One More Opinion

2011-04-29T09:28:00.000-07:00

Why boycotting the Koch brothers is difficult, but worth it!:

By Phillip T. Alden

N.B. Some of the information in this essay comes from; "How You Can Boycott the Kochs" By Lauren Kelley, originally published on AlterNet.

Today when I had a brief moment on Live Journal and Facebook, I noticed the "Koch Brothers Boycott" has been gaining both attention and momentum since I returned from our vacation.

I'm glad to see it. I'm glad to see my fellow Americans finally sick and tired of political-corporate corruption, and the outright lunacy of powerful people influencing this country in negative ways that sacrifice; safety, medicine, education, proven science, public health, and the "economy." And let us not forget the continued racism and oppression of the poor, people of color, women, (especially women of color,) the disabled and the elderly.

We have a lot to work on, to hopefully fix the damage done to this country by that small minority of super-wealthy, (and often religious radicals,) that have gained far too much influence in everything from our local school boards to our state and federal governments.

But back to the Koch brothers, (pronounced "Coke.")

If these were simply very wealthy businessmen who enjoyed their success, and even if they were selfish bastards who never gave a dime to a charity – we could write them off fairly easily.

Sadly, that is not the case. In addition to using their financial clout to back extreme right-wing politicians, they are also union-busting thugs. (See the article mentioned at the top of this missive.) And it doesn't stop there. According to this New Yorker article: "The billionaire brothers who are waging a war against Obama"; the brothers have been waging a "covert" war against the Obamas since Barack Obama's historic win as the first Black President in American history. The article states:

"..One dignitary was conspicuously absent from the gala: the event’s third honorary co-chair, Michelle Obama. Her office said that a scheduling conflict had prevented her from attending. Yet had the First Lady shared the stage with Koch it might have created an awkward tableau. In Washington, Koch is best known as part of a family that has repeatedly funded stealth attacks on the federal government, and on the Obama Administration in particular…"

The article continues:

".. The Kochs are longtime libertarians who believe in drastically lower personal and corporate taxes, minimal social services for the needy, and much less oversight of industry—especially environmental regulation. These views dovetail with the brothers’ corporate interests. In a study released this spring, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst’s Political Economy Research Institute named Koch Industries one of the top ten air polluters in the United States…"

In other words; screw the poor, up with excessive wealth, and pollute the planet as much as possible.

The New Yorker article I site above goes into extensive detail about the entire Koch family, how they rose to wealth and power, and a sound argument for why they believe as they do. At one point, the article states, one of them tried to run for political office to gain even more power:

"..The brothers’ first major public step came in 1979, when Charles persuaded David, then thirty-nine, to run for public office. They had become supporters of the Libertarian Party, and were backing its Presidential candidate, Ed Clark, who was running against Ronald Reagan from the right. Frustrated by the legal limits on campaign donations, they contrived to place David on the ticket, in the Vice-Presidential slot; upon becoming a candidate, he could lavish as much of his personal fortune as he wished on the campaign. The ticket’s slogan was “The Libertarian Party has only one source of funds: You.” In fact, its primary source of funds was David Koch, who spent more than two million dollars on the effort."

Now comes the hard part. The Koch brothers are very hard to boycott! There are retail items that are easy to boycott, and they are a good place to start:

* Angel Soft toilet paper.
* Brawny paper towels. 
* Dixie plates, bowls, napkins and cups.
 * Mardi Gras napkins and towels.
 * Quilted Northern toilet paper.
 * Soft 'n Gentle toilet paper.
 * Sparkle napkins.
 * Vanity fair napkins.
 * Zee napkins.
 * Georgia-Pacific paper products and envelopes.

Then it gets harder. In addition to oil and other energy resources and companies they hold interest in, there are the following industrial products that need to be boycotted:

All Georgia-Pacific lumber and building products, including: 

* Dense Armor Drywall and Decking.
* ToughArmor Gypsum board.
 * Georgia Pacific Plytanium Plywood.
*  Flexrock.  
* Densglass sheathing .
* G/P Industrial plasters, (some products used by a lot of crafters.)
*  FibreStrong Rim board.
* G/P Lam board.
* Blue Ribbon OSB Rated Sheathing.
* Blue Ribbon Sub-floor.
 * DryGuard Enhanced OSB, (Oriented strand board.)
 * Nautilus Wall Sheathing.
* Thermostat OSB Radiant Barrier Sheathing.
 * Broadspan Engineered Wood Products.
* XJ 85 I-Joists.
 * FireDefender Banded Cores.
*  FireDefender FS.
*  FireDefender Mineral Core.
*  Hardboard and Thin MDF including Auto Hardboard,  Perforated Hardboard and thin MDF  Wood Fiberboard.
* Commercial Roof Fiberboard.
*  Hushboard Sound Deadening Board. 
* Regular Fiberboard Sheathing  Structural Fiberboard Sheathing  .

These are largely building materials that few of us buy or order, unless we work for a company that deals in these materials. If Home Depot carries some or all of these products, they are (potentially) included. (That wouldn't hurt as an SF Weekly investigative article I read referred to them as; "Wal-Mart With A Hammer.") A reasonable start would be a letter to Home Depot's corporate headquarters stating your reasons for their product's removal.

If you happen to work for a company that uses these materials, and you have some involvement with ordering them, you could do a truly great thing by either finding alternate materials, or by making your company aware of the Koch brothers, how harmful they are to our Democracy, and how your company currently does business with them.

Just keep "Georgia-Pacific" in mind when you shop for paper products or building materials.

Now it gets a little harder. (As if the building materials weren't hard enough!) The Koch brothers have large investments in INVISTA Products:

* COMFOREL® fiberfill.
 * COOLMAX® fabric.
*  CORDURA® fabric.
*  DACRON® fiber.
*  POLYSHIELD® resin.
*  SOLARMAX® fabric.
*  SOMERELLE® bedding products.
* STAINMASTER® carpet.
*  SUPPLEX® fabric.
 * TACTEL® fiber.
 * TACTESSE® carpet fiber.
*  TERATE® polyols.
 * TERATHANE® polyether glycol.
 * THERMOLITE® fabric.
* PHENREZ® resin.
*  POLARGUARD® fiber and  LYCRA® fiber.

I think a lot of us have these products in our homes, or the material is in items like our clothing. I know for sure that I have clothing that contains PolarGuard® and Lycra® fiber. Until the Koch bothers starting funding things like Tea Party politics, we bought these items without thinking of who owned the company.

Some things, like StainMaster® Carpet, are easy to boycott. Our condo has laminate flooring throughout and I personally prefer it to carpet. Other things are not so easy. We can look for these ingredients in building and craft materials, and when we find them, we can write to the companies that have these ingredients in them. A written (or typed) letter sent by regular post has more impact than a phone call or an email.

It takes a little more work to be a responsible consumer, but many Americans have been as conscientious as possible with their dollars for years. The more this trend grows, the more companies are going to include their suppliers in their public relations materials and advertising. Some companies are already doing that. This is corporate responsibility that we should applaud and support. For example; as a gay man I have long watched where my dollars are going to insure that, (to the best of my knowledge,) I am not supporting companies that try to damage my community.

One last thing you can do is simply keep your eyes open, and periodically check out Anti-Koch Brothers websites. As this boycott grows there will be more people who will do the footwork and research to make sure the name "Koch" is equated with lost dollars and lost customers.

And this boycott is growing. Americans are finally standing up against the corruption and hatred that is both Anti-American and Anti-Democratic. Right now and in the immediate future it's the Koch brothers. More names and companies will be added to the list until we all discover that; a) we have more power as individuals than we thought, and b) we demand our Democracy and our Civil Society be put back in the hands of the people, where it has always belonged.

2010-10-27T15:07:00.000-07:00

One Nation Under Fear:
Op-Ed By Phillip T. Alden
October 2010

Some Americans like to refer to our country as a "peace and freedom-loving" nation, and some like to call America "a Christian" nation, although our behavior both domestically and around the world is neither "peaceful" nor "Christ-like." (We are also not "a Christian" nation but a nation based (partially) upon religious freedom, including freedom from religion.)

In many ways I am proud of our country, but in many ways I am not. I consider myself a patriotic American, but that doesn't mean I have the typical knee-jerk reactions that many Americans have. I believe that peace is patriotic, and that our wars of adventurism do nothing but sustain a foreign policy that is incredibly dysfunctional. We spend over 700 billion dollars a year on a military-industrial complex that can never get enough of our tax dollars. In addition, we're wasting billions more on misadventures like George W. Bush's Iraq debacle, and now Obama's Afghanistan debacle.

Nobody in their right mind would say that we have achieved anything positive from our wars since World War II. In Korea and Vietnam we shot and bombed poor rice farmers, and in Iraq and Afghanistan we are bombing poor goat herders. In war the real casualties are innocent civilians. Instead of stabilizing nations, (as we did following WWII,) we are leaving them worse off than before. Both "governments" we installed in Iraq and Afghanistan are beyond dysfunctional and don't have the support of the populace.

But you won't hear this on Fox News, or from any mainstream media outlet in this country. With very few exceptions, and none on TV, American "news" has become a bad joke – and a propaganda tool for extreme right-wing assholes like Rupert Murdoch. It's pathetic that I have to surf the web to foreign news agencies to find out what is really going on – both here and abroad. When I was a child we had men like Walter Cronkite – real journalists with unquestioned credibility. If it wasn't true, (to the best of his knowledge,) Cronkite would not report it. Real journalists like Cronkite also did their own "fact checking." It's no wonder that TV viewership has been declining for years, and that, despite the "24/7 News Cycle," Americans are less informed and more ignorant than at any time in my 46 years on this planet.

Americans have had a lot of their comfortable illusions smashed since October of 2008. My father never invested a single dollar in the stock market, and had my parents lived long enough, they would have had plenty of money for them to retire comfortably. My parents knew that our stock market is really the nation's largest casino, and with casinos the odds are always with the house. Las Vegas and Wall Street were not built on "winners." Now most Americans have been forced to realize what my parents knew all along.

We now compete with China, (a dictatorship,) over who is the world's number one jailor at a given time. In my home state of California we spend more on prisons than we do on education. And most of those languishing in our brutal and violent prison system are non-violent drug offenders. The idea behind America's prison system was to keep violent and dangerous people away from the citizenry. Non-violent drug offenders don't threaten me in any way. America is a drug-using nation, from beer to Vicodin to cannabis. But wealthy, (and often White,) people who can afford a good lawyer don't go to prison when they are convicted of a non-violent drug offense. If you're a Person of Color or Poor the system works much differently.

Our mass media has fed us a steady diet of fear for decades, and people are getting tired of that diet, hence the declining TV viewership roles. In addition, the recent "recession" and record-high unemployment has Americans feeling more fearful than we have in a very long time. We all know our state and federal political systems are hopelessly corrupt and broken. There should be no one serving in Congress for decades until they are so old that they can barely make it to the floor for a vote. But that's a minor problem with our electoral system, which has so many major problems it's hard to know where to begin.

The only antidote to fear is to face it, and to solve the problems that breed the fear. But that takes unity and a common sense of purpose, which we don't have right now. What we have are countless groups with their own agenda, and a populace that is either blinded by their own personal or religious agenda, or they are too apathetic or ignorant to truly change the system. Sadly, the intelligent and progressive Americans are outnumbered by those I mentioned before.

I believe that all Americans could bring about positive change, if they weren't constantly lied to or denied the information they need to make truly informed decisions. There are also those who are blinded by extremist belief, and although they are vocal and loud, they are a minority and can be overcome.

That isn't going to happen, though. Instead these extremist groups are going to do as much damage to this country as they can before they fall away. They don't truly want to work to make this country a better place. They just want to elect people they (mistakenly) believe will further their pointless and destructive agendas. Others have been so apathetic they didn't realize they were destroying their own futures. Now college graduates are moving back in with their parents, (if they can,) left with a mountain of debt and little to no job prospects. Older workers, many robbed of their savings by the Sub-Prime Economic Crime Wave of 2008, face even worse prospects.

And the people who want to take charge want to make things worse. The Meg Whittmans and Carly Fiorinas of this world want to make their White and wealthy friends wealthier at the expense of everyone else. Right now, in my county, there is no money for disease prevention and education. The tattered social safety net, under attack since the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980, is in danger of falling apart completely – leaving us with no public health system. Most people don't even know that the average person on Social Security Disability gets only $900 a month, (plus Medicare.) Have you tried living anywhere in this country on $900 a month?

But that's the ignorance of the masses and the demonization of the sick and the poor by wealthy people who seek greater wealth at the expense of others, and they don't care how much destruction they cause. I think 2008 taught us all that. Many of these people are so short-sighted they don't even see how they are screwing themselves over in the long run.

So how much war and fear and dysfunctional government do you want? There seems to be an endless demand, as I watch Americans get kicked in the teeth by their own country again and again – and they do nothing but ask for more.

2010-08-20T11:24:00.000-07:00

Forget the Federal Deficit:
By Phillip T. Alden
August 20, 2010

Recently there has been a collective self-flagellation over the size of the federal deficit. Considering the state of our economy, the number of unemployed people about to end up living on the streets, and the continuous cutbacks to the social safety net and education – to worry about state and federal deficits is a waste of time.

We have a national electric grid that badly needs updating, as does our phone grid. (Yes, even with mobile phones we still need the POTS line.) In addition we have hundreds of bridges and roadways that need replacing or repair. In fact, there are probably dozens of national projects that need a major overhaul.

We also need to start massive "green energy" projects and clean up a number of toxic areas in our country. To work against destructive Global Climate Change we need to start with a massive tree-planting project.

What we need is a massive public works program similar to the one we utilized to get ourselves out of the Great Depression. Our state and federal governments should start jobs programs that promise a job to everyone who shows up. If you're a recent college graduate you might not be excited about the idea of planting trees or rebuilding highway bridges – but it beats being unemployed and moving back in with your parents.

There are times to worry about the deficit, but this is not one of those times. With 14-20 million people out of work, (depending upon who you ask,) we need a massive "stimulus" project to get these people working again.

Much needed projects would be accomplished and our country would be truly stronger. Millions of hard-working Americans would not end up homeless. Massive "green" projects, (like tree planting,) would slow destructive Global Climate Change.

I'm not saying we should not be concerned about state and federal deficits, but there are times to worry about such things, and this is not one of them. If we fail to employ the millions of Americans now out of work, (and out of federal unemployment benefits,) our economy and our deficits will get worse, with nothing to balance that out. The massive public works projects I'm proposing would keep people in their homes, keep spending up on things like groceries and clothing, and give a much-needed boost to our economy.

Those in Washington who moan about deficits while ignoring the suffering of the American people are hopelessly out of touch with the country they're supposed to be running. American politicians don't lead. They follow.

China is currently running a "Super-Bubble," (according to a recent article in the Christian Science Monitor.) Their manipulation of their own currency is an attempt to stave off the "downside" when their "Super Bubble" bursts. And when it does it will worsen our economy and the economies of a number of countries.

The American Government has a behavioral pattern. Instead of telling us what is going to happen, they stay silent until the you-know-what hits the fan, then they practice their usual "damage control." We know our government, (with the help of the American mass-media,) has lied to us about nearly everything – from the true state of the economy to the environmental disaster in the Gulf caused by BP.

Things are going to get worse, a lot worse, before they get better.

It's long past time for us to stop worrying about deficits and time to start helping average Americans get back to work. Otherwise, our so-called "Great Recession" could turn into "Great Depression II." We need to stop letting the loose amalgamation of fringe groups known as "The Tea Party" pick the national conversation. That means Democrats and Progressives need to turn off their computers, get up off their lazy butts, and take to the streets.

Or Democrats and Progressives can just continue to sit on their hands while radical (and ignorant) right-wing groups lead the national conversation. They can watch on their computers as our country turns from a bad place to a truly destructive place.

2010-07-03T16:48:00.000-07:00

No Fireworks For Me:
By Phillip T. Alden - July 3, 2010

I consider myself a patriotic American. I've seen a bumper sticker around the Bay Area that says; "Peace Is Patriotic." I like that. I quickly tire of the "my country right or wrong" point-of-view, (as it's commonly known.) That's one of the many reasons I ignore TV in general, and especially any and all TV news, (with the exception of "The Jim Lehrer News Hour" or "Frontline" on NPR/PBS.) Another reason is that the "news" is not really giving the American people any real news at all. My best friend watches the local news and tells me that he learns nothing about what's really going on in our own backyards.

I'm often critical of the American government and the California state government, (for obvious reasons.) On the national level we are being lied to about what's really going on with the economy. I believe the "truth" about the economy and the true health of our banking system would scare the shit out of most Americans, (and for good reason.) The banks are hiding so much "red ink" that, to openly put those losses on their books could cause a banking collapse that would make 1929 look like a picnic. Our national leaders aren't telling us about the pitfalls awaiting us, choosing instead to do their usual "damage control" when these things come to light on their own. (Think credit card debt.)

We are engaged in two losing wars. Violence is up in both Iraq and Afghanistan, and I've recently posted stories by other journalists about why that is. Basically, our troops are in the middle of multiple civil wars, though the whole picture is much more complicated than that, particularly in Afghanistan. The corrupt and ineffective central government is not a "credible ally," (as our leaders are fond of saying.) The people of both Iraq and Afghanistan don't want us there, and things are not going to get better until after we leave. Admittedly, when we leave there will be chaos, (largely caused by old hatreds that we allowed to surface when we destabilized these ancient nations.) We don't understand their culture or history and we cannot be bothered to learn about them.

In addition, with our economy in the terrible shape that it's in, we simply cannot afford to keep financing these wars. It's that simple.

A recent report by the ACLU shows that both national and state governments are continuing to openly step on our Constitutional rights. Dangerous groups like the Tea Party are causing our fucked-up politics to become even more so.

In my home state of California, our troglodyte governor has done his best to "balance the budget" on the backs of the poor and disabled, and (surprise!) my fellow Californians don't care. It's not their problem, (until they lose their job and/or become disabled themselves.)

And the saddest thing is that most Americans don't care, (or they act like it.) Voting rates, community participation, and general civic engagement are at all-time lows. Personally, I believe that many Americans are (rightfully) scared shitless, but they don't seem to want to deal with their fear or the reasons behind it. It's far past time for reasonable people to stand up for each other, and to fix our broken governments – but we won't.

I realize that, by virtue of selection, my audience is made up of intelligent people who understand these problems. But we are a minority of sorts. Writers, artists and musicians are observers of human and societal behavior. None of what I'm writing comes as a surprise to most of my readers.

And sadder still, the people who need to read, think and act upon what we write and point out – simply won't. Some of them are complacent, (if they're lucky enough to still be employed and have a warm roof over their heads.) Some of them view us as "the liberal elite" and they resent us because they feel we "look down" on them. This is the resentment that people like Sarah Palin taps into, and it's worked out pretty well, (for her at a $50,000+ speaking fee.) When I see those jingoistic bumper stickers that say; "United We Stand;" I say "bullshit" under my breath. We are the farthest thing from "United." In fact, we aren't that much different from the tribal conflicts that plague countries like Afghanistan and Iraq.

Yesterday I heard (on National Public Radio) that the unemployment rate for Black males currently stands at 46%. A Live Journal Friend who is better at these things than I am told me the actual rate is closer to 30%. I believe the actual number is somewhere in-between. But regardless of unemployment rates, the election of Barack Obama has been a sobering wake-up call for me. Since the election I have heard and seen racist comments that I haven't heard for decades, (and which I thought were best left in the past.) But blindness to the true state of "race relations" is a social illness common to White people, (including myself.) The cause is part of the larger problems in our nation – we still suppress People Of Color (POC) through economic inequity and the so-called "War On Drugs," and our national media feeds those prejudices and encourages division even among people of the same cultural or racial backgrounds. I grew up in the "socially progressive" town of Palo Alto, next door to Stanford University. But as an adult I realized the racism in my "progressive" town was simply well-hidden because most people were highly educated and good at such things. I'm not saying everyone in Palo Alto was a racist, nor is everyone in almost any given American town, but then this subject could take up a essay of its own.

There are people in this community who can write about race with a much more realistic and personal viewpoint than I am capable of.

I love my country. But since 1980, (the election of Ronald Reagan,) I've sadly watched the country of my birth go downhill. I'm not saying that things were perfect in 1979. There were many problems our country faced in 1980. But most people have forgotten the family farms that went under, and the suicides of men who, through no fault of their own, lost their land and their homes. Most people also tend to forget that over 300 Reagan appointees were indicted for corruption of one kind or another, or that Reagan ignored the AIDS Pandemic and let countless people die through hateful apathy.

Throughout my adult life I've watched this country regress, even in the face of incredible technological and medical advances. Our political systems were far from perfect 30 years ago, but the Bush II Administration was a national nightmare for this country, and we'll be paying for it for decades. And I don't care which political party is in power because they are both bought and paid for. Truth-tellers are ignored. Many people think they are powerless because they've been made to feel that way, and that illusion is helping destroy this country.

So I won't be waving the flag or watching any fireworks this weekend. They have become reminders to me of what we were once capable of becoming, and how we have squandered those multiple opportunities. To me, they have become symbols of our national failure.

Race is a difficult issue:

2010-05-09T15:08:00.001-07:00

On so many levels. It's so highly charged, and when I try to put something out there I get accused of being blinded by my own "Whiteness." So basically I'm too stupid to contribute anything to the discussion by virtue of the color of my skin.

2010-04-27T17:16:00.000-07:00

Why the Catholic Church doesn't want to the Whole Truth to come out:

By Phillip Alden

April 2010

By way of introduction, I am the son of an Irish-American, Catholic mother. I grew up being forced to attend their church. Catholicism in Palo Alto, California, in the 1960s and 70s, was rather liberal. There were openly gay members and the priests I grew up knowing were all good men who would never harm anyone, particularly any child. There were no anti-gay messages, or any such messages preached there. (The priest I admired the most was forcibly excommunicated later for falling in love with and marrying a wonderful woman. He also performed my sister's marriage ceremony while he was still a Catholic priest.)

Although I never voluntarily participated in any way, (I never went to "confession" and I was never "confirmed,") my mother loved her church and was very active in the union of her church and the Catholic students at Stanford University, (which sits next door to my hometown.) I am glad she is not alive to day to see the beginning of the destruction of the church she loved so much.

Because that is what we are witnessing, one of those moments in time that you fail to appreciate until after everything has run its course. We are front row center for the beginning of the end of the Catholic Church. Now when I say that, I know it can sound like hyperbole. Catholicism will continue to exist for centuries. But the "Catholic Church" as we know it, as a powerful religious entity that influences societies and governments around the world, one of the wealthiest organizations in the world – is beginning to die. It will be a long, slow, painful death – for such an entrenched organization does not "go quietly into that good night."

Am I happy about this? For a while I gloated, and I will welcome the day when the church can no longer hurt people. But happy? I don't think so. For one thing, even though my mother is no longer with us in this life, there is my aunt, my cousins, and millions, if not billions, of basically good people who are going to be hurt. They are hurting right now. To a devout Catholic, these continued revelations are like a knife to their spirit. These are people who don't change their religious beliefs easily, if at all.

For some people, it's a shame that the truth has a habit of rising to the surface, regardless of how hard one tries to bury it. But as we know from history, sooner or later, the truth will out. It just keeps getting worse and worse for Rome. And there's no end in sight.

Already there are church properties in the U.S. and in other countries that are being sold off to pay for lawyers and law-suit payouts. Some of those churches were built by hand from craftsmen immigrants from Germany, Italy, Ireland, France, and a dozen other countries. These one-of-a-kind, beautiful pieces of architecture will be lost forever.

The Vicious Cycle:

The pandemic of child abuse, both sexual and physical, by Catholic priests and other authority figures in the church – all over the world – is just the tip of the iceberg.

Traditionally, in Catholic families, if a male child shows any sign of potential homosexuality, they are usually push into the priesthood. This has been done for centuries. These young men often become sexually retarded, and the only people they can truly relate to sexually are children.

According to gay men who have left the church; seminaries, and even Vatican City, have places where two men can get together easily.

According to this Wikipedia article about sex abuse cases in the Catholic Church:

".. Dr Richard Fitzgibbons, a psychiatrist with experience of treating abusers, suggests a link between homosexuality and child abuse. He said, "In fact, every priest whom I treated who was involved with children sexually had previously been involved in adult homosexual relationships..."

Now that is not to say that, because a man is homosexual, he is a child-molester. That has been disproven by medical study after study. Outside the Catholic Church, the only people who accuse us of being predators by virtue of our sexuality are ignorant people who have been fed hate by other ignorant and hateful people. There are hundreds of gays and lesbians who raise children, and those kids grow to be sexually healthy adults who make their own decisions about their personal sexuality. I have nephews and nieces, and my friends have children. I would never dream of harming them or any other child.

As an aside, I met a woman from Japan while vacationing in New Zealand. When I told her about this cycle, she said the same thing happens in Japan: Japanese children who are suspected of being homosexual are pushed by their families into becoming Buddhist monks. I found this an interesting coincidence.

Now the sheer number of children who have been abused by Catholic priests and other church officials may be enough to bring the church to its knees financially. And the settlements just keep coming. In addition, the number of dedicated parishioners are declining. Many of them are people like myself, whose parents were involved with the church, but their children have found it holds no interest for them. And why should it? When most of us want to be present in today, with an eye on the future, the Catholic Church wants to take people backwards. Human lives are linear, and the only direction is forward.

The historic crimes and atrocities of the church have been written about extensively, by men far more researched and scholarly than I. The part the church played in The Crusades is well-known, as is their historic (and ongoing) oppression of women. As a gay man, and considering what we keep learning, the church is more than a little hypocritical of my sexuality, and singling out a group of people for attack is just plain wrong.

But aside from the church's current abhorrent and inexcusable behavior, and their half-baked attempts to cover it up, there are hundreds of years of political intrigue, abuse of indigenous cultures and their beliefs, and trying to force human beings into a twisted sexual dynamic that is unnatural and unhealthy for the human psyche. And as the incredibly vast dark side of the Catholic Church is brought into the Light, we will become more contemptuous and dismissive of the Vatican and all it represents.

What destroyed the Roman Empire, and the empires that came before it, is the same thing that will destroy the Catholic Church; slavery, killing, subjugation and repression, excesses and abuse, the never-ending hunger for power and gold. As I said, I will be happy when the day comes that the Catholic Church can no longer hurt people. That day will not happen in my lifetime, barring something extraordinary. But I am not "happy" or pleased with myself to bear witness to the first dominoes falling, neither will I grieve for an institution that has done so many bad things.

Because, like it or not, the Catholic Church does a lot of good in the world. Their Catholic Charities are a good example of this. I may not like the way they do their good works, but it would be unfair to the church to fail to mention the good it has done around the world. Throughout history the church has furthered the world of science, art, music and literature. There is not one American alive today, Catholic or not, that has not been affected by the church in some way. The church has kept Latin, the primary base of the English language, alive for centuries.

Other than people who are angry with the church, the feeling we should have is one of great sadness. This is a once-great religious institution that could have been so much more, and could have had a bright future. But as with many organizations started by man, power and greed corrupted the church very early in its history. That they have remained this powerful and this present in daily life for so long under the ever-increasing weight of that corruption only shows how massively powerful and wealthy the Vatican has always been.

Yes, we are witnessing history. Hopefully those who have been abused will get some measure of justice, or at least find a way to live happily in today. I also hope that the great art and culture will survive, that the things of beauty will outlast the grave of the Catholic Church. I expect that its end, when it finally does come, will be bloody and violent. But then, blood and violence are also a major part of the church's history.

2010-03-30T14:48:00.001-07:00

A little over a week ago I published this post about American soldiers planning to overthrow the Obama Government, based upon an article in Mother Jones Magazine.

Now the brilliant Brad Hicks, (who is once again writing about things we should all read and take seriously,) has written a post about how the same people are planning events to set this domestic war in motion by killing cops, based upon this Associated Press article.

As if this country doesn't have enough problems without groups of insane people, with lots of guns and explosives, planning to throw us into a violent domestic war, which might cause our government to declare Martial Law, therefore making their paranoid fantasies an ugly reality.

It's called a self-fulfilling prophecy.

If you think these people are not serious, or that they wouldn't do what they say, the AP article I linked to above, (as did Brad Hicks,) tells us a different story. It may be comforting to deny the reality of the situation, but sticking your head in the sand does not make you or your family safe.

If these groups start carrying out their plans, as it looks increasingly clear that they will, they will embolden other groups that may decide to shoot up the Castro, (San Francisco's gay area,) or plant bombs in public areas.

9-11 was not the start of terrorist attacks on American soil. The U.N. was bombed when Clinton was in office, and let us not forget the bombing of the federal building in Salt Lake City, killing over 300 men, women and children. Domestic terrorism is not new, but it is growing. I give our local, state and federal law enforcement agencies a lot of credit for breaking up a lot of these plans before they happened, as evidenced by recent arrests made by the FBI.

But as helpful as citizens have been in helping these agencies do their jobs, they cannot catch everyone and they will miss some of these plots. Like many other countries, America needs to learn to start living with terrorism on our soil.

These people are driven by hatred, an extreme hatred of President Obama and the Democrats in Washington. They know that elections will not change the balance of power, or really change the culture of D.C. in any appreciable way. Like many people, they believe the dangerous illusion that their vote does not count. The election of a Black man to the nation's highest office, and the reaction to it, shows that our vote does count - but only if we use it. Kids who are apathetic, or who believe their vote doesn't count, are seeing the results of that apathy/inaction. It's getting harder and more expensive to get a college education, and when they graduate, there are no jobs out there.

The fact that California spends more on prisons than on education shows us what happens when Bill O'Reilly and Rush Limbaugh fans are the only people who vote. Say what you will about Radical Right Christians and other extremists, but at least they vote. People you (mistakenly) laugh at are better participants in our Democracy than you are. There's nothing "progressive" about not voting.

When I hear someone complaining about our government there are two questions I ask them, (if I can.) The first is; "Do you vote in every election?" and the second is; "Do you write or call your elected representatives?" if they say no to both, I tell them they should shut the fuck up because they have no right to complain about a government they choose to ignore.

Regardless of what happens, I will always believe that our vote and our participation in our Representative Democracy is essential. And I will always tell those who complain without participating that they have no right to complain as they're too lazy and arrogant to be a good citizen.

My point is that we not only have to vote, call and write our elected representatives - we have to keep our eyes and ears open. If we hear and/or see people planning to engage in domestic terrorist attacks we have to inform the authorities. We have to look out for our neighbors and fellow citizens.

I'm not encouraging people to get paranoid and call the cops because someone is expressing their opinions. Free speech is one of our most treasured rights, (even when it's being used by ignorant and angry racists and idiots.) People have a right to their opinion.

But planning the violent overthrow of our elected government is a serious federal crime for a reason. Threatening the life of the President is a serious federal crime for a reason.

Yesterday two women "suicide bombers" detonated themselves in a Russian subway. Those people arrested in the AP story mentioned above planned a major terrorist attack on our police.

I wonder how much more it's going to take for people to wake up, turn off the TV, and start participating in our Democracy. We can (peacefully) take back our government from the corporations and religious fanatics - but only if we act and encourage our fellows to act.

If you "don't have time" to participate in one of the few Representative Democracies in the world, you will lose what rights you have left. Voter participation was at an all-time low in 2000 and 2004. With just a little less apathy, we could have avoided the election of Bush and Cheney, and avoided the destruction of Iraq and killing of tens of thousands of innocent people.

Bush won by a tiny margin, and we are all paying the price for the apathy of a few.

Think about that.

2010-02-14T19:18:00.000-08:00

LIVING IN FEAR – 2010-STYLE:

BY PHILLIP ALDEN

I've been reading a lot of Live Journal posts and Facebook posts recently that just exude fear and uncertainty. There are also people causing more fear in those they love, not out of meanness or evil intent, but simply out of human nature.

I've also been hearing a lot of self-deprecating and even people putting themselves down.

I understand. As a former drug and alcohol abuser who got into recovery in 1990, I understand low self-esteem, low self-worth, and beating yourself up over every mistake and bad judgment call you have ever made. Been there, done that, hated myself. I blamed myself for being a poor son to my parents. (I wasn't.) I blamed myself for not meeting the expectations of others. (A trap.) I even blamed myself for getting infected with HIV. (Another, more vicious trap.)

On my birthday we watched the Opening Ceremony for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. As they showed a montage of Canada, I thought about our trip to Whistler; how Vancouver is one of the great water cities, how beautiful the drive from Vancouver to Whistler was, passing by Horseshoe Bay and numerous waterfalls, and the grandeur of the mountains of Whistler were from our top-floor hotel room at the (then newly opened) Four Seasons.

The montage also showed footage of places only a train or helicopter sees, as well as the small communities in the terribly cold north of the Providences. I was surprised to learn that 90% of Canadians live within 100 miles of the Canada-U.S. border.

But here's the point of this Olympic digression: When the athletes started their march into the stadium, the first country, by tradition, was Greece. Someone commented on how terrible the economic situation was in Greece, and as country after country came in, we commented on their sagging economies, (Ireland, Norway, Sweden and England – among others.) I jokingly mentioned there was no delegation from Haiti, and that led to a discussion of what countries even have enough wealth for their citizens to enjoy winter sports, which are expensive. (If you don't believe me, go downhill skiing. I recommend Lake Tahoe or the Alps.) The skiers from tropical places live and train in places like Tahoe or Aspen.

Even the ceremony itself, while understandably could not compete with China two years ago, seemed pathetic, anemic, and downbeat. And I'm not discounting the death of an athlete earlier that day. No matter how hard they tried to be joyous and celebratory, it seemed like an effort. Each country was a reminder of the world's problems, and those were only the countries that had qualified for the Olympics in the first place.

I just turned 46. I have seen a lot in my lifetime. But in honesty, I've never seen things this bad. And it didn't start in September of 2008, when the "Sub-Prime Economic Crime Wave" hit us. It didn't even start in 2000 when Bush, Cheney and the "Republicans" destroyed what little credibility was left of our political system. I was on a cruise ship shortly after September 2008, and I was sitting next to a man I'd call a "traditional" Republican. He was a nice guy and I liked him. We found that we had a lot of common ground, and that both of us were disgusted with the politics of our country. The very words "Republican" and "Democrat" have become worthless, merely another insult the pundits in our diseased mass media can throw at each other.

Things have been dark in this country, and in this world, before. WWI and WWII were both terrible and preventable, as were the invasions of Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. But the poisoned fruits we are gathering now, I believe, grew from a seed planted in 1980. I'm not saying the 1970s were perfect, but things were much different then. Corporations were not as big or powerful as they are now, in some ways, and the media was not as massively consolidated as it is now. There were journalists we trusted, and they did their best to expose corruption and bring us the news, like Woodward and Bernstein, or Walter Cronkite.

But the "Reagan Revolution" started a downhill trend that continued through every administration that followed, regardless of party. Real wages have never kept pace with the rest of the economy, and that just got dangerously worse, but Reagan helped push the Middle Class down and the ranks of the Impoverished grow larger. Public discourse turned into "repeating the lie until it becomes the truth," (not my quote,) hurling insults and degrading the person you disagreed with. "Civil Discourse" became a thing of the past. The ill-named and ill-conceived "War On Drugs" accelerated, and our national and state-run Prison-Industrial Complex grew into a juggernaut that has bankrupted our state economies. We filled our violent prisons with non-violent "drug offenders," permanently ruining millions of lives. (Try getting a job with a prison record.)

I wonder how many people would feel a little less comfortable in those designer jeans if they knew they were made by prisoners earning less than $1 an hour. In 1975 I know people who would throw them away and protest. Today I believe most people would deny the cruelty involved in the production of those jeans, justify their apathy and lack of compassion, and likely make some joke that puts down the very people who suffered for those clothes. (Just do a web search on American companies who use prison labor. You'll be surprised at the list, if you can find a complete one.)

Today we are the world's number one jailor, competing with China for that dubious honor. Prisons are places of terrible sorrow and suffering. We used to reserve those dark places for dangerous, violent people who were a direct physical threat to others – or those who so betrayed the trust we placed in them, that prison was the only place to put such a person. Now these charnel-houses are bursting with people whose only crime was being a poor person who used drugs. How many of us have used street and/or pharmaceutical drugs for "recreational" purposes? How many of us have been drunk at least once in our lives? (Alcohol is a drug.)

Do you deserve to be in prison because you smoked a joint in college or snorted a line of Cocaine in the 1980s?

One thing my parents taught me, above all else, was Compassion. My mother has been dead for over 20 years, and to this day there is one saying that stays with me: "There, but for the grace of god, go I." I learned early on the joy of volunteerism, the pride of being a contributing member of my society. Some of us have more money than time, and without the wealthy of this country we would be a much darker place. People donate way more money than they can remove from their income tax burden. There are also good companies out there that give back generously to the community. Some of us have more time than money, and we are generous with that. Many people don't know that the volunteer community relies upon the disabled, those of us who can no longer work, but still wish to make a difference.

Generalizations are dangerous things, and they are one of the enemies of Compassion. We cannot know what is in the mind and heart of another, or why people do what they do, even when we have "walked a mile in the other guy's shoes," (as the old saying goes.) When it comes down to it, we all want the same things; Shelter, Warmth, Love, Friendship, Joy and Hope. And although we may not know it, Hope is what we need more than anything. Without Hope one cannot truly love, or experience the majesty and joy this world has to offer.

Erik and I have been all over the world. We have seen and done amazing things. We have met people from many places, and we have seen how beautiful this world can be. We have also seen how poor and ugly this world can be, especially to those born without our uniquely American advantages.

The other day I read an article in the New York Times about how the "Republicans" in Washington want to destroy MediCare. There's no talk of destroying our bloated Military-Industrial Complex, or the billions spent on pet projects of politicians who want to "bring home the bacon" to their constituents.

(Please forgive my use of quotes and sayings, but men wiser than I have said some of these things. "If I see far, it is because I stand on the backs of giants." I'll leave it to you to figure out who said that.)

We are fighting two wars that could have been prevented. 9-11 did not happen in a vacuum. The people who committed that awful crime did not simply wake up one morning and decide to hate us. As Noam Chomsky put it, we have become "the United States of Amnesia." The people in the Middle East (and elsewhere) who hate us have good reason. This is not to excuse what they have done. But we need to remember what we have done, and there are things our country needs to stop doing.

I always say our mass media is a large part of the problem, but our media is a reflection of us. We are merely getting what most of us are asking for. Journalism has become a joke because we chose to devalue it, to turn it into a dark and twisted form of entertainment. TV viewership has been declining for years, as more and more of us see that ugly reflection and turn away.

But that does not solve the myriad of problems facing us. Heterosexual obsession with the sex life of gay people does not serve any purpose, other than to promote Hate. And there is far too much promotion of Hate in our society today.

I'm not saying the answers are easy. We have brought ourselves to a very dark place. We are polarized and distanced from each other, even as technology gives us the illusion of Connection. In large part I am "preaching to the choir." It will take a long time and a lot of work to bring us back together, and back to the Light. But there are a few things to keep in mind as we start:

1. Everyone matters, and everyone deserves dignity, respect and the right to live free of fear and oppression.

2. Everyone has the right to their beliefs, and we should respect each other's differences, because those differences are what makes this world a wonderful place. (And despite our problems, this world is still a wondrous place.

3. There is no place for Hate. We lead by example, not reaction.

4. Your vote does count! And your participation in our Representative Democracy is crucial. Our elected representatives don't lead, they follow. Right now they are following the dollar instead of the voter, and we see the effects of that clearly enough.

5. Your dollar has power! Every time we mindlessly spend our increasingly hard-earned dollar, we give away tremendous power. And the corporations and banks and investment houses causing the most trouble depend upon your continued mindless spending. We should be demanding that our corporations and stores be good citizens, since our joke of a Supreme Court has given them the same rights as we have, without the responsibilities. As of now they (mostly) take and give nothing back. Do you like paying $125 for a pair of jeans that took maybe $5 to make in total, on the back of some poor (and often abused) factory worker in another land, or on the back of a suffering prisoner?

6. Our mass media is toxic, because we have made it so. Technology is fast giving us the power over that media, but like so many of our rights, that can be taken away too.

7. Torturing people, often innocent people, is never right. It makes us no more than dumb animals, because dumb animals know only violence and fear.

8. The Constitution and Bill Of Rights are not some bad joke on Fox News. They are the founding documents of this nation. What has been taken should be restored, and what has been polluted by power and influence, should be deleted.

9. America is not "a Christian nation." This country was founded upon the right to believe in 100 gods, or believe in none. There are over a million American Muslims, and I have no idea how many Jewish Americans there are. This is a country based upon freedom, not religion. A Wiccan American has the same rights and freedoms as an Atheist American.

10. We spend more on prisons than we do on education. This is untenable. We must end the failed and disastrous "War On Drugs." We must release and make amends to all those we imprisoned who did no violence or harm to anyone. Don't buy the hype and fear-mongering any longer. Aren't you tired of living in fear?

The life of a Sheep is not very satisfying, and often ends badly.

2010-01-24T16:51:00.000-08:00

Happy 2010 to anyone who still reads this. I don't post here very often because I mainly post to my Live Journal account.

It's been an interesting year. I think the past 18+ months, since "The Sub-Prime Economic Crime Wave," (as I call it) - have been pretty rough on us all. Any of my friends and family who have not lost their jobs are worried about losing their jobs.

I heard an interesting quote today: "Everyone talks about making the world a better place, but over the last 50 years things have been getting worse and worse." (a fictional character)

I'm not saying I totally agree with that statement. Things have gotten better for gays and lesbians, we have a Black President, the medical advancements have been nothing short of amazing, and people are starting to realize how toxic (poisonous) American TV and the mass media at large have become to the people.

But the divide between rich and poor has grown wider. The American Middle Class is diminishing, and it's not because they are moving up. Millions of people will lose their homes, and we will likely have the country's largest homeless population in our history. Our political system is hopelessly corrupt, like a rotten fruit that should be discarded. We need to rebuild our Democracy from the ground up, as our Founding Fathers foresaw. I'm afraid I don't hold out much hope in that department. As long as the Corporations and Radical Religious Right set the agenda, our country becomes more and more fucked-up.

My home state of California is broke because of a dysfunctional political system, an over-reliance on prisons to solve our problems, and a tax system that's essentially a massive give-away to Corporations. Our asshole Governor would rather take life-saving drugs away from people with HIV/AIDS than release the thousands of non-violent drug "offenders" who don't belong in our bloated Prison-Industrial Complex.

Erik and I were in Brazil right before the holidays, and I have to admit that a part of me didn't want to come home. I could see us living in a house on the water near the historic town of Paraty. But the San Francisco Bay Area is our home, and this is where Erik makes his living.

I took a break from writing when we went to Brazil, and after the holidays I extended it. I'll go back to working on the book series, but I'm in no hurry to publish for a couple of reasons. Like most industries in America, the publishing world is in turmoil also. Now is a good time to work on my writing, and work on my manuscripts and short stories.

My health remains the same. My CD4 count remains high and my Viral Load remains "undetectable," (meaning below 50 copies in the bloodstream.) The back pain is the same. The only thing that changes is I eventually build-up a tolerance to the drugs, and they have to increase the dose. I still do my 30 push-ups (almost) every day, and I walk and hike with my friends whenever I can.

It's been raining cats and dogs here in Northern California.

And like most of us, almost everything else is up in the air. At times like these I don't know what I would do without Erik, my family, and my friends. I hope things start to get better for all of us.

Soon.

2009-09-16T12:09:00.000-07:00

If there's no change on Wall Street the answer is simple – Don't give them a penny of your money:

By Phillip T. Alden
September 16, 2009

So it's been a year since the meltdown on Wall Street, (and "Main Street" and every other street in America and most European countries) – and what has changed? Don't work too hard on that question because absolutely nothing has changed. Obama gave another lovely speech that means absolutely nothing.

At the same time, the banking/financial sector has been spending over 1.2 Million dollars a day lobbying in Washington to make sure that nothing stops them from stealing your money all over again. Just ask yourself this question; "Have you heard anything that restores your confidence in the Wall Street investment banks? Or the credit reporting agencies?"

I didn't think so.

The fact of the matter is, those "too big to fail" companies have become even bigger. The banks are still hiding the "toxic assets" that didn't get bought with our tax dollars, and the investment banks are starting to use the same CDOs and other troublesome investment packaging that caused this problem in the first place.

So if nothing has changed, what's an American who wants to keep their money to do? The answer is simple: Don't give Wall Street a single penny of your money! There is no law saying you must do so. Instead of a "401K" you can buy land, government bonds, treasury bills, or place those hard-earned dollars into a savings account. (No more than $100,000 in any one bank.)

If you wish to retire a multi-millionaire, you can try using the Wall Street system. But do you honestly think those people are working hard to make you rich?

I didn't think so.

Even the dumbest child knows that people look out for themselves, especially when it comes to money. There's no Jesus on Wall Street looking out for the little guy. Small fish feed bigger fish, and everyone who is not an investment banker is a "small fish." (This includes you.)

These guys didn't change overnight. They don't suddenly have a moral code. Quite the opposite. Those Wall Street Sharks cannot wait to get a hold of your money again, and they are counting on your stupidity to enter the fray once again.

A number of British journalists have been pondering this question, and they've come to the same conclusion. According to the BBC News:

"But there is now concern that as the banks start to recover, they have not taken the necessary steps to prevent a repeat of the crisis.

"Alarm bells should be ringing with the early signs of a 'back to business' attitude in the City and little evidence that policymakers are taking measures to ensure the next economic recovery is better balanced than the last one," said Tony Dolphin, senior economist at the IPPR.

The report warned that unless urgent action was taken, the banking crisis might not be the last of its type."

Remember the investment banks are spending 1.2 Million Dollars a Day lobbying Washington to make sure that nothing changes.

These guys don't care that over 7 Million Americans have lost their jobs. They don't care that Millions have lost their homes. They don't care that whole families are ending up homeless – all thanks to their greed.

So what do they care about? Making more money. And taking more of your money. Right now these guys are patting each other on the back, happy that we have a do-nothing President and a spineless House and Senate. Their 1.2 Million per day will be money well spent.

But only if you start giving them your money again. They are eagerly awaiting your future 401K funds, your group investment funds, and any other funds they can get their greedy little hands upon.

They are counting on your greed, (in the form of a multi-million dollar retirement,) to feed their greed. And the next time this happens, they will count on the federal government to use our tax dollars (again) to keep them from being "too big to fail."

If they're "too big to fail" they should be broken up. Investment houses should be (once again) separated from regular banking. Standard and Poors and Moody's should be disbanded and replaced with highly regulated credit reporting agencies. All banks and investment houses should be forced to publically declare how much red ink (toxic investments) are still on their books. Those responsible for the last economic meltdown should be arrested, tried and imprisoned for the terrible financial crimes they committed. All financial institutions should be re-regulated to such an extent they cannot sneeze without written permission from the S.E.C.

But none of these much-needed regulatory changes are going to happen. Because the Obama Administration is clearly in the back pocket of the Wall Street Sharks. (1.2 Million a day buys a lot of influence in Washington.)

And you are going to be encouraged to start giving your hard-earned dollars to the Wall Street Sharks again. You are going to be told they will not repeat their mistakes, even as they are getting back into the same risky investments as you read this. You are going to be told that we will not "bail-out" these institutions again.

And if you believe these caustic lies, and you are stupid enough to give more of your money to the Wall Street Sharks – then you deserve what you will get.

So if you don't want to become a Wal-Mart greeter when you should be retiring, don't give one damn penny to any Wall Street investment house. There are safer and better regulated forms of investment. They may not be as "sexy" as some of the Wall Street funds, but just how "sexy" are those sharks looking right now?

If you don't believe me, I encourage you to study the words of men who are much smarter than I, and you will find they are saying pretty much the same thing I am. Anyone cheerleading for Wall Street, (including our President,) should be looked at with great suspicion.

And if you really care, I encourage you to write a letter to President Obama telling him how disappointed your are in his lack of action when it comes to re-regulating our markets.

The web makes it very easy to do research and find out that what I'm saying is an accurate picture of our financial investment sector. Go beyond Fox News and CNN and look for the people who aren't screaming at you through your television. Look for people who aren't in Washington or on Wall Street. There are plenty of economic professors that are saying the same thing I am.

Or ignore me and my words. And if you're lucky enough to have a job, just keep blindly trusting the Wall Street Sharks as you hand over your hard-earned money.

Just don't expect to retire. Ever.

2009-08-27T10:15:00.000-07:00

Why I cannot watch Season One of “Mad Men” on DVD:
By Phillip T. Alden.
August 27, 2009

My best friend and I quit smoking cigarettes, (and anything else that contains nicotine,) about six weeks ago. I can trace my “Quit Day” easily because it coincided with the release of the latest “Harry Potter” film, (July 15.)

Kevin and I have been on the 21mg patch, and tomorrow we’re “stepping down” to the 14mg patch. I truly believe it’s the best way to rid oneself of such an amazingly addictive and powerful drug. None of us are smoking the damn things for the taste. Most of us got addicted to the them when we were kids, (from advertising campaigns we later learned that were targeted at us.) Smoking was a much more tolerated back then. Some non-smokers would put out ashtrays for smoking guests.

Which brings me back to Season One of “Mad Men.” Since I don’t watch broadcast TV at all, I wait for certain highly rated shows to be released on DVD. I’ve heard the first season of “Mad Men” is brilliant. But because it’s about advertising in the 1960’s the characters smoke (and drink) constantly. Part of successfully quitting is not thinking too much about cigarettes, (and staying away from them.)

Which brings me to the real subject the above-mentioned story. It got me thinking about why I quit watching TV, why I still have no desire to watch live television, and why there has been so much incivility in our country, especially since 9/11. The roots of our “civil incivility” began long before then, but 9/11 was a turning point because that’s when we turned our national fear into national anger, with no place to put it. It’s human nature to convert fear to anger. It’s a defense mechanism.

But our mass media, particularly television and so-called “radio personalities,” have been abusing their positions to cause fear, anger and division. “Ignorance and prejudice and fear walk hand in hand,” goes the song. These people mistakenly put in such positions spread fear and hate through ignorance and a general attitude of intolerance. The circus around this health care issue is a good example, but it’s not the first by far. Certain politicians, the George W. Bush Administration in particular, encouraged and fed this ignorance, intolerance and hatred because it suited their purpose. When we looked to our President to tell us why we had been attacked on 9/11, the “evil-doers” answer wasn’t fit for a retarded third-grader.

But that’s what our mass media taught us to expect from our “leaders.” Real journalism has been replaced by angry diatribes from nasty people I wouldn’t invite into my home, but invite them in you do every time you turn on the “idiot box.” The motivations of such people can and should be carefully examined, although their actual actions and words have little, if any, value. The motivations of the people who produce this stream of ignorance and hate are the ones who should be stopped.

Because this is not “free speech,” it’s “hate speech,” badly disguised as “journalism.” When Glenn Beck (of the most offensive “Fox News,”) stated that; “Barack Obama hates White people..” he wasn’t reporting anything or giving an opinion, he was practicing hate speech. It’s the same for Rush Limbaugh when he said that he hopes the President, (and therefore the country,) “fails.” How much more un-American and uncivil can you get? You want the President and the economic recovery to “fail?” How does that further the national dialogue in any constructive way?

The sad truth is that the national dialogue has descended into extremists on different sides sniping at each other. People have become more intolerant of others. Racist remarks are spouted on syndicated radio programs and national TV all the time, as are sexist and homophobic remarks. And sadder still, instead of rejecting this ignorance and hate, the country has embraced it. Anger, intolerance and hatred have become the level of national attitude, and those of moderate voice are drowned out by the screaming of extremists.

Instead of properly investigating the crimes committed by our politicians and banking system, including subversion of our Constitution, lying to Congress in order to start another illegal war, breaking the Geneva Conventions by torturing (largely) innocent people in the misguided hope that torture actually works, (it’s been proven that it doesn’t,) and destroying our economy and causing untold suffering through greed and avarice – instead of facing these problems head-on and investigating and punishing those responsible – we turned on each other.

The criminals in Washington and New York must be rubbing their hands with glee. They’ve gotten away with crimes that normally (and historically) would have had such people facing long-term prison sentences and firing squads. A friend theorized that breaking our economy out of greed was a subversion of our Democracy and our Constitution. I agree. But these people will never face justice. We only put our poor and people of color into our brutal prison-industrial complex.

Until those who are still being poisoned by our mass media stop watching, (and stop being poisoned,) very little will change. We need to turn off the TV and the radio and start listening to those quiet, moderate voices. Until we do, those watching will keep having their mental health and their spiritual health damaged by people who really don’t care what kind of damage their words of hate are doing to people and to our country.

I don’t know what it will take to wake people up to this toxicity. Most people will not read this essay, and those who show up at town hall meetings with assault rifles won’t care about the opinions expressed in this essay. I fear some of them are too far gone. They were raised by ignorant people who fostered their bigotry and hate. They went to churches that fostered their bigotry and hate, and they watch TV (and listen to radio) that continues to foster their bigotry and hate. In short, they have been fully indoctrinated. Their minds, (such as they are,) are as shut as a bank vault.

Since I stopped watching television, friend after friend has come to me to announce they have done the same. Then they tell me how much less negativity they feel. They no longer feel bombarded by angry pundits or advertisers who literally scream at them to buy their product. One friend said he felt as if he had been released by a form of prison that was destroying his peace of mind and serenity.

And, to me, every person who breaks free from the hate speech and screaming of TV advertisers – feels like a victory for both of us.

( “Ignorance and prejudice, and fear walk hand-in-hand,” is the final verse of the song “Witch Hunt” by Rush. Lyrics by drummer/percussionist Neil Peart.)

2009-08-19T20:40:00.000-07:00

The End of American Civility:
By Phillip T. Alden
August 19, 2009

N.B. I should be working, but I felt this was an essay I had to write, (and post.)
I cross-posted this essay to my Live Journal web log.

I am forty-five years old and I’ve spent most of my life in the United States, (where I was born.) As time goes by I have seen my fellow Americans become not only less-civil, but openly hostile to people who don’t believe the same things they do.
We are all seeing it over this “health care” circus, but it started long before Barack Obama was elected President.

And it’s been helped along by people like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, Bill O’Reilly, and that awful woman whose name escapes me at the moment. It doesn’t help that people like Rupert Murdoch has given these people a platform upon which they can launch their hatred and intolerance.

I have heard people say things in public, and in front of TV cameras, that they would have been ashamed to say a few years ago. This is not progress, it is the opposite – regression. Our society is regressing into a state where we all act like animals. Violating pictures of the President and calling him (and others) a Nazi is an abhorrent action to any American Jew. To say such a thing is inexcusable, and the people who have made such public statements should apologize to all Jews for their insensitivity and their horrific comparisons.

But they won’t. Because these people are proud of the hate-filled rhetoric they are spouting. I guess it’s a result of George W. Bush’s “No Child Left Behind.” There’s no more room to teach civics or civility in American public schools. I recently had a young adult tell me he had no responsibility to vote or take part in his representative government.

And this isn’t happening just at town hall meetings on health care. This is happening everywhere. My friends report incivility in supermarkets, in movie theater lines, and in retail stores. Incivility is the new standard of behavior. When people say; “I’ve got my health care. Fuck you;” they don’t even realize the damage they are doing both to others and to themselves. Because all that hate and anger and racism has to come through them before it comes out of them. Just as the axe blade is dulled from chopping down the tree, these people damage themselves as they insult and damage others.

But, sadly, they will not realize this. By the time you are spouting Nazi rhetoric in public your mind is beyond understanding the effects of your words and actions. It would take serious reflection and meditation for these people to truly realize what they are doing.

It’s very sad and it makes me weep for my country. When Erik and I travel to other countries I am struck by the civility and polite behavior of people. Not everyone is acting like an asshole with no conscience or regard for their fellow man, Americans are acting like assholes with no conscience or regard for their fellow man. It’s shameful, and in the eyes of the world, it makes us look like troglodytes.

But these people don’t care how the rest of the world views them. They don’t care how civilized Americans are appalled at their words and actions. They have been conditioned to be so self-absorbed and self-interested that opposing viewpoints and civilized observations mean nothing to them. They are blinded by hate and rage that has been spoon-fed to them by people like Limbaugh and Beck. They do not even realize they have become tools of people who don’t even care about them. They are being used like a washrag and will be disposed of just as easily.

What may be truly sad is that, in their anger and their fear, they think they are helping themselves, and they aren’t. History has shown us time after time that only when you help others do you help yourself. People who believe that they can help themselves and screw everyone else are dangerously deluded, and it’s only after their twisted worldview has fallen apart that they realize their selfishness was their enemy and not their friend.

Some of them never realize it, and blame others out of bitterness for their failure as human beings.

As I’ve been watching the video clips online, I look at these people and realize that I would not befriend them, I would not date them, and I would avoid them whenever possible. I don’t think these people realize how ugly they appear when they act this way. If these people went to a job interview for a position they really wanted, and their interviewer caught their “Nazi bit” on the news, they likely wouldn’t get the job, and they’d never know that their behavior cost them that opportunity.

A long shot you think? The world is much smaller in some ways than you realize, and people see things. Your public behavior can, and will, come back to bite you on the ass.

But even if it doesn’t, these abhorrent actions damage civilized discourse, and civility in general. This lack of compassion, open hatred, and hate-based rhetoric will make this a poorer country than you can envision. It’s already happening.

I don’t expect these people engaging in uncivilized behavior to take this essay seriously, or to look at themselves and see room for improvement. But someday they will have an experience, and they will wonder how the persons involved can be so inhumane and cruel. They may even weep at the inhumanity.

And they’ll never realize they are part of the cause. Maybe that’s the saddest part of all.

2009-07-31T17:03:00.000-07:00

"Spreading the Disease:"

July 30, 2009

I was just reading a post where someone talked about how fucked-up this world is, (although they did not use those exact words.) But we have traveled all over the world and you know what? The world is not fucked-up. America and numerous other places are fucked-up. For the purpose of time, and so this doesn’t become a novella, I'm going to stick to America for this essay.

As I watched the "Obama health Insurance plan" go down in flames, (as it should,) I thought about how far down this country has gone in my lifetime alone, and how much worse it's going to get. The economies of almost every developed country have been attacked and destroyed by greedy men in New York City and Washington, D.C. (Though they didn’t do it alone. They had help from dishonest real estate brokers and mortgage companies all over the U.S.) And what did our government do to these remorseless and greedy bastards? They threw more money at them. More of our money. Now Goldman-Sachs is recording record profits while hundreds of thousands of hard-working Americans are out of work, and many have lost their homes. The politicians in D.C. will play at "investigating" these corporate criminals, but nothing will happen.

"Fighting fire with empty words
While the banks get fat
And the poor stay poor
And the rich get rich
And the cops get paid
To look away
As the one percent rules america.."

(From the song; "Spreading The Disease" from "Operation Mindcrime" by Queensryche.)

Those prophetic words from a rock opera that exposes the sickness in this country are better than anything I could write at this moment. (The word "america" is not capitalized on purpose.)

Because the country my parents taught me to believe in and work at making better no longer exists. Barack Obama is just another political whore. He may have been "the lesser of two evils" compared to McCain/Palin, but I've been voting for "the lesser of two evils" my entire life and I'm tired of it. The words "Democrat" and "Republican" are meaningless, as are the words "conservative" and "liberal." They have become either labels or insults depending upon the forum.

The stolen election of 2000, the 9/11 attacks, the torture of innocent people, and two more endless wars in the Middle East weren't enough for the greedy and the bloody. Those with real power weren't happy until they brought the economies of every modern country to its knees.
It's not complicated or hard to understand at all. Corporate power and individual apathy have nearly destroyed this country. The corporations, through their K Street lobbyists, have polluted our government to the point that it may not be recoverable. And the apathy and indifference of the American people have allowed all of this to happen.

A truly good man (or woman) does not stand a chance of ever becoming a Senator or President, regardless of his/her skin color. By the time they have climbed far enough to reach for that golden ring they have already sold their integrity and their soul.

America has been (rightly) named "The United States of Amnesia." We don't listen to the warnings, we forget the past, and we are apathetic to the present. Is it any wonder that children today feel hopeless? For their innocence and lack of experience, young people often see things more clearly than their elders do, and they see no future. (Unless they are born into wealth and privilege.) The other 99% have little chance of ever truly succeeding.

Our media has been sold to the selfish and greedy corporate influences that are sucking this country dry. Americans who still bother to watch TV are constantly sold a line of bullshit by unpleasant pundits who scream at each other over scraps and call themselves "journalists." All the while the corporate fat cats watch and gloat. They have destroyed our educational system and polarized this country so there can be no unity. Everyone has staked out a hopeless position and blinded themselves to anything other than their own narrow beliefs.

And the corporations love your apathy, almost as much as they love your fear. You are doing exactly what they want, and to thank you they are taking everything away from you. Even the brightest and most intelligent among us are under-employed. At the same time we are creating a permanent under-class, expanding poverty, homelessness and despair. This will continue until your apathy and your fear run out, which means that nothing will change for the better, because your apathy and fear are endless.

Nearly every important thing I was ever taught about this country is a lie. Instead of children killing and dying in one Vietnam, our kids are fighting and dying in two Vietnams, for a country that will abandon them when they come home broken in mind, body and spirit. While I admire the patriotism of our young soldiers, I weep at their naïveté. They are sacrificing their lives for men and women who don't give a damn about them, and never will. War is about money and power – usually in that order.

As for the weak and the sick – too fucking bad. Nobody cares enough to do anything about their plight. It's that damn apathy again.

Real justice is out of reach for most of us. The (White) and wealthy walk away from their crimes while the (Black and Hispanic) poor do the time in the brutal prison-industrial complex we have created through our fear, our knee-jerk reactions, and our hate.

I wish I didn’t believe in reincarnation, (which I firmly do,) because that means I'll keep coming back to a world that grows darker with each passing day. I treasure my friend's children and love them, but I'm glad I haven't brought a child into this world. What kind of America would my son or daughter inherit? I'm not one of the 1%.

Much of the other 99% remain hopelessly deluded. They are either blinded by our mass media, religion, or dreams of success that will never come true. Millions of people flock to Los Angeles in the hope of becoming famous, and maybe 10 per year will "make it." And even if they do, they just become part of the problem. The rest will either end up victimized or bitter. Still others believe they will win the lottery, or follow some other scam artist in the hopes of a "free ride." All remain apathetic and fearful.

Even this essay, which merely points out what "everybody knows," (as the great Leonard Cohen put it,) is useless. My words may make some people angry at me, while their anger should be placed where it belongs. The mass media, the corporations and the government are the ultimate trifecta. They will continue to take from you and me until there's nothing left.

What if every worker who has lost their job in the last eighteen months were to march on Washington, demanding economic justice? They would probably scare the politicians, and if they scared them enough they would be killed, just like the Civil War veterans who marched on the capitol demanding the return of their farms. If the apathy and fear ever run out, (which I doubt,) the corporations will have the government use the military to kill everyone who threatens the status quo.

John F. Kennedy and his brother, Robert. Dr. King. Those were men who threatened the status quo, and look what happened to them. I seriously doubt our children are even taught about those brave men who risked their lives for justice in America. "No child left behind" my ass. "No child taught critical thinking or truly educated" is more like it.

But my words mean nothing. My words will not change a thing.

Grab as much love and joy as you can in this world, (without screwing someone else in the process.) We will never have decent health care for every American. We will never have economic and social justice. And in the end, this modern Rome will end up like its historic namesake.

Or have they stopped teaching ancient history as well?

2009-02-13T10:55:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was my 45th birthday. I don't know why I'm posting this here instead of on Live Journal, (where I post most of my personal entries.) Maybe I'm looking for a little anonymity for some unknown reason.

I feel pretty good for a 45-year-old guy who is living with HIV/AIDS. Of course, I take care of myself, (as best I can.) I'm so grateful to Erik, not only for the tremendous love and patience he's shown again and again, but because he has helped me stay healthy.

Hell, I'm in better shape than many American guys my age who don't have AIDS.

My lower back pain continues pretty much the same. I could go up to SF and see that guy my pain specialist recommended, pay for a bunch of expensive tests and consultations that probably aren't covered by my medical insurance, and possibly find out what is the exact cause of my pain. Maybe there's a surgical option then, and maybe there isn't. There's no guarantees that, if they actually find the problem, there's a surgical solution. There might not be anything more they could do than what they're doing now.

But the chance to be free of the back pain, and be free of the pain-killers, is something I hope for.

I'm still not reading the news or listening to more than an hour of NPR. Some days I don't listen to NPR at all, but it's the station my alarm clock is tuned to. I have been much less stressed out this week because I'm not reading the news. For most of the stuff I read about just gets me angry or frustrated or sad - and there's nothing I can do about 99.9% of it.

Max seems to be doing okay still. I hope that, if it was a small stroke, that it won't recur and he'll be fine for a few more years. I know I'll likely outlive the little guy, (random chance aside,) but both Erik and I love him so much it will hurt terribly when he leaves us. I don't even like to think about it, but I cannot totally escape thinking about it.

I hope Erik's new job continues to go okay, and I hope and pray for this country that we find a constructive and positive way out of this economic depression. I fear my government is going to screw up for a while, things will get worse, and then they'll do something that works. (Like the last American Great Depression.)

I also hope my friends and family will be okay and will come through this dark time intact and healthy. So much to worry about if I dwell on it too much.

I also didn't sleep well last night. I kept waking up. Here's hoping for a better night's sleep tonight.

Erik is taking me out to "The Melting Pot" (fondue) for dinner, to celebrate my birthday and Valentine's Day together. I'm looking forward to it.

Now I'm going to try and nap, if I can quiet my ever-busy mind.

2008-03-20T13:18:00.000-07:00

How about a serious boycott?

As of this writing, tomorrow there will be a 24-hour boycott of Live Journal to protest recent changes made by the new owners of the site. While I personally don't have a problem with LJ I am supporting the boycott by not posting from 5pm this evening to 5pm tomorrow evening. I won't be reading the site or commenting on anyone's post.

But how about joining me (and thousands of others as it turns out,) in a serious boycott – that of American TV and American mass media. I have boycotted American TV, (especially the "news,") for about two years now, and it feels good. I don't care who wins "American Idol" or wish to hear the latest lie Fox News is making up about Obama. The one or two decent programs that are on will be released on DVD eventually. All I have to do is be patient.

"American mass media is all about fear and consumption. We give you a little fear, then 'buy the Acura,' then more fear, then 'use Colgate toothpaste or that girl won't fuck you,' then more fear.."
(Marylyn Manson as interviewed by Michael Moore in the documentary; "Bowling For Columbine.")

Mr. Manson, (the singer quoted above, not the nut-job with the swastika carved in his forehead,) is an incredibly astute and erudite gentleman. He became the target of the grieving Columbine families when they were looking for anyone other than themselves to blame for what happened.

But he was so right about American media – Fear and Consumption. That's what it's all about, and it's become much worse since 9/11. Fox News (Faux News) are the kings and queens of this tactic. Their hate and anger is thinly disguised fear of anyone who has different ideas than they do. Long before I stopped watching TV I had already stopped watching Faux News.

It's been about two years now and I can tell you that I don't miss TV at all. The few shows that I may want to watch get released on DVD eventually, but I find even those are becoming less and less important to me.

I have plenty of books and writing projects to keep me busy. I love listening to music and playing my drum set. I enjoy spending time with my friends. TV has become something I look upon as a "time-waster," and a bad one at that. The last time I was in the Emergency Room I wanted to be admitted just to escape the fucking TV in the waiting room.

Back when I stopped watching TV my friends kept mentioning the few shows that had a little merit, to which I replied with the DVD release argument.

Now, two short years later, at least 4 or 5 of those friends have announced to me they have stopped watching TV and stopped reading American news outlets, (the printed toxicity that augments the broadcasted toxicity.) It gratifies me that they have become as sick and tired of the negativity as I have.

When I was a kid I was a TV "junkie." (This was long before there was a computer in every home.) TV was crap back then and I've been amazed at how much worse it had become when I stopped watching.

I believe our mass media is not only toxic to it's viewers/readers, but is so hopelessly poisoned that only complete destruction will solve the problem. Once those poisonous media outlets, (Faux News, NY Times,) have been destroyed we can build new media sources that are not run by men so distasteful you would not invite into your home.

Because that is what we need. American mass media is so hopelessly poisoned that we must let the "patient" die so it can be replaced by a new media outlet that is not just another corporate stooge. It's been proven that any news outlet controlled by a large corporation is an enemy to democracy and to the American people at large.

Those who run these toxic media outlets see their viewing/reading numbers dwindling. They want more viewers, but they fail to realize they have alienated many Americans with their lies and negativity. In other words, they just don't get it.

Personally, I don't care. I have no desire to educate Rupert Murdoch. I want to see his Faux Networks lose viewers and money until it's worth less than my sweat socks. I have no desire to try and help these agencies "change their ways," mostly because they won't. I don't think they could emulate responsible journalism even if they tried.

So join me. Use your monitor only to play a DVD. Ignore large news web sites. Sometimes something happens that is so big that we need to tune in just to find out what's happened, (like 9/11.) But those news days are few and far between, (thank the universe.)

Believe me, you won't be missing anything.

2008-03-06T10:07:00.000-08:00

This is the kind of "journalism" that bugs the shit out of me:

Homeless By The Bay

This is the typical yuppie-piece-of-shit-attitude that makes San Francisco a poorer place to live. 'I have my nice job and house and I hate being inconvenienced by people who aren't as fortunate as I am. Can't the police just drag them away somewhere and beat the shit out of them so they don't come back?'

Now I don't like aggressive pan-handlers anymore than I like the selfish yuppies, but when I see someone less fortunate than I, I'm reminded of something my mother used to say:

"There but for the grace of god go I."

The kind of people like the author of the above-referenced article don't think about combat vets who come home with terrible emotional problems faced with a government and a populace that doesn't care about them. They also fail to recognize that drug and alcohol addiction is a disease, (according to the American Medical Association and the American Psychological Association.) Nor that drug addiction is often the symptom of emotional illness that's going untreated, (known as self-medicating.)

Maybe a little more compassion and caring instead of a bad attitude might encourage these fortunate souls to try and do something to improve the situation overall, but like those poor souls forced to live on our mean streets, I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for that to happen.

2008-01-20T19:28:00.000-08:00

The Gift of Time:

Now that the holidays have passed, (like a bad case of gastritis,) I'd like to talk about gift-giving. I know some people work for months knitting wonderful things for their friends, (and we've been the recipients of some of these beautiful pieces.) Others go out and torture their credit cards to find "the perfect thing for him/her."

As a Taoist I both love and fear the Christmas holidays. I love the opportunity to spend time with people I love, eat rich food and drink good wine and champagne. (I'm fond of champagne.) It's a wonderful excuse to get together.

What I fear is all the "Christian God talk," and the inevitable gift-exchange. I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but as a Taoist, and as a anti-commercialism guy, I do my best to avoid gift-giving. My partner usually gets gifts for all our friends, which helps me save face, but I still feel the twinge of guilt for not going out there and getting something on my own.

To me, the greatest gift we can give each other is the gift of time. Living here in Silicon Valley my friends are often busy with work and other projects, and that's cool. But I often feel we don't spend as much time with each other as we could.

My partner, Erik, has a very high-powered and time-consuming job. For anyone other than I to get free time with Erik is difficult. Even when he has a block of time open up, many of our friends have something else that prevents them taking advantage the opportunity.

But what would happen if we thought of our free time as a gift? What if we viewed that time as an opportunity to spend time with friends and family? We turn our time into a gift.

Maybe we help a friend get their car to the shop. Or we meet for a walk through a local park. We could also share a meal, (one of my favorite ways,) or just hang out watching a DVD. There are hundreds of ways to spend our free time with those we love.

So, based upon the society I live in, I think of time as one of the greatest gifts we can give. Instead of spending money on some commercial product we spend some time listening to our friends, hearing their fears, desires, dreams, frustrations and joys.

I would much rather have some of your time than have you spend money for some gift you think I may like.

I know there are people who really love buying gifts for others, and they would be hurt if you minimized their contribution. I do not mean to cut those people down in any way. Others make very lovely gifts, sometimes spending weeks or even months knitting or painting or sculpting something they hope we'll love. These are wonderful gifts because they come from the hand and from the heart.

But for me, the gift of your time is the best gift I could receive. I would hope that my gift of time would be appreciated in return, but the nature of humans is to please. I hope this idea pleases some of you, or at least gives you food for thought.

2008-01-19T13:24:00.000-08:00

Medical Marijuana to help Quit Smoking Tobacco?

Nicotine is a very powerful drug. It can suppress boredom, anger and anxiety. It can lower appetite and lends itself to a partnership with alcohol. It's also one of the most addictive drugs on the face of the earth. Many people quit numerous times, sometimes relapsing after years of being nicotine-free, and have to go through the quit process all over again. If they are surrounded by other smokers there is very little chance they will successfully quit because the pull of the drug is so powerful.

So can using medical cannabis help people break their addiction to nicotine?

By way of caveat, I want to state that there are some people who have a negative psychological and/or physical reaction to cannabis. With pharmaceutical drugs this is known as an Adverse Drug Reaction, or ADR. Some of these people get headaches, some have an anxiety attack, and some just don't feel well after ingesting cannabis.

I'm also not suggesting replacing every cigarette one smokes with a joint. That would be a debilitating amount of cannabis, and driving and/or working under the effects of cannabis can cause errors and mistakes. From 9-5 you should be as sober as the rest of us.

But when you're at home, and the cravings are getting to you, you might be irritable and angry because all those emotions nicotine was suppressing are coming to the surface. You feel like smoking.

I suggest taking two or three small hits from a pipe of good quality cannabis. The act of smoking will ease the withdrawal symptoms, as will the psychotropic effects of the drug. Those same psychotropic effects may ease your anger and anxiety, and help you relax.

There are many web sites with hints and tips to help smoker's quit, and one very common suggestion is to not drink alcohol while withdrawing from nicotine addiction. For those who might want a drink to ease their stress, those few hits from cannabis is a much less harmful replacement.

I don't really care if you're going to use the cannabis to ease the physical cravings or you're going to use it to relax and get high. If either helps you permanently quit smoking the benefit is clear. There are already millions of people who use marijuana instead of drinking alcohol, and I view that as a wise choice.

Once you get past the physical cravings you are free to stop using the medical cannabis. (It takes about 30 days for nicotine to leave the body, including the fat-cell-dump of stored nicotine right around the 30 day mark.) One month of using a little cannabis in the evening to help ease the cravings caused by years of smoking seems like a potential tool to me, and the safety profile for medical cannabis is amazing. Compared to most pharmaceutical drugs it's extremely safe.

As stated, this is not recommended for people who have a negative reaction to the drug, nor for people who are in active recovery from drug and/or alcohol addiction. I'm merely suggesting it as a potential tool for people who have no ill effects from cannabis use.

When quitting nicotine it's a good idea to pick up and use every tool that makes sense to you, including behavioral and spiritual tools as well as physical ones.

2008-01-06T11:56:00.000-08:00

Patagonia Trip Three – December 2007 – Part Three:
The Ship and Cape Horn:

I'm using my journal notes and our photographs to share this incredible portion of our journey. I didn't want the Eco-Camp to imply that we failed to have a great time, or that even all of that part was bad – it wasn't. We saw some very beautiful things in the park where the camp is located.

Day One aboard The M.V. Australis:

From my travel journal: Talk about day and night! The ship is wonderful! Our room is very comfortable and nice for a cabin aboard a small ship, (200 passengers maximum and about an equal crew compliment. Four decks of guest quarters. Two lovely lounges with huge windows on both sides and astern. An open observation deck and haven for the smokers aboard.) The dining room is lovely and comfortable and the food is excellent.

Tonight at sunset there were a pair of dolphins that followed us for two days, often playing with the zodiac we used to get from the ship to the landing points, (islands and peninsulas along our route to and from Cape Horn.)

The Fried family; Paul, Judith, Reena and Ian from NYC; are still with us, and we continue to enjoy their company. In addition, a lovely couple (Stephen and Ting) with a charming one year-old boy (Jensen) at our table are from San Mateo, and Stephen's best friend is a guy I went to high school with, (though Stephen was raised a little farther up the SF Peninsula.) Sometimes it's a very small world, when you end up running into your neighbors halfway around the globe.

It made meals both pleasant and comfortably familiar. Our waiter, Rene, is great. He works very hard to make our meals enjoyable, and we greet him by name every time we sit down. It's that kind of wonderful intimacy aboard this ship. Even the people we talk to in the lounges and on the zodiac trips are very nice and share our love of travel. We felt very welcome and enjoyed every minute aboard the Australis.

Day Two aboard:

It was a very low-key day, which was fine by us. There was an engine room tour and talks about the area while we traveled along the Ballenero and O'Brien Channels, as well as an afternoon zodiac trip to the Pia Glacier, and an evening sailing along the spectacular, "Avenue of the Glaciers."

A made a couple of notes in my journal here. One was that Erik plans these wonderful trips for us, and how much I love that he makes these happen, and how much I just love the guy in general. Another was how grateful I was for the Scopamine (Scopolamine) Trans-Dermal (TD) patches we placed behind our ear, because we would both have been sea-sick without them, (especially rounding the Cape.) As it was I could drink a little and eat with my usual gusto, even without medical cannabis to help promote my appetite.

The stairs aboard the ship, combined with the zodiac launches and nature walks, along with 20 push-ups every night; kept me in good physical shape. It's important to exercise a bit even on vacation. When we were in New Zealand I gained ten pounds, (which is good for me.) The night we rounded the Cape the push-ups felt a little weird with the rocking of the ship, but it was kind of cool, too.

Day Three:

Another fairly mellow day. In the afternoon we visited a colony of Mellgianic Penguins. (Guess who they were named after.) We landed the zodiacs but didn't get out of the boats. It didn't matter because there were dozens of penguins within feet of us. (No snow on the island and absolutely no Penguin Sledding allowed.) Erik got a bunch of great shots and I got a few myself. You can see some of our pics at Erik's Flickr site. (I'm going to post some to my web site as time allows over the next few months. I'm going to be pretty busy, but I like building on my Valdemar web site even if it's a slower process.)

We arrive at Cape Horn late tonight and land via zodiac early tomorrow morning.

Day Four:

This was the morning we landed at the southern most tip of the South American Continent – Cape Horn. There was a statue dedicated to Peace, a small marble monument to all the lost and killed sailors. There was also the famous little chapel they maintain very well, and a lighthouse that houses a Chilean military officer and his family. (There's a house attached to the lighthouse that was quite large and looked comfortable.) They watch over the island and sell souvenirs to us touristas. Then we came back to the ship for breakfast.

In the afternoon was a stop a Wulaia Bay, a beautiful place where once lived the aboriginal native Indians. Erik took the hike and I took the beach walk. Like much of this place, beautiful, awesome and grand. This area of the world in incredible and reminded me how important is to fight for the health of this planet we live on. My wish is that more people could see places like this and realize there's too much to lose by destroying our natural world. They are building a museum in this desolate place and I hope everyone who reads this gets a chance to see it when it's completed. They renovated an old military communication post that later was used by crab fishermen.

During dinner the Chilean authorities came aboard and stamped everyone's passport. The ship kept our passports while on board and it saved us from having to deal with any of the border crossings. Then we crossed back into Argentinean waters as we docked back Ushaia, (the city where our aquatic journey began,) around midnight. We spent our last night aboard in port, and began our journey home the next day. We shot 905 pictures with our digital camera, (before editing,) made new friends, and returned home with many happy memories of our journey.

I would highly recommend both the journey and the ship itself.

2008-01-06T11:53:00.000-08:00

Patagonia Trip Two December 2007 – Phase Two – Torres Del Paine National Park:

We left Argentina for 12 hours of bus ands van riding to get to the eco-camp (EC) in Chili. Upon arriving we had no problem with the "domes," (high-end tents,) the crappy showers, or even the composting toilets.

The park itself was fantastically beautiful and we met some very nice people there, including the Fried Family, who shared our journey for the rest of our trip. Paul, Judith, Ian and Reena are from NYC and we really hit it off.

Then came the bullshit.

According to our itinerary we were supposed to have a "free day" to rest and catch up on energy. Erik also needed a day away from groups of people. But apparently the itinerary from Adventure Life, (the people who booked everything,) was wrong, and we were supposed to see the local glacier that day. We wanted to see the glacier, but we did not want another day of driving around in a crowded van, a three-hour boat ride to see the ice, then stuffed back into the van.

Erik told the guide we were not going with the group, and were just going to hang out and read. This caused an argument they lost. But after losing the argument they took a "fuck you" attitude towards us. There was no shady spot to read and the eco-domes get too hot during the day. (I wondered what they did when someone was sick.)

So we wandered around the place, looking for a shady spot underneath some trees so we could just relax and read. They made no offer to show us where the spa was, (at another place down the hill,) or even a trail-head so we could take a short hike.

They really just blew us off, but we said (to ourselves) "fuck you too," and we found shady spots to read and recoup our energy.

If that was all, that would've been enough of a complaint. But the food was shit. I've gone white-water rafting where they cooked an amazing meal over a fire, so there was no excuse for the shitty food we were served at EC. On the last day a woman from Australia got food poisoning from her lunch meat, and the dinner that night was inedible. Erik tried to eat some of it and got food poisoning.

That was the final straw that broke my camel's back. I found the manager of the EC and tore him a new asshole, (verbally.) I told him the dinner was inedible and had sickened my partner, and that our experience there overall was terrible. Erik is demanding a partial refund from Adventure Life for that portion of the trip.

We took a couple of hikes, saw some great things, but hated the EC.

But not to worry. Phase three – the ship – more than made up for the Eco-Camp. More on that tomorrow.

2008-01-06T11:50:00.000-08:00

Patagonia Trip One – December 2007 – Buenos Aires and El Calaphate:

We started by spending many hours in the air. Because Erik flies United for business we are able (at the moment) to upgrade our coach tickets to Business Class, (though we got bumped to First Class on the way back, which was a little sweeter,) – we had to fly from SFO to Washington D.C. then D.C. to Buenos Aires. It takes a lot of traveling to get to "the end of the world," (or very near it.)

So we had a day in Buenos Aires before we went to our first stop, the glacier at El Calaphate. BA is a wonderful city, beautiful at the center and terribly poor on the outskirts, (much like many big cities in the world.) After a night of much-needed, post-travel sleep, we had lunch at a nice meat-oriented restaurant, then went to the cemetery where Eva Peron is interred.

Why go see a cemetery? Because this place, aside from being the burial site of a very famous person in history, has been built like a small city for the dead. Every family tomb is a small building and the paths seem like streets for the dead residents to move around. I took a number of pictures of these small houses for the deceased because they were so ornate and interesting.

(It will take a while to get through them and add them to my web site, but that's how I like to do things. You can see some of the images at Erik's Flickr Site.) Look for "EoW" boxes on the right-hand side of the web page.

Erik went to the Galleria Pacifica to see the Frescos painted on the ceilings and I went back to the hotel for a short nap. I took my time on the walk back to observe just how much BA was like any other big city. I thought to myself that I could live there if I spoke better Spanish, but it would not be high on my list. Auckland, Sydney and certain other places in New Zealand and Hawaii are much higher on my "I could live there" list. Still, "taken for all in all," it was a nice place.

The next day we had a short flight to El Calaphate. We stayed at a working wool ranch on the shores of Lake Argentina, (the largest fresh-water lake in the country.) We were there to see and walk upon the Perito Glacier, (our second walk on a glacier in a temperate zone.) I wouldn't say, "seen one glacier you've seen them all." It's a new experience every time. You can only walk on the glacier for a couple of hours before you start getting tired. I exercise and hike a lot, so I'm in pretty good shape for a 43 year-old guy – but even with the ice clamps on my hiking boots walking on ice is a tricky thing. At the end the guides served us scotch with glacial "rocks," which was pretty cool, but I'm not a big hard-alcohol guy in general.

After lunch they took us up to a vantage point above the back side of the glacier. Very pretty, but also two extra hours on the bus. Good photo point, though.

That night was a big dinner after a sheep herding and shearing demonstration that Erik took but I passed on. At the BBQ we met a very nice family from Palo Alto, (my hometown and just down the road from us here on the SF Peninsula.) Just goes to show you what a small world it can be. (More on this subject later.) The daughter is going to Palo Alto High School so we hit it off immediately, plus she loves to read so we had that common ground. She looks very Persian, so they get "randomly selected" by the fucking racist TSA at the airport. "I've never seen a blond, blue-eyed person selected for extra screening," she said to me.

That kind of shit really pisses me off. The whole TSA is a bad joke being played upon all of us who fly. Fascism=Security in the eyes of the Bush Administration, and they make other countries perform the same "bad theater" through pressure. It doesn't make me feel any more or less safe than before 9-11. Most of the really effective changes have taken place outside the public sphere, like reinforced cockpit doors – but I digress.

The next day was a 12-hour bus and van trip to the Eco-Camp in Chili. That experience was unique, and not in a good way, so I'll save that for tomorrow.

I loved Argentina and would go there again, but Chili was the start of seeing parts of Patagonia that really blew us away.

2008-01-06T11:49:00.000-08:00

Ode to Patagonia:
Phillip T. Alden
December 2007

I wrote this poem in a van while driving through Chili. It's my first stab at poetry writing, (and maybe I should be stabbed for my poetry,) and I'm aware that not all good writers are necessarily good poets.

I saw a lone black horse aside a dirt road.
I saw mountains carved by wind and snow.
I saw a horizon that went on forever.

I am in the heart of Patagonia.

I saw a tree that smelt of cinnamon outside a dead cave.
I saw cracked rock touching the clouds, a cathedral of god.
The land spoke to me in hushed tones.
I walked on glacial ice in a temperate zone.
Thistle and daisy, rock and grass.

I saw a family of painted horses aside a dirt road.

2007-12-09T14:56:00.000-08:00

My problem with AlterNet:

(A copy of this will be sent to Don Hazen at AlterNet.)

I do not watch TV or TV news. When reading news on the web I pick what I want to read, and more importantly, pick what I don't wish to read by the headline.

So the other day the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) is released that states Iran gave up their nuclear ambitions years ago. This left egg on the faces of our idiot president and his neo-con buddies. It pretty much defused their drumbeat to war with Iran.

It was a big win for those of us who oppose war and violence, particularly when those wars only serve to get young men killed so old men can make more money or have more power. The balloon Bush had been blowing up was popped quite thoroughly.

It was a big win!

But what did I see on AlterNet? I saw this article entitled; "Neocons Devastated by Iran Intel Bombshell, But Don't Count Them Out Yet."

Instead of celebrating a win for our side they felt the need to engage in more fear-mongering from the left. I'm pretty liberal, an advocate for peace, a Democrat. And one of the things I hate about the Rupert Murdoch School of Journalism, (Fox News,) and the mainstream mass media is the constant focus on "fear and consumption." (The brilliant observation is by Marilyn Manson.)

Fear and Consumption.

But it seems that AlterNet can only get the first-half right – the fear mongering. So many of their stories scream at the reader – "Be terrified of these bad people! Be terrified of what Bush and Cheney might be doing right this minute! Look out for the evil corporation! – Fear! Fear! Fear!

Extremism is just as ugly coming from the left as it is from the right.

I didn't abandon American TV and the mass media only to have the alternative press fed me the same line of fear and consumption. (There are all kinds of little ads on the AlterNet site encouraging you to buy political bumper stickers and t-shirts, though in fairness the consumption part is much more played down than in the mainstream media.)

And I see this happening on AlterNet more and more. Freelance journalists who want to convince us that elected official (x) will take us back to the Stone Age, or that our government is about to start WWIII that will end in a world-wide nuclear cataclysm.

Using fear to compel your readers into thought and/or action works for a while. Until the reader gets tired of being afraid and stops going to the site. AlterNet loses another reader because of their constant negativity.

But don't fret. AlterNet will always have plenty of "nut-jobs" ready to believe whatever conspiracy theory that comes down the pike, people who enjoy living in Liberal Terror Land. They will always be around to eat up the garbage that passes itself off as journalism on AlterNet.

There are plenty of bad things going on in the world, most of which the entire Western media misses completely. But they do catch a few things worth reporting. We have become so accustomed to bad news we are becoming numb to the suffering of those around us. So I offer my congratulations to the mass media, with a nod toward the alternative press. Between the two of you, you have made the people apathetic to suffering through your constant bombardment of fear and consumption.

Take a bow.

So maybe, just maybe, the next time there's good news – you can just report that without having to whip up a dose of nebulous fear. Or maybe you've been doing that for so long you have forgotten how to write a news story that doesn't contain an unhealthy dose of fear.

What the alternative press is doing is making themselves as irrelevant as the mainstream press. They may have already succeeded in doing so. But don't listen to me. Just keep pushing your leftist blend of fear and consumption and have no doubt the right will continue to do the same.

One has to ponder: Is there any difference between the mainstream press and the alternative press? Since both seem to be engaged in the same mind games with their readers.

Yes indeed, one must ponder.

2007-12-03T16:40:00.000-08:00

Reflections on 2007:

As I reach the end of another calendar year I find myself looking back over the year and evaluating it. Mostly it was a good year. A couple of bad things happened but we survived them and life goes on. Nobody died this year, which is a good thing.

I did not accomplish as much as I had hoped this past year, and I'm hoping next year will be more productive. I got a lot of work done but I have not completed my most important project – the release of my first novel. Stuart and I have done a lot of the final corrections but we're not done yet.

I'm not going to blame any of it on Stuart as I've been just as distracted as he has. I developed more productive work habits, but then everything went by the wayside when the holidays hit. I always know that will happen the closer we get to Thanksgiving, so I've learned not to fight it, to accept this time of year as busy and distracting. Come January 02, 2008 and it will be right back to work.

Most of my friends have had a hard year by all accounts, and I've worried about them from time to time. I fear their hard times have not ended with the holidays or the changing of the calendar, though I continue to hold them in my meditations and prayers, and I continue to "hold them in the Light," (as the Quakers say.)

I've always liked that expression and the action behind it; to "hold someone in the Light." Great spiritual ideas can come from many different places.

So I hope and pray that 2008 will be a better year for all my friends and family.

The greater world has also had a hard year. Between the two disastrous wars our country is engaged in, the bust in the housing market, and a lot of chickens starting to come home to roost – the United States is not in its usual "cat-bird seat." Our short-on-brains President let his greedy little buddies run rampant and they've made a much bigger mess of things. (All those brilliant bloggers we like to read have covered Le Grande Spectacle.)

There have also been a number of books released this past year that give us a truer picture of what's going on than our mass media, which I largely ignore. I've learned to just not pay attention to their blather, as well as my decision last year to divorce myself from the American mass media. My decision months ago to stop watching TV was one of the best decisions I've ever made, and I plan to keep ignoring the mass media as we enter 2008.

I learn a lot more from reading good books anyway, and NetFlix keeps movies and shows coming to my mailbox so I'm hardly starved for entertainment. My TV is basically a monitor for my DVD player.

Like most of us I'm going to have a lot of work to do once the holidays are over, which is (partly) why I'm really looking forward to our trip to Argentina and Peru in the last half of December. This is the time of year Erik and I go an explore a new corner of the world. We've seen so many great places and we've hardly scratched the surface.

It's a marvelous and wondrous planet, and we've met so many great people and seen things I used to dream of seeing; New Zealand, the Great Barrier Reef, the Australian Outback, Hawaii, Alaska, Mexico. The list (and the memories) grow with every trip.

But the nicest part has been sharing these experiences with someone I love. It's so much more fun when you can share the experience with someone else. Erik and I treasure the adventures we share.

Our country has been going through a very dark time, and I'm hoping we are starting to see some light at the end of that tunnel. But the men in power have done a lot of damage, and they're going to try and slink away and leave us to clean up their mess. I sincerely hope we don't let them.

But for our country to come through this, and for all of us to come through this, we have to put aside our apathy and deal with our democracy, and that may be the hardest thing of all.

2007-11-21T17:16:00.000-08:00

Holiday Madness:

(cross-posted to my book one website.)

There have been some authors who are basically anti-social. They live alone in sparsely populated areas or on properties that discourage visitors. Some of them get a lot of work done.

While I've thought about how quiet and distraction-free it would be to live somewhere on the South Island of New Zealand, the truth is I'm a social animal and a born city boy. I get lonely when Erik travels for business. I love my family and friends, and though I would move to New Zealand if the opportunity arose, Erik and I would probably live around the city of Auckland. (Erik is also a city boy, if only by the nature of his work.)

So sometimes, especially at American holiday times, my work flow gets interrupted by family and friends, and by holiday travel. (December is usually when Erik and I take our vacation.) So as we approach the Thanksgiving holiday I find myself with a house full of family, and next week we travel down to Florida to spend the holiday with my in-laws.

The funny thing is, last time I was at my in-laws I got a lot of work done. Don't ask me how it works.

But the holidays always slow down my book work. I've learned to accept this.

The other thing, and I knew this would happen, is that the process slows down as soon as you're working with someone else, (editors, proof-readers, etc…) There's nothing wrong with this. It's just the nature of the business.

So I expect to get little work done before January, then it will be mostly work.

(It took two sessions and 5-7 days just to get this post done.)

2007-11-13T22:47:00.000-08:00

Exercising with caution:
By Phillip T. Alden – San Mateo Daily Journal
For publication: November 13, 2007

I work out three times a week, and I have a fairly active lifestyle for a writer and journalist. But I'm also 44 years-old and I have a chronic back injury. That has forced me to learn balance in my workout routine. No longer can I push the weight stack or cycle on that elliptical until the sweat is pouring off my body.

But that's normal, (more or less.) As we age it becomes harder and harder to workout at the same level as we did in our 20's. "Surrender gracefully the things of youth." But we live in a youth-obsessed society where many of us try to look (and act) younger than we are. There's nothing wrong with being young at heart, but our hearts are not as young as they once were. Do you ever wonder why professional athletes retire in their 40s? The obvious answer is that their bodies cannot handle the physical punishment that professional sports puts upon them, and they don't heal as fast as they did when they were younger.

The same is true for the rest of us. That back injury I mentioned happened at the gym. And my pain specialist told me his practice is "exploding" with people just like me who injure themselves by either over-exercising or exercising improperly. That's great for his practice but not so great for those of us who become patients.

So as much as it may pain us, we need to admit that we're not as young as we used to be, and that's okay. We can still have an active lifestyle and a healthy body. In fact, as we age exercise becomes more important. Being older does not mean we become couch potatoes, but it does mean:

· Our muscles shrink and lose mass.
· Joint tendons lose water and become less flexible.
· The heart pumps blood more slowly.
· Bones become less dense and more breakable.
· Cartilage starts to break down and joints become more easily inflamed.

But all is not lost. Much of these processes can be delayed with regular exercise, however we need to exercise smart, using some of that accumulated wisdom that comes with age. Here are some basics:

· Check with your doctor before you begin a new exercise program, including getting a complete physical that includes heart function.

· Start slowly. Many injuries are caused by overdoing it on the first day.

· Be consistent. Staying in shape takes dedication and commitment to a regular exercise program.

· Don't push yourself past your body's natural limits.

· Abandon "No pain. No gain." Pain is for those who wish to end up hurt. Smart people know that pain is a warning signal.

· Try different things. Doing the same exercise over and over is not only boring, it may also put too much strain on a particular muscle group.

· Pick an exercise/sport that's right for your lifestyle and body type.

· Don't try to keep up with your 20 year-old friend. Exercise with people who are in your age group and body type.

· Take a walk. The dog needs exercise too.

Above all, just use your common sense. If you work with a personal trainer choose one who respects your limits and your age. By just following a few simple rules you can stay in shape, look and feel great, and enjoy all the benefits a sensible exercise program offers. If a certain exercise or machine doesn't feel right for you, try something else. There are many ways to stay in shape out there. Look for the ones that suit you best.

2007-11-08T22:30:00.000-08:00

New Work Habits:

Yesterday I researched, wrote, edited and sent my article for next week to my editor - right after dinner.

Tonight I edited a section from my final copy editor that included two requests to expound on the narrative, add some action and description (color and background) to the text - right after dinner.

Tomorrow I'm visiting my brother in Sacramento so I'll have to take the day off for that, but unless we have some social function I'm unaware of, I'll be right into work - right after dinner - on Saturday and Sunday.

Verdict: The new work habit system seems to work well, but as the holidays come ever closer I'm going to have a fair number of nights where socializing will cut into work. That's okay because that's the best part of the winter holidays for me - spending time with family and friends over good food and wine. But to augment those nights, it will still be good to take any daytime opportunity that presents itself to get some work done.

Once we return from the southern tip of the South American continent (Cape Horn - Argentina and Peru) on the 31st, and the holidays end and turn into just winter, the new work schedule should go well, barring any unforeseen events. As much as I want to finish I don't think I'll have all of Stuart's corrections completed before we leave in December. I don't even have all the sections from Stuart yet. (These are long and complicated chapters at the end of the book, and it takes a while to edit all that text.)

You always have to give your editor some breathing space so he can feel comfortable and do the job well, in Stuart's case, brilliantly. I feel very fortunate to have him as my final copy editor. I couldn't ask for better.

(Cross-posted to my Book One website.)

2007-11-03T14:54:00.001-07:00

Are flame-retardants harming us?
By Phillip T. Alden – San Mateo Daily Journal
For publication: November 6, 2007

Sometimes I wonder just how seriously the Environmental Protection Agency takes its middle name. From independent groups funding scientific research because the EPA refuses to do so, to lead-painted toys making their way into our children's hands, one must wonder how badly the agency wishes to protect us.

Such is the problem with flame retardants known as polybrominated diphenyl ethers, (PBDEs.) Like many of these substances which surround us; in this case upholstery, mattresses, fax machines, carpets, car seats, computers and household wiring; the EPA depends upon industry testing and resists calls to ban or label PBDEs. Asking a $2.9 billion dollar a year industry to police itself and ban its own products? Does that make sense to you?

In addition, the industry grandfathered in thousands of substances before the passage of the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act. This was done partially as a bow to reality. At the time there were millions of substances in America, too many to realistically rid ourselves of, but the industry did not discontinue the production of PBDE until 2005.

And the flame retardant industry did not do this out of concern for the public good. A report from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences showing that PBDE levels in American infants were two-three times higher than in adults scared the industry into stopping production for fear of huge payouts from lawsuits.

According to an article by Terry J. Allen from In These Times; "the link between inhaled PBDE and thyroid disease was strengthened by a recent study on cats. Environmental Science and Technology traced an epidemic of deadly feline hyperthyroid disease back to the 80's when PBDEs first proliferated." Cats were vulnerable because, like infants, they live close to the ground. The tests performed on the cats showed "a clear association" between PBDE and thyroid problems.

The problem is in the dust. It was assumed that most PBDE contamination came from eating meat, fish and dairy, but now researchers are studying indoor air where the concentrations are 15 to 50 times higher than outside sources. What they discovered was that PBDEs emit gas at 84 degrees Fahrenheit, which is a common temperature inside cars, computers and houses. The gas then clings to dust particles that we breathe.

One of my many criticisms of the current Bush Administration and the rubber-stamp Congress that controlled our government until 2006 was the lack of regulation and oversight. It seemed the regulatory agencies were asleep while Americans experienced poisoned food for both humans and pets, and the importation of products from countries like China that turned out to contain toxics like lead paint.

In many cases the regulatory agencies had no clue that something was wrong until people started getting sick and/or dying. The FDA, EPA and CDC became increasingly politicized, making it harder for the scientists to do their jobs, and in many cases intimidated into letting things slide for the sake of political expediency. The Bush Administration placed people from industry into key positions in these agencies to benefit those industries at the expense of the American people. The problem got so bad at the CDC that some employees launched a website called CDC Chatter to give employees a chance to speak out anonymously.

We need to strengthen our regulatory agencies, remove the undo influence of the industries involved, and get the focus back on protecting the American people. Americans are tired of being blindsided by men who care more about profit than the public good.

2007-11-03T13:16:00.000-07:00

Fallout From The Class War:

November 1, 2007

According to Greg Palast and notable others, there's been a class war in America for quite a while now, and I agree. The idea has been to shrink the middle class, widening the divide between the haves and the have-nots, pushing more people into poverty by weakening education and our support system.

Much of the gains in the middle class was a result of WWII, and one can easily study a little history to see how things like the G.I. Bill helped young men get an education and move up after the war.

It was weakened under Ronald Reagan. When historians finally get enough distance they will see how Reagan's presidency started damaging this country and led us to where we are today. There are those who argue that Reagan caused an economic expansion, but the credit does not really go to him. Very few presidents are the cause of what happens, but as we've seen they have the potential to wreak havoc on the country. (Look at what's happened to the deficit under George W. Bush.)

As an AIDS activist I can never forgive Reagan for the death and misery he caused, but that forgiveness lies in the hands of those who suffered and died, not in mine.

But the corporations and neo-cons who helped widen the divide are starting to see the fallout and blowback of their actions. The housing market is a good example. They forgot that a healthy middle class keeps businesses profitable, from Merrill-Lynch to Wal-Mart. Our economy depends upon people's ability to get educated and move up the economic ladder.

I don't know if it was naked greed or short-sightedness, and I really don't care. But we need to start having a national conversation about the true state of our union. We need to discuss how we can address poverty in this country, because a healthy economy and democratic union flows up as well as down. That's one of the reasons I've been so impressed by John Edwards, because the man is actually talking about this.

But you wouldn't know it from our mass media. That's mainly due to the fact that our mass media is a major part of the problem. There is a reason why people like me have stopped watching TV and stopped following the "news." American mainstream news is crap, and it's also hopelessly poisoned. With people like Rupert Murdoch controlling so many papers and TV news stations we have a mass media that has abandoned its responsibility to the public.

(This also goes for PBS/NPR as far as I'm concerned.)

Instead we have distractions like Bill O'Reilly, Anne Coulter and their ilk. People who should not have such a public forum, but are shoved in our faces because they are a distraction. Their crap keeps us distracted from the real issues that face our nation.

But we have the power when it comes to media. By turning it off or refusing to buy it we destroy the toxic invader and give real voices a chance to be heard. Truly great news services like Mother Jones Magazine, The Economist, and others offer us a news source that covers what truly matters to those of us with a social conscience. When we abandon The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal we take away the toxic voice of men like Murdock, (who recently bought the latter.)

There will always be ignorant people in this (and every) country who have no clue they've been sold a bill of goods. They never led and they never will. It has always been up to the natural leaders and voices of this country to lead, and it is still their responsibility to lead. Now more than ever.

Unfortunately, the inclination has been to contract, to withdraw from the toxic environment. But if we withdraw too far we risk our chance to affect positive change.

I am surrounded by intelligent, caring and highly moral people. My loved ones and friends never cease to amaze me with their perspective, and the things we all try to do to make this world a better place for everyone. I feel like I'm surrounded by natural leaders.

It's my hope that more and more people become tired of the toxic stew our mass media feeds us; the fear, hatred and negativity it spews like brown water from a sewer. And once we have made the mass media irrelevant we can start a real national dialogue about the things that matter most. Here's my short list:

1. Restoring the domestic manufacturing sector in America.
2. Moving away from a Disposable society.
3. Fully restoring the Constitution and the Bill Of Rights.
4. Abolishing "no child left behind" and restoring our educational systems.
5. Ending the failed "War On Drugs" and releasing non-violent drug offenders from our prison system.
6. Overhauling our prison system and the way we care for our prisoners.
7. Opening up job opportunities and education for people of color and those harmed by the drug war.
8. Strengthening American labor unions.
9. Purging the political system of well-moneyed lobbyists.
10. Holding those guilty of war crimes accountable – including George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, David Addington and Alberto Gonzales.
11. Abolishing the TSA and replacing it with a sane and efficient system.
12. Abolishing the CIA and getting help to establish an intelligence service that works.
13. Abolishing para-military organizations like Blackwater "Security Systems."
14. Restoring our credibility with the rest of the world.
15. Moving away from coal and fossil fuels, and developing less harmful sources of energy for our country.
16. Restoring our military so it can truly protect our borders.
17. Paying our U.N. dues and start working with that august body.
18. Making sure our children are taught the true history of our country so we don't end up in this situation ever again.
19. Taking back our airwaves and building a new press to replace the hopelessly poisoned one we have right now.
20. And most importantly, restoring the trust and confidence between Americans and truly unifying this country.

I'm sure there are many more things that can be added to this list, like restoration of voting rights to those harmed by the drug war, but the 20 items listed above is a good start.

The point is we need to start now. We need to let our politicians know that we are taking control of our country and they will act as the civil servants they were elected to be, implementing these things we have outlined.

We also need to put the corporations on notice, re-write their corporate charters to reflect these values, and take those charters away from those who don't deserve to hold them.

We have the Power!

2007-10-23T17:05:00.000-07:00

Book Progress Update
October 2007

For those few of you who actually read my public blog or the blog attached to the homepage for my book, I appreciate your patience and your dedication.

This book has taken longer than I anticipated, even for a first time out, but I've learned to be okay with that. I'm still working on the final copy edit, though we are most of the way through. After I do the corrections Stuart and I will have to go over the manuscript to make sure all the corrections fit and everything is still in place.

He just sent me Section 13-01 with a bunch of corrections and the final section is 16-09 or 16-10. I'm unsure because we've added a scene or two and that changes the numbering, but it gives you an idea of our progress to date.

I would say the time frame has changed because I'm now working with other people, but the truth is both Stuart and I had other things in our lives that needed taking care of. But with the arrival in my mailbox of the Harry and David catalog, we realized the winter holiday insanity is imminent, and we decided to focus on book work to help us avoid the insanity as much as possible.

I'm a Taoist and I don't know what Stuart's current affiliation is, but neither of us were ever big on the whole Christmas thing. I love that, for the second half of December, Erik and I are going to be on a boat off the coast of Peru and Argentina. Christianity is big down in South America but I'm still hoping the holiday stuff will be kept to a minimum.

Don't get me wrong. I love spending time with friends and family, and I love eating good food. It's just everything else I could do without. I'm especially glad I don't watch television during this time of year, (with the exception of a couple of downloaded shows from Apple TV, and those are commercial-free anyway.) The main thing I use our living room monitor for is watching a DVD every now and again.

The few good shows that are on get released on DVD and I don't care about watching them the moment they're first shown. I can wait for the DVD release, which I've noticed keeps happening faster and faster. I'd rather read, write, post to my online community, play my drums or walk my dog.

To me most television shows are a waste of time, and if even the few I really like disappeared tomorrow, it wouldn't hurt my feelings very much. From an artistic standpoint I think television is nearly dead medium. The few good shows that are on are surrounded by a cacophony of fear-inducing corporate news, useless blather about questionable celebrities, and mass consumption. As I said, a nearly dead artistic medium.

After I post this update I'm going to return to my corrections. Next update in about a month. Thanks for hanging in there. "Between the Hammer and the Anvil" will see the light of day. I promise that.

2007-09-12T09:54:00.000-07:00

Book editing taking longer than I thought:

I know many of my friends and family members have been anxiously awaiting the release of "Between The Hammer and the Anvil." And I have wanted to release the first book for a while now myself.

But the final copy edit process has taken longer than I originally thought. It's nobody's fault, really, just the way things run sometimes.

I promise that we are hard at work on the final copy edit, and I will release the book as soon as it's ready. I trust my final copy editor and we’re having lunch today to discuss things.

I appreciate your patience and forbearance. I will try to do monthly progress updates from now until the final manuscript leaves my hands and goes to the publisher.

Thanks again for your patience with me. I just want the book to be the best it can be when it's released. This is my first novel and it's important to me to get it right.

2007-08-12T12:45:00.001-07:00

The third aspect of personal health:
By Phillip T. Alden – San Mateo Daily Journal
For publication – August 14, 2007

Traditionally our health care providers have focused on emotional health and physical health, but there is another aspect of personal health, and that is spiritual health.

When I talk about the spirit that is part of every human being, I don't mean religion. One can care for their spiritual health whether they are an atheist, a Buddhist or don't identify with any religious path whatsoever.

The spirit is a somewhat esoteric part of health, so some are quick to give it short shrift, but we all have spirit and it is a part of our overall health. Religious people may address their spiritual health through their religion, but being religious does not necessarily mean your spiritual health is being effectively addressed.

Some of the things that can help bolster your spiritual health are; meditation, massage, acupuncture, time spent in nature, among other things. The spirit is as individual as the person, so your answers may be very different from the next person. Sometimes all you need is time away from the daily grind, what some people call "recharging their batteries." You find a quiet place, free of distraction, and you do something that helps "recharge" that spiritual energy. Maybe you read a book, or listen to music, or maybe you just take a nap.

How do you know you have addressed your spiritual health? Usually the activity you engage in leaves you feeling very much at peace. Your energy level is good and you feel refreshed. Massage and acupuncture has worked very well for many people, but for some a hike through the mountains or a day spent by the sea may serve this purpose.

To a certain extent, we all need to find our own answers when it comes to spiritual health. What works for one may not work for another. And you discover what works based upon how you feel after engaging in an activity designed to address this aspect of your personal health.

Sometimes spending time with family and/or close friends can serve this purpose. Sometimes being alone serves the same purpose. And what works one time may not work the next time. Usually a variety of practices and actions work best, and with time and experience you learn which tools to employ at a given time.

And as I said, you don't have to believe in any deity or engage in a religious practice to nurture your soul. For me, music often helps restore that spiritual energy, whether I'm listening to someone else's music or playing my drum set. Going to my quiet place is also a tool that helps recharge my spiritual batteries.

Zen meditation can work for some, and a less focused approach may work better for others. Find that quiet place where you can gradually let thoughts and concerns slip away until you find yourself in that Silence that is the core of your being, that which connects you to the universal whole.

Regardless of what you do, the important thing is to take it seriously and really focus. Once you find the answers that work best for you, you will know because you will feel at peace with yourself and with the rest of the world. You will be serene, relaxed and ready to go back into that organized insanity that is often our waking lives.

2007-07-18T22:02:00.001-07:00

Understanding MRSA – Part II:
By Phillip T. Alden – San Mateo Daily Journal
For publication – July 24, 2007

This part of the article will focus on two people with MRSA and the people who love them. This story has a personal take, as the people I'm going to profile are part of my life, and what I'll share is my personal experience with them. The names of the patients involved are changed out of respect towards their privacy.

My first profile, "Robert," was very dear to me. I stated in part I that MRSA crosses all demographic and economic boundaries. Robert was a very wealthy man and received the best health care anyone could get. He suffered a stroke and was being cared for at home. One day he fell and broke a small bone in his neck. He was taken to Stanford University Medical Center for surgery to repair the break and contracted MRSA during the surgery.

It was hard on those of us who loved Robert. We could not kiss him or even fully embrace him. We had to wear latex gloves any time we touched him or things like his dinner plate, and we had to follow strict protocols on hand-washing after contact.

It was a difficult way to say goodbye to a man I dearly loved, and he passed away shortly before 9-11. MRSA was a factor in his death.

The second person is a young gay man we'll call "Tad." Tad had been rejected by his family because of his sexuality, though they came around when he was exposed to MRSA after trying to help another person.

Tad lost his teaching position. His boyfriend kicked him out of their home and Tad would have ended up on the street had he not been saved by friends and a sympathetic landlord. But Tad lived in near-homelessness and abject poverty for a long time, increasing his stress level and not helping him in his fight against the MRSA.

I met Tad as a journalist and activist, and we became "email friends." I couldn't meet Tad in person because he was infectious, and even though our society had abandoned him, he took pains to avoid infecting those around him. Talking with Tad by phone and email nearly broke my heart. Here was a man who worked very hard to educate the children of San Francisco, and when he needed help, the people in his former life acted as if he had never existed. Tad was rightfully angry, terrified about what might happen to him, and scared that he might die alone in a tiny apartment near Hunters Point.

But Tad did not die. Instead, even with his illness, he started championing for other people with MRSA who, like him, had been pushed to the margins of our society. His family came around and realized they loved their son and they wanted to help him. So Tad became active in an organization called MRSA Watch.

While Robert had enough money to charter planes and pay for multiple hotel rooms for his health care team, he had no more of a survival rate than Tad. There are many more Tads than there are Roberts, and we need to demand health care, stable housing and food for all the Tads out there.

These are our fathers, our brothers and sisters, our sons and daughters. Compassion and humanity are the only things that will drive us to protect these people, and also make the public at large safer.

2007-07-17T18:34:00.000-07:00

Book Progress Update - July 2007:

(Cross-posted to my book web site and my "public" blog.)

I apologize for not keeping up with this (book web site) journal. I have three at the moment.

I've also been busy writing articles, which you can find posted on my "public" blog.

But back to book news:

Charlie has finished the cover for book one, but we're saving the final image for unveiling when the novel is released.

The current hold-up is my final copy editor. He's been going through some personal stuff, and his father is getting on in years and experiencing all that comes with old age, so we just have to be a little patient. I'm spending this weekend with him in the wine country so I'm sure we'll talk about getting back on track.

I do plan to release this novel this year.

In other news:

Book Two is pretty much written, except for tying up the end of the narrative, and deciding upon a final title. I decided months ago that the current title is a "working title," and I'm going to let the narrative determine the final title.

And I finally conceived of the end of Book Three! It came to me at a birthday party for a friend held at a local Cajun restaurant. I was sitting alone and nursing my Hurricane, (a marvelous alcoholic concoction,) and I was doing what most writers do in idle moments, thinking about writing. There are some people who think that, a person sitting alone must need company, and that's a very wonderful and human thing. But writers often love sitting by themselves, even at a party or similar event. Just observing others interact allows us to think about writing.

But I digress. I'm not going to tell you what Book Three is about for obvious reasons, but when it came to me it was like a bolt out of the blue. I had been contemplating the end of the trilogy for months and it just struck me that night.

So after we get Book One released and I'm selling like mad, I'll edit and change the rough draft of Book Two into final manuscript form. I'll probably start writing Book Three at the same time. More on that as things progress.

To be honest, I've enjoyed this little break from the art. I need to do some research on publication and marketing for Book One, (all options are up in the air at the moment.) I've also been writing my weekly public health column, though that takes very little time really, and dealing with some family issues of my own.

I hope all my friends out there, (including the ones I've yet to meet,) are having a good summer, and I promise to be better about updating this (book site) blog more often. By next week we'll probably be finishing up the final sections of Book One and getting it ready for release.

I'll try to talk about people like Robert Jordan and J.K. Rowling and Philip K. Dick, authors who inspire and influence my work.

Currently Reading: "The Red Badge Of Courage" by Stephen Crane.

2007-07-16T21:18:00.000-07:00

Reprint from Yahoo Health News - Chlamydia common among young women and men:

Reuters News Service:

A large number of people between the ages of 14 and 39 years have chlamydia, a sexually transmitted disease, a new report indicates, while gonorrhea, another STD, is less prevalent.

Based on 6,632 people ages 14 to 39 tested for chlamydia and gonorrhea between 1999 and 2002, researchers estimate that 2.2 percent of Americans in this age range -- a little more than 2 out of every 100 -- have Chlamydia infection and that 0.24 percent -- fewer than 1 out of every 400 - have gonorrhea infection.

Sexually active adolescents, especially girls, bear the brunt of chlamydia and gonorrhea infection, according to Dr. S. Deblina Datta and colleagues from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta. Almost half of those found to have gonorrhea also had chlamydia.

Young women, who are targeted for chlamydia screening and are at risk for long-term effects of the infection, had an "unacceptably high burden" of chlamydia infection, Datta and colleagues report in the Annals of Internal Medicine, released today

The data also show roughly equal prevalence of chlamydia and gonorrhea between males and females and disproportionately high rates among non-Hispanic black persons.

Both chlamydia and gonorrhea infection can cause symptoms such as discharge from the vagina or penis, pain with urination, abdominal pain, or no symptoms at all. In women, chlamydia and gonorrhea can lead to infertility. These STDs can also lead to premature birth, low birth weight and serious infections in newborns.

Antibiotic treatment is needed to clear up these STDs, avoid spreading them to partners, and ward off complications.

The current findings, the CDC team concludes, "support current recommendations" to screen sexually active girls and young women age 25 years or younger for chlamydia, to retest those with chlamydia, and to co-treat individuals with gonorrhea for chlamydia.

"Despite the considerable prevalence of chlamydia in males, the value of screening males needs to be better defined," they note.

SOURCE: Annals of Internal Medicine, July 17, 2007.

2007-07-16T21:15:00.000-07:00

Reprint from Yahoo Heath News - U.S. tracks serious form of syphilis in gay men:

By Will Dunham, Reuters Newswire:

A particularly serious form of the sexually transmitted bacterial disease syphilis has been detected in gay and bisexual U.S. men infected with the AIDS virus, federal health officials reported on Thursday.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tracked 49 HIV-infected gay and bisexual men who had "symptomatic early neurosyphilis" from January 2002 to June 2004 in four cities -- Los Angeles, San Diego, Chicago, New York.

The CDC cited the report as further evidence that gay and bisexual men, many also infected with HIV, are the driving force behind increases in U.S. syphilis cases this decade.

The findings also indicate that these men are engaging in the same risky, unprotected sex that can spread the human immunodeficiency virus, which causes AIDS.

"These are primarily infections that people are probably getting because they're not using condoms," Dr. Thomas Peterman of the CDC's Division of STD Prevention, an author of the report.

In some instances, the men involved have the attitude that they do not need safe-sex practices because they already are infected with HIV, Peterman said.

Since dropping to the lowest level on record in 2000, the U.S. rate of syphilis has risen steadily. Gay and bisexual men accounted for 7 percent of syphilis cases in 2000, but more than 60 percent in 2005, CDC officials have said.

Symptomatic early neurosyphilis is a rare manifestation of syphilis usually occurring within the first year of infection.

Ordinary syphilis is readily curable with antibiotics in its early stages. Neurosyphilis can lead to blindness or stroke, Peterman said.

"There are a number of studies that continue to show that there are some HIV-infected and some uninfected men who have sex with men who continue to have large numbers of (sexual) partners and anonymous sex. This is one of the consequences of that," Peterman said.

Of the 49 HIV-positive gay and bisexual men with symptomatic early neurosyphilis, 63 percent were non-Hispanic whites, 18 were non-Hispanic blacks and 14 percent were Hispanic. Their average age was 38.

"I think the bigger message is that we need to get control of syphilis. And control of syphilis would require safe-sex behavior, reducing the number of partners, and using condoms with those partners," Peterman said.

"And for men who have sex with men, it means getting tested for HIV and other STDs at least once a year," Peterman added.

Syphilis, like many other sexually transmitted diseases, raises the likelihood of infection by or transmission of HIV.

2007-07-13T09:29:00.001-07:00

Understanding MRSA – Part I:
By Phillip T. Alden
San Mateo Daily Journal
For publication – July 17, 2007

MRSA is an acronym for a highly infectious bacteria, Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, commonly known as Staph. This form is resistant to the first line antibiotic used to combat the illness in humans, but MRSA is often resistant to most of the drugs used to treat it, not just the Methicillin for which it's named. People infected with MRSA are highly contagious and potentially dangerous to interact with on an intimate basis.

And MRSA can happen to anyone hospitalized under certain conditions, the most dangerous being invasive surgery. But close contact with an MRSA patient can also spread the disease and there are people in the population who are infectious. Sadly, some of them live in near-homelessness or live on the street. I'm not suggesting that we get hysterical around the homeless as most are not carrying any infectious illnesses. People from all walks of life and all income levels are infected with MRSA.

Most MRSA patients are told how contagious they are and at what periods, (when they have a certain number of active symptoms,) and told how they must limit their contact with others. Most MRSA patients simply take themselves out of circulation for the most part. But the world is not all that cut-and-dried, where we all have someone to shop for us and do all those other things necessary for living. When MRSA hits a person living paycheck-to-paycheck it can be devastating. They are too sick to work, and the $900 a month the federal government gives to a wage slave who becomes disabled is hardly enough to live on under the best of conditions. Imagine trying to live in San Mateo County or San Francisco on $900 a month, then add the isolation, and you have an impossible situation.

For a long time MRSA was a "dirty little secret" in the medical community because the bacteria can become endemic in a clinical setting, and nearly impossible to remove. Stanford University Medical Center is infected with MRSA, (among other infectious organisms,) but there are few better places in this country, (if not the world,) to have specialized surgery. Most medical facilities have this problem, the older the facility, the more likely it's infected with MRSA. All hospitals and large health care facilities where invasive procedures are performed have an Infection Control Team, usually headed by a doctor with special training in infectious diseases. The only way to remove the MRSA is to build a new facility and tear the old one down, destroying a lot of very expensive medical equipment in the process.

So we see already that MRSA is a complicated problem, and one that we should all understand fully. Once a patient has MRSA there is very little chance of clearing it from the body and it is considered a factor in mortality, (death.) Both CA-MRSA (community-associated MRSA) and HA-MRSA (hospital-associated MRSA) are on the rise. And MRSA keeps becoming resistant to the arsenal of drugs used to treat it. So both the problem and the disease itself are getting worse.

One obvious aspect to successfully combating this disease is better health care for everyone, and a stronger and more robust public health system run by doctors and not politicians. A CDC whose scientists and physicians are strongly supported by the public is a good start. A hard look at the abysmal treatment disabled Americans get is another.

(Part II will cover the personal experience of two MRSA patients and the people who love them.)

2007-06-29T19:03:00.000-07:00

Storing medical information under your skin:
By Phillip T. Alden – San Mateo Daily Journal
For publication – July 3, 2007

A recent article in Yahoo! News stated the American Medical Association's (AMA) support of a small, rice grain sized chip that can be implanted under the skin of a patient. When said patient arrives in an emergency room doctors can employ a hand-held device that reads the information.

The data is supposed to include the patient's medical history, and illnesses or diseases they may be suffering from, and a complete list of all the medications the patient is currently taking.

The technology behind these chips is known as Radio Frequency Identification Tags, (or RFID,) is already widely used in shipping and inventory processes for large companies like Wal-Mart. It's been said that RFID tags will replace the old "bar code" price tags, enabling the merchant to scan the item at the register, automatically order replacement inventory, and even act as security devices to thwart shoplifting.

Although the retail RFID chips are said to become inactive once they have been scanned, there is no guarantee of this actually happening. Privacy advocates are justifiably concerned that such tags could be used to track the spending habits of consumers, (which the companies have stated as a goal,) and possibly track the people themselves. Many privacy advocates feel there are already too many ways that American citizens can be tracked.

And they have good reason for concern. The Bush Administration has shown time and time again they are willing, (and in some cases eager,) to ignore the laws that insure the privacy rights of Americans. Their illegal wire-tapping program under the guise of "fighting terrorism" is a good example. Even though the 9-11 attacks were planned and carried out by people from Saudi Arabia, the Bush Administration decided to make all Americans terrorist suspects for the purpose of suspending our rights using abhorrent pieces of legislation like the ill-named Patriot Act, rammed through an American government so controlled by one party that it destroyed our system of checks and balances.

I understand the reason and logic behind the AMA's support for these medical chip implants. When a patient is brought into an emergency room they are often not in a condition to give the doctor accurate and complete information about their health status. Doctors are afraid of administering a drug that may interact with an pre-existing condition or drug in the patient's system.

In a country where we could count on our government to not abuse its power, the implementation of such a program might not generate so much controversy. But our government has shown time and again that it cannot be trusted to abuse its power, and at the moment the American people are stuck with a government they know they cannot trust. The anti-American secrecy of the Bush Administration, especially the Vice-President's office, and the long list of lies and illegal activities they have engaged in does not create an atmosphere of trust among the American people.

As a compromise, the AMA could issue "dog tags" like our soldiers have, or a wallet card with the RFID chip implanted in the card. That way, Americans concerned about their right to privacy and unwarranted government intrusion into their private lives, could make a choice to carry the chip or leave it at home or in the car. They could also shield the tag by placing it in a bag that deflects unwanted scans.

The doctors who support this idea and the AMA might not like this compromise, but with the current state of American politics, they may have to make such allowances for Americans like myself who still value our right to privacy.

2007-06-21T19:31:00.000-07:00

More about counterfeit medications:
(Part III of a III part Series)
By Phillip T. Alden – San Mateo Daily Journal
For publication – June 19, 2007

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about a report from Dr. James Adams at the USC School of Pharmacology, detailing problems in our drug distribution chain, including the sale of counterfeit medications, which accounts for $39 billion in sales in the U.S. annually.

And while pharmaceutical drugs sold over the Internet were singled out for special consideration, the problems were not related solely to that avenue. The report stated that; "counterfeit drugs kill thousands of people world-wide every year," and that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was keeping the problem quiet to avoid having American consumers lose confidence in the drug market.

And while there are press releases on the FDA web site, they only work if the press actually reports on them. There are not many people who check the FDA or the CDC web sites on a regular basis to find out if there are any major health risks in their area, (but it's not a bad idea.) Also, a press release by itself says very little about the scope and severity of a given event. It gives enough information to satisfy our sound-bite mass media, but fails to truly inform the average citizen.

Dr. Adams' report also states that a large part of the problem involves imported drugs or compounds used as a base in drug manufacturing. These various chemical compounds and/or finished medications "[may be contaminated, may contain the wrong amount of active agent, may be manufactured by another company in places like Russia, China, India and Pakistan; and may be packaged or labeled incorrectly."

These tainted products make their way into the U.S. pharmaceutical supply chain through large wholesalers who import nearly all of these chemicals, (think about the recent pet food poisoning tragedy that involved nearly every brand of food on the American market.) When counterfeit drugs and compounds find their way into one of the few giant wholesalers, they end up distributed throughout the system.

These wholesalers get big discounts when they buy these drugs from certain countries, so they choose profit over domestic manufacturers who would be bound by U.S. rules and regulations, and who would be much less likely to endanger the lives of American consumers. If a family member died from a drug distributed from New Jersey, but containing a contaminated chemical manufactured in China or India, the people responsible for the death are rarely identified or prosecuted.

But the victims of these phony medications are hardly limited to the United States. Examples include the following:

"Meningitis in Niger 1995 – 50,000 people were inoculated with counterfeit vaccine, resulting in 2,500 deaths."

"China in 2002 – 8% of all Over-The-Counter (OTC) drugs were counterfeit."

"Kenya 2005 – 30% of the drugs in the country were found to be counterfeit, including AIDS medications."

There are diluted or useless Malaria vaccines sent to places like Africa where 1 million children die from the disease annually.

The FDA has attempted to stop counterfeit drugs from reaching the American market using things like RFID tags, cross-border purchasing laws and regulations, a National Drug Code, (NDC,) changes to labels and packaging, and other measures.

But one huge gaping hole in this regulatory scheme is strict oversight and regulation of our domestic pharmaceutical industry. Considering the industry's tentacles have found their way into every corner and crevice of national politics, and their corruption of our political system through money and lobbying makes them nearly untouchable, I wouldn't expect any serious changes there in the near future.

2007-06-21T19:28:00.000-07:00

ADAP Under Fire Once Again:
By Phillip T. Alden – San Mateo Daily Journal
For publication – June 26, 2007

As a result of the hard work of AIDS activists in the 1980s Congress established the AIDS Drug Assistance Program, (ADAP.) It's also known as The Ryan White CARE Act, named after the young Florida boy whose heroic fight against stigma and hatred of People With AIDS (PWAs) changed the face of AIDS in America.

Against the wishes of AIDS activists and PWAs in general, ADAP was folded into the Medicare Part D drug program. It was thought at the time that the Bush Administration would use this change to cut even more funding for people with HIV, and unfortunately this is exactly what has happened.

The Bush Administration has not been a friend to AIDS patients and AIDS prevention programs. One of their first acts was to funnel millions of dollars from proven AIDS prevention programs like the Stop AIDS Project in San Francisco, to religious groups, in clear violation of the separation of powers act. These groups discarded the effective and proven comprehensive AIDS education programs and replaced them with misinformation about the value of condoms in preventing the spread of STDs. The harm done by these acts cannot be measured, but it's been shown that, under these groups, prevention efforts failed and infection rates went up.

Now they're at it again. A couple of weeks ago it was announced that ADAP funding in San Mateo County will be cut by 30%. This leaves the county with some ugly choices, and regardless of those choices, prevention and treatment will suffer.

While the federal government has funneled billions of dollars into corporations like Bechtel and KBR, they have also done their best to cut what little funding there is to help the weakest members of our society. There's no reason for this. Compared to the $750 Billion we annually spend on military-industrial projects and research, the cost of these life-saving domestic programs that benefit not only people with illnesses like AIDS and Hepatitis C, but everyone through improved public health, is a drop in the bucket.

USA Today reported this week that, thanks to the Bush Administration, our country has amassed 59 Trillion dollars in national debt, and this number continues to climb as we continue the occupation of Iraq. This is the economic legacy our children will inherit.

And now, with San Mateo County losing an additional 30% in badly needed funding for AIDS prevention and treatment, one has to question if good public health is a priority for our federal government. These types of destructive cuts to public health affects us all, rich and poor alike. Strong public health is essential for every country, essential for the health and well-being of all its citizenry.

We need to increase the amount of money we spend on programs like Medicaid and ADAP, and we need to move prevention and education funds back to the organizations that promote comprehensive education and prevention without a religious agenda. We need to strengthen the Centers for Disease Control, (CDC,) the Food and Drug Administration, (FDA,) and the Environmental Protection Agency, (EPA.)

A Pew Research Poll taken earlier this year showed that 76% of Americans view universal health care a priority for our country, and similar polls show strong support for robust and effective public health programs.

It's time to demand strong support and increased spending on domestic public health programs right now, for the welfare of all Americans.

2007-06-12T10:44:00.000-07:00

Counterfeit Medications:
(Part II of a series)
By Phillip T. Alden – San Mateo Daily Journal
For publication – June 12, 2007

In my next article I will go further into Dr. Adams' study, but in this part I would like to discuss one of the causal factors behind the drug crisis in America today.

As an AIDS activist I have a unique perspective when it comes to drug companies and our drug delivery system. I have been to numerous medical conferences, spoken with research scientists and health care providers, and dealt with insurance companies and drug companies on many different levels.

Research scientists and doctors are very busy people. Most researchers have no idea what happens after their compound is turned over to a drug company. When, as AIDS activists, we took the time to educate these men, they were shocked at the behavior of the drug companies. Here's an example:

Abbott Labs makes a Protease Inhibitor (PI) called Norvir. The drug is too toxic to be taken by itself, but they discovered that a small amount of Norvir (100mg) boosts the levels of other PIs in the bloodstream. So Norvir is either taken with another PI or incorporated into the other PI. This advantage has been a boon to Abbott Labs, (to say the least.)

A few years ago Abbott decided to raise the price of Norvir by 400%, making all other PIs very expensive and making their lead PI at the time (Kaletra) the cheapest PI on the market. Numerous states ended up launching criminal investigations against Abbott Labs for violating the rules of free-trade we have established to protect the consumer.

But the research scientists and the doctors knew nothing about this until we told them. Doctors get a rather myopic view through publications sent to them like "Managed Care Magazine," which is produced by the health insurance industry and driven by drug ads. It's propaganda of the worst sort that tells doctors that, if we enact national health insurance, their workload will explode and their compensation will take a nose-dive.

So we not only told the doctors what was happening, we got them to sign a boycott of Abbott products. They agreed to write a prescription for a non-Abbott drug whenever possible, they signed on to a letter to the drug company, and they refused to see Abbott drug representatives when they came to their offices.

Abbott ignored everything until their reps came back saying the doctor refused to see them. Of all the steps we took, even the threat of criminal investigation mattered little to Abbott. But refusing to see reps shook the company and scared them. They feared we'd use this strategy more often, that we'd educate the doctors.

So they caved and lowered the price of Norvir.

But this is a major part of the problem. PHARMA lobbyists give a lot of money to both Democrats and Republicans at the state and national level, assuring favorable treatment regardless of how the political winds blow. They influence drug policy on many levels. They are a prime example of how corporate influence has polluted politics, and they are part of the reason that, even though 76% of all Americans favor some form of national health insurance, our political leaders refuse to address our health care crisis.

2007-06-11T21:01:00.000-07:00

Counterfeit Medications:
(Part I of a series)
By Phillip T. Alden – San Mateo Daily Journal
For publication – June 5, 2007

This article would not have been possible without the help of Peter Adams, and Dr, James Adams, Associate Professor of Pharmacology, USC School of Pharmacology. I am grateful for their work in calling attention to this alarming problem.

Drugs, even prescription drugs, can be dangerous. Millions of Americans take one or more pharmaceutical drugs every day and the pharmaceutical industry rakes in billions of dollars every year. Most of these drugs are as safe as they can be, and your pharmacist is a valuable gate-keeper that deals with the drug manufacturers, the insurance industry and your health care provider.

But even Over-The-Counter (OTC) drugs can be dangerous. Nobody knows just how their body will react to a new drug until they take that first dose. Sometimes the drug may cause a rash. Sometimes the drug kills the patient. When this happens it's known as an Adverse Drug Reaction, or ADR. Thankfully, most people take a drug and their symptoms or illnesses are successfully treated.

For any medication to reach the public it must first run the labyrinth of safety trials. Phase I trials usually involve lab animals, and if the drug is found to be safe for the animals in question, it goes on to human clinical trials, (also known as Phase II and Phase III trials.) The Federal Drug Administration (FDA) examines the results of the trials and makes a decision to either approve or reject the drug in question.

Recent advances in computer modeling have lessened the use of animal subjects in Phase I trials and increased the efficacy and safety of a given compound before it goes to human trials.

But there are problems with the drug distribution chain, and a recent FDA report, along with the work of people like Dr. James Adams, has found an alarming rise in the number of counterfeit drugs reaching patients in America and around the world.

According to Dr. Adams, "counterfeit medications kill thousands of people worldwide every year and account for $39 billion of the $216 billion drug market in the U.S. yearly." These phony drugs are often found in the Internet pharmaceutical business but can occur in retail pharmacies as well.

In addition, the FDA has been keeping this problem quiet to avoid having American consumers lose confidence in the drug market. They have released various media statements through their website, but this response is anemic in relation to the problem.

Most alarming is the counterfeiting of AIDS drugs, which can lead to drug resistance, increased viral load, and disease progression. The viability of AIDS drugs in particular is of utmost importance due to the nature of the disease and how it's treated. One bad drug in a combination can cause resistance to the rest of the regimen, limiting the number of drugs a patient can use and increasing their chances of disease progression.

As an aside, there is also a counterfeit market of veterinary drugs; specifically NSAIDs, heartworm medications, and flea and tick preparations.

"Any medication that is contaminated, contains the wrong active agent, contains the wrong amount of active agent, is packaged or labeled incorrectly, poorly stored or expired," can have adverse effects, according to Dr. Adams' report. Counterfeits may be sold under both the generic and the brand name. These drugs are often imported into the United States from other countries, and "up to 40,000 counterfeit parcels pass through [U.S. mail facilities] every day."

This dangerous and complex problem will be further addressed in future articles. Stay tuned.

2007-05-30T11:31:00.000-07:00

Witch Hunt:
May 30, 2007

"Ignorance and prejudice, and fear walk hand in hand."
(from the song "Witch Hunt" by Rush.)

I read something very disturbing on Live Journal this morning, but it's not the first time I have seen this crop up in our little online community, (which is not so "little" anymore.)

It had to do with a group I will not name here going after some people because they perceived something a certain way. They were wrong and their actions were based on bigotry, hysteria and ignorance, (which is no surprise.) According to what I can figure out, if these people had truly taken the time to do their homework, they would have found they were going after the wrong people.

Or maybe they weren't. Maybe they were people who just wanted to censor speech they found offensive, so they labeled it "pedophilia" and "illegal" even though it was nothing of the sort. Maybe they accomplished exactly what they set out to do under the guise of being "public watchdogs."

Here's a comment I made to someone's journal about this:

"I think there's an environment in this country that encourages this kind if thing. It's like the so-called "Minute Men" hunting down "illegal immigrants" along the border or people reporting Muslims as terrorists based solely on their religious beliefs.

There is a larger "witch hunt" movement in this country with everyone and anyone playing the vigilante. You see it on TV shows. (I think there's one called "To catch a predator" in which they set people up.) I believe it's a reaction to the "witch hunts" our government is engaging in, rounding up innocent people and torturing them, not to mention imprisoning them without any due respect to human rights at all.

The people who caused this stuff on LJ are a symptom of a larger problem."

The "larger problem" is our country in general. Ever since 9-11 we have been letting fear run our lives, and what is worse is we've been letting fear-mongers feed upon our fear and increase it to the point where we no longer know what we are afraid of.

So we mask that fear with anger and walk around with a "mad on" as a friend once put it. We've been conditioned to be afraid of anything that is outside our comfort zone. That goes for people from other countries, people who practice religions our government has targeted, people who do not share a given set of beliefs.

I'm a member of these hated and feared groups because I'm a gay man and I'm not a Christian. (And for the record I'm not an atheist, either.) This country has been turned into a "police state" and our government has successfully bred thousands, if not tens of thousands, of freelance vigilantes to do their dirty work for them. If they are wrong they are not held accountable because they don't belong to any legitimate group.

Until these people are (a) brought up on harassment charges and/or (b) taken to court for violating the rights of their fellow citizens – these "Witch Hunts" will continue. Until they are forcibly reminded that we still have rights and freedoms in this country, this will continue. Until we stand with the immigrant and the Muslim and the Wikken and even the Witch, these attacks will continue.

(Yes there are practicing Witches in this country, and my apologies to them for using the "Witch Hunt" term.)

We need to end the fear-mongering. It starts with voting out politicians who encourage this kind of behavior, and with turning off our televisions to people like Nancy Grace on CNN and that "catch a predator" guy, (whoever he is.) The media are a large part of the problem. Then we challenge these groups that have sprouted like mushrooms after a long rain until they are driven back into their holes.

Then we remain vigilant. I don't know who said; "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance," but they were right. Because the next time something like 9-11 happens these people will crawl out of the woodwork once again to attack innocent people because they are "different."

We also need to stand up to our government, which has suspended the very beliefs we hold dear as civilized humans. None of us should be saying it's okay to torture a human being, even if that human being is a legitimate suspect in some crime. It's been shown again and again that torture never works. The victim just tells the torturer anything they want to hear to make the torture stop.

These "Witch Hunts" are another sign that we have abandoned our responsibilities as humans and as Americans. We are letting this happen, allowing others to foster an environment where this can go on. It's not enough that we have hung on to our humanity. I wish it were.

I see parallels between America today and Germany in the late 1930's. Secret prisons, the suspension of civil rights under the guise of "security." Our government employing mercenaries to do things they will not or cannot. This is the rise of fascism. This is the rise of imperialism. This is the rise of the totalitarian state.

Had I seen those words written about my country seven years ago I would have called them alarmist. Today I call those words accurate. And those who seek such a state are getting all the help they need. Those who don't support them are apathetic, and those who do are zealous.

I know there are people out there who may not believe me, but America is fast becoming the very thing it sought to escape in its founding.

Sadly, those with good jobs will enjoy the status quo and do nothing. Those who are suffering under the class-warfare will also do nothing. And saddest of all, our young people, filled to the brim with apathy and self-seeking, will also do nothing even though this impacts them in ways they cannot begin to imagine.

When things like these "Witch Hunts" happen a question pops up in my mind: "What will it take?" When I hear about electoral fraud that question pops up. When I hear the Supreme Court chipping away at a woman's right to control her own person that question pops up. When I hear a young person say they have no means to pursue their higher education that question pops up.

And the answer always seems to be: "More than this." Because these things go unanswered in any meaningful way. A small group of brave individuals makes a stand and they are ignored. The status quo continues.

Once the corporations and the government have completely wiped out the middle class in America there won't be enough people to stand against these types of tyranny, and they know it. There is a "class war" going on in this country and the middle class is losing. 11,000 jobs last week, 13,000 jobs this week. Our headlines scream the truth, then tell us calmly that everything is fine because our media is now controlled by large corporations.

We cannot believe what we are told any longer. It's been so painfully obvious that we have been lied to on so many levels. Yesterday I made a decision to return to my personal news boycott and I'm glad I did. There is no "truth" there, no "accurate reporting of the facts." There are only "stories" that further the status quo.

People are losing their houses and jobs in record numbers, but the stock market is doing great, so our corporate media says the economy is doing just fine. Fine for who? Not for any of my friends. Most of my friends are hoping their jobs won't disappear because they live from paycheck to paycheck. They have no savings because they are being bled dry for every fucking penny.

You may say I've digressed, and maybe I have a bit, but it's all part of the larger picture. These "Witch Hunts," the Corporate Media, our Fascist Government – are all part and parcel of the same problem.

I keep hoping it will get better while I watch it get worse and worse. That's why I've gone back to a personal "news blackout." It's too depressing to watch this stuff happen while those around me turn into sheep waiting for the shears or the knife.

I know there are people out there who care, and are fighting, but their efforts go largely ignored and they need much greater numbers to make an impact. We need the spirit of the 1960s back but with the focus of the 2000s. Instead of a movement fueled by drugs we need one fueled by rational thought and dedication to stopping the growth of fascism in America.

But I've long since tired of holding my breath, waiting for this to happen.

(Once again, my apologies to practicing Witches for the term I used in this essay.)

2007-04-03T18:20:00.000-07:00

One More Opinion

Sleep aids can have unexpected consequences:
By Phillip T. Alden – San Mateo Daily Journal
For publication April 3, 2007

The recent development of new sleep aids like Ambien and Lunesta have been a boon to people who have a hard time getting a good night's sleep, but recent warnings from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) about unexpected side-effects mean those taking these new drugs have to do so with caution.

There is a term in medicine that everyone should know. It's called an Adverse Drug Reaction, or ADR for short. An ADR can range from a slight rash to sudden death, and they are one of the greatest concerns doctors have when prescribing a new drug for a patient. Doctors and their families tend to be notorious for avoiding pills of any kind because they know how dangerous even highly-refined pharmaceutical drugs can be.

And there have been a great number of ADR reports among people taking this new generation of sleep aids, although most seem to be behavior related. Sleepwalking, hallucinations and nocturnal binge eating are some of the reported side-effects. While these are serious, there have also been reports of violent outbursts and driving while asleep.

Last May in Washington, Representative Patrick Kennedy (D-Rhode Island) blamed Ambien when he crashed his car near the Capitol building in the middle of the night. At the time he stated he was on his way to cast a vote on a crucial bill.

The FDA has also had reports of people making phone calls, purchasing items over the Internet and even having sex. (How much fun can that be? You have sex and don't even remember it afterwards!)

Seriously though, aside from sleepwalking these effects are mostly unique to these sleep aids, and they are quite worrisome to both patients and their doctors. That people can do all kinds of things under the influence of these drugs opens the door to a myriad of possibilities. What if a person commits a serious crime? Can they be held to account for their actions under those circumstances?

So far, the scariest reported effect has been driving while asleep. Like an alcoholic blackout, there is no control over the vehicle, and a serious accident could occur. Most of us don't think about the fact we're pushing two tons of metal around when we get behind the wheel, or just how much damage we could do.

(As an aside, one of the most worrying behaviors among law enforcement and other authorities is talking on a mobile phone while driving, which has a level of distraction comparable to driving while drunk.)

Some of these cases involve both a sleep aid and alcohol, prompting doctors to warn people away from drinking while taking these drugs.

If you're starting one of these drugs there are a few things you should do. The first is to warn your spouse or partner that you're starting on this drug. The second is to only take these drugs if you're getting at least eight hours of sleep – every time. You should also take your first dose on a weekend so you don't have to be anywhere the next morning. Be aware that you may experience serious psychoactive side-effects and don't be afraid to call the paramedics if you feel you may be a danger to yourself or others.

These are wonderful medications. I personally take Ambien on occasion and it really helps me sleep. But aside from these strange side-effects, these drugs can be habit-forming or even addictive, so use them with wisdom and caution.

2007-04-03T18:19:00.000-07:00

One More Opinion

Facing up to HIV infection:
By Phillip T. Alden
San Mateo Daily Journal (for publication, March 13, 2007)

There are 40,000 new HIV infections in the United States every year, and young people 25 years of age and younger, (roughly 13-25,) are the highest risk group for contracting the virus, so when a young person tests positive it can seem like the end of the world.

And although San Mateo County does nearly everything possible to prevent new infections here, they still happen. Even with the number of innovative programs that have been initiated by the county and various advocacy groups, that fact remains.

But testing positive for HIV no longer means what it did before the advent of highly advanced antiviral therapy, especially since the invention of Protease Inhibitors in 1995. Since then antiretroviral therapy (ART) has come a long way and people who test for the virus today still have the chance to live a long and productive life.

That's not to say that HIV is anything to fool around with, or that contracting the virus is not a serious matter, but when it happens it's important to put it in perspective. There's no escaping the trauma that comes with a diagnosis of any life-threatening illness and the emotional impact it has on the patient and those around them.

But there's reason for hope, and in San Mateo County there is ample reason for optimism. We have one of the finest HIV clinics in the country and the entire staff of the Edison Clinic are devoted to easing the difficult path that is living with HIV/AIDS. In addition, California has one of the best AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAP) in the country.

Anyone in a high-risk group for HIV who is sexually active should test, as should those using certain recreational drugs, and anyone who suspects they may have been exposed should get tested right away. Catching the virus early, before it has the chance to significantly weaken the immune system, can make a difference in long-term health and overall prognosis. It's better to know and get treated than to walk around with the fear of the unknown, and much safer as well.

As with most illnesses, an ounce of prevention is still worth a pound of cure, and anyone who is sexually active should take measures to protect themselves and their partner. This means using a condom every single time, including and especially the first time.

Anyone intending to get pregnant should test not only for HIV, but also for other infectious agents like Hepatitis C, (HCV.) There are more things than HIV to take into account before engaging in any risk activity.

Every drug addict should seek treatment whenever possible and NEVER share needles with anyone. People in this group are at the highest risk for HIV and HCV infection, (as well as the many other health risks associated with this kind of drug use.)

A person may fear being judged or even rejected. They may not want to disappoint their partner by insisting on condom use every time, but they owe it to themselves to do so. We all need to stay safe and keep those we care for safe as well.

2007-04-03T18:16:00.000-07:00

One More Opinion

Unexpected results from the gym workout – nerve injuries:
By Phillip T. Alden
San Mateo Daily Journal
For publication: February 27, 2007

If you're like me, a person in their early 40's who maintains a healthy lifestyle, then you're likely among the thousands of us filling every gym on the Peninsula to stay physically strong and healthy. The health movement among people in my generation has changed the nature of aging, yet there are many things that can injure us in our pursuit of good health and longevity; knee, shin and ankle injuries that stop runners for good; torn ligaments that have to be surgically repaired after a skating or skiing accident that puts us out of that game; or nerve and muscle injuries that restrict our use of free-weights and weight machines.

Among those in the last group who use free-weights and weight machines as part of their workout routine, nerve injuries in the back and neck are becoming more common. My pain specialist, (a doctor with a lot of additional training and knowledge,) has seen "an explosion" in the number of gym-related nerve injuries.

Part of the reason comes from the fact that it is extremely easy to cause one of these injuries, some of which become permanent. Many patients are not even aware of the source of their injury as the first symptoms can appear hours or even days after the damage was done. It's quite common for the exact cause of the injury to remain unknown.

And while free weights may cause some of these injuries they are not the only cause by any means. Nerve and disk injuries may occur in nearly every type of physical exercise with the possible exception of swimming.

And very often the root cause is the person pushing themselves too hard. It's common for people to take on more weight than they need to work a specific muscle group, or to overdo in repetitions, (number of movement sets.) Some people also exercise too much, going to the gym nearly every day. This goes for non-gym exercise as well. Most of us don't need to workout more than three-four times per week. The one exception to this is walking, which is an exercise that can be done on a daily basis.
In my case, whatever caused the initial injury requires daily use of pain-killing medication combined with trans-dermal patches that deliver a constant supply of Lidocaine to my lower back through the skin. (Lidocaine is a local numbing agent.) I cannot lift or carry very heavy or awkward things. There is no surgical option at the moment. And it all happened without my even knowing it.

The best way to prevent such injuries is to avoid putting yourself in situations that set up the potential for them. When working with free weights or free weight machines, for example, it's crucial that you isolate your back from the muscle group you are working. A good personal trainer can be an immense help to both beginners and gym veterans.

But even that is no guarantee. Even people who have worked extensively with personal trainers and physical therapists can injure themselves. Losing concentration, forgetting to fully stretch before starting a workout, and even a simple mistake can cause these types of injuries.

My pain specialist told me he has seen an exponential jump in these types of injuries, and that today they make up much of his practice. And while there are many potential causes, he claimed that "people pushing themselves too hard" is the prevalent reason his practice is growing.

2007-04-03T18:14:00.000-07:00

One More Opinion

Understanding Anxiety Disorders and Treating Them:
By Phillip T. Alden – San Mateo Daily Journal
For publication March 27, 2007

We live in anxious times. We're currently engaged in two wars and a number of smaller conflicts, the traditional sense of community has been declining and new types are still in their infancy, and families are not as close-knit and localized as they used to be. We are less likely to know our neighbors and interact with them on a significant level. Recent studies have shown that people have less close friends they can count on when in need, as outlined in the book "Bowling Alone," by Robert D. Putnam.

In addition, recent advances in the field of emotional health have shed new light on the root causes of anxiety and panic disorders.

Acute anxiety is the most common emotional illness in the United States and conservative estimates place the number of cases reported each year between 19 million and 25 million.

"Anxiety" is actually a blanket term for a wide range of emotional disorders whose common denominator is fear; including obsessive-compulsive disorders, panic attacks and phobias.
The most common symptoms are; excessive worry, difficulty concentrating, fatigue, irritability, tension in the muscles and sometimes the jaw, sleep disorders, changes in appetite and libido, increased desire to drink alcohol and use drugs, rapid heart-rate and sweating – and there are many others. Sometimes anxiety can be so acute the patient can feel like they are suffocating, unable to get enough air – which only increases the level of fear and makes the situation worse. When these symptoms drive a person to the emergency room there may be a lot of time wasted looking for cardiac problems unless both patient and doctor are clear regarding the root cause of the symptoms.

Some acute anxiety disorders are the result of trauma and are related to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, (PTSD.) This level of PTSD is usually not as intense as that caused by combat stress, but PTSD is much more common in widely varying degrees than we used to think. It's not just for soldiers anymore.

When anxiety is extreme enough it can interfere with a person's ability to function. This can cause avoidance behavior, and in some cases render a person unable to leave their house or deal with groups of people. It can get worse over time, starting with mild symptoms that grow in intensity.

The good news is there are treatment options today that didn't exist 20-30 years ago. In addition to the growing number of medications that can help treat the symptoms, there are therapists who can help address the underlying causes of the anxiety. As long as a patient is open and willing to honestly examine their lives, the therapeutic process can get to the root of the problem and greatly alleviate their suffering.

People who have suffered an acute anxiety attack need no description to understand the hellish nightmare they cause, and those who haven't will hard pressed to understand just how unbearable they can be. Even though there is greater understanding of emotional illness, and a greater number of diagnosed cases, there are still some ignorant people who fail to understand the reality and react in unkind ways. The idiotic remarks made by Tom Cruise recently on the daytime talk-show circuit are a prime example of this ignorance and bias.

The truth is there are millions of Americans with anxiety problems, there are highly effective medications to treat the symptoms, and there are trained therapists that can help a person understand the causes and alleviate the suffering. It all begins with an honest and straightforward talk with your doctor.

2007-04-03T18:11:00.000-07:00

One More Opinion

The not-so-great American diet:
By Phillip T. Alden
San Mateo Daily Journal –
Publication Date: February 5, 2007

There have been recent books and movies, as well as numerous medical studies and news shows that call attention to the epidemic of poor health caused by the American diet. A good example is Eric Schlosser's "Fast Food Nation," a modern-day version of "The Jungle," by Upton Sinclair.

Yet even with the popularity of the human experiment detailed in "Supersize Me," fast-food companies like McDonalds and Pizza Hut are making a killing.

There is an alarming rate of obesity and diabetes among American children, and some are even experiencing cardiac problems due to poor diet and lack of exercise.

A teenager with congestive heart problems. What's wrong with this picture?

The first and foremost problem is Americans are addicted to sugar to the point that our foods are loaded with it. The second is we eat too much of the wrong foods, and the third is we have a sedentary lifestyle that makes the first two problems worse.

Part of the fault lies with our government and part with our food producers, but a large part lies with us. One of the country's leading nutritionists, Professor Marion Nestle, lays out this complex problem in her recent book, "Food Politics." (Professor Nestle is not related to the food conglomerate of the same name or associated with them in any way.)

We have a government that is heavily influenced by the food producers, a system that allows unhealthy food into our schools, and a populace that is purposely kept ignorant of the true facts around American nutrition.

Of course, we don't need the government or a nutritionist to tell us that a "Big Gulp" contains more sugar than is good for us. Part of the problem is we don’t want to change. We want to eat food we know is bad for us while spending much of our day sitting in front of the computer and/or the television. We resist exercise and avoid foods that are good for us.

The problem is we are teaching these bad habits to our kids, and their young bodies pay the price. Part of the problem lies in the way we've changed our involvement in the world. When I was a kid growing up in Palo Alto I rode my bike everywhere, even up to Skyline at the top of the Santa Cruz Mountains, (because it was so much fun coming back down.) I played Frisbee and hiked with my friends, and spent most summers swimming at the local pool.

We need to educate ourselves and our kids, exercise and make sure they do the same, and put down the giant soda. We need to get unhealthy foods out of our schools, and sugar out of our diet. There's a place for sugar and it's called dessert. We need to stop letting food industry executives determine governmental diet policy and education through political appointments.

Mostly we need to take responsibility for what we put in our bodies and teach our children the same discipline. Many parents are surprised when they discover their children have dangerous sugar imbalances, and it's important to remember your child does not have to be obese to develop conditions like Hyperglycemia or Diabetes. We need to make sure our schools have daily physical education classes. If your child is overweight you need to do something about that, including leading by example. Sometimes the whole family needs to go on a diet, which is more about making permanent eating changes than short-term weight loss.

2007-04-03T18:09:00.000-07:00

One More Opinion

Medicated Water:
By Phillip T. Alden
San Mateo Daily Journal

Today we find ourselves confronted with many ecologic threats; global warming, toxic waste, global disease pandemics like HIV/AIDS, "Mad Cow" disease, (BSE/CJD,) and the extinction of many animals that are an integral part of our ecosystem; but one of the greater ecological threats is the presence of human medications in our water supply and aquatic ecosystem.

Of all the things we depend upon for our survival on this planet, none is more essential than water. The human body is comprised mostly of this one element. Every naturalist knows the Rule of Threes; three minutes without air, three days without water, three weeks without food – and we die. Without access to clean water there's nothing in this world that will save us from extinction.

Our planet runs on a global system of recycling water. 75% of the earth is covered by water. Every single thing that lives on this planet depends upon access to fresh water to continue, and to the constant and complete recycling of all the water on Earth.

Yet we have treated our oceans like giant dumping grounds for every kind of toxic waste imaginable, from jet fuel to synthetic toxins of every conceivable variety. It's almost like a prolonged suicide, one fueled by denial of the damage we do in our rush to create a better world for ourselves and our children.

Millions of people all over the globe are grateful for the human ingenuity that allows us to create life-saving and life-enhancing medications, but when these drugs get into our water supply the pose a serious health hazard to everyone.

According to a number of recent reports, pharmaceutical and personal care products, (PPCPs,) are leaching from septic tanks and escaping intact from sewage treatment plants, and back into our drinking water. Germany has been on the forefront of PPCP monitoring and they have found the most common medications that end up back in our water supply are; anti-inflammatory and pain-killing drugs, cholesterol-lowering drugs, anticonvulsants, and sex hormones from oral contraceptives.

Samples from 40 German rivers and streams turned up residues of 31 different PPCPs, according to a report presented at the March 2000 American Chemical Society meeting in San Francisco, by Thomas Ternes, a chemist at the Institute for Water Research and Water Technology in Wiesbaden.

Worldwide there have been over 60 different PCPPs discovered in water systems, according to the EPA in Las Vegas, Nevada. In addition to the drugs mentioned above, the list is expanded to include; antineoplastics, beta-blockers, bronchodilators, lipid regulators, hypnotics, antibiotics, antiseptics, x-ray contrast agents, sunscreen agents, caffeine, and fragrances such as synthetic musks.

Some of these drugs can interfere with the reproduction and development of fish populations located downstream from water treatment plants in the U.S. One of the largest offenders in this category is estrogen, most likely from discarded birth-control pills. Some early lab results showed that exposure to human estrogen feminized male fish in these populations and disrupted the development of circulatory systems, eyes and bladders.

PCPPs have been found in the Mississippi River by college student researchers, and in every major waterway that has been tested since then. Today there is ample evidence of contamination in our oceans. These drugs could disrupt not only the cycle of animal life, (which would be catastrophic enough,) but the cycle of human life as well.

2007-01-15T22:44:00.000-08:00

Participatory Democracy – The lens of history:

Preface: Based upon a conversation I had recently, I was reminded that every entity and organization that has behaved a certain way will keep behaving in the same manner, and to expect a group or organization with a specific interest to change is unrealistic.

The beauty of my wonderful country is that, no matter how bad things get, the American people can always take back the power and stop those who seek to damage our country, because we live in a Participatory Democracy. This concept stopped the Vietnam War. It stopped Richard Nixon. It has the power to bring about seismic change in a very short period of time.

Our Participatory Democracy is used by the voices of individual Americans when we stand together as an overwhelming force for positive change. Our individual and collective voices have changed the world. So has how we spend or withhold our dollars. Americans have power when they speak with their wallets as well as their voices.

The following essays are ideas of how to engage our Participatory Democracy today:

Hindsight and Factual Sources like Documentaries:

I feel that it's amazing the perspective hindsight can give us when we focus on the right things. Even something you might have seen and thought you remembered might surprise you taking a second look in hindsight.

The American mass media can no longer use the "terrorism demon" to keep Americans afraid of something so vague the media itself becomes the terrorist. They can no longer make Iraq look good for anyone involved. Even Wal-Mart cannot make themselves look like anything other than the blight on our communities they are.

If an American started a group and invited people to watch a documentary once a week, one that has already been released like "Fahrenheit 9/11," take notes if they like, and then discuss it with the perspective of all that has happened since.

Remind us that "The Patriot Act" still stands as the law of the land; and the decades long chummy relationship with the Bin laden family, the Saudi Royal Family, The Taliban from Afghanistan, the Bush family, The Carlyle Group, James Baker, Enron, Halliburton, and even Saddam himself when he was America's golden boy and Iraq was a stabilizing force in the Middle East.

Now "the lipstick is off the pig," as they say down in Texas, we can see the duplicity and the anti-American behavior of these people. Hindsight can serve a purpose today. These facts can form the basis of the questions your average American wants to start asking.

"What is the relationship between 9/11, the Bush family, and the American oil industry?"

"Why haven't these things, as well as the behavior of our government in the prosecution of the Iraq war been investigated."

And most importantly statements like:

"I want these formal investigations to begin immediately with subpoenaed witnesses testifying under oath, Congressperson."

"I want the full restoration of federal, state and local oversight."

"I want the so-called "Patriot Act" repealed, along with all the other laws passed against American citizenry under the guise of the roundly abusive "War On Terror."

"I want the SEC to start doing its job again."

"I want the politicians out of the decision-making arm of the FDA, the CDC and other federal agencies, and the libraries for these vital federal institutions reopened and fully funded so our American civil servants can protect us from things like infectious diseases and ecological disasters."

Then watch another documentary the next week and form questions and letters for our newly elected representatives, the specific politicians we elected because they were not part of the Washington scene before last November. Even an email may be effective if it asks definitive questions or demands direct avenues of investigation.

Here's a list of documentaries I would personally recommend:

1. "Fahrenheit 9/11."
2. "Bowling For Columbine."
3. "Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's Private War On Journalism."
4. "An Inconvenient Truth."
5. "Who Killed The Electric Car."
6. "Why We Fight."
7. "Is Wal-Mart Good For America?"

I highly recommend both current and archived presentations of the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) series; "Frontline." This is one of the finest news organizations in America and their archives can be viewed for free online. You can also purchase copies of a particular show on DVD if you wish to share it. "Frontline" has been reporting on important issues for over 20 years.

This is the first post in a series I'm going to write on our Participatory Democracy, reminders that we need to stand up and take back the power from those who have abused it, and the American people, so badly.

It's long past time for us to stand together and say "Enough!"

2007-01-01T14:23:00.000-08:00

One Nation Under Fear:

Phillip T. Alden

Began: December 19, 2006. Posted: January 01, 2007

"[American mass media] is a campaign of consumption and fear."
(Marilyn Manson – Bowling For Columbine)

I was re-watching Michael Moore's amazing film, which although it's centered around the all-too predictable shootings in Colorado, is really about Fear in America. The most vulgar "F-word" in the English language is not Fuck – it's Fear.

After the shootings Marilyn Manson became a target for the Radical Religious Right (RRR) in Colorado because the shooters reportedly listened to his music. But Manson is a very intelligent, well-spoken and socially aware individual, which is probably why his music is known for its integrity and creativity. Here's another quote from the same interview:

"Television [is all about] a constant stream of fear, then buy the Acura, then buy the Colgate because that girl won't fuck you if you have bad breath, then more fear."

It's a bit of a loose translation but it's close and it gets the point across.

Since I stopped reading the news and listening to NPR I've been much happier, much more at peace. My mind is getting to a place where I can start to meditate again. I'm much more focused on my home, my partner, my community and my friends and family. Today I looked at the headlines on the SF Gate web site but I didn't read any of the articles. The reason I looked was because I wanted to see if it was the same deluge of fear and negativity, and I could tell it was just by looking at the headlines.

It never changes. It's just a constant pile of steaming fear and degradation for the White man. As Moore so aptly points out in his film, the media wants us to be afraid of the Black male in particular. If you were an average American living in a small town you would believe our cities are overrun by Black males causing all the violent crime. That's the picture – Fear the Black Male, Fear the Hispanic, Fear the Immigrant, Fear Each Other. Your children are in constant danger because there are violent predators waiting around every corner to grab them and do unspeakable things, (except there's no such thing as an unspeakable atrocity on TV news.)

It was yet another reinforcement that my decision to stop watching live TV, (which happened years ago,) and my more recent decision to ignore the news media – are very good decisions.

I care about what happens in the world. I care about the genocide in Darfur, (which we are doing nothing to stop.) I care about all the poor Iraqi people our military has killed so we can control their oil. I care about the homeless we totally ignore as a society.

And the media and our government wishes to prey upon people like me. They want to use the tools at their disposal to keep me in a constant state of Fear and agitation.

Except I've stopped playing their game. I've stopped doing the one thing they want me to do. I am no longer cooperating with their agenda.

And I'm not unique or alone. There are millions of Americans who, like me, have stopped playing their game. We have decided our families and our communities and our art are more important than the "consumption and fear" they wish to sell us. All their billions of dollars in advertisements and broadcasting are no longer reaching us. We have made ourselves immune to their fear-mongering as long as we refuse to watch, to listen, to pay attention.

Many times before I have said I was through with mass media in this country only to find myself sucked back in. I have broken that cycle and it will never suck me in again.

Then I go out in the world to run my errands, do lunch and a movie with a friend, grab my morning smoothie – and what do I see? I see a bunch of visibly angry people. My dear friend and spiritual mentor, Rudy Driscoll, taught me that every time I see or feel anger there is always Fear behind it. 100% of the time.

Anger = Fear

So what I'm seeing are a bunch of scared animals, (remembering that humans are a species of animal.) Except these animals have opposable thumbs and drive cars, which makes them much more dangerous than any other species of scared animal. And I see it all the time. The Bush Administration (and nearly every administration before it) and the media have become expert at feeding us Fear until that is all we know. Our "society," (and I use that term loosely,) has perfected the art of selling Fear.

And you have to give them credit. Were it not so abhorrent it might be admirable. The media has sold the American people on the idea that a vote for a Democrat is a vote for terrorism. The politicians who call themselves Democrats have become willing sheep, perfectly happy to be fleeced and even slaughtered on the alter of Fox News. ("Fox News" is an oxymoron if ever I heard one.) Nobody has the balls to stand up to the fear-mongers, to even stand up for themselves. They willingly let their political opponents slander and malign them with only token resistance. If it weren't so pathetic it would almost be funny.

What's even more amazing are the outright lies and fabrications the average American is willing to swallow wholesale. Those of us here in the blogosphere have to ferret out the truth because we know the mass media is feeding us nothing but bullshit.

But the Fear is getting through, it's getting to all of us, and it's destroying our sense of commonality. Fear is turning us against each other for no reason whatsoever.

Divide and Conquer:

It's the oldest military and political strategy in the history of mankind. Those of us who are intelligent and self-aware know better than to fall for this one. The problem is all the people out there who aren't as bright as we are are falling for it, and their fear causes us undue stress no matter how hard we work to avoid it.

Due to self-selection and like-mindedness, we know we're "preaching to the choir" here. But all those average Americans who aren't as smart are affecting us in many negative ways and they are dragging our country down. We are not immune to our fellow man. Their blind idiocy stresses us out and gives us unwanted and unnecessary grief.

Yet all I can do is pull away from the mass media as an individual action. I have no idea how to overcome the incredible wall our mass media has produced. I can divorce myself from the media but I cannot divorce myself from my fellow man even if I wanted to. We can be kind to each other, and we can try to be kind to all the scared people out there, but it feels like an enormous and uphill battle. It feels hopeless.

It's like we're waiting for things to get so bad everyone wakes up. Yet things keep getting worse and they are not waking. The last election was a glimmer of hope, but it's not the kind of change that is needed to overcome all the bad things that have been done. I'm at a loss here. I feel more at peace for the reasons I mentioned above, but it nearly breaks my heart to see my fellow Americans suffering under the weight of so much negativity.

I have faith and I have hope, but they are harder to hang onto than ever before. I've become more cynical. I used to be an optimist but I've forgotten what that feels like. I maintain my rationality through my community of family and friends. You give me hope and strength. I just wonder what terrible thing will have to happen to wake the rest.

And I pray our country and our world survives it.

2006-12-30T11:29:00.000-08:00

Copy editor perfection:

Stuart Tanner, my "final copy editor" and very old and dear friend, (my mother considered Stuart an "adopted" son, as with most of our close friends when we were growing up,) has been working on the final manuscript for most of the month of December. I took the month off after finishing it to complete a lengthy photo scanning/archiving project for my in-laws.

Stuart's father was one of the best English teachers in Palo Alto when we were growing up, (and considered a total bastard even by his sons.) Every Tanner has an innate talent with the English language, and I consider Stuart the perfect choice for the final edit before releasing my book.

Stuart is also a perfectionist. He's already recommended re-writing a few scenes over dinner and I have agreed. (I love any opportunity to hold a conversation with Stuart, and he loves any opportunity to have a good meal over said conversations.) This means the release of the book is likely slowed down by 3-6 months. I don't have a deadline so I'm cool with this. I know there's a harsh world out there just waiting to criticize works of art they are too lazy or stupid to do themselves.

So I want my first book to be the best it can be. The trilogy has been my major project for the past eight-plus years and I've learned a lot. Ken Ludden, author of "Second Pass," was a mentor and good friend for two years and he taught me much. Now Stuart is teaching me some of the finer points of writing and editing.

I'm also taking a creative writing class at the College of San Mateo (CSM) starting next month, (semester.) As an artist I don’t think we ever stop learning. The instant we get complacent or think we're the shit, our art starts to turn to shit. Ken once said that "art is unforgiving," and there's validity in that. We are probably our own harshest critics and we likely drive ourselves harder than anyone else would. I think that's okay as long as we stay positive and enjoy the process.

That's the key. The instant we stop loving what we do, we should stop doing in until the love of the process comes back. Art should never become a chore.

I've got a drum set that I don't play enough, and a set of bongo drums I really want to work with, but writing is my primary art form and that's where I put most of my creative energy. I love to play and do so whenever possible, but unless you have no other obligations in life it's very hard to pursue multiple art forms. I'm thinking of taking some music theory classes if I find I enjoy being back in school, (after 20 years!) and I'm thinking of taking up the piano – the natural extension for a percussionist who wants to expand. (Plus it would be nice to have an instrument I don't have to go to the garage to play.) Drums are a lot of fun but they are not melodic. The piano allows a percussionist to learn more about reading and composing music, and there is so much more you can do with keyboards. Synthesizers have become so technologically advanced and the price of electronic keyboards has come down so much nearly everyone can afford a decent one.

But I'm not taking up any new instrument until after I release the first book. I'd also like to travel to Ireland sometime in 2007 as much of the second book is set there. The web is a great resource but nothing beats seeing the place in person. I'll also take copies of the first book to sell as the name of the city (Ballinrobe) is part of the series title.

"Between the Hammer and the Anvil" is book one in "The Dragon Riders of Ballinrobe" trilogy. The Irish love shit that's named after them. (We're a proud people.) Ballinrobe is a pretty little town in Western Ireland known for it's natural scenic beauty and lake fishing. I'd like to spend maybe a week there and a week in Dublin. I would take more time but I think two weeks is as much as Erik can deal with. (We'd likely get our pet sitter to handle a couple of Max's walks, but there's a lot to do around here.)

It would also mean potentially not taking a class Summer semester, which I'm also okay with. With the book released I'll have plenty to do.

There's also two more books to write. Book one is about 650 pages, and I'm told it converts pretty close to 1:1 from MS Word to book copy. I've written about 450-500 pages of the manuscript for book two. In fact, I have to break away from my main story line to move some sub-plots forward in book two. I don't know how long book two will be, but I've kind of made a pledge to not go over 700 pages for any single part of the trilogy.

I don't know what happens at the end of book two. I don't yet know what happens in book three. I don't write that way. Ken mapped out all nine books of his SIL series before he started writing. I have the story running in my head, and when I go to write it just flows. I never have writer's block and I usually cannot type as fast as the story comes to me. Every writer has their own style. Some know the entire story from start to finish and some are like me, then there's every shade in between.

So if you've been waiting for the first book to be released, I thank you for your patience. It will definitely be out by June 2007, copies in hand, going to every book store and library that will allow me to do a reading/signing/author talk/appearance. I'm fortunate there are thousands of book stores and hundreds of libraries within a day's drive of my house.

2007 promises to be an interesting year.

2006-11-30T20:49:00.000-08:00

Rant – Stop dragging my [language] around:

I admit substituting the word "language" for the word "heart" takes much of the heat from the chorus line of the Tom Petty and Stevie Nicks song, but it's how I feel about the way we have been using and discussing our Mother Tongue. One recent reminder is all the press around a public figure's recent use of the so-called, "n-word."

Among some Black journalists this has been the grist for a discussion of the less-ominous and supposedly complimentary term, "nigga," – which does not carry the stigma of its "r" containing cousin.

The problem is they still miss the point completely. The "n-word" is a vulgarity, therefore it is never used in Correct English Usage. It's less volatile cousin may or may not be a vulgarity, depending on who is using it and the circumstances under which it's used, but it is Slang, and therefore not used in the same forum.

I live on the Peninsula between San Francisco and San Jose, and my hometown is the extremely White, Palo Alto. ("It stays White out later, if you get my drift.") David Cross was referring to his Southern hometown but it applies here. When I see some White kid dressed like a gang member with a large wardrobe budget I wince, and when this same kid answers his mobile phone with the phrase; "Where you at?" I cringe. Aside from being an obvious Poseur this kid is displaying the basest kind of ignorance.

I wonder where this kid's parents are, and if they have taken leave of their senses. If your kid looks like an idiot you're supposed to step in because children (in general) use poor judgment often. That's what being a parent is all about – guiding your progeny from the ignorance of childhood to the knowledge and maturity of adulthood.

And this is not about self-expression. Your kid preferring the blue shirt to the green shirt is self-expression. Dressing like a low-budget hip-hop star is pandering to the lowest common denominator. As a child I started picking out my clothes at a very young age, and my mother let me do that because I chose clothes that looked good. I was very free to express myself and assert my individuality in many ways.

This is a slight digression, but it speaks to the overall picture where the English language is bastardized to such an extent we have children graduating high school who are functionally illiterate. Their spelling is atrocious. Their vocabulary is sadly limited, polluted with crap that passes itself off as language, and is transitory to the point of being irrelevant. If they get through a job interview without being thought of as being incredibly limited it will be a minor miracle.

You can guess by now I'm not a big fan of hip-hop and rap. What little (.5%) I find artistic is done by Black guys who come from streets a little meaner than those in Palo Alto, and most of it was released in the first few years of rap. The rest is ignorant bullshit – reflecting a pathetic excuse for a "culture." It offers nothing of value. In a hundred years nearly all of it will lie on the dust-heap of history while intelligent people will still be listening to Mozart and Jimi Hendrix.

That's the difference between pop and art – the difference between shallow pandering and intelligent culture. Much pop may be enjoyable, hence the name, but popularity does not make it art.

If I'm looking to hire someone and the applicant comes off like the kid with the sideways hat and the cell phone stuck to his ear, his application goes in the trash bin, unless I'm hiring someone to empty that trash bin. And I'd be reluctant even then.

That kid may call it bias and accuse me of being elitist, but the truth is he looks stupid and speaks out of ignorance and he knows it. Young people dress that way for shock value to a large extent, which is the purview of the young. But if they fail to outgrow it their options in the adult world will always be limited.

Slang and text icons do not a language make.

I'm a writer. The English language is my brush and the computer screen is my canvas. I see things like rap as metaphoric pissing on my brushes and canvas. Some may call it "entertainment," but at one point, tying a rope to a pair of cat's tails and raising them on a stick until they killed each other was also called "entertainment." Guys slicing each other into small chunks in arenas was once called "entertainment."

The English language is a beautiful thing. It draws from a multitude of sources and has a flexibility that allows a writer as much latitude as he needs. A good writer can make the English language dance. He (or she) can make you cheer, cry, laugh, fear – and occasionally invoke deep thought. It doesn't take a single word of slang or a single vulgarity to showcase humanity in all its glory.

Every writer and journalist in America should stop focusing on the impact of an ill-timed or public vulgarity. Musicians should stop pretending ignorance is cool, and flash is substance. They do their audience no favors.

I know many people of color who don't talk like a gangster-rapper, and emulating criminals does not advance our civilization. I feel the same way when I hear some ignorant White person talk as if their only experience is a rural farm when they live in Austin, so it's not about being Black. That's just an excuse to justify ignorance and shut down justified criticism.

That is not culture of any stripe and cannot be defended as such.

Footnote:

There has been a lot of discussion in the media this week about burying the "n-word" for good, and I applaud that. It wouldn't hurt to bury the less-offensive "nigga" right alongside it.

But there are two more words that should be buried forever - "bitch" and "fag." Even in the dog world it's not necessary to use "bitch" to describe a female dog, and in England one can ask for a "cigarette" or a "smoke" if that is their goal. Like the "n-word," "bitch" and "fag" are derogatory terms used to demean women and gay people, or to just insult someone.

While we're teaching our ignorant children to pull their pants up, and abandon the "n-word," let's teach them to abandon these two other vulgarities that serve no purpose in civilized discourse.

And if some people insist upon using these three terms, we should make it abundantly clear they are ostracizing themselves from their society, and then show them what a lonely place that can be until they decide to grow up and behave in a decent manner.

Right now we need a return to civility more than ever. People are not being civil to others in public, on our streets and highways, and sometimes even in our homes. It's time to call people on their incivility immediately and politely demand the same respect and deference we show them.

No More Excuses!

2006-11-28T22:22:00.000-08:00

John Cougar Mellencamp's "Scarecrow"

"The highway between John's house and the studio where these songs were recorded cuts through a stretch of Indiana where the land is fertile and full of growth. It is from this land and its people that these songs are born, and though it not necessary to know this to enjoy and appreciate them, it does lend a certain understanding for those who care to think about such things."

Every now and again an artist finds their voice to communicate something that truly comes from their heart, and it resonates with us because they paint such a clear vision of what they are trying to say. Before 1985 JCM was considered a pop musician whose music had very little to share with visionary rockers like Natalie Merchant (10,000 Maniacs) who rocked our conscience while they rocked our ears. Although there was greatness in some of his earlier work it went unappreciated.

Then "Scarecrow" was released. The album arrived in the midst of a terrible time for the American farmer. The "Reagan Recession" may have been an economist's wet dream because it paved the way for future corporate expansion, but many Americans were badly wounded by its effects, and it was often the "little guy" who got screwed, (as it is so often in life.) Reagan said a few words of sympathy for men who likely voted for him, then let them sink as banks foreclosed on their family farms in record numbers.

A lot of old farmers died, many young ones committed suicide, and families were torn apart by the stress of a failure not of their making. How were they to know the Agrarian Age was being replaced by the Technology Age? While people in my hometown (Palo Alto) were enjoying the fruits of the computer revolution people in John's hometown were going hungry, losing land that had been in their families for generations, and wondering why the American Dream had abandoned them.

"Grandma's on the front porch with a Bible in her hand. Sometimes I hear her singing "Take me to the Promised Land." When you take away a man's dignity he can't work his field and cows – There'll be blood on the scarecrow, blood on the plow."

A friend talked me into going to the "Scarecrow" concert. I wasn't a JCM fan at that time and I was reluctant, but the promise of imported beer and good weed tipped the balance. To this day it's one of the best concerts I've ever seen, and I've seen some amazing shows. I'll always be grateful to my friend, Mike, for talking me into going. Halfway through the first song we all knew we were witnessing something special, an artist at his peak pouring out his heart. JCM owned us that night.

In addition to putting on one hell of a show for a seminal album, JCM had an honest humility and humanity that made him one of us, and all of us like him.

"I'd like to thank you for being so nice to me tonight," he said halfway through the show. "I played down the road a few year's back and they weren't as nice to me." I laughed because I remember that he'd played a local amusement park and someone had hit him square in the head with a beer bottle. The amazing thing was, after being knocked out and taken off the stage for 20 minutes, he came back out and finished his show.

Nobody was going to throw anything other than roses at JCM that night.

"Oh when a nation cries. His tears fall down like missiles from the sky. Justice looked into Independence's eyes. Can you make everything alright? And can you keep your Nation warm at night?"

This is one of those rare albums without a single bad track. The hit single, entitled "Small Town" still gets regular radio play over 20 years later. I put "Scarecrow" into my car CD player and within 30 seconds I'm hitting that volume button until the windows start to vibrate. It's one of those timeless pieces of music that resonates just as much the 100th time as it did the 1st.

"Life turns to minutes and minutes to memories. Life sweeps away the dreams that we have planned. You are young and you are the future, so suck it up and tough it out, and be the best you can."

In addition to bestowing upon JCM the status he so richly deserved, "Scarecrow" brought the plight of the failing American farmer into the public spotlight, long after the mass media wanted us to forget him. The result was a series of concerts known as "Farm Aid" that helped some of those farmers keep their land and keep their family whole.

Today I see a sad parallel in the current housing market. Between the corporate layoffs to keep that stock price artificially inflated and the recklessness of the Bush Administration there will be many families losing their home in 2007. Some made bad buying decisions, many out of ignorance – but making a mistake in America today can mean families on the street without anyone there to lend a helping hand.

Just like the American farmer in the 1980's.

So if you own a copy of "Scarecrow" take it out and give it another listen. If you don't, put it on your holiday wish list, or just go to Amazon and buy a copy. If you like rock that resonates and conveys true artistic integrity this is a must-have for your collection. Let yourself hear its mournful recognition of a dark and terrible time in America, then keep it around as we enter 2007. You're gonna need it.

2006-11-25T15:33:00.000-08:00

The NIH re-writes AIDS history:

Here's the white-wash website: NIH Re-Write of AIDS History.

"Dr. Anthony S. Fauci of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases recalls, it “was like living in an intensive care unit all day long.” The patients were very sick, and despite the best efforts of NIH’s dedicated doctors and nurses, most patients eventually died."

First: Tony Fauci is a research scientist, (and an asshole,) not a clinician. The idea of Fauci spending any amount of time with an AIDS patient is a joke, unless the patient might win him an award. Until Robert Gallo started looking at AIDS Tony Fauci didn't give us the time of day. Fauci doesn't see patients, and no patient with an ounce of self-respect would spend any time or energy on this arrogant prick.

This is a real insult to the AIDS researchers like Dr. David Ho, (inventor of the Protease Inhibitor.) But as Randy Shilts pointed out in; "And The Band Played On," his book on the early days of the epidemic – guys like Fauci and Gallo didn't take any interest in fags dying until the French started stealing their thunder. Both Fauci and Gallo were focused on Cancer and were the last horses to cross the finish line.

But let's go back to this "new" history of the AIDS Pandemic:

"By the fall of 1984, not only had a retrovirus been identified as the cause of AIDS, it also had been shown to have properties that would make it very difficult, if not impossible, to make a conventional vaccine against AIDS. As reports of AIDS also arrived from other parts of the world—Africa, Haiti, Europe, and Asia— Dr. Thomas C. Quinn of NIAID and others visited these areas and began conducting research. They returned to the United States sounding warning bells of what the epidemic could become.."

They were warning us about Africa by 1984? Could you show me where that was published? Exactly where did NIAID publish this clarion call?

Yeah. Good luck finding that. In 1984 Ronald Reagan was trying to keep all federal health agencies from looking at the epidemic through threats and cuts in funding. The real heroes at the CDC were denied plane fare to San Francisco to study this new disease, and many were threatened with termination if they did anything to call the public's attention to the epidemic. Reagan didn't want the public caring about a bunch of godless faggots dying in horrible ways.

This is just one of the frustrating things about the recent canonization of Ronald Reagan, as if he were some sort of American political saint. Reagan let people die and he let the epidemic spin out of control because he was a mean old bastard with an agenda that did not include the poor, the weak, or the dying. Ronald Reagan single-handedly caused the deaths of thousands of Americans and millions of people in Sub-Saharan Africa – because he let the AIDS epidemic become a world-wide Pandemic unchecked.

Back to the Disney, I mean, NIH version of the AIDS epidemic:

"When Dr. Anthony S. Fauci became NIAID director in 1984, he came to the job with a strong personal involvement and interest in AIDS research. In addition to maintaining his own research laboratory and clinical duties devoted to AIDS, he established a special AIDS division within the Institute. NIAID staff oversaw the allocation of most AIDS grants, conducted outreach activities with community groups concerned about AIDS, started long-term studies of people with AIDS, collaborated with the National Cancer Institute to set up a drug discovery process for AIDS drugs, and inaugurated nationwide networks of clinical trial sites to test the most promising drugs and vaccines.."

What planet was this? Tony Fauci "conducted outreach activities with community groups concerned about AIDS"(?) What total and complete bullshit! Tony Fauci never worked with "community groups" unless they had research dollars for him or it was a chance for some favorable press, and I doubt it happened even then.

Tony Fauci is not a "community groups" kind of guy.

This white-wash of the terrible early days of the epidemic is an insult to every ACT-UP member, every American who died because of the apathy from guys like Fauci, Gallo and Reagan, and every AIDS patient who has been forced to fight for decent medical care and access to the drugs that keep them alive.

It's also an insult to the families who watched their sons and daughters die in terrible ways while Washington fiddled. Don't let them get away with it! I urge you to send email to this insult of a web site stating your disgust at this outrageous re-write of history. The email for these liars is: history@nih.gov

Footnote:

I fear these "re-writes" of recent history, designed to make shameful men look like valiant warriors, will be popping up more and more often over the next few years. If we let these go unchallenged we do a disservice to those who suffered under the policies they are trying to sugar-coat, and to future generations who might end up learning a version of history that might as well be written by Hobbits.

We've seen this already with the White Supremacists denial of the Holocaust, and the Russian denial of Stalin's crimes against humanity. For the sake of truth, for the sake of justice, for the sake of honoring the victims – we must fight these raciest and elitist actions, lest their lies be spread like a virus that will end up doing more harm than AIDS ever could.

Don't let them get away with it!

2006-11-16T17:41:00.000-08:00

Do not vote for me:

"Because you cannot walk with the holy, if you're just a halfway decent man.."

(Paul Simon – the song "Wartime Prayers" from the album "Surprise.")

The germ of this essay came to mind from a reply to another post, in which I was expressing my disgust with John McCain for not standing up for victims of torture by the Bush Administration. If McCain were truly a victim of torture in Vietnam, (which I'm beginning to doubt,) I could not see how he could ever stand silent in the torture of others. A true victim of torture would always stand up against that abuse given the opportunity.

Of course I've never believed the "maverick" bullshit people claim about McCain. He's just another full-of-shit, right-wing politician.

But as my friend Ellie so astutely pointed out, McCain is just the latest politician to sell out his values because he thinks he's going to be the next President of the United States. I believe this is a pipe dream because the next President will not be a Republican. George W. Bush made sure of that.

"Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

So in the unlikely event I ever run for a political office I urge you: Do not vote for me.

Because I know I would be totally corrupted by power. Much as I wish I could say so, I am not a man capable of staying above such corruption. I know I'd become addicted to such power, that I would abuse it, and that I might well lie, cheat, steal and even kill to keep that power. I'm already arrogant and egoistic, and power would simply spike those two character defects.

My friend and mentor, the late Jeff Getty, once told me to not take anything from drug companies in my role as an activist. Not even a pen. Sadly, I could not fully follow his instructions. I never took money from the drug companies or compromised my principles when writing about them, but I did take a pen or two and a couple of the binders they handed out at conferences. This free stationary never corrupted me or caused me to lose my objectivity as an activist.

But what if the drug company came to me and said; "We'd like to have you on our community advisory board, Mr. Alden, and we'd like to fly you and a friend to Hawaii for our conference on our new Protease Inhibitor." Would I be able to refuse their offer or would I go out and start buying new swimwear and sun-block?

I honestly don't know the answer to that question. I would like to think I would politely refuse their offer and keep my integrity, but I cannot honestly say I would do so.

I know I'm a weak man when it comes to the trappings of power. I know I would be absolutely corrupted by it. So don't ever vote for me. I can point you to a couple of men who I think would make excellent leaders. I would volunteer for them and I would vote for them.

Then I would stand back and pray to the universe they are better men than I.

2006-11-14T22:55:00.000-08:00

What we want in Iraq:

There's no doubt that we want American troops out of Iraq, and the Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld vision of permanent military bases in that country to control the flow of oil, (not increase the flow of oil - control the flow,) is more or less dead.

It's also clear this same cabal wanted to invade Iran and basically take control of both countries, and that won't happen either.

But the Bush Administration created a mess and we have to clean up that mess before we can leave Iraq. (This is just one of the messes the administration has left for us.)

An overwhelming number of Americans want us out of Iraq, but to leave the country without having it descend into chaos (or greater chaos than at present) will require an overwhelming number of troops to stabilize and safeguard the country before we can leave.

This means we're going to need more troops in Iraq right now and for the immediate future. As someone who opposed this war before Bush started it I do not like stating this, but what I want and reality are often not the same thing. I want a promise from our government we won't become a permanent fixture in Iraq, and I think that's what most Americans want. But after securing that promise, we will have to bring in more troops in the short-term to clean up George's and Dick's and Donnie's mess.

The other thing we have to do is sit down with our enemies. This means talking with representatives from the insurgency, representatives from Iran and Syria, and all the major players within the country.

Remember there was a time when the British government said they would never negotiate with the IRA, (whom they called "terrorists.") But eventually they were forced to sit down with the IRA to bring about a permanent peace in Northern Ireland.

Keep in mind also that one man's "terrorist" is another man's "freedom fighter."

More troops. Talk with our enemies. Give up the idea of controlling Iraq's oil.

And could I have fries with that?

These are not solutions the Bush Administration wishes to look at, nor do the British and American oil companies, nor do the "neocons" in the Pentagon – but the latest protest vote from the American people have made clear that we don't share their desires. These are very powerful groups who are caught up in the arrogance and blindness of power. They will not give up what they want easily.

We have to take it from them by force.

The latest vote was part of that force. Americans showed these powerful interests that, contrary to their beliefs, they do not own this country. Another protest vote in 2008 that takes more "Republican" seats away and returns the presidency to "Democratic" control will be another necessary show of this force, because the men who did not get voted out this time will block us from achieving this goal.

The Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld cabal and their ilk will stand in the way come January. They will block reform and try to blame their greed and avarice on these new leaders. We will see this for what it is, and it will piss us off and drive another protest vote in 2008.

But long before 2008 we will need those additional troops in Iraq. This will look counter to what we want unless we make up these additional troops from outside American and British control. The logical next step is to bring in a U.N. force made up of many countries, but the U.N. is not going to play lap-dog to American and British oil interests. Unless they share in the command and decision-making process they will not help.

This will also be unacceptable to the current power elite, and they will fight such a move. The same will happen over the idea of bringing in Syrian and Iranian troops also. The two next most logical moves will be blocked by the remnants of the power elite.

So be prepared for more bickering. Be prepared for another protest vote to more completely "clean house." And while we fight about all this, be prepared for more death and chaos in Iraq.

My main worry? That Iraq will spin hopelessly out of control while we are bickering. If this happens we will have another Vietnam on our hands, and our only option will be to get our people out of harm's way and watch Iraq become even more hellish than it is now.

In the meantime I believe we need to hold George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld accountable for creating this mess. After we remove the so-called "detainee act" and restore our Constitution, our Bill Of Rights and our commitment to the Geneva Convention, we must put these men on trial and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law. We must do this for justice, and as an object lesson to the next man who thinks he can trample our political and social values in pursuit of his greed.

Of course, I also want to see these men pay for their crimes.

But that's the subject of another post.

2006-11-08T18:51:00.000-08:00

What we are not learning:

The Foley scandal and the latest embarrassment to evangelical Christians based upon the revelation (no pun intended) their lead pastor has been using drugs and having sex with another man are merely indications we are not being honest with ourselves as a society.

I once commented to an employee the first album by "Enigma" was great music to make love by, to which she indignantly replied she was a chaste Christian and a virgin. Three months later this sixteen-year-old girl was very sexually active and not shy about her relationship.

What do these events show us? That we are surrounded by "temptation" and must always be on guard? That sex is a danger to our sense of virtue?

The obvious answer is that our perception of sex and morality is distorted, that we are sexually "dysfunctional," (though I loathe that term.)

We are not sexually "dysfunctional." Our perception of sex and sexuality is fucked up. We are juvenile, prurient and sophomoric when it comes to sex. Kinsey tried to teach us, but we decided to act like the puritans that founded this country instead of abandoning our infantile views of sex and sexuality.

We lie about sex and sexuality, even to ourselves. We are filled with self-hatred and self-loathing about our sexuality. Instead of telling our parents and grandparents the truth – that their world is not ours – we lie to them and to ourselves. We persecute each other when their sexual values do not match ours. We pretend our world is one that never really existed, some twisted vision we invented on 50s television.

The truth is a hundred years ago children got married and had children of their own and it was considered normal. Today we try and oppress teen sexuality, and when a child gets pregnant we pretend it's a horrific mistake. I'm not saying teen pregnancy is a good thing. It's wonderful our life expectancy has increased to the extent we can wait until after we graduate college to start a family.

When the AIDS epidemic started there was a French physician watching his friend and colleague die, a woman who had been treating patients in Africa in resource-poor settings. She often had her bare hands in open chest wounds because they ran out of gloves. When this man looked to America to see what our research was doing he saw only our preoccupation with gay sex. He knew his doctor friend was not gay nor was she having sex with gay men while treating poor people in a village in Africa.

"What is with the American's preoccupation with sex?" this frustrated physician asked himself.

We let an epidemic spin out of control because we did not want to accept the facts of, not only our sexuality, but our terror of disease. (There are many things we are childish about – sex and illness are but two of them.) Instead we let a geriatric President steeped in anger and bigotry determine the growth of an epidemic.

Our view of ourselves as sexual beings is not steeped in reality. Why do over 50% of marriages break up? Could it be that, when one person in the relationship stops wanting sex, our Fears force the other person into a celibacy they neither want nor desire? We do this without even saying a word. Time for the F-word again. (Fear.) We Fear our partner may find someone he prefers to us simply because he or she has sex with this third person. How insecure is that?

But we never talk about it because that would force us to be honest and adult about sex, sexuality and Fear. Instead we let people whose sexuality is more suited to the Middle Ages determine the course of our country. Most of us don't agree with these people, but we also failed to take them seriously when they started taking over school boards, and look at the damage they have done in just 26 years! We got lazy and complacent because even those who consider themselves "progressive" want to hang on to their juvenile views about sex, sexuality and relationships.

We may work harder than nearly any other society, but we are incredibly lazy when it comes to dealing with sex and feelings. Why? Time to look at the F-word again. Or maybe we don’t want to assume emotional responsibility for our sex and sexuality. Be it Fear or laziness, we have neglected a very important aspect of our health, our emotional health. Instead we have suppressed it to the point where it's starting to kill us.

Am I being over-dramatic to say our stunted emotional growth is endangering our physical health and sanity? I wish I were. There are three aspects to health – the physical, the emotional and the spiritual.

Before we get hung up here I want to clarify by saying the human spirit is not necessarily intertwined with any form of religion. Your spirit has nothing to do with your belief or disbelief in some form of god or gods. If you don't know the difference I strongly suggest you do a little homework, because defining the human spirit is a topic that could take an entire essay of its own.

But the health of our emotions and spirits require understanding, education and honesty – with ourselves and our doctors. On the flip side, doctors are learning that ignoring their patients emotional and spiritual needs is bad medical practice – but give them some time. It's not easy for arrogant scientists to get in touch with their human side.

We all have Fears we don’t even know we have because we don't fully understand our sexuality. (We likely have Fears that are based in emotional and spiritual ignorance as well.) In short, most of us need to grow up.

Here's one – Being gay or lesbian does NOT automatically make us sexually progressive. It makes us non-mainstream, but does not make us sexually, emotionally and spiritually progressive. Time for us to stop pretending we're somehow above the heterosexuals solely by virtue of our sexuality.

Focus on the words; "some," "solely," and "most." But if everyone who reads this lies to themselves by telling themselves; "I'm emotionally and sexually mature;" we continue the denial that has let these religious extremists nearly take over our country. To paraphrase; "We are not all that and a bag of potato chips." Most of us are back in the high-school locker room.

If my prognosis offends you, too bad. In fact, if it really does, that might be a sign for you to take a look at your sexual, emotional and spiritual maturity.

Or you could just say; "that Phillip Alden is an arrogant asshole," and switch to the next blog entry. I may indeed be an arrogant asshole, but I have a valid point.

Another aspect of our unhealthy relationship with sex and sexuality is poor body image. This causes all kinds of physical health problems like eating disorders, as well as a number of emotional problems. Most of us have a terrible relationship with our bodies and we pay a huge price for that. Quite literally, poor body image kills us.

It's time to be honest with ourselves and others about our feelings, including our feelings around sex, because there are few things as steeped in emotion as sex/sexuality. That calls for introspection and focused thought. What makes us happy and unhappy? (Not what others may or may not do to cause our happiness/unhappiness.) What are our personal sexual needs and desires? What are we afraid of?

That last question is one that should be given a good deal of time and attention. Only by really determining what we are truly afraid of can we begin to feel strong enough to talk about who we really are and what we really want. Fear is the enemy. Fear is always the enemy, (on one level or another.) Fear sometimes drives us without our really seeing it, without effectively recognizing it and subsequently effectively resolving it.

Once we get past the Fear that allows us to say; "I think I might like having sex with (x); I think I might enjoy being tied up, or having sex in the woods, (watch out for that Poison Oak.) Or more serious admissions like; "I think my sex drive might be different from my partner and I want to address that in a constructive and thoughtful manner."

There are many wonderful books on emotional communication. (I'm reading a couple right now.) Kinsey, and "Masters and Johnson" are great sources on sexual understanding and growth.

But careful thought and honest self-evaluation are necessary, and should become regular behavior patterns. (Take it from a guy who has failed to do so on many occasions.)

I'm not saying this stuff because I'm an expert on human feelings and sexuality, or because I've had some great revelation I feel compelled to share. I'm saying this because I've been taught a lot of great stuff from some very intelligent people. I've been lucky to have friends and partners who have helped me grow as a person. I've had great doctors, who took the time to address my emotional health and spiritual health and give me some really good guidance.

And lastly I'm stating all this because I'm tired of watching "sexual scandals" that are the result of retarded societal views on human sexuality. How many more Foley(s) and Haggard(s) do we have to watch implode before we stop this twisted charade that is harming all of us?

Phillip Alden

November 2006

San Francisco, CA

2006-11-08T16:36:00.000-08:00

Hard not to be happy:

As the title implies, I'm pleased with the outcome of yesterday's mid-term elections. When you combine those results with the resignation of Donald Rumsfeld as Secretary of Defense it's hard not to be happy today.

But while it's a clear victory for those who love this country and value the principles upon which it was founded, it's just a start. The Democrats have a lot of work in front of them to start repairing the damage done by 26 years of "Republican" rule, and 6 years of the Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld cabal. One of the nicest things is that we can stop using the name Rumsfeld at least until the investigations and hearings start.

Because that's the first thing that needs to be restored – oversight and formal investigations into the shenanigans of the past 6 years. There's no doubt that many laws have been broken and much harm done. The fact that the Bush Administration kidnapped people off the streets and tortured them, some of them to death – must be addressed and thoroughly investigated. (And I'm not talking about streets in Iraq and Afghanistan, though there are examples there. I'm talking about streets in places like Sydney, Australia and New York City.)

Laws were broken and human rights were violated, and the people who issued those orders need to be tried, and if found guilty, sent to prison for a very long time – even if those people were George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld. The people who carried out those orders also need to face the same justice even if they are American military personnel, and especially if they were American contractors. "I was only following orders" didn't work at Nuremberg and it shouldn't work here. If soldiers had done their duty and refused to follow an illegal order this stuff might have come out much sooner.

Next up Halliburton and KBR, along with other companies who have engaged in all manner of illegal activity. It's time to hold them accountable, and get back the billions of taxpayer dollars they stole through shady contracts.

Our new speaker-elect has stated there will be oversight and investigations where people will testify under oath and I love her for that, (among other things.) In addition, the lobbying investigations need to continue. I don't care if the guilty are "Democrats" or "Republicans." (Though I suspect the majority are "Republicans.")

And if you're wondering why I'm putting the words "Democrat" and "Republican" in quotes – it's because many politicians who have labeled themselves as such have done little to live up to the name.

The investigations over the next two years, along with all the other stuff that's been kept from the American people, will shake the political foundations of our country even further. What we will learn in the coming months will shock us, anger us, and hopefully makes us realize our responsibility as citizens to watch over our government – a responsibility we have not been taking seriously enough. A functioning Democracy depends upon the involvement of the governed.

I'm happy to see us starting to realize that responsibility. In two years we will go to the polls again, driven by similar circumstances but on a much larger scale.

There are a lot of people in Washington and in corporate boardrooms who are likely very nervous right now. They've known all along they were breaking laws and subverting our Constitution and Bill Of Rights and they fear answering for their crimes. They have good reason to fear. I suspect that, like Jack Abramoff himself, they will be eager to cut deals to reduce their prison time. I hope so, as it will make things easier and cause more truth to be revealed.

Our regulatory agencies also need to get back to work. People who trade oil futures, Wal-Mart, Halliburton, Bechtel International and Lockheed Martin are my primary targets for investigation – but there is a very long list.

What's really important here is the "Neocons" are done, (thank the universe!) I also suspect the Radical Christian Right will lose power and influence as things progress. Bush and his agenda to take this country back in time is through. The last vestiges of 19th and 20th century thinking are falling away. Even the most rabid RCR zealot will come to realize you cannot take a country backward. It's been tried many times before and it's failed every single time. The clock does not move backward.

So celebrate today and be happy. I'm planning on opening a mini-bottle of Champagne in recognition of a great win for democracy and freedom. Gloat if you want to. We have waited 26 miserable years for this day, the start of a new world view. Rummy and Wolfowitz and Addington and Cheney are done! George W. Bush and his enablers are done! The light of day is once again starting to shine upon America.

Tomorrow we need to start writing letters demanding the initiation of investigations and hearings into everything from Iraq to Katrina to 9-11. (Posted letters are much more effective than phone calls or email.) But if you cannot type, print, sign and mail a letter or two – call your representative and demand investigations into these things.

You all did a wonderful thing yesterday and you should be proud. Don't let it stop there. And in two years I hope you will go to the polls again and assure the positive change we're seeing today continues. We will have our country back as long as we continue to do the right thing.

Today I am once again proud to call myself an American. You should be too. Good work!

2006-10-29T21:21:00.000-08:00

The end of darkness:

More accurately, it's the end of the current darkness. You have to realize what we're witnessing people, is the end of the Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld cabal, the end of the Republican party, (as it stands today,) and the end of the Radical Religious Right.

It matters little if the Democrats take control of one or both houses in Washington, D.C. in the next election cycle. It will be good if it happens because it means the investigations begin sooner, the real ugliness of the past six years comes to light sooner, and we can start to clean up the mess sooner. Even if they don't it will not change; Iraq, Iran, North Korea, Afghanistan, the American economy, massive corporate lay-offs, the fall of the housing market, the probable fall of the stock markets. We already see how angry the men in power become when things don't go their way. As things get worse they will get worse and everyone will see what monsters they are. This is all going to happen regardless of what you and I say or do. Nothing will change the way things are going to fall apart for the Bush Administration, Wal-Mart, and the rest of corporate America – because they have to. Lao Tzu writes in the Tao their way is a death trip and totally unsustainable. It's bound to crumble and fall.

What is important to keep in mind is this current cycle of darkness actually started twenty-six (26) years ago with the election of Ronald Reagan. Corporate media takeover and deregulation were catalysts for what Cheney and Rumsfeld have wrought. They've been around since the end of Vietnam and they see the world only one way. They don't wish to lose control and hand over power to the next generation, and they are dragging everyone in the world down with them. We all suffer from their avarice.

But we have to look backward even farther. Take off the rose-colored glasses when it comes to every single war in the 20th century, and likely every war in the 19th and 18th centuries. We have to examine our history to keep from making the same mistakes again. Many smarter and better men than I have stated this. Throughout history great men have told us to learn from history or be victimized by repeating our mistakes.

The people in power have made that fatal flaw. They have failed to learn from history and now they are learning just how wrong they were.

So be happy. Vote for a Democrat at the federal level. When the truth does come out they will not look much different from the people we currently call "Republicans." We all know they are neither – at least not in the historical sense of the world. The religious fanatics see the chaos but they interpret it as the "end of days." This is not the final chapter of the bible. It's ego and arrogance on their part to think they are that important, they are the inheritors of the kingdom of their god. It's like everyone who believes in reincarnation thinks they were Mozart. Everyone wants to think they're special.

I'm madly in love with one of those people who truly are special, who truly are great. Nearly all of us are just normal people, though slightly ahead of the curve by virtue of circumstance. I'm highly intelligent but I am not a genius. Most of my friends are smarter than I, but they are not special, (except to me.) We know the truly special people when we see them. I don't say this to flatter my partner, it's just the way things are.

But we are all good people. We are all smart and loyal and loving and gifted. In Texas they have many sayings, one of which is; "Water finds its own level." Usually this term is used when two people do something naughty – guilt by association. But the saying goes both ways. Moral people befriend moral people. Nice people fall in love with nice people. Honest men make life-long friendships with other honest men.

But if I were given license to judge humanity, and believe me no such license exists, the one judgment I might cite is we are arrogant and egoistic. I believe it is the human condition. It does not make us bad people or lower us in any manner.

The only reason I say this is so we can understand what drives the men in power, the men who screwed up. "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely." The truth is power is stronger than crack cocaine. Power is nearly stronger than love. I thank the universe that love is greater than power or we'd be dead by now. Any one of us who has gotten a little power understands this. We know the feeling. To the men who are currently in power their lives are like a constant orgasm. They have been given an overdose of power.

There are lessons to be learned from every war, every attack like 9-11, every suicide bomber – but we consistently learn the wrong lessons. We don't like to be scared or vulnerable so we look for the easiest answer, or the quickest person to give us the answer we seek – then we give that person (or people) too much power and attention. There was no reason for George W. Bush's standing in the polls to go from twenty percent (20%) on September 10 in 2001 to eighty percent (80%) a mere thirty days after. In fact, there was every reason for there to be a crisis of leadership. 9-11 should have made us recoil from the Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld cabal.

And here's the other part of the lesson: The media has as much responsibility for everything as they do. Unless we understand this we are going to have a much more difficult time figuring out the truth over the next few years. Our dependence on TV and the major daily newspapers and the major news magazines let those men lead us down this path. We were watching "Survivor" when we should have been turning the TV off. We were warned about this and we didn't listen because we wanted our "bread and circuses." We let men like Rupert Murdoch come into our country (he's Australian) and dominate our mass media, let him feed us this crap. And he's still at it, (as are his cronies,) as evidenced by his purchase of MySpace.

So celebrate a little while you observe the fall of the current darkness. Soon there will be a lot of work for all of us. There will be no disabled, no idle citizen. Soon we will be horrified by what will be revealed. Soon we will be heart-broken at the untold suffering these evil men have caused. Soon we will know what our arrogance and ego have cost us. Soon we will mourn.

But even as we view the horror and destruction we all had a hand in bringing about, it will be the beginning of a whole new cycle. A cycle of Light. As life has always been, there will be destruction and creation, death and life, decay and growth.

My father was an aerospace engineer for a defense contractor during the Cold War. He was a good man; a Democrat, a Catholic, a Father and Grandfather. He tried to make the world a better place. But he also crafted instruments of military destruction. His life, like so many others, was a dichotomy, a mass of contradictions. He was good at designing electrical systems for advanced aircraft and he had a wife and six children to feed. I admire and love my father, but his work likely killed many people.

It's not as simple as we would like it to be. I truly wish it were. I've been watching for four decades now. I've seen the cycle, was taught its history as a child. I'm intelligent and aware and caring, but I don't know shit. The older I get the more I understand the less I truly know. They say that understanding how little we truly understand is the beginning of wisdom. I sincerely hope this is true.

I'm not the guy to listen to. I don't have any solutions to the toughest problems we are about to face. We all need to pay attention to the brilliant, the special, the enlightened. We also need to pay attention to each other, to those who have no voice. We need to stop trusting the mass media to inform us and entertain us. It's time for evolution and higher thought, not Bill O'Reilly and Tom Cruise.

I have hope today. I have faith today. I can see the end of the darkness. So can you if you really focus. The nightmare is over for us, and soon it will be over for everyone. You know the truth as well as I, probably more so. If we hang on our world will stop its descent into darkness. Soon all the lies and corruption will be exposed. It's over for them.

But they are still very dangerous men, like a wounded bear. They can do a lot more damage before they go. That is our current caution. While we celebrate our victory, earned from twenty-six years of corporate misery, we have to watch these guys as they fall and do our best to make sure they hurt the least amount of people when they hit the ground. The Democratic party taking back the majority in one or both houses would be a good start and a bulwark against how much further damage these guys can do. Men with nothing to lose are very dangerous men indeed. But we know that won't be enough. We know the next President will not be a "Republican," but that doesn't mean much.

There truly is a "culture of corruption" in politics and business today and it's hurting all of us. Most of those in the current power structure are already bought and paid for – Republicans and Democrats alike. All you have to do is look at the pharmaceutical industry – who give equal amounts of money to both sides of the aisle – insuring favor no matter who is in power. We need to clean house and start regulating industry again. Starting and/or furthering anti-trust and RICO investigations of Wal-Mart would be a good start. Our regulatory agencies have been polluted since 1980 when Reagan took power and deregulated so many key industries. We need to re-examine the history and nature of corporate charters. We need to wake a sleeping SEC immediately.

The trading of "futures" adds $20 to the price of every barrel of oil. People betting on potential wins and losses for the oil industry raise the price of oil for everyone in the world. They have no right to do that. We need to restore and strengthen our regulatory laws to make practices like this illegal.

Merely voting in some Democrats is not enough. We all know this. As I said, it's not going to be simple or easy. We need to look at people who don't seek power and money over human rights and dignity, then we need to watch them like hawks. We have to change our system to an open form of government with laser-like oversight of politics and industry.

Everyone knows we have the right to medical care. People are finally starting to demand it. Once we rid ourselves of the so-called "managed care industry," which takes billions of dollars from our medical system and gives nothing back in return except complex rules and yards of red tape that keeps doctors from patients. Doctors hate them and patients hate them. Thousands, maybe millions of people will lose their jobs – but they're jobs they don't deserve to have. They are no different than the people trading on oil futures. They know and we know it.

Thousands of people are laid-off purely for the amusement of a few stock-holders who benefit from the short-term boost in the company's stock price. We know this is true and we know this is wrong. It's long past time to restore and strengthen worker's rights. Then we need to address the poor, the disabled, (who are often the same,) and the homeless. We need to address all those who are emotionally and mentally ill who are not being treated. This isn't socialism or communism – it's human compassion. Our country was founded on principles we are not living up to. They were the vision of men who, just for a short time, stopped thinking about themselves and started thinking about all their fellow countrymen.

We are still the wealthiest and most powerful nation on the planet. We will probably lose that position to China or Russia in the near future. We will still be feeding the world. My home state (California) has the sixth-largest economy in the world. It could be its own country and it would be very wealthy and powerful. My state is a powerful member of a very fortunate group that comprises one of the greatest nations on earth.

People looked up to us before and they will again. It will take time, behavior, and the rebuilding of trust and goodwill we have squandered. We have to fix things in the right manner and with the right motivation. We have to end the Fear and Hate that is currently destroying us. Like the behavior of the men currently in power – such a condition is unsustainable. Humans cannot survive in an atmosphere of Fear and Hate. It will kill us.

We still invent the most amazing things. We still produce great art; literature and music that still inspires others. Buy my book when it comes out, then buy another book. Go see a play, or better yet be in one. Or run the lights or sound. Take an art class. Write your own book. Support the arts in ways that may finally do it justice.

There exists a not-for-profit drug company. Imagine that.

Because oversight and balance, art, medicine for those who can least afford it – are the things that will bring us into the Light and save us. We've tried the corporate view and found it lacks compassion and dignity for everyone. Time to try something new. Humanity is not something to be afforded. Compassion should not have a cost. Dignity should never be merely a privilege. Our country was founded on these things and we became the most powerful and admired nation in less than 200 years. These are our strengths.

To earn the forgiveness of all the people we have harmed, we must first clean our own house. This is a concept as old as spiritual thought. We become an example and then a practitioner. It's time to enter the 21st century with a strong foundation for the generations to follow us. It is time for our country to grow up. We are a nation of leaders and inventors. It is time for us to lead and inspire again.

So celebrate the end of the current darkness, and look towards making the Light of the future as bright and strong as possible. We may never rest as long as we draw breath. Maybe that's part of what it means to be an American. But we can finally see the end of the nightmare that has plagued us. Let us make sure it can never, ever happen again.

Phillip T. Alden
October 2006
San Francisco, CA

2006-10-18T23:22:00.000-07:00

Fed-Up With Republicans?

I went hiking with my best friend on Monday. We grew up around the corner from each other, but although my parents were life-long Democrats his were life-long Republicans, even though my friend did not share his parent's political beliefs. My friend told me his father was "fed-up" with Bush and the Republicans over Social Security and Iraq.

We're talking about a man who voted Republican all his life – until now. After venting he started listening to his son, and by the time my friend was through he said; "That settles it. I'm voting Democratic in November." My friend says this means he's not going to vote for ANY Republican on the ticket.

NPR has been running many stories about the national political races, and they keep interviewing people who are so angry with Bush and the Republicans they are either changing their vote or withholding it from Republican candidates. The poll numbers keep getting worse and I've heard some Republicans have simply given up on some races.

Add the disaster that is Iraq, the Foley scandal, the lobbying scandal, and concern over the so-called "Detainee Act" – and you have a country finally opening its eyes. All the bad stuff done under Bush is coming back to haunt them, (and us,) and the anemic press can no longer simply be stenographers for the Bush Administration. Mr. And Mrs. Main Street are finally starting to hear about the innocent people that our military and KBR tortured to death, and (rightly so) they're beginning to say; "Hey! That's not the American way!"

Those of us who have been watching this stuff for the past six years are finally starting to breathe a sigh of relief – grateful our fellow Americans are finally waking up. We hesitate to tell them everything for fear of overwhelming the poor dears, even though the frustrated part of us wants to slam them with the dozens of dirty deeds done by Cheney and Rummy in Bush's name.

I want to tell them to go back 26 years and stop looking at Ronald Reagan with rose-colored glasses, but I know not to expect too much at once. It will be hard enough on them finding out all the stuff done in their names (with their votes) within the past six years.

But I feel like I'm starting to see light at the end of this dark tunnel we've been in for the past six years. I'm actually feeling hopeful. I'm even imagining Bush Administration members in orange jump suits. What is the penalty for attempting to undermine our Constitution? Does that fall under the definition of Treason? They shoot people for that, don't they?

Dream big they always say.

But I have some hope today that I did not have before.

2006-10-03T18:48:00.000-07:00

Journalism Worth Supporting:

Lately I've been paying less attention to the mainstream media and its usual thin slices of corporate-based "reality" in favor of the alternative press. Aside from some excellent bloggers like Digby, (Hullabaloo,) and The Infamous Brad (Hicks,) or the ever erudite Billmon - all of whom deserve your readership and your support; I recommend supporting the following:

AlterNet is a wonderful collection of the "best of the alternative press," and both deserves and needs your financial support. It should go without saying I recommend reading it as well.

Project Censored is another good organization that reports on the most important stories the corporate mass media failed to print; like the number of people who died in American custody, people we tortured to death under the auspices of the Bush Administration.

Without these organizations there's a good chance the American people would not hear about vital stories, like the organ damage caused by eating genetically-modified foods. Project Censored vetted all their stories through scientific sources, (meaning respected professors at top-flight universities and/or government scientists.)

Honorable mention goes to The Christian Science Monitor.

2006-09-18T13:12:00.000-07:00

Courage through the Darkness:

Those four words in the title come much easier to the page than they do to the heart. I understand it and fully realize how important it is to remain steadfast through this dark and difficult time, but that does not mean it comes into the fiber of my being with ease.

We have been made to feel afraid intentionally; afraid for our jobs, afraid for our health care, afraid for our safety, afraid for our children. Our media has filled the airwaves and print with scary stories about enemies behind every tree, waiting to victimize us or our children the moment we let our guard down. Like a rabid animal, our media has turned on the people. As in Germany in the 1930's, our media has become the tool of the corporations and a government bent on destruction and world domination. (There were many economic factors driving WWII.)

The very people who should be working to make us feel better are working to make us feel worse; more angry, more afraid, more controllable.

Courage does not come easily to me. It never has. So I need to take the news in small doses, sometimes filtered by my friends through their blogs or by the alternative media in analysis, as long as I'm not subjecting myself to the daily stream of verbal violence that passes itself off as news. I don't respond well to verbal violence, but then, I'm not sure anyone does. It helps a little to use the web because I can decide if the headline is something I wish to read, but it's a poor excuse for a media filter. In many ways it's the opposite. Reading and listening to news that originates outside this country can be an improvement, depending upon the country.

I need support to stay in balance, and I get in trouble when I abandon those tools and let myself get caught up in the daily stream of insanity. Eventually I have to go back and pick those tools up once again, kicking myself for putting them down – again. But when I take those tools in hand and use them I come back into balance, I can focus on what is important. I remember what I'm supposed to do and where I need to effectively place my energy.

I feel there are many positive priorities for progressive people in America, people who see above the partisanship, the bickering and the fear-mongering. Many people in the Live Journal community and some other very talented bloggers are writing about them now, and I'll keep throwing in my two cents. (Would you expect anything else?)

One is starting a new conversation about how we feel and what our perception is around things like world peace and security, the economy, health care, the environment, politics, justice, space exploration, human relationships, technology, race. We need to start these conversations from a quiet, reasonable and open-minded place – start by listening to the other person, then asking questions to clarify how they feel and what they see.

I've seen people who can be soft-spoken regardless of the circumstances. I've always admired them. A person could scream at them and they would never raise their voice, never lose their temper. It's an amazing ability and it's needed now more than ever.

We need to start discussions on that footing, with a strong emphasis on keeping the conversation civil and hearing all viewpoints present. If we can do that we can really get a sense of where change is needed most and the most effective way to bring about said change. Listen to people's concerns and desires, find out what they think, and as important, why they think that way. We need to go beyond the sound-bite, to really hear.

Because people want to be heard. They always have. And times seemed better when we were listening, when we engaged in civil discourse. And sometimes, after they vent their spleen, we get to the real conversation, the one we wanted to have in the first place. Once they've been heard they become ready to listen in return.

Is this easy? Not by a long shot. But it is necessary. If we don't dismiss and/or discount them they cannot do the same to us, and if they refuse to engage beyond hostile rhetoric we can honestly say we tried and return to the group of rational people we have brought together. After a while that group becomes the tipping point, then a majority.

When Abbott Labs raised the price of an anti-AIDS drug by 400%, the activist group I belonged to at the time got doctors to sign on to a letter denouncing the price increase, and started a boycott of all Abbott products. The doctors agreed to not see Abbott drug reps when they came to their offices. When those reps had to go back to the corporate offices and tell their bosses the doctors would not see them, the price gouging stopped.

It started at the 2004 Retrovirus Conference and within two weeks over 400 doctors had signed on. Within a month it became 1000 doctors as they spread the word through their peer networks. It was amazing. Because a few smart people presented a rational and well thought-out argument, and had a simple and effective plan, the boycott grew so fast it caused an implosion inside one of America's largest and most powerful companies.

I watched this event take place first-hand, and the doctors were not impressed by the impassioned pleas of the patients being affected by the hike. They were impressed by the activists with their well-thought out and well-reasoned proposition. Logic and reason carried the day. And this was in 2004, not 1974. Fourteen years after Reagan soured public discourse they overcame those obstacles like an Olympic sprinter over the posts on the track.

There was another time the drug companies issued a thinly-veiled threat they would just stop making the drugs. In answer we said; "Fine with us! The universities and non-profit foundations will do the lion's share of the cutting edge research and we'll just start non-profit companies to produce the medications Americans need. And with all the money we've saved from not paying out fat checks to shareholders and executives we'll accelerate drug development and offer medications at a price everyone can afford."

They backed down so quickly it was almost laughable. The lack of rancor and positive focus on solutions overcame problems that might never have been solved through conflict. We also taught guys who thought they had all the power that, in truth, they didn't have the power at all. We had the power.

Because we do. The reason they keep us afraid is because they fear us. They know we have the power anytime we wish to take it. We've done it many times in our relatively short history as a nation. They keep us afraid to control us and to keep us from claiming our power on an ongoing basis. When the Bush-Cheny-Rumsfeld-Trent-Warner bunch finally lose power and we discover all the terrible things they did in our name, behind our backs – we will probably take the power back and keep control for decades as we clean up their mess.

They know this and it's the one thing that keeps them up at night. They don't lose any sleep over the kids getting shot or having their limbs blown off in Iraq and Afghanistan. They certainly don't lose any sleep over the thousands of brown-skinned people they have killed. The only thing they fear is losing their control over us, of us reclaiming our power.

Let's make their fear a reality.

We are at a pivotal and dangerous time right now. People are tired of being made to feel afraid, tired of five years of mindless terror. They are at the snapping point. We need to be careful and avoid conflict where possible so we are not the catalyst for their snap. I fear the consequences of this snapping point, even though it needs to happen. Because we need to get to the place that happens after the snap.

When we do get to that point, when people are no longer running on mindless terror and anger, we can truly begin the healing process. I think there will be a backlash against the media and politicians who have fed us this steady diet of fear, and my hope is those people will get what they deserve. When this happens the Bush Administration and Radical Right will lose their control over us and we will take back our power.

There are people in Washington who have said that, when Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld lose control, people are going to prison. I hope this happens, not purely out of vengeance, but also because we need a return to justice. (I'd be lying if I said I didn't have a desire for retribution for all the terrible things they have done.) We need those people to go to prison, to be tried for crimes against humanity and the American people. We need to restore our democracy.

It will happen. As long as we keep our eyes on the ball, remain focused, and engage our fellow citizens in dialogue that is free of mindless hatred and fear. If we keep our courage we will emerge from this terrible darkness.

2006-09-14T15:59:00.000-07:00

It's not about apathy, it's about fear:

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." (Edmund Burke)

As I've been staying away from the news on purpose I've noticed that I get the news anyway. When I go out there are papers all over the place with big bold headlines. There are more TVs around, and if they're not tuned to CNN or (shudder) FOX News, the station that is on has a news ticker below the program. Even if I try to not watch it or read it, it catches my eye.

Then there are my well-meaning friends who send my emails about the news, and Live Journal usually has posts about the news. I could avoid email and Live Journal but then I'd feel like I'm punishing myself. I consider Live Journal a community, though not a replacement for flesh-and-blood contact.

But through all that filtering the news gets softened a little. What I've seen for a long time is the propensity of the news to be loud, aggressive to the point of verbally abusive, biased, over-simplified, pro-business to the point of being anti-human, corrupted by money and politics, pandering, and above all – fear-mongering. It was fashionable long before the Bush Administration to go for an emotional response with every news story, they just became the fear-mongering publisher's wet dream.

And then the quote I put at the top of this entry appeared.

And I realized that people are not apathetic, they are scared. This is a hell of a realization for me. It also changes how I view the world around me, making me a little more understanding and compassionate. I know understand that ignorance and fear-mongering are driving many people out there. They are not happy with the way their lives or the world is going but they have no idea how to change it.

Civic participation is no longer being taught, another victim of the testing obsession in American education today. When young people no longer understand how their government works things like re-districting are not seen as the threat to our democracy they are. They don't understand how important their vote is, so they don’t vote. Normally this ignorance would lead to apathy, (where I believed the problem resided.)

But we don't live in normal times. Fear has been force-fed to all of us since the 80's. The attack on 9-11 and our government's complicity in it just made things worse. (4 out of 10 Americans think our government played a role in the events on 9-11. That figure is higher outside the United States.) The Cheney-Rumsfeld cabal has been around since the 80's. In Washington they call them "The Crazies." This stuff is not new.

Remember when Franklin D. Roosevelt said; "We have nothing to fear but fear itself." That is true. What may also be true is our government knew about Pearl Harbor before it happened and even antagonized the Japanese as an excuse to enter the war. It's well-known the Japanese were on the edge of surrender when we dropped atomic bombs on their tiny island. We wanted to use these new weapons, flex our muscle, show the world we were the new super-power on the block as the British Empire declined.

So not even 9-11 is new. Would the Bush Administration and the Pentagon under Cheney and Rumsfeld let 3,000 Americans die simply to further their agenda?

I'll leave you to answer that one for yourself.

The people in power in this world do not think in terms of years, they think in terms of decades. They study history, except they don't use their intelligence, education, wealth and power to help humanity. They also hope that we won't study history or think about it on a deep level.

The press and our government say the economy is great, but that's not what I hear. Every time it's mentioned in any group I hear people say how fucked up things are.

People who are disabled get $900.00 a month from the federal government at the bottom of the scale, and that's the majority. Have you ever tried to live in San Francisco on $900.00 a month? Even if you take the dispassionate attitude they should "go somewhere else," how would they move on less than that amount? They cannot "save up to move" because they are barely getting by. And even if they do, $900.00 a month doesn't go very far anywhere in America.

My brother is a small-businessman in Texas, and he says the economy sucks, business sucks. My friends who are job-seeking, or working at underpaid jobs they are vastly overqualified for, say the same thing. Even people who have "good" jobs are concerned about the economy and their livelihood. What's the tipping point for lay-offs at your company? A drop in the stock price?

Health care is in trouble too. Billions of dollars are sucked up by the managed care industry, consolidation has placed the revenue in the hands of the few, taking care and services away from the many. Doctors hate insurance companies. Politicians are bought and paid for by the insurance and pharmaceutical industries. The corruption and graft is staggering. Even the most cynical among us ordinary folk cannot deny this.

Is it any wonder people are terrified? How many of us are a step away from homeless? Suddenly that person on the street corner begins to look more and more familiar. Our media and our government and our societal structure are generating fear-based messages, but none of those entities are offering alternatives to the fear. Americans are more isolated than they were 20 years ago, as many recent studies have shown.

Terrified and Alone. What a horrible pairing.

Our spouses and our friends are more precious than gold. We need them now more than ever, yet fear and isolation are pushing us away from each other. Physical contact is vital to our sanity and our physical health. We need love and affection, even if it's purely platonic. They aren't just sappy homilies from the 60's. The Beatles wrote; "all you need is love," but we have somehow missed the understanding of "need." Need is not a desire, a wish, a hope – need is that which we cannot live without.

We need each other. Together we should reach out and help ease the fear of others. I'm not moralizing here – we need to solve these problems and we have to be united to do so. The Crazies want to start a third war with Iran. Everyone knows this. We cannot afford to start another war, which will drag our economy down even further, and increase our level of fear.

These recent changes in my personal life are giving me a new perspective on things, but my beliefs remain the same. It's just my attitude that needs to change. It's not easy dealing with frightened animals, even human ones. I will say that, of all the species, we seem to have a special talent for hiding our fear. Today I can see that I need to treat everyone as if they were a scared animal. Easier said than done, I know. It's really hard for me to be nice to someone who is not being nice in return. I'm not currently programmed that way. I don’t know fully how to change that programming right now, but I have some ideas, I'm initiating some actions, and I'm learning. Avoiding the mass media helps.

The last time I watched live TV I was struck by how loud, aggressive and obnoxious it has become. Everything is shrill. They're not exhorting us to buy their product, they are screaming at us to do so. If people behaved that way in our homes we would ask them to leave. I've found it's not worth it to see a new "Simpsons" or "Family Guy" if I have to put up with all that shrill, violent and overwhelming advertising. (I suspect FOX is particularly bad about this.) TIVO is an option if one is diligent about skipping the ads.

Listening to music has been helpful. Writing helps. Art helps. Playing my drums helps. Being around my partner and my friends helps more than words can express. I'm going to keep doing what I've been doing, reach out a little more if I can, and try to be patient and kind. I'm starting to believe they are the only things that truly make positive change possible.

Hope for the best. Strive for the good of us all.

2006-09-03T20:01:00.000-07:00

An interesting group (and outlook)-

The group they're building is called The Network of Spiritual Progressives, and their foundation grows out of progressive Jewish group called Tikkun.

Here's part of the text from their "core vision:"

"We are trying to create something which doesn't have an exact analogue in contemporary life. The truth of the matter is, many of us are wary of any organization—they remain human institutions, susceptible to the ever-present reality of human frailty. The capacity to under-whelm, frustrate, disappoint, and madden is common to all human organizations, whether spiritual or secular, whether on the left or the right or in the middle.

"Particularly when people start hoping for a loving reality, we often get so scared—because we have been so deeply shaped by the pathogenic belief that we don't really deserve to be loved—that we try to prove to ourselves that a better world isn't really possible. That’s when we find people in our organizations hurting each other in the name of love, being brutal and lacking compassion, creating endless fights over theoretical differences, or clinging to ego at the cost of finding real solidarity with others. We will do what we can to provide a supportive context, but we will also not hesitate to ask people to leave our organization who would prefer to fight with each other than to lovingly support each other. Creating an international community of people who start with agreement on the points in this document can generate generous amounts of comradely love and solidarity."

I don't know if I agree with everything they say or that I plan to join their group, but I like where they're coming from in general. Being a deeply spiritual person who identifies as a Taoist and does not care for most organized religions, it's nice to see a group that seeks to find a spiritual center for the left.

I agree with their view that the progressive left can be deeply anti-spiritual. Not they always are by any means – we can assume the basic rules of generalizations here and the exceptions and contradictions therein – but it's a common reaction to the radical Christian right and their intrusion into American politics.

I appreciate they are not another American Jewish group that blindly supports Israel and our equally blind backing of that state. In fact, they seem to denounce extremism regardless of where it comes from.

I think it's important to show people that those of us on the left are not bereft of a moral and/or spiritual compass. On more than one occasion, when I've stated I'm not a Christian, the follow-up question has been; "So you're an atheist?" As if those are the only two possibilities. There's a lot of ignorance fostered by those in positions of authority to encourage divisiveness.

When I lived in Texas I talked with Christians and Baptists, and when we finished we realized we were not as far apart as we thought. For example; there's a common belief that gay people want to come into their churches and force their priests to marry them. When I tell them we do not wish to marry or worship where we are not wanted, they answered; "Nobody's ever said that."

Because divisiveness is the oldest weapon in the book. Divide and Conquer. The Romans used it to foster class warfare and enslave the Jews. It's been used in countless military campaigns. Karl Rove feeds on it. Fear of "the other," "those who are not like us," who don't "share our values."

Bullshit. We all share the same values, more or less. We want to be loved and love in return. We want to cultivate our friendships and care for our families. We want healthy food and a stable roof. We want to experience joy, communicate, be heard and acknowledged as worthy. We want to be valued as human beings.

"Ignorance and prejudice and fear walk hand in hand."

That's one of the most prophetic lines in rock music, ("Witch Hunt" by Rush.)

"They say there are those who threaten us, our immigrants and infidels.

"They say there is strangeness to danger us, in our theaters and bookstore shelves.

"And those who know what's best for us, must rise and save us from ourselves."

It's like a playbook for Rove and the Cheney-Rumsfeld neo-cons.

And I've heard the same close-minded hate from the left. "Southern Baptists are assholes!" As if any one group has a corner on the market. I've worked with and for Southern Baptists and I'm here to tell you, many of them are perfectly nice people.

A grocer I worked for in Texas also employed a gay friend as a corporate accountant. They were amazingly supportive towards Allen and his partner when Allen was dying from AIDS, and even called to check on his partner after Allen's death.

That grocer was owned by a Southern Baptist family.

Isolation and fear have brought us to where we are today. My country is polarized and ugly and I don't like it very much right now. I'm tired of those in power feasting on our fear. Aren't you?

The group I mentioned above is one way out of this situation, but they are not alone. There are many groups that destroy the image of "the other." It is the basis of Eastern spiritual thought. I think groups like this are important and they can help us move beyond that which divides us now. Once the ignorance is lifted and we see how alike we really are it becomes easy to spot those who wish to prey upon us and stop them.

We are NOT alone. That is part of the illusion.

2006-09-01T13:20:00.000-07:00

The Christian Agenda:

I commented the other day that Christians can be creepy and a fellow community member took offence. I made it clear I have nothing against Christians per se, but I do have a problem with the way they push their values at me.

Yesterday I got a phone call from an organization concerned about sex and violence on TV. It took a while and some direct questions to get the caller to admit they were from a Christian group. When I said I was not a Christian they hung up.

I have been accosted on the street, through email, by phone, and at my front door – by Christians trying to push their religion on me. Buddhists don't do this, nor do Taoists. I have not been asked a hundred times if I've accepted Lao Tzu as my "personal savior."

The Radical (Christian) Right has been working on national and state policy issues, trying to deny equal rights to my community. We are an object of their hate.

American Christians hate. They have done everything within their power to hurt my community. I do know exceptions to this group, and I do know gay Christians, but they are exceptions. American Christians attack my community in many "un-Christ-like" ways, justifying their hatred and bigotry based on their limited interpretation of the Bible.

As an aside – the Bible was written by superstitious men who wiped their ass with their hand and had barely moved beyond cave living. Various groups have edited the Bible in ways too many to count, so the Bible you see today may have nothing to do with the original.

And as for those exceptional Christians – why don't they stand up when their brethren spreads hate and division? Why do they remain silent when their fellows use the words of Jesus to persecute others? If you're a member of this group and you remain silent you are giving your approval. You are part of the hate if only through your silence.

So before you get indignant and say; "I don't hate!" Remember that your silence is your approval for your fellows to spread such hate.

If you want to be a Christian I have no problem with that. This country was founded upon individual and spiritual freedom. But keep it in your church. Keep your religion out of politics – remember separation of church and state? Don't attack my brothers and sisters. Don't bother me through phone or email. Stay away from my home.

2006-08-31T20:36:00.000-07:00

The death of Ellipse:

PRESS RELEASE – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

The death of Ellipse – 20-year-old charity cannot keep its doors open – apathy and mismanagement kill a vital resource for people with HIV/AIDS in San Mateo County.

Ellipse Peninsula HIV/AIDS Services, an AIDS Service Organization (ASO) can no longer serve its clients or keep its doors open. Food is rotting on the shelves. Mice and their droppings are creating a health hazard in the organization's pantry.

The cause is apathy and inaction on the part of the Board of Directors.

I was not informed that as director Ms. Fitzgerald was taking "consulting fees" for counseling sessions with clients throughout discussions of money and spending, and was only told of this second-hand. It may have been agreed to by the board before I became a member, but it strikes me that this particular detail was not shared openly with me. I specifically asked about operating expenses and this was not revealed.

Though her position implies direct involvement, she works full-time at another position and is not at Ellipse's offices even one day a week. I do not see how someone can "direct" an organization if they are never there during the operating hours.

There was a time when the board could have handed over day-to-day operations in a responsible manner, but they chose to let the organization die instead. As board members they could not even be bothered to return phone calls or email. They rarely (if ever) set foot on the premises.

Ellipse has been serving food and offering counseling to people with HIV/AIDS for over twenty years, and its death takes a vital and needed resource away from San Mateo County.

The last board member, Phillip T. Alden, a local activist and volunteer, quit when it became clear the board was no longer interested in serving the needs of clients. Mr. Alden has worked to bring attention to this tragedy and to expose the irresponsibility of the other board members.

"The apathy of the board was bad enough, but they also sabotaged my efforts to bring the facility up to local health and safety codes. They disgust me," Mr. Alden stated.

More involved statement from Phillip Alden:

"I am bothered by the apathy of the people involved. They must have known they were preparing the organization to fail. This comes after they worked to save it from mismanagement by the previous executives. Why save an organization just to kill it? Ellipse has a unique asset that enables them to deliver food to people with HIV/AIDS in San Mateo County, and they let the structure of this asset degrade to the point of near-guaranteed collapse and failure.
"Where is the fiscal responsibility? Where is the accountability? Why bring an activist and journalist on board to witness your driving the organization into the ground? Why was I invited to watch something that should be criminal?"

2006-08-24T19:12:00.000-07:00

"Animal Logic I," Marillion – "Clutching At straws," and "The Quantum And The Lotus:"

I think one of the best "little moments" is seeing that Amazon.com box arriving in the mail. I don't order things often because I have no shortage of music, DVDs or reading material. But I occasionally take 2-3 items off my wish list for a few reasons; it's fun getting that little box in the mail, their prices are cheaper than I would pay in a local chain store, Amazon has an amazing selection and inventory, and things go out of print.

The last two are likely the most interesting reasons. The selection online cannot be matched by any "brick-and-mortar" stores. I've found a few albums that were out-of-print, or close to, for the same price as readily available titles. One time I paid close to $30.00 for a piece of music I really wanted that was out-of-print, though it wasn't on Amazon, but usually I pay $10 or less for a single disk album.

The same goes for books and DVD movies. While I feel badly for traditional stores like Tower Records, I also remember paying more than $15.00 for a CD that cost only a buck or two to create, package and ship. Everyone who likes music has been fleeced by this, and in return for the hundreds or thousands of dollars we paid out over the years we received a $5.00 check. Tower also could have gone online, but it's a family company whose patriarch held firmly to an outdated business model.

I took two CDs off my wish list. The first is Animal Logic I. Stuart Copeland on drums, Stanley Clark on bass and Deborah Holland doing vocals. These are three musicians producing an album that is musically brilliant and satisfying. This isn't one of those derivative "musician's album" pieces of music that is difficult to listen to, but a clean, sharp and melodically pleasant work. Amazon had to ship this from a third-party vendor, which makes me think it's about to go out-of-print, (a common signal event in the music distribution world.) If you like good rock by top-flight musicians I highly recommend this album.

The second is Marillion – "Clutching At Straws." This is another in a line of British progressive rock bands that produce my favorite kind of music. Genesis, Pink Floyd, Peter Gabriel, Yes and Marillion is the kind of stuff that fills my CD collection. I don't mind being a rock dinosaur because the music is so damn satisfying. I have almost every Genesis release and I never get tired of listening to it, especially the stuff before Peter Gabriel left the band.

But "Clutching At Straws" is a bit darker than most. It's about drug and alcohol addiction, but more about when the addiction causes your entire life to crash around you. It doesn't end in a happy place somewhere inside an AA meeting, but inside a bar. "Just another empty gesture with an empty glass." It's a wonderful darkness that lets the mind drift to that place where we process the truly serious side of our lives and emotions.

"But I've got no discipline, got no self control. Just a little less painful here with my back against the wall."

The mournful "Sugar Mice" near the end of the album is the kind of song that stays in haunted memory, that touches that chord of failure in us all:

"Well the toughest thing I ever did, was talk to the kids on the phone.
When I heard them asking questions I knew that you were all alone.
Can't you understand the government left me out of work?
I just couldn't stand the looks on their faces saying 'what a jerk.'

"But when it gets right down to it there's no one really left to blame.
When it gets right down to it there's no one really left to blame.
Blame it on me. You can blame it all on me.
Sugar mice in the rain."

I swear to god this album can still bring a tear to my eyes. It reaches that painful place inside and says, 'we know how it hurts and how sometimes it doesn't get better.' It's a genuine expression of that darkest aspect of our lives – guilt, shame and constant failure.

Why listen to such an album? (You may ask.) I'm not advocating listening to albums like this on a daily basis, but some of the finest rock albums ever made are about the dark side of our lives. "The Wall" is about one man's descent into madness. "Tommy" is about a boy driven deaf, dumb and blind by witnessing his father's murder, and the torment he suffers before rising to exaltation and eventual crucifixion.

Sometimes our lives take a dark turn and we need music and books and paintings to reflect that, to express the hurt so we can let it go as much as possible. Catharsis or grieving, art helps us share our pain and find solace in unity. It is as necessary as that which makes us feel good, those heroic moments where everything works out and everyone is happy in the end, because life is not always like that.

Musically this album also kicks ass, and you have to love a band whose lead singer goes by the name of "Fish."

I also ordered a book called; "The Quantum And The Lotus." It was recommended to me and it's sat on my wish list for a while now. The book is about a series of conversations between a monk and an astronomer – about how science and Buddhist thought are becoming increasingly intertwined. I'll post more on this after I read it.

2006-08-20T14:52:00.000-07:00

Helping or harming?

As some of you know, I volunteer with a local ASO (AIDS Service Organization) here in San Mateo County. Aside from writing their materials I open and run the place one day a week. Right now we're in transition. We provide food, but there are multiple places people can get groceries. What we really provide is support – a listening ear, a place where clients can blow off steam.

I had an interesting experience last Wednesday:

We had a client come in for food, a black woman in her 30s-40s. When she came we started talking about health and the black community. She was aware that bad diet is a serious health factor in her community, probably because she is diabetic herself. She's also overweight and admitted she does not exercise. She also said she's been overweight since childhood.

Because we grew up so close to each other we shared experience. And even though my friend who also volunteers there said she was all "drama" I liked her. I don't know if we could ever be friends because our lives are so different, and she has her own agenda, (as do I) – but I just felt well-disposed towards her and enjoyed talking with her.

We don't tell our clients what food they should take. We just let them help themselves to whatever we have in the pantry. It's not our job to tell others how to live their lives.

But I noticed she took mostly food that was bad for her, either with much refined sugar or something that converts to sugar in the metabolism process. She was clearly intelligent, and had been educated by the nutritionist at her medical clinic. She knew the food she was getting was contraindicated for someone with diabetes. She even ate some ice cream while she was there, without testing her blood sugar level.

And I wondered if we were helping or harming her. Part of our transition is getting away from food distribution, staying with emotional support and providing community, and introducing a computer lab where we teach our clients about the basics of computer use.

It would solve some problems, create new ones, and reinforce what we feel is our true purpose. (I'm also on the board.) But watching this woman leave with bags of food that are poor choices nutritionally, I began to think about where education stops and personal responsibility begins. We had an educated, well-informed, intelligent person making terrible decisions.

She will likely never lose weight, never eat right and never control her blood sugar the way she should.

I have two close friends who are in similar circumstances. Both are very heavy. One has terrible heart problems. The other has had a bone in his foot disintegrate – meaning the foot cannot support the body weight and causing great physical pain. Both are smart, educated men. Both have been overweight since childhood.

The dysfunction in our world effects people in all kinds of ways. Some eat, some drug, some drink, some cut themselves, and some endanger their lives constantly.

But at some point we either stop or we die. The Tao says that behavior that is opposite the path of "Te" is a death trip. Those who make war are killing themselves in mind, body and spirit. To a lesser extent the same is true of my friends and the woman I described.

The Tao says it should not be believed on its face. Apply the teachings and view the world through the teachings to see if it is true for you. As I watch the world through this lens I see the words confirmed. The Tao does not require faith because, like physical science, it can be proven. This is one of the reasons Tao is not a religion in the strictest sense of the word. I don't have to believe in prophets or gods, miracles or the promise of a better place when I die. The Tao lives in today.

It's clear this woman and my two friends are on a death trip. Just ask their doctors. I can see clear physical evidence of the hypothesis.

But the flip side of the coin, living the path of "Te," is not easy. Smoking cigarettes, abusing drugs and alcohol, sedentary lifestyle habits – are the opposite of "Te."

Thank the universe it is forgiving, for none of us are perfect when it comes to "Te." Even the Dali Lama will admit to character defects that keep him from perfect "Te."

But that does not absolve us of personal responsibility. Some people have been taught they should mentally kick themselves and tell themselves negative messages about what kind of people they are. This is not personal responsibility. Self-recrimination is also opposite the path of "Te." The past cannot be changed. Fix what you can and move on. Because recrimination is also a way of avoiding personal responsibility. If I beat myself up over my mistakes I don't have to fix things in the Now. Once again I avoid personal responsibility while thinking I am doing just that. Denial.

One of the (many) reasons I love dogs and cats is because they are examples of Zen. They live totally in the Now. The cat does not beat itself up over the quilt it destroyed last year, nor does it worry about the future. The cat lives in the Now all the time.

So when I look at the woman I described or my two friends the following comes to mind – You know what the problem is. The past cannot be changed. You know what you have to do. Do it Now.

I guess part of the solution lies in desire. Do you want to keep living? Do you want to be healthier? Do you want to let go of the past? Do you care about where you are today and tomorrow? Where does your desire lie? What are your priorities?

I accept these people as they are today. My only wish is for their health and happiness. But part of me struggles with their continuation of bad decision-making. This is not the path. Because I believe what has been proven to me.

But it has taken 40 years to see it. I know why most people come to the Tao when they are my age or older. In youth we live for the moment – excitement and stimulation. As young adults we strive for understanding and our place in the world. I had to go through it all to reach this place. I guess that's why they call it the beginning of wisdom. In some ways it feels like being an ignorant child again. I begin to understand what I do NOT know. I had to go through years of study and hard work to get to a place where I feel I'm at the start again.

There's less comparison. I don’t have to judge myself by those around me. I'm no better or worse than anyone else, and they are no better or worse than I. We all want the same things. We all want to be loved. We don’t want to be alone. I also believe we all want to help others. We want to make the world a better place. When we are given the chance to help we become enthused. In some way we believe that we are helping somehow right at this moment.

I just wish I had more faith the universe is unfolding as it should. It's hard to look at the suffering and not get angry and frustrated. It's hard to look at hate and see the fear that drives it. When I can remember that fear is driving all the pain in the world it's easier to see, but it hurts. I want to change things, stop the hurt, push back the darkness.

Most of all it's hard accepting my limitations.

2006-08-16T19:57:00.000-07:00

Abolish Homework:

Aside from the story in today’s San Francisco Chronicle about kids and overloaded backpacks, I was having this discussion with my friend, Kevin yesterday.

Sociologists have been saying kids are over-scheduled, they don’t have time to make friends or just engage in unstructured play. They said it’s how kids learn negotiation skills and how to relate, and these lessons cannot be taught in a highly-structured environment with adults ever-present.

It’s actually a problem for many adults also. No time to just relax and socialize away from computers and the internet.

Our schools have kids 7-8 hours a day, and many include a study period. That should be enough. It’s arrogance and dictatorial to assign kids more hours of schoolwork every evening and on weekends. It’s understandable when there’s a major test to study for, but aside from those times, schools have no right to infringe upon the home time of students.

If kids are over-scheduled and don’t have enough free time, this is part of the problem. Schools take up enough of a kid’s day without bleeding into their afternoons and evenings. If the school is not teaching with 7-8 hours of time a day the failure is on their part.

(Aside from the usual aspects that get in the way of teaching.)

The one exception I would consider is assigning a book every semester. But it’s really parents that should be encouraging their children to read. With all the media that pulls at our attention families should be leading by example. In my family there were often times when everyone in the house was reading a book at the same time.

Many of us leave the office and the work stays there. Why should it be different for kids? They need more unstructured time. The schools need to figure out how to do their job in the plethora of hours they are given.

2006-08-09T21:40:00.000-07:00

Book Progress – Final Corrections:

I haven’t been very good about posting to this blog and I apologize for that. Getting a book ready for publication is more work than I ever thought, though I love every minute of it. If I were only publishing a book things would have gone much faster than this, but in the past eight-plus years I’ve been an activist, educator and volunteer; and I’ve been running a busy household with frequent guests and a lot of fun.

Life has been wonderfully full and exciting.

On the book front I’ve finished my Point-Of-View (POV) edit and corrections to the narrative. This week I started correcting the text. As I input those correction I will be sending the final text to my good friend, Stuart Tanner, for the final copy edit.

Did I mention that, in addition to having English running through his veins, Stuart is also a top-flight poet. As I get older I appreciate the beauty of good poetry more and more, though my writing talent does not lie in that direction. I’ve had the good fortune to know two talented poets personally, Stuart is one of them.

After Stuart and I finish the final copy edit, the manuscript goes out to my proof-readers. When those come back and are checked, I print out the final manuscript. This undergoes a final read-through, including reading it aloud. Corrections can happen even at this final stage if needed.

Then I format the document, finish the paperwork for the publisher, and send it out.

When the publisher gets it, they will convert the book from a word processor file to a publication file. There can be errors during this conversion. The publisher sends me galleys as .pdf files and I scan them for final correction.

Every error caused by their software costs me nothing. Every error of mine costs .03 and those three pennies add up fast. I understand the reasons, which is why I use multiple proof-readers and talented editors.

A shout-out to my first editor, and writing mentor, Ken Ludden, whose SIL web site is back up and running. I’m immensely grateful to Ken for all his help, and I hope his second book comes out soon.

2006-08-09T20:41:00.000-07:00

Deprivation Disorders:

I’ve been learning about this type of disorder since March of this year and it’s really opened my eyes to an aspect of human behavior that is much more common than I thought. While there are many reasons for the way we humans behave I believe this disorder may have a greater influence than any other factor in our lives, especially when it comes to sexual behavior.

Deprivation disorder is characterized by personal denial of things that bring us pleasure or make us happy and fulfilled. Sometimes it’s disguised as virtue. Religion can often serve as a cover for this denial, but deprivation disorder is wide-ranging.

Sexual anorexia is a common form. For any number of reasons people deny themselves the pleasure of sexual contact. Sometimes the cause may be sexual abuse in our past, but I don’t believe it’s the sole reason. People deny themselves sexual contact because, on some level, they don’t feel they deserve to be physically desired.

But that’s only one form. This disorder takes thousands of forms. Eating disorders may be one form, but it’s important to remember there are many reasons driving eating disorders. People deny themselves good quality food, food that tastes good, or dessert. Often this seems like virtue. “I don’t eat sweets because I care about my body.”

From what I’ve been learning, virtue is the number one tool in hiding deprivation disorder. People use religion and virtue as a shield for their denial of good things. But virtue has nothing to do with this problem. Virtue becomes the excuse.

Some people take this to extremes. They won’t dress nicely or groom themselves the way they should. They avoid things that may improve the quality of their lives. Sometimes they even deny themselves medical and/or dental care. Anything that might bring them pleasure is avoided. Their lives take on a monkish quality. Their lives become a prison of denial.

Sexual Anorexia. I was floored when this concept was introduced to me. But sexual anorexia is likely the most common form of deprivation disorder. There are so many reasons to avoid sexual contact it’s the easiest form this illness takes. I’ve come to believe that sexual victimization can be one source of sexual deprivation disorder.

But it’s not the only reason.

Deprivation disorder is most likely linked to low self-esteem or low self-image. The causes are many but the outcome is the same – denial of that which might bring us joy.

And breaking people out of this might be one of the hardest things we ever attempt. The denial of pleasure becomes so deeply ingrained it becomes a prison. The words of others are not enough to break us out of our deprivation disorder. We have made deprivation part of our skin – flesh and bone.

The big question is; how do we break the cycle? How do we overcome our deprivation disorder and convince ourselves we deserve the things in life that bring us joy?

The answers are as deeply seated as the disorder is. How do we overcome low self-esteem? How do we become emotionally worthy of pleasure? Allow ourselves sexual pleasure without guilt or hang-ups? Give ourselves permission to have that dessert?

On a personal level, I don’t think I suffer from deprivation disorder. But there are people in my life who seem to, and it hurts to watch them suffer. I don’t have the words to convince them they deserve to be happy and satisfied.

The obvious answer appears to be discussion. On their part. I can say all the positive things in the world, encourage until I’m blue in the face. They have to start talking about their feelings with someone trained to help them work through it.

And I wonder how pervasive this disorder really is. When I see friends who are clearly malnourished I wonder if deprivation disorder is the cause.

It hurts to see good people suffer without apparent reason. I know all too well how the past can influence the present, but I also know we have the power to change our lives. Some people are denied good things because they don’t make enough money to enjoy a certain standard of living, but sometimes money (or lack thereof) has nothing to do with it.

It’s especially hard when deprivation looks like virtue. How do you convince someone their behavior has nothing to do with belief or virtue without hurting their feelings?

In an often dark and difficult world, seeing people voluntarily adding to their suffering seems wasteful and needlessly degrading.

And like so many important things in this life, there are few easy answers, but there are answers.

2006-08-01T10:36:00.000-07:00

One More Opinion

Faith Without Works:

There are people in my life, not my partner or our closest friends, but people close to me nonetheless, who talk a lot about changing things in the world – but do absolutely nothing to bring about such change. The reason I’m bringing this up is because I’ve started to realize how much this bugs the shit out of me.

The kind of people I’m referring to talk a great game. If you didn’t know them you might assume they are politically and socially active based on how they talk, but they do nothing to make the world a better place outside of give-and-take organizations. If they do anything that benefits others it always involves them getting something back. They never volunteer, never show up at events or demonstrations, never march in rallies. Some of them don’t even vote. Often they claim their involvement in religious or spiritual groups means they give, but that dynamic is a give-and-take, not selfless giving. And when you observe their behavior even in their spiritual and/or religious community they don’t really contribute anything there, either.

Some are the most self-righteous and arrogant people I’ve ever known. They talk as if they are somehow more evolved or progressive than others when in practice they are very selfish. Everything is somehow about them. A reflection of them. When others take action they talk about how it will affect them. Every single event is viewed through a lens of how it affects their lives.

When people complain about politics the first question I ask is if they vote. The second question is if they write letters to their elected representatives. If they don’t I usually state they really don’t have the standing to complain – basically they should shut up.

And the type of people I’m talking about are very good at justifying and rationalizing their selfishness, instead of simply being honest about how self-interested they are. They pretend to be deeply spiritual and they fear being accurately reflected. Excuses are their mainstay.

I get really fed up with people who claim to be spiritually progressive but do nothing to make the world a better place. They accuse others of the selfishness and hypocrisy they display constantly. If you do nothing to change the world you are not putting your spirituality into practice.

“Faith without works is dead.”

My mentor always taught me the opposite of faith is fear, and I would wager the type of people I’m talking about have a lot of fear they hide behind their high-minded words. If true this is very sad.

And it’s not that I don’t like these people. I don’t respect them and I think they’re full of shit, but I don’t dislike them. I don’t know if this makes them bad people. It’s not my place to judge that.

I guess there’s a part of me that just wants them to be honest. If they’re going to live a life of selfishness they should stop pretending they are deeply spiritual and progressive.

Because their behavior is an insult to those of us who put ourselves out there. They are taking credit for the hard work and selfless giving of others, credit they do not deserve. They are also generally arrogant, hypocritical and dishonest. They really are no better than the people they criticize. It’s an insult to those who do make a difference.

I guess that’s the part that bugs me the most.

I actually have more respect for people who don’t try and pretend they do not live a selfish life. I would rather listen to a selfish person who is honest about their pursuit of their personal interests.

I’m tired of listening to these hypocrites’ pathetic attempts to build themselves up. As I get older I find I have less patience and tolerance for bullshit in general, and less patience for this specific type of bullshit. Maybe I realize the value of time more than I used to, and these people waste the time of others.

I guess I also get a little defensive towards people who try to take credit for the hard work of others. They really do insult those who give of themselves. Most people don’t like to take credit for the hard work they do. This is a common behavioral trait among people I respect and admire. So I guess it seems like a double-insult when the selfish are trying to take credit they do not deserve.

It’s dishonest, egoistic, and a disservice to those who are trying to make a difference.

If you’re doing nothing, shut the fuck up. You have no right to complain about the state of the world because you do nothing to change it. It’s that simple.

And if this seems like an attack I guess it is. I just run out of tolerance for those who build themselves up at the expense of others, for the hard work of others. In a way it’s a violation of others, and it’s a great insult to those who give freely of themselves.

That’s my soapbox for the day.

2006-07-22T11:49:00.000-07:00

One More Opinion

This is a press release based on a survey sent to 5,918 FDA scientists. 997 FDA scientists responded. The findings, nonetheless, merit further investigation.

July 20, 2006

FDA Scientists Pressured to Exclude, Alter Findings; Scientists Fear Retaliation for Voicing Safety Concerns
Public Health and Safety Will Suffer without Leadership from FDA and Congress

WASHINGTON, DC—The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) today released survey results that demonstrate pervasive and dangerous political influence of science at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Of the 997 FDA scientists who responded to the survey, nearly one-fifth (18.4 percent) said that they "have been asked, for non-scientific reasons, to inappropriately exclude or alter technical information or their conclusions in a FDA scientific document." This is the third survey UCS has conducted to examine inappropriate interference with science at federal agencies.

"Science must be the driving force for decisions made at the FDA. These disturbing survey results make it clear that inappropriate interference is putting people in harm's way," said Dr. Francesca Grifo, Senior Scientist and Director of UCS's Scientific Integrity Program. "FDA leaders should act now to improve transparency and accountability and renew respect for independent science at the agency."

The UCS survey, which was co-sponsored by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, was sent to 5,918 FDA scientists. Forty percent of respondents fear retaliation for voicing safety concerns in public. This fear, scientists say, combines with other pressures to compromise the agency's ability to protect public health and safety. More than a third of the respondents did not feel they could express safety concerns even inside the agency.

"This is more than just a bureaucratic problem within the agency," said Kim Witczak, WoodyMatters.com, who lost her husband due to side effects of a dangerous anti-depressant.

"It has real human impacts which can be devastating. My husband paid the ultimate price for FDA's lack of accountability."

The survey also revealed other compelling points of concern:

* 61 percent of the respondents knew of cases where "Department of Health and Human Services or FDA political appointees have inappropriately injected themselves into FDA determinations or actions."

* Only 47 percent think the "FDA routinely provides complete and accurate information to the public."

* 81 percent agreed that the "public would be better served if the independence and authority of FDA post-market safety systems were strengthened."

* 70 percent disagree with the statement that FDA has sufficient resources to perform effectively its mission of "protecting public health…and helping to get accurate science-based information they need to use medicines and foods to improve their health."

"The FDA regulates products vital to the well-being of all Americans, including food, drugs, vaccines, and medical devices," said Dr. Grifo. "To fully protect public health and safety, the FDA must have the best available independent scientific data."

To address the concerns raised by FDA scientists, UCS recommends:

– Accountability: FDA leadership must face consequences if they side with commercial or political interests and not with the American people.

– Transparency: Scientific research and reviews should be open so any undue manipulation is immediately apparent.

– Protection: Safeguards must be put in place for all government scientists who speak out.

"What we see at the FDA, while dramatic and frightening, is all too common at many federal agencies," said Dr. Grifo. "All federal scientists need protections so they can speak out when their science is manipulated, and all federal agencies need fully functioning independent advisory committees. FDA leadership must understand and support independent science and it is up to Congress to hold them accountable."

2006-07-08T00:13:00.000-07:00

Maybe I'm not an optimist:

I think there was a time when I was, but I have to agree with my partner and admit I no longer am an optimist. I don’t think I’m a pessimist and I’m too much of a dreamer to be called a realist.

Maybe a certain amount of cynicism has crept in over the past few years, given the past six I can see that. But I’m hopeful too, and I have faith in human beings. Not always in individuals, as people make mistakes, and there are bad people too. But in general I believe there are more good people than bad people. I believe good people want to help make the world a better place.

But my faith has been shaken in the past few years by the events of the world around me. I’ve seen so much destruction and violence and nastiness recently, it makes me fearful for both the present and the future. It also makes me grateful for the great love I have in my life. Erik. My family and my friends. We deeply care for each other and are always there for each other. That makes all the difference in the world. Then there are all the little moments when I see people being kind to each other. They stand out with me. They help restore my faith.

I was very interested in the discovery that mice in the same cage have empathy for each other. I have no doubt in human empathy, but I believe it’s hard to feel that empathy – not difficult, but hard to experience. With all the hostility around us our senses get hit pretty hard with negativity. I hope all the good things help balance that out for people. We all have stories where our feelings warned us, and sometimes saved us.

I was at a funeral a little while ago, and my friend’s great-grandmother had demanded their entire family leave their cabin, (this is around the 1900s when whole families lived and worked the land together,) and that night a tornado ripped the cabin apart. Their entire family would have been wiped out had they not listened to the old woman’s intuition. They did not want to believer her, pack their things and go to the town, leaving their home and land – but they did. They found pieces of the cabin over 35 miles away.

So I believe in intuition, and I trust mine. I’m not always right, but then, none of us are. I think my only wish is that I would be better at holding my counsel. Patience and waiting are the hardest thing for me, and that’s what I want to learn. I’ve been giving this a lot of thought recently.

2006-07-07T18:06:00.000-07:00

When good people are infiltrated by the under-handed:
By Phillip T. Alden
San Francisco, CA - July 2006.

One of the things about being a good person is that we tend to be trusting. When a person comes along who seems good we want to believe the best about them, believe they are also good people. This is part of our condition.

But many bad people like to insinuate themselves among good people for many reasons. Sometimes they want to pretend they are good people, afraid to admit to themselves they are not. Sometimes they only wish to use us for their own selfish ends. As sad as it is, if you live long enough this will happen because bad people are drawn to us. They see our warmth and desperately hope it will reduce the cold they feel inside, though it never does.

And it often starts with little things. Being good people we forgive, thinking these events are just mistakes made by other good people. It isn’t until the bad person does something that makes it clear to everyone exactly who and what they are, that we finally drive them from our midst. Being good people we don’t want to believe the worst of others, we don’t want to believe the person we have let become close is a bad person, and we get burned. Only then do we look back and see the little events as the warnings they were. Hindsight is 20-20.

As much as it pains us, and goes against our beliefs, we should be cautious when we see the little things because they are often harbingers of the future. Bad people give themselves away in ways both subtle and gross, but good people often miss the subtle warnings.

Bad people are often quite adept at making themselves look good. Like a chameleon they develop subterfuges to make them appear as good people. Even after they are shown to be what they are, we don’t want to believe it. That is not a fault. Our belief that others are basically good in nature speaks to the content of our character. Bad people know this and use it.

Because that is what bad people are – users. When they see another person they look for ways they can manipulate them, look for ways they can use the good person to their advantage. They calculate outside the world of mathematics.

They also work very hard at covering their tracks, hiding their background lest someone figure out what they are. They usually run far from their home because they have used their family and friends, burned every bridge. One of their great fears is we will discover their dark past. It would be great to suspect people who hide their familial connections and where they come from, but many people come from highly dysfunctional families where they were victimized. Bad people use this too.

Trust is part of our nature. We are incapable of looking upon new people with distrust because it runs contrary to our very core. We would rather trust and take the chance of getting burned than live in suspicion and distrust. That’s where bad people live. It’s one of the things that separate us from the bad people.

I am not suggesting we try and change our nature. To a certain extent, bad people will always be able to take advantage of us. It’s just a fact of life. But we should use caution when we see things that seem out of place for a good person. While we wish to believe that some of us are simply good people making a mistake, there are some behaviors that can clue us in, some things that should make us question.

Good people make mistakes. Usually we apologize and do our best to make amends. It is the people who justify their bad acts, who work very hard to rationalize to us why they behave in ways that seem untoward to us. It’s the second warning sign. Especially when they try to make themselves look good by making the other person look bad. This is the third warning sign.

And bad people will try very hard to make their behavior look like a mistake when it is anything but. They will attempt to save face by making their behavior look like an oversight. This is another manipulative act they use to stay hidden among us. When we see an action that seems opposite to what we believe, we should become vigilant. When we start to observe and tread with care things will make themselves clear to us.

I wish it were not this way. I wish there were only good people in the world. Barring that, I wish bad people were open and honest about who and what they are. But as the old saying goes; “If wishes were horses, dreamers would ride.” We cannot deny the darkness any more than we can deny that night follows day. It is the way of the universe.

So keep being open and warm and inviting. But be careful also. In Texas they have many sayings, and one that applies here is; “Water finds its own level.” Good people are drawn to other good people and we discover each other all the time. Bad people will eventually be found out – that also happens to be their greatest fear.

A good person is never ashamed or fearful of their past. Regretful yes, shameful no. A good person will let you truly know them, even if they have siblings or parents they may find embarrassing. They are not afraid to show where they come from and who their people are. Good people are not generally secretive. Everyone has a private life but good people rarely have a hidden life.

A good person may get hurt every now and again – but love, dignity, loyalty and serenity are things no power in the universe, no matter how dark, can ever take from us.