Surviving Christianity: Wow

Showing posts with label Wow. Show all posts

Friday, November 21, 2014

Understanding Antisocial Personality Disorder

A person with [Antisocial Personality] disorder usually does not take responsibility for any of his or her own suffering.

But then...

Antisocial personality disorder is probably caused by a combination of factors. Having any of these characteristics does not necessarily mean that a person has antisocial personality disorder.

Influences from the environment. A chaotic family life contributes to the development of this personality disorder, especially where there has been little supervision from parents or other adult role models. The disorder also may be more common where the community is not supportive or provides little reward for positive behavior. In some situations, there may even be reinforcement for sociopathic behavior.

Genetic (inherited) or biological factors. Researchers have found certain physiological responses that may occur more frequently in people with antisocial personality disorder. For example, they have a comparatively flat response to stress. They seem to get less anxious than the average person. They seem to have a harder time maintaining daytime arousal. They also have a weak "startle reflex," the involuntary response to loud noises. This relative insensitivity may affect their ability to learn from reward and punishment.

The frontal lobe, the area of the brain that governs judgment and planning, also appears to be different in people with antisocial personality disorder. Some researchers have found changes in the volume of brain structures that mediate violent behavior. People with this kind of brain function may thus have more difficulty restraining their impulses, which may account for the tendency toward more aggressive behavior. Neurobiologists cannot say with certainty that these variations in brain structure are a cause of antisocial personality. The variations could easily be the result of life experiences that are more common in people with this personality disorder rather than a cause.

So, if it is caused by poor parenting/role models, the community, genetic or biological factors, and/or abnormalities in the brain, exactly how is it that a person suffering this disorder should "take responsibility for any of his or her own suffering"?

I am genuinely perplexed by this anomaly of a prime example of blaming the victim.

And as a "professional" once told me: "That is exactly the kind of thing an antisocial personality would say". Well, fuck me.

Sunday, November 18, 2007

Great News! US Marijuana Market “Saturated,” Pot Prices To Fall, Federal Report Says

Washington, DC:Domestic marijuana production has risen dramatically in recent years and will likely result in reduced retail prices for pot, according to the US National Drug Intelligence Center’s (NDIC) 2008 "National Drug Threat Assessment" report.

"[R]ecent increases in cannabis cultivation and marijuana production within the United States coincide with the continued flow of marijuana from foreign sources," the report finds. "[This] may lead to market saturation in major markets, [which] could reduce the price of the drug significantly."

Since 2000, the total number of domestic marijuana plants seized by US law enforcement has increased from 2.8 million to over 5.2 million, the report finds. Authors speculate that a significant portion of the increase in pot production is due to commercial growers relocating their operations indoors, which allows them to increase their total number of harvests per year and produce higher-quality cannabis.

"[Though] the demand for marijuana appears to be relatively stable, … many users now prefer … higher-potency marijuana over commercial-grade marijuana," authors state. Nevertheless, the report concludes that "most" of the marijuana available in the United States continues to be "lower-potency, commercial-grade marijuana produced in Mexico."

In 2006, law enforcement seized more than 1.1 million kilograms of pot along the US/southwest border, according to the study. By contrast, law enforcement seized fewer than 4,200 kilograms of pot along the US/Canadian border.

Domestically, California continues to lead all US states in pot production, with an estimated 2.9 million plants having been eradicated by law enforcement so far this year. This record total is more than four times the total number of plants seized in 2005.

Among California’s counties, Lake County, Humboldt County, and Shasta County report the largest numbers of pot seizures.

For more information, please contact Allen St. Pierre, NORML Executive Director, at (202) 483-5500, or Paul Armentano, NORML Senior Policy Analyst, at: paul@norml.org. Full text of the NDIC report, "National Drug Threat Assessment 2008" is available online at: http://www.usdoj.gov/ndic/.

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Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Officials overreacted to protest, they say; "Don't tase me Bro" Redeux

Anti-war and free-speech advocates joined angry parents and students in their battle with Berwyn school district officials who may expel a group of students who took part in an Iraq war protest at a school last week.

The lunchtime protest Nov. 1 in the Morton West High School cafeteria was viewed as a peaceful sit-in by students, but school officials charged two dozen of them with "gross disobedience and mob activity," which call for suspensions and possible expulsions.

Read the whole story and watch the video at the Chicago Tribune.

The military can say what they want at high schools across the nation, but the students are prohibited from stating their minds!

It's "Don't tase me, bro!" all over again.

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Saturday, November 10, 2007

Tommy Chong - 2007 NORML Conference

November 08, 2007, 05:15 PM

Comedian, Author and NORML Advisory Board Member, Tommy Chong entertains attendees at the Awards Banquet held on Friday evening, October 12, 2007.

Permalink

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Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Ready for a Change?

Had enough yet? Are you sick and tired of 'Business as usual' in Washington D.C. ? Tired to death, as I am, of lawmakers pandering to big business and the Military Industrial Complex as our children get dumber and sicker from the complete and utter failure of 'No Child left behind' and the continued infighting over SCHIP?

"Stopping the war is our highest priority," he said. "More than a million Iraqis, including tens of thousands of innocent men, women and children, have died in this tragic and misguided debacle, not to mention more than 3,800 of our own men and women — and for no legitimate reason," added Moore."The wealthy have benefited tremendously from the recent boom in the financial markets, while the working poor in this country are struggling more than ever just to make ends meet," said Moore, whose party's economic program includes guaranteed jobs, housing, and health care for every American.

Why not consider Brian Moore and Stewart Alexander, presidential and vice-presidential nominees for the Socialist Party USA, and give change a chance.

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Tuesday, October 30, 2007

A Collection: Philosophers

I received an e-mail from a visitor to my blog a few weeks back that inspired me to a little project. The message read as follows:

Hello heartland. You asked for tips and here they are. You are a former Marine and Christian. Now you are a Buddhist and having trouble "practicing your faith." What you need to do is to read (translation: meditate upon until you know them by heart) various works. Here are some of them: Nietzsche, The Antichrist The works of Chuang-Tzu and Lao-Tzu. The Japanese Art of War by Thomas Cleary (you were a Marine.) Attack on Christendom by Kierkegaard. (Please find a translation that is easy to read. If Kierkegaard is obscure, it is the fault of the translator.) Buddhism is not a faith, it is closer to a philosophy (which it isn't either.) Don't "try" to practice it as a faith. The works of Alan Watts are a good ladder to get to where you want to go but if you forget to throw away the ladder once you get there, well, you might as well go back to being a fundamentalist Christian because the result will be better. I'm not looking for any correspondence from you, I'm just perpetrating a random act of kindness. You sound like a dedicated man of integrity and courage. We need people like you and I want to encourage you and push you along your path. Every one of the authors I recommended has a humorous and ironic side (except possibly

the author of the Art of War.). Don't forget the playful side of
things, even in the darkest times. It might be the most important
advice of all.

Yours with feet firmly planted in nothingness,

J.

This 'random act of kindness' inspired me to collect as many of these works, and others of import, as I could find in e-text and put them together into a single Library.For a package of must read literature, 'Philosophers' is a collection of works from such great philosophers as Aristotle, Nietzsche, Thoreau, Sun Tzu, and others packed in an application that allows you to add works to, rearrange, delete, or customize in any way you see fit. And the app also allows you to organize any other information and ideas in a hierarchical, tree-like structure. 'Philosophers' is a .gde file packed especially for use with 'The Guide'.'The Guide' is an application that allows you create documents ("guides") which inherently have a tree (which you can modify as you please) and text associated with each node of the tree. The text itself is of the rich-text variety, and the editor allows you to modify the style and formatting of the text (fonts, bold, italics etc). The Guide is available as an installable package for Microsoft Windows 2000 and upwards (XP, 2003, Vista). It should work (although not tested) on the 64-bit versions also. The binaries are also available as a zip file that requires no installation. The Guide is a 32-bit native C++ Win32 application (that uses MFC).You may get 'Philosophers' and 'The Guide' packed together by clicking here .

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Thursday, September 20, 2007

The Police State Is Right Here, Right Now

Carolyn Baker writes this stunning critique of Naomi Wolf's "10 easy steps" to Fascism. I can't add a word to either of these bold women other than "that's all I'm tryin' to say!". You can see Naomi's interview on The Colbert Report here. These articles are a must read for all American's!

In the "10 easy steps" outlined by Wolf, countries move from open to closed and repressive societies by devolving past certain markers, and Wolf makes a powerful case for the way in which the United States is following a similar pattern without any significant deviation. In each instance she compares and contrasts how America's adherence to the pattern compares or contrasts with the pattern in pre-World War II Germany. The 10 steps are:

1. Invoking an external and internal threat
2. Establishing secret prisons
3. Developing a paramilitary force
4. Surveiling ordinary citizens
5. Infiltrating citizens' groups
6. Arbitrarily detaining and releasing citizens
7. Targeting key individuals
8. Restricting the press
9. Casting criticism as "espionage" and dissent as "treason"
10. Subverting the rule of law

Watch the Colbert interview here.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Cafferty: Buying a gun?

At long last Jack Cafferty of CNN read one of my responses on his segment of the Situation Room, the Cafferty File. The question is regarding a proposed Maryland State initiative which would require potential gun purchasers to sign a release of information for their mental health records in a knee jerk reaction by lawmakers to the VA Tech massacre.
.
Jack's question: What kind of restrictions should there be on gun purchases?
My response:
Jack,
I thought the free market premise is that if I have the money to buy something then it is good for everyone! After all, we as a nation have sold weapons to bin Laden, Norieaga, the Suni's, the Shia, Saddam, and a never ending list of criminals.I fail to see the free market rational for prohibiting sales to someone who merely had a bad 'month'.

I am proud that Jack and/or his team thought my comment worthy of reading on the air. I just hope that my sarcasm and criticism for free market ideas was not lost in translation.

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Thursday, September 28, 2006

'V' for Vendetta

The creators of the Matrix Trilogy have made another scorcher of an editorial on the corruption of the power of mass manipulation! However, this one is much more obvious in the target of its scorn. Symbolism is used thoroughly and effectively in its finger pointing.

The movie is set in London. If it had been set in Washington D.C., as the implication of its critique was obvious by the attitudes of the fictitious leaders, this movie would never have reached the screen.

Modified Christian crosses, total control of information to the masses, and the fomentation of fear as their primary weapon against 'free thinking' depicts a regime which becomes rich by covertly attacking its own people and then presenting themselves as the salvation of the people and controlling their every movement and thought in the name of the peoples' own security.

An excellent fictitious representation of reality. Pure entertainment with a potent message of awareness.

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In the Interest of Full Disclosure

Following the oligarchic doctrine of "full disclosure", the following is the editorial decision on necessary disclosure concerning the authors/editors of this blog:

IT'S NONE OF YOUR F-ING BUSINESS!

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. "
[Extracted from The Constitution of the United States of America (May 2006), The Constitution of the United States of America.]

My advance appologies

If any of the information, such as names and dates regarding my own testimonials, are incorrect I apologize in advance and would be happy to make the corrective edits at your emailed request. Unless you tell me, I'll never know. I tell it as I remember it.

I also post articles of interest with or without my own commentary. Frankly, some of the stories just leave me speechless. They usually reinforce the theme of what I am trying to relay, however. I try my best to give credit to the original authors. If I have posted your work here and you object to my sharing it, simply notify me by email and I will accommodate you by removing your work or any reasonable concession that you may require.

And furthermore, about my general tenor, don't worry. One day, you will be just as screwed over and just as angry as I am. I suppose it will take that to wake the automatons up from their indoctrinated sleep.