sucks.’ Anonymous patient of a psychotherapist … Continue reading

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Eisenhower versus Tea Party Republicans

I am always amazed by how extreme the Republican Party has become and thought it might be interesting to do a rough impressionistic comparison of the difference between what I might call the Eisenhower Republicans of the late 1950s and … Continue reading

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Alternative Christian Fundamentals?

We have become used to the term Muslim or Islamic Fundamentalism, though Muslims rightly object to the use of the term as it was invented in around 1910 in the US as part of a return to Christian Fundamentals movement. … Continue reading

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So You Still Think Gay Marriage is Sinful?

Well regular readers will know I love algorithms, humor, conflict and anything that challenges orthodoxy, including any of my own orthodoxy. So I really liked this:

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Top Ten Problems with President Obama

Well my friend Kathy said I was far too partisan and anti Mitt Romney. So I thought I would post one of our Top Tens on President Obama’s many failings: When he took office the President was actually far less … Continue reading

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Three Myths that Sustain the Economic Crisis by Larry Elliott

There is a good succinct account by Larry Elliott in today’s Observer/Guardian on why we are still in an economic crisis five years after the start of this one. Basically, the banks stopped lending to each other, when they woke … Continue reading

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Free Market Fundamentalism: Top Ten Failings

Like any fundamentalism, Free Market Fundamentalism is necessarily involved in a profound denial of many aspects of reality. What is worse for us all, is that since around 1980 we have been all involved in a massive experiment to see … Continue reading

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What Do the Top 0.1% in the US Earn?

Well as regular readers of this blog know, I like statistics. And I liked this table in today’s Real World Economics at: Percent of income earned by top 0.1 percent of taxpayers – 6 countries – chart which shows just how … Continue reading

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Meditations of Marcus Aurelius (CE 121-180) Roman Emperor

I am reading and enjoying Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations and came across this opening to Book 2: Begin the morning by saying to thyself, I shall meet with the busy-body, the ungrateful, arrogant, deceitful, envious, unsocial. All these things happen to … Continue reading

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Conservative Hostility, Hysteria, and Personal Construct Theory

I have always found George Kelly’s Personal Construct Theory on how we see and construe the world, interesting. I particularly like his specialized definition of hostility: Hostility is the continued effort to extort validational evidence in favor of a type … Continue reading

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