I recently heard of an attack on cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy which I've heard before, although not recently. The reminder inspired me to write this column.

First, to readers unfamiliar, let me remind you of what cognitive-behavioral therapy is. It's the method of therapy which presupposes that your emotions are not necessarily facts. “Just because you feel it, doesn’t make it so.”

Some find this attitude to be cold, harsh or "uncaring."

Man's unique reward, however, is that while animals survive by adjusting themselves to their background, man survives by adjusting his background to himself.
-- Ayn Rand

Thanksgiving, we’re told, is a time to be thankful. Though that sounds very nice, it’s a bit too general for my taste. In an effort to be more specific, I like to look at Thanksgiving as a time of perspective: An occasion to think about what’s right, both with the world and with myself. Though many are thankful to a higher power, my take is a little different. I am thankful to man—specifically, to those individuals who, over the centuries, have created the countless things I need for survival and enjoyment: automobiles, plumbing, mass-produced food, medicine, electricity, extraordinary surgical procedures, computers…the list is endless. I know the names of some of those inventors, and I can see, feel and enjoy the benefits of their efforts in my daily life. There are many others I don't know about—unsung heroes who maybe never got the credit they deserved—but whose contributions to the wealth and comfort around me are clearly evident. 

Notice how the Democrats are less upset about the collapse of the budget "supercommittee" than the Republicans. This is because the whole deal was stacked in their favor in the first place. The programs hardest hit by these cuts are ... you guessed it, defense.

For years, more astute observers have called the Republican Party "the Stupid Party." They again live up to the label. The poster child for that label is Republican Speaker of the House, John Boehner. Boehner was the cheerleader for this whole deal, as recently as a week ago, insisting, "It will work, it will work." Of course it didn't, because the whole notion of a "supercommittee" solving the budget crisis that Congress as a whole refused to solve several months ago was a flawed one.