Alcoholics in Washington

[ovidsen]

I stumbled across this interesting article from 1987 (!!). It helped me put recent events in historical perspective. The only things that seem to be missing are emails and teenage boys.

Washington Monthly, Jan, 1988 by Steven Waldman

Governing Under the Influence

Deaver Cites Alcoholism as Perjury Trial Defense.

The New York Times, October 3, 1987

Give me a break, I thought. Who's Deaver trying to fool? It just doesn't add up. First, if he was so intoxicated, could he really have survived as a top White House aide or superlobbyist? Second, if he were constantly guzzling scotch as he claims, wouldn't his colleagues have been suspicious? And if he were that blitzed, wouldn't reporters have jumped on the story?

Deaver's defense may or may not have been contrived, but the scenario behind it is plausible. Yes, alcoholics can do their jobs at the same time they ruin themselves. Yes, olleagues can be oblivious to the effects of even heavy drinking. And finally, reporters usually fail to cover the drinking problems of Washington officials. While Deaver's defense is unusual, alcoholism in Washington isn't.

"I suspect," writes former Senator Herman Talmadge, "alcoholism is as much of an occupational disease among politicians as black lung is among coal miners."

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1316/is_n12_v19/ai_6306545%7D

It gets better. Actually, it gets worse.

[sam sarrha]

1. click on the blue link in my signature about wet brain alcoholics. amd Google:

Google 'renana brooks'..Dr Brooks does some right on analysis on *

[ovidsen]

2. Thanks

I've known a few serious drunks in my time. I worked in the media in Washington in the 1990s and while I never saw a mover and shaker who was seriously in his cups, there were stories I heard....

Wet brain? Ya know, there's a part of me that just doesn't wanna know that much truth.

[sam sarrha]

7. and that is a truth covered up by campaign contributions from the distillers

[sam sarrha]

8. due to genetics it is said 1 in 8 people are hopelessly addicted on their first drink

there are four major enzymes involved with alcohol.. due to genetics some have 1..2..3..or all 4

if you have all four you can not drink much physically.. you get headaches gOD, awful Spinning dizziness or other terrible symptoms.. if you have none.. like many Native Americans you cant stop drinking alcohol actually alters the structure of the brain and body chemistry.. you lose all control of your live, life becomes q quest to acquire alcohol and maintain a specific alcohol blood level..
one becomes systemically poisoned by alcohol.. and it damages many organs including the liver and the brain.

pregnant woman who drink damage the brain of the fetus.. it can be severe enough to damage it so bad they can perceive the consequences of their actions.. i lived on a reservation, at work, i was a juvenile parole officer, a woman came in and told my boss another child of 14 had walked in front of a semi truck walking across the freeway.. after she left i asked if his mother had been an active alcoholic during his gestation.. she had been. we talked about the problem and the lack of education on the subject.. however the problem is that without the proper enzymes in your body you can become lost forever upon your first drink of alcohol, and never come back.

am of Native American descent and wasted half of my precious human life drunk.. i could not drink too much because i would go into insulin shock, but i was able to maintain a job and function, but i drank every day, allot. i ran into a Tibetan Buddhist that taught me to meditate, and i was finally able to quit drinking, and it was essentially effortless. thru meditation i was able to let go of many attachments.. i lost 35 pounds not eating compulsively.. i quit smoking... i quit being angry and cynical.. my wife didn't leave me:woohoo:

[valerief]

3. Who was this dude?

One Senate leader in the 1960s was so drunk that he urinated in his pants and passed out on the Senate floor, according to Parker.

[ovidsen]

5. I wish I knew

I've heard this story before, but never with the same name twice.

[no_hypocrisy]

4. Classic: Wilber Mills and "dancer" Fannie Fox in the 70s where he

was pulled over for DWI and she jumped into the Tidal Basin, nearly naked. He resigned from the Department of the Interior, citing alcoholism.

[ovidsen]

6. A different era

If you dressed well and didn't throw up, it seemed you could get away with a lot more when you were drunk back in the 1970s....

Back then, if you (J. Citizen of Anytown, USA) were pulled over near your home and you were only a little drunk, the cop would give you a ride home. People just didn't take alcohol and alcoholism that seriously.