BOOK REVIEW: ‘Denial: A memoir of Terror’

To my readers;
I seldom do book reviews. This one is only my third in 18 months.

I’m not being paid to write it. My only reason is personal; the author Jessica Stern rang my bell. The subject of her new book - Denial: A Memoir of Terror -is one close to my heart.

I’m a Vietnam veteran who’s service-connected for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
Stern is one of the world’s foremost experts on terrorists and PTSD. So this was a natural read for me:

                      By Dave Stancliff

Imagine writing down the most traumatic thing that ever happened to you in your life and sharing it with the world. Imagine that this thing that happened to you was so horrific that you somehow blotted it out of your mind. Then you locked it up in a secret room in your brain far from the light of conscious thought.
But your traumatic event throbs in it’s confinement, and you have to learn how to numb that throbbing. Then one day your traumatic event leaks out, unbidden, and your world tilts crazily.
What can you do? If, you’re brave enough, like Jessica Stern has been, then you can confront the issues regarding that event. You can wash them out and hang them up on a clothesline for the world to see. The result is a personal healing that translates to hope for others with PTSD.
Stern shares the most intimate of all traumas; rape at gunpoint. She was fifteen and her sister (who was also raped by the same man the same day) was only fourteen. What happened afterward, in the suburban town of Concord, Massachusetts, was almost as shocking as the rape.
The police thought she, and her sister, we’re lying about what happened. Her only answer to that terrible situation was to stuff it in. She moved on to overachieve in her life and has gathered many degrees and honors for her knowledge on subjects like terrorism and PTSD. It seemed Jessica had overcome her trauma.
That changed 30 years after the crime when a request from a police lieutenant re-opened the festering sore of the rape, and motivated her to investigate what happened. The result is stunning as she discovers who her rapist was, secrets about her own family, and how tricky the mind can be.
Be prepared to immerse yourself in a true life mystery that no fiction could surpass. You’ll learn about the human spirit, and the capacity for denial when terrible things happen in a person’s life. “Numbness and hyper vigilance can keep you alive,” Jessica tells us, “and it can “get in the way of normal life and of human relationships.”
I won’t giveaway who the rapist was, but I bet you’ll be surprised. There’s nothing predictable in this book, which makes it an absorbing read. The underlining message of Jessica’s story is how seductive denial can be.
I picked the book up one evening and read the entire thing. I didn’t mind staying up past my normal bedtime to. It was worth it.
I recommend this book as an easy and exciting read on a complex subject. Look for it in June 2010.   

I knew it was a tough market for realtors but this pushes the enevelope!

http://www.pigazette.com/Pigraphics/housingmk...

Political Scum Report: another ‘cheater’ slinks off into the shadows

___________________________

Rep. Souder says he'll resign over affair

The Indiana lawmaker won a bruising Republican primary on May 4

__________________________________

A case of distortion? Or stolen valor? You decide…

Report: Conn. Dem misstated military record

Early favorite in Senate race never served in Vietnam, newspaper says

Richard Blumenthal (photo right)the early favorite to win retiring fellow Democrat Christopher Dodd's Senate seat from Connecticut, never served in the military in Vietnam despite his public comments indicating he had done so, the New York Times reported on Monday.

People are happier, less stressed after age 50

Those in their 50s are more satisfied than those in 20s, large study says

Life looks a little rosier after 50, a new study finds. Older people in their mid- to late-50s are generally happier, and experience less stress and worry than young adults in their 20s, the researchers say.

Photo: here’s “As It Stand’s” Dave at 59, and clowning around at the Dollar Store. My sense of humor has improved in the last decade. What do you think about this study? Is it true?

Motivated Lakers out for playoff vengeance

It’s that time again when the Lakers meet someone in the Western Conference. This year, it’s the Suns.

Nothing would make Kobe happier than beating old foes Suns, Celtics

Today’s photo: ‘A bad day in suburbia’ – see more below

A tow truck operator looks to tow a Jeep Liberty after the driver, who claims the accelerator stuck, drove it through the back wall of his garage on Monday, May 17, in Lancaster, Pa. The driver was not hurt. (Dan Marschka/Lancaster Newspapers via AP

For more interesting photos go here

Pesticides in kids linked to ADHD

I always suspected that the crap we spray on fruits and vegetables was dangerous to more than just insects.

This research confirms one of my fears: young children with developing nerve systems are at risk, and the connection between the pesticides and ADHD now prove that.

There’s one answer. Eat organic and locally grown products. I know that real organic food is more expensive but the trade-off is a no-brainer. 

Researcher advises parents to buy organic, wash produce

Excerpt:

“Exposure to pesticides used on common kid-friendly foods — including frozen blueberries, fresh strawberries and celery — appears to boost the chances that children will be diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, new research shows.”

Video: Pesticides linked to ADHD in kids?

As It Stands: How to get in trouble for telling the truth -- be a Whistleblower

By Dave Stancliff/For the Times-Standard

They're average folk, but when they decide to step up and tell the truth about what's wrong in their work place, they become targets. Their lives are often ruined because they are honest.

They're Whistleblowers, who reveal wrongdoing within an organization to the public or to those in positions of authority. In my opinion, they're heroes in an age when heroes are all too rare.

Remember Karen Silkwood? She was an American labor union activist and a chemical technician at the Kerr-McGee plant near Crescent, Okla., in 1974. A movie was based on her story.

Police suspicions about her mysterious death led to a federal investigation into nuclear plant security and safety. Silkwood exposed the hazards of nuclear energy and raised questions about corporate accountability and responsibility. She paid the ultimate price for revealing Kerr-McGee's dangerous practices.

More recently, Wendell Potter, a former vice president of Corporate Communications at CIGNA, one of the biggest health insurance organizations in the country, testified against the HMO industry in the U.S. Senate.

What motivated Potter to expose his employers? You might say he an epiphany when he saw a touring free clinic run by Remote Area Medical in rural Virginia. He was horrified by the hundreds of desperate people, most without medical insurance, who came from the hills for basic medical help.

GO HERE TO READ THE REST.

Pill-Popping Pitbull Needs Viagra to Live

A veterinarian suggested Viagra as a solution to keep the small pooch up and running.

And it appears to be working.

Read all about Ingrid’s (photo right) harrowing life and why Viagra is saving it.

Here’s a good read for a Saturday

Stupid is, stupid does: Palin still says ‘drill,baby,drill’

Sarah Palin will say anything such as Obama would ban guns if he could just to please her audience.

In this case, for the National Rifle Association members who’ve been waiting with baited breath for someone to dare introduce ANY anti-gun legislation.

It’s been 18 months since Obama took office and they’re still waiting. They’re still cleaning their semi-automatic weapons every night, dreaming of parading down streets with them on their backs in a “patriotic” protest. I kinda feel sorry for the fools, but if they want to live their lives fearing someone is going to take away their weapons…so be it. One of these days their parade will come. So don’t worry loyal NRA members, you’ll get your dues worth someday when CNN shows you trying to shoot skeet on the White House Lawn!

 In her usual clever way, Palin is encouraging “mama grizzlies” to vote all Democrats out of public offices in November. Her desire to see Alaska “drill, baby, drill” is still strong, and it makes you wonder about those articles regarding her and her Big Oil buddies while she was in office. You have to hand it to her though, at the end of the day she got PAID for(and folks that’s why she decided not to finish her term as governor, because it paid peanuts compared to what she could get for public speaking and writing -more like dictating to someone who could write- right-wing rhetoric.

Listen folks…Kagan is an average American Aaand …

 

Cartoon source: Mike Lester / The Rome (GA) News-Tribune, Politicalcartoons.com

High on pot initiative passing? Intrade has investment for you

Somehow I just knew Wall Street vultures would figure out a way to make money BEFORE marijuana became legal.

I call it the Goldman-Sachs effect.

The Intrade prediction market, an on-line trading network that enables investors to buy and sell shares based on forecasting events, is trying to cash in on curiosity over the outcome of California's November vote on legalizing marijuana for recreational use.

Go here to read more.            Image Source

Friday Trivia Corner: World’s strangest vending machines

The world’s first vending machine apparently dates back to the first century, when Hero of Alexandria, a Greek mathematician, devised a coin-operated mechanism that would dispense holy water.

Perhaps because that was such a tough act to follow, vending machines didn’t really evolve again until the 19th century, when Industrial Age machines started selling postcards or gum.

From pizza to a bar of gold, the oddest items — instantly

PHOTO: ‘Let’s Pizza” machines, found in a few shopping malls and airports in Italy will make an individual pizza from scratch in just under three minutes for $5-$8.

Family sues teacher in taped beating of student

I have never heard of a woman teacher beating up a teenage boy in school. Maybe I’ve led a sheltered life. I don’t know.

The odd thing about this situation is there’s no explanation why she beat the boy up. I have to think he really pushed her button damn hard to have her react like this.

Not knowing these details makes it hard to understand how this could happen. The boy might have attacked her and she just got the better of him. Who knows?

Attack at Houston, Texas, school was caught by classmate on a cell phone

Recycled cigarette butts keep steel pipes from rusting

Okay…I gotta hand it to the Chinese. Recycling nasty cigarette butts is a stroke of genius. Now, if they’ll just tie it in with the toxic drywall they’ve been selling us, homeowners can coat all the steel fixings in their house effectively stopping the toxic fumes from rusting them.

Call it serendipity. Call it whatever you want. No one knows toxic better than the Chinese.

China scientists find use for cigarette butts:

Toxic chemicals can be recycled to protect steel pipes from rusting

Photo source

It’s nice to know that our Canadian neighbors can get as stupid as us when it comes to sports!

____________________________________

41 arrested in Montreal after big Canadian win

Canadians fans celebrate in Montreal following a win against Pittsburgh in the Stanley Cup playoffs on Wednesday.

View related photos

________________________________________

U.S. split over Ariz. immigration law

I’m simply amazed that 12 other states are considering enacting the same draconian law that Arizona has.

Protests draw attention, but crackdown has sizable support

U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) denounces Arizona's tough new immigration law on April 24, 2010 in Tuscon, Arizona.

Grijalva, who shut his Tuscon office the day before because of death threats, called for an economic boycott of Arizona because of the new law, which he called racist.

At the same time, polls show significant support for laws like it, and lawmakers have introduced similar measures, or have announced plans to do so, in at least 12 other states.

New Political Party – Tea Baggers on Steroids?

Take note of this new party – ‘A Third Position’  

A3P Activists Join Tax Protests Across the Nation

If you ask me, their party message, “The message of liberty, sovereignty, identity”  conceals a darker side to these people’s goals.

They have been courting tea party members who think their “on the right track” to saving America…from everything. They think Arizona’s new immigration law is great. They sound like a new Tea party on steroids if the following is true:  

According to Alexa, the premier website for web-traffic metrics, the American Third Position has the most trafficked party website in the U.S, followed closely by the GOP, whose site has been online for over a decade. In only 4 months, the A3P has grown from but a small handful of people into a national network of growingly-sophisticated political activists.

A3P members say:

“With certainty, had the establishment not cut off all routes to the democratic process for those with differing opinions – aka Americans – this superior performance would be reflected in the composition of the body of politicians who determine the course of the nation.

As the political establishment continues to attack the American way of life, the party will inevitably grow stronger. The website ranking will follow accordingly.”

A3P: 18,409 -GOP: 19,544 -DEM: 24,356 -LIB: 24,423 - GRE: 125,027 - CON: 167,893

U.S. struggling to ward off evolving cyber threat

More than 100 spy agencies working to gain access to systems, official says

Excerpt:

“The United States is losing enough data in cyber attacks to fill the Library of Congress many times over, and authorities have failed to stay ahead of the threat, a U.S. defense official said on Wednesday.

In a sobering assessment, the Defense Department's Jim Miller said more than 100 foreign spy agencies were working to gain access to U.S. computer systems, as were criminal organizations.” Photo source