Archive for September, 2006
Terrorism and Addiction
The absence of actual evidence of addictive use of drugs by the current regime of terrorists is not surprising. The probable motive force behind the horrific behaviors is, none the less, psychotropic drug addiction.
The fifth anniversary of 9-11 reminds us what terrorists are capable of. The question that begs to be answered, yet is rarely asked, is what is the root of hatred that results in the wanton murder of helpless innocents? The first Czar of Russia, Ivan lV Vasilievich, was one of history's grand terrorists. A sampling of his countless atrocities shows that terrorists vary only in their methods"and provides clues to what drives them.
James Graham, in his masterpiece The Secret History of Alcoholism, describes the vengeance ...
Runners-Up: Soldiers, a kid, a despot’s brother, an actor, a rock star and a hero
Runners-up for top story of the month:
Five American soldiers in Iraq who reportedly took turns raping a 14-year-old Iraqi girl, after which they killed her, the girl's parents and her 5-year-old sister. The attack "followed a session of whiskey drinking and card-playing during which five soldiers plotted the…assault"250 yards from their post. U.S. soldiers are banned from drinking alcohol while in Iraq, but such geographic-centered Prohibition has been proven a failure time and again. Who among us doubts that alcohol and other-drug addicts are responsible for war's worst atrocities?
Brandon Menard, 21, a Boy Scout whose friends and remaining family were "dumbfounded"over his arrest for allegedly killing his parents and sister in Northridge, California. Headlines read, "Motive in killings remains ...
Under Watch: Fidel Castro and Mexico’s Obrador
Under watch:
Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, 80, recuperating from stomach surgery. His megalomania has always baffled me, since it's believed he drinks little. However, as suggested in the "runners-up"section, he may be, like Yasir Arafat, an amphetamine or cocaine addict. Behavioral evidence that his emotional state is stuck in his teens (the emotional state of the addict gets "stuck"the day he or she triggers addiction) can be found in the fact that, as Pope John Paul II's biographer George Weigel puts in a piece entitled, "Don't cry for him, Cubanos,"in The Los Angeles Times, "I remember walking the streets of Havana [in January 1998]…thinking that this is what a country would look like if it were run for decades by ...
Enablers of the month: Gibson’s arresting officer James Mee and Dina Lohan
Enablers of the Month:
Sheriff Deputy James Mee, who after arresting Mel Gibson excused himself for the arrest by commenting, "As in all DUIs…I don't relish hurting people [by arresting them]…I'm out there doing my job,"and "I don't take pride in hurting Mr. Gibson."Excuse me Deputy Mee, but by doing your job you are helping him, not hurting him. It's unfortunate that so many officers before you failed to do their job.
Deputy Mee also decided not to handcuff Mel Gibson at the outset because of "who he is."Mee was quoted as having told Gibson "that if he remained cooperative, I would transport him without handcuffing."Listen up, Deputy Mee. Gibson's blood alcohol level was at .12 per cent when stopped for driving ...
Why hand-held cell phone use should not be banned
Public Policy Proposal:
Should Hand-Held Cell Phone Use be Banned While Driving?
The idea that cell phone use by drivers is dangerous was recently buttressed by studies purporting to show that such use is more dangerous than driving under the influence. Even California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is promising to sign such a ban into law. However, the study flies in the face of reason. When research findings don't make sense, I always consider the classic book, How to Lie with Statistics by Darrell Huff and ask, what's wrong with the study?
One problem is that it tracked 40 people following a pace car using a driving simulator. Meth addicts have been studied, too"and were "proven"to be better drivers than non-users. Subsequent studies ...
A classic case of elder abuse
Dear Doug: Elder Abuse
Dear Doug:
In order to support our son, his wife and two children, my wife and I, both 76, still work. Our son just got laid off and his wife, who was supposed to go back to work when their first child entered Kindergarten, got pregnant again and, with the new baby, is unable to go back to work.
When our son was working, we had to help with $200-per-week day care for their older child and even more for the baby. When our son lost his job, we had to take over rent and car payments for which we had co-signed. They are behind on their utilities and have been threatened with being cut off, so we often ...
With alcoholism, most have cause and effect backwards
Three seemingly disparate statements in recent news reports have one thing in common: reporters have it backwards.
"Aggressive or withdrawn youths"and those who struggle in school"are more likely to abuse drugs."-- Marnell Jameson, "Anti-drug overdose?"The Los Angeles Times, May 15, 2006.
"Key to understanding the relationship between early drinking and alcoholism risk is whether…early drinking reflects an underlying predisposition for risky behavior in [certain] young people."–National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism news release, "Early Drinking Linked to Higher Lifetime Alcoholism Risk,"July 17, 2006.
"On the heels of a five-year boom in weight-loss surgeries, researchers are observing an unusual phenomenon: Some patients stop overeating"but wind up acquiring new compulsive disorders such as alcoholism, gambling addiction or compulsive shopping."-- Jane Spencer, "The New Science ...
More on Gibson and the idea that his real personality was revealed
Addendum to last month's myth, "Alcohol is a revealer, not a creator of human behavior.""Alcohol is truth serum.â€
This variation of Myth # 63 in Alcoholism Myths and Realities ("His real personality comes out when he drinksâ€) was repeated ad nauseam in regards to Mel Gibson in the days following his arrest. It was repeated even by psychologist Joyce Brothers, who is quoted as saying, "We are much more likely to tell our own feelings when we are drunk."While this may be true for non-alcoholics, it is flagrantly false for alcoholics. I even heard the myth bandied about by recovering addicts, who surprisingly often don't understand their own disease. They are, in fact, the greatest perpetrators of the myths that "alcoholism ...
The antics of meth addicts
Meth-Heads do the Craziest Things
Whenever I run across a story of somebody doing something really stupid, I look for alcoholism. If it's really, really stupid, I look for crack cocaine. And if it's incredibly idiotic, I look for methamphetamine. I'm usually not disappointed. Here's a classic, which also involved quite a bit of creativity.
"DUH DRUGGIES: The Missouri Highway Patrol says Joseph Seidl, 39, and Michael Sullivan, 41, thought up a great method to ditch a cargo of illegal drugs in case they got pulled over: a 4-foot rocket. The device, the police agency said, was packed with two pounds of methamphetamine and set up in the truck of their car. It was wired to a switch in front; when activated, ...