I need to apologize...
Yesterday I wrote a diary comparing Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker to a drug addict which (quite properly) received zero recs. That was wrong of me and I'd like to apologize.
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GOP #FAIL: RNC Victory Digital Manager Fails At Twitter
The Republicans just can't seem to get the internet right. To help solve this problem they brought in Matt DeLuca, from National Journal:Matt DeLuca is leaving his position at New Media Strategies to...
View ArticleMaking a difference – with a little help from my friends.
Dear Kos friends,As we move closer to November and the presidential election we are being flooded by requests for money, and rightly so, because money in our culture equals power and you need a lot of...
View ArticleAn Inconvenient Epidemic
As we move closer to November and the presidential election we are being flooded by requests for money, and rightly so, because money in our culture equals power and you need a lot of it if you want to...
View ArticleThrow Away Women
I received a call recently from a woman who had given up her home, her job and the day to day life as she knew it to move to another state with her family in order to take care of sister’s three young...
View ArticleIn Reference to HuffPost’s Throw Away Veteran Epidemic
I have been writing about just this type of situation here on dKos for the past few days. Here is a quote from the HuffPost this morning.“As HuffPost's senior military correspondent, David Wood (who...
View ArticleOxycontin Production Increases 1,200 Percent: Oxycontin Good, Marijuana Bad?
While the American media frets over attempting to figure out how two states will deal with the legalization of a plant, the fact that Oxycontin production has increased by 1,200 percent since it began...
View ArticleRoe v Wade v Already Born Kids
We've been subjected to an onslaught of Roe v Wade opinions all day. How morally bankrupt and unChristian this nation has become. Millions of unborn babies, never to see a birthday or graduation, oh...
View ArticleBig bust in whoville
My well meaning friends sent some information my way last week, both published in the local papers. The first one was quite amusing by way of irony. From the Charlotte Sun: Fla. Campaign Targets...
View ArticleCelebrity Rehab Deaths
Sadly people are only now beginning to realize what many of us who work in the field of addictions have known for many years over 60% of drug addicts and alcoholics relapse into their illness even...
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So I Can Be Quiet Whenever I Want: Waiting For Active Addiction to End
It was the same thing every night. Come 11 o' clock, one of the overnight techs would come in the room to bid goodnight to we princes of Washington, we kings of the pacific northwest, before turning...
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Not All Deaths Are Created Equal
It’s the steely-eyed gaze of a suspicious everyman glaring at you from an electronic billboard or the ominously solitary backpack emblazoned on the side of a city bus. Anyone who has used public...
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Constitutionally Incapable: Brief Reflections On My Time Living With an...
In March of 2009, I went to the Hazelden Center For Youth & Families in Plymouth, MN to receive dual diagnosis treatment for alcoholism/addiction and bipolar disorder. Thankfully, both my addiction...
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Sex (And Lack There Of) In Sobriety. Or Maybe I Am Waiting For Love?
Sex with even the clearest head can be confusing. For the newly sober, it can be overwhelming…It’s like this. I know everyone has an opinion and I know I am not all that stupid, but on this particular...
View ArticleA story of two gun deaths
The remains of the only reputable newspaper in Salt Lake City is still called The Salt Lake Tribune. The main headline on my edition from this morning reads "Millcreek man was trying to protect family,...
View ArticleHillary endorser Sen. Jeanne Shaheen introduces bill to fight Heroin/Opioid...
This is a big deal to me. i am a recovering addict. i have 13 years clean. i am grateful that Sen. Shaheen is introducing this bill and rightly fighting this as a health problem rather than as law and...
View ArticleMy Own Personal Social Experiment
This is the time of the year when I am war with myself: The “Peace and joy and goodwill to all men” is locked in desperate battle with, “If I see (insert mortal enemy of choice) I am going to (insert...
View ArticleOH-Sen: Portman (R) Touts Anti-Heroin Measures, Even Though He Voted Against...
What a doofus:U.S. Sen. Rob Portman wants to fight the heroin scourge -- the one killing more than 120 Americans a day from overdoses, a deadlier toll than from either car crashes or firearms.But he...
View ArticleNuns who feed the homeless may be evicted after their rent is jacked up by 50...
Filing this one under “Cruel and Heartless.”When a person says “that’s something else,” it usually means precise descriptors are in short supply; it really means a person may not have the first clue as...
View ArticleSenator Elizabeth Warren requests CDC consider marijuana for greater use
This week, Senator Elizabeth Warren (Dem-Mass) directed a letter to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) regarding the use of marijuana. In her request, Warren asked CDC’s director...
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OH-Sen: House GOP Is Hurting Rob Portman's (R) Re-Election Bid By Weakening...
With friends like these:Advocates of legislation to combat painkiller and heroin abuse are balking at changes House Republicans have made to a Senate-passed bill, arguing the revisions would compromise...
View ArticleObama talks about drug addiction in his weekly address— and brings along a guest
xYouTube VideoPresident Obama used this week’s address to focus on drug addiction, particularly opioid addiction. Towards that end, he brought in a guest for this week’s speech who spoke personally...
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The World's Most Dangerous Drug Cartel is a Fortune 500 Company
The biggest drug cartel in the world isn't a shadowy group of murdering thugs operating out of Sinoloa, Mexico. No, this organization is based right here in the U.S. and operates in full view of local...
View ArticleSupervised Injection Sites (and why we need them)
Drug addiction is a major problem facing the United States and the world. In 2014, drug overdoses alone killed around forty-seven thousand people in the United States, and it only has been getting...
View ArticleRepublican senator who is also a doctor says Obamacare caused the opioid...
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) joins with Dr. Ben Carson in demonstrating how being able to obtain a medical degree does not necessarily translate into being an intelligent or informed person. Case in point,...
View Article"Thanks for not being there" - Teenager's Open Letter to Drug Addicted Parents
An open letter written to her drug addicted parents has “gone viral” in the UK media. It is at the same time heartbreaking and inspiratational. Chelsea Cameron’s parents were absent for many of the...
View ArticleTrumpt: Loudon Wainwright III's "I Had A Dream" and "Unhappy Anniversary"
Loudon Wainwright III wrote a rather prescient song last Spring in which he described a dream in which Hair Furor became president. Delivered with a kind of snarky wit, it still seems slightly chilling...
View ArticlePA & WV-Sen: Dems & Law Enforcement Expose How Senate GOP Bill...
Yep:West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin has joined forces with Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey and law enforcement officials, including Huntington Police Chief Joe Ciccarelli, in an effort to fight the...
View ArticleChildren increasingly impacted by the opioid epidemic, but Republicans won't...
As lawmakers try to figure out what to do about America’s increasing opioid epidemic, there is one group largely left out of the discussion—children. Children of drug addicts are often left to fend for...
View ArticlePA-Gov: Tom Wolf (D) Pushes Call To Fix The Instability Trump Has Caused In...
Received this e-mail today from Governor Tom Wolf’s (D. PA) re-election campaign:Thanks to the activism of working people across Pennsylvania and the country, Donald Trump's plan to take away health...
View ArticleNew Deal, to Fair Deal, Downhill to Senator Schumer’s “Better Deal”: A Dialogue.
Dear Citizens, Elected Officials, and Democratic Party Leaders: I was planning to write about Senate Charles Schumer’s Op-Ed in the New York Times from July 24, 2017, “A Better Deal for American...
View ArticleOH-Gov: Nan Whaley (D) Hits Trump For Refusing To Declare A National...
Received this e-mail today from Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley’s (D. OH) gubernatorial campaign:I was flabbergasted when I saw the news. Trump doesn’t think our opioid crisis warrants an emergency response?...
View ArticleMO-Sen: Claire McCaskill (D) Issues Big Pharma A Grave Warning For...
Fighting words:Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) says it’s time for pharmaceutical companies to start worrying about their role in causing the opioid epidemic, the deadliest drug overdose crisis in US...
View ArticleMothers, Babies, and Heroin. Tell Me Again Why We Worry About Pot?
In Boynton Beach FL, Kristen Leigh O'Connor, 28 and June Schweinhart, 29 bought $60 of heroin, got into O’Connor’s car, and snorted it. But not before safely strapping their two infants, 1 and 2...
View ArticleOH-Gov: Nan Whaley (D) Wants To Make Big Pharma Pay For Creating The Opioid...
Received this e-mail today from Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley’s (D. OH) gubernatorial campaign:The other night, 60 Minutes and the Washington Post broke a huge story about the opioid crisis in America. It...
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FL-Gov: Gwen Graham (D) Takes Aim At Scott (R), AG Pam Bondi (R) & Big...
Received this e-mail today from former Rep. Gwen Graham’s (D. FL) gubernatorial campaign:Gwen Graham (D. FL)We have a crisis on our hands in Florida -- and Rick Scott and his administration aren’t...
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OH-Gov: Betty Sutton (D) Hits Trump & GOP's Failure To Get Serious On...
Received this e-mail today from former Rep. betty Sutton’s (D. OH) gubernatorial campaign:Rep. Betty Sutton (D. OH)All across Ohio, there's a deadly plague that pays no mind to party affiliation — the...
View ArticlePA-Sen: Lou Barletta (R) Is Angry The Press Sunk His Big Pharma Bro's Drug...
So by now, you all know about this:Tom Marino is a four-term Republican member of the House who represents a district in northeastern Pennsylvania that has been hard-hit by the opioid crisis. Yet...
View ArticlePA-Gov: Wolf (D) Puts Pressure On General Assembly To Pass New Legislation...
Received this e-mail today from Governor Tom Wolf’s (D. PA) re-election campaign:This should go without saying: combating the opioid crisis is a non-partisan issue. It's also an urgent issue that...
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OH-Gov: Betty Sutton (D) Hits AG Mike DeWine (R) & Trump For Failing To...
Received this e-mail today from former Rep. Betty Sutton’s (D. OH) gubernatorial campaign:Betty Sutton (D. OH)Today, President Trump's fix for the opioid crisis fell short. I wrote to you about this...
View ArticleUS States that take the most painkillers all voted for Trump. What does that...
You are welcome to put your own theory to work here.
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MD-Gov: Ben Jealous (D) Hits Larry Hogan (R) For Not Doing Enough To Combat...
Received this e-mail today from former NAACP chairman Ben Jealous’ (D. MD) gubernatorial campaign:Ben Jealous (D. MD)Not good enough. Yesterday, years after he promised to confront the opioid epidemic,...
View ArticleSex-trafficked child sues major hotel & truck stop chains for...
‘When you have 40 to 50 johns in one night visiting one room and it's not prevented or stopped, somebody should be held accountable.”-Annie McAdams, attorney for sex trafficking victimIn the past, most...
View ArticleA Presidential Candidate Wants a Universal Basic Income
Andrew Yang, a not-for-profit and for-profit entrepreneur is running for President of the United States. I, for one, couldn't be happier. Those who have been reading me for some time, and those who...
View Articlea different opioid story..
Letter to the Editor of Time in response to special issue “The Opioid Diaries”March 3, 2018James Natchtwey did well in capturing the wretched bodies and ebbing lives of the addicted. You can almost see...
View ArticlePolice chief on viral obituary: Vermont addict's death 'was nothing special...
In the wake of the opiate-addict obituary read ‘round the world, Burlington, Vermont Police Chief Brandon del Pozo took to his Facebook page with a rant that should stop everyone in their sentimental,...
View ArticleCarrie Fisher’s Turbulent Journey
Carrie Fisher: A Life on the Edge is author Sheila Weller’s newest addition to her body of work, which is often situated at the crossroads between women’s issues and cultural observation. In previous...
View ArticleCPS took my kids. Low access to evidence-based addiction treatment keeps...
by Elizabeth Brico Losing a child to state custody is akin to a haunting. Only in this case, you are on both sides of it. You are forced to haunt your own self, shadow-walking with your life—not fully...
View ArticleSome resources for those with alcohol/addiction issues
These times of a rapidly spreading viral pandemic, necessary “social distancing,” and the possibilities of the physical sickness and even death of loved ones (or even one’s self) from the coronavirus...
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