Archive for March, 2008
My readers know that misbehaviors frequently serve as indications of an underlying alcohol or other-drug addiction. Unfortunately, since addictive use is often hidden from pubic view by enablers, behaviors may be the only clues. This is especially true among politicians, CEOs, doctors, lawyers and other professionals.
Yet, most celebrities and professional athletes who misbehave in similar ways are almost always "outed" by journalists. The fact that such behaviors in celebrities who are known alcoholics are roughly identical to those in politicians, etc., in whom the heavy drinking is never reported is damning evidence that alcoholism is the driving force in both. When we understand that addiction causes both egomania, which impels the addict to wield power over others capriciously, along with ...
When is an “accident” not one? Actors Heath Ledger and Brad Renfro succumb to their disease. It’s no accident.
Actors Heath Ledger and Brad Renfro succumb to "accidental" overdoses
When does addiction-fueled risk-taking make an "accident" not an accident?
English contains numerous words with dozens of meanings. For example, the word "run" has over 90 different definitions. While such nuances can make language more interesting and beautiful, it can also lead to a lack of clarity, making words less useful and communication more difficult.
Progress is enhanced by increasing specificity and differentiating meanings. In science, a singular idea is usually ascribed to each word, allowing scientists around the globe speaking different languages to efficiently exchange information and add to mankind's knowledge. Compared with the physical sciences and mathematics, from a libertarian perspective there have been far fewer advances in the so-called "social" ...
Runners-up: what does a despot, a mass murderer, a sheriff and a few celebrities have in common?
Runners-up for top story of the month:
Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez, who reportedly "misspoke" in announcing that he chews "coca paste" every morning, which serves as a base for cocaine and is sometimes smoked but not chewed. He later claimed he meant to say he chews coca leaves, which with his consumption of up to 30 espressos a day may explain his tirades. However, this and his weight got me thinking about comedian Arte Lange, who is over 300 pounds and uses cocaine, heroin, alcohol and just about every other drug under the sun. Perhaps Mr. Chavez has learned Lange's secrets. This would be consistent with the observation that alcoholics are more frequently heavy caffeine users than are non-addicts and that ...
An attorney who brought down many corporations (both good and bad) and a trader who almost brought down a large French bank. Probable alcoholics.
Under watch:
Attorney William S. Lerach, 61, sentenced to two years in prison for participating in schemes involving fraudulent class-action lawsuits against numerous large corporations on behalf of plaintiffs who received kickbacks. Lerach, who was known for "explosive" courtroom rants, will likely be disbarred. We might suspect that while some of Lerach's victims, including a number of former Enron executives, got what they deserved there could be many who were true casualties. Although he has admitted that his "conduct was completely and absolutely unacceptable from anyone, and especially a lawyer," we might speculate that alcoholism-fueled egomania drove him on both good days and bad.
Rogue Trader Jerome Kerviel, 31, almost brought down the venerable French bank Societe Generale SA with one-way trades ...
Co-Dependents of actor Heath Ledger–friends and fans didn’t get it.
Co-Dependents of the Month:
Friends of Actor Heath Ledger, described as "an intense, restless man known as much for his partying and wild streak as for his sweetness and sensitivity" and "devoted to his daughter [yet] driven by reckless impulses." Friends watched him "drinking and taking drugs to excess" on New York's party circuit, but everyone seemed to think he had it "under control." Here's the problem, friends: we aren't mind readers or little gods. There is no way to predict when an addict will lose control, or in what destructive way.
Perth, Australia locals, who expressed "dismay at speculation in the media that actor Heath Ledger had used drugs." A supervisor at Royal Perth Hospital, Margaret Byrne, 56, commented, "If a ...
Enablers in government: the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and cops
Enablers of the Month:
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control, launching a study into a "bizarre" condition known as Morgellons, in which sufferers typically feel crawling sensations and observe fibers coming out of their skin. Many doctors have diagnosed the disease as "delusional parasitosis" and treat it with anti-psychotic medications. Dr. Mark Horowitz, a dermatologist who has "seen hundreds complaining of Morgellons," said he believes "it's a real entity [but would] be very surprised if they find anything more than a psychiatric disease." Since methamphetamine can cause "worms crawling out of the skin," delusions and numerous other distortions of perception, we might profitably divert the funds to more useful research by instead testing for meth in the systems of those supposedly ...
Chess champion Bobby Fischer, alcoholic.
Sometimes, it takes an addict:
Chess genius Bobby Fischer, who became a Cold War hero when he defeated Soviet champ Boris Spassky in 1972 in Reykjavik, but who later became known for his hate-filled rants after becoming a fugitive, dead at 64. Fischer's encounter with Spassky transformed the game, causing sales of chess sets and memberships in chess clubs to skyrocket while making front-page news. Harold C. Schonberg, in his 1973 book Grandmasters of Chess, wrote that Fischer single-handedly helped the world recognize that chess is as "competitive as football, as thrilling as a duel to the death, as aesthetically satisfying as a fine work of art, as intellectually demanding as any form of human activity." However, his "dark side" had ...
A unique review: Tax Season. Alcoholism explains tax fraud, and more.
Tax Season
In late 1995 I discovered that alcohol and other-drug addicts seemed to be at the root of most emotional and physical abuse. I wondered if this was true of financial abuse as well. After realizing that a simple reversal of the idea--that abuse might indicate alcoholism--it dawned on me I could easily test the concept.
I did so during the 1996 tax season by suggesting to clients who were victims of financial abuse (a spouse who was way over-spending; a bankruptcy; a partner who absconded with partnership funds) that the culprit might be an alcoholic. My clients invariable exclaimed that was impossible since the abuser was not only too intelligent but also their partner, child, parent or best friend. I ...
Even Dr. Phil can get it wrong. Of course you it’s your business.
Parents enable brother and endanger niece
Dear Doug:
My parents have long enabled my 30-year-old brother by providing a roof over his head while tolerating his working at best a few months out of the year. It recently became worse when he fathered a child. Now my parents watch his daughter while he sleeps off hangovers and even bail him out of jail and cover his legal bills for DUIs and bar fights. I'm losing respect for my family. I'd like to tell my parents to require that he pay rent and tell him that when the daughter is with him for the weekend, he shouldn't drink. What should I do?
Signed,
Concerned Uncle
. . . .
Dear Codependent,
Other columnists might suggest that you have ...
Crime runs in the family, but not for the reasons most think.
"Social scientists and law enforcement authorities say the influence of family members may be one of the most important and largely unaddressed factors in determining whether people adopt lives of crime."
So said a USA Today piece, "For many of USA's inmates, crime runs in the family," written by Kevin Johnson. He focuses primarily on one such story of crime running in the family--three brothers, Jesse, Frank and Sonny Caston, who suffered an upbringing marked by violence and other abuse. The brothers spent much of their childhood locked out of their home at night and every law enforcer involved seem to agree the boys had a Gothic-like and nightmarish upbringing. Today, all three are serving life sentences for murder.
The problem with ...
Blackouts don’t stop alcoholics from drinking
Story from "This is True" by Randy Cassingham, with his "tagline:"
"BLACKOUT: 'I did? I was just way too drunk to know what I was doing,' said Joshua W. Harrison, 27, after he was told the circumstances of his arrest -- and why he had been shot. 'I would never burglarize my next-door neighbor and especially when they're home. Come on.' Harrison had apparently locked himself out of the Lexington, Ky., house he shares with his girlfriend, and thought he was climbing in his own window to get inside. But instead he was climbing through a neighbor's window late at night, police say. The two women who lived there were terrified, and when he made it inside one of the women ...