Ben Carson is asked to give his medical opinion on addiction, instead blames political correctness. Wait, what?

Courtesy of Think Progress: 

John Dickerson asked Carson about the “human side” of addiction on Face the Nation Sunday after mentioning that 25 percent of New Hampshire voters said drug abuse was the most serious problem in New Hampshire, according to a WMUR poll. 

Carson answered that a lack of values and principles were responsible for serious drug abuse: 

"There are all kinds of addictions and addictions occur in people who are vulnerable who are lacking something in their lives, so we really have to start asking ourselves what have we taken outside of our lives in America? What are some of those values and principles that allowed us to ascend the ladder of success so rapidly to the pinnacle of the world and the highest pinnacle anyone else had ever reached, and why are we throwing away all of our values and principles for the sake of political correctness?"

Did you hear the journalist ask Carson for his opinion "As a doctor?" And yet Carson's response is completely lacking any medical or scientific foundation.

Instead he answers the question as a minister or priest might answer it, framed as if all the ills of society are due to a lack of Jesus in our lives.

At this point I think it is fair to demand to see Carson's medical license and diploma from the University of Michigan.

After all nothing this guy says seems to be true, and his responses to questions seem to be entirely non-scientific or medically informed. 

To be fair Chris Christie, who has never claimed to have a background in psychology or medicine, provided a far more substantive and empathetic response to the question of addiction in this country.

Let's face when your bedside manner is worse than Chris Christie's that raises some serious questions about your medical background.

Chris Christie actually making some very good points on drug addiction, and how society responds to addicts.

Rachel Maddow showed this clip last night and I was kind of moved by Christie's story of his friend, because I have somebody in a similar circumstance.

However despite what seems to be Christie's heartfelt opinions on this matter, and his recognition that being pro-life extends beyond the womb, I am still very distrustful of any solutions he might introduce to solve the problem.

Don't forget Chris Christie is still a very Right Wing guy, and anything that he suggests as a fix would undoubtedly only make the problem worse.

California Atheist wins 2 million dollar lawsuit after being sent to jail for objecting to faith based drug rehab program.

Barry A. Hazle Jr.

Courtesy of HuffPo:  

A California atheist has won a settlement of nearly $2 million after being sent to jail on a parole violation for objections he made about participating in a faith-based rehab program. 

Barry A. Hazle Jr., 46, served time for a conviction of methamphetamine possession in 2007. As a condition of his parole, he was enrolled in a drug treatment program where participants were required to acknowledge a "higher power," according to the Sacramento Bee. 

Hazle complained and asked for a different treatment program, but was told the only option in his area was the faith-based, Westcare 12-step program, according to the Record Searchlight. 

Hazle was sent back to jail for more than three months for allegedly being “disruptive, though in a congenial way, to the staff as well as other students" and being "sort of passive-aggressive,” the paper reported. 

"I’m thrilled to finally have this case settled," Hazle told the Searchlight. "It sends a clear message to people in a position of authority, like my parole agent, for example, that they not mandate religious programming for their parolees, and for anyone else, for that matter."

This may seem like a small thing, but it is actually a rather significant victory for Atheists. 

Religious organizations discovered long ago that proselytizing to people when they were at their most vulnerable had a much higher success rate for conversion then simply going door to door, having potlucks, or hosting bingo.

That is why there are so many religious based therapy groups, substance abuse clinics, and prison programs. They know that people struggling to stay afloat in a sea of adversity will cling to any lifeline thrown their way.

So yeah winning the right to be excluded, without fear of incarceration, from organizations which really only substitute one crutch for another, is kind of a big deal.

Tennessee becomes first state to put mothers in jail for actions harming the fetus.

Courtesy of Salon:  

Tennessee has become the first state in the nation to pass a law criminalizing women for their pregnancy outcomes. Republican Gov. Bill Haslam took the 10 days allotted to him to consider the advice of doctors, addiction experts and reproductive health groups urging him to veto the punitive and dangerous measure that allows prosecutors to charge a woman with criminal assault if she uses illegal drugs during her pregnancy and her fetus or newborn is considered harmed as a result. Haslam ignored these recommendations — and the recommendations of nearly every major medical association, including the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy — and signed the measure anyway. 

Opponents of the new law share a concern that a lack of access to health care and treatment facilities will result in the disproportionate targeting and jailing of poor mothers and mothers of color, particularly in rural districts throughout the state. 

Republican state Sen. Mike Bell, one of the seven Republicans in the state Senate to vote against the measure (every Democrat in the state Senate voted in favor), recently told Salon that this lack of access is a problem he thinks will hurt the women of his district and their families. “I represent a rural district,” he said. “There’s no treatment facility for these women there, and it would be a substantial drive for a woman caught in one of these situations to go to an approved treatment facility. Looking at the map of the state, there are several areas where this is going to be a problem.” 

Only two of the state’s 177 addiction treatment facilities that provide on-site prenatal care allow older children to stay with their mothers while they are undergoing treatment. And only 19 of these facilities offer any addiction care specifically oriented toward pregnant women. Tennessee has also refused the Medicaid expansion, leaving many women without reliable access to basic medical or prenatal care, much less drug treatment. 

The law does nothing to expand treatment options for women in Tennessee, a fact that did not seem to trouble Republican state Rep. Terri Lynn Weaver, who sponsored the House version of the bill and remains one of its most vocal defenders. “I don’t know what to say about [how] some [women] have insurance and some do not,” she recently told Salon. “It’s a terrible thing, but I don’t want to get into that because that’s another subject.”

This is one of those laws that almost feels like the right thing to do, but once you consider the possible ramifications it becomes immediately clear that it certainly it NOT.

I personally work with children born with FAS, or coke addicted, and I can certainly testify to my anger at their mothers fro being so uncaring and irresponsible that they condemned their children to a lifetime of suffering.

However this law is guaranteed to keep expectant mothers, who desperately need prenatal care, away from physicians and health care workers who could identify potential problems with the pregnancy, or even provide nutritional advice.

And of course this opens the door for more stringent laws in Tennessee's future that will almost certainly further restrict a woman's right to choose.

Because if you don't think that this is ultimately about abortion then you certainly don't understand Republican politics.

The long wait is over.

I was really bummed last week that my favorite addictive television experience was taking a break until next fall.

However tonight my second favorite addictive television experience returns so I don't have to resort to anything extreme like starting a relationship, taking up stamp collecting, or cleaning my house to fill the gap.

And fortunately I have almost completely recovered from last season's "Red Wedding," an episode so shocking that it damn near traumatized many of its long time viewers.

Besides, I am sure that after last season's culling that most of my favorite characters are safe this time around. Right?

Yeah, I don't believe that either.

Tennessee lawyer sues Apple for making a product that allowed him to watch porn and destroy his marriage. Okay, what did I just read?

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