Fitz
THis one’s for you Sharon…

yow! fitz, bitches!

yeah – Sharontz!

Rush Limba is the most despicably evil piece of shit on this planet next to Dick Cheney. And his bullshit hypocrisy on substance abuse is simply staggering. Even for him. Unlike others more compassionate, I wish him nothing but absolute ill.

I don’t get the supposed difference between Limbaugh and Kennedy that the wingers are pushing (ha) at all — Kennedy’s drugs were all perscribed/legal pain medication as well. As far as I know, Rush only embraced the “I’ve got a problem” narrative after arrest. Not unusual, to be sure, but there is no sense, like with the Addict Decider in Chief, that he ever eally believed he had a problem. Kennedy really looked like he was upset and that he had bottomed out….

Jane- great post pulling together all of the unraveling. A very important statement from you.

I used to pay attention when Franken had his ditto-head friend Mark Luther on, till I got tired of hearing him trying to weasel out of an obvious Rushism (= lie). I finally decided their brains must work differently – they hear the same words I do but the conclusions they come to are twisted 180 degrees… Crazy-making!

Sorry EPU’ed from last thread,
Re immanentize

Did you notice that Scott Shane and Elisabeth Bumiller contributed to the NYT’s article? I agree there are so many things wrong with it that it is difficult to know where to start. They seem to make a lot of a single meeting where Hayden criticized Goss but really it could just as well have been the CIA in general for trying to hold on to intelligence analysis. It sounded more like turf wars and said more about Hayden than Goss. Hayden’s intelligence credentials are played up. At the same time, the fact that he has never run agents in the field and has zero experience doing so is played down. Even here the point was only made in passing that most covert operations are and are going to be run out of the DOD. So the question that should have been asked and wasn’t is why have a CIA any longer at all. After the FEMA fiasco, downgrading, reorganizing, and restaffing a major government agency seems a recipe for yet another Bush led disaster.

There’s a great diary at Daily Kos written by a female attorney:

Patrick Kennedy and me

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/5/6/16759/19425

There, but for the grace of the God(s)…..

Hugh, I replied last thread….

Oh, minor note: alcohol is legal, and Coors gets their share of the $$$. Maybe OT, bec. I’m still not sure what drugs PK was supposed to have been using. Alcohol certainly was implied in the comebacks.

I’m totally in agreement with sharkbabe. It’s the utter hypocrisy of that piece of slime that evokes only contempt from me! I have a friend whose son became addicted to crack cocaine–grew up with my daughter and a very nice kid. It’s the saddest thing in the world to me. The addiction is horrible. Extremely difficult to overcome. My friend’s son is now in prison again, after having been through a number of rehabs and seemingly getting his life back. But then–he used and was arrested. He didn’t hurt anyone but his sad self.

Reagan criminalized illness.

“But right-wing narratives don’t require consistency.”

Precisely. That’s why there’s no point in arguing with Republicans in a rational fashion.
Rationality is an impediment to their lust for power and control.

They must be destroyed. Torn apart, limb from limb.

By any means necessary.

You’ve summed it up pretty well, Jane, except that the fact that he was a mean little hypocrite in the first place doesn’t help us sympathize with him, either.

Personally, I wouldn’t wish drug addiction on anyone, but if there’s such a thing as karma then a ton of it fell on Rush’s back.

Let us not forget that Bush is the first “president” ever in U.S. history to be CONVICTED of drunk driving.

Rich assholes like Rush whose entire being and fortune are based on lies and cynical manipulation of fellow humans’ honest emotion – they are a zillion miles from the humility and true self-examination that true recovery rests upon.

Rush won’t even acknowledge he was arrested. He’s still an addict, living lie after lie. I seriously doubt he’ll be able to keep to the pee-in-a-cup regimen he’s got.

mudkitty – Bush AND Dickhead. What did Cheney have, like three?

Sharkbabe- What kind of music does your band play. Can you post a “linky”?

EPU’d. Damn it.

Rush is infuriating, that’s for sure. A modern day P.T. Barnum. A constant reminder of how easily the stupid, the bigoted and the closeted are to fleece.

I am bouyed by the fact that O’Reilly has lost almost 2/3 of his 25-54 audience over the past 8 months. I hold on to the faith that people inherently want better than the simplistic tripe they have been fed from these grandiose, self-enriching bastards.

I also can’t help feel that everyone, except the backwash, knows that the “base” are looney at this point. They got their wish, power at any price, and look where it got them.

I pity them. I pray for them. Truly pathetic.

http://tinyurl.com/a6erq

Help Impeach These Bastids

1) Sign petitions if you have not done so
2) Send a letter to Congress and let em know we are coming
3) Write the media – vent a little
4) Enlist family and friends – ask them to chip in time
5) Help post the link around

Thanks as always!!!

Another great post Jane. How do you keep your intensity level so high? Do you ever feel like “It’s time to feed the animals” before you write a post?

BTW, there is an excellent book, classic prob. An Unquiet Mind : A Memoir of Moods and Madness by Kay Redfield Jamison. http://www.amazon.com/gp/produ…..62-9602541

=== As a founder of UCLA’s Affective Disorder Clinic and a co-author of a standard medical text, Dr. Kay Redfield Jamison may be the foremost authority on manic-depressive illness. She is also one of its survivors. And it is this dual perspective — as healer and healed — that makes Jamison’s memoir so lucid, learned, and profoundly affecting.

Even as she was pursuing her psychiatric training, Jamison found herself succumbing to the exhilarating highs and paralyzing lows that afflicted many of her patients. Though the disorder brought her seemingly boundless energy and mercurial creativity, it also propelled her into spending sprees, episodes of violence, and an attempt at suicide.

Powerfully candid, exceptionally wise, An Unquiet Mind is one of those rare books that has the power to transform lives — and even save them.
===

1. The breathylizer machine is accurate to .03. According to the police reports published on the web, Our Beloved Leader blew a .11. That means that if he had had a competent expert and decent counsel, his highest proveable score would have been .08, i. e., impaired. But that was at the police station, some 45 minutes to an hour after the actual driving. The reason the police wait that long to administer the test is that your score peaks about an hour after you stop drinking. (Peaking is a function of withdrawal.) That means, and I realize you need a decent expert to prove this, that his actual score when he was driving was less than .08. Which means he was not guilty of impaired driving either.

2. The police in towns like Kennebunkport, Maine, are not employed to hassle the children of the rich and famous. They’re employed to keep people like us from hassling the rich and famous. Cops in towns like that make flaky busts every night. But not when it comes to the rich and famous or their children. Cops in towns like Kennebunkport are about as quick on the draw with the children of the rich and famous as Capital Police command officers are with members of Congress. You’ve got to believe they knew the car. They didn’t stop that car for crossing the yellow line or weaving within the lane. No chief of police in Kennebunkport is going to be comfortable with that kind of a bust unless his doing his Officer Friendly number.

3. Our Beloved leader pled on the nose. Clearly, Our Beloved Leader did not want a public trial on this alleged drunk driving.

It’s amazing that they can pack that much asshole into one man.

I’ve been EPU’ed. Late to the party as usual. I just hope I can uphold my track record when my time is up. ;-)

#25

I’m an asshole. How dare you associate me with something I regularly reject.

The context of my previous comment might not have been clear. Kennedy suffers from bipolar disorder or manic-depressive illness.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/…..nnedy.html
===As a high school senior, the congressman was treated at a drug rehabilitation clinic before he went to Providence College. He has said he wants to end the stigma of mental health problems, and he has been praised by mental health professionals for being open about his struggles with depression, alcoholism and substance abuse. He has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder.===

Jesus had his pharisees. Dante had his usurers. And we have our Rush Limbaugh’s and the Republican Party. Damn the hypocrites, not for who they are, but for what they piously say they are not, and are. It is a most un-devine comedy. Gore for me in ‘08.

Jane,
This is a magnificent post. Thank you.

everything 19 – my band is an all dyke cover band, 60s through 00s, called the Outskirts. much of our success and brilliance (aside from me on bass) is owed to guitarist and vocalist Pauline Dross, who is the most astonishing talent in both realms I’ve ever beheld or worked with. We’ve played for about five years and are breaking up at last this june. Our website which has always been fairly lame is outskirtsoftown.com.

Rush’s apparent inability to come clean and be honest do not bode well for his pee bargain.
Recovery from alcohol and drug addiction is predicated on
1.honesty about the situation,
2.openess to discuss one’s addiction and the part it has played in one’s life and,
3.willingness to change the behaviours that keep the addiction in place.

Rush’s honesty, openess, and willingness will certainly be tested in the next 18 months. He doesn’t appear to be off to a good start though…

Valley Girl, an Unquiet Mind by Jamison is an excellent book! I used pieces of it in a collection of essays of my own because of her wonderful metaphors for describing her experience. It’s a book I’ve recommended to people who are either bi-polar (a term Jamison dislikes) or are caring for others suffering from the illness. Many I know have found her narrative and analysis immensely helpful.

Thanks for the hypocracy reminder Jane.

Rush doesn’t seem to effect real politcal discourse in this country. At best he provides vocalization lessons to the Neanderthal’s who imitate his grunting. Keeps the deeply debased happy.

[JANE — left you a note at the end of the thread two posts back.]

In re: Patrick Kennedy — I trust the folks on the right so very fricking little that I think there was more going on here than meets the eye. Let’s say somebody had a hint that something nasty was about to happen, and that somebody also has access to intelligence about EVERYBODY, including political opposition. What would you do if you were that somebody and you had the power to take action but no ethical compunctions to stop you?

Hmmm.

Valley Girl – Jamison’s book was excellent, and she has done and continues to do great work in educating medical professionals about mental illness. Unlike Rush, who could have used the power of his radio platform to educate the teeny tiny little minds he panders to, which might have helped his own recovery in the process.

Addiction is a terrible thing, and I do not take any solace or relish in the pain and chaos that envelopes addicts. I have a hard time with the person who, knowing his own pain, and knowing that addiction cuts across all racial, ethnic and social classes, would use his position to foster the myths and stigmas that others are working so hard to dispel. Maybe that’s an indication of how much hate a person like that has for himself, and how deep the sickness.

But perhaps we can also infer something about the basic goodness of someone who chooses not to hide and not to stonewall, and who takes responsibility for his own actions, and makes no excuses.

In contrasting Limbaugh with Kennedy, I couldn’t help thinking about Cheney; maybe he doesn’t have a substance abuse problem, as much as he has a power abuse problem. His response to the situation he was in bears a remarkable similarity to that of someone still in denial – this is not a man who intends to stop abusing his power. And why should he, as long as no one will hold him accountable.

dana! are you willing to give a link to your own essays, if they are published? The Jamison book was first brought to my attention by a dear friend who thought that she had a “touch” of manic-depressive about her. Another friend of the same group almost wrecked his life and academic life before college friends intervened. It is condition more common amongst creative and driven people than most realize.

Patrick Kennedy is headed to the Mayo Clinic–wasn’t it a Mayo neurologist who vouched for Terri Schiavo’s alertness, following hot on the heels of Frist’s distant diagnosis? Kennedy says he knows he needs expert help–but is there truly expertise when it comes to addiction? I know so many people who have gone to rehab and nada or friends who have gone for counseling/psychotherapy and nada–the experts were not all that expert. Humility seems to be in order here. Watching a psychologist testify as an expert in court can disabuse anybody of the notion that the helping professions can and do help.

Anne- thanks for your insightful comment.

I heard that Patrick Kennedy took Ambien(which seems to have had reports of similar instances of sleep driving and sleep eating as what he described)and some other prescription drug for nausea. But Patrick Kennedy is also fighting an additional demon, one that affects judgment, since he is bipolar. Obviously he’s a talented politician, but the guy has a lot on his plate.

I saw Hardball last night when they did their “Hotshots.” They asked Tucker Carlson whether he thought Patrick Kennedy got special treatment because they didn’t do a breathilizer test on the spot, and wound up driving him home. Of course Carlson went on about what a slime ball he thinks Kennedy is, a really unpleasant person, but of course he’s getting special treatment. Next they asked Joe Scarborough, and I have to give him credit although I usually don’t agree with him. He said that he thinks not only is Patrick Kennedy one of the nicest guys in the House, but he thinks if the same had happened to Joe when he was a Congressman, they would not only have driven him home, but we probably wouldn’t be talking about the incident the next day. He said that Congressmen are treated specially everyday, but he thinks that Kennedy’s name worked against him in this situation. I thought it was decent of him to take that position publicly.

David (#13):
we don’t do that stuff here. not kosher.

wondering- wrong, I think, to generalize from one person at Mayo who was involved in the Schiavo case to the entirely of the Mayo Clinic. They have an excellent reputation in toto. My view is that Kennedy’s underlying problem is manic-depressive illness, and the addictions follow on from this.

An unquiet Mind. Thanks for that VG, I will get that for my daughter. She is truly brilliant and phenomenally gifted artistically, but the price is quite high. As an aside, “one slipped passed the goalie” and the “domino” effect will make me a grampa. ;P

One aspect of this Patrick Kennedy story that troubles me is the medications that have been mentioned that he was on. He had a past history of drug addiction and alcohol dependence. Yet he was on Ambien. Well, maybe, but if there were even a hint that he was still using or drinking this should have not happened. I never saw how long he had been on Ambien but it was probably for a while. Usually if someone is going to have an idiosyncratic reaction to a medication it is early on.

On top of this, he was given phenergan for “stomach flu”. Phenergan is an anti emetic (keeps you from vomiting). This was the new medication. Given that he was a recovering addict, already on Ambien, it was just stupid to give him phenergan for symptomatic relief without close supervision.

Now Ambien can cause gastric symptoms either by taking it or stopping it. I don’t know if this has anything to do with Patrick Kennedy’s symptoms or not. OTOH, both Ambien and phenergan are sedative hypnotics (they calm and make you drowsy) although this is not their primary indication. Alcohol amplifies their effects (and again there is dispute about whether alcohol was involved). Patrick Kennedy said he had not been drinking but he also said that he had no memory of the incident and he is a recovering addict so you have to take what he says with a grain or two of salt.

So my question is who was the idiot who prescribed this stuff for him and then failed to monitor properly its use?

Among the many disgusting things about Frat-Boy-Cheerleader-in-Chief-Decider is trying to imagine him on coke and/or drunk. What a horror show.

Valley Girl–Jamison’s book is wonderful as is her Touched By Fire, which relates the stories of artists/musicians/writers who suffered manic depressive illness and still created magical stuff. What I meant to say is that not all professionals are Jamison and not all patients are lucky enough to work with someone like her–probably even at the Mayo Clinic. Which is what I meant–a statement of sadness not accusation.

That’s rad Sharkbabe

Oilfieldguy- you are most welcome. And, in case anyone/ someone didn’t get your snark, I would like to correct the impression you *might* have left, by your own statement earlier, that you are an asshole. Most def. not.

wondering- thanks for the clarification. Much agreed. Got it.

Yeah! What sharkbabe #4 said. Rush is my #2 lying asshole.
Ralphie Reed is #1. He gets the #1 because he’s got such a cute face. But Ralphie’s features are starting to meeelllt.

“…all the while he was wolfing down enough Oxycontin to tranquilize a mule team.

The right wing narrative is that Patrick Kennedy is an example of dissolute morality while Rush Limbaugh is a poor pain victim for whom we should feel pity.”

I’ve got to wonder about Rush’s alleged “severe chronic back pain” when cable news showed clips of him playing golf a couple of week ago. Golf??? That’s harder on a persons back than anything else I can imagine.

Oxycontin has its benefits for those that need it. Like a friend of mine that’s had back surgery three times with no relief or improvement. As a direct result of Rush, few doctors will prescribe it anymore (I’m told). Thanks, Rush.

Valley Girl @ 7:10 pm (#28) – I did a little web surfing about Ambien. The “official” website’s “important information” paper mentions that some sleep medications can induce suicidal thoughts. Is this a good thing for someone who’s bipolar to be taking? (I’m not asking for medical advice – I’m just curious).

VG #48

Yes the point was that an asshole serves a useful function. Rush does not unless it is the hapless Bernstein Bear daddy sorta way.

I saw a reference to manic-depression–aka bipolar affective disorder–and I wanted to pass along a link to this very useful website for those who are bipolar or who have friends or family so affected.

Rush Limbaugh is a pumpkinheaded, pill-poppin’, hate mongering, son of a bitch. Other than that…I have nothing against him. You would think somehow that someone who almost went deaf – remember that one? – and dodged a bullet on this doctor shopping rap due to his $$$$, would become humbled. Not this mother fucker! He is the GOP. Sorry I got off on a rant there…but…I feel better now.

That’s a redundancy. However the “chronic back pain” is a little above the mark.

A pain in the ass has a pain in the ass. Wasn’t that his medical deferment too?

Sharkbabe- It’s too bad the band is breaking up, I’m sure you rocked.

Wondering #38

One instance of special treatment wrt Patrick Kennedy is that he can on a moment’s notice go to the Mayo Clinic for rehab. It is good that he can but most Americans could not and those that have sufficient insurance and could would probably have to wait a lot longer and need a referral.

Also if he is going for rehab, this is an indication that he did not have simply a bad reaction or recurrence of his underlying depression but that use of drugs (prescription, street, alcohol) was involved.

VG (#37)–I’m the editor of the collection. The focus is on the role of metaphor as a means of constructing theory and on the interplay of metaphor and culture. One chapter is devoted to illness. Besides Jamison, Suzanna Kaysen, novelist, has a memoir (and wasn’t it also a movie?), Girl, Interrupted, which is a fascinating account of her diagnosis and treatment for “borderline personality disorder,” in which she makes a case that some disorders may be seen as a clinical metaphor for “unwanted conduct.” She focuses too on issues of gender.

In academe, there are quite a few people who suffer from manic-depression, depression, and especially obsessive-compulsive disorder. In cases of ocd, it’s funny, but not, really, that many academics got where they are by being compulsive and obsessive in their research. It’s a virtue until it goes too far and bites you in the ass. Several of my colleagues take medication for it.

Cujo359- not an expert, so I can’t say. However, Hugh’s post at #44 touches on this issue, and ends with: So my question is who was the idiot who prescribed this stuff for him and then failed to monitor properly its use?. Sounds like a pretty good question to me, even as a non-expert!

Oilfieldguy:

“unless it is the hapless Bernstein Bear daddy sorta way.”

I am clueless. What does that mean?

BTW I was down in OK the past 2 days for a wedding. Only a few miles from where bush was speaking at Okie State this morning, but managed to avoid encountering him and his security detail. How is the media playing his speech today?

VG

The rest of my comment at #43 was in code and directed toward your further education on street lingo. This is material we have covered. Sabe?

#61

The Bernstein Bears were childrens books that taught lessons by the holding up the hapless father up as a bad example.

I heard someone on TV recently – I think it was a journalist – say that hypocrisy in Washington goes unnoticed and that trying to call a someone on it is not something that’s going to get any traction.

That, to me, was an amazing statement. Not untrue, just unbelievable! Here we are jumping up and down at the rampant hypocrisy of the right wing and everybody in politics and the MSM is completely la-di-da about it because it is so common as to be “normal” – no big deal.

So our biting moral outrage is completely lost on these people – we seem shrill and critical to them, nitpicking about all the big and little lies, the duplicity, the double standards – because to them the lying is not a moral or ethical matter (as is gasp! gay marriage or stem cell research), it’s just what people do all day every day to get what they want.

And the seriousness of Rush’s hypocrisy is completely lost on these people, the same way the right wing constantly ridicules the “Bush lied” meme – not because it’s not true – most of them know it is (the ones who can think, I mean) – but because it just doesn’t matter. Bush “needed” to take the country to war, so he did what he needed to do to get there – now get over it people! But let a liberal object to drilling in the Alaskan wilderness and they cry “hypocrisy!” After all, liberals drive cars, don’t they?

Well well well, now that I’ve taken all this space to try to think my way through it, I realize it just comes down to the same old thing – “us versus them.” If they do it it’s right, if we do it it’s wrong. Never mind…

Hugh @ 7:53 pm (#58) – He probably got a push to the front of the line, but he’s also clearly had this problem for a while. He was just in an accident three weeks ago.

It was Kennedy’s second auto crash in three weeks. His car struck the rear passenger door of a car while he was making a left turn into a CVS pharmacy in Portsmouth, R.I., according to a police report on the April 15 accident. No injuries were reported and Kennedy was not cited.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.c…..pat06.html

Hugh–And what if the idiot prescribing for Patrick K. is a Mayo practitioner? I, and too many other parents of children with severe mental illness, have all too frequently, commonly, traditionally been very ill served by psychiatrists, if at all.

Incidenatlly, what’s up with this guy that’s submerged in water? Where does he shit?

Sorry, sometimes my references are cryptic. Sorta like payback for IIRC, EPU, ROFLMAO, etc.

OT–Headline in WaPo: Reports of Impotence on Campuses Increasing

#64

Welcome to the Gestalt netroots.

Hugh @ 44,

I think what you’re not factoring in is the effects of being bipolar. Many bipolar people do a lot of self-medicating starting their own regimen on street drugs early on. Even when they are diagnosed, they are given a cocktail of several different psychotropic drugs to try to regulate their moods. When I met the man I’m involved with, he was on five psychotropic drugs. He was interesting, intelligent, amiable and he liked animals. He owned a nice house with a pool, and you could tell he was used to the better things in life. He never tried to keep his illness a secret, but I have been around him for three years and I know more fully what he’s been dealing with. While they were trying to balance their particular right blend of drugs for him, he told me that he attempted suicide six times in one year. He still drinks way too much, and still feels compulsions that he can’t seem to shake. My feeling is that it’s quite a wild ride, and also quite a heavy burden.

By the way, did I mention that he’s also a veteran of Viet Nam. He was a Captain. Now he has post traumatic stress disorder.

VG,

“So my question is who was the idiot who prescribed this stuff for him and then failed to monitor properly its use?.”

Any ethical doctor monitored Oxycontin usage pre Rush. Off/On, mix it up, etc. from what I understand. No blank check for it in other words.

Scattered thoughts:

By definition, regardless of the amounts involved or the length of time used, there is no addiction if a patient is using pain medications for the treatment of pain and is so supervised. Pain management is a tricky issue in medicine and yes, these kinds of incidents may make some physicians undertreat pain, a tendency they have anyway.

Most people who take opiates for long periods of time appropriately or inappropriately will become habituated and require higher dosing.

I do not know if Patrick Kennedy has ever been officially diagnosed as bipolar. I have heard he has struggled with depression. You can buy a bipolar diagnosis with a single episode of mania (without any depression). OTOH, depression on its own does not equate to a bipolar condition. That said, the differences and the definitions have been softening between the two.

I wonder how ratings and sponsors are treating Rush. Never heard the name Ralphie Reed or Air America, except here. Only get a couple of radio stations out in these schticks.
Is Kennedy going to lose his sleep err seat anyone?

dana- thanks for the further info. Without going into detail, my own experience agrees. I have a colleague who has made my life totally miserable. Others who are not so closely affected quite blithely toss off the diagnosis that he is bipolar, and that on his bad days “he has not taken his meds”. As far as I know, meds for bipolar don’t have a day-to-day effect (on one day, off the other), so I don’t buy this. I think he’s brilliantly Machievellian (sp?) nasty. Anyway, I agree on the general point that there is mental illnes among academe! I can’t remember just now the name for one of the “more popular” afflictions that was recently the talk of “why academics are so socially inept”, but that did fit my torturer. Again, I will probably remember after I post my comment. Something like ???? syndrome. Sorry, a bit of a ramble, here.

Neil Young on World Cafe on NPR. Wow.

Dana- Asperger’s syndrome

everhopeful @ 7:57 pm (#64) – I guess that old newspaper cliche sums it up – “‘Dog bites man’, that’s not news. ‘Man bites dog’, that’s news!”

I wish it weren’t so, but it does seem to be.

Coz- Hugh’s rhetorical question was re: Kennedy, if I understood it. Not sure what you mean, Kennedy or Rush? Cryptic you.

The Downing Street Memo was treated with a collective yawn. “We know they are dickhead liars, where’s the news in that?”
That’s a metaphorical quote by the way.

Oilfieldguy wrote Sorta like payback for IIRC, EPU, ROFLMAO, etc.

It took me a long time to figure out IOKIYAR.

I’m sorry Jane, I just wonder all over the place.

Phil #81

I’m generally pretty good at those things. I larned myself to reed when I was 4 or 5 with Dr Seuss. Sorta like breaking a code.

??? IOKIYAR = It’s OK if you are Repug ???

or if you are Rush

wondering #66

I sympathize. Patrick Kennedy said he had stomach flu. He would not have gone to Mayo to have something like that treated and phenergan is not the kind of drug that would be used long term except under very special circumstances (some cancer patients, for example).

In general, it is extremely unwise to medicate someone with his history casually.

Ambien and phenergan were the only two medications he mentioned taking. If he was taking others for a bipolar disorder, it would just increase the need for close monitoring. If he was being noncompliant (drinking), even more so.

I was going to say what Sharkbabe said in # 4. No point in repeating it, unless I see Rush in person and I want to ruffle his feathers a tad. I’d like things to end up in a nosebleed and a lot of tears from Rush. An apology – to me and to the world – would be a nice jesture also.

VG,

“Coz- Hugh’s rhetorical question was re: Kennedy, if I understood it. Not sure what you mean, Kennedy or Rush? Cryptic you.”

Rush. I didn’t know I was being cryptic, this time LOL

Eureka Springs, AR,

“I wonder how ratings and sponsors are treating Rush.”

One of his biggest sponsors is Zicam (an Arizona company by the way). Due to a “permanent injunction”, in the words of Rove, I’ve “already said too much” ; )

VG–yeah, Asperger’s syndrome. Also, how about just varying degrees of narcissism? I sympathize with you regarding the “nasty” colleague–there are pleny of those types, and probably not concentrated in higher ed. But man, the narcissists. You are as good as the last compliment you gave him/her. The derailing that goes on–arrrggh! I remember your preparation for tenure. One such nasty guy tried to ruin things for me the year before I came up. Thankfully, he had such low credibility that he had no impact. Still, it was a horrible experience.

Rush needs to be prescribed high colonics on every day that ends in “y” cause everybody knows he’s fulla shit.

LeisureGuy @ 54

Thanks for the link. I appreciate it.

everything 57 – thanks. yeah we did/do rock, & have/had such an interesting following – lots of straight redneck guys, middle age dads bringing their wifes & kids, along with the girls. But I won’t miss the grueling schedule, as many as 10 weekends solid in a row, driving home 3:30 am, schlepping equipment – plus day job – no life! Killed two r’ships! But the playing itself, worth everything, endlessly energizing, just is.

IOKIYAR*, bitches! It’s as simple as that.

*It’s Okay If You’re A Republican

BTW, the second rule is “it’s Clinton’s fault.”

Psychiatrists like to say that mood disorders (schizophrenia, depression, bipolar) are something you have. Personality disorders are who you are and consequently, much harder to treat.

They also say that having the trait doesn’t mean you have the disease for any of you who read a list of symptoms and say, hey that sounds like me!

Zicam nasal spray? Sounds like a dope pushing probation violation to me.

Kitt, I wish I wasn’t too nice a gal and buddhist to just kick the heck out of him every way I could if I saw him in person. Some people just deserve to be totally physically smacked to all hell.

Analogous to Colbert. “Polite society” clutching its pearls while an actual intelligent angry human speaks forthrightly to fat pig war criminal destroyers of our nation, oh my!

Hugh, (#94) I’ve heard that too. I know at least three psychologists who rarely treat people who are seriously narcissistic. One of the problems, I think, is that it’s so hard to like ‘em. But the other is that personality disorders are just damn hard to do much about.

Dana! The good thing about academia is getting tenure. I wish I could remember the particular book that discussed this dichotomy- one of those “feminist tomes” I read about 18 years ago, that described men in the liberal arts as being more male/female balanced vs. those in the sciences (totally clueless). Obviously a brief summary. Made me somewhat envious of women in the liberal arts depts. Except of course Eng. Lit., which has a reputation around here at least of being hard going for women, to say the least. At least scientists tend to cut to the chase in discussions at faculty meetings. That is a plus!

Eureka Springs, AR,

http://www.superiorcourt.maric…..002-023934

VG–Tenure is the good thing. I’d put my head through concrete before giving it up. Re: English Departments & Science, I don’t know. I’ve seen both types in both arenas. I once suggested at a meeting with some scientists engaged in a hiring search that there may be an ever-so-slight unconscious bias against female candidates (we were addressing gender balance there), and wow! They were pretty damn angry at me for awhile. Think I hit a nerve.

‘Wanna buy some Mandies, Rush?… They’ll let ya moonwalk the perp walk.’

;>)

Porter Goss, speaking at the commencement at Tiffin University:

Goss told the graduating students that if he were addressing a graduating class of CIA case officers, he would advise them, “Admit nothing, deny everything, and make counteraccusations.”

A true republican – can’t figure out why the chimp fired him.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/…..ement.html

In my experience, drunks and depressives are the smartest and most sensitive people every time.

Facing and dealing with the self-harm in whatever way – only adds to the depth and beauty.

I really am sorry for the Rushes. Delusional monied truly sad fucks in the cosmic scheme of things.

dana- haha head through concrete. Know that feeling. I think the hiring stuff, while certainly a problem that is very serious, and I applaud your “suggestion”, the bigger problem that I see is what happens to females in the sciences once they are hired. That is where the old boy network bathroom conversations sports talk bonding never notice you are here kinda thing comes into play.

sharkbabe, thanks. ;)

fuck rush limbaugh. i hope that fat fucking pig is caught doped to the gills with a male hooker that sends his fat ass to jail.

while that pig whines, kristof had an interesting comparison to someone now spending the next 25 years in prison for his efforts at pain relief:

A Taste of His Own Medicine
By JOHN TIERNEY
Published: May 6, 2006
Now that Rush Limbaugh has managed to keep himself out of prison, the punishment he once advocated for drug abusers, let me suggest a new cause for him: speaking out for people who can handle their OxyContin.

Like Limbaugh, Richard Paey suffers from back pain, which in his case is so severe that he’s confined to a wheelchair. Also like Limbaugh, he was accused of illegally obtaining large quantities of painkillers. Although there was no evidence that either man sold drugs illegally, the authorities in Florida zealously pursued each of them for years.
Unlike Limbaugh, Paey went to prison. Now 47 years old, he’s serving the third year of a 25-year term. His wife told me that when he heard how Limbaugh settled his case last week by agreeing to pay $30,000 and submit to drug tests Paey offered a simple explanation: “The wealthy and influential go to rehab, while the poor and powerless go to prison.”

He has a point, although I don’t think that’s the crucial distinction between the cases. Paey stood up for his belief that patients in pain should be able to get the medicine they need. Limbaugh so far hasn’t stood up for any consistent principle except his right to stay out of jail.

He has portrayed himself as the victim of a politically opportunistic prosecutor determined to bag a high-profile trophy, which is probably true. But that’s standard operating procedure in the drug war supported by Limbaugh and his fellow conservatives.

http://www.pekingduck.org/arch…..php#003694

Oh, and add enabled Chimpy to that. Sad little thing in own weird little world.

Who’s gonna go Fitz the new thread?

Dana, VG,

In my experience, true what you say about the prevalence of various psych disorders in academia … I spent 8+ years getting a PhD in engineering, intending to teach, but could no longer stand it by the time I finished … my adviser was one of those (apparently) bi-polar types, a real user of other people as well.

I would have been good at teaching — did it for a while at a juco — but I found something else to do. Lot’s more like me, just couldn’t stand the academic meat grinder.

If we’re going to talk about lies and deceit, then I think we need to go all the way back to the Fall of 2000. Bush never has been and never will be “the president”, and every time I hear the phrase “President Bush” I want to throw someone through a wall. The only reason he’s in office is because we were all too polite to toss him and the rest of the bums out back when they illegally marched into the White House and started throwing their weight around.

Neojoe (#32) Let me just say that I’m very familiar with this topic, consider myself a friend of Bill W and don’t expect Rush to work the 4th, through 10th, Steps.
In terms of relapse rate—it’s high even for those who work the Steps and/or get professional help. I think everyone will agree that Rush certainly is not working any type of program, ala AA. For reference to AA’s 12 Suggested Steps of Recovery:

The 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous

1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol–that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
http://www.recovery.org/aa/misc/12steps.html

Ann (#40):

I watched Hardball on Friday and was very upset with Nora O’Donnell’s constant cracks about a drug “cocktailâ€. She said it at least 3 times and you know she wouldn’t have said the same thing if Rush had been the subject conversation. Also, Kennedy’s medication was for a sleep disorder and stomach problems. It’s not like he was abusing Oxycontin and something else to amplify it’s effect. The way she put it, you’d think he was dropping Quaaludes and Martini’s. Kennedy’s problem is compounded by what’s called “Dual Diagnosisâ€, a problem that doesn’t apply to Rush. Using a metaphor to compare their chances of avoiding relapse, Rush starts 50 yards ahead of Kennedy in a 100 yard dash.

But then again, remember relapse rates even working a solid program can be upwards of 75%. At least, that was what I was taught.
Addiction is a great equalizer and while Rush may be currently sober, his disease only grows and that’s why many who are successful in avoiding relapse, only focus on one day at a time. If you attend any 12 Step Meetings (AA, NA, CA, CMA, DA, SLA, etc) Some will say, “I’m clean today, but my disease is doing push upsâ€. Relapse can happen at any time and the triggers for it can be something that most would not even notice.

Also, I agree with Hugh (#44) about the “idiot who prescribed this stuff for him and then failed to monitor properly its use?†In many professional early recovery programs they come down hard on the recovering addict who takes even something akin to cold medicine to fight the flu.

Finally, if you want to understand the Addict, then read the NA, AA, CA or any 12 Step “Big bookâ€. Addiction manifests itself in far too many ways, including work-alcoholism, gambling (hello Bill Bennett), money, power, sex, etc. However you slice it, the 12 steps are simply designed to help the addict develop into a person who can more easily live with him/herself. Twelve Step Programs also give members the ability to lean on each other during hard times and to soberly celebrate good times.

AirportCat- ah! thanks for the memorable phrase- “academic meat grinder”. I am glad you have found other employment. I’m sure that your teaching skills serve you there too. Engineering comprises a “real world” skill. Despite tenure, I’m not sure I’d choose the same path again.

I don’t have much respect for psychiatrists, either.

I have depression, so chronic that I can’t remember not having it. I’ve somehow managed to avoid chemical dependency, but I have not avoided suicide attempts. I don’t think people can imagine seeing a world so dark and dreary that not being part of it seems like the best thing that could ever happen. That’s how it feels to people like me, sometimes.

Some of the anti-depressant drugs work…for a while. Then they don’t work anymore.

Therapy? Don’t make me laugh. WASTE OF TIME and MONEY! Don’t even ask how much malpractice I’ve witnessed from so-called “experts” in psychology. Name the terrible thing that can happen, it has: Wildly inaccurate diagnoses, mis-prescribed medications, emotional sadism, manipulation, sexual come-ons–I’ve had it all.

I will never consult one again. I’m better off going to my GP and telling him, hey, the latest anti-depressant is losing efficacy, what’s new out there? He at least knows that I’m taking X medication for pain, and Y medication for Z condition, & etc. Mine’s competent enough to say, “I’d like to prescribe this powerful med for that pain, but I can’t. You’re on enough of a pharmaceutical cocktail, plus you have a history of depression and suicide attempts. Let’s try this mild dosage of such and such, see how that works. If the pain is still bad, we’ll work from there.”

Usually, he prescribes something that works just fine, the first time around.

BTW, I’ve been taking phenergan for a while (anti-depressants can be murder on the tum-tum), and it will knock you on your fucking ass. I am not kidding. I take that, the party is O-V-E-R. I’m out, within half an hour.

What the hell was Kennedy’s doctor THINKING to prescribe phenergan to a patient taking Ambien???

Some things I forgot to mention in comment #111: AA, CA, NA, WA, ACA, SLA, etc are all free of charge. In these meetings the richest man in the world is treated no differently than the poorest. If you have not a cent to your name, you are always welcome. If you want to leave and continue your “research”, you will be welcomed back at anytime you choose to try again. Even someone like Rush would be treated as everyone else in these meetings.

Ron, I’m sure you mean well, but the 12 step programs are a complete waste of time for some of us. Namely, the atheists. That whole giving yourself over to a higher power is kinda tough when you don’t believe in one. And you don’t get much support from an AA-type group, as an atheist. You’re getting reamed either for being an atheist (and shit, here comes the evangelists–don’t I have enough problems???), or because you’re not following ALL of the steps like a good boy or girl.

I’m sorry, but it’s not a program for everyone, and I have considerable doubts about the success rates.

What I don’t understand is why the Democrats have allowed the Republicans and the media to change the subject to Patrick Kennedy and away from George Bush. If nothing else, they could be talking about Dick Cheney’s hunting accident under myterious circumstances and his two dui’s. But instead, they’re just playing defense by allowing Republicans and the conservative media to choose the topic for debate. Don’t they understand that no matter how well Kennedy gets defended, the Republicans still win because they have managed to change the subject to the “immoral” Democrats?

LJ/Aquaria:

You don’t need to believe in anything if you don’t want to in most meetings I’m familiar with. Religion should not be a requirement for attendence or acceptance.

Also, as a “newcomer” if you were treated as anything less than the most important person in the room, you were in the wrong meeting. By helping others, most find that it helps themselves. It’s just another version of “it’s better to give than to receive”.

Forcing anyone into an ideology is as far from the point of these groups as possible. Some folks don’t define what they believe in and I have heard others laughinly say “my higher power is a door knob”, just to make the point. Yes, many do go with whatever form of organized religion that they were able to deal with–but in other cases it’s sometimes religion that causes misery.

I am no fan of organized religion myself and remember, I said “suggested”. How you find serenity or a way should be up to you and those you rely on for support (if any). If you’ve encountered a strict focus on dogma or religion at one meeting–try a different one or start one of your own. The point is to talk, live as well as you can and without the need to relapse.

Like life in general–there is no guarantee of success and that mirrors life in general. No one in those meetings who is true to themselves will look down on those who relapse–because it could be themselves.

Finally, my point is that these groups are heavily stigmitized as a cult or religion and that I feel is so wrong. In every meeting that I know, you are free to believe or not believe, stay or leave and/or come back if you choose. But the real value in them is to associate with others who know what you are going through. When times are tough, these are the people who will drop whatever they are doing to stand with you. Not alot of people can say that about the rest of the world around them.

Two books I’ve found helpful:

David D. Burns “Feeling Good, The new mood therapy”
(’the clinically proven Drug-free treatment for depression’)

and

“Bipolar Disorder, a guide for patients and families” by Francis Mark Mondimore, M.D.

That stuff runs in my family, and I’m so glad I quit drinking alcohol 9.5 years ago. Best move I ever made.

Hi Hugh, Valley Girl, Dana, and all else checking in on this bit of thread.

Hope I’m not intruding by sharing a bit of info – I’m a former UCLA faculty psychiatrist myself (which means I had the good fortune to learn from some of the good people Kay Jamison worked with, though not good enough fortune to have come around while she was still there.)

Thanks for caring about people with mental illness(es).

Thanks also for discussing questions about diagnosis and treatment.

Almost all psychiatric diagnoses are maddeningly (sorry) imprecise verbal pictures.

Other medical specialties (with the exception of cosmetic surgery) use pathologically based diagnoses.

Unlike psychiatrists, the real doctors such as cardiologists talk about disease diagnoses in terms of causes (coronary artery disease), rather than symptoms (hurty chest disease).

Almost all psych diagnoses are maddeningly (sorry) imprecise verbal pictures. Other medical specialties (with the exception of cosmetic surgery) use pathologically based diagnoses. For example, cardiologists talk about heart disease diagnoses in terms of causes (coronary artery disease), rather than symptoms (hurty chest disease).

Why? Why can’t we silly psychiatrists use numbers and lab tests to diagnose.

Good question. Until very recently, people kicked around all sorts of biological measures for dignostic tools with really limited results. (For a long time, the best measures for depression involved a spinal tap. Not so great for patient satisfaction – especially when the results didn’t usually change the decison to treat depression.)

Really good pictures of brain structure (the 3-D census/road map of the physical brain: How many and what type of cell live in this region and how do they connect to the axons and one another?) have been available in ever better quality for almost thirty years.

Over the last decade, incredibly detailed scanning devices have begun to allow real time pictures of brain function. The real time pictures show the activity level in (relatively) small areas, allowing for very detailed maps of brain function correlating with specific sets of symptoms.

Further definition of functional mapping (and access to the required technology) will allow future diagnoses to reflect underlying biological causes, and thereby decrease reliance on symptom-based diagnoses.

The current (DSM-IV) psychiatric diagnostic system is phenomologically based – it describes symptoms, and uses the presence or absence of certain symptoms over various periods of time to meet the criteria for various diagnoses.

The DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual) is published by the American Psychiatric Association. The diagnoses in the DSM are the product of committee work (and those with a passion for minutae can read the name of every committee and sub-committee member), and they read like it.

Although the diagnoses are by their very nature textual statements (verbal descriptions), current DSM diagnoses attempt to employ criteria amenable to observation and hence consenual definition.

Initial versions of DSM proferred diangoses describing intra-psychic processes (repression, for example) not amenable to external observation. Not surprisingly, many of these dignoses have proved to be of scant clinical or heuristic value.

DSM-IV divides “mental health” diagnoses into two categories:

Axis I:

diagnoses of a primarily biological nature such as:

affective disorders (bipolar disorder and depression);

anxiety disorders (panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, agoraphobia, social phobia, specific phobia, post-traumatic stress disorder)

thought disorders (schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, delusional disorder)

(and many other categories of disorder/specific diagnoses

Axis II:

aka “personality disorders” – diagnoses of patterns of behavior not known to have a primary biological basis [Note - this is my summary/gloss - NOT - the APA sanctified text]

Personality disorders are further into three clusters:

Cluster A (including paranoid and schizoid)

Cluster B (home of antisocial, borderline, histrionic, and narcissistic)

Cluster C (including avoidant and dependent)

_____________________________

some of many possible caveats:

1) As new treatment or diagnostic tools become available, “diagnoses” can disappear or migrate to Axis I.

My favorite example involves old diagnostic categories including various sexual fetishes. All manner of learned psychodynamic mechanisms were put forth to explain the fetishes.

Then selective serotonin inhibitors came along. They treat depression in low doses, and anxiety disorders in higher doses. They also treat obsessive compulsive disorder. They also relieved the fetishes previously said to arise from deep intra-psychic mechanisms.

[Note: I’m using “fetish” here in a very narrow cultural setting here: the culture of allopathic (M.D.) medicine. Sadly, medicine measures illness, not health. There are no dignoses for happy heart, happy mind, or happy sex life. Conversely, much of medical education and specialty training involves exploration of ever- greater depths of dysfunction - right down to the molecule.

This reductionistic view is required for some endeavors and inimical to others. In the world of “symptoms”, a fetish is something that ought not be there. In the world of personals and passions, the meaning and connotations invert to a hedonic blessing.

For treatment of a nasty suppurative lump, I’d prefer the allopathic view (cellulitis/abscess) over the biocentric (celebrate microbial diversity) perspective.

For most spheres of human activity, a celebratory, encompassing, non-redcuctionary perspective seems far more healthy and empowering - and a hell of a lot more fun.]

wow – a caveat to a caveat – this must have been epu’d long ago…

time to upload – sorry for typos – if psych thread of interest infuture, happy to play (TomCat and family excepted)

Arrgh…

Major omission/deletion typos:
(delete-o’s seems too cereal-ish…)

Missing verbiage discussed “syndromes”
- the term real docs use to describe a set of symptoms of unknown mechanism.

examples: irritable bowel syndrome; chronic fatigue syndrome.

[Not so o/t: the latter (cfs) diagnosis was unknown four decades ago, barely discussed two decades ago, and largely derided a decade ago.

In the last few months, new research (looking at variable levels of activity of the same genes in different people) has shown distinct patterns in patients with cfs symptoms.]

And now to bed, sans typos and threads…

I think Pat K messed up and embarressed himself, and must not be taking his job seriously enough.

These folks have got to go. Get off the booze, get off the drugs, get off the corruption and do your F* job.

As for left wing media and all that crap –

1. Media has been harping on it since it happend.
2. The cops came out against him
3. I have yet to hear the paralles to Dick Cheney.

The cops clammed up real good about that. They screwed the entire thing up, and did not even investigate and a guy got shot in the face.

Now the cops come out against this drunk incident when he crashed into nobody.

In any case they both commited crimes, if the cops had done their jobs in both cases they could share a courthouse.

Is this pig a Nazi blimp or wha!
I went the swinehund’s website just before the devil went down past Georgia – he had a thread lying there like an Ariadnes thread for me…it read ‘ blah, blah, blah…they’re after the pre-war intel! This is scary stuff folk’s!…’

So as we wait for the Balloon to go up next week I wonder why?

Why should the goitre-necked pin-headed creeping freepers out there worry about the pre-war intel?
Doesn’t Skeletor Pat ‘ Ameriklan Gothic’ Roberts have a handle on that?
‘ What me worry’ president Alfred E Neumann doesn’t seemed to scared.
Why worry about the firewall Libby and Rove built breaking down?
It’s asbestos can be expected can’t it?
In an Oxygen enriched environment what’s a little heat amongst friends?

From personal experience I swear by Psycilocybin to kick booze addiction but nothing can be done for the hard core FDLAKE crack addict.
The 12 Steps of FDLakerholics Anonymous

1. We admitted we were powerless over FDLakerhole, that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a blog greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of this Blogistan as we understood it.
4. Made a searching and fearless polyp inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to FDLake, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to have FDLake remove all these defects of character.
7. Humbly asked Redd to remove our shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11. Sought through Hamsher and meditation to improve our conscious contact with FDLake, as we understood it, praying only for knowledge of it’s will for us and the power to carry that out.
12. Having had a proctological awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to FDLakeroholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
May the snark be with you.

I apologize for the long post, but I would also like to point out a major difference between P. Kennedy and Limbaugh that VG also pointed out: P* Kennedy is said to be bipolar. The reason I point this out is because I have sympathy for his condition if this is so. I had a childhood friend who was wildly bipolar. At times he acted and talked like he was on speed, but it was *all* natural. At times the treatment team would prescribe my friend enough medication to fell a horse. You name it: valium-type substances, antipsychotics, lithium or one of its new variations, antidepressants. One time I visited him in his halfway house and he was on seven different medication and *still* had that manic high, gained a lot of weight and had all these tremors to boot. Taking him shopping or to the movies was sometimes a real effort, because he was always so distracted by anything and everything and going off on verbal tangents.
I don’t like to talk about personal stuff online, but I think that persons like P. Kennedy who have difficult illnesses, like Ted Turner and Jane Pauly, are often saturated with meds that are not pleasant to take. If his illness is anywhere near as bad as my friends, than it doesn’t surprise me that he self-medicates.
P. Kennedy is also said to be a real advocate for the mentally ill as well. I hope he recovers. Domenici, I guess is retiring. Wellstone of course is no longer alive. It’s very important he get his arse back in Congress. Limbaugh as far as I am concerned is just a virulently racist hypocrite and drug addict.

So Kennedy, please recover and get your arse back in congress so you can fight the good fight!

Hugh, coming from CT, the state where persons from certain counties are excellent at repression, I can say “rehab†is no indication that this is about drug addiction and not the underlying illness. Too often people use this euphemisms, like going to Silver Hills for some rest and relaxation and alcohol problems, when it something probably more severe. Or in some cases it’s the Institute of Living. There are lots of famous alumni and not so famous alumni of those places.

Kirk Murphy. I am sure you know what I am talking about. We need mental health parity for our friends and family members who are ill. We need to attack stigma and discrimination. What perfect person, but someone who suffers, like Kennedy or someone whose family has suffered like Domeneci?

BTW I didn’t mean to downplay alcoholism. I meant certain types like to pretend their problems are mildly chronic, rather than acute when they check into Silver Hills. It’s all about social acceptable illness v. stigmatized illness.

One more post: The arthritis/steroid/ bipolar thing is epidemic in deer country. The more arthritis, the more steroids, the more likely someone is likely to have a Jane Pauly episode. Lyme Disease I think is not well understood, in spite of what physicians at Yale say.

The wingers and pundits on both sides of the adissue who continue to sound off on the addiction tend to further confuse recovery issues because they don`t know squat about the disease.They ignore or discount the huge genetic issue;combined with the magnanimous earmark of denial and delusion;and if that isn`t enough to keep the addict confused,the addict picked up the spiritual bankruptcy issue as an added consequency of the sickness.

A multitude of poor,idiotic treatment recommendations have come flooding into the field for eons.Probably the most effective for many was the arrival of the 12 Step Program, a grief and forgiveness process that actually made sense of recovery.But since there are as many diseases as there are individuals who have the disease,there are the same amount of similar,but individual recoveries.And like any disease,relapse is inevitable;and most addictive relapse involves self-defeating,often violent behavior not characterized by other diseases.That is one reason for a low rate of successful recovery.
One of the most difficult stigmas for the addict to overcome is the moral implications.The myth that addicts don`t get better because they don`t have good enough “will power” is preposterous and destructive.I had a friend who helped me to learn the process of recovery.I have not had any alcohol in almost 30 years.This man debunked the moralistic “will power”idea for me when I saw him talk at a beginners meeting in 1977.
He said,”Alot of people think that this disease is about will power.They say it`s beacuse I don`t have enough “will power.”Now ,since I`ve learned about the physical response that my body has to alcohol,I can gaurentee you that it`s not about will power.” Then he explained the physical allergy that combines with an obsessive compulsive need for the drug ,and how this is cyclical,and excruciatingly powerful.And then he said in his gruff kind of intimidating voice: “I`ve been sober for over eleven years.And people tell me they still think it`s about will power.Bull.You take me across the street to that bar right over there,”he pointed as he talked.”Take me over there and give me one drink of whiskey.” There was silence in the room.”One drink of whiskey.Then,tell me you`re not going to let me have anymore. I`ll show you what will power is.”If you understand what he said ,you have “some “understanding of the disease,but so much more is needed.
Medical students get six hours on this disease in four years of med school.Teenagers get poco or nada on it.College students the same.Until we start to educate ourselves on the subject,compassion and tolerance will remain elusive.

I don’t “keep Kosher,” fahrinder. This is war, and we must fight. They want us dead, and I intend to live. Politesse is not simply useless, it’s an impediment.

a fortiori

HELLO! RUSH WAS CAUGHT USING ILLEGAL DRUGS.

STOP BUYING INTO HIS SPIN!

Rush was caught because he was using ILLEGAL street drugs that he obtained from a dealer NOT because he was using “legal†drugs.

Just another big lie Rush keeps telling and a further misconception which his attorney and the media complacently parrot, is that Rush was taking “prescription pain killers.†NOT TRUE.

Although the addict did score some painkillers by “prescription,†even those were illegally obtained by fraud. The talk show addict’s drug problem surfaced because he buying gobs of illegal STREET (not prescription) drugs. Oxycontin is sold as an illegal street drug everyday, and Rush tapped into that illegal and illicit drug market to get high – not because of a legitimate medical reason. He had a dealer obtain narcotics for him. To fuel his drug addition, he scored ILLEGAL drugs off the street just like your garden variety drug addict. OK, just like your garden variety junkie who gets to send his maid to score his dope. Regardless, he wasn’t taking a legal presciption to a pharmacy to have medicine legally prescribed. Like any other junkie, his dope came from the street.

While oxycontin may be prescribed legally to some people suffering from various maladies (not Rush’s situation), oxycontin is also a popular street drug. Like other drugs that have legal uses, oxycontin is available on the street for addicts like Rush clamoring to tap into this source of illegal narcotics and further fuel this huge black market.

Rush is not hooked on “prescription†drugs. He is addicted to illegal drugs that just happen to have a legitimate purpose as well, although he did not use them for that legitimate purpose. He used them to get stoned.

To further illustrate this point, most hospitals stock cocaine which has legitimate medical applications. However, when someone becomes a coke addict, we don’t say they are addicted to “legal prescription anesthetizing agent.†No!, we say they are addicted to illegal street drugs or coke addict — even cocaine could be legitimately prescribed to them as well.

Let’s stop buying into Rush’s spin on his drug addition, his lies about his use of illegal narcotics, and denial about scoring his dope off the street.

sláinte
cl

Sully18, I agree with you. I happen to live in a troubled city. I once went out with a guy who was a recovering addict. He didn’t take illegal drugs at that point because he was in some program, but it was always something: coffee, cigarettes, you name it. And not just a cup or a smoke, it was constant and compulsive. I felt that his program did nothing for him. To my mind, it was merely cosmetic surgery. It did nothing to help him grasp the obsessive-compulsive and irritability and depression issues. I don’t know about a lot of programs, but what I’ve seen—I’ve actually done the handholding thing at meetings—it’s just a bunch of testimonials. And the tough love aspect stinks. Why an ill person should “testify†is beyond me? But then again, here I go with the personal information again, I am not a Christian.

That is to say, I think a lot of treatment programs do a good job at stigmatizing patients and help them internalize a lot of society’s condemnation in a destructive fashion.

I mean why should anyone have to apologize for being ill, mentally or otherwise, or drug addicted? Margaret Cho has something to say for this on her blog, I remember.

“idiot who prescribed this stuff for him and then failed to monitor properly its use?â€

Re: Ambien.

Psychiatrist, prescribing this, said,

“This can only be taken for 10 days. After 10 days’ use, it can be addictive. It loses its effect when used every day. It is to be used only on the rare occasions that you cannot sleep. It is to be taken just before you get in bed, as it is quick-acting.”

So, the “idot” who prescribed Ambien to Mr. Kennedy did not know his pharmacology, as is many times the case with busy doctors. Mr. Kennedy should ask his pharmacist (as should everyone else) whether the drugs he must take for his bi-polar discease and other problems will interact adversely.

I want to add another two cents worth. It’s funny that people blame the victim (and I’m not talkin’ about Rush, I don’t have sympathy for him at all, and what an apt moniker for him, huh, only TOTALSHIT would be more accurate) for not having will power or whatever. In my experience, people aren’t very supportive when you DO give up alcohol. They act confused, ask why don’t you drink. And at first, even my family kept offering it to me at holidays and get togethers. I aplaud anyone who tries to quit smoking or drinking or drugging. It’s not easy, but as my sister in the cancer section has said, Don’t Quit Quitting.

Some things about the Rush spin do not add up: He was obviously addicted to food and the sound of his own voice long before he bacame addicted to oxycontin; he probably was also addicted to alcohol and tobacco. What makes him so offensive is that he is such a self rightgeous hypocrite. The man has had problems for a long time. Like his buddy and fellow food addict Bill Bennett he believes he is above common folk and entitled to lecture others about ethics and morality. Bill Bennett has no credibilty to talk about ethics if he cannot keep himself from gambling away $8 million pulling the slot, like a pathetic old woman. Rush got an amazing deal! Who else with 10000 oxycontin would get the deal he got. Imagine if a Kennedy had been caught with 10,000 oxycontin. How many years worth of oxycontin is that? Did he down them like M&Ms? Is he really just a user? Maybe he is a seller? We will just have wait and see if he gets caught with a wiz-a-nator.

What makes me the angriest, is that while Rush is spouting off personal responsibility and following the law, we have an administration that is flouting the law at every opportunity.
Look at all the conservative republican etics violations, indictments, arrests and resignations.
Typical don’t do as I do, do as I say.

Rush broke the law. Why did he have to have 2,000 pills?
No law abiding patient who uses these medications could have that many pills.
He was addicted and he broke the law. And because he is a rich, conservative republican asshole, he gets to pay a fine and go home at night to his mansion.

That was powerful prose. Kudos. One of the best reads I’ve had in a long time.

Here’s a great line from the movie Equilibrium that sums up how the wingnuts get around this notion of consistency

It is not the message that is important, it is our obedience to it.

Those of you who’ve seen the movie will know how well it fits =op

You nailed it. It seems everything in right wingnut world is based on who’s on your perceived “team,” absolutely nothing else matters. It’s so obvious that Kennedy, whatever his other faults, admitted his problems, took responsibility and is taking action. We’ll see how it goes. But as for Rush… even without his well-established lying… why would you trust a know addict who refuses to admit it and blames everyone but himself? So much for personal responsibilty… Just as Kennedy should have been given a breathalyzer and a DUI if he was drunk (not that there’s any indication he asked for special treatment), Rush should not have been given merely a slap on the wrist. I mean, didn’t they have him dead to rights?

Whats this re the housekeeper in the carpark who allegedly got paid by the broadsheet media?

On a serious note, it is not good medical practice to prescribe morphine derivatives as analgesics for chronic conditions over a long term.

Margaret. I am glad to see you. I can’t help but add this to what you wrote: people with bipolar illness often can’t sleep, sometimes for days. My childhood friend was like that and his other medication—lithium-type medication and antipsychotics included–sometimes didn’t even make a dent in his mania. So sometimes valium-type drugs or sleeping meds were prescribed. He was under supervision of a treatment team.

It seems P* Kennedy was left on his own and that was not fair to him. It’s the way those managed healthcare type doctors operate. They have insurance companies telling them to prescribe the meds and get on with it. Well look what happens? I hope Kennedy recovers and gets back to Congress to work on the parity stuff, I really do

Well, it’s just like in one of those Communist “re-education camps.”

We’re all being “re-educated” by the right wingnuts, including Rushie baby, to believe up is down, right is left, unprovable creationism is comparable to provable science, or that Rushie bag is not a lying hypocritical junkie.

Yep, according to these wingnuts, all Americans need is a little “re-education” through the Republican-controlled MSM, in public schools, at the Air Force Academy, over the radio airwaves, and America can return to the Republican glory days of Eisenhower, or maybe the Republican glory days before the New Deal, or maybe the Republican glory days before the Civil War, or maybe the Republican/Tory/Aristocratic days before that pesky U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights passed.

Sorry, I’m too old to be fooled and too ornery to be “re-educated” into believing that a bunch of totalitarian assholes are something other than totalitarian assholes, hell-bent on destroying our democracy so they can really go Communist on us and actually build “re-education camps,” which would probably cost $385 million and involve a no-bid Halliburton contract. Oooops.

In other words, waving a sleep pill before a manic patient who can’t sleep is like waving the elixir of life before a dying patient. Really. Doctors need more wisdom. I can’t blame P. Kennedy at all, since clearly he is open about his illness and he probably wrote it down on his watch-you-ma-call-it first time around.

Remember, back in the day, the right wing’s obsession with ‘character’? (err, other peoples) Haven’t heard much about that lately have we?

Substance addiction has no more to do with character than diabetes does. However, how the substance abuser comports himself before, during and after the public revelation of his addiction speaks to the individuals character.

Limbaugh’s words and actions have spoken volumes to his lack of any character. Kennedy? Time will tell.

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and conveniences, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” – Martin Luther King, Jr

There were many on the left who chided Limbaugh for being less than kind to addicts of so called “recreational drugs”. I even made reference to that point in this space.

However; there is a massive difference between someone becoming addicted to “recreational drugs” and someone becoming addicted to pain medication which was under the care of a doctor. I still hold that be the case…. including for Kennedy.

If, in fact, Kennedy is telling the truth here, (and leaving aside the question of his smelling like he’d been drinking, and reports from two different bartenders in two different bars that he had been a patron of each of them that evening…) if his addiction to the pain medication in question was in fact the cause of the apparent ‘loss of control’, shall we say, then the man deserves at least a modicum of support. It is fair to say that under such conditions he would not have arrived at that juncture by choice, as would someone addicted to ‘recreational drugs’.

However, let’s ask now, as we saw asked by the left regards Mr. Limbaugh, just which medication he did become addicted to, and where it was he got his supply from.

I seem to recall Mr. Limbaugh being chased for months and years over an alleged incident of doctor shopping. It was alleged that Mr. Limbaugh are used this method to obtain the drug that he was addicted to. Did Mr. Kennedy?

Consider this carefully… Any doctor who would have Mr. Kennedy in his care, would certainly have been aware of his being in a rehab for his addiction, wouldn’t you say? Unless, perchance, he went to another doctor, who didn’t know is case very well, and yet was willing to write out a prescription .

Why have no such questions come up from the press as regards Mr. Kennedy? Why are the legal authorities in the area is represented by Mr. Kennedy not looking into this? One possible reason, of course, is that they, too, are Democrats.

Further, why is it that we’re not hearing about which medication that Mr. Kennedy became addicted to? Is it possible that Mr. Kennedy became addicted to the very same medication that Mr. Limbaugh did? If so we would seem to have been even more glaring double standard then we started with.

And again, all this assumes that Mr. Kennedy is telling the truth, that his addiction to painkillers medications and not alcohol was the cause of the last couple of accidents that he’s on record as having caused. This would seem to be a rather large and unwarranted assumption.

In either case, whether Mr. Kennedy is telling the truth or not, Mr. Kennedy should resign, or be forcibly removed from his office, being unfit for the position… beacuse… again, in either case…several laws have been broken and need to be enforced.

If the people that were grave dancing as regards Mr. Limbaugh are being honest and truthful they will join me in calling for Mr. Kennedy’s ouster , prosecution, and jailing. Just like they did Rush.

Funny, isn’t it, how this ‘fairness and consiatncy’ thing works?

Bithead, I am not sure you have anything to substantiate that Kennedy was drinking or on pain medication. Ambien is a sleeping pill prescribed to bipolar patients since one of the symptoms of bipolarism is severe insomnia. If it is the pill I am thinking of , it is short acting. A doctor once prescribed me a couple to combat jet lag.

Jane, you are a former prosecutor, are you not?

Did Patrick Kennedy do anything wrong? I understand that he took medication as prescribed for him, legally by the presumably reputable Attending Physician to the United States Congress.

Kennedy had an atypical reaction, but one that is documented in the literature. He accepted responsibility for not being aware of the danger of the combination of the two drugs, and is dealing with it.

How in blue blazes does that compare to what Rush did?

Visit the Schapira blog, What we know so far …

“… and tell ‘em Big Mitch sent ya!”

I detest people who excuse Kennedy’s behavior by pointing at Limbaugh. Did he even endanger anyone? Impaired driving is dangerous & shouldn’t be tolerated because of some notion of political party parity. As a survivor of a hit-and-run by a drunk, I want zero tolerance. Limbaugh bought preferential justice, but Kennedy inherited it. Drunk & impaired driving is common because the perps don’t fear punishment. Kennedy should be jailed, but the authorities are just covering it up. He didn’t even need to ask for it. Shame on Dems & Repubs for moral cowardice.

I am a professional at this stuff, I am an alcoholic and dopefiend, been clean since 1976. One of the ways to be successful at abstaining from drugs is to admit your mistakes and make amends where possible. People who don’t know anything about addiction can spout inanities about the twelve steps of AA and NA but they work. It is a disease and a very serious one. Drugs are a lot of fun..for awhile, but if you are like me, you become enslaved by them and it is not easy to walk away, AA and NA saved my life in the form of an ex-con and a vietnam vet. Rush’s statement that all dopefiends, or whatever you want to call them, should be locked up is typical of the mindset of the provincial mind, whether from the right or the left, it is draconian and only creates more of the same. For Rush to not do the things I mentioned above is a recipe for repetition of his drug use, I personally dislike him intensely, he is an irresponsible bag of shit, but I would not wish prison as a solution for his addiction. People like him are their own reward, and his day will come without any assistance from you or me. An aside; drugs are drugs-prescription, street=the same fucking result no distinction should be implied by anyone.