About a month ago I posted “Don’t Read This Blog!” in response to a planned Advertiser blog strike that didn’t materialize. That got more comments than any other post of mine, which just goes to show people will do the opposite of what you tell them to do.

Now I’m told the blog strike will happen, beginning Aug. 25. In the comments section of the aforementioned July 23 thread, I included the “Mad as Hell” speech by Howard Beale in NETWORK. I suggested back then that you add that movie to your Netflix queue and watch it again. Last night, my wife and I did, and we were floored by how much of Paddy Chayefsky’s script was still right on the mark over 30 years later.

I remembered the angry, mad prophet riffs but had forgotten what Beale goes on to say about how television has corrupted our souls, and how corporations have replaced nations, while reducing individuals to cogs in a machine that exists solely to produce and consume products. I forgot about the scenes in which a homegrown terrorist group negotiates contract details with the network for the rights to show their “reality” footage of bank robberies and shootings. I forgot the rant about how the Saudis were buying up America with petro-dollars and holding loan debts over our heads like a sword…

The only updating needed would be to add the internet as the new “illusion” of reality that has replaced books, newspapers and free thought. People now use the internet simply to reinforce what they already want to believe, instead of using it to intelligently discuss ideas or seek alternative viewpoints.

You could also add China to the list of foreign countries that our government is in hock to because of the enormous deficits that have accrued in the past eight years under Bush and Cheney. Which happens to tie into one of Howard Beale’s epiphanies, and a nonfiction book that came out recently, “The Wrecking Crew.”

Beale comes to realize that it doesn’t matter if we sell out to the Saudis, because democracy as we used to know it, is dead. Governments don’t matter because corporations are really the ones who run everything. The world is just one big business. And the corporation that owns the Advertiser doesn’t care about the individual worker — they are just cogs in the profit machine.

The author of “The Wrecking Crew” contends that conservatives actually WANT an inept government, because that leads to contracting everything out to private corporations. Look at Iraq — how much has Halliburton, Cheney’s old company, made in profits from that war? Remember what happened after Hurricane Katrina? Thanks to the inept Bush administration, hundreds of millions had to be doled out to private contractors — who promptly bilked the system.

The same thing is happening with the War on Drugs. Huge contracts have been awarded to private companies, including Blackwater! The biggest beneficiaries of illegal drugs is the prison industry. Building contractors, prison suppliers, guards and administrators are reaping the profits from locking up addicts and casual drug users.

But what NETWORK reminded me most is how apathetic and intellectually lazy people in this country have become. Howard Beale’s ratings nose dive when he begins telling his audience the truth, because it was “depressing.” They just wanted entertainment — the circus. The “Ow, My Balls!” funny bits like in IDIOCRACY. The Blog Lite stuff.

I identify with Howard Beale. A lot of what I write and have to say is depressing — unless we choose to do something about it. I’m hoping in the upcoming elections, enough people will use this opportunity to reject the status quo, and demand a change in direction — and a change in thinking. That includes looking forward on things like rail, and the need to put mass transit systems in place NOW.

We need to stop being so shortsighted and selfish. That’s why I posted Bruce Springsteen’s “Land of Hope and Dreams” on my AA “Unbirthday” blog post (Aug. 19). He sings about a train that carries saints and sinners, gamblers and whores, lost souls, fools and kings… he’s singing about who we really are, and how we can come together if we can put aside the divisiveness that has fallen over this land.

Instead, we have people bickering about how much the train ticket is going to cost, while they turn a blind eye to the death and destruction our runaway train wreck of a government has caused in Iraq, wasting half a trillion dollars of taxpayer money in the process. You’re worried about the GE tax going up, while people like presidential candidate Sen. John McCain joke about bombing Iran next?

Since this may be my last post, regardless of what happens with the blog strike, I’m going to get in my last licks. You’ll find more of Howard Beale’s NETWORK rants in the comments section. Do yourself a favor and rent the DVD. Brilliant stuff.

And please check out this LA Times book review of “The Wrecking Crew.” Here’s a few thought-provoking snips:

HOW CAN we explain the incompetence, the scandals, the corruption, the waste, the giveaways, the bridges to nowhere and the no-bid contracts in Washington, D.C., today? “Fantastic misgovernment of the kind we have seen is not an accident,” Thomas Frank writes in “The Wrecking Crew,” “nor is it the work of a few bad individuals.” Those who run our government “have not done these awful things because they are bad conservatives; they have done them because they are good conservatives.” They want government to fail, he argues, because that gives them a stronger argument for cutting regulations and taxes that reduce corporate profits…

Conservatives don’t want excellent people in government, Frank writes, because that would make government look good; it would make people like government. That principle was stated explicitly starting with the Reagan administration. Lyn Nofziger, Reagan’s political affairs director, said in 1981, “we have told members of the Cabinet we expect them to help us place people who are competent. As far as I’m concerned, anyone who supported Reagan is competent.”

The next step in conservative government is contracting out work — the source of truly big money for corporations and the lobbyists who represent them. Government contractors today not only build submarines and fighter planes; they also collect income taxes and write budgets for federal agencies; at policy meetings about the Iraq war, contractors take the minutes. There are many more people working under government contracts than there are federal employees. And the real goal of federal employees who are conservative is to get out of government and into contracting — or lobbying for contractors.

Well, that’s all I got. Maybe like Howard Beale, “I just ran out of bullsh*t”… but I am still mad as hell. And I’m not gonna take it anymore. Add your own rant if you like, or post your thoughts about whether a blog strike will accomplish anything.

On this blog anyway, you’re still encouraged to think for yourself.

The Advertiser blog strike is supposed to start Monday, Aug. 25, so after Sunday I don’t know when (or if) I’ll be back. One issue is staff writers want to be compensated for extra work, such as blogging, Fair enough. But shouldn’t freelance bloggers be paid for our contributions as well? Content is content, and the Advertiser should pay writers who provide it.

Anyhow, getting back to my Step Study series, here’s what I’ve covered so far: Steps 1 - 3, we admit being powerless over certain things and turn to a Higher Power for help; Steps 4 - 7, make a searching moral inventory of ourselves, admit our wrongs to another person, and ask our Higher Power to help rid ourselves of these defects.

Step 8 says, “Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.” Which is followed by Step 9: “Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.”

This ties in with the Step 4 moral inventory, but wisely the Steps provide a little reflection time before you make amends. Telling someone the complete truth might be hurtful in some instances, so Step 9 says that would be the exception.

I began making amends with my wife and family while I was still in rehab. Then I made long distance calls to friends on the Mainland or sent letters. Everyone was supportive and forgiving. Fortunately, I didn’t have a George Costanza in my life…

You remember that Seinfeld episode, right? The one where Jason, a recovering alcoholic (played by James Spader) fails to make amends as far as George is concerned. At a party years ago, Jason wouldn’t let George borrow his sweater because he was worried George’s “bulbous head” would stretch out the neck hole.

So after George learns from Elaine that Jason is making his amends calls, he confronts Jason and asks for an apology. However, George isn’t satisfied with Jason’s “sorry” and continues to pester the recovering alky until he has a relapse, and both of them wind up at a Rage-aholics Anonymous meeting.

Very funny riffs on 12 Step programs. Here’s a transcript link for “The Apology” episode.

Although Larry David didn’t write that Seinfeld episode, here’s a bonus link to a New Yorker article from last year about how schizophrenic mental patients responded well to his HBO show, Curb Your Enthusiasm (”television’s purest expression of social dysfunction”) because they identified with his character — “the perfect proxy for a schizophrenic person.” Now there’s a guy who should be in Rage-aholics Anonymous!

Just for fun, will post some snips from the “The Apology” episode in my comments for your weekend reading enjoyment.

The Advertiser ran a fairly well-balanced article Tuesday on the Big Island proposal to make “busts of small-time marijuana users” the lowest police priority. Both sides of the argument are presented. But the comments posted show just how ignorant some people choose to be, resorting to childish name calling while they hide behind anonymous names themselves.

I have no problem with people who disagree with my views. In fact, I openly invite them to share their opinions on this blog in an intelligent, thoughtful manner. But those flamers post-and-run because they can’t logically defend their positions.

For instance, one commenter said “druggies” are the cause of all crimes. True, sort of, because we’ve outlawed certain drugs — which has made those drugs valuable black market commodities. That profit motive encourages dealers to take enormous risks and commit crimes. When cops make a bust, do you think that stops the demand for those drugs? Of course not. It only makes the street price go UP due to the temporary shortage in supply.

That makes it costlier for addicts to buy, so they in turn commit more burglaries and robberies to feed their habit. And on and on it goes. Have you noticed that every time the police stage a press conference to tout their latest bust, there are even MORE drugs in each haul? What does that tell you?

It tells us, they are failing at stemming the tide of illegal drugs. In the Advertiser article, Big Island Police Maj. Sam Thomas said the proposed pot ordinance would create “gray areas” that will hamper them. “We need to have a lot of black and white,” he said.

As in Prohibition? Because we know how well THAT worked with alcohol, right? Yet in our Idiocracy, we haven’t learned a damn thing. Prohibition is what led to the rise of the mob, gang wars, and deaths from drinking unregulated rotgut. Things got so bad that the very people who pushed for a total ban on alcohol conceded it had actually made things worse. This is exactly what has happened with Drug Prohibition.

The police already have “black and white” laws on the books about drugs, and guess what — it ain’t working. More people today are smoking pot than ever before. Are we going to lock up every one of them, including all of us older folks who tried grass years ago? If doctors say marijuana is safe enough for sick people to use, why shouldn’t healthy people be allowed to smoke it?

Anyhow, I referred to the Mike Judge movie, “Idiocracy,” because the discourse in the comments section consists largely of moral crusader types calling others “idiots” or “druggies” if they advocate a more pragmatic approach to dealing with drugs and addiction.

I can quote many law enforcement professionals who believe legalizing drugs is the only way we can effectively control them. I can provide statistics that show federal and state efforts to stop illegal drugs have failed miserably, despite our government spending hundreds of billions of tax dollars over the past four decades. But what do the heads-in-the-sand commenters offer to support their argument? Nothing but stuff like: “Druggies bad! Lock up potheads! Ugh, me tough on crime!”

As for the movie, “Idiocracy,” funny premise but falls flat, unfortunately. Still worth catching on HBO though. The problem is it’s almost like watching a documentary about how dumb our country has become.

In the comments, I’ll tell you what a conservative California judge says would happen if we legalized marijuana… and all of them are positive benefits to society.

On Aug. 19, 1988 I checked into rehab and attended my first AA meeting. I have been clean and sober ever since. Time flies when you’re able to remember it. But this isn’t going to be one of those whimsical or nostalgic “I can’t believe I’m 25… 30… 35… 40!” birthday columns. Ugh.

Don’t get me wrong — AA birthdays are important to recovering alkys. I even told my family that Aug. 19 meant more to me than my “belly button birthday” as friends of Bill W. call them, because had it not been for getting into recovery, I probably wouldn’t be alive today.

So instead, I want to thank the people who cared enough to intervene and even confront me about my drinking. My wife gave me unconditional love, but made it clear she would not watch me destroy myself. Isabel also did the research and leg work to make sure a bed in rehab was available when I was finally ready for it. She believed in me, even when I had doubts I could change my ways.

However, there is another hero in my life who doesn’t even know it. Harvey was a telemarketing sales rep who worked for me at a New York legal publishing company. I was a young hotshot marketing director, single, making good money, and partying hard in my off hours. I’d come in hung over, then sneak out for liquid lunches and return to the office buzzed.

One afternoon, Harvey nervously asked if we could talk. He was an older guy, had bad teeth, and wasn’t exactly executive material. He knew I could fire him on the spot. Yet he had the courage to tell me to my face that he thought I might have a drinking problem. Harvey was a recovering alcoholic. He was doing a 12 Step on me, after talking to his AA sponsor about the situation.

I didn’t go to a meeting with him or seek counseling at that time. But I was moved by Harvey’s honesty and the fact that he was willing to risk his own job to help me. It would take me three more years and my wife’s pleas before I finally surrendered. Knowing there were people like Harvey in the world made it easier for me to open up once I started going to 12 Step meetings. He was the first “friend of Bill W.” (one of the founders of AA) I ever met.

So if you know someone who has a problem, find the courage to talk to them about it. Tell them you love them and want them to get help. If you aren’t sure how to go about it, you can send me an email (richfigel@gmail.com).

For me, sobriety is a gift I get to share with others now… And to Harvey, wherever you are, thank you.

A Kauai “Addicted” reader sent me a heads-up on a “Got Windmills” blog post about a drug sweep on the Garden Isle. Here’s an excerpt:

SNIFFIN’ THE WRONG PACKAGE: It sounds like KPD has nothing better to do than bust low level drug offenders, according to an article in today’s local paper.

Apparently 24 “targeted street level users and dealers as well as mid-level dealers” were arrested over the last 2 ½ days, for various “drug” offenses.

… But the lack of a mention of what specific “drugs” were involved makes us wonder how many were simple marijuana users and, if so, what the heck we’re doing using our already short staffed and thinly-funded police department for busting people for using an innocuous safe and effective medication.

The blog goes on to contrast that lock ‘em up strategy with a more progressive approach being floated on the Big Island. The Hawaii Tribune-Herald reports:

Voters will decide in November whether or not to approve a law that will make enforcement of marijuana laws in certain instances a lower priority than all other laws. The measure would apply only to adults age 21 and older possessing or growing up to 24 plants, or possessing up to 24 ounces of dried marijuana.

I can’t comment on the Kauai arrests since I don’t know the details. But they could arrest every single drug dealer on the island, and within two months, there will be new dealers who will take their place. This very scenario has actually played out in urban cities on the Mainland, and we see it locally in “Weed and Seed” areas where the weeds come back once the police’s attention shifts elsewhere.

What’s really needed in Kauai is more treatment programs for addicts. There is currently NO residential treatment facility on the entire island. That’s right — none whatsoever. Hina Mauka is trying to establish a Therapeutic Living Program to house a small number of in-patient addicts on Kauai, but has already met with resistance on Oahu when they tried to start a TLP in Waianae recently. People mistakenly confuse TLPs with “clean and sober houses” which may not have 24/7 supervision as TLPs do. More on the NIMBY mindset in a future blog post.

As for the Big Island measure, I think it’s largely symbolic. But it’s a step in the right direction. Pot should be legalized and regulated the same way alcohol and tobacco are. Studies show a majority of Americans have tried grass, and the percentage who become addicted to pot is relatively small. Compared to other “legal” drugs, marijuana is far less dangerous and has fewer side effects.

BTW, I think the Advertiser article in Sunday’s Island Life feature section about prescription meds and kids was pretty good. While it’s true we’re not seeing a huge surge of kids getting hooked on meds, I’d like to remind people that when I first heard about crystal meth in 1988, no one thought that was a big problem at the time either.

But after talking to a couple of early “ice” addicts while I was in rehab 20 years ago, I knew meth was gonna blow up big time. I have that same gut feeling about prescription meds. Kids today are growing up with the false illusion that pills are “safe” since adults are popping more and more for every problem we can imagine. I think that’s something we really need to keep our eye on too… older people becoming addicted to meds and pain-killers.

Keep those news tips and questions coming! And as always, you can post any kine comments related to addictions and recovery, not just today’s topic.