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Research has shown that there are different degrees of drinking disorders, and many people can change habits on their own. Seventy years ago, Bill Wilson -- the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous -- declared his powerlessness over alcohol in a book by the same name. The failed businessman contended that, as an alcoholic, he had to "hit bottom" before changing his life and that sobriety could only be achieved through complete abstention. For generations, Americans took these tenets to be true for everyone. Top addiction experts are no longer sure. They now say that many drinkers can evaluate their habits and...

“DREAMS OF MY VIOLENT DRUNKARD FATHER” thelastcrusade.org Our alcoholic father beat me, says Barack Obama's half brother, Mark As the US President arrives in China, Barack Obama's half brother reveals that when he was a child their father was a violent drunk Telegraph & News Sources On the eve of his older sibling's first-ever visit to China, Mark Okoth Obama Ndesandjo has emerged from the shadows to reveal the disturbing truth about the late Barack Obama Sr, his and President Obama's father.Last week, Mr Ndesandjo published an autobiographical novel, Nairobi to Shenzhen: A Tale of Love In The East....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVZUypdHEkQ Once was a man who had lost all his direction. And soon his friends put it all up for inspection. "Think it's because of the alcohol. You drink alone -- well beyond last call. Donate your corpse or your liver for dissection." He took offense, swore he wasn't such a boozer. "Pile on me, now, since you're all a bunch of losers. Might take a drink, but I keep my job. Out of my sight. You're a hateful mob. Once called you friends, but I'll be a better chooser." "Who thought this up? Who's the saint of spotless virtue?...

Senator Ted Kennedy has died.

San Francisco has paid at least $150,000 for Kenny Walters in the past year. He isn't employed, has an arrest record as long as his hair, and can often be found passed out in a doorway on Haight Street. Kenny Walters' job is to get drunk. He's certainly not alone. "Chronic inebriants" are a grim and disturbing fact of life in San Francisco. They also cost the city millions. The frustration is that the public service network - police, fire and medical professionals - doesn't seem to make a dent when it comes to people like Walters. There are suggestions,...

Published on More Intelligent Life (http://moreintelligentlife.com) WHEN NOVELISTS SOBER UP By Tom Shone Created 20/07/2009 - 10:57 Writers who drink are old hat. But what about writers who quit drinking? Tom Shone has been studying them for his new novel ...From INTELLIGENT LIFE Magazine, Summer 2009John Cheever was most unhappy to be picked up for vagrancy by the cops. “My name is John Cheever [1]!” he bellowed. “Are you out of your mind?” Found sharing some hooch with the down-and-outs in downtown Boston, he was promptly admitted to Smithers Alcoholism Treatment Centre on Manhattan’s East 93rd Street, where he...

MOSCOW, June 26 (Reuters) - Cheap and illicit alcohol kills more than half Russian men and women in their most productive years and the government must act urgently to reverse the trend, a study to be published in The Lancet at the weekend said. "Excessive alcohol consumption in Russia, particularly by men, has in several recent years caused more than half of all the deaths at ages of 15-54 years," the Lancet article said. The research conducted in three industrial cities -- Tomsk, Barnaul and Biysk -- said "excess mortality from liver cancer, throat cancer, liver disease, and pancreatic disease...

TULSA, OK -- Tulsa Congressman John Sullivan has checked himself into the Betty Ford Center in California to treat an alcohol addiction. "To ensure my success in this fight, I've decided to take a temporary leave of absence from Congress," he said in a statement. "I value my relationship with the citizens of Oklahoma's First Congressional District, whom I am privileged and honored to have served for the past eight years. So, I wanted to be open and honest on this tough situation. "I ask for your continued support and prayers as I face the challenges that lay ahead. I...

Chinese hookers have a drinking problem. Obama has the answer: U.S. Tax money. So it appears that the President of “change” seems to be The One that drunken Chinese prostitutes “have been waiting for.” Our informative friends at CNSNews.com discovered that the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse (NIAA) has been awarded $2.6 million U.S. tax dollars to help train Chinese prostitutes to “drink responsibly on the job.” Yes, I said Chinese prostitutes… in China. One wonders if the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse missed the salient fact that they have the word National in their moniker? Or perhaps the NIAA...

(CNSNews.com) -- The National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAA), a part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), will pay $2.6 million in U.S. tax dollars to train Chinese prostitutes to drink responsibly on the job. Dr. Xiaoming Li, the researcher conducting the program, is director of the Prevention Research Center at Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit. The grant, made last November, refers to prostitutes as "female sex workers"--or FSW--and their handlers as "gatekeepers." "Previous studies in Asia and Africa and our own data from FSWs [female sex workers] in China suggest that the social...

“Let’s go boatin’!” is the call that echoes off the walls of the Grand Canyon during my guided tours. It gets people moving and ready to head down river. In my years as a guide, I’ve had the privilege of taking thousands of people through the Grand Canyon, through what I now believe to be one of God’s true, created wonders. My love for the Grand Canyon started in 1980 when I went on my first river trip. The following year, I started working as a part-time guide, and in 1983, I left my corporate life to work in the...

‘NK Leader’s Younger Sister in Critical Condition’ MARCH 24, 2009 09:40 Kim Kyong Hui, the younger sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and wife of powerful Workers` Party member Chang Sung Taek, is said to be in critical condition or almost in a coma due to complications associated with alcohol use disorders. French neurosurgeon Francois-Xavier Roux, 65, who was recruited by the North Korean leader’s eldest son Kim Jong Nam, is said to have treated Kim Kyong Hui, 63. A Korean-Japanese businessman who can freely enter Pyongyang via Beijing said yesterday that her long addiction to alcohol caused...

A man who became trapped beneath his sofa for two days said he survived by sipping from a bottle of whisky. Joe Galliott, 65, lost his bearings during a power cut at his home in Yeovil, Somerset, and fell against the three-seater which toppled onto him. Because of back problems, he was unable to free his 19-stone frame and remained stuck for 60 hours until a neighbour spotted him through the curtains. He said a bottle of whisky, which had rolled within reach, kept him going. "The whole settee tipped over catching me like a rat in a trap," he...

Emily Miller made a beeline for a rack of gowns, grabbing a fuschia dress and a stole for an inaugural ball Tuesday. Combing through the display tables, she added silver pumps, a beaded choker and earrings. Then, she enjoyed a manicure as live jazz played in the background. Many inaugural celebrants shelled out hundreds - if not thousands - of dollars to attend one of the dozens of balls across the nation's capital. But Miller, who until four months ago had been homeless, will pay nothing. The opportunity comes courtesy of Virginia businessman Earl W. Stafford and his nonprofit foundation,...

"Today, Russia doesn't look better or worse than the rest of the world," Evgeny Bryun, Moscow's chief physician, said this week. Despite statistics that prove otherwise, Bryun said the image of the average Russian man as a vodka-swilling beer lover was simply a myth. Russians only seriously began drinking after the end of the Second World War – and the party just lasted too long, he said. "Soldiers got used to drinking at the front, they celebrated the victory, and this celebration lasted for a very long time," Bryun said. Bryun's flippant comments stand in stark contrast to a state...

As we pass into a new year, always a time for contemplation, I'm reminded of the circumstances that brought me where I am today. As always, a new year brings hope and promise for better character, more patience, and not a little tolerance. At least for this struggling addict. Struggling? Yes, just because one is abstaining from the vices that shape character and warp morality, doesn't mean those influences are not lurking just outside peripheral vision. Drug and alcohol abuse is merely symptom of addiction. In order to rid one of a need for a crutch, one must acknowledge the...

An eminent French cardiologist has triggered an impassioned debate in the medical world over his claim to have discovered a cure for alcoholism. Dr Olivier Ameisen, 55, one of France's top heart specialists,says he overcame his own addiction to alcohol by self-administering doses of a muscle-relaxant called baclofen. He has now written a book about his experience - Le Dernier Verre (The Last Glass) - in which he calls for clinical trials to test his theory that baclofen suppresses the craving for drink. Widespread media coverage of his book in France has led to a rush of demands from alcoholics...

Today I celebrate my 5th Year of sobriety (although there have been a few days recently that I almost wished I could drink, but not really). October 7, 2003 was my last drop of alcohol... I said "almost wished" above, I didn't really consider it...but we do live in "interesting times". Too interesting I think... Here was my first thread on the subject, way back in Dec 2004 when I was just a 14 month old sober guy: If You Suspect You Might Have A Drinking Problem (An Open Letter)Since then we have our Addiction Recovery Ping list which is...

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People recovering from alcoholism seem to drink more coffee and have a higher rate of smoking than the average American, a new study shows. The researchers found that among 289 members of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), 88.5 percent regularly drank coffee, often in large amounts. One third of coffee drinkers said they downed more than four cups per day. In addition, 57 percent of the group said that they smoked -- much higher than the general rate of 27 percent in Nashville, Tennessee, where the study was conducted. The findings, published online by the journal Alcoholism:...

One of the most insidious things about the disease of alcoholism–and it is a disease, despite the best efforts of thundering moralists to deny the science and the plain medical and biochemical facts–is that it plays on your character defects (which all people have) and, worse, it progresses slowly. Biochemically, it’s known to generally progress faster in women, for a variety of reasons that are understood (women are generally smaller, with consequent lower blood volume on average, and may also be able to conceal drinking better if they’re stay-at-home moms) and some of which undoubtedly are not currently understood. But...

Like most patients assigned to my substance abuse clinic these days, John, a stylish 22-year-old cosmetology student, did not arrive voluntarily. After two drunken driving violations, one in which another motorist was injured, a judge ordered John to attend a weekly recovery group I conduct for young adults facing similar legal troubles. But that was hardly the biggest stick the judge had at his disposal. “This Scram keeps me from even thinking about drinking,” John immediately told me as he raised a pant leg and pointed to a boxy plastic ankle bracelet that looked neither cool nor comfortable. Scram, for...

DEAR ONES, IF any of you have suffered at all at the hands of Alcoholism in any form via any connection, then you may well know something of the traumas involved between and behind the hubby's words below. I believe that only The Grace of God AND great persistent dogged efforts on the part of all concerned can bring victory in such matters. PLEASE pray with me in behalf of this whole family . . . --that the wife will decide deeply and comprehensively to be done with such an addiction, affliction, oppression . . . --that her family members...

One in three employees admits they have been to work with a hangover and more than one in 10 has been drunk at their desk, a study suggests. Staff said they made mistakes, struggled to concentrate and had to go home early as a result of drinking. Four out of five employers say alcohol is the biggest threat to the well-being of their staff, according to a survey for Norwich Union Healthcare. Alcohol Concern said bosses needed to be aware of symptoms of alcohol abuse. One thousand people and 250 businesses were interviewed about drinking habits for the survey. Of...

Natural Selection Protected Some East Asian Populations From Alcoholism, Study Suggests ScienceDaily (Apr. 3, 2008) — Some change in the environment in many East Asian communities during the past few thousand years may have protected residents from becoming alcoholics, a new genetic analysis conducted by Yale School of Medicine researchers suggests. Scientists have long known that many Asians carry variants of genes that help regulate alcohol metabolism. Some of those genetic variants can make people feel uncomfortable, sometimes even ill, when drinking small amounts of alcohol. As a result of the prevalence of this gene, many, but not all, communities...

Previous observational studies have reported that heavy alcohol intake is a risk factor for hypertension but such studies may be confounded by factors such as diet, smoking, exercise levels and socio-economic position. Clinical trials exploring the link are difficult to implement and have limited follow-up time. The Bristol study, led by Dr Sarah Lewis of the University's Department of Social Medicine, took a different approach focused on people who have a mutation on a gene which affects their body's ability to eliminate alcohol. Alcohol is initially metabolised to an intermediate compound, acetaldehyde, which is further metabolised and then eliminated from...

BALTIMORE, Md. (AP) - President Bush on Tuesday referred to his former struggles with alcohol as an "addiction," a blunt characterization of his less disciplined adult days before a reliance on faith help him turn his life around. "Addiction is hard to overcome," Bush said in speaking at a faith- based center that helps former prisoners get job training and other help. "As you might remember, I drank too much at one time in my life," Bush said. "I understand faith-based programs. I understand that sometimes you can find the inspiration from a higher power to solve an addiction problem."...

More than 30% of Americans engage in risky drinking at some point in their lives... ...Researchers have made up dozens of screening tests over the years. According to one developed for Johns Hopkins University Hospital years ago that still pops up on the Web, I'm "definitely an alcoholic" because I answered yes to at least three of 20 questions... But Alcoholscreening.org3 says I'm "below the range usually associated with harmful drinking or alcoholism" since I have only a glass or two of wine when I drink. The authoritative American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM-IV,...

Costly treatment for drug addiction spurs heated debate ...The treatment, called Prometa, is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration as an addiction therapy, nor has it undergone extensive scientific testing... [ Snip ] David Smart turned to Prometa when he hit rock bottom eight months ago. Smart had lost everything -- his wife, his family, his job and his home... [ Snip ] "I had tried everything and nothing worked for me," said Smart, 41, of suburban Tacoma, Wash. "But Prometa has." Mario Acosta Jr. also tried Prometa but relapsed within days of completing treatment... ... He took...

Joan Kennedy’s battle with alcoholism has again landed her in treatment after a Friday night drinking binge, a heartbreaking setback that could spell more legal trouble for the ex-wife of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, the Herald has learned. Kennedy allegedly became intoxicated at a weekend social event and was taken to a Boston hospital by her caretakers. She is under a judge’s order to refrain from drinking alcohol, part of a deal struck with her children last year in Barnstable family court. Her latest troubles occurred Friday night when her caretakers took her to a charity meeting in Boston, during...

Please Help me find the Mark Twain passage where he deals with the 'redemption' of a drunk and the bliss and hopes pinned on the success, and the obvious falling back into alcoholism of a town drunk. (I remember it being a few pages...) I've spent HOURS trying to find it. Thanks, Sarah

Sweden has long been at the forefront of brain research, but what is happening in this field today? And is it really possible to train the brain, as Professor Torkel Klingberg claims?

Columbia, Mo. —- Ah, college life. All-night study sessions in the library. Professors challenging the conventional wisdom. Snowball battles on the quad. Get real. For students at the University of Missouri-Columbia, college is all about casual sex, meddling parents, foul-mouthed friendships and partying until you puke —- that is, if you believe the portrayal in The Booze News, a new weekly newspaper that glorifies the wonders of heavy drinking. The publication's founders, a pair of University of Illinois graduates, call The Booze News an over-the-top satire modeled after The Onion, the parody newspaper started by college students in Madison, Wis.,...

LONDON (AP) — Last call at a British pub can be like a contact sport, with a crush of drunken customers suddenly heaving toward the bar in search of one last round. It's a hallowed British tradition, and doctors say an increasingly dangerous one. Britain's taste for binge drinking, driven by a pub culture in which a good night out means packing in as many pints as possible before the traditional 11 p.m. closing time, could lead to a liver-disease epidemic within two decades unless Britons learn to drink more responsibly, authorities warned. "There's been a frightening increase in alcoholic...

Denver -- Court documents show Colorado's top federal judge was too drunk to remember how he spent more than $3,000 at a strip club in two consecutive days. He also used an Internet dating service while he was married. Judge Edward Nottingham is the chief federal judge in Colorado and he is held to the highest standards of personal and professional conduct. Nottingham recently presided over the insider trading trial of ex-Qwest Communications CEO Joseph Nacchio. Nottingham married his wife, Marcie Jaeger, on one of the most romantic days of the year – Valentine's Day 2004. The marriage ended after...

"Pre-emptive war" got us into a real mess in Iraq. So maybe we ought to think twice before adopting similar measures when it comes to traffic law. Specifically, when it comes to an idea floated by Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) to require that all new cars be fitted with an ignition interlock that can detect alcohol in the driver's system -- and shut the car down if it does. Several large automakers (including GM, Ford, Toyota and Honda) also support the idea -- and are working on ways to get these things into new cars, maybe within the next...

CHICAGO - More than 30 percent of American adults have abused alcohol or suffered from alcoholism at some point in their lives, and few have received treatment, according to a new government study. Alcoholics who got treatment first received it, on average, at about age 30 — eight years after they developed dependence on drinking, researchers reported. "That's a big lag," especially combined with the fact that only 24 percent of alcoholics reported receiving any treatment at all, said study co-author Bridget Grant of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. The treatment rate for alcoholics was slightly less...

Okay, dismiss this as fluff vanity, but there's a purpose. I've been looking for a good movie to demonstrate alcoholism and where it leads, and I remember how brutally honest this movie was. Yet, it is completely unavailable. At any price. Does anybody know why?

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I am asking for prayers from my Freeper family. My mother has been (unsuccessfully) battling a decades-old addiction to alcohol. Tuesday night she went to the hospital with a blood alcohol of 3.8. Wednesday night she was rushed to the hospital after drinking as much as she could in addition to taking a bunch of different pills in an effort to kill herself. I just got a call this morning that her DTs were so bad they had to intubate her and she is on a respirator, which is against her wishes. The hospital did not have her DNR information...

MEL Gibson says he is thankful for the experience, which has followed his drunken, anti-Semitic ramble to police officers who charged him with drink driving last year. "It's like God tapping you on the shoulder and saying, `Hey Bud – pull up for a second and sit still. Who are you? What are you doing?' That's all, and that's a gift," the actor turned filmmaker told the Nine Network's A Current Affair. In the first part of an interview to be completed on tomorrow's Today show, the Australian-raised Oscar-winning actor told Richard Wilkins he had put the July 28 incident...

Last night a "GDFD" (get drunk, fall down) was brought into the Emergency Department by aid car. She arrived, as most drunks do, bellowing obscenities and calling the staff vile names. And this young lady was also a spitter. Nice.The law allows us to restrain a patient who poses a threat to himself or to staff, and our MD, a particularly excellent one, wasted no time in decreeing that it be made so. Security is always down there, so we summoned them to help us put the leathers and a spit sock on the young lady. We then shifted her...

by Amanda Russell Other Articles by Amanda Russell How Could She Do That? 10/23/06 While doing pro-life work in my parish, I sometimes hear this question being asked by well-intentioned people referring to an unknown woman who has had an abortion. They don't understand how a woman could have her baby aborted, and think that if we can just get women to realize that the cells growing inside them are in fact already a baby, then women would no longer have abortions. In This Article...All AloneThe MovementQuestions and Answers All Alone However, in their zeal to protect the unborn baby, pro-life...

Foley Acquaintances Question Alcoholism By BRIAN SKOLOFF The Associated Press Tuesday, October 3, 2006; 8:39 PM WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- When disgraced former Rep. Mark Foley announced he was entering rehab for treatment of alcoholism and "other behavioral problems," some of those who have known him for years were shocked and suspicious. Some friends and acquaintances said they rarely saw him drink. A former colleague, Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., said on Fox News Channel: "I don't buy this at all. I think this is a phony defense. The fact is, I think he's responsible for what he did here...

Mel Gibson pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor drunken-driving charge Thursday and was sentenced to three years' probation, the district attorney's office said. Gibson did not appear but entered the plea through his attorney before Superior Court Judge Lawrence Mira, Deputy District Attorney Gina Satriano said in a statement. Two counts in the original three-count complaint were dismissed, and Gibson volunteered to do public-service announcements on the hazards of drinking and driving, and to immediately enter rehabilitation, Satriano said. The arraignment was originally scheduled for Sept. 28 but was moved up at the request of Gibson's attorney. Gibson was stopped...

Acclaimed actor-comedian Robin Williams has checked himself into rehab to battle alcoholism. According to "Access Hollywood," Williams' publicist announced the actor's decision to seek treatment. "After 20 years of sobriety, Robin Williams found himself drinking again and has decided to take proactive measures to deal with this for his own well-being and the well-being of his family. He asks that you respect his and his family's privacy during this time. He looks forward to returning to work this fall to support his upcoming film releases." No further details were made available. Williams made his mark on the television sitcom "Mork...

1. If you owe someone money, always pay them back in a bar. Preferably during happy hour. 2. Always toast before doing a shot. 3. Whoever buys the shot gets the first chance to offer a toast. 4. Change your toast at least once a month. 5. Buying someone a drink is five times better than a handshake. 6. Buying a strange woman a drink is still cool. Buying all her drinks is dumb. 7. Never borrow more than one cigarette from the same person in one night. 8. When the bartender is slammed, resist the powerful urge to order...

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. -- No one saw it coming. Not his agent or his bosses; the shoot he had just wrapped had been long, strange and physically difficult but not out of control. Certainly the friends with whom he spent his last scandal-free afternoon had no idea that Mel Gibson was about to go on a life-changing bender. If they had, they would have done everything to stop it, because while conventional wisdom has it that Mel Gibson has been sober since the early 1990s, some of those close to him acknowledge that he has been on and off the wagon...

I'm listening to Dennis Prager. Has anyone else been listening? Earlier, he had Michael Medved on as a guest. They began by discussing the shootings in Seattle, where Medved lives. Then they shifted to Mel Gibson's anti-Semitic statements. Medved left, but Prager is continuing to discuss the issue. Their comments have been nuanced and devoid of hysteria. I imagine that Micheal will discuss this on his show today. Also, Dennis said he would appear on Larry King's show to discuss a number of issues.

July 31, 2006 — Mel Gibson has reportedly sought rehab treatment, three days after he was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence. "He is in a program of recovery at this time," Gibson's spokesman, Alan Neirob, told Star magazine. The 50-year-old Oscar-winning director and actor was arrested Friday in Los Angeles. Law enforcement officers said they clocked him doing 87 mph in a 45 mph zone. A breath test indicated Gibson's blood-alcohol level was 0.12 percent, sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said. In California a driver is legally intoxicated at 0.08 percent. While it's not known where Gibson will...

Every morning, Mel Gibson strolls through the oleander-filled gardens of his mansion high above the Pacific Ocean and disappears inside his private family chapel. Kneeling alone, the actor will confess his sins then pray in silence for an hour. It is a ritual on which the fiercely devout Gibson has come to rely in recent years. His appearance at his Malibu confessional on Friday morning might, one suspects, have stretched somewhat beyond the usual 60 minutes. And given the sore head he was no doubt nursing, the Hollywood star must have been thankful for its quiet tranquillity. An hour earlier,...