Archive for August, 2010
Runner-up for top story of the month:
Flight attendant Steven Slater, 38, who was described by his attorney, friends and family as a likeable sort who did his job well, until he didn’t and used a JetBlue plane’s emergency chute to leave his job—permanently, with two cans of beer in hand. Slater claimed a gash on his head occurred during the flight, but several passengers said the gash was there before the flight took off and told reporters he spoke rudely and used expletives during the flight. As clues 4 and 7 under "Supreme Being complex" ("regularly uses foul language" or, in this case, uses such language in an entirely inappropriate setting, and "has a 'rules don't apply to me' ...
Governing under the influence is more common than you think. The City of Bell, City Manager Robert Rizzo and his cronies.
Governing Under the Influence: the City of Bell and its Grotesque(ly Overpaid) City Manager, Robert Rizzo
In a classic 1987 article entitled “Governing under the influence; Washington alcoholics: their aides protect them, the media shields them,” Steven Waldman wrote what was, for the time, not only a tell-all on Washington, DC alcoholism but also one of the most insightful and perceptive exposés ever written on the subject. Among the gems: “Reporters usually fail to cover the drinking problems in Washington officials….’I knew several alcoholics,’ says Richard Bolling, former chairman of the House Rules Committee and a recovering alcoholic, ‘and they all were in important positions.’” He identified a number of former congressmen as alcoholics, including Representatives Wilbur Mills (chairman of the ...
Former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich and former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick–one who should be headed for rightful justice and the other for whom justice was served.
Runners-up for top story of the month:
Former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, the jury for whose corruption trial is sadly still deliberating as of the date of release of this issue of TAR. Blagojevich, whose misbehaviors were first chronicled in the January 2009 TAR Top Story, with brief snippets in the May 2009 and July 2010 editions, is the subject of a story by Jonathan Franzen in the July 26, 2010 The New Yorker titled “What About Me?” Rarely has the alcoholic’s theme song “Me, me-me-me, me me me me me me me-me me” (sung to the tune of the well-known traditional Mexican song “Cielito Lindo”) rung so true. Franzen reports that Blago became “increasingly erratic” during his second term as ...
Rep. Laura Richardson is cleared of wrongdoing. Oh, by other Congresspeople. (That explains that!)
Under watch:
In an early 2009 piece on white collar crime, The Economist magazine suggests there may be some truth in something those who have read my books would predict: “Many [Club Fed and other white collar] prisoners suddenly discover, post-conviction, that they had a drinking problem….” I would add that those who don’t figure this out might benefit from greater introspection. In the spirit of The Economist’s discovery, a recent story follows for which the evidence of alcoholism is in the behaviors.
Rep. Laura Richardson, D-Long Beach, cleared of wrongdoing in her home foreclosure fiasco by the House Ethics Committee. However, keep in mind the members of the Ethics committee are—politicians. Also, you will find in the fine print of the ...
A mass murderer is outed (for a change); a 12-year-old disenables her mother; Mike Tyson stays sober (but he needs to go further).
Alcoholic victims of the month:
Two people died and four were wounded before a gunman, Robert Reza, turned the weapon on himself at a fiber optics plant in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Reza’s live-in girlfriend, who had told co-workers she feared for her safety, was among those injured in what was obviously an extreme case of domestic violence. The unsurprising aspect to the story is Reza’s criminal history included at least two arrests for DUI; the surprising part is this was reported in a newspaper article on the tragedy, albeit in the 15th (and last) paragraph. As I point out in Drunks, Drugs & Debits, stories like this should lead off with “he had the disease of alcoholism, which took form in ...
So long to Fr. Jack Shirley and the politically incorrect cartoonist John Callahan
Sometimes, it takes an addict:
Several months ago it dawned on me I had not heard from my dear Internet friend Fr. Jack Shirley for some time....and I was afraid of what I'd find so didn't look. In writing this issue of TAR, I ran across one of his wonderful posts to me (he supplied me with a number of ideas and leads over the years). It was a terrific personal story on enabling by family physicians: "I remember over 40 years ago while I was in Detroit I went to my family physician and complained about my difficulties drinking beer. He told me to switch to Scotch, which I did. I now had my doctor's approval." Such was the recovery ...
Proof of no alcohol in the system before a DUI offender can start the car is a great idea, except for the fact that alcoholics, ingenious manipulators that they are, will likely find ways to circumvent the system.
DUI offenders must test breath before driving, but will it work?
Under a pilot program set to begin in July in Los Angeles County and three other California counties, motorists convicted of DUI will be required to install an ignition-interlock device that will prevent vehicles from starting if a BAL greater than .03 percent is detected after drivers blow into a tube connected to the machine. It’s an interesting idea, but recall that addicts are brilliant in getting around obstacles, especially those designed to prevent them from using. There are three ways I can think of to placate the machine so the car starts, and if I can think of three any alcoholic worth his vodka can probably think of ten ...
Grandma is denied access to granddaughter. Who’s the addict?
I need an appointment to see my granddaughter. Help!
Dear Doug:
After having babysat my granddaughter for much of the past three years I was no longer needed for the job. Now my daughter is doing everything she can to keep my grandchild from me. She either doesn’t return my calls or says she is too busy; when I can see her, it’s now by appointment only. My daughter seems to be directing all her anger and hatred towards me by denying me access to my only grandchild. Is this common? Are there any support groups for grandparents with similar problems?
Signed,
Estranged from my grandchild
. . . .
Dear Codependent,
Other columnists would tell you that parents sometimes use access to their children to punish ...
Joran van der Sloot wasn’t known to be violent? Look deeper. Even if you don’t find it, he’s an addict; therefore, anything is possible.
“[Joran] van der Sloot’s past (sic) wasn’t known to be violent.”
So wrote Frank Bajak in an Associated Press piece on the 22-year-old who was arrested for the murder of Stephany Flores, whose body was found in a Peruvian hotel room with her neck broken, one eye dangling from its socket and her bloodied face so battered her brother didn’t recognize her in the morgue. The gruesome murder was committed five years to the day after Natalee Holloway disappeared in Aruba, where van der Sloot was the main suspect and whose father, who died in January, was a judge. In supporting his headline, Bajak cited the fact that “the only case in the past five years where he’s known to have ...
Shooting victim doesn’t feel getting shot due to alcoholism; he wouldn’t have gotten shot were it not for same.
Story from “This is True” by Randy Cassingham, with his “tagline:”
“UNDEAD II: Tracy Durham, 48, had a party at his place in Peoria, Ill. ‘I was drunk,’ he says. He won't say who was over for the party, but he remembers telling a friend his girlfriend was ugly. As Durham took another swig from his bottle, he remembers hearing a ‘pop’, but he went back to his party, then slept off his drinks. The next day a neighbor noticed he was limping, and came over to ask why. ‘It looks like you've been shot,’ the neighbor observed. Durham was, through his thigh, and hadn't even noticed. ‘If it were a big, gaping hole, like from a .45, you'd probably take ...
Lonnie David Franklin, Jr., was a serial murderer. But he was a “nice guy.” Huh? Only alcoholism can explain such dichotomies.
Lonnie David Franklin, Jr., Now Linked to The Grim Sleeper Killings, Again Proves we can’t Predict how Destructive an Addict may Become—or When
It was an open secret that Lonnie David Franklin, Jr., who fronted as a neighborhood mechanic, dismantled stolen cars and sold the parts from his big backyard in South Los Angeles. However, no one thought he was capable of murder, must less serial murder.
Franklin was either a “beer drinking buddy” or on the wagon. He was at times a father figure to adolescent women and at others a pervert talking about nothing but sex and drugs. He was always willing to help out a neighbor, except when he was so paranoid he wouldn’t even go to his street ...
Runners-up: Mel Gibson and Rod Blagojevich are no strangers to this report, but Bret Carr is new–and classic.
Mel Gibson, 54, whose clue to insobriety included a tirade in which he told his Russian girlfriend, Oksana Grigorieva, 39, “If you get raped by a pack of n***ers, it will be your fault,” because she apparently looked too sexy. By many accounts he’s outdone his previous outburst, for which he made “Top Story” in the August 2006 edition of TAR, which not only described Gibson’s arrest, but also explained why relapses are so darned common in alcoholics. At the time Gibson said that pain is a necessary precursor to change. He admitted he was “completely out of control” when he was arrested and was “deeply ashamed” for having driven when he “should not have” and for exhibiting “belligerent behavior.” ...
Crony capitalist Villalobos may be one of many reasons California’s pension fund CalPERS is broke.
Crony capitalist Alfred R. Villalobos, who has been named in a state influence-peddling lawsuit, filing for bankruptcy in Nevada with almost $5 million owed to Nevada casinos in addition to other debts. Villalobos was a deputy mayor of Los Angeles for five months in 1993 and a board member of CalPERS, California’s giant pension fund, from 1993 to 1995. Over the last dozen years, Villalobos took in more than $50 million in commissions for brokering billion dollar deals between investment managers and CalPERS, as well as other government pension funds. One can only imagine how prolific a gambler, as the Attorney General’s office put it, he must be. The AG office is opposing the Nevada bankruptcy filing, arguing that Villalobos’ ...
Everyone from babies to FBI agents can suffer at the hands of addicts.
Alcoholic victims of the month:
A 6-month-old baby, whose parents, Patrick Fousek, 38 and Samantha Tomasini, 20, tried to sell for $25 outside a Wal-Mart in Salinas, CA. What drug could possibly impel not just one parent but both to try to sell their child at a Wal-Mart? There’s really only one. When officers later arrested the couple at their home, they appeared to be high on methamphetamine and the house was in disarray (and for this to be mentioned by police we can’t imagine how great the disarray must have been). They were charged with child endangerment and being under the influence of narcotics. Fousek was also charged with—are you ready?—violating probation. I’m shocked, just shocked.
Some 300 current and retired ...
Judge Revel tries to save Lindsay Lohan’ life.
Disenabler of the month:
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Marsha N. Revel, who after listening to actress Lindsay Lohan’s promises to do better and her defense of an “inadvertent” failure to attend weekly alcohol education classes and follow other orders, sentenced Lohan to 90 days in jail for repeatedly violating the terms of her probation. The case stems from two arrests for DUI in 2007, for which Lohan was originally given only probation. Judge Revel called Lohan on her lies, including never admitting to driving vehicles involved in two (apparently unrelated) accidents (“someone else was driving”), about the white substance (cocaine) found in her pants (“the pants belong to someone else”) and her claim that she couldn’t attend the Cannes International ...
So long to Trivial Pursuit marketing whiz Chris Haney…along with a couple of guys who did good after getting sober.
Sometimes, it takes an addict:
Chris Haney, a former Canadian journalist who with Scott Abbott, a sports writer for the Canadian Press, co-created the best-selling board game Trivial Pursuit, dead at age 59 after a long illness, which included kidney and circulatory problems. Haney often described himself as “a beer-swilling high school dropout” whose biggest mistake was quitting school at 17 because, as he’d tell reporters, “I should have done it when I was 12.” He and Abbott were housemates in the late 1970s when he complained about paying $11 for a Scrabble set, saying, “There must be a lot of money in games. Why don’t we invent one?” Haney soon quit his day job to work full time on the ...
Welfare recipients will go wild until screened for addiction. Then lay down the rules.
Yet another reason why welfare recipients should be screened for alcohol and other-drug addiction, with random and regular follow-up testing
California state officials recently acknowledged that hundreds of thousands of dollars in welfare payments have been dispensed monthly by ATMs in casinos and strip clubs. Officials are doing what they can to prevent such abuse by making it so ATMs in such locations will not dispense state cash. While such abuse has so far cost the state at least $5 million, a relatively insignificant amount in a state with an admitted $19 billion budget gap, the old saying, “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire,” may apply.
While there’s no question many welfare recipients wouldn’t survive without state aid or charity (the latter of ...
Disenabling son impeded by enabling mother
Laying blame
Dear Doug:
My son refuses to respond to his cousins’ text messages because they both have a history of using drugs. How can I explain to my son that the drug use is not his cousins’ fault, and that it’s their mother’s fault because she has had longstanding drug issues?
Signed,
Trying to get the kids together
. . . .
Dear Codependent,
Other columnists would suggest your son should be trusted to use his own judgment. They might have you encourage him to understand whatever drives the cousins but warn you that forcing him into a relationship could spell trouble. They’d also tell you that it’s possible there is more to the story than you know.
Such columnists would be tip-toeing around the issue, ...
People who act terribly tend to be drinkers because the addictive drinking makes them that way
“Prohibition….propaganda blamed alcohol for the destruction of the family, the persistence of poverty, the high rate of crime, the problem of illiteracy, and the ubiquity of sin generally. Clearly, their arguments were widely accepted even though it is all a big and fallacious mix-up of cause and effect. It's not that liquor caused all these terrible things; it's that the people who engage in terrible behaviors tend to also be drinkers.”
So claimed Jeffrey A. Tucker in an article entitled “Repeal the Drinking Age” at www.Mises.org. Even my fellow libertarians, including those writing for a think-tank whose work is devoted to educating others about the ideas of the greatest economist ever (Ludwig von Mises), can get alcoholism backwards.
Yet Prohibition propaganda wasn’t ...
Don’t bother mixing alcohol with warning signs; voodoo fails to protect con man
Story from “This is True” by Randy Cassingham, with his “tagline:”
“WHAT PART OF "DO NOT TOUCH" DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND? Willie Eugene Lewis climbed a fence (posted "DANGER: Hazardous Voltage Inside -- KEEP OUT!") at a power station in Talladega, Ala. He then climbed onto the equipment, says Police Chief Alan Watson, and suffered a 40,000 volt shock. ("Alcohol should not be ruled out as a factor," according to Watson.) Lewis then climbed back over the fence and walked to a hospital for help. He was listed in critical condition with burns over 90 percent of his body. The only specific injury Watson could bring himself to report was that Lewis "burned off his genitals."(Talladega Daily Home) ...Thus making "Willie" a ...