DOES THIS REMIND YOU OF ANYBODY?

The paranoid person always takes himself seriously. It is rarely the case that such a person presents to a psychiatrist seeking help or complaining about their psychological projections, no matter how bizarre or out of touch with reality they may be. Because for the paranoid individual, his paranoia and the accompanying projections explain so much about his life and situation.

* Is he poor? Someone must have robbed him of what he is entitled to!
* Is he angry and feel hatred? Then the object of his hatred magically becomes the one who hates...him!
* Is his genius not recognized? He must have powerful enemies that prevent him from achieving the success he knows should be his.
* Has he made mistakes in his life? Someone has tricked him into acting a certain way.

The above mental gymnastics allow the paranoid person to external blame and avoid responsibility for his situation in life, as well as his own feelings. It is always someone else's fault and not his. It is always someone else who has the objectional feelings, and he is always the victim of it.

In addition to externalizing blame for one's own pitiful situation in life, there is yet another advantage to paranoia and projection: often, a creative distortion of reality can reliably pump up one's own self-esteem. You are righteous, persecuting the true racists and you, yourself, are incapable of any racist thoughts or emotions. Sometimes, it pumps it that self-esteem up at the expense of a great deal of fear; but nevertheless, it is comforting to know that someone appreciates your genius or the threat you represent. Clearly if the CIA, FBI, aliens, Jews , POTUS, Republicans [fill in your favorite bogeyman here] are out to get you, you must be special and unique.

In short, paranoia and its little brother projection organize and distort reality in a way that makes it palatable; and, at the same time help the user to avoid recognizing some unpleasant truths about himself.

Psychological projection, which is often not as bizarre as full-blown paranoia, is a particularly good way of doing this, because by projecting one's own feelings onto someone else, you can make yourself appear particularly virtuous.

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Indian alliance firms up

The US Senate has overwhelmingly approved Washington's nuclear deal with New Delhi, just hours after a telephone conversation between President George W.Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Under the agreement, India, a non-signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, will be allowed access to long-denied civilian nuclear technology in return for placing its atomic reactors under global safeguards. Yesterday's go-ahead for the deal seals India's historic shift towards closer ties with the West.

US Senate support for legislation implementing civilian nuclear energy co-operation between the two countries had been stalled, and New Delhi feared the deal could collapse following the Democrats' congressional election victories. But with Mr Bush backing the legislation -- which he affirmed when he spoke to Dr Singh -- it passed the Senate by a majority of 85-12 after a debate lasting 11 hours. The delight among Indian officials yesterday appeared almost boundless.

"This is great news indeed," one senior official said. "We've had some very, very anxious moments on this over the past few months, and after last week's results in the US we were worried. But the result now could not be better. This is a great day for India and for the US."

The deal with Washington represents much more than civilian nuclear energy co-operation. It is emblematic of the shift by India, the biggest and most powerful country in South Asia, towards alliance with the West, after decades of putative non-alignment by New Delhi. This is a giant step for India, and a bold move by the Congress-led coalition Government of Dr Singh, who has had to face down domestic critics from powerful left-wing parties to conclude the deal with Washington.

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ELSEWHERE



Iranian fanatic funds British university: "Durham university is in the process of opening a new centre for Shii Studies with financial support from Mesbah Yazdi. An Ayotllah whose statement "If anyone insults the Islamic sanctities, Islam has permitted for his blood to be spilled, no court needed either" made headline news in Iran, is funding a British university!"

Israelis shoot back: "Israeli troops killed a Palestinian man and wounded 30 others when they opened fire during an arrest raid in the West Bank town of Qalqilya overnight, residents and the army said. Local hospital staff said the dead man was aged 18. Several people who threw firebombs and stones during clashes with troops were in critical condition. Local residents said the soldiers were attempting to arrest a militant from the governing Islamist group Hamas. An Israeli army spokesman said troops had fired at a group of some 200 protesters who hurled rocks and Molotov cocktails at troops in the central West Bank town. He declined to give details of the raid but said live ammunition had been fired at the troops. Israeli forces often enter Palestinian towns and villages in the occupied West Bank to arrest militants."

U.S. prices FALL: "Dresses and trousers are already on sale in department stores. And gasoline prices, after their recent spike, are back down to where they were about a year ago. Falling prices on many goods are reining in the nation's inflation rate. Thursday, in an economic report that cheered just about everyone, the government reported that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) in October fell 0.5 percent. Even taking out volatile energy and food prices, inflation barely registered, rising only 0.1 percent.... The inflation numbers are also improving on a year-over-year basis. Compared with last October, prices are up 2.7 percent, a rate that is still higher than the Fed would like to see but a decline from prior months. "The numbers are [going] in the right direction," says Professor Owen. The improvement in the CPI follows a similar report on Tuesday for the Producer Price Index, a measure of inflation for businesses, which fell 1.6 percent. Taking out food and energy, prices dropped 0.9 percent."

For more postings, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and EYE ON BRITAIN. (Mirror sites here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here).

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"All the worth which the human being possesses, all spiritual reality, he possesses only through the State." -- 19th century German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Hegel is the most influential philosopher of the Left -- inspiring Karl Marx, the American "Progressives" of the early 20th century and university socialists to this day.

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch)

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