Free Republic

Are right-wing gun owners aching to start a race war? The Daily Caller brings us a story today about a Ivory Tower leftist philosophy professor at the City University of New York who has warned her fellow leftists that yes, those crazy, right-wing white folks with guns may just start a race war against Latinos as a result of President Barack Hussein “Santa Claus” Obama’s re-election. Continuing the recent trend of liberals to divide America by race, gender, religion, income, job type, national origin, ear lobe type, and dialect style, Linda Martin Alcoff contends “No other group can realistically pose...

“If I only had a gun...” It's a phrase, common amongst Gun Rights advocates and Gun Control advocates alike, typically preceding a confessed desire to use the weapon. In the case of the former, with Gun Rights advocates, it is verbal proclamation of the will to use that weapon in order to change a particular outcome. In the case of the latter there appears to be little overall difference. The focus, or application, of a firearm is to change the direction of a dispute through lethal force. The point at which the two listed groups diverge is where they begin...

In the 1920s, Swiss psychologist Hermann Rorschach developed the test now forever linked with his name. The idea behind the “Rorschach Test” is that a person’s interpretation of, or response to, a series of inkblots could help to reveal an underlying psychological disorder. As is the case for many areas of psychology, the efficacy of such testing may no doubt be debated, but the events of August 17 in Phoenix, Arizona offers observers of the American body politic the opportunity to study a similar phenomena. According to ABC affiliate KVIA, “About a dozen people carrying guns, including one with a...

Freud's Will to Power BY RONALD W. DWORKIN November 29, 2006 Legend has it that Freud, although educated in the philosophies of his day, studiously avoided the work of Nietzsche to preserve the originality of his ideas against external influence. Nietzsche's analysis of the human psyche, how values were supposedly projections of people's unspoken jealousies and fears, ran dangerously close to Freud's idea (still a work in progress at the end of the 19th century) that the roots of conscious behavior lay in unconscious desires. But after reading Dr. Peter Kramer's outstanding new biography of Freud (HarperCollins, 213 pages, $21.95),...

Prescription drugs are replacing, rather than complementing, ``talk therapy'' in the treatment of depressed children and adolescents, according to a major new study by Stanford doctors. The trend runs counter to guidelines that call for psychotherapy, which teaches problem-solving and examines negative thought patterns, as the first line of treatment for depressed youth. The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry advises medication for only the most-serious forms of mental illness -- and then only in combination with psychotherapy.

Last week's transit bombs in London sparked off a new round of commentaries as to the causes of the upsurge in terror attacks in recent years, above all those carried out by Islamic believers. A book published in England shortly before the July 7 attacks provides useful insight into the subject. The book, "Making Sense of Suicide Missions," is edited by Diego Gambetta and published by Oxford University Press. It has chapters ranging from the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka to the situation in the Middle East and a look at al-Qaida. A chapter by Jon Elster, professor at Columbia...

n new studies, scientists find that the maternal instinct is as much biological as it is social and that early socialization through maternal bonding is critical to offsprings' later adjustment. Among new findings: Motherhood helps learning and memory, which in turn helps mothers better care for their offspring. Mothers respond better to cries of their own infants than do fathers. The earlier the stress caused by maternal separation, the greater the offspring's later social difficulties. Nurturing through touch can lessen some of the negative effects of early stress. “Understanding the mechanisms at work in parenting and the effects of disruptions...