Two years ago, an alcoholic in recovery, frightened that the 1st annual Yearly Kos convention in Las Vegas might be too tempting, too dangerous for him to attend alone suggested that a 12 step meeting be part of the convention. The good folks of Yearly Kos thought that was a great idea.  That was the start of a now annual tradition - the 12 Step Caucus!

The 12 Step Caucus is open to anyone in recovery - or anyone who thinks they might need help with - any addiction. We have had alcoholics, drug addicts, gambling addicts, Al-Anon's and more attend. It gives us a chance to meet each other, get to know friendly faces and if anyone needs someone to talk to later - you'll know who we are.

This year's meeting will be Friday, July 18th at 8:00am (what are you complaining about? It's not like you'll be hungover!) in Room 11.

For more info hop over the jump...

I'm also a professional in the field of drug addiction. I've been tempted to write a diary about it for a long time, but haven't. Today, I went to a conference about Promoting Recovery with Recovery Support Services. Recovery Support Services?? Code for something? Yup.

Obama, in one of the best speeches against the patronizing dumbing down of Hillary Clinton's latest remarks about those of us who come from working (blue collar if you will) families of America was painful and insulting to watch. As Obama says, Hillary has gone all "Annie Oakley" on us. Does she have any idea what an ass she looks like. It's clear she doesn't have a clue that most of the hunting done in my poor upstate New York neck of the woods is a JOB, not a SPORT. Most families I know who hunt, do to fill their freezers with venison because beef is too expensive.

Next thing she's join a chain saw competition and tell how wonderful it is that most of the men and women from my town have to spend half the summer cutting and splitting wood so it's not green and will burn well in the winter... it's a job.... not some cultural folk art we woodsie people love to do.

You know what? Tips are over rated. They are over-rated because if you have any sense, you are gonna use it to buy beer anyway. Let me cut out the middle man and give a beer to some fine kossacks. Maybe you made the Rec List or maybe you didn't. Maybe your diary caused a flurry of comments or maybe it got overlooked. But in my eyes, you are totally worth a pitcher and I'll even pay for it.

In today's NY Times is an article, "The Hangover That Lasts", which summarizes observations made by the UNC Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies. They were looking into the effects of binge drinking in young rats who later stopped drinking, regarding their learning performance, versus teatotal rats.

Here's the whole piece, by Paul Steinberg.

The rats came from two groups, one of which never had alcohol, and a second which were given binge-drinking quantities in their youth, and then had their consumption halted. Then each was put in a small pool of water in which there is a tiny platform. They had to swim around, until they found the platform and could take a break. Then the platform was moved, and the test run again.

Digby on Giuliani adviser and ex-FEMA head Joe Allbaugh and his ilk:

And hey, if a natural disaster or terrorist attack comes along that they can use [as] an excuse to pillage American territory, they'll be happy to get in on that action, too. (It sure puts their denial of global warming in a different light, doesn't it?)

To disaster capitalists employing The Shock Doctrine, we can add various Millennialists who are actively seeking the Rapture and sundry other Survivalists, cultists, and solitaries.  There are quite a lot of people who are in love with Apocalypse and any number of End Times scenaria.  

Living from crisis to crisis is also a characteristic of addicts and their families, Anne Wilson Schaef wrote in When Society Becomes an Addict.  And who among us has not been involved with at least one alcoholic and their family?

It's funny, but here we are 42 months into the 2008 Presidential election season, and no one has asked the single most important question of any Presidential race – Would I have a beer with this person?  At least I assume that's the most important question of the election season.  It was, after all, the defining characteristic of George W. Bush that caused a barely perceptible majority to prefer his candidacy over that of John Kerry in 2004.

Last Saturday I visited a friend in a nursing home. He wasn’t there because of age but rather, he had taken drunk and during that drunk fell and broke his leg. The drunk continued for another week and the leg became infected, badly infected, and but for the keen observation and quick response of the owner of the cheap, "No tell motel" that he called home, his alcoholism would have achieved its goal of killing him.

Every morning I wake up with a positive anticipation that something good is going to happen; that major changes will have happened miraculously over night. Sometimes I get that surprise change but not in the climate of this political world.

This morning after my first daily visit to dkos, which has become an addictive habit since I joined in 2004, there was still no Breaking diary about Bush Departs from the WH. (I don't care how he goes I just want him gone.)

And that unsettling negative reality sets in again. That negativity is beginning to feel like insanity.

Definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

Those of you unfamiliar with this delicacy may have heard of its Australian cousin, Vegemite. Both are yeast extract in a paste form which can be used for a variety of purposes, the main being as a spread for sandwiches or toast.

It is however my belief that it is now urgent that George W Bush be forced to consume this in order to avoid further wars in the Middle East. (This is a perfectly serious suggestion, find out why below the fold.)

Robert Draper's book "Dead Certain: The Presidency of George Bush" has an interesting quote that may foretell what'll happen to Dubyah after he quits the Presidency:

'Then he said, "We’ll have a nice place in Dallas," where he will be running what he called "a fantastic Freedom Institute" promoting democracy around the world. But he added, "I can just envision getting in the car, getting bored, going down to the ranch."'

The key word is 'getting bored'. Since he won't be kept busy any longer (there's only so much brush he has to clear), the reality of what he's done will creep into his consciousness and then...what'll happen to day-to-day living? Read the rest to find out...

War sucks. This is not going to come as a big surprise to Kossacks. Nor will it shock US Armed Services’ medical and mental health professionals.

But specific, supporting new evidence is starting to leak out overseas, where despite a Draconian code of Official Secrets, the British Government has not quite put a stop to independent scientific evaluations of military health issues.

And the news is (are you ready for this?) War is Not Healthy for Soldiers and Other Living Things.

While preparing information for a discussion on bicycle touring safety I developed the following map:

Data Source: http://www.madd.org/...
Map: Johnnygunn

It is a map ranking the states by per capita alcohol-related traffic fatalities.
Notice anything?

Compare with the map below the fold.

I was driving in today, and heard a White House Spokesman saying that George Junior would not be going to one of the early morning meetings at the summit in Germany because he was having intestinal problems.
While I understand the worries based on the family proclivity of throwing up on foreign leaders (heh), I'm also recalling that there was a diary yesterday saying that they saw Bush drinking a beer on CNN.
So, is there anyone else here who thinks that Shrub might have been hung over?
He claims not to have drunk at all since turning 40, but there is that wedding toast where he is clearly soused, and he is an alcoholic.
The question is not whether he is a drunk, it's whether he is a dry one, or a wet one.

President Bush relaxing with Vladimir Putin yesterday afternoon at the G-8 Summit in Germany


HEILIGENDAMM, Germany (Rotters) - White House sources traveling with the president today stated that he would be officially missing the final morning of the G-8 summit due to a stomach virus. They insisted that there was no cause for concern and that the president would be fit and ready for celebratory functions expected for the evening. An anonymous source for the White House entourage, however, stated that the president's physician was quite concerned over his symptoms and that traces of the rare element Americium had been found in the president's suite as well as in those of other European leaders.

"Stomach virus" my ass!

President Bush came down with a stomach ailment Friday at the G-8 summit in Germany and is resting in his room.

"I'm not sure if it's a stomach virus yet or something like that," Dan Bartlett, counselor to the president told reporters. "He's just not feeling well in his stomach,"

Check out the picture that Yahoo ran with the story.

I'm going to jump on this because I haven't seen anyone else with a diary on it or mention it yet in the blogosphere, but there's concrete evidence out there that Bush has fallen off the wagon if someone with the means can go dig it up. Me and my family sat down around noon today (EST) and saw a particularly interesting live shot on CNN...

VERY short diary - sorry for that.

I was just watching CNN and they were showing video of Bush, Merkel and Blair relaxing and talking at a table and right there in front of the "sober" President, was a bottle of beer and a glass 1/2 full with foam on top.  

I don't know how to get video to add to a diary.  Did anyone else catch this?  Does anyone have it on video that we can add it on here.

Again, sorry for th short diary, but this really shocked me considering how he was "born again" and found god, which enable him to stop drinking.  

More below the fold...