December 13, 2007 at 1:08 pm ·
Filed under 1 - Top Stories
Richard Roberts, son of school founder and televangelist Oral Roberts, who resigned from his position as president of Oral Roberts University. In a lawsuit filed by three dismissed university professors Roberts was accused of misspending university funds to support a lavish lifestyle, including allegations of a $39,000 shopping spree for Roberts' wife, Lindsay Roberts, a $29,000 trip on the university jet to the Bahamas for one of their daughters, and the purchase of a stable of horses for their children. The resignation came on the heels of an amended lawsuit, which included an internal ministry report titled "Scandal Vulnerability Assessment," documenting allegations of misconduct by the Roberts family. Among other indications that alcoholism is heavily involved somewhere, the detailed account ...
Permalink
December 13, 2007 at 1:06 pm ·
Filed under 1 - Top Stories
Former New York City police commissioner Bernard Kerik, who was once nominated to head the federal Department of Homeland Security, indicted on 16 counts of conspiracy, tax fraud and making false statements to federal agents. Kerik could be a classic in the chronicles of hidden alcoholism. If it were only the fact that he withdrew his name from nomination because he didn't pay the nanny tax, Kerik wouldn't be "under watch." However, prior to this he abandoned an illegitimate Korean daughter, accepted undisclosed gifts from firms doing business with New York City, had at least two mistresses, declared bankruptcy, was expelled from Saudi Arabia after a physical confrontation with a local police official, and ignored an arrest warrant for failure ...
Permalink
December 13, 2007 at 1:05 pm ·
Filed under 1 - Top Stories
UCLA professor Frances Ohlsen, who asked civil-rights attorney Stephen Yagman to teach an undergraduate course on law, morality and social justice. Yagman, 63, was convicted of evading more than $100,000 in federal income taxes while living a reportedly lavish lifestyle, including Aspen vacations and wearing high-end suits from London. He was also convicted of bankruptcy fraud after filing for bankruptcy in 1999, even though living in a 2,800 square foot home in the Los Angeles area beach town of Venice. I'd love to hear him discuss morality.
Permalink
December 13, 2007 at 1:03 pm ·
Filed under 1 - Top Stories
Spain's King Juan Carlos who told Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez to "shut up" at a Latin American-Spanish-Portuguese summit. Chavez repeatedly referred to former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar as a "fascist," adding in his typical hyperbolic fashion that "fascists are not human" and "a snake is more human." Spain's current prime minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, elicited applause from the gathering when responding, "Former President Aznar was a...legitimate [democratically elected] representative of the Spanish people." Although Chavez' microphone was shut off, he repeatedly tried to interrupt and talk over the Spanish head of state. Hearing enough, Juan Carlos angrily leaned forward, looked directly at Chavez and said, "Why don't you shut up?"
Sabina Morgan who, while telling her husband "30 ...
Permalink
December 13, 2007 at 1:02 pm ·
Filed under 1 - Top Stories
Two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author Norman Mailer, dead of renal failure at 84. Mailer transformed American journalism by introducing to nonfiction some of the techniques of the novelist and by placing himself, a brilliant, flawed and larger-than-life character, at the center of his reporting. Mailer was drunk or stoned during most of the 1950s, tried to feed vodka to a horse, which bit him in return, and stabbed and seriously wounded his second of six wives in 1960. Among other controversies, he ran for mayor of New York City in 1969, campaigning to secede from New York and make the City the 51st state. He entered into a long feud with feminists after debating Germaine Greer in 1971 and declared himself ...
Permalink
December 13, 2007 at 12:57 pm ·
Filed under 1 - Top Stories
Robert Craig (Evel) Knievel, motorcycle daredevil, dead at 69. The Economist asked why any sane man would continue sailing over cars despite crashing numerous times and breaking dozens of bones. The answer was buried in their story. Before his fame, he stole hubcaps, burgled and embezzled the money of a hockey team he was involved with. He made tens of millions, yet declared bankruptcy. Although married for years to his childhood sweetheart, he bragged of many trysts, gambled prodigally and--crucially--kept the liquor flowing. The last seemingly unimportant fact in the overall scheme of things probably explained everything else about Evel Knievel, from cheater to thief to reckless and overachieving hero to millions. He apparently died sober, having "found Christ" in ...
Permalink
December 13, 2007 at 12:56 pm ·
Filed under 2 - Movie & Book Reviews
"Two and a Half Men"
There are only a handful of sitcoms over the past few decades that have held my attention for more than a few episodes. "Cheers" (at least the seasons that included Diane) and "Taxi" come to mind while surprisingly (given their popularity) "Seinfeld" and "Friends" do not. I only discovered "Everybody Loves Raymond" in syndication and was at first disappointed to see it had been replaced on the CW network with "Two and a Half Men." Since I like to wind down from the drama and seriousness of my work with good comedy for which the 7 p.m. time slot is perfect, I figured I had nothing to lose by giving it a chance.
I quickly discovered that ...
Permalink
December 13, 2007 at 12:55 pm ·
Filed under 3 - Dear Doug...
Dear Doug:
My 14-year-old daughter has been drinking after school. She's never been in any trouble, but this has me concerned. I don't get home from work until the evening. What should I do?
Signed,
Concerned Mother
. . . . .
Dear Codependent,
Other columnists might correctly point out that you need to insure your daughter has no access to alcohol. They might accurately tell us that youth who drink before age 15 are four times more likely to "become" alcoholics than those who begin drinking later in life. However, the use of the word "become" implies there is something other than genes at work. There isn't.
People do not "become" alcoholics; they trigger the disease. The distinction is essential for proper treatment. If they "become" ...
Permalink
December 13, 2007 at 12:54 pm ·
Filed under 4 - Alcoholic Myth of the Month
"I am born again. I will never again commit rape, or any other crime."
Paraphrasing, so said Arkansas state penitentiary inmate Wayne DuMond about ten years ago, after having served over a decade for rape. Then-Governor and current Republican Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee believed him. Reportedly responding to pressure from Huckabee, the parole board released DuMond who, less than a year later, murdered a mother of three. Today, misunderstanding the root cause of crime threatens Huckabee's campaign.
Like most people, Huckabee appears to think that crime is a result of Godlessness or other moral failing. If this were the case, the religious would never commit crime, while murderers, rapists and thieves would consist of only atheists and agnostics.
Wayne DuMond may have sincerely ...
Permalink
December 13, 2007 at 12:52 pm ·
Filed under 5 - Amazing Alcoholic Antics
Story from "This is True" by Randy Cassingham, with his "tagline:"
"UNCRITICAL THINKING: After a sheriff's deputy pulled over Reginald Cotton in Tampa, Fla., he got out and ran, an incident report says. Officers chased him down, and had to Taser him to subdue and arrest him. Investigators searched his car and found that when he ran, he left his two young children behind. They also found a bottle of crack cocaine hidden under the seat. Cotton was charged with two counts of child neglect, plus possession of cocaine with intent to sell, all felonies. They didn't bother charging him with what led to the traffic stop: the deputy simply wanted to warn him that the tinting on his windshield was ...
Permalink
November 9, 2007 at 12:47 pm ·
Filed under 1 - Top Stories
"America's Sheriff" Michael S. Carona: Is He Merely Corrupt, or is He Alcoholic?
Orange County, CA Sheriff Michael S. Carona, 52, was once dubbed "America's Sheriff" by Larry King, courted by former White House aide Karl Rove and groomed as a prospective Republican candidate for Lieutenant Governor of CA. He gained nationwide recognition after leading the search for the kidnapper of 5-year-old Samantha Runnion in 2002. Carona, who is a self-styled "conservative Christian," now faces federal charges on 10 counts of conspiracy, mail fraud and tampering with a grand jury witness. His wife, Deborah Carona, 56, has been indicted on one count of conspiracy. His alleged long-time former mistress, attorney Debra V. Hoffman, 41, has been charged on eight counts of ...
Permalink
November 9, 2007 at 12:43 pm ·
Filed under 1 - Top Stories
TV host and actor Gary Collins, 69, arrested for DUI after slamming his Ford Explorer into a Toyota driven by an 80-year-old man. Collins, who hosts Comcast Cable's Retirement Living TV featuring experts in senior lifestyles, was reportedly traveling at least 60 mph on a residential surface street in Van Nuys, CA (very near where I grew up). The 80-year-old was rendered unconscious and Collins told bystanders he needed to leave. They managed to make him wait, explaining that if he left he could be charged with hit and run. After he failed a field sobriety test, cops tried to get Collins to breathe into a Breathalyzer, but he claimed he was hard of hearing and unable to understand the ...
Permalink
November 9, 2007 at 12:42 pm ·
Filed under 1 - Top Stories
Atlanta Falcon's former star quarterback Michael Vick, who made the "under watch" section in the August 2007 issue of TAR due to being indicted for allegedly participating in a dog fighting ring. I wrote, "Vick is linked to the ring because he owns the property at which the dogs were sometimes housed. While there is otherwise no public information on Vick to suggest alcoholism, animal cruelty is almost always rooted in the disease. Of the 65 dog fighting arrests he's made in the last five years, Sgt. David Hunt of the Franklin County (Ohio) Sheriff's Office says, 'There's only been one where we didn't find drugs.'" Hey Michael, here's a way to get upgraded from "under watch" to "runner-up": get ...
Permalink
November 9, 2007 at 12:41 pm ·
Filed under 1 - Top Stories
Under watch:
Commanding officer of the nuclear-powered submarine, the Hampton, Cmdr. Michael B. Portland, relieved of duty because of a failure to conduct daily safety checks on the sub's nuclear reactor for a month and falsifying records to cover it up. We'll give you the benefit of the doubt, Cmdr. Portland: like your brother, Joseph Hazelwood, former captain of the Exxon Valdez, you have a disease that causes distortion of perception leading to impaired judgment, which is displayed in exceedingly dangerous fashion when commanding a nuclear submarine.
Permalink
November 9, 2007 at 12:41 pm ·
Filed under 1 - Top Stories
Co-Dependents of the Month:
The U.S. Navy, for failing to intervene in Cmdr. Portland's likely alcoholism long before relieving him from duty. It's reminiscent of another story: the Exxon Valdez oil spill. According to Wikipedia, by 1988 Captain Joseph Hazelwood's "driver's license had been suspended or revoked three times...for alcohol violations....At the time of the Exxon Valdez incident, his...driving privileges were suspended as a result of [an arrest for DUI] on September 13, 1988." The oil spill on his watch occurred on March 23, 1989.
Permalink
« Previous Page —
« Previous entries« Previous Page ·
Next Page »Next entries » —
Next Page »
