Archive for June, 2006
"Men of Honorâ€
"Men of Honor"is an inspiring story about overcoming obstacles and steel-willed determination. It's also about one of those obstacles, alcoholism-fueled racism, from which redemption becomes possible. The result is one of the great unsung alcoholic movies.
Navy dive school instructor Master Chief Billy Sunday, played by Robert DeNiro in a role reminiscent of another alcoholic he played, Tobias Wolff's father in "This Boys' Life,"is a typical highly functional alcoholic. Behavioral indications of alcoholism such as those mentioned in my book, How to Spot Hidden Alcoholics: Using Behavioral Clues to Recognize Addiction in its Early Stages, are evident long before we see or hear about any actual addictive drinking. Early on, Sunday is magnificently abusive and likens himself to ...
Alcoholic law enforcers
Amazing Antics: Stories of Alcoholism-Driven Behaviorsâ„¢
Story from "This is True"by Randy Cassingham, with his "tagline:â€
These antics involve law enforcers who, like Kennedy in this month's top story, could have easily cost lives.
"WHO CONTROLS THE CONTROLLERS? ‘Due to circumstances that I deeply regret,' said Teresa L. Kaiser, 56, she resigned as the executive director of the Oregon Liquor Control Commission. What sort of circumstances? While driving -- not in a state car, her deputy was quick to point out -- she swerved into oncoming traffic, causing a crash with injuries, and was arrested after her blood alcohol was shown by a breath test to be double the legal limit. Kaiser told police she
had only drunk two glasses of wine ...
A streak of recklessness and “mental issues” are excellent signs of alcoholism
"There's certainly a streak of recklessness in the family, despite how much they've achieved.â€
So said Ron Kessler, author of a book on the Kennedy clan's patriarch, Joseph P. Kennedy (The Sins of the Father: Joseph P. Kennedy and the Dynasty He Founded), in commenting on the family's latest front-page antics. Unfortunately, Mr. Kessler lacks an understanding of the key ingredient to alcoholism: a biochemistry that, with use, causes addicts to view themselves as godlike. This egotistical self-perception makes the addict truly believe he or she is invincible, which often manifests in reckless behaviors. And, those who think they're God tend to develop a need to control others. Overachievement provides a ready means by which to control fans, constituents, co-workers, employees, ...
Dear Doug: Power-seeking behaviors in the workplace
Dear Doug: Backstabbing Employee
Dear Doug:
One of my subordinates invariably puts himself in a positive light at my expense in front of my manager. He's either not truthful or fails to give the whole story. Should I say something or let it go?
Signed,
Slighted
. . . .
Dear Slighted,
Other columnists might suggest that you carefully, professionally and in a mature way correct his comments, so that your manager doesn't buy into the misinformation. Such columnists might also suggest a private encounter with the employee, letting him know you expect the cheap shots to stop. There might even be an allusion to the behavior as a "power game."Indeed.
Left unsaid is that power-seeking behaviors, especially those coming at the ...
Book Review: “The Kennedy Curse” (hint: it’s not Narcissism)
Review: "The Kennedy Curse: Why Tragedy Has Haunted America's First Family for 150 Years,"by Edward Klein
Edward Klein covered John F. Kennedy's 1960 Presidential campaign and later served as foreign editor of Newsweek and editor-in-chief of The New York Times Magazine. He has authored countless articles and several books, including two others on Kennedy family members. He's a good writer and meticulous researcher. However, despite his resume and, sadly, in concert with virtually every other biographer and historian, he reverses cause and effect.
As discussed in by books, How to Spot Hidden Alcoholics: Using Behavioral Clues to Identify Addiction in its Early Stages, and Alcoholism Myths and Realities: Removing the Stigma of Society's Most Destructive Disease, alcoholism mimics virtually all the ...
Top Story: U.S. Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy, the cops and his doctor
How Many Times Will Kennedy Fans Enable Before he Dies from his Disease?
The cops do what they can to prevent another attempt at sobriety, but (fortunately) fail
Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy, six-term congressman from Rhode Island, entered rehab"again"for an admitted addiction to pharmaceuticals after crashing his car. He remembered nothing of the incident (meaning he was in a blackout), which occurred May 4th at 3 a.m. A police report stated at the time of the accident Kennedy's "eyes were red and watery, speech was slightly slurred and, upon exiting his vehicle, his balance was unsure…. [His car] had no lights running"and almost swerved into a police car traveling in the opposite direction. When an officer tried to stop him, Kennedy ...
Runners-up: Despots, Actors, Playmates and Politicians
Runners-up for top story of the month:
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who told a reporter inquiring about reports of evacuations, extreme poverty, mass killings and gang rapes in Darfur, "These are all lies. I tell you these are lies. There is no mass killing."Sudan, the largest country in Africa at nearly a third the size of the lower 48 States, has a per capita gross income of $530, 1,200 miles of paved and gravel roads (the U.S. has 2.4 million miles of such roads) and six million internally displaced refugees, 61 per cent of whom have experienced a family member killed in its Civil War.
Actor Kiefer Sutherland, reportedly throwing a tantrum in a Tennessee restaurant after being asked to smoke ...
Under Watch: Arsenic and Old Lace, Bolivian President Evo Morales and financial commentator Louis Rukeyser
Under watch:
Helen Golay, 75, and Olga Rutterschmidt, 72, who allegedly offered room and board to Los Angeles area homeless men in exchange for their cooperation in applying for insurance policies on the men's lives. More than $2 million was collected from policies, which paid off when the men were killed in mysterious hit-and-run crashes. The women initially took out small policies but duplicated the men's signatures on rubber stamps, which were used to obtain more policies, keeping each policy small enough to stay under life insurers' fraud radar. They were caught only when two detectives were sharing "war"stories and realized an unsolved murder of a homeless man in 1999 was similar to another one in 2005, both of which involved ...
Codependent of the Month: The U.S. Army
Codependent of the Month: The U.S. Army. If the incident in Haditha proves true, we can look to soldiers with symptoms of alcoholism as the source of the atrocities. According to the Los Angeles Times, at least one prisoner told investigators that "he frequently smelled alcohol on the guards' breath in the cellblock where most of the abuses occurred"at Abu Ghraib (June 13, 2004). Who doubts that alcohol and other-drug addiction wasn't at the root of Viet Nam atrocities, particularly My Lai. Due to the possible misbehaviors of a few, all U.S. soldiers will be subjected to "ethics training."Unfortunately, such training offers no benefit for those in whom the biological processing of alcohol damages the seat of reason and logic, ...