#42903: — 10/06  at  11:19 AM
"Why is it when we talk to God we're praying - but when God talks to us, we're schizophrenic?" Lily Tomlin

Except that, with all due respect to great comedienne, there's a more likely third option, lying.

Anyhow, right now God is telling me to get back to work. Bastard.

#42905: — 10/06  at  11:21 AM
Blasphemer! Gwzrxl will not be pleased with your impertinence. Pray deliver us from his wrath and vengeance.

Ardjhuk!
Ardjhuk!
Sambucil.

#42909: — 10/06  at  11:44 AM
Gasp!
The National Enquirer was right!
W. is suffering from Delirium tremens.

#42910: — 10/06  at  11:47 AM
This is old news, isn't it? I'm sure some Palestinian official said this ages ago. I don't know if it was the same guy, though.

#42915: MJS — 10/06  at  11:57 AM
Note to Bush: The Voice in your head is mine.

Glad I could clear that up.

+++

#42917: — 10/06  at  12:01 PM
It could be worse - he could be claiming to be the reincarnation of a comic book character, here to smash the forces of evil in order to avenge his parents ... oh, wait.

#42921: — 10/06  at  12:18 PM
I suspect Bush's words were embellished following the traditions of Oriental storytelling. President Abu Mazen was at the same meeting and recounts how President Bush told him: "I have a moral and religious obligation. So I will get you a Palestinian state." Anyway, Bush got the right idea in the format he understands, and all I hope is that he succeeds.

#42922: — 10/06  at  12:19 PM
Reagan was guided by his wife who was guided by an astrologer. Bush is merely cutting out the middle man. Another great US president!

#42923: — 10/06  at  12:24 PM

Look this up in the DSM

I found it...

Narcissistic Personality Disorder: A pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy.

http://www.halcyon.com/jmashmun/npd/dsm-iv.html

A few noteworthy indications:

1. An exaggerated sense of self-importance (e.g., exaggerates achievements and talents, expects to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements)

2. Preoccupation with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love

3. Believes he is "special" and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people (or institutions)

6. Selfishly takes advantage of others to achieve his own ends

#42927: — 10/06  at  12:33 PM
Yeah, well I saw another noteworthy example of schizophrenia recently. Two polls conducted, reported this past Sunday, on two different topics: hurricanes and evolution. I quote from the hurricane one first:

The new poll found that relatively few Americans saw the recent storms as God's work...about one in four Americans -- 23 percent -- viewed the storms as "deliberate acts of God."

OK?

Now here's the evolution poll:


Regardless of how questions are posed, polls consistently find that nearly 50 percent of the public accepts a biblical creationist account of life's origins...For example, in a recent Pew poll, 42 percent agreed that "humans and other living things have existed in their present form
since the beginning of time...."


So all right. In other words, people think that a massive, destructive hurricane that fills the entire Gulf of Mexico is just one of those things that happens from time to time, while the addition of a couple of proteins to a clotting cascade requires the intervention of the Lord God Most High? Don't these jack*asses realize that exactly the same processes that underlie the creation of hurricanes--chance, regularity, and self-organization--are the processes that underlie evolution?

#42931: — 10/06  at  12:57 PM

Don't these jack*asses realize that exactly the same processes that underlie the creation of hurricanes--chance, regularity, and self-organization--are the processes that underlie evolution?

Sadly, no. The prevailing myth satisfies the ego too well.

#42933: — 10/06  at  01:17 PM
I don't think Bush is lying when he claims God spoke to him. I just think he was mistaken. It was Cheney hiding behind the curtains in the Oval Office.

#42936: — 10/06  at  01:22 PM
Now he's calling his father "God". Great.

#42949: — 10/06  at  02:33 PM
The first diagnostic criteria for Antisocial Personality Disorder:

A. There is a pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others occurring since the age 15 years, as indicated by three (or more) of the following:

(1) failure to conform to social norms with respect for 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; (3) impulsivity or failure to plan ahead; (4) irritability and aggressiveness, as indicated by repeated physical fights or assaults; (5) reckless disregard for safety of self or others; (6) consistent irresponsibility, as indicated by repeated failure to sustain consistent work behavior or honor financial obligations; (7) lack of remorse, as indicated by being indifferent to or rationalizing having hurt, mistreated, or stolen from another.

Antisociality plus intelligence equals sociopathy.

#42967: Joel — 10/06  at  04:26 PM
As a sufferer of bipolar disorder, I take offense at the tone of this article. Most bipolars I know hate the bastard.

Setting that kvetch aside, I agree with jeebus and phototaxi: what we have here is likely a personality disorder rather than a organic brain dysfunction. In other words, it is learned. Bush is smooth in his way and that wins over people who aren't watching their pockets. Have you ever noticed, however, that when he talks there doesn't seem to be anything there emotionally? We hear the stories of him able to cry on command, but put him in the face of criticism or exposure and he runs. Consider some of his past statements (e.g. "This would be so much easier if this were a dictatorship and I was the dictator"). These, his tax policies, and the habit he has made of stealing elections suggest contempt for society's conventions. And let us not forget his childhood love for blowing up toads or the famous college shot of him sucker-punching a rugby opponent when the ref wasn't looking.

I cast my vote for phototaxi's suggestion which is antisocial personality disorder. Bush manipulates. He doesn't feel. He runs away when you confront him. He strives only on behalf of himself and his cronies. He doesn't care what it takes to win.

What phototaxi didn't mention is the old diagnostic term for APD: sociopath.

Fits him to a T in my book.

#42972: — 10/06  at  05:00 PM
For someone always bragging about his skepticism you sure are gullible about anything that might support your political slant.

#42978: — 10/06  at  06:21 PM
Great insight, Abu! I heard today that this story is a hoax.
Is the source credible? It is easy to believe the worst about your enemies. Critical thinking requires applying the same standards of evidence to your very own cherished beliefs. Besides, if we Republicans are really so pathetic, do you ever wonder why we keep winning? I know, "wait 'til next year," the Amercan people must "see the light" sooner or later. In the meantime, my side shall fight you and yours "tooth and nail," because we believe that you are wrong and your ideas are not in the best interest on the American people. (Excepting evolution, which is a fact.)
I like your science stuff, however.

#42983: Joel — 10/06  at  06:48 PM
A great many scientists have criticized Bush for his refusal to acknowledge global warming, support of creationists, and management of the nation's lands. (Others can supply their own lists.) I would call him the anti-skeptic candidate.

It seems to me that this isn't just a matter of political opposition as the previous two critics have tried to make it, but a matter of examining the evidence and finding disturbing trends in the behavior of GWB which point to a diagnosis of APD. I don't believe Bush hears voices in his head: I think he tells people that he is on a mission from God so that he can manipulate them.

This link about cult leaders might also be of interest to readers:

http://home.datawest.net/esn-recovery/artcls/socio.htm

#42988: — 10/06  at  07:34 PM
Internet psychiatric diagnosis - oh boy, this is gonna be fun.
This sounds like second order auditory hallucinations, where an outside voice communicates with the patient. Possible differential diagnosis in GWB:
Psychosis - schizophrenia - nope, too socially skilled
- psychotic depression - nope, depressed people don t smirk, and God didn t tell him how miserable he was.
- PTSD - no known trauma: wasn t in Viet Nam
Severe illness such as fevers, endstage organ failure, brain tumor - nope, physically, GWB looks pretty good.
Toxicity - poisoning, substance abuse - possible, we have a positive history.
Confabulation, malingering - seen in addiction and personality disorders - also possible
Political pandering - not a medical diagnosis, but that s where I put my money.

I m not a psychiatrist, but I played one during my internship.

#42990: — 10/06  at  07:42 PM
How about the Left's irrational belief in and support of:
1. Socialized anything, which doesn't work, cannot work, and never will
work. Economic calculation refutes socialism, however, this is
conveniently ignored by the Left.
2. Trickle down welfare dependency programs, which have compounded the
problem of poverty, enlarged the underclass, offered no workable
solutions, and, remain a fundamental component of the Leftist program.
3. Moral relativism. Rampant adherence to moral relativism may score
points in a philosophy seminar, however, the consequence of denying
the "evil" of the Islamofascists and the reluctance to utterly defeat them
gives one pause. There is a case for the Iraq war. All who make the case
for this war are not as stupid as you would like to believe. The
Manichean world view of the Left would be risible, if it were not so
dangerous in its practice.
So enjoy your exercises in psychobabble. The ad hominen is a favorite, though invalid, tactic of the Left. Books have been written about every point included here. Asserting that a policy is wrong convinces no thinking person.

#42995: — 10/06  at  09:06 PM
Oh, my, here we go...let's just portray "the Left" as one big monolithic movement, with no discernible differences in belief! After all, "the Left" does it to us, so that makes it OK! Two wrongs DO make a right!

By the way, tc99mman, you forgot to throw Clinton into the mix. He IS, after all, ultimately responsible for everything bad, isn't he? No, wait, maybe that's Hilary. Yeah, SHE'S responsible for everything bad!

#42996: Mike Jones — 10/06  at  10:23 PM
"I AM THAT I AM, I am the LORD thy GOD,
the All-Seeing, the All-powerful, the All-knowing.
Behold: Here is the addled drunk George Walker Bush,
my chosen agent.
What? Why are you laughing?"

#42997: Lon Cohen — 10/06  at  10:31 PM
I find it funny that GW likes to quote what G-d has told him to do. I'm sure G-d talks to him. We all perceive that little voice in the back of our head as being a somewhat divine source of information. We don't always go out there and make it so obvious but that's GW's way. He can't help it he's so young and naive. For a guy who never worked, probably never read the bible, never learnt nottin' in school and doesn't even bother to read a newspaper he sure has the ear of G-d. I almost believe it when Einstein said that G-d told him to cqalculate the perihelion of Mercury's orbit to prove his theory of Relativity. With Bush, I'm a lot more skeptical.

#43000: SweettP2063 — 10/07  at  12:39 AM
At one time I heard voices in my head. Taking vicodin for pain after surgery had that effect on me.

The voices in Bush's head makes me wonder what kind of drugs he's been taking.

#43001: — 10/07  at  01:25 AM
I looked it up in the DSM and it is 291.3. Since I approve of God's political plan for Palestine as transmitted through his Messenger, I may be a 300.9.