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What's a Liberal?
Progresshiv talks about what it means to be a liberal.-
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Regulate marijuana billboard grabs eyes near Mile High Stadium
By Stephen C. Webster
Friday, April 6, 2012 11:14 EDT
Colorado’s Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol has just fired its first big advertising salvo, and it looks to be an effective one.
A new billboard unveiled Thursday by the group just blocks away from Mile High Stadium in Denver shows a smiling woman with her arms folded, next to the text: “For many reasons, I prefer… marijuana over alcohol. Does that make me a bad person? RegulateMarijuana.org.”
“That’s what we want to talk to Coloradans right now,” Betty Aldworth, advocacy director for the campaign, told Raw Story on Friday. “We’re trying to educate them about why it is that marijuana is safer than alcohol. If you look at every objective study comparing the safety of the two, you’ll see that marijuana is clearly safer than alcohol.”
Not only is the billboard near Mile High Stadium, it’s also right next to Mile High Liquors. The group said on its website that the location was optimal because it will force some drinkers to confront their bias toward marijuana users. It was also a good deal, too: the campaign told Raw Story that their sign only cost $5,000.
Their claims aren’t just a clever pitch for the drug, either: Marijuana has in fact been shown to be less addictive than alcohol, and its more enthusiastic users tend to exhibit fewer adverse health effects than alcoholics. It is also impossible to overdose on marijuana, which its adherents see as an advantage over the relative ease of alcohol poisoning.
That’s the message the campaign is trying to bring to Coloradans, and Aldworth explained that they’ve only just begun. “We’re asking volunteers to talk to their neighbors, their family members — and particularly aunts, uncles, parents and grandparents, people in the next two generations up,” she said. “Young people, for the most part, get it, they’ve seen their friends use marijuana and alcohol, and how they affect people. They understand… There is no logical reason to punish people for marijuana.”
She added that volunteers have seen “almost exclusively positive reactions so far,” but noted that their educational campaign has only just begun.
That campaign will directly support the Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act, which has secured a spot on the state’s 2012 ballot. It would allow for the limited possession and cultivation of cannabis by adults age 21 and over. It would also allow the state and local governments to enact regulations on the commercial production and distribution of marijuana, as well giving local governments the option to prohibit marijuana sales altogether.
“This could be a watershed year in the decades-long struggle to end marijuana prohibition in this country,” Art Way, Colorado manager of the Drug Policy Alliance, explained in a statement. “Marijuana prohibition is counterproductive to the health and public safety of our communities. It fuels a massive, increasingly brutal underground economy, wastes billions of dollars in scarce law enforcement resources, and makes criminals out of millions of otherwise law-abiding citizens.”
It’s not yet clear if Colorado will become the first state to legalize marijuana, but that is a distinct possibility. Even moreso than California in 2010, which defeated legalization by a double digit margin, Colorado leans heavily toward favoring marijuana regulation, and lawmakers there became the first in the nation last year to begin directly licensing medical marijuana businesses. The state’s Department of Revenue has even sent a formal letter to the Drug Enforcement Agency asking that it recognize the plant’s inherent medical value.
If the old thinking holds true and these lawmakers truly are a reflection of their constituents, Colorado just may be on track to buck the trend and embrace regulation this fall.
With prior reporting by Raw Story associate editor Eric W. Dolan.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/04/06/regulate-marijuana-billboard-goes-up-near-mile-high-stadium/
"Very Coool, this is the second item I have posted this week on my home State, I do agree with this post much more than the last!!!" =)By Stephen C. Webster Friday, April 6, 2012 11:14 EDT Colorado’s Campaign to... more-
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Whitney Houston: Another dumb bitch dies
Through her music, Whitney Houston spread messages of joy, hope and love. Her career will be celebrated by her spirited discography with #1 hits like "Greatest Love of All," "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" and "I Will Always Love You." On Saturday (February 11), the iconic Houston was found dead in a Los Angeles hotel. Inside the studio, her musical legacy stands as an everlasting ray of light. Outside of it however, Whitney Houston's life was marred by controversy and tabloid fodder. It became increasingly difficult to separate her legendary track record from her troubles.
1992: On July 18, Houston marries R&B star Bobby Brown. Rumors of drug abuse begin to surface in the years to come. In a 2009 interview, two years after their divorce, Houston goes in-depth about the couple's volatile relationship on "The Oprah Winfrey Show."
2000: In the 1980s and 1990s, Houston was an American sweetheart, releasing #1 singles, involving herself in multiple charities and singing the national anthem at the Super Bowl in 1991. Houston's troubles with the law begin at the turn of the new millennium after security in Hawaii's Keahole-Kona Airport finds marijuana in her handbag in January. She is hit with a misdemeanor marijuana possession charge, but it's dropped months later.
2001: Rampant rumors of drug use swirl around Houston, and after she appeared thinner than usual during a Michael Jackson commemorative concert, the tabloids have a field day. Houston's then-publicist refutes rumors that the singer had died of a drug overdose. "Whitney has been under stress due to family matters, and when she is under stress, she doesn't eat," the publicist says in a statement.
2001: Rampant rumors of drug use swirl around Houston, and after she appeared thinner than usual during a Michael Jackson commemorative concert, the tabloids have a field day. Houston's then-publicist refutes rumors that the singer had died of a drug overdose. "Whitney has been under stress due to family matters, and when she is under stress, she doesn't eat," the publicist says in a statement.
2002: In a "Primetime" interview with Diane Sawyer, Houston addresses the rumors of her drug use. While she admits to using alcohol, marijuana, cocaine and prescription drugs, the vibrant vocalist emphatically denies reports that she's addicted to crack. "Crack is cheap. I make too much for me to ever smoke crack," she says. "Let's get that straight, OK? I don't do crack. I don't do that. Crack is whack."
2004: Even after her gut-wrenching interview with Diane, Houston's drug problems persist. In 2004, for the first reported time, she enters a facility for drug rehabilitation. She would once again return to rehab a year later in 2005.
2007: Many attributed Houston's troubles to her rocky marriage to Bobby Brown. In 2006, she filed for divorce, and the next year, she officially splits from the New Edition frontman, winning custody of their daughter Bobbi Kristina.
2009: During a September 2009 sit-down with Oprah Winfrey, Houston opens up about her relationship with Brown. "He was my drug," she tells Oprah. Houston admits to getting high with her ex-husband and even revealed that Brown had slapped her in the past.
2010: In the 2000s, Houston had begun to lose her footing in music, but in 2010, she hits the road on her Nothing But Love comeback tour. The run is marred by bad reviews.
2011: In May, the singer, still battling drug and alcohol abuse, voluntarily enrolls in an outpatient rehabilitation program.
2012: On Saturday, February 11, Houston is found dead at age 48 in a Los Angeles hotel. While her troubles were well-documented, she left behind an equally unforgettable musical legacy.
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1679038/whitney-houston-timeline-troubles.jhtmlThrough her music, Whitney Houston spread messages of joy, hope and love. Her career... more-
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Tom Ardolino, NRBQ Drummer, Has Died
Los Angeles Times...
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Tom Ardolino dies at 56; former NRBQ drummer
Tom Ardolino was a teenage amateur drummer when tapped by NRBQ. He spent the next few decades providing nimble, propulsive backbeats for the category-defying band.
PHOTO:
NRBQ is shown in 1990. Clockwise from left are Joey Spampinato, Tom Ardolino, Terry Adams and Al Anderson. (Waring Abbott)
By Randy Lewis, Los Angeles Times
January 11, 2012
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Members of the category-defying band NRBQ knew from the outset that their prospects of mainstream success were slim to none.
With a sound and attitude that embraced the seminal rock of Chuck Berry and no-borders expanse of free-form jazz experimentalist Sun Ra, the invigorating dance rhythms of zydeco kingpin Boozoo Chavis and dreamy multilayered pop of Brian Wilson, the quartet spent the '70s, '80s and '90s recording and touring chiefly for the reward of accolades from fellow musicians including Paul McCartney, Keith Richards, Elvis Costello and Bonnie Raitt, as well as from a coterie of devoted fans scattered across the planet.
The group's anything-goes-and-usually-does approach was what first caught the ear of 15-year-old drummer Tom Ardolino, who sent a fan letter to keyboardist Terry Adams after catching one of the group's shows in Springfield, Mass. In 1974, Adams invited him to join the group when drummer Tom Staley quit.
Ardolino spent the next few decades providing nimble, propulsive backbeats for bandmates Adams, guitarist Al Anderson and bassist Joey Spampinato until health issues forced him to quit touring. Those problems contributed to his death Friday at age 56 from alcoholism-related illness.
"Tommy deserves an entire wing in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame," Raitt told the Boston Globe last year. "There's [Rolling Stones drummer] Charlie Watts, and there's Tom Ardolino. That's it."
During NRBQ's relentless touring schedule — they often logged 250 shows a year — Ardolino projected the image of the world's happiest bus driver. Under a mass of long, black curly hair and peering out from behind a grizzly beard and mustache, Ardolino bounced atop the stool of his drum kit as he pounded out sultry shuffles, effervescent swing beats, insistent rock and slinky R&B pulses, country two-steps or intricate jazz polyrhythms that anchored his fellow players' flights of musical fancy.
"Between 1974 and whenever I left that band, I can tell you that that was the baddest-ass rhythm section that ever lived," Anderson told the Boston Globe, referring to the Ardolino-Spampinato half of the group that Anderson left in 1994. "NRBQ was kind of destined not to make it big because critics and radio couldn't put a name on it. But we were so great because we were playing 250 nights a year, and we started thinking with one mind."
Ardolino was born Jan. 12, 1955, and was a teenage amateur drummer in Springfield when he got a call from Adams after Staley decided to bow out.
"I was ready," Ardolino told the Baton Rouge (Louisiana) Advocate in 1999, when the band was on a 30th anniversary tour. "My problem was I had to learn to play for like a whole set long, and [to play] harder, because I was used to playing with records, which was soft."
Responding to the moment was NRBQ's calling card in concert, a trait that rarely translates into commercial success, which typically requires steady predictability.
NRBQ could never be easily pigeonholed, and therefore handily marketed, so only three of the group's albums ever charted, in the lower reaches of Billboard's Top 200 Albums rankings. Their 1969 debut "NRBQ," which originally stood for New Rhythm & Blues Quintet, and their 1990 album "Wild Weekend" are among the group's best-known recordings.
"We get disappointed sometimes, and we don't understand," Ardolino told The Times in 1992. "One of our old record labels sent us a statement once claiming the total sales of one of our albums was three cassettes. But it ain't gonna stop us. Besides, I think we have a great life. We get to play whatever we want, and we got to meet a lot of great people. I know all the good record stores in every town."
After the band went on hiatus about a decade ago, Ardolino released a solo album, "Unknown Brain." Adams resurrected NRBQ in recent years and has continued touring and recording, with himself as the only remaining original member.
Elvis Costello once told Rolling Stone, "I'd much rather any day go see NRBQ playing than any of our illustrious punk bands in England."
Ardolino's alcoholism progressed in recent years, according to the Boston Globe, and he was hospitalized in November. He died at Kindred Hospital in Springfield, Mass., the newspaper reported.
He was separated from his wife, Keiko, with whom he had a stepdaughter, Emiko, and a stepson, Liku. He is also survived by his brother, Richard.
.Los Angeles Times... . Tom Ardolino dies at 56; former NRBQ drummer Tom... more-
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In a Relationship: The Lies We Tell Ourselves
In a relationship, you can't even trust your own judgment sometimes.-
- TonyDiGerolamo
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- 10 months ago
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U.S. Olympic Skier Jeret "Speedy" Peterson Found Dead
U.S. skier Jeret Peterson shot himself to death, police say
July 26th, 2011
10:39 PM ET
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Aerial skier and Olympic silver medalist Jeret "Speedy" Peterson died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, a spokesman for the Utah Unified Police Department of Greater Salt Lake said.
Police responded to a 911 call Monday night from Peterson, who said he was going to commit suicide and gave them his location in Lambs Canyon, Lt. Justin Hoyal said.
He was already dead by the time officers arrived at 11:30 p.m. ET, Hoyal said.
"This is a sad day for Boise and for all of us who admired Speedy Peterson's accomplishments, both on the slopes and in his life," said, Boise Mayor Mayor David H. Bieter, who presented Peterson with the Key to the City last year after he medaled in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
"The hundreds of kids who came to City Hall to shake Speedy's hand after he medaled in Vancouver last year are a living testament to his power to inspire and motivate. It is truly tragic that, in the end, there was one hill he wasn't able to conquer. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends."
Peterson won a silver medal in the 2010 Olympic Winter Games for freestyle skiing after pulling off his signature move, the Hurricane.
Peterson picked up the nickname "Speedy" at a summer ski camp in Lake Placid, New York, in the mid-1990s because coaches thought he resembled the cartoon character "Speed Racer" with a big helmet, according to the United States Ski and Snowboard Association website. He won the 1999 U.S. Junior Championship and took bronze at two straight World Junior Championships in 2000 and 2001.
His life was not without tragedy. He reportedly considered suicide after losing $550,000 in blackjack earnings, according to The New York Times. His half-sister died in a drunken driving accident when he was 5. A friend committed suicide at his house, in front of him.
"The personal challenges Speedy has battled are familiar to all of us, and on behalf of the U.S. Olympic Committee, I'd like to offer my sympathy to Speedy's family and friends. Today is a sad day," U.S. Olympic Committee CEO Scott Blackmun said in a statement.
"I know Speedy's friends and family were incredibly proud of his effort in Vancouver, and his achievements were an inspiration to people all over the world."
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http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2011/images/07/27/c1main.oly.gi.jpgU.S. skier Jeret Peterson shot himself to death, police say July 26th, 2011... more-
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Amy Winehouse found dead
Amy Winehouse, 27, has been found dead at her home, police have confirmed to the Associated Press. A cause of death and other details have yet to be revealed. Last month, Winehouse called off all of the remaining dates on her European tour.
That announcement came a day after the singer canceled dates in Athens and Istanbul following a disastrous performance in Belgrade, Serbia.
“Everyone involved wishes to do everything they can to help her return to her best and she will be given as long as it takes for this to happen,” Winehouse representative Chris Goodman told the Associated Press at the time. There was no mention of why Winehouse was in the state she was in during the Belgrade show.
Much of her Belgrade performance, which started an hour late, was caught on video. Winehouse stumbled about the stage and only intermittently sang her songs. The crowd roundly booed Winehouse, and a local newspaper referred to the concert as “the worst in the history of Belgrade.”
Only a few weeks before hitting the road, Winehouse spent two weeks at London’s Priory Clinic, though it was never made clear what she was being treated for.Amy Winehouse, 27, has been found dead at her home, police have confirmed to the... more-
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First Lady Betty Ford Has Died
Former first lady Betty Ford has died at age 93, says the director of President Gerald Ford's library and museum.
CNNFormer first lady Betty Ford has died at age 93, says the director of President Gerald... more-
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Father’s Day
The night my father drove the Grey Ghost off the bridge into that water, the surface was black and red and blue, bouncing back police car lights and a tow truck’s flashers. I couldn’t see much else from the window of my mother’s car. Jason was asleep in his pajamas beside me; my faith in my mother was so absolute that when she leaned over the back seat to tell me everything was okay, I fell asleep too. Did we wake up again that night? Do I remember my father’s pearl-snapped shirt dark around the neck and shoulders or the fat bandage over his eye? Maybe. Maybe that was another time.The night my father drove the Grey Ghost off the bridge into that water, the surface... more-
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Thousands in the UK claim incapacity benefit for addictions
"Far from being the safety net it should be, the benefits system has trapped thousands of people in a cycle of addiction and welfare dependency ” Chris Grayling Employment minister
More than 80,000 people in Britain claim incapacity benefit because they are alcoholics, drug addicts or obese, the government says.
The Department for Work and Pensions said more than a quarter of those had not worked for a decade.
David Cameron said many taxpayers would object because they felt recipients should be "people who are incapacitated through no fault of their own".
But campaigners say there are too few treatment facilities for addicts.
The figures released by the DWP are a snapshot of incapacity benefit claimants in August 2010. The government wants to re-assess all current incapacity benefit claimants by 2014.
There have been pilot projects to determine whether people are fit to work immediately, whether they can begin the process of looking for work with support or whether they need constant care and cannot work.
'Left for dead
As part of this process, the government has released details of the 81,670 people it says are claiming incapacity benefit - and its successor, employment and support allowance - as a direct result of alcohol, drug and obesity problems.
As of last August, there were 42,360 claimants with alcohol addiction, 37,480 with drug dependency and 1,800 who were obese, officials said.
The DWP figures indicate that 12,800 alcoholics and 9,200 drug addicts have been claiming the benefit for more than a decade, as well as about 600 people considered obese.
In an interview with BBC Scotland, the prime minister said: "It is interesting as we go through all these cases [we're finding] people who were just frankly left for dead by the last government.
"We are finding a large number of people who are on incapacity benefit because of drink problems, alcohol problems or problems with weight and diet.
"And I think a lot of people who pay their taxes and work hard will think: 'That's not what I pay my taxes for. I pay my taxes for people who are incapacitated through no fault of their own.'"
Cycle of addiction
Employment minister Chris Grayling said private and voluntary organisations had agreed to invest £580m in treating addicts and preparing them for employment.
He said: "Far from being the safety net it should be, the benefits system has trapped thousands of people in a cycle of addiction and welfare dependency with no prospect of getting back to work.
"All of those are conditions which are treatable, which are able to be overcome if we give people the right support."
Alcohol awareness campaigners welcomed the aim of helping people to give up drink and get back to work but warned removing benefits from vulnerable people risked making their situation worse.
Don Shenker, chief executive of Alcohol Concern, said he was concerned the government was not prepared to commit enough funds to tackle a shortage of treatment facilities for those with addictions.
And he told the BBC: "I would imagine that the vast majority would find it quite difficult to go back into the workplace because, first of all, how many employers would take on someone who's been out of work for two or three years because they've been drinking?
"Secondly, the very stressful nature of being in the workplace environment means that for people who are heavily dependent on alcohol it would be difficult for some people to hold down a job."
And a spokesman for the disability charity Scope, said: "Stereotyping IB claimants won't help them find work. The government has to stop over-simplifying welfare.
"It needs to acknowledge that disabled people face multiple, complex barriers to finding jobs and build an assessment and support system based in reality. Otherwise their admirable aim of getting disabled people into work will fail."
Labour said the government's economic policy was self-defeating because spending cuts would increase unemployment levels and push up the benefits bill by £12bn.
"The real problem now is the Tories' decision to cut too far and too fast has meant that unemployment is set to increase every year," said shadow work and pensions secretary Liam Byrne.
"With five people now chasing every job, what we need to get people off benefits and paying tax is more jobs."
Ministers launched what they said was the largest back-to-work programme in modern history earlier this month as part of reforms designed to make work pay and simplify the benefits system."Far from being the safety net it should be, the benefits system has trapped... more-
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Illinois will end all drug treatment funds
Illinois will end all state funding for substance-abuse treatment and prevention programs next month, a move that could close some alcohol and drug-treatment centers across the state, advocates say.
State officials told providers on Friday that deep spending cuts proposed in Gov. Pat Quinn's fiscal 2012 budget, which starts July 1, will be imposed for the current fiscal year as of March 15.
Providers like Prairie Health Systems in Champaign, which were already gearing up to fight the proposed 2012 cuts, now face the prospect of laying off employees and cutting off services to clients within weeks.
"It's the most devastating picture possible. There's real concern about the entire system being shut down because providers will close," said Sara Howe, chief executive officer of the Illinois Alcoholism and Drug Dependence Association in Springfield.
Howe said she was notified by Department of Human Services Secretary Michelle Saddler early Friday that all state general revenue funding for addiction prevention and treatment would be eliminated as of March 15. The system would rely only on federal Medicaid dollars.
That would mean only those who qualify for Medicaid, the government health insurance system for the poor, would be eligible for treatment services, she said.
Only about 20 percent of the clients at state-funded treatment centers are Medicaid-eligible, "so 80 percent of our clients on March 15 would be thrown out of care," or about 55,000 people, she said.
Howe said the state is also eliminating its funding for addiction-prevention services, which help almost 230,000 youths in communities throughout the state each year.
"It's the least expensive way to deal with addiction – prevent it before it starts," she said.
Bruce Suardini, CEO of Prairie Health System, said about 60 percent of his funding comes through the Department of Human Services' alcohol and substance abuse division, including about $1.35 million annually from general revenue funding, which would be lost.
Prairie Health also receives funding for its $4.8 million budget from other federal grants, local funding sources like the United Way and Champaign County Mental Health Board, third-party insurance and self-pay clients. The agency, which has 85 employees, serves about 5,000 people a year through its prevention, outpatient, residential and detoxification programs, he said.
The state also plans to implement 6 percent reductions in Medicaid reimbursement rates, Suardini said. And Medicaid funding for substance abuse treatment is limited to women, so men wouldn't be covered, he said.
He isn't sure how Prairie Health will absorb the funding cuts, saying he has an emergency board meeting scheduled for Monday.
In response to questions from The News-Gazette, Department of Human Services spokeswoman Stacey Solano e-mailed a statement saying that "increased demand for services during the economic recession" had caused the department's budget deficit.
"The department is now faced with the difficult but necessary decision of reducing services in order to pay our bills for the remainder of the fiscal year while preserving core services. We are aware of the hardships these tough choices will create and value the commitment of our providers who serve some of the most vulnerable citizens of Illinois," the statement said.
The governor was given emergency budget authority for fiscal 2011, but Howe said her agency is working with legislators now to determine if he has the authority to make these cuts.
"There's still a question of the legality of cutting this much money at this time," she said.
The March 15 deadline gives providers little time to make decisions about staffing and inform clients about the impending change, Howe said.
"Many of them said they would be on the brink of shutdown," she said.
For fiscal 2012, the proposed cuts would total $54 million, Howe said. But no one's sure exactly how much money will be cut for the current fiscal year, because it's unclear how much the state has already spent, Howe said. The state is behind on its reimbursements to providers.
Prevention services that could be affected include Operation Snowball, Teen REACH and school-based programs, Howe said.
"We're talking about the majority of programs that we know are effective, that save the state money, and yet they're gone in one swoop," she said.
Dropping drug-treatment services also will have implications for hospitals, which are already seeing emergency rooms fill up with people who need services, she said.
"People cannot get into treatment, so they are instead turning to hospitals, at a much higher cost," she said.
http://www.news-gazette.com/news/politics-and-government/2011-02-19/state-will-end-all-drug-treatment-funds.htmlIllinois will end all state funding for substance-abuse treatment and prevention... more-
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The World's Drunkest Countries Revealed
The World Health Organization has just released a report about global alcohol consumption. The result shouldn't come as a surprise - our planet is hammered!
In the report there are many sad statistics, like about how alcohol is the leading cause of death worldwide for men 15-59. But there are also some cool stats and maps.
The map above shows which countries per person in 2005. It should come as no surprise that we Brits like our drinks a bit more than the Americans, but as you can see from the map below (which shows what type of booze is drunk where) we both favour beer over wine and spirits.
According to the report, Moldova is the world's drunkest country, with each resident downing about 17 litters of alcohol a year. Cheers!
The World Health Organization has just released a report about global alcohol... more-
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Alcohol kills more than AIDS, TB or violence: WHO. « Ramanan50's Blog
For Tipplers.
http://ramanan50.wordpress.com/2011/02/12/alcohol-kills-more-than-aids-tb-or-violence-who/For Tipplers.... more-
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Elton John Says Billy Joel Needs ‘Tough Love’ and Rehab for Alcoholism
Sir Elton John knows Billy Joel is going to “hate him” for it, but he’s publicly speaking out about his friend and fellow musician needing to get serious about conquering his alcohol addiction.Sir Elton John knows Billy Joel is going to “hate him” for it, but... more-
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Gerry Rafferty, Songwriter, Dead at 63 | "Stuck In the Middle With You" | "Baker Street"
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2011/01/05/arts/RAFFERTY-obit/RAFFERTY-obit-articleInline.jpg
The New York Times
January 4, 2011
Gerry Rafferty, Songwriter, Dies at 63
By DOUGLAS MARTIN
Gerry Rafferty, a Scottish singer and songwriter who combined a gift for melody, a distinctive voice and a fatalistic worldview to produce 1970s hits like “Stuck in the Middle With You” and “Baker Street,” died Tuesday in Dorset, England. He was 63.
His death was confirmed by Michael Gray, his former manager, in an obituary he wrote for the London newspaper The Guardian, and later by his agent, Paul Charles, in a report by The Associated Press. Various news reports said Mr. Rafferty had been hospitalized for severe liver and kidney problems.
Mr. Rafferty’s 1978 album, “City to City,” reached No. 1 in the United States. One track, “Baker Street,” made the Top 10 in both Britain and the United States. So did “Stuck in the Middle With You,” a song Mr. Rafferty and Joe Egan recorded with their group Stealers Wheel in 1972. That song reached a new generation of listeners when Quentin Tarantino used it in the notorious ear-slicing scene in his 1992 movie “Reservoir Dogs.”
In all, Mr. Rafferty sold more than 10 million albums over three decades.
But Mr. Gray, writing in The Guardian, said Mr. Rafferty’s success was a shadow of what it might have been. At the peak of his popularity, Mr. Rafferty declined to tour the United States and turned down chances to play with Eric Clapton and Paul McCartney. In his later years his output declined, then stopped altogether as he “spiraled into alcoholism,” Mr. Gray said. Mr. Rafferty himself said in a rare interview in 2009 with The Sunday Express that he suffered from depression.
But at his peak Mr. Rafferty drew rave reviews for his synthesis of country, folk and rock music. Reviewing “City to City” in Rolling Stone, Ken Emerson said Mr. Rafferty “writes with the sweet melodiousness of Paul McCartney and sings with John Lennon’s weary huskiness.”
Mr. Emerson discerned “a prayerful quality” in Mr. Rafferty’s voice, reminiscent of “the dim dawn after a dark night of the soul.”
Almost from his birth in Paisley, Scotland, on April 16, 1947, Gerald Rafferty knew plenty about life’s dark side. He and his mother would hide from his father to avoid being beaten when he stumbled home drunk, Mr. Gray wrote. But music pervaded the family’s life, as young Gerry assimilated Roman Catholic hymns, traditional folk music, 1950s pop and even the Irish rebel tunes his deaf father bellowed.
Mr. Rafferty dropped out of school at 15 and went to work in a butcher shop. On weekends he and a friend, Mr. Egan, played in a local group, the Mavericks. After bouncing about a bit, Mr. Rafferty and Mr. Egan reunited in Stealers Wheel, whose debut album included “Stuck in the Middle.”
“Stuck in the Middle,” written as a parody of many of Bob Dylan’s songs, ridiculed a music industry cocktail party, complaining, “Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right, here I am, stuck in the middle with you.”
By 1975, Stealers Wheel had broken up after recording three albums, and Mr. Rafferty spent the next three years in legal disputes over contracts. Finally, in 1978, he was free to record again and signed with United Artists. “City to City,” a solo effort, was his first album for the label. Its centerpiece song, “Baker Street,” featured a saxophone solo by Raphael Ravenscroft that became so popular it was said to spark a global increase in saxophone sales.
Mr. Rafferty went on to record several more albums, including “Night Owl,” which made it to the Top Five in England and the Top 20 in the United States in 1979. Other albums followed, some of which garnered good reviews but none of which approached Mr. Rafferty’s earlier success.
He contributed a vocal to the soundtrack of the 1983 film “Local Hero,” and produced the Proclaimers’ 1987 hit “Letter From America.”
Mr. Rafferty’s marriage to Carla Ventilla ended in divorce. He is survived by his daughter, Martha, a brother and a granddaughter.
In the 2009 interview, Mr. Rafferty called the music industry “something I loathe and detest.” Nevertheless, he earned nearly $125,000 a year in royalties for “Baker Street” alone.http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2011/01/05/arts/RAFFERTY-obit/RAFFERTY-obit-article... more-
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Family history of alcoholism raises obesity risk
People with a family history of alcoholism may be turning to high-calorie treats instead of booze to satisfy their addiction, researchers say, a change that could be fueling the obesity epidemic.
http://www.indiareport.com/India-usa-uk-news/reuters/Health/75414People with a family history of alcoholism may be turning to high-calorie treats... more-
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Alcoholism Linked to Obesity
Addiction researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, have found that a risk for alcoholism also may put individuals at risk for obesity.
The researchers noted that the association between a family history of alcoholism and obesity risk has become more pronounced in recent years. Both men and women with such a family history were more likely to be obese in 2002 than members of that same high-risk group had been in 1992.
“In addiction research, we often look at what we call cross-heritability, which addresses the question of whether the predisposition to one condition also might contribute to other conditions,” says first author Richard A. Grucza, PhD.
“For example, alcoholism and drug abuse are cross-heritable. This new study demonstrates a cross-heritability between alcoholism and obesity, but it also says — and this is very important — that some of the risks must be a function of the environment. The environment is what changed between the 1990s and the 2000s. It wasn’t people’s genes.”
Obesity in the United States has doubled in recent decades from 15 percent of the population in the late 1970s to 33 percent in 2004. Obese people – those with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or more – have an elevated risk for high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, stroke and certain cancers.
Reporting in the Archives of General Psychiatry, Grucza and his team say individuals with a family history of alcoholism, particularly women, have an elevated obesity risk. In addition, that risk seems to be growing. He speculates that may result from changes in the food we eat and the availability of more foods that interact with the same brain areas as addictive drugs.
“Much of what we eat nowadays contains more calories than the food we ate in the 1970s and 1980s, but it also contains the sorts of calories — particularly a combination of sugar, salt and fat — that appeal to what are commonly called the reward centers in the brain,” says Grucza, an assistant professor of psychiatry.
“Alcohol and drugs affect those same parts of the brain, and our thinking was that because the same brain structures are being stimulated, overconsumption of those foods might be greater in people with a predisposition to addiction.”
Grucza hypothesized that as Americans consumed more high-calorie, hyper-palatable foods, those with a genetic risk for addiction would face an elevated risk from because of the effects of those foods on the reward centers in the brain. His team analyzed data from two large alcoholism surveys from the last two decades.
The National Longitudinal Alcohol Epidemiologic Survey was conducted in 1991 and 1992. The National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions was conducted in 2001 and 2002. Almost 80,000 people took part in the two surveys.
“We looked particularly at family history of alcoholism as a marker of risk,” Grucza explains. “And we found that in 2001 and 2002, women with that history were 49 percent more likely to be obese than those without a family history of alcoholism. We also noticed a relationship in men, but it was not as striking in men as in women.”
Grucza says a possible explanation for obesity in those with a family history of alcoholism is that some individuals may substitute one addiction for another. After seeing a close relative deal with alcohol problems, a person may shy away from drinking, but high-calorie, hyper-palatable foods also can stimulate the reward centers in their brains and give them effects similar to what they might experience from alcohol.
“Ironically, people with alcoholism tend not to be obese,” Grucza says. “They tend to be malnourished, or at least under-nourished because many replace their food intake with alcohol. One might think that the excess calories associated with alcohol consumption could, in theory, contribute to obesity, but that’s not what we saw in these individuals.”
Grucza says other variables, from smoking, to alcohol intake, to demographic factors like age and education levels don’t seem to explain the association between alcoholism risk and obesity.
“It really does appear to be a change in the environment,” he says. “I would speculate, although I can’t really prove this, that a change in the food environment brought this association about. There is a whole slew of literature out there suggesting these hyper-palatable foods appeal to people with addictive tendencies, and I would guess that’s what we’re seeing in our study.”
The results, he says, suggest there should be more cross-talk between alcohol and addiction researchers and those who study obesity. He says there may be some people for whom treating one of those disorders also might aid the other.
obesity and alcoholism
Grucza RA
Grucza RA, Krueger RF, Racette SB, Norberg KE, Hipp PR, Bierut LJ. The emerging link between alcoholism risk and obesity in the United States, Archives of General Psychiatry, vol. 67(12), pp. 1301-1308. Dec. 2010
*****Addiction researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, have... more-
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Alcoholism may develop Obesity Risk
According to a latest study, people who are suffering from alcoholism are prone to Obesity. It was revealed by the researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
:http://www.breakingnewsonline.net/health/6023-alcoholism-may-develop-obesity-risk.htmlAccording to a latest study, people who are suffering from alcoholism are prone to... more-
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New Year's prophecy of 2011 years. Noworoczna przepowiednia
The prophecy says:
- What is the hangover, this will be the New Year
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edn4dFP5OTYThe prophecy says: - What is the hangover, this will be the New Year... more-
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Prof: Alcohol Worse Than Heroin
Alcohol is more dangerous for humans than crack or heroin, according to a surprising assessment by a British drug expert. Professor David Nutt's ranking system, reached by a panel of experts and published in the Lancet, ranked alcohol three times more harmful than cocaine or tobacco. Ecstasy causes one-eighth of the harm of alcohol, according to Nutt's system. The rankings were created when experts listed substances based on harm caused to users as well as harm to others, reports the BBC. The panel concluded that heroin and crack were the most harmful drugs to individuals, but alcohol, heroin and crack were the most harmful to others.
When the rankings were combined, alcohol topped the list as the most harmful over all. The rankings demonstrate that "aggressively targeting alcohol harms is a valid and necessary public health strategy," the Lancet authors conclude. The findings run contrary to the government's long-established drug classification system, and Nutt was booted last year from his job as national drugs chief because of his views. He then established an Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs to examine substance abuse issues.Alcohol is more dangerous for humans than crack or heroin, according to a surprising... more
