The New Statesmen takes a look at Harvard psychology professor Jerome Kagan’s new book, Surprise, Uncertainty and Mental Structures, in which the professor makes the argument that psychiatry and psychology have failed. According to Dr. Kagan: […] Talking cures, as in psychotherapy, or having people fill out questionnaires, as psychologists so often do, simply do not get at the internal schemata that drive and colour so much of our behaviour.

The National Review juxtaposes the State Department’s recent Iran statements with those of the President — revealing a clear disconnect between State’s foreign policy strategies and those favored by Bush himself: […] it is worth dwelling on this telling and dismaying episode, to which end NRO reproduces the two dueling statements — one representing [Foggy Bottom press flack] Boucher’s Iranian policy, the other President Bush’s — below. Boucher’s briefing: QUESTION:

Beer giveth life. Beer taketh life away.

…well, I guess “Mork” was kinda funny. Wasn’t it…?

An Open Letter in Support of the People of Iran from the Weblogging Community… We are not politicians, nor are we generals. We hold no power to dispatch diplomats to negotiate; we can send no troops to defend those who choose to risk their lives in the cause of freedom. What power we have is in our words, and in our thoughts. And it is that strength which we offer

Brendan O’Neill argues that some blogs suck. (Full disclosure: I’m a master of the paraphrase. We’re talkin’ koryu bujutsu-type skills, too. I eat Wu-tang sword style for breakfast. Recognize.)

Here’s a transcript of that Scoobie Davis blindside of Ann Coulter. Which raises the question: anybody else remember when media pranks used to be, y’know, funny? Or at least revelatory? I mean, zoinks, Scoob… [update: predictably, Dawson has some words for Scoobs. And a few more. Henry Hanks joins in, too.]

Speaking of what to do with functionally dead bodies (yes, vanilla frosting will be fine, thank you)…Rand Simberg has a lengthy and interesting post on the thinking behind cryonics. Here’s a bit: Cryonics is often, and mistakenly, lumped in with UFOlogy, ESP and other pseudoscience, but it actually has a very sound scientific and philosophical conceptual basis. Most people think of death as an objective, unambiguous, and verifiable condition. But

Disturbing revelations, courtesy of Salon: “Ted Williams’ heirs may be feuding over what to do with his body now that the legendary slugger has passed on to that field of dreams in the sky, but Larry Hagman, of dimly remembered ‘Dallas’ and ‘I Dream of Jeannie’ fame, is spelling out his last requests in no uncertain terms.” ‘When I die, I want my friends to eat me,’ Hagman told celebrity

Found this link via my pals the Skunkfuckers: “Godless Americans™ March on Washington.” Slated for November 2 of this year. The Godless American™ message? Glad you asked! According to their website, The Time For Us To Be Heard Is Now! [though evidently November’ll do — ed.] There are millions of Godless Americans. The latest American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) reflects that nearly 13% of the population has no religion. This