Articles Posted November 2011
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Is the American Psychiatric Association
in Bed with Big Pharma?While I am sure research in mental disorders account for some of this increase, I cannot help but believe that there is a certain amount of disease-peddling going on. That is, instead of promoting drugs to treat diseases, diseases are promoted to fit the drugs. For example, shyness as a psychiatric illness made its debut as “social phobia” in DSM-III in 1980, but was said to be rare. By 1994, when DSM-IV was published, it had become “social anxiety disorder,” now said to be extremely common, thus, boosting sales of antidepressants. Now, social anxiety disorder is “a severe medical condition.” In 1999, the FDA approved a drug for social anxiety disorder. After a successful marketing campaign, the sales of Paxil soared.
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Mic Check
We aren’t the folks with the guns. We aren’t criminalizing anyone or taking away their rights. We haven’t put thousands upon thousands of families out of their homes. We don’t evade our responsibility to care for seniors, veterans, disabled and sick people. We’ve never used the vast reaches of mainstream media to fan the flames of fear and hate.
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Lives of Milk, Moscone Celebrated
on 33rd Anniversary of AssassinationsFormer Supervisor Dan White, a Catholic conservative, gunned down Milk and Moscone in cold blood at City Hall when White learned he would not be reappointed to his seat following his resignation.
At his trial, an all-white jury was reportedly swayed by White’s taped confession and what became known as White’s “Twinkie defense.” The jury found White guilty of 2nd degree murder, a lesser charge that touched off a night of rioting dubbed the “White Night” riots following a serene candlelit vigil and march from The Castro to City Hall.
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Tenderloin Tessie Holiday Dinners Needs Our Help
This amazing act of charity started with one person 37 years ago. Perry Spink was a bartender and drag queen performer in the Tenderloin. In 1974, someone gave Perry a bunch of turkeys and he decided to share them with his neediest neighbors. He donned his “Tessie” costume and played hostess along with several of his not-so-sober bar buddies and made Thanksgiving memorable for many down-and-out elderly in the Tenderloin. Tessie also started giving gift bags along with the meals, a tradition that lives on today. These bags contain donated items such as toiletries, socks, gloves and an assortment of non-perishable food.
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Occupy: The Movement We’ve Been Waiting For
This movement is larger than a single voice, a single message – or even a single person. It is larger than you or me. The mantra, “We are the 99 percent,” attempts to speak for (almost) everyone. The movement’s largest criticism is that it cannot provide a clear, focused demand. What began as a movement about economic injustice has evolved into a movement of all sorts including police brutality, the right to peaceful assembly, opposition to budget cuts and tuition hikes, labor rights, homelessness, unemployment and even Utopian ideals for a better world.
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RCV is Electing Winners with Stronger Mandates than December Runoffs
The ultimate irony is that Sean Elsbernd himself is the poster child for what’s wrong with the old December runoffs and what’s right with RCV. Look at the results above for District 7: Supervisor Elsbernd won in 2004 in an “instant” runoff race with nearly 50% more votes than his predecessor Tony Hall had in 2000 in a delayed December runoff, 13,834 votes versus 9333 (in comparable turnout years). And Elsbernd had 43.7% of the “whole contest” vote total compared to 30.9% for Hall. No matter how you want to count it, more District 7 voters were able to have a say in who their supervisor is because Sup. Elsbernd was elected with ranked choice voting in a much higher turnout November election.
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OccupySF Offered Alternative Location
and What’s Up With OccupyOakland?As we were leaving, we spotted some commotion around a sidewalk tree on the edge of the Plaza. We encountered “Robin,” a young man in his 20s, who is currently dwelling in a three-level tree platform which has been labeled “Ohlone Land.” Robin shouted down to us that “we are not coming down until Jean Quan agrees to let people camp at the Plaza again.” He explained that the platforms were built by Running Wolf and Black Foot, who wanted to have a presence in the Occupy Movement on behalf of Indigenous Peoples and their rights; to make a point that the City Hall complex is on stolen lands. Robin also pointed out that eco-justice issues need to have a more prominent place in the Occupy Movement.
The Hunger Site
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