Addiction, Brain Damage and the President
"Dry Drunk" Syndrome and George
W. Bush
by KATHERINE van WORMER
CounterPunch
October 11, 2002
http://www.counterpunch.org/wormer1011.html
Ordinarily I would not use this term. But when I came across the article "Dry Drunk" - - Is Bush Making a Cry for Help? in American Politics Journal by Alan Bisbort, I was ready to concede, in the case of George W. Bush, the phrase may be quite apt.
Dry drunk 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 said to be dry but not truly sober. Such an individual tends to go to extremes.
It was when I started noticing the extreme language that colored President Bush's speeches that I began to wonder. First there were the terms-- "crusade" and "infinite justice" that were later withdrawn. Next came "evil doers," "axis of evil," and "regime change", terms that have almost become clichés in the mass media. Something about the polarized thinking and the obsessive repetition reminded me of many of the recovering alcoholics/addicts I had treated. (A point worth noting is that because of the connection between addiction and "stinking thinking," relapse prevention usually consists of work in the cognitive area). Having worked with recovering alcoholics for years, I flinched at the single-mindedness and ego- and ethnocentricity in the President's speeches. (My husband likened his phraseology to the gardener character played by Peter Sellers in the movie, Being There). Since words are the tools, the representations, of thought, I wondered what Bush's choice of words said about where he was coming from. Or where we would be going.
First, in this essay, we will look at the characteristics of the so-called "dry drunk;" then we will see if they apply to this individual, our president; and then we will review his drinking history for the record. What is the dry drunk syndrome? "Dry drunk" traits consist of:
* Exaggerated self-importance and pomposity
* Grandiose behavior
* A rigid, judgmental outlook
* Impatience
* Childish behavior
* Irresponsible behavior
* Irrational rationalization
* Projection
* Overreaction
Clearly, George W. Bush has all these traits except exaggerated self importance. He may be pompous, especially with regard to international dealings, but his actual importance hardly can be exaggerated. His power, in fact, is such that if he collapses into paranoia, a large part of the world will collapse with him. Unfortunately, there are some indications of paranoia in statements such as the following: "We must be prepared to stop rogue states and their terrorist clients before they are able to threaten or use weapons of mass destruction against the United States and our allies and friends." The trait of projection is evidenced here as well, projection of the fact that we are ready to attack onto another nation which may not be so inclined.
Bush's rigid, judgmental outlook comes across in virtually all his speeches. To fight evil, Bush is ready to take on the world, in almost a Biblical sense. Consider his statement with reference to Israel: "Look my job isn't to try to nuance. I think moral clarity is important... this is evil versus good."
Bush's tendency to dichotomize reality is not on the Internet list above, but it should be, as this tendency to polarize is symptomatic of the classic addictive thinking pattern. I describe this thinking distortion in Addiction Treatment: A Strengths Perspective as either/or reasoning-- "either you are with us or against us." Oddly, Bush used those very words in his dealings with other nations. All-or-nothing thinking is a related mode of thinking commonly found in newly recovering alcoholics/addicts. Such a worldview traps people in a pattern of destructive behavior.
Obsessive thought patterns are also pronounced in persons prone to addiction. There are organic reasons for this due to brain chemistry irregularities; messages in one part of the brain become stuck there. This leads to maddening repetition of thoughts. President Bush seems unduly focused on getting revenge on Saddam Hussein ("he tried to kill my Dad") leading the country and the world into war, accordingly.
Grandiosity enters the picture as well. What Bush is proposing to Congress is not the right to attack on one country but a total shift in military policy: America would now have the right to take military action before the adversary even has the capacity to attack. This is in violation, of course, of international law as well as national precedent. How to explain this grandiose request? Jane Bryant Quinn provides the most commonly offered explanation in a recent Newsweek editorial, "Iraq: It's the Oil, Stupid." Many other opponents of the Bush doctrine similarly seek a rational motive behind the obsession over first, the war on terror and now, Iraq. I believe the explanation goes deeper than oil, that Bush's logic is being given too much credit; I believe his obsession is far more visceral.
On this very day, a peace protestor in Portland held up the sign, "Drunk on Power." This, I believe, is closer to the truth. The drive for power can be an unquenchable thirst, addictive in itself. Senator William Fulbright, in his popular bestseller of the 1960s, The Arrogance of Power, masterfully described the essence of power-hungry politics as the pursuit of power; this he conceived as an end in itself. "The causes and consequences of war may have more to do with pathology than with politics," he wrote, "more to do with irrational pressures of pride and pain than with rational calculation of advantage and profit."
Another "dry drunk" trait is impatience. Bush is far from a patient man: "If we wait for threats to fully materialize," he said in a speech he gave at West Point, "we will have waited too long." Significantly, Bush only waited for the United Nations and for Congress to take up the matter of Iraq's disarmament with extreme reluctance.
Alan Bisbort argues that Bush possesses the characteristics of the "dry drunk" in terms of: his incoherence while speaking away from the script; his irritability with anyone (for example, Germany's Schröder) who dares disagree with him; and his dangerous obsessing about only one thing (Iraq) to the exclusion of all other things.
In short, George W. Bush seems to possess the traits characteristic of addictive persons who still have the thought patterns that accompany substance abuse. If we consult the latest scientific findings, we will discover that 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. Except in extreme cases, however, these cognitive impairments would not be obvious to most observers.
To reach any conclusions we need of course to know Bush's personal history relevant to drinking/drug use. To this end I consulted several biographies. Yes, there was much drunkenness, 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. According to J.D. Hatfield's book, Fortunate Son, Bush later explained:
"[A]lcohol began to compete with my energies....I'd lose focus." Although he once said he couldn't remember a day he hadn't had a drink, he added that he didn't believe he was "clinically alcoholic." Even his father, who had known for years that his son had a serious drinking problem, publicly proclaimed: "He was never an alcoholic. It's just he knows he can't hold his liquor."
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. During an Oprah interview, Bush acknowledged that his wife had told him he needed to think about what he was doing. When asked in another interview about his reported drug use, he answered honestly, "I'm not going to talk about what I did 20 to 30 years ago."
That there might be a tendency toward addiction in Bush's family is indicated in the recent arrests or criticism of his daughters for underage drinking and his niece for cocaine possession. Bush, of course, deserves credit for his realization that he can't drink moderately, and his decision today to abstain. The fact that he doesn't drink moderately, may be suggestive of an inability to handle alcohol. In any case, Bush has clearly gotten his life in order and is in good physical condition, careful to exercise and rest when he needs to do so. 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.
One final consideration that might come into play in the foreign policy realm relates to Bush's history relevant to his father. 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. He was popular and well liked, however. His military record was mediocre as compared to his father's as well. Bush entered the Texas National Guard. What he did there remains largely a mystery. There are reports of a lot of barhopping during this period. It would be only natural that Bush would want to prove himself today, that he would feel somewhat uncomfortable following, as before, in his father's footsteps. I mention these things because when you follow his speeches, Bush seems bent on a personal crusade. One motive is to avenge his father. Another seems to be to prove himself to his father. In fact, Bush seems to be trying somehow to achieve what his father failed to do - - to finish the job of the Gulf War, to get the "evildoer" Saddam.
To summarize, George W. Bush manifests all the classic patterns of what alcoholics in recovery call "the dry drunk." His behavior is consistent with barely noticeable but meaningful brain damage brought on by years of heavy drinking and possible cocaine use. All the classic patterns of addictive thinking that are spelled out in my book are here:
the tendency to go to extremes (leading America into a massive 100 billion dollar strike-first war);
* a "kill or be killed mentality;" the tunnel
vision;
* "I" as opposed to "we" thinking;
* the black and white polarized thought processes (good versus evil, all
or nothing thinking).
* His drive to finish his father's battles is of no small significance,
psychologically.
If the public (and politicians) could only see what Fulbright noted as the pathology in the politics. One day, sadly, they will.
Katherine van Wormer is a Professor of Social Work at the University of Northern Iowa Co-author of Addiction Treatment: A Strengths Perspective (2002). She can be reached at:
Katherine.VanWormer@uni.edu
Posted by: Balzac 200604.12 - 17:59 GMT
Crazy George Wants To Nuke Iran
Maybe He Should Stick this in his Crack Pipe and
Smoke It:
"Whenever any government becomes destructive of these ends [life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness] it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its foundations on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness."
Why "Crazy George"? Because we feel his alcoholism and abuse of cocaine is a medical problem he has never treated and it is making him CRAZY.
Crazy George went after Bush family friend "bin Laden" and lost in Afghanistan, then pulled troops to fight his ILLEGAL war in Iraq, which he turned into a breeding pit of terror because of his Crazy plan.
Now that Crazy George is losing in the polls, Karl Rove, Donald Rumsfeld, and the dick, Cheney, feel they can regain their popularity by 'Nuking Iran'.
Crazy George enjoys DOMESTIC SPYING on American Citizens...just ask peace loving QUAKERS and folks who hand out peanut butter sandwiches to Halliburton employees.
Be aware... Crazy George and his evil Republican Neocons are those sent to deceive and never forget crazy George called the Constitution a "Goddamn Piece of Paper".
Crazy George and his devoted followers are obviously Ministers of Satan and they are evil.
US plans nuke hit on Iran:
Report
PHILIP SHERWELL
The Bush administration is planning to use nuclear weapons against Iran to prevent it acquiring its own atomic warheads, claims an investigative writer with high-level Pentagon and intelligence contacts.
President George W. Bush is said to be so alarmed by the threat of Iran’s hard-line leader, Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, that privately he refers to him as “the new Hitler”, says Seymour Hersh, who broke the story of the Abu Ghraib Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal. Continue Reading at:
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1060410/asp/foreign/story_6080051.asp
It is also important to remember WHITE EXTREMIST CHRISTIANS (Much like Crazy George.) blew up the Federal building in Oklahoma and CNN's Wolf Blitzer tried to blame it on, "Middle Eastern Terrorists", even after Timothy McVeigh was captured. WHY?
Here is another one very few seem to know about:
The US Terrorism Plot That
the Media Ignores
http://www.thememoryhole.org/terror/tyler-terror.htm
and who, besides Neocons, really know if 9/11 WAS AN INSIDE JOB perpetrated by Ministers of Satan? Certainly not a chickensh*t corporate media who fails to investigate TRUTH for United States citizens at every level.
TRAITORGATE
Will BUSH Fire and Arrest Himself?
New Court Filing:
Libby Got OK from Bush to Leak to Miller
http://www.mediainfo.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002313106
Bush: Hands Possibly as Dirty as Scooter
Libby's
Flashback: Bush Impeachment Not Out of the Question
http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0615,news,72774,2.html
A Hero Who Tells the Truth
General Tony Zinni, (Ret)
[Keep an eye on the News folks ...and Thank You, Sir]
To the Guy Who Called Me a Traitor
By ARNOLD OLIVER
I haven't heard from you for a while. Three years ago you called me a "traitor", just before the invasion of Iraq. You also wrote, "Your voice against our elected government is a voice against its people, a voice against this nation."
I guess I must have set you off with my skepticism about an Iraqi nuclear weapons program and other nonexistent weapons of mass destruction, not to mention the highly dubious claims being made that Iraq was involved with 9/11 or Al Qaeda.
I am sure that you had every intention to contact me and apologize since you were so utterly wrong about, well, everything. But I suppose you were busy.
As the third anniversary of the war approaches, let's review the fine mess that you've gotten us into.
The war in Iraq has become a horrendous drain of American lives and treasure. With no end in sight, we have already lost over 2300 U.S. soldiers and will spend more than $315 billion through 2006. At least 18,000 American soldiers have suffered devastating wounds, and another 50,000 show signs of acute psychological distress.
Iraqi losses have been staggering. Over the last three years, at least 100,000 have died--most killed by U.S. forces. It is estimated that U.S. troops kill three Iraqi civilians for each insurgent dispatched. As bad as Saddam's regime was, under Bush & Company Iraq has gone from being the one of the most developed and educated countries in the region to a failed state.
The insurgency rages unabated, and civil war looms; coalition forces control only the ground upon which they stand. Amnesty International reports that U.S. troops have detained thousands of Iraqis; many are innocent and many have been abused--all of which further inflames the insurgency.
Wealthy Americans, meanwhile, have been asked to sacrifice precisely nothing. The Bush administration has cut their taxes and put the entire cost of the war on the national tab. Our children and grandchildren will pay the bill. Meanwhile, Haliburton continues to rake it in--$16 billion in Iraq war contracts so far.
From the Geneva Conventions to the UN Charter to the Treaty on Torture, the Bush regime has left the fabric of international law in tatters. Our country has become an international pariah.
And the troops have had it. A large majority of U.S. soldiers in Iraq now say it is time to leave: 72% "think the U.S. should exit the country within the next year, and more than one in four say the troops should leave immediately." (Le Moyne College/Zogby International, 2/28/06)
Many of us saw it all coming. But we were censured and ridiculed, our competence and integrity questioned, and in some cases our careers were damaged.
But I should not complain. When you denounced me, I joined a distinguished group that included generals Tony Zinni and Bill Odom, hard working UN weapons inspectors, and regrettably, too few brave journalists and academics. Let's salute all who refused to be intimidated.
During another war at another time, Theodore Roosevelt put it well, "To announce that there must be no criticism of the president . . . is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public."
But you, on the contrary, readily gave in to the orchestrated campaign of mass hysteria that was used to manipulate the American public into supporting an unnecessary and illegal war. You choose to give your support to an administration that "went to war without requesting--and evidently without being influenced by--any strategic-level intelligence assessments on any aspect of Iraq," according to Paul Pillar, recently retired from the CIA.
In blindly following incompetent leaders, you abetted taking our country into what Gen. Odom calls "the greatest strategic disaster in US history". By choosing to be an unthinking disciple you abandoned your responsibilities as a citizen in a democracy.
To the guy who called me a traitor: The one who betrayed our country was you; and the hands stained with the blood of the innocent are yours.
Arnold Oliver is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Heidelberg College in Tiffin, Ohio. He can be reached at soliver@heidelberg.edu
http://counterpunch.org/oliver03212006.html
1984
by George Orwell
http://www.online-literature.com/orwell/1984/
This Will Not Happen Again Until 3006
April 1st is over and the Fools page has been put to rest until next year; however, there is something we find fascinating coming this Wednesday that will not happen again until 3006.
At two minutes and three seconds after 1:00 in the morning, the time and date will be:
01:02:03 04/05/06
How to Adjust to Daylight-Saving Time
http://www.ehow.com/how_4227_adjust-daylight-saving.html
Internet Transformed Public Intellectual Life
On March 9, German philosopher Jürgen Habermas was awarded the Bruno Kreisky Prize for the advancement of human rights. In his acceptance speech printed by the Viennese paper Der Standard on March 10 and 11, Habermas speaks out for the first time on how the Internet has transformed public intellectual life, and takes a critical stance towards the world wide web:
"Use of the Internet has both broadened and fragmented the contexts of communication. This is why the Internet can have a subversive effect on intellectual life in authoritarian regimes. But at the same time, the less formal, horizontal cross-linking of communication channels weakens the achievements of traditional media. This focuses the attention of an anonymous and dispersed public on select topics and information, allowing citizens to concentrate on the same critically filtered issues and journalistic pieces at any given time. The price we pay for the growth in egalitarianism offered by the Internet is the decentralised access to unedited stories. In this medium, contributions by intellectuals lose their power to create a focus."
A large part of the speech is taken up with a dramatic appeal for concerted social and political action in Europe. signandsight.com thanks Jürgen Habermas for the permission to publish the end of his speech in its entirety.
Towards a United States of Europe
By Jürgen Habermas
Continue Reading at:
http://www.signandsight.com/features/676.html
Emotional Social Intelligence Prosthetic
Device warns you if you're boring or irritating
* 29 March 2006
* NewScientist.com news service
* Celeste Biever
A DEVICE that can pick up on people's emotions is being developed to help people with autism relate to those around them. It will alert its autistic user if the person they are talking to starts showing signs of getting bored or annoyed. Continue Reading at:
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg19025456.500
Study fails to show healing power of prayer
Study fails to show healing power of prayer
By Michael Conlon
A study of more than 1,800 patients who underwent heart bypass surgery has failed to show that prayers specially organized for their recovery had any impact, researchers said on Thursday.
In fact, the study found some of the patients who knew they were being prayed for did worse than others who were only told they might be prayed for -- though those who did the study said they could not explain why.
The patients in the study at six U.S. hospitals included 604 who were actually prayed for after being told they might or might not be; another 597 patients who were not prayed for after being told they might or might not be; and a group of 601 who were prayed for and told they would be the subject of such prayer.
The praying was done by members of three Christian groups in monasteries and elsewhere -- two Catholic and one Protestant -- who were given written prayers and the first name and initial of the last name of the prayer subjects. The prayers started on the eve of or day of surgery and lasted for two weeks.
Among the first group -- who were prayed for but only told they might be -- 52 percent had post-surgical complications compared to 51 percent in the second group, the ones who were not prayed for though told they might be. In the third group, who knew they were being prayed for, 59 percent had complications.
After 30 days, however, the death rates and incidence of major complications was about the same across all three groups, said the study published in the American Heart Journal. Continue Reading at:
Snail Sex
Leopard Slug Aerial mating
This is the first shot that I got when I discovered a pair of Leopard Slugs (Limax maximus) beginning to mate in my garden. They were suspended by about a metre of the slime shown in the photo, and anchored from the bark of a tree trunk. They were about half a metre off the ground. At this stage they had finished producing the slime and were about to start really mating. Click To View at:
http://members.optushome.com.au/awnelson/davidavid/slug/
BLANKS
BLANKS
the Max Headroom chronicles
http://www.maxheadroom.com/mh_episode_16.html
Computer Court 9: "Guilty. Take
her down."
Convicted Blank: "I know my rights. I won't be judged
by a machine!"
Dragul: "You don't have any rights. You're a Blank."
Convicted Blank: "Blank is beautiful! Blank
is beautiful! Blank is beautiful!"
Synopsis
In a nicer part of the city, "Downtown," the Metrocops burst into an apartment and arrest a young woman accused of being a Blank. As we watch, she is hauled before a computer court by the sinister prosecutor Dragul. He inserts the relevant data, and she is found guilty. Crying "Blank is Beautiful!" she is hauled away to prison.
Immediately after, we see Edison Carter being roused for his busy day. First the shower quits, then the coffee maker fails, then - while watching Simon Peller be announced the winner of the overnight telelection, the TV quits. Carter calls Theora only to find that all the satellite links have gone down as well. Technology is rebelling, Max warns them.
Carter goes to interview the victorious Peller, whom he detests. After a short time, his link goes down, ending the hostile interview. Peller calls the Network 23 board to lambaste them for not being able to connect him with his voting constituency. However, all satellite links are down now, and there are zero viewers worldwide. It's panic in the boardrooms, and increasingly in the streets as people are cut off from their electronic opiate. Edwards suggests distributing emergency video players.
Meanwhile, Bryce is showing Carter his latest achievement, a software tool called "Data Rescan" that allows him to manipulate video footage. Bryce puts a tractor in a scene of sweating slaves pulling the Trojan Horse; Carter takes over and turns it into the Trojan Sheep. They are baaaa-ing at each other when Theora cuts in to tell Carter there's an important story breaking.
The situation in the streets is getting wilder as video vendors hawk their black market tapes and small video booths draw huge crowds suffering from withdrawal. Janie Crane is covering the chaos, but only on her way to the real story, that of the Blank who was arrested earlier. Edison Carter joins her and with a guiding Metrocop, they survey the wreckage of the girl's apartment.
Janie Crane makes a horrifying discovery: the girl's television has a highly illegal off switch! At that moment, a message begins to roll across every screen and monitor in the world: the disruptions were deliberate, and unless Peller's egregious arrests of the Blanks are stopped and the imprisoned ones freed, every computer in the city will be destroyed. They have until sunset - just hours. The satellite feeds are now taken down in seriousness.
As Blank Reg shares his lunch with the dog Fang, Dominique asks about the impending problem. It appears that Reg knows a great deal about what's coming - as much as an insider. Dom is entranced by the idea that if all the computers are destroyed, Big Time may be the only network left on the air.
Cheviot orders Carter onto the story in an attempt to ferret out the perpetrators - for negotiation, if not arrest. Murray and Bryce suggest shifting operations to Carter's apartment in an attempt to stay "off the grid" and invisible to the hacker terrorists.
Carter, Theora and Bryce begin their attempt to find the hackers, while Janie Crane broadcasts the story that Peller's roundup of Blanks continues. Peller is holed up with Cheviot in the board room. When Carter says he'd love to be a fly on that wall, Bryce obliges with his graduation project, a mechanical fly "bug"... but it only lasts seconds before Cheviot swats it.
Blank Reg has relocated the Big Time bus to a high ridge over a city that looks suspiciously like Los Angeles, assuring Dom that the windy and unpleasant location is necessary both to broadcast to the whole city and to help out "Blank Bruno" and "the lads."
Meanwhile, Theora has found the portal to the hacker's computer, but it's tightly guarded. They decide to use a Trojan Horse, something no hacker could resist... Max himself. He's to get in, keep the data line open, and send back as much information as he can before they pull him out.
He's encapsulated and sent, and Bruno is very intrigued... but very suspicious. It only takes Bruno a moment to "flatline" the data lines, trapping Max in his computer, where he exists only in volatile RAM... one keystroke from oblivion.
Blank Reg now sets up a "Solar Trigger," a device to automatically track the declination of the sun and thus notify Blank Bruno and his team when it's sundown and time to trigger the wipeout program. He then begins broadcasting Big Time's trademark cheesy old '80s videos.
There's jubilation in the streets as the one rotten channel returns, horror in the boardrooms, and anger on the part of Traker and then Bruno, as Reg's broadcasting undercuts their pressure tactics. Traker threatens to put Reg "back in the files," and Bruno gets Reg to pull the plug... "because you owe me," he insinuates. ButNetwork 23 is tracing Reg and Bruno's call, and nearly pin down the locations before Bruno's computer detects the monitoring and cuts the link.
Afterward, Max and Bruno are having a most interesting discussion about the Blank's antipathy towards computers, the "false faith" with which the networks are mesmerizing the masses. When Max goes too far and Bruno threatens to delete him, Max's simpering goes nowhere... for while Max is unique, he is repeatable. Bruno was once Bryce Lynch's teacher.
Bryce, Theora and Edison have been anxiously staring at the blank screens, waiting for Max to return. As they wait, angry voices begin rising in the street as people being to fight over the few video recordings avaiable. It occurs to Carter that they have an option: Bryce's "Data Rescan." If history won't go their way... they'll make history lie.
Carter flies to see Blank Reg, the one person he knows who might know what's going on. Theora heads out to make herself up in full glamour mode, the better to bamboozle Simon Peller, and Bryce stands by with the Data Rescan program waiting.
Carter persuades Reg to talk - about himself and how he became a Blank, about the rogue computer geniuses who "blanked" his files, and about the plan they're now running to free their friends and destroy the networks' control over people. Reg is finally persuaded to put
Bruno spares Max, and with the deadline ticking down, releases him, saying he might as well meet oblivion in the comfort of his own computer. Bryce, Theora and Edison have been waiting, staring at the blank screens, for Max to return.