Ted Kennedy Lacked Conscience And Courage

For twenty five years I was a practicing alcoholic and drug addict.

Almost every day I drove my car, while drunk, to purchase my drugs. One day on the way to "cop my dope", I hit and severely wounded a stray dog that was in the street. I never saw the dog until it was too late. I kept on driving and the dog probably died.

Ever since that day my greatest fear was that I would hit and kill a person while I was drunk and/or stoned. I knew of someone who was serving a 15 year sentence in prison for accidentally killing someone with his car while he was drunk.

Although I had no compassion for the innocent people in the street who could become a victim of my drunk driving, I did have a horrible fear that I might go to prison as a result of a drunken accident. However, this fear was not strong enough to overcome my strong addictions. I continued to drive drunk and/or high knowing the horrific consequences that I would face if something went wrong. Luckily, I never had another accident. I didn't even get a DUI.

After I got clean and sober ten years ago, I came to the realization that it was still possible for me to have an accident and kill someone while I was driving even though I was sober. But since I wasn't drunk or on drugs, it would not be a crime, it would be an accident and I would not go to prison.

Ted Kennedy took the same chance that I did and unfortunately someone died as a result of his drunken driving. He should have payed the penalty just like I would have if it happened to me.

Only luck and God's will prevented me from killing someone in the same manner Kennedy did. I am forever grateful for that.

It is unconscionable to leave the scene of a potentially fatal accident. However, if I had been in the same situation I truly don't know if I would have had the courage to stay and notify the rescue squad and face potential imprisonment and disgrace.

What we know for sure is that Ted Kennedy lacks conscience and courage for leaving the scene of a fatal accident to avoid facing the consequences. Courage and sacrifice are among the many spiritual principles that I have grown to admire. Ted Kennedy did not possess either.

Should We Legalize Crack or Outlaw Ritalin?

I don't think that legalizing drugs is a good idea. I believe that legitimizing psychotropic medications, whether legal or illegal, will have negative unintended consequences. I spelled out some of the negative consequences that have arisen from the medical and pharmaceutical industries pushing medications on the general public in an article called "Legal Drug Pushers and Their Victims". Also, not mentioned in this article, are millions of children that are now being put on Ritalin and other stimulants to treat so called attention deficit disorder (ADD) in an effort to control unruly behavior by school-age children.

I believe that a feminized school system is attempting to reduce boys' natural unruly, defiant, masculine nature with medication. The unintended consequence, is to stifle the natural inquisitive, adventurous, and mischievous behavior of young men. Albert Einstein was unable to concentrate on his schoolwork as a boy, he got bad grades and was quite restless. If Ritalin was available during Albert Einsteins youth, he could very well been diagnosed with ADD and putt on on this medication. This would have undoubtedly have affected his creativity and intellectual curiosity. If Einstein had been medicated as a child, he may never have made the discoveries which have had a profound positive impact on our country, and humanity. I think that encouraging and legitimizing the use of psychotropic medications, will have unintended consequences beyond our current understanding. Perhaps these unintended consequences would limit our ability to stand up to, and defeat, the "bad elements" in our global society. Another unintended consequence could be that we become, as a nation, one of these "bad elements". This is likely to happen if we drift away from the universal spiritual principles that this country was founded upon, and become a nation of people who chase thrills and pleasures, and seek to avoid confrontation and unpleasantness at all costs. Well intentioned liberals and libertarians often seek a quick fix, without considering the unforeseen and unintended negative consequences.

While an active member in the fellowship of Narcotics Anonymous (NA), I learned that drug addiction is a physical, mental and spiritual illness. The physical nature of the disease is the physical addiction. Physical addiction causes withdrawal symptoms, physical discomfort, and sometimes severe illness if you stop taking the drug. The mental aspect of the disease of addiction, leads the addict to continually make the same mistakes and expect different results. There is no rational or reasonable explanation for taking the risks that we do, yet no matter how severe the consequences, we continue to use drugs and put our families, our freedom and even our own lives in jeopardy. Although our lives are clearly unmanageable, we are often in complete denial of our apparent circumstance. The spiritual nature of addiction is the most insidious. We learned that we were addicts long before we took our first drink, drug or pill. Spiritual bankruptcy accompanies active drug addiction. This is is what allows us to do whatever it takes, to get our next fix. As practicing addicts, our whole life centers around the using of drugs and finding the ways and means to get more. As addicts we lie, cheat, steal, manipulate, deceive people, use people and put people around us in danger in order to get our next fix. Some of us have killed or rapped as a consequence of our addiction. There is no bottom the the depths of the spiritual depravity of an active drug addict. I have heard many personal stories in NA, and I have shared my own. Many of these aspects of addiction are true in all the stories that I have heard including my own.

The ongoing recovery offered by NA is based on spirituality as spelled out in the twelve steps and the twelve traditions of Narcotics Anonymous. In NA, we come to understand how our lives have become unmanageable. We come to see how drugs controlled every aspect of our lives. We were out of control. We had no control. Drugs had all control and power over us. At the same time we were powerless to stop using drugs. We tried to stop on our own over and over again but we couldn't. We were powerless. We could not stop or control our using them and once we were under the influence we could not control our actions. Our whole life centered around getting and using drugs and finding the ways and means to get more. After attending NA meetings for a period of time,with a sponsor, it became clear to me that drugs are a power greater than myself. The solution that NA offered was to believe that another power greater than myself could restore me to sanity. That power is God. I was taught to "Let go and let God". Don't fight it, just do God's will and all will be well. Basically those are the first 3 of the 12 steps in the NA or AA program. God is mentioned in most of the steps. The other 9 steps deal with practical ways that you can do God's will. First by taking a personal inventory, next by asking God to remove our shortcomings, then, when we were wrong we promptly admitting it, then making a list of people we have harmed and making amends to them all and then by helping other addicts get and stay clean. Thus, when your words and actions are in line with God's will, you will have serenity. Basically that is the NA program in a nutshell.

NA is a spiritual program, based on an all powerful God. NA and AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) have the best track record of success with drug and alcohol problems? Every rehab that I have been in, and I've been in about a dozen over the years, include NA or AA meetings as part of their treatment and they strongly recommend continuation of AA or NA meetings after leaving the program. Many drug and alcohol offenders are required by the courts to attend these spiritually based meetings as part of their probation. I was court ordered on several occasions. When the public sees Paris Hilton or Lindsay Lohan go off to rehab, do they know that the treatment is based on spirituality and a belief in God? Why is there no outrage on the part of the liberals and atheists because the state (the court) is ordering offenders to attend a spiritual program based on an all powerful God? Perhaps because the program works, but I think that the more likely reason is that the program is anonymous and it is not widely publicized that these programs are based on spiritual principles and God.

I know from my own 25 year experience as an active drug addict, that drug addiction is a spiritual disease, with serious consequences for the addict and everyone that he comes in contact with. I believe that widespread use of drugs in the US is only possible due to the spiritual depravity that is widespread in our nation. As with most problems, a solution that addresses the root cause of the problem is most effective. Legalizing and legitimizing drug use in our country will only exacerbate the spiritual depravity that we are experiencing and will undoubtedly lead to unforeseen, negative consequences. Addressing the spiritual depravity in our nation is the solution that I think will be most effective in fighting drug addiction. This solution will reduce the demand for illegal narcotics as well as reducing the widespread use of legal psychotropic medications . This is the only solution that has been proved to work as demonstrated by the fellowships of Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous.

The US has grown into a situation of unprecedented economic abundance, coupled with spiritual depravity. This is what has led us to be the leading consumer of illicit drugs as well as legal psychotropic medications. This unique situation can not and will not be self sustaining. We must grow spiritually, as individuals and as a nation, or we will lose our individual and collective prosperity as well as our freedom.

Legal Drug Pushers and Their Victims

I don't like watching those TV commercials for various prescription drugs. They seem to be pushing many of those drugs on people who don't even need them. At the same time, many people are abusing pharmaceutical medications. Have America's pharmaceutical companies become pushers of legal drugs?

I have heard reports that some healthy young people, are taking Viagra or Cialis, as a recreational drug in order to enhance their performance and pleasure. I have also heard that many people are taking these medications in order to counter the sexual side effects of cocaine or other illegal drugs. Cocaine increases a mans libido, but his body is unable to perform while under the influence without some outside help. They sell Viagra and Cialis on the black market and in night clubs to customers who use it recreationally or in combination with illicit drugs.

Pharmaceutical medications have replaced illegal drugs for many addicts, and the drug companies are happy to have their business. I often hear the media touting the fact that deaths from illicit drugs has dropped to 17,000, but they rarely mention that an additional 20,000 people also die annually from abusing legal prescription medications.

Heath Ledger,~~Anna Nichole Smith and~~ her son all died of overdoses legal drug cocktails. Recently I heard a statistic that said 40% of Americans are currently taking some kind of medication. I wonder how much of that is actually necessary.

I fear that many of our lawmakers in Congress are on some type of legal medications such as Prozac, Zoloft, Xanax, Ambien, Valium, Ritalin, etc. Although these medications can be legally prescribed; don't you think that they can affect a lawmakers judgment? Whenever I see Nancy Pelosi on TV, it looks like she is on some type of psychotropic medication. She has facial twitches and it appears that she has a dry mouth. Wouldn't it be prudent to ban lawmakers that have psychological issues that require medication? There is much hysteria about the widespread use of steroids in sports. If an athlete uses performance enhancing drugs, the worst result is that he is cheating & lowering the integrity of that sport. If our highest public servants are not held to the same standards, the mistakes that could be made while they are under the influence of drugs may be much more far-reaching than altering the result of an athletic contest. Some medications warn the user not drive or operate heavy machinery. Shouldn't psychotropic medications warn users not to make decisions affecting national security while under the influence these drugs? I propose random mandatory drug testing of all members of Congress, Cabinet members, Supreme Court justices, & up to & including the President. If a government official is taking a prescription drug for depression, for example, maybe (s)he shouldn't have all that power & responsibility if (s)he is so depressed.

I do not like the relationship between the government and the pharmaceutical companies. This has led to the overuse and abuse of prescription medication. First, they reversed the law that banned drug advertisements. Then they passed the Medicare Prescription drug program. As a result, 40% of Americans are now on some sort of medication and 20,000 Americans die annually from prescription drug overdose. Now they are pushing for universal health care. If that happens, these problems will only get worse because of the availability of free medication for everyone.

Gas Prices Cause Louisiana Women to Resort to 'Pole Dancing'

Today I read an article that describes a Baton Rouge TV station's story about a local stripper. This Newbuster article is entitled: "Gas Prices Cause Louisiana Women to Resort to 'Pole Dancing" .

I am tired of hearing reports and watching movies about strippers and hookers, that make them out to be virtuous women who are forced to to lower their high moral standards for a noble cause. This story describes college student, who is a single mother, that was forced to resort to stripping, in order to buy milk and diapers for her baby.

It is typical of liberals to believe that the ends justify the means in tough situations. For example, they say that people resort to crime because they are poor. They say that people resort to drugs because of peer pressure and lack of after-school-programs. They say that people resort to terrorism because of social injustice. etc. If these excuses for bad behavior are true, then how come the crime rate during the great depression of the 1930's, during a period of economic strife and racial segregation, was lower that it has been ever since? Unbelievably, I heard the liberal media explain this by claiming that the crime rate was low during the 30s because there was less to steal during those lean years. Here is a short article that I found that blames everything for today's high crime rates except the decay in universal moral standards.

The truth is, people do bad things because they are bad people, for whatever reason. They do not follow universal spiritual principles which inevitably results in misery in their lives and those around them. Of course, redemption is possible, but becoming a stripper is not a path to redemption. Some principles that might lead to redemption are self discipline, selflessness, humility, honesty, integrity, forgiveness, self sacrifice, faith and family (family=mother+father+children, forever). I do not hear the news media and movies touting these principles as a way to deal with a tough situation.

Usually women who become hookers and strippers, (yes, most strippers will have sex with you in the back room for a substantial fee, or they will arrange for a tryst after work), do so because they have extremely low moral standards. Today's news media prefer to blame low self esteem. The truth is, low self esteem is a result shameful behavior. Shame should be used as a motivator to change negative behavior. Instead, today's media would have you think that there is no shame in stripping and prostitution.

Most often women become strippers/hookers to support their drug habit. Often these women are continually allowing themselves to be victimized by men (pimps, boyfriends, bosses, etc.) You might say that I am stereotyping, yes I am, but this stereotype happens to be true in the majority of cases. Why does the media look for the least likely scenario; a virtuous stripper/hooker, and then publicize her story? First off, I would not believe the story of a hooker/stripper, they are usually not credible.

In the case of the "Duke University Lacrosse Team" rape scandal (fabrication), it turned out that the stripper/hooker was lying all along. They found semen from 3 different men in her body, but not from the accused rapists. However the media did not question her credibility and never mentioned that she was a hooker.

Every policeman that I heard calling into talk radio stations said that stripper/hookers often lie to police about being raped. They often threaten men that they will "cry rape" if they don't give them money, drugs or even a ride. The media played up this lying hooker/stripper in Durham NC as if she were a virtuous women, who was forced to strip because of hard times. The truth is, she was a mentally ill, drug addicted prostitute that has a history of making false rape accusations.

The generalizations that I am making are true for the vast majority of hooker/strippers, yet they constantly make movies about the least likely scenarios for hooker/strippers. For example in the movie "Pretty Women", Julia Roberts was a good, honest, virtuous woman, just waiting for her prince charming to come along. I was amazed that in the movie she did not accept any money until the end of the week. How likely is that. In most cases a woman who is willing to sell her body is also willing to lie, cheat and steal for money, but Roberts was as honest and trusting as the day is long. There were times in the movie where she actually turned down money. I don't think that any hooker in history has turned down money from a client.

I also saw a "made for TV movie" portraying a hooker as struggling single mother who is working her way through school because her husband abandoned her and she had no choice. This is a very common theme, there were several movies made along these lines. The truth is that hookers who do have children, rarely take care of them. They are usually taken care of by a family member, the father, or they are wards of the state. They are often taken away from the stripper/hooker because she is an unfit mother, usually because of neglect or because she is a drug addict.

The movie "Taxi Driver" portrayed a hooker fairly accurately. The actual locations were actually real life "whore strolls" and hooker hotels. However, I think that she was rescued in the end from her life of prostitution (I don't remember). In real life, that wouldn't last long because they usually go back to their old habits of drugs and seeking out men that will abuse them. They are often addicted to the lifestyle.

I would be willing to bet that my stereotypes about hooker/strippers are accurate 90% of the time, yet the liberals in the media and in the arts, almost always portray them as innocent victims with a hard-luck story. The news story about a stripper/hooker that took to "that life" because of the high price of gas is preposterous, but it is not inconsistent that a stripper/hooker would make up that type of excuse. Stripper/hookers usually make up rationalizations for their bad behavior. If you research it further, it is likely that she has a criminal record for drugs, prostitution, shoplifting and trespassing. It is also likely that she has a record with the DCFS (department of children and family services). Of course it is possible that she is part of the small minority that doesn't fit that mold, but I do not think that the TV stations budget would be big enough to sift through hundreds of hooker/strippers until they found the right one to fit their template.

The Problem with America & Questionnaire

The problem with America is not an economic one, it is a spiritual one. Popular culture celebrates things that are bad, wrong evil and abnormal. They sport satanic symbols, they dress like gangsters and prostitutes, they have disdain for police and military and rich(successful) people and corporations. They mock Christianity and God. They embrace homosexuality, blended families and single moms. They make excuses justifying felons, drug addicts, and homeless bums, illegal aliens and terrorists. The foul language and foul music that is popular among today's youth illustrates their inner attitudes.

Our nation was built on family values and spiritual principles, that are being removed from today's culture in wholesale fashion. Our nation is becoming a house of cards without a foundation. Our economy is propped up by debts that we can-not repay. Hard work, saving and sacrifice, selflessness and humility are not valued by to days popular culture. Instead, popularity, showing off, instant gratification, thrill seeking, and sexuality and happiness have become our new values. I see no way that this next generation can find the courage, strength, selflessness and righteousness to sustain the American way of life and the wealth and liberties we have become accustomed to. Freedom requires restraint. Today, most restraints are considered intolerant, racist, homophobic, sexist, xenophobic or just plain mean.

The following ideas are being made popular in today's public schools, universities, media, and the arts (music, films, TV, etc).

Which of the following statements do you agree with?

1) Man-made global warming due to CO2 emissions is a proven fact.
2) All war is wrong.
3) The U.S. is an imperialist nation.
4) All foreigners should be allowed to immigrate to the US and become citizens.
5) Racism is a big problem in the U.S.
6) Brutality and racism is a big problem in US police, court and prison systems.
7) Believing in religion is an unreasonable belief.
8) Darwin's theory is more reasonable than creation.
9) The US military is often charged with murderous cruel and evil missions.
10) Homosexuality is normal and healthy.
11) Sex outside of marriage is normal and healthy.
12) All types of families are equal(single moms, homosexual, blended families, etc.) in that they all lead to equally healthy development, education and success of children coming from these families equally. Thus equally leading to a better future for America.

Is Lethal Injection Cruel and Unusual Punishment?

All capital punishment cases nationwide have been held up for nearly a year pending a decision by the Supreme Court on lethal injection. The decision that was announced this month, April 16, 2008, decided that lethal injection is not cruel and unusual punishment. In my mind, bringing that case was absurd, it is obvious to me that lethal injection is not tantamount to torture as the litigants claimed.

Anyone who has undergone surgery in a hospital has suffered worse pain than the recipient of lethal injection. That is only because the surgery patient eventually wakes up to feel the aftereffects of surgery. When someone is executed by lethal injection, the first thing that they do is inject him with the same medication that puts you to sleep before surgery. The only difference being, that they give a condemned man four times the usual dosage because they are not concerned about overdose. Then after the condemned man passes out, they administer two more injections, one that stops his heart and one that stops his lungs.

The reason why attorneys brought the case that claimed capitol punishment was cruel and unusual punishment, was because a condemned man did not pass out when the first injection was administered. He waited on the table for 10 minutes while the attendants poked him with needles to find a good vein and finally were able to complete the execution 15 minutes later. That 15 minutes of waiting to die while being poked with needles was considered cruel and unusual punishment by his lawyers.

I would like to draw a comparison here again to a hospital patient. It is quite common in hospitals that nurses struggle to find a vein and cause excruciating pain to the patient in the process. I witnessed this many times when I took Jay-Jay, Steve and other friends of mine to the hospital ER room. Many times they screamed and yelled and tears came to their eyes from the pain. Sometimes the torment would last ten or fifteen minutes. Once I was in the recovery room when Jay-Jay came out of surgery and her pain was so severe she was in utter torment. I nearly passed out just from witnessing her distress. The nurse caught me and guided me to a chair before I fell down.

I have heard news stories on TV about patients who wake up in the middle of surgery, often their muscles are still paralyzed because of the anesthesia. They are unable to signal to the doctors that they are fully awake, and they feel the excruciating pain as the surgeon cuts into their flesh while lying paralyzed on the operating table. This is more common than you may think. If this is not torture, then I do not know what torture is.

I know someone who has suffered from Kidney stones on several occasions. The pain from kidney stones has been described as some of the worst pain a person can feel. I have had a procedure where they put a tube with a camera up the hole of my penis while I was fully conscious. I am cringing now just thinking about the excruciating pain that I felt. I have suffered from a broken collar bone at age 12 and I can still remember the excruciating pain as I waited to go to the doctor to have a cast put on. The excruciating pain lasted several days. I have been the victim of headaches that were so severe that I remember wishing that I was dead so the pain would end. One time I suffered with this type of headache for a full week.

The point that I am trying to make is that suffering and torment can be an unavoidable part of life for many ordinary, people who did nothing to deserve it. Many of us will suffer horrifically when we are in the process of dying, whether it be accidental or due to lingering illness. Painkillers are sometimes ineffective in certain cases of excruciating pain. Many of us will suffer horribly during our lives, others may escape severe pain entirely. But most of us will know firsthand, what physical torment can be.

Humanity has only had anesthetics available for a relatively short time. Archaeologists are digging up skulls from ancient civilizations with holes bored in them for surgical purposes, long before anesthetics were invented. During the civil war, it was common for medics to do amputations of limbs on the battle field, without anesthetics, to save soldiers lives. Pain, torment and suffering has always been part of the human experience. Much of it is minimized due to modern anesthesia, but most of us do suffer excruciating pain at some point during our normal lives and natural deaths.

Last week when the Supreme Court had ruled lethal injection was not considered cruel and unusual punishment, I supported that decision. The only thing that puzzled me is why this obvious fact had to rise to the level of the supreme court, before it could be decided. If this man had been allowed to die a natural death, the odds are good that he might have suffered worse when his time finally came.

New Deal or Bad deal?

I would like to discuss why social programs are not the answer to poverty. They are rarely successful in improving poverty, but good liberals continue to support these failing programs. Whether or not they work is secondary to liberals, the main thing is it makes them feel good by giving to the poor. While alleviating their own guilt, they are actually removing the motivation to succeed from the very people that they are trying to help. Programs offered by liberals are not based on spiritual principles and the hard truths of life. Poverty in America is caused by spiritual poverty. There is opportunity in America for those who are sufficiently motivated to work hard for it.

The crux of the problem is the broken family. Today's popular culture does everything that it can to encourage children not being brought up by their mother and father. An average of 25 percent of children today are born out of wedlock, 70 percent in the black community. Encouraging marriage, and stigmatizing single parents or blended families, will do more for reducing poverty and crime than any social program can. But altruists would consider that mean and judgmental. For them it is out of the question, even though there is a direct relationship between poverty, crime, drug abuse and non-intact families. Unfortunately popular culture celebrates and embraces the single mom, divorce, the blended family and homosexual marriage and casual sex. In an effort to raise the self esteem of children growing up in broken homes, we are encouraging more broken homes by removing the stigma. In this case, by not being judgmental, we feel good about ourselves, while we are encouraging behavior that exacerbates the problem.

It's a lot easier, and it feels a lot better, to give money to the poor and offer heart felt sympathy, rather than to tell them the hard truth and show tough love. The truth is, that money is not the answer and hand outs will only exacerbate the problem. The message should be don't to get pregnant until you're married and can support a family. If you get pregnant before they are married, now is the time to get married, stay married and take responsibility. Families must do whatever it takes to stick it out in the marriage and raise their children together honorably and don't look for handouts. Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps and take responsibility. The only one who I know that tours the country, going to poor neighborhoods to spread this message, is the black comedian and actor Bill Cosby. Cosby has written a book and makes many speeches in poor black neighborhoods preaching personal responsibility. Click here for one of Bill Cosby's inspiring speeches. He is often criticized by the civil rights activists, and black leaders, and many liberals for being mean, uncaring and unsympathetic. Yet Cosby's principles are undeniably successful when applied.

Civil rights activists are always lobbying for more government money, but the ugly truth is that just perpetuates the problem. By removing the economic dependence that the mother and father share with each other, we are increasing the chances of the family splitting up and leaving the children without a father in their home.. Throwing money at the problem of poverty in America just diminishes the ambition of people to reach down into their souls and rise to the challenge, by pulling themselves up.

Of course it wouldn't make a person with an altruistic philosophy feel very good by lecturing poor children on the virtues of work, responsibility, and family. They don't want to here it, they just to give some money and heart felt sympathy. It is human nature to take the easy way out. But the easy way, is not always the best way. Talk of white racism is also bound to get applause, by giving them a scapegoat for the mess that they find themselves in. But anger only distracts them from the solution of hard work, discipline and personal responsibility. But, by giving them handouts to live on, they are deprived of the motivation of doing what it takes to provide for themselves and their families. Worse than that, they lose their honor. Honor can't be bought or sold, it must be earned.

Tough love and altruism are two philosophies that don't work well together. Honor and nobility trumps self esteem every time. There is no honor in doing what you think is right just to feel good, so you can say, "at least I did something". True happiness and honor comes from living right, and making the tough decisions. Often liberals are misled, manipulated and deceived in their search for sense of value, self worth self esteem, popularity, acceptance and happiness. If you remain true to unwavering spiritual principles, it's harder to be fooled, but it is also harder row to hoe. Spiritual progress is usually found in that harder row, in this man's humble opinion.

Party Like a Rock Star

This article will unfortunately stir up lots of negative emotion in the typical inhabitants of this upside down society. I am going to attack and discredit a thing that you value highly. As a matter of fact this may very well be America's current number one value. Have you guessed it by now? I'm talking about music, or at least what you call music. No, I'm not going to talk about hip-hop or gangster rap in this article. I'm talking about what is considered mainstream in the upside down society that I've been living in for the last 52 years. I'm talking about rock-and-roll.

I remember as a child, tuning to various radio stations randomly, sometimes stopping to listen to the latest rock and roll hit. If someone would come near I would feel embarrassed of what I was listening to and quickly turn it off or change the station. These were by today's standards innocent songs like "Stuck on a Feeling", "Baby come on Light my Fy-er", "I shot the Sheriff,( but I didn't shoot the deputy too"), "Ground Control to Major Tom" and "Muskrat Love" are a few that come to mind. Silly but harmless songs. These "top 40" hits could be found on AM radio stations.

FM radio and hard rock was beginning to become popular. I found it ironic that the very stations that had the most vile, noisy, and angry rock and roll music had the quietest most soft spoken DJs. Looking back on it, this was no accident. This irony was used to legitimize this new media that would hypnotically lead many of our youth on a path of drugs, godlessness and amoral behavior. Sex, drugs and rock and roll was the new motto. These new "hard rock" stations could only be found on the FM band , which up until then was not widely listened to. Most all radios at the time only covered the AM band. Many youngsters bought new-fangled stereophonic FM tuners with external speakers and turntables, just to hear FM radio and play albums. If you were hip to all the latest transistorized stereo equipment, you were known as an "audiofile". Before the invasion of rock and roll music, the FM band was reserved for public radio broadcasts and classical music. Things that the average Joe wasn't interested in. Like I said the, the soft spoken DJ was no accident. Rock and roll was introduced discretely. This was meant to deceive or confuse the occasional FM listener of the time when accidentally came across one of these new vile, angry hostile and noisy rock and roll stations.

A new instrument had to be introduced for this offensive media that disguised itself as music, it was the electric guitar. Have you ever seen the waveform of an electric guitar on an oscilloscope? I have. It's not like any other instrument. Most instruments have a waveform that displays a sine wave with some roughness along the curves. That roughness is what gives each instrument it's individual character, a pure sine wave without this roughness would sound like a whistle or a flute. On an oscilloscope an electric guitar is almost all roughness which practically covers up the sine wave. In other words, the sound that an electric guitar produces is almost pure distortion. In live performances the sound is intentionally turned up so loud that it hurts the ears physically, and in some cases causes permanent damage. Most Rock and roll musicians suffer some form of ear injury.

Now let's look at the musicians. For the most part they are amoral people, many addicted to hard drugs like heroine and cocaine. When they are on the road, most bands have a "roadie" that specializes in of finding and purchasing drugs, usually heroine and cocaine, and bringing it back to the band members. They don't like traveling with drugs because of the fear of getting busted. I learned of this when I lived in L.A. and I had a close friend who was an ex rock and roll musician that traveled on tour with famous bands. They are known to destroy hotel rooms, break furniture and windows, start things on fire, burn and stain the carpets, damage the walls, etc. Although they usually pay for the damages, most hotels don't want these wealthy but reckless, careless, narcissistic, contemptuous human beings. Of course they are most all womanizers, with many groupies to choose from each night. Where is the outrage from the women's rights groups, and the fathers with young daughters? Oh, that's right, ironically they are in the audience themselves applauding these users of women, and narcotics. Yet when you see them on a TV or radio talk show, amazingly, they are usually soft spoken just like the DJs of the early FM days.

A popular term these days is " party like a rock star", the fore mentioned behavior is exactly what that term is referring to. Also some other mainstream terms are: "that rocks", "rock-on", "rockin' the house","let's rock and roll" . These terms have become so mainstream yet they refer the the extremely negative, destructive, and narcissistic behavior that I mentioned above. Am I the only one who sees the truth? I cringe when I hear these terms, and I hear them often. These terms not only condone very negative behavior, they elevate it and celebrate it, some even worship it. How have we gotten to the point where it is commonplace to celebrate bad behavior? These terms are being used by teachers and professional people who are trying to be cool. Why has bad behavior become cool? And why is being cool our number one value? Just look at the names of some of these rock bands, "The Grateful Dead", "Guns and Roses","Cheap Trick"(a trick is what a prostitute does), "AC/DC (this means bi-sexual) just to name a few. The song titles are also offensive like: "Riding my Train, High on Cocaine", Highway to hell. Whenever I see a bumper sticker on a car with a negative slogan I can be sure it is the name of some new band like "Lost" or"Abused".

The number one top hit TV show is American Idle, which is all about glorifying music and the people who sing it. People idolize rock stars and would almost give their lives to become one. That is the premise for this show. Just the word "idol" in the title seems blasphemous to me, it's a negative word, it means false God. And that is exactly what these contestants are so very much hoping to become, an idol, a false God, a celebrity with fans, with people to worship them. Why am I the only one who sees it. THE EMPEROR HAS NO CLOTHES!

Another phenomenon that is happening in today's society is the pervasiveness of music into all areas of our lives, day and night, working and playing. Due to modern technology, many people walk down the street with a gadget in their ear, pumping this filth directly into their brain. This type of music is commonplace in grocery stores, gas stations, restaurants, malls and in almost every workplace. It is just about everywhere and impossible to escape from. I was surprised when I saw pillow speakers for sale. These are speakers built directly into pillows so your mind can be polluted twenty four hours a day, even while you are sleeping. I don't even like to call it music, because music should be beautiful, uplifting and soothing, as in the expression "music soothes the savage beast". Today's music(hip-hop, rap) is nothing of the sort. It is angry, it is hateful, it is intentionally racist and promoting of violence, crime and the use of drugs. It is not disguised or subtle, it is in your face.

A very common hand gesture of today's youth is: holding up the forefinger and pinkie, while folding over the other three fingers. This symbol was made popular by heavy metal bands. This is meant to represent the devil. The theme of heavy metal music is Satanism. The main purpose of Satanism is to mock Christianity. Heavy metal is an off-shoot of rock and roll. There are also many rock and roll songs with Satanic themes. The Rolling Stone's "Sympathy for the Devil" being one of the more popular ones.

Of course, rock and roll was just testing the water to see how low popular music could go. Next came heavy metal which popularized Satanism, then punk rock and grunge which was for misfits without a cause, then hip-hop and gangster rap which is the most racist, sexist, violent, music genre to date. Not surprisingly, Hip-Hop and gangster rap are the most popular among today's youth. There is no doubt in my mind, that the rock and roll music of the sixties, paved the way for the rap music of today. There, I did it. I discredited the one thing that today's society holds so dear to its heart, the rock-star and popular music.