Universe On The Couch

All we are saying is give Tebow a chance. I may be no FB expert, but I am perplexed by the lack of interest in Tebow. Let us look at the NFL right now. The better teams seem to have an answer at QB. But the middle group have some answers, but not that convincing. The bottom group is up for grabs. And then there is the back-up situation. If the big man goes down, who steps up? A rookie unknown? Some guy that was pretty good, but now older? What happens if Kap, Brady, Wilson, Rogers or another stud goes down? For the season? Or five or six games? Tebow may lack this or that by some formula, but the guy is a proven winner. Look at his college career. Yea, sure, plenty of those guys flop in the NFL. That supports my contentionof not relying on a rookie back-up. But Tebow kicked ass at Denver. Talk about highlight film! Clutch! Win the division and then knock off the Steelers. All this baggage talk is crap. Because he is well-loved? Sell the tickets. Work with charities. Or is it the Jesus thing? Better to come out gay. Tolerance is supposed to be universal. When I look at the NFL, the baggage I see is over-inflated egos and selfishness along with outright criminal behavior. All I am saying is give Tebow a chance.

The NBA Playoffs are on. But the Bulls are devastated by injury and looks like Jimmy and friends are in for another crown. NHL? Go Blackhawks, but I am not a hockey guy. Baseball? That means T-Ball with my son. This year I followed the NFL Draft like never before. Probably a distraction during the end stage cancer of my sister-in-law. Still, the NFL is the sport to watch for me. I almost feel a depression wehn the Super Bowl ends each year. The Pro Bowl never really mattered to me. I realize the NFL or any sports do not matter at all. Like my wife following gossip magazines. The players are often disgusting pigs. The owners an upper class version of the same. It is so all about money. As if any of the parties is not swimming in cash. So why do I like it? Why am I so not alone? Why is it the best spectator sport bar none? 1. It is well-suited to TV. 2. It is gladiator. 3. It is about war and empire-like the USA. 4. It gives us heroes and villians. 5. It is complex and full of strategy. I will just touch on the war thing. We are an empire. We rule the wrold like no nation ever has. Nothing major is in space, the air or on the seas without our permission. Football is war. It is about territory. taking the capitol of the enemy. Air attack adn ground attack. And defense against both. Played in whatever conditions. (If done properly). Plenty of casualties. Must work as a team. Deception. Valor. Will.

GINORMOUS=GIANT+ENORMOUS My four year old son came up with that one. Unfortunately it is not an original in the English language. Like every parent, I am on the look-out for potential genius in my kids. I even tried to plant it in coversation at the SuperBowl. It sort of took. Maybe they were too drunk. I had this fantasy that I could conduct some experiment and see if I coud go viral with it. And maybe make money off it. The easy buck. Seems some pretty mindless things are going big. Gangnam. Kim K and the whole family. Are we that out of ideas? That bored?

As Residents in Psychiatry, we contemplated how certain personalities liked different drugs. I also had thought on why societies favor certain drugs. America does love its drugs. Caffeine, Nicotine and Alcohol from Colonial days. We also loved some other "natural" drugs such as opiates and cocaine. You could order them through the mail. From Sears. Until 1913. The illicit drugs were paused underground. The fifties brought us psychiatric drugs big-time. Then the sixties. And the seventies. These two decades brought all sorts of things into the mainstream. And then the eighties.

This society in my opinion is in the late stage of a Stimulant Era. Sure, we have a rich supply of prescription, OTC, health store and even illicit drugs selections. But the real story is stimulants. Meaning things that jack up the nervous system. I count here caffeine, illicit speed, XTC, cocaine, herbals, ADHD meds, depression meds and bipolar meds.

This Stimulant Era is thirty plus years old. It began with Reagan. For you young ones, Ronnie came into power in a very different America. The seventies saw defeat and withdrawal from Vietnam. Watergate and the Nixon tapes. The VP resigned in scandal. Nixon resigned. He would have been impeached. Stagflation. The Arab Oil Embargo. Lines for gas. Ford and Carter failed to turn things around. In the Fall of 1979 Americans began over 400 days of being held hostage in Iran. In 1980 the Soviets marched into Afghanistan. Carter retaliated by boycotting the Olympics. The Baby Boomers turned from change the world to work on myself-or at least pleasure myself.

Reagan declared a new day. During his inaugural speech the hostages were released. After a short recession, inflation was tamed and the economy grew. The Yuppie was born. And the Yuppie was all about career and money. That old bong and smelly pot would not do. Nor would the old cigars or whiskey. Imitating the rich, they turned to wines and brie. Noodles became pasta.

Enter cocaine. The forbidden. Decadent. Expensive. Now the upper middle class could indulge. At a party for a decade pot would be freely passed. Now the "in" folks would "sneak" off to the bathroom or bedroom to snort. Then rerun sorta secret sniffing to let everyone else know they were the select cool.

Coffee made a come-back. From the health food opinion unhealthy and that's my parents drug to a new indulgence. Not Folgers or instant. No way. Cappuccino, Espresso and Latte. The electric coffee maker became a regular household appliance. Some even ground their own beans or made espresso at home.

We were energized to do things. Including stay up all night and party. But we went to work. The college educated Boomers embraced careers, especially in business. The MBA was the degree. Or better yet Law. The stock market grew. Employment improved. We built up our military.

Besides the coffee machines entering our homes, our entertainment at home was changing. The sixties TV was black and white with maybe a dozen channels that stopped broadcasting in the late hours. You had to get up and turn the knob. The seventies brought color to nearly all, longer broadcast days and even game consoles. Who can forget the gripping "Pong" with its variants of tennis and hockey? But now we had cable, MTV, remote control and the VCR.

Yet the biggest technology was the computer. At home and work. They were slow, especially hooked to the phone modem. The graphics were nil. But they were invading.

Times were changing. Life was speeding up. Feedback was faster. The whole psychology of our lives was being changed for more change. The main reason was and is our technology gives us more data and faster. It is no surprise that we saw the return of coffee. Or the lure of cocaine.

But we were just starting. The data would grow exponentially and its media invade more and more of our lives. We would become more hooked in. We would seek more chemicals to live this way. We would pay a price as well.

Do any of these folks ever learn?

Wait. That is not the issue. It's the short-term political gain. The so-called swing states are in bad shape per housing. So give them money to keep their homes. At least a little longer. So Obama can get more votes. Win those states. Win re-election.

Now don't get me wrong. I voted for him in 2008 and probably will again. Like then, the competition is poor. Or any election in my lifetime. He took on an impossible task and things have not gone to hell.

But these bailouts are just a delay tactic. That's OK when you are seeking re-election and/or want to delay the fallout until your shift is done. But... We keep using these short-term solutions to our future peril. Bush II started three wars and spent more than ever while cutting taxes. The Fed cut rates to nearly nothing and they are still there. Then when the shit hit the fan bailed the banks. And housing stimuli that only delays losing homes. Obama has essentially continued the program. Along with Helicopter Ben. And has anything really gotten better?

So in time we will pay a big price. Lets not kid ourselves. This shit began in some ways with LBJ and Nixon. All this stimulus will eventually lead to inflation. As will scarcity of resources. Water, metals and energy will all continue to be more expensive due to higher demand and more expense in obtaining.

In Medicine, when the patient is in fever and severe pain, we look for the root cause. Simply giving Tylenol for the fever and narcotics for the pain will not solve the problem. It will grow and eventually kill the patient.

I went to the zoo over the weekend. Looking at all the animals with hooves, I wondered, as I have i the past with all the different kinds of birds, what's the point? I know the diversity argument. Better odds of life itself surviving. What was God thinking on the whole mosquito thing? Or flies? Or smallpox virus?

Of course it wasn't made to my or "our" liking. And maybe no conscious deliberation at all. No intelligent design. Small case intended. I don't rule out something more than blind evolution, but it may be in fact true.

But what if the so-called spiritual or astral or metaphysical or whatever you want to call it realm is the same way? I think of such realms, if they exist, as not a blind evolution. But why not? Various spirits, demons, angels and even gods are dying out and evolving. The Hebrew god died? Or evolved? Had a change of heart with the whole Jesus thing? Or got bored and moved on?

Or I'm just engaged in mental mastrubation. I have this strong sense we are not looking at this whole universe the best way. The far realms of big and small are so twisted, it seems clear our perspective is based and limited by a neurology suited for our Paleolithic survival.

Bill Clinton won the election with less than half of the votes as detailed in the last entry. It was probably a good thing he won. The past twelve years had allowed a mindset of anger and futility in many groups that were feeling left out of the political game and social relevancy. These included Blacks, women, the working class, the poor and liberals.

Clinton was born without status. He was the any boy can grow up to be President. Raised by his Mom in the South. Probably out-of-wedlock. Very smart, ambitious and most of all charming. Even his political enemies commented on his charm. He was hard not to like in person. He was a fun President, young and energetic. And the first Baby Boom President as well.

The economy turned around from the recent recession quickly. It only got better from there. Much better. The Great Boom of the nineties. While forces beyond Clinton were the cause, he did his best not to disrupt the party. The main area of growth was technology, mainly the PC and then the Internet. Jobs were plentiful. Many got rich or super-rich. Secretaries in the new start-ups became millionaires. Inflation was under good control thanks to former Fed Chairman Volker a decade earlier. Current Chair Greenspan was a public hero and named The Maestro. History would not remember him so well.

The stock market was the new buzz. Record numbers of citizens invested on their own or through retirement plans. The market soared to new heights. Newer companies made incredible gains. Qualcomm went up 2,000% in 1999! Stock options were making engineers millionaires by age thirty.

The coffers of local, state and the federal government overflowed. Spending the surplus was big talk. The Republicans wanted tax cuts, while the Democrats wanted more social programs.

Sure, there were problems, but who cares? Good times are here to stay. Everybody was going to get rich. Market cycles and normal valuations of companies no longer mattered. There was no place to go but up and America as number one in every meaningful category.

The George H. Bush years, 1989 to 1992, were essentially an extension of the Reagan years. He had been the VP under Reagan, and essentially continued the policies. Three events marked this administration. The first was the Fall of Communism. The second was the War in Iraq. The third was the economic and social downturn that led to his defeat in 1992.

In November 1989, the Berlin Wall came down. It was symbolic that the Cold War was essentially over. Capitalism, Democracy and the USA had won. The USSR could no longer compete with US military technology and the economic ability to produce those weapons. They had been outspent. They could no longer afford to support the anemic economies of their satellites.

This would lead to a discussion over following years of how to spend the "peace dividend" since the large spending on military would no longer be needed. This would prove to be a pre-mature discussion.

The end of the USSR and its empire of influence was widely cheered. However problems were created. Russia itself would have political and economic instability and be ruled mafia style by the old ruling party in a peverted criminal capitalism. Former Soviet republics rebelled and war followed. Former sattellites alos found ethnic conflict and violence once the biggest tyrant was removed. Prosperous West Germany strained under the weight of millions who were poor and had the welfare mentality and poor work ethic created by Communism. And finally, the weapons of the former USSR were not well accounted for. This included nuclear materials as well as biological agents.

In 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait and threatened Saudi Arabia. The UN forces, led by the US and including Moslem/Arab allies, easily pushed Iraq out. There was great rejoicing and clear victory. Bush enjoyed great popularity at that time, 1991.

But the tide of public opinion would change. A minor recession pushed up unemployment. Bush was percieved as uncaring and out-of-touch with the common working person. He was seen as a leader of the old white boy power gang.

There were social problems as well. Many citizens, especially minorities felt left out of the prosperity and political process. this came to ahead when four LAPD officers were aquitted in the beating of Black motorist Rodney King. Riots followed in American cities.

Many were again unemployed. Bush was perceived as uncaring and out of touch. He told the citizens to stay the course and the economy would improve. He was right, but the people were impatient.