By Katharine Q. Seelye

Barack Obama began preparing for his transition to the White House several months ago, and formally established his transition office right after his election. But the team planning his inaugural, set for Jan. 20, is just starting to take shape.

One person who is expected to play a prominent role on the inaugural committee is William Daley, according to people close to the process.

Mr. Daley was commerce secretary under President Bill Clinton, is a brother of the mayor of Chicago and a member of the Obama inner circle.

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Well, that depends.  While using drugs that addict is worse than worthless.  While using an addict’s worth is in the negative numbers - they will lie and steal - to any one, any where, any time.  When not using they return to their normal human pain-in-the-ass personalities.  They are normal in the sense that humans are basically a pain-in-the-ass.  It is as if they have a mind of their own - they can’t be trained to anything that resembles predictability.

When we speak of an addict in this article we include alcoholics.  The problem of worth rests in the failure of recovery.  Alcoholics Anonymous has a success rate of less than twenty percent.  Most treatment centers have even less success.  If you ask AA or the treatment center what the problem is they will tell you it is the fault of the addict.  “They are just not ready.”

Modern treatment modalities are clearly failing this public health pandemic.  I submit that AA and the treatment centers are in a form of denial - the same accusation they make against their patients or clients or whatever they call their prospects.

In any other field of medicine these success rates would not be tolerated.  One might even suggest that the treatment process is worthless.  The addicts who succeed in breaking their cycle of addiction would probably have been as successful with out the treatment.  That may be a little unfair - Drug Treatment programs offer some useful education to the addict.  A 21-28 day program also helps the addict break some old habits (a habit is different than an addiction).

The value of programs like AA and Narcotics Anonymous is in the group therapy, and huge support networks that span the globe. These support systems are valuable because generally the addict’s family and friends are not sympathetic to their struggle.  We submit that the idea of group therapy is a direct result of Alcoholics Anonymous - a major contribution to psychotherapy.

The Twelve Step process is a form of education - but contains some of the basic principles of fanatical religious cults.  We are talking about confession and redemption - both common elements to Jim Jones in Jonestown and David Koresh of the Branch Davidians. These processes are frequently used to assault the self esteem of the recovering addict - to keep them down - to keep them dependent on the process.  Thus the process is self perpetuated.

So back to the original question - Are Addicts Worthless?  Properly dried and ground into dust with a little lye added they make a pretty good bar of soap.  They are useful in maintaining jobs in State Prison Systems.  Some people thought those last two sentences were humerous - others were nodding their agreement.

Weak wines and weak beers have been around for about ten thousand years.  Opium has been around as long but was considered a mild drug until the 1500’s - when the Chinese figured out that smoking it would magnify the effect.  The world of serious drug addiction can probably be traced back to that time period.  The Chinese became so frustrated with opium addicts that for a while they just shot the addicts on sight.  There was no hope.

Cocaine is a product of the cocoa leaf - a very mild narcotic when the leaf was chewed.  Chewing a cocoa leaf was like taking a coffee break - you get a little charge and keep on working.  In 1850 the cocaine powder was synthesized from the leaf.  By 1900 the world recognized the new miracle drug as the horror of powerful addiction.  Heroin was synthesized from opium in 1898 - and the world came crashing down for millions of new addicts.  Cocaine is an upper, Heroin is a downer - the two fundamental classes or narcotic drugs.

Alcohol and marijuana have about seven percent addiction rates - so they are more tolerated by society.  Cocaine, Heroin, and methamphetimines have addiction rates in the 90 percentile.  We are talking about a craving so powerful that every thing else in life is secondary - including family, friends, work, and even the addict’s own life.

It is said in the treatment and support group community that once and addict, always an addict.  This is not scientific fact - but is statistically correct. This simply means that clinical observation suggests a former addict cannot get near the substance of their desire without experiencing the pwoerful craving.  There are clinical studies which have identified specific brain chemicals affected by a variety of narcotics.

It seems anecdotally that something changes in the brain of the addict - once addicted.  The pleasure centers of the brain crave their past joy - and continually seek gratification.  No one really know why - there are several theories.

So again - back to the beginning question - Are Addicts Worthless?

The answer is that addicts can be free of their disability.  Modern treatment centers that insist on Twelve Step models - a sort of ‘one size fits all’ mentality - have poor success rates.  We can say that Twelve Step programs are effective for a part of the population - but we are unable to predict which part.

New studies are breaking through the myths of the past fifty years.  Three of the myths are central to the ineffective treatment of addicts.

1. Addictive Personalities - this is recognized today as a myth.  Once the drug is removed the addicts seem to return to the broad spectrum of personalities of the rest of the population.
2. Denial - new studies suggest that the denial function of addicts is not greater than in the general population.
3. Confrontation is an effective counseling style - wrong again, in fact the brutal confrontation of treatment centers provokes normal defense responses which are mis-characterized as denial.

These myths are dominant in modern treatment programs - and these programs have poor success rates.  These programs blame the addict for the failure of treatment.  Who, I ask, is in denial?

Are drug addicts worthless?  Drug addicts are humans suffering a debilitating illness.  The solution is a renewed effort to find medical treatment processes that have much higher success rates.  The only way to succeed in this venture is for treatment programs to open their minds about the possibility of better practice.

And with drug addiction reaching pandemic proportions, we should begin today.

by Frank James

Have the federal bailouts been biased towards white-collar and against blue-collar workers?

That question was starkly raised by Rep. Barney Frank, chair of the House Financial Services Committee, which yesterday heard the chief executives of the Big Three automakers beseech Congress for $25 billion in taxpayer-funded loans.

Frank, the committee’s chair, said:

I have been struck, not happily, in the time that we’ve been discussing this, at what frankly seems to me an inherent cultural bias. There’s a double standard here. Aid to blue-collar employees is being judged by a standard different than white-collar employees.

Now, I have no complaint about white-collar employees. They are my friends and constituents, as are others. But I do not remember complaints — and I’m not talking about CEO compensation. And let me just add one thing. We have the CEOs with us. People have said, “Well, we’re bailing them out. Should we deal with them?…”

… But while there was some talk about CEO compensation, there was none about the compensation of the people who work at these financial houses. And I am sure that even before the concessions in the recent contract, the hourly wage of people at the financial houses that have received assistance through the federal government are a good deal higher than auto workers. I think the average AIG worker gets a good deal more than the auto workers — probably not the clerical people, but the people at AIG.

There is apparently a cultural conditioning that’s more prepared to accept aid to the white-collar industry than to the blue-collar industry, and I think that has to be confronted honestly. Look, the $700 billion and this much smaller amount have in common the following: The justification for them has to be the impact on the broader economy. We have no right trying to help an industry for that industry’s sake.

One point to make is that when Frank in September argued for the $700 billion bailout package in September, he said it was important to pass in part because it would help blue-collar workers among others.

On Sept. 22, he told reporters:

The issue here is that the credit system of the country is clogging up. I’ve had people in the business of providing automobile finance say that they may go out of business. If people can’t buy cars, salesmen can’t sell cars, automobile workers can’t make cars. There’s a real clog from all these — from these kinds of things.

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Sunday, November 16, 2008; Page B07

The deeper one digs into the returns from this past election, the more portentous the results seem.

I know the dangers of deciding too soon that any one election is a turning point. I recall vividly how devastated Republicans were after Lyndon Johnson’s landslide victory over Barry Goldwater in 1964. But four years later, Richard Nixon was on his way to the White House.

The Democrats were equally disconsolate after losing to George H.W. Bush in 1988, their third straight presidential defeat. But what Michael Dukakis could not do that year, Bill Clinton accomplished in 1992.

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The old man who cleaned our office, back in the 1970’s, would sometimes talk of the great depression.  “Ohg,” he would say, “Bread was a nickel a loaf, but nobody had a nickel.”  Then Jimmie would smile and go about his business.  Jimmie had a different comfort level - his tolerance for meagerness was greater than ours.

Our parents were born in 1923.  Their life as very different from the lives of our youth today.  The Great Depression aside - our parents lived simple and frugal lives.  Our mother saw her first airplane at the State Fair.  The idea of space travel, of going to he moon, was ludicrous.  Our father told of his third grade teacher telling the class that we could never go to the moon.  Her conjecture was simple.  If we built railroad tracks all the way to the moon we could not carry enough food to support us through the trip.  The people of 1930 listened to the economic news on their neighbor’s radio.  Neighborhoods had grocery stores and hardware stores - the people walked for most of their needs.  Different times, different understandings.

The point is simple - the generation of 2008 has a very different comfort level - that economic threshold of tolerance.  It is only the most poor among us who are acclimated to the type of disaster a Depression would bring.  Most of us will suffer beyond our imagination if the economic crisis devolves into a true Depression.

Small businesses were very different in 1930.  The idea of a small business was the neighborhood grocery, or hardware store.  Perhaps a skilled craftsman would begin a carpentry or plumbing business.  In today’s world many of the small businesses are niche markets feeding on big corporate contracts.  We live in Punkin Center, Missouri, and there is no business here.  But down in St. Joe there is a fella who runs a small business repackaging materials for some big company.   Our point is that most small businesses are not locally dependent - but are dependent on the larger economy.

This writer believes that people have economic ‘comfort zones.’  Some live frugally, driving the wheels off their old cars, they have not owned a cell phone, they repair their toaster rather than buy a new appliance.  These people will tolerate an economic downturn.  But the vast majority of Americans are in for a very rude awakening about comfort.

We think the Congress failed to understand the inter-dependencies of a global economy.  The idea of pushing the regulatory oversight to the State level was and is a silly and naive idea.  The idea that government is inherently ‘bad’ seems silly.  We also believe it is silly and foolish for the federal Government, or any government, to try to maintain luxurious life for all citizens.

So how does this generation define luxury?  How does this generation define ‘hardship?’  For some, the loss of their cell phone would constitute a Depression.

Readers - what is your comfort zone?  What loss of a modern item would cause you to suffer?

See: Where is Woody Guthrie

By John Crawley and Kevin Drawbaugh

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. auto executives went to Capitol Hill for a second day on Wednesday to argue their case for $25 billion in aid as legislators proposed changes to help a bailout pass Congressional and White House muster.

The day’s hearings, before the House Financial Services Committee, got off to a rousing start when panel Chairman Barney Frank asked how the government could justify a bailout for banks and insurers, but not the automakers.

“Frankly, there seems to me to be an inherent cultural bias,” Frank said. “Aid to blue-collar employees is being judged by a standard different than white-collar employees.”

The weakened economy and global credit crisis pushed the U.S. government into bailing out companies including insurer American International Group Inc, investment bank Bear Stearns, and mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

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This writer has often defined self as being an economic conservative and a social liberal.  Normally there is not much conflict in that ideology.  I will help my neighbor as long as I don’t have to borrow money in the endeavor.  I will not enable my neighbor to continue poor behavior by bailing him out - in that case no one wins.  Pretty straight forward logic.  But we in America are faced today with the conundrum of bailing out the Automobile companies.

On the surface it would appear that my logic would lead to the conclusion that the auto makers should suffer the consequences of their poor choices.  Our country is running record deficits - so there are two solid reasons to let General Motors fall.  If we borrow money to bail them out then we are violating the central principles of responsibility.

But the issues is more complex.  No bailout means the companies go into a restructuring bankruptcy.  This is not unfamiliar territory.  We witnessed the airlines restructuring several years ago - they took their lumps and are now better for the trials of responsibility.  But the auto companies are saying that their financial difficulties are the result of larger economic woes (a tight credit market) - not because of their poor decision making.  If this is true then we have already addressed the problem by injecting hundreds of billions of dollars in the credit market.  The idea is that money will begin flowing and people will buy American made cars and everyone will be happy.

One of the benefits of bankruptcy restructuring would be a voiding of union contracts.  The CEO’s of the auto industry do not want to go this route - but the Republicans in Congress see an opportunity to degrade the lifestyles of the middle class by busting the Automobile Industry Unions.

This is the conundrum - If the CEO’s are telling the truth - then we would not be rewarding poor decisions - only helping a good neighbor.  Ford, Chrysler, and General Motors have been great neighbors in the community of America.  This is a case where helping the company has a tremendous trickle down effect by maintaining union contracts.  Auto industry suppliers who run efficient business would be dramatically damaged by bankruptcy proceedings with the Auto makers - through no fault of their own.

Some say the auto unions should be busted - their contracts are too lucrative and drive up the price of American made autos.  The Republicans argue that American Auto makers cannot compete with foreign auto makers because of steep union contracts in Detroit.  They are being deceptive.

These are people who claim conservative family values, who cater to the cultural right religious fundamentalists, who believe that $10 or $12 an hour is a decent wage.  At that wage, in contemporary America, both parents working would make less than $50,000 per year.  With both parents working the family would live below the middle class level.

This writer believes that Unions are necessary evils - that is to say - companies with good management do not have unions.  Good management recognizes the need to take care of their employees - and they do. Because of the greed of corporate CEO’s Unions are necessary to protect the workers.

We should bail out the auto industry to protect America in general - it not just about rewarding poor business decision making.

Check out Shepard Smith ranting about an Email. He makes some good points - but does not consider the complexity of the Auto Industry:

By Michael Falcone

President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team offered more clues about the makeup of his Cabinet and White House staff on Tuesday as word leaked out that Eric H. Holder Jr., a former Clinton administration official and Obama confidant, would likely be picked for Attorney General.

The Times’s Eric Lichtblau and John M. Broder write that Mr. Holder’s biggest challenge, if he is selected, “will be to restore the credibility of a department that was badly battered by political scandal during the Bush administration.”

There were also indications yesterday that the president-elect plans to ask Peter R. Orszag, the director of the Congressional Budget Office, to be White House budget director.

The Washington Post’s Karen DeYoung also lists some of Mr. Obama’s potential choices for the position of national security adviser, including James B. Steinberg, the former Clinton deputy national security adviser and State Department official, retired Marine Gen. James L. Jones, a former NATO commander and Susan E. Rice, who served in the State Department veteran and advised the Obama campaign.

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(Update: 8:25 p.m. EST)

Space Shuttle Endeavour lit up the sky at the Kennedy Space Center as it launched tonight, racing up the east coast of the United States on its way to orbit

Seven astronauts are on board.  Their flight is scheduled to run just shy of fifteen days.

By space shuttle standards, the flight of STS-126 sounds mundane: Endeavour is being sent to the International Space Station, carrying a second toilet…two small sleeping compartments for astronauts…an exercise rig…a refrigerator…a waste water recycling system (yes, astronauts in the future are expected to drink purified urine and perspiration; most say that’s fine with them as long as they don’t think about it very hard).

But, of course, sending astronauts into space is not yet mundane.  The flight costs roughly $1.1 billion, the ship travels at 17,500 miles an hour, and the temperatures around them in orbit can go up and down by several hundred degrees in a few minutes.

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Ned Potter is the science correspondent for ABC’s “World News with Charles Gibson.” He has reported on such topics as space exploration, the human genome and climate change.

This election was tough.  Hard hitting, loud, boisterous, negative, slanderous, and sometimes mean spirited.  All of us have enjoyed and distressed over the emotional roller coaster.  This was better than any Hitchcock thriller - if tense excitement is what you like.  But the election is over and we are seeing the emotional aftermath.  We can see who haas a mature understanding of election processes - and we can see who enjoy retribution.

Joe Leiberman is a pretty good example.  His case is unique - a long time Democratic Senator from Connecticut - Leiberman was denied the Democratic nomination for reelection in 2008.  Leiberman ran in the general election as an independent and won.  To gain crucial votes the Democratic Senate leadership accepted Leiberman into their caucus - and granted Leiberman leadership roles on committees.  But Leiberman was freed from his loyalties and supported Republican John McCain in the Presidential contest.  As the McCain Campaign turned nasty, Leiberman went along, reinforcing thoughts about Obama being a Socialist, and perhaps even a Marxist.

Hillary Clinton gave Obama everything he could handle in her challenge for the Democratic Nomination.  Clinton hit harder than John McCain and the lightweight Sarah Palin.  Clinton pulled out all the big guns and fired everyone of them at least twice.  Some say Clinton played the taboo race card - but certainly Clinton made a big deal about Obama’s associations.  When the McCain Camp later went into this territory they were blasted for their nastiness.

So the election came and went - Obama won a strong victory - and the dust began to settle on Obama’s honeymoon.  While Obama shifted gears from candidate to President-Elect, some of his supporters continued the battle.  The Senate Chambers echoed screams in the night about Leiberman,  ‘Kick him out of the Democratic Caucus.’  ‘Strip him of leadership positions.’  Obama had to intervene himself (as if he had nothing better to be doing).  Obama forgave Leiberman and asked that he be restored to his former stature of respect.  The Democratic Senators, salivating over opportunities for mean justice, acquiesced - Leiberman was restored.

Obama called Senator Clinton for consultation, and some say offered her the plum job of Secretary of State.  Whoooeee - the scramble to assault Clinton for her Primary Election indiscretions was on.  Many people are really enjoying the rehashing of Cinton’s Obama accusations.  Some of the dissent came from top Obama Campaign staffers.  They are still nursing their wounds from last spring.

While the rhetorical heat is rising, President Elect Obama seems to be the one certain focal point of mature stability.  One of the accusations against Obama during the past 20-plus months has been around his inexperience.  But the aftermath of the election would suggest that Obama is the most mature, if not most experienced, of the whole Washington bunch.

Obama called Senator McCain and invited McCain and his confidants to come to Chicago to talk about the future.  Another mature and smart move by the President Elect.

Much of the annimosity comes from ‘anonymous sources.’  With Obama playing his cards close to his vest, the hungry media has to dine on scraps of anonymous grumbling.  There are some who are taking advantage of the news void to harvest some free media time.

Sarah Palin has been in the news everyday - and she continues to give her pre-election stump speech, mixed with some disingenuious praise for Obama.  Her schizophrenic statements merely serve to reinforce the idea that she is all personality with no substance.  She says things like, I respect Obama for hanging out with domestic terrorists - well, something like that. Sarah Palin is trying to stay newsworthy for the 2012 election.

The real fun of the post election is watching the other Republicans beginning their quest for 2012.  Mike Huckabee has published a book with heavy criticism for Mitt Romney.  Romney responed in kind.  Some of their frivolous nonsense is just an attempt to knowck Palin out of the spotlight, while discrediting other potential nominees.

Newt Gingrich has jumped into the fray - taking very public positions on culturally right wing issues.

So here is the deal from this writer.  Those who continue the fray - like Sarah Palin who continues to harp on Obama associations - are fair game.  Huckabee and Romney and Gingrich have stepped back into the ring - they should know by now that this means they will take as many shots as they give.  They want to continue fighting and that is what they will get.

We offer full support for those who who are mature enough to let go of the election.  Leiberman should not be attacked.  Clinton should not be attacked.  McCain should not be attacked.  These folks acted in the heat of an election and mature political folllowers know the last bell has rung on this fight.  It is time to get down to the business of governing by mature people.  Clinton, Leiberman, McCain, and especially Obama, have all proved to be mature political wranglers.

by Frank James

Liberal supporters of President-elect Barack Obama’s who thought he was one of them should ready themselves, for they are about to be Greeleyed.

Horace Greeley, for those who don’t or remember know their history, was the stridently abolitionist editor of the New York Tribune who in August 1862 wrote an open letter to Abraham Lincoln to tell him that anti-slavery voters like himself, whose votes gave Lincoln the 1860 election, were deeply disappointed he hadn’t acted more decisively to free the slaves.

To this Lincoln famously responded:

If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I don’t believe it would help to save the Union. I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more whenever I shall believe doing more will help the cause. I shall try to correct errors when shown to be error; and I shall adopt new views so fast as they shall appear to be true views.

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Dave Ramsey has good advice for managing the expense of owning an automobile in America today.  Check him out at Drive Free, Retire Rich

1. We Love Our Cars
2. The normal way of thinking
3. Dragging a Payment
4. What they don’t tell you
5. After Six Years
6. What if…
7. Let’s Think Differently
8. A Major upgrade
9. Let’s keep going
10. Let’s go crazy
11. Remember where you were
12. Six years in the future
13. Free Cars
14. Life Without a car payment
15. One Decision