Addicted Nation: The Price Tag to our Society and a Way Out for Those Suffering

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Photo Credit: IrishCentral

America launched a war on illegal drugs in 1979, spending an estimated 1 trillion on law enforcement efforts since then…..How’s that working out so far? See CNN’s War on drugs, a trillion dollar failure

Mexican drug cartels are profiting hugely from our war and have now grown so powerful they are moving into the United States.

Americas insatiable desire to get high, has kept our prisons full. Many of those incarcerated, abused drugs or alcohol; which may have accounted for the criminal behavior that landed them in prison…Perhaps they were involved in the sale and marketing of drugs, or were themselves the end users.

The cost of addiction to our society can’t even be measured in dollars alone. What bad decisions do addictions cause when judgment is impaired? How many families are shattered? Careers and reputations ruined? Accidental deaths and overdose?

In a world view, President Clinton commented on an incident in his book. He said he was briefed by the Secret Service after they found Russian President Boris Yeltsin standing outside the White House guest quarters, totally inebriated. Dressed only in his underwear, he was trying to hail a taxi in order to get a pizza…this was a world leader with his finger on the button of nuclear weapons. Yeltsin was well known for his chronic drinking problems.

Libertarians like Fox News correspondent John Stossel, have been calling to legalize current “illegal drugs,” saying it’s no business of the government to tell adults what they can, or cannot ingest.

Many experts in the field of addiction say it’s time to take the focus away from criminalization and the stigma that goes with it and focus instead on education/treatment.

There are many great organizations ready to help those suffering from addictions.

Alcoholics Anonymous has successfully helped millions of alcoholics to become productive members of society. Many other organizations adopted AA’s basic premise of 12 step groups and have successfully helped millions of others in their struggle with addictions to drugs, gambling and other harmful behaviors. AA and organizations such as Narcotics Anonymous, are available to help those suffering and are free of charge. See addiction recovery groups

Addiction treatment facilities have developed their own unique and successful ways of helping people break their addictions. Some are free or relatively inexpensive such as what the faith based Salavation Army offers. There are also many state supported facilities which offer drug and alcohol treatment for a nominal fee or free of charge. See recovery resources

There are private rehabilitation facilities offering state of the art treatment using their unique brand of intensive psychotherapy and holistic treatments, such as those developed by Richard Taite at Cliffside Malibu. Richard outlined his roadmap for an addiction free life in his book: Ending Addiction for Good

Louise McCallion’s facility in Northern California, Reflections, has devoted itself to providing treatment for not only the addictions to drugs/alcohol…But also has expertise in dual-diagnosis and co-occurring disorders, all under the care of her well qualified and professional staff.

But private treatment facilities can be expensive; from several thousand dollars for a 30 day stay, to tens of thousands and more for high end facilities.

Other unique forms of help are available such as what Declinol offers in natural cures for alcohol cravings. It is an eight-week at home alcohol program that is completely anonymous. There are no group meetings and clients can go about their regular daily routine. Declinol claims its unique blend of herbs assists the body by restoring the balance and helps to reduce alcohol cravings. While on their program, they offer phone support to answer questions and an online forum where you can communicate with current and past clients of the program.

Declinol isn’t a long term treatment program and doesn’t purport to be, but like many of the other programs, it can be a tool to take that first step towards a long term sober lifestyle…. for a fraction of the price that rehab facilities charge.

Millions of people suffer from their addictions, they should know there is a helping hand ready to lift them up. All they have to do is ask for help.

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Ed Farnan is the conservative columnist at IrishCentral, where he has been writing on the need for energy independence, strong self defense, secure borders, 2nd amendment, smaller government and many other issues. His articles appear in many publications throughout the USA and world. He has been a guest on Fox News and a regular guest on radio stations in the US and Europe.

Sequestration Solved: New GAO Report Identifies $95 Billion in Overlapping Programs

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Photo Credit: AP

Duplicative drug abuse and treatment services are strewn over 76 federal programs. Housing services are spread across 20 different agencies. Renewable energy projects go through 23 federal agencies and 130 sub-agencies.

Even federal catfish inspections are done by three different agencies. These are only a few of 162 examples identified by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, a congressional watchdog agency, of fragmented, duplicative federal programs and services.

The 2013 edition of the annual report originally requested by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-OK, is being released today and it concludes that not only does such managerial dysfunction hobble the federal government, it’s also extraordinarily costly.

“The $95 billion in overlap identified in this report, combined with the $200 billion in overlap identified in GAO’s previous two reports, could easily cover the costs of sequestration,” Coburn told The Washington Examiner.

“Yet, instead of preventing furloughs, reopening air traffic control towers and restoring public access to White House, Congress and the administration continue to defend billions of dollars in duplication programs that are little more than monuments to the good intentions of career politicians in Washington,” he said.

Read more from this story HERE.

Answer to Gun Violence is Gun Control? Not Hardly.

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Photo Credit: Fox News

Dylan Quick, the 20-year-old accused of going on a stabbing rampage yesterday—injuring 14 people at Lone Star Community College in Texas—should settle the gun control/violence debate, once and for all.

That won’t happen, of course, because people who want to restrict personal freedoms will still turn a blind eye to the obvious: After years of America destroying its mental health care system, leaving it in ruins, as a national disgrace, cases of undiagnosed and untreated mental illness are to blame for the horrific episodes of violence that have made headlines and wrongly fueled gun control legislation.

This is true for Jared Lee Loughner, who shot Congressman Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson, Arizona. It is true for James Holmes, the man accused of murdering 12 people in a Colorado movie theatre. It is true for Adam Lanza, the man who murdered 20 children and 6 adults at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.

Dylan Quick reportedly fantasized about killing people by stabbing them since he was a child. He reportedly walked around wearing gloves, even in warm weather, clutching stuffed animals.

I believe it will turn out that Mr. Quick, like the rest of the recent perpetrators of mass violence, fell through the colossal cracks in our decrepit system. A system of antiquated psychiatric facilities, understaffed community mental health centers and insurance companies hell-bent on restricting mental health care resources in a disproportionate fashion, compared to those targeted at other illnesses, and one which is a shameful show of prejudice towards the afflicted.

Read more from this story HERE.

Persecution: California Moves to Strip Non-Profit Status from Boy Scouts, Other Groups that Ban Homosexuals, Transgendered or Athiests

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Photo Credit: AP

A bill aimed at pressuring the Boy Scouts of America to lift its ban on gay members by making the organization ineligible for nonprofit tax breaks cleared its first vote on Wednesday in the California Legislature.

The Senate Governance and Finance Committee voted 5 to 2 to move the first-of-its-kind bill to the Senate Appropriations Committee for review.

The Youth Equality Act, sponsored by Sen. Ricardo Lara, D-Long Beach, would deny tax-exempt status to youth groups that discriminate on the basis of gender identity, race, sexual orientation, nationality, religion or religious affiliation.

That means those groups would have to pay corporate taxes on donations, membership dues, camp fees and other sources of income, as well as sales taxes on food, beverages and homemade items sold at fundraisers.

Former Boy Scouts of America president Rick Cronk appeared before the committee on Wednesday, telling members that Scouting has had a positive impact on the state and that being taxed on fundraising sales would hurt local troops.

Read more from this story HERE.

ACLU Asks Governor For Records Concerning State Interference With Pro-Life Protest

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After Restoring Liberty first publicized the State’s interference with a pro-life demonstration in Juneau last week, a number of national outlets including Life News and Western Journalism picked up the story.

Although the Alaska media has remained silent on the controversy, with several minor exceptions, the ACLU of Alaska recognized the First Amendment implications of using state resources to restrict political expression. As a result, the ACLU issued a Press Release this week calling on the Governor to release all information relating to the state’s interference with the protest.

In the ACLU’s accompanying Public Records Request (you can see it HERE), the group notes that it is “pleased” with the Governor’s statement that he “immediately directed the Department of Administration to look into the [interference with the protest] and ensure it doesn’t happen again” and that he “reiterated [his] support for the constitutional right to free speech.” But the ACLU says it remains “concerned about how the Department of Administration came to block this peaceful protest.”

To get to the bottom of what happened, the ACLU has asked under the Public Records Act for any records concerning

• The Department of Administration’s discovery of this protest;
• The sending of the Department of Administration’s vehicles to the protest, including the blocking of the protestors;
• The removal of these vehicles from the protest;
• The discovery by members of the Office of the Governor, including Governor Parnell, of (a) the protest and (b) the Department of Administration’s sending of vehicles, blocking protestors, and removal of vehicles;
• The direction by Governor Parnell or his Office to the Department of Administration “to look into the matter”;
• The Department of Administration’s “look[ing] into the matter”;
• Governor Parnell’s direction, or the direction by his Office, to the Department of Administration to “ensure it doesn’t happen again”;
• Guidelines, rules, or similar policies about protests, which were effective on Tuesday, April 2 or Wednesday, April 3, 2013; and
• Guidelines, rules, or similar policies about protests – including those that are being developed and have not yet been implemented – that post-date April 3, 2013.

Surprisingly omitted from the ACLU’s requests is any question related to the removal of a pro-life sign from the street adjacent to the capitol as well as to the alleged assault of a disabled man by a government employee.

The ACLU should also seek any information sent by Department of Administration computers to news sites, such as Restoring Liberty, defending the State’s efforts to block the protest or to criticize the publicity given to the State’s interference with the pro-lifers. Restoring Liberty has evidence that multiple submissions, critical of this site or defensive of the State’s actions, were made from Department of Administration computers.

Hopefully, the ACLU’s actions will help bring accountability to any in state government who used state resources to trample on the First Amendment last week.

Debbie Brown No Longer Chair of the ARP? Not So Fast Says Party Secretary

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In a letter dated April 9, 2013 and distributed today, Alaska Republican Party Secretary Alicé Leuchte stated that “Debra Holle Brown is the current State Chairman.”

Ms. Leuchte, one of only two remaining members of the slate of non-establishment candidates elected during the 2012 state convention whom the RINO establishment has not attempted to remove from office, explained that the April 8 effort to remove Ms. Brown as chairman was invalid because:

⋆ The outcome was predetermined (March 12) before charges were even filed (March 14);
⋆ 25% of the voting membership did not call the meeting (March 24-26);
⋆ The complaint did not go through the proper process before the call of the meeting; and
⋆ The complaint was reviewed by the new Rules Committee and was determined to be unfounded (April 6).

Ms Leuchte also notes that the National Republican Party website incorrectly lists past chairman Randy Ruedrich as the Excecutive Director of the ARP, as the “Alaska Republican Party does not currently have an Executive Director.”

In anticipation of the effort to depose her, Chairman Brown ordered that the ARP office be locked down prior to her departure from the state earlier this week for a meeting with the national Republican Party.

Read Ms. Leuchte’s letter HERE.

Lawmakers Demand Army Apologize for Anti-Christian Briefing

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Photo Credit: RedState

At least a dozen members of Congress have signed a letter demanding the Secretary of the Army rescind and apologize for a briefing that labeled Evangelical Christians and Catholics as religious extremist groups, sources on Capitol Hill tell me.

“This is astonishing and offensive,” read a draft of the letter written by Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-CO). “We call on you to rescind this briefing and apologize for its content and set the record straight on the Army’s view on these faith groups by providing a balanced briefing on religious extremism.”

Lamborn is referring to an Army training session conducted last year that featured a presentation listing Evangelical Christianity and Catholicism as examples of extremism – alongside Al Qaeda and Hamas.

Army spokesman George Wright later said it was an isolated incident not condoned by the Dept. of the Army. And the slide, he said, was not produced by the Army nor did it reflect their policy or doctrine.

“To say that Evangelicals or Catholics are somehow in the same league with Al Qaeda or the KKK is outrageous,” Lamborn told me.

Read more from this story HERE.

Gun Control and Immigration Deals in the Works: Is the GOP Selling Us Out Again?

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Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore

For the first time in a while, members of the two parties — at least some of them — appear to be talking about getting things done, even without the deadline of a manufactured crisis looming.

With Sens. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) and Patrick J. Toomey (R-Pa.) reaching a deal to expand background checks on firearms purchases, the way appears to have been cleared for the Senate to start debate on gun-control legislation. Although their provision is not as far-reaching as what President Obama proposed after the Newtown massacre in December, he praised it as “common sense.”

Another bipartisan deal also is in the offing, as a group of eight senators nears final agreement on a plan that would give illegal immigrants a path to legal status and, potentially, citizenship.

And Wednesday night, Obama continued his outreach to Senate Republicans, dining with a dozen of them to discuss the nation’s fiscal future and the budget he put forward earlier in the day. It was the second such dinner in a matter of weeks.

“What we did, we did right,” said Manchin in an interview Wednesday, referring to his background-check deal. “And you have to look at that in the toxic atmosphere that we’re in, that I’ve experienced for 2 1 / 2 years. Oh Lordy, if we’re able to get this, I think, good piece of legislation through, it’ll be a major accomplishment.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Rand Paul Speaks at Black College: Reject the 'Caricature' of the GOP

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Photo Credit: Daily Caller

By Alexis Levinson. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky), the 2010-vintage Tea Party insurgent who is now considering a 2016 presidential bid, told an audience Wednesday at the historically black Howard University that the Republican Party is still the party of civil rights, and that black voters should look at the substance of Republican ideas and how they would help everyone, rather than accepting the “caricature” of the party described by Democrats.

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney overwhelmingly lost black voters in November, prompting an effort on the part of Republicans to reach out to minorities.

Paul acknowledged that he was in potentially unfriendly territory.

“Some people have asked if I’m nervous about speaking at Howard. They say ‘You know, some of the students and faculty may be Democrats,’” Paul joked at the start of the speech.

But, he said, “My hope is that you will hear me out, that you will see me for who I am, not the caricature sometimes presented by political opponents.” Republicans, he said, are not the party of rich white men that they have been portrayed to be. Read more from this story HERE.

Paul gets cool reception at Howard

By Francesca Chambers. Located just minutes away from the U.S. Capitol in northern Washington, DC, Howard University – one of the nation’s oldest black colleges – offered the perfect opportunity for Kentucky Senator and 2016 hopeful Rand Paul to test out the Republican Party’s new message of “Growth and Opportunity.”

Since President Barack Obama’s reelection, in which he carried 95 percent of the black vote, Republican party leaders have sought to convey that not only does the GOP want to be the Grand Old Party, it also wants to be the party of the young and less fortunate.

“Some have said that I’m either brave or crazy to be here today. I’ve never been one to watch the world go by without participating,” Paul told Howard’s students. “I take to heart the words of Toni Morrison of Howard University, who wrote: “If there is a book you really want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.”

And while Paul spoke to a packed house, the message from attendees at Paul’s speech Wednesday was clear: We’re willing to listen, but don’t expect us to change our party affiliation anytime soon.

“I don’t think he changed any minds,” one student said, noting that Howard has a tradition of allowing controversial figures speak at their university in order to get a broad range of viewpoints. Read more from this story HERE.

AFL-CIO: We Will 'Steamroller' any Lawmakers Who Oppose Amnesty

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Photo Credit: Breitbart

A principal official at the AFL-CIO, one of America’s biggest labor unions, said Wednesday the organization would politically demolish any politician who opposes mass amnesty for the country’s at least 11 million illegal immigrants.

“Politicians know that if they stand in the way of citizenship we will steamroller them,” AFL-CIO director of immigration Ana Avendaño said, according to the Financial Times. “That’s a fun evolution.”

Avendaño (pictured) has been involved in the immigration reform negotiations between the labor community, the business community, and the bipartisan Gang of Eight U.S. Senators.

Read more from this story HERE.