Archive for July, 2008
Foreclosures and alcoholism: Johnny Carson sidekick Ed McMahon, U.S. Rep. Laura Richardson and boxer Evander Holyfield
In the August 2007 www.ThorburnAddictionReport.com top story, "The Mortgage Mess, the Real Estate Bubble and Alcoholism," I suggested that the bubble and its aftermath were at least partly a result of alcoholics doing what they do best: inflating the ego. Any one of a set of common spin-offs of egomania"grandiosity, excessive optimism, a sense of invincibility and excessive risk-taking"can cause the afflicted to take chances that sober individuals would rarely consider. Another set"infectious enthusiasm, all-too-believable lies, charisma, charm and a "rules-don't-apply-to-me attitudeâ€"can be used to cajole others into accepting risks they would never otherwise take. Such risks, as shown in "Drunks, Drugs & Debits: How ...
Runners-up: Broadcom’s former CEO Henry T. Nicholas, Bayou Management’s Samuel Israel III, U.S. bankruptcy judge Robert Somma and celebrity plastic surgeon Jan Adams.
Runners-up for top story of the month:
Former Broadcom co-founder and CEO Henry T. Nicholas, 48, charged with orchestrating the backdating of stock-option awards and with buying and distributing cocaine, ecstasy and other controlled substances. Employees reportedly regarded Nicholas as a messianic leader who routinely convened 2 a.m. staff meetings during his company's heyday, no doubt driven by alcohol and other-drug fueled mania. The fact that Nicholas was released only after his mother posted $2 million in home equity towards a $3.4 million bond suggests he has hit the burn-out stage financially. The details of his life while head of Broadcom, if they come to light, will prove to be lurid if initial reports pan out. Recall from "Drunks, Drugs & ...
Runners-up: a couple of NFL players and a big-wave surfer
Former NFL Linebacker Steve Foley, 32, charged with failure to secure two pit bulls, which bit his neighbor on her arms and face before killing her puppy. Foley, who played from 1998 through 2006 with the Bengals, Texans and Chargers, ended his career by driving with a blood alcohol level of .23 per cent at 3 a.m., weaving erratically at speeds ranging from 30 to 90 m.p.h. and getting shot by an off-duty police officer who was trying to get him off the road while Foley's girlfriend tried to run the officer over. Incredibly, he was allowed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of DUI and sentenced to five years probation. He now faces two to 10 years in ...
Runners-up: actors William Shatner, Tatum O’Neal and Kirsten Dunst
"Star Trek"to "T.J. Hooker"to "Boston Legal"star William Shatner, 77, who has come clean about his alcoholism (apparently some two decades after getting sober) and tumultuous life with his wife Nerine Shatner, who he found drowned in their pool in 1999 with "huge levels"of alcohol and Valium in her system. "Star Trek"co-star Leonard Nimoy, also a recovering alcoholic, told Shatner just before he married Nerine, "Bill, you do know that Nerine is an alcoholic."When Shatner responded, "I know she is, but I love her,"Nimoy responded, "Well, Bill, then you are in for a rough ride."Nerine was apparently sober for a time before they married, but after going to bed that night "ecstatic,"he woke up at 8 a.m. and found her drunk. ...
A top attorney and highly-paid school superintendent behave as if they are brain-damaged alcoholics.
Under watch:
Defense attorney Stephen Charles Hollingsworth, who according to the L.A. Times was cited"again"by L.A. County Superior Court Judge John J. Cheroske for lateness, failure to appear and "other strange courtroom behavior."The latter may include the time he limped in with a crutch and blamed his tardiness on a knee injury. Deputy District Attorney Christopher Frisco said, "Then someone called him from the audience and he walked up to them, forgetting his crutches and his limp."When he failed to show up at a preliminary hearing, court staff called two phone numbers he had provided. Neither one worked, so the judge, who was "not happy,"issued an arrest warrant. After Hollingsworth showed up for a new hearing 35 minutes late (on a ...
The U.S. government enables North Korea–again.
Co-Dependents of the Month:
Once again, the U.S. Government, for continuing to "negotiate"with Kim Il Jong of North Korea. In exchange for removing North Korea from its list of terrorism-sponsoring nations, the totalitarian regime blew up the cooling tower for its main nuclear reactor as a signal that it is sincere about dismantling its nuclear weapons program. The trouble is, the tower would take a month to rebuild, while the rest of the buildings"still standing"would take at least 18 months to replace. John R. Bolton, who headed nuclear proliferation policy at the State Department during President George W. Bush's first term, said he thinks it's an embarrassment and "represents the definitive collapse of the Bush Doctrine and I'm sure they're popping ...
Enablers and disenablers: psychologist Lillian Glass and William Shatner’s brother-in-law v. Lionel Ritchie
Enablers of the Month:
Psychologist Lillian Glass. This is the sort of psychologist I lambasted in Chapter 5 of "Drunks, Drugs & Debits""who, by the testimony of addicts long in recovery are their biggest enablers. Commenting on former "Full House"star Mary-Kate Olsen's two-night wild party binge, during which she was described as "way out of control"by friends and after which she checked in and checked out of rehab after only two days, Glass said, "In my opinion, she's a very troubled girl. I think she may be depressed"and could use the help of a professional therapist."Friends used to say they sometimes detected a note of anger in my voice when discussing alcoholism and implied it was directed at my addict-ex. No. ...
George Carlin: comedian, entertainer, thinker–and alcoholic.
Sometimes, it takes an addict:
Comedian George Carlin, dead at age 71 from heart failure. Carlin, who was raised by his mother after she left his very abusive alcoholic father when he was two years old, was a frequent performer and guest host on "The Tonight Show"during the three-decade long Johnny Carson era. He was the first host of "Saturday Night Live!"(October 11, 1975"he confessed to having been high on cocaine at the time) and had roles in a number of films, including "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure"and "Cars."He admitted that his drug addiction"a "54-year buzz,"as he put it"resulted in neglecting his business affairs, resulting in an IRS debt that took him almost 20 years to dig himself out of. He ...
The father of our country may have had the disease of alcoholism. No, it isn’t Washington.
Review: "Tom Paine: America's Godfather"by W. E. Woodward
"If Thomas Paine had drunk even half the liquor that [the experts in the art of slander] said he drank he never could have written anything, but would have died of delirium tremens before he had reached middle age."(p. 16)
"In describing his alcoholic habits [the maligners of Paine] made his liquor consumption and drunkenness so preposterous that, if it were true, he could never have written anything at all, and certainly not such powerful literary creations as Common Sense, The Rights of Man and The Age of Reason. Nor could he have lived to the ripe age of seventy-two."(p. 337)
So wrote W.E. Woodward near the beginning and end of his 1945 biography of ...
Making her wait is controlling. Controlling is a sign of alcoholism. Alcoholism is an indication he could become lethal.
Wait for this guy? Huh?
Dear Doug:
My daughter, 21, never really had a boyfriend before she graduated from college. Suddenly, she moved out of our home (we've always been close) and into the house of a 45-year-old man whom she met playing on a sports team he coaches. When we asked to meet him, she said he would decide when. That was six months ago.
Although I attended several games, he not only hasn't said a word to me but also never even looked at me"even though he knows full-well who I am. My daughter says he is nice, but she admitted he let her sit for three hours after a job interview he drove her to because he had to rotate ...
Markings on cars–and people–as a clue to alcoholism and, therefore, the potential for violence.
"Be cautious of dealing with people driving cars with bumper stickers.â€
So concluded a recent paper by Colorado State University social psychologist William Szlemko and his colleagues, published in the Journal of Applied Social Psychology. The "surprising"results of the study on which the paper is based found that drivers of cars with "territorial markers"including bumper stickers, decals and personalized license plates were far more likely than others to express anger or rage by honking, tailgating and other aggressive behavior. The message of the sticker"peaceful and loving or angry or political"was irrelevant.
The researchers found that people who have no such markers on their cars get angry, too, but are less likely to act out on their anger. They may fume, but more ...
Blood-curdling screams the children witnessed–but it could have been far worse.
Story from "This is True"by Randy Cassingham, with his "tagline:â€
"UNSATISFIED: An unnamed 24-year-old man told his 28-year-old wife that they had ‘three hours' to quit smoking, drinking, swearing and committing certain types of sex acts because ‘they were going to be good Christians now,' the Silverdale, Wash., woman told sheriff's deputies. With that three-hour ultimatum, the woman started screaming at her husband, which prompted neighbors to call in law enforcement. Deputies said the woman, who was holding a half-gallon of whiskey, then had a ‘meltdown.' Her agonized screams over her husband's denial of sex were ‘blood-curdling,' they said, and she ‘repeatedly, without sparing a vulgar euphemism, told the deputies about how unsatisfied she was with her sex life.' She was ...