On January 8, the NY Times ran an 800-word obituary for Laotian-American leader Vang Pao
which began thus:
Gen. Vang Pao, Laotian Who Aided U.S., Dies at 81
By DOUGLAS MARTIN
Vang Pao, a charismatic Laotian general who commanded a secret army of his mountain people in a long, losing campaign against Communist insurgents, then achieved almost kinglike status as their leader-in-exile in the United States, died Thursday in Clovis, Calif.
He was 81.
His death was confirmed by Michael Bailey, a spokesman for the Clovis Community Medical Center.
Vang Pao was a general in the official Laotian Army, the chief of a secret army financed by the Central Intelligence Agency and the undisputed leader of the varied factions of his people, the Hmong. Tens of thousands of them followed him in his flight to Thailand after the Communist victory in 1975. Later, in the United States, he was so revered that some of his people believed he had supernatural powers.
"He is like the earth and the sky," Houa Thao, a Hmong refugee, said in an interview with The Fresno Bee in 2007.
But Vang Pao was also a major drug lord, a fact that the Times completely ignored. At Foreign Policy in Focus, Conn Hallinan set the record straight:
Obits for "Fabled Hero" of Vietnam War, Vang Pao, Omit CIA Drug Connection
By Conn Hallinan, January 11, 2011
Cynicism, as the late Molly Ivins once noted, is the death of good journalism, but reading through the New York Times and the Associated Press' obituaries of Laotian-Hmong leader General Vang Pao made that sentiment a difficult one to resist.
Vang Pao, who died Jan. 6 in Clovis, a small town in California's Central Valley, was described in the Times as "charismatic" and in AP as a "fabled military hero" who led a Hmong army against the communist Pathet Lao during the Laotian civil war. Van Pao's so-called "secret army" was financed by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency as part of the U.S.'s war against North Vietnam and the National Liberation Front in South Vietnam.
Well, "financed" is a slippery word, and while, it was true Vang Pao got a lots of money and arms from the CIA, a major source of his financing was the opium trade run out of Southeast Asia's "Golden Triangle." That little piece of history never managed to make it into the obits, which is hardly a surprise. The people the CIA hired to run dope for Vang Pao went on to run dope for the Contras in the Reagan Administration's war against the Sandinista government in Nicaragua. And talking about close ties between drugs and the CIA in Southeast Asia and Central America might lead to some very uncomfortable questions about the people we are currently supporting in Afghanistan.
Readers should search out a book by Alfred McCoy called "The Politics of Heroin in South East Asia," and pull up a Frontline piece entitled "Drugs, Guns and the CIA" by Andrew and Leslie Cockburn.
What they will find is not in the Times and the AP obits.
Throughout the Cold War, we never much cared what people were for, we only cared what they were against. Dictators, drug lords, genocidal religious fanatics (Rios Montt of Guatemala), all were welcomed with open arms--despite the heavy cost to American troops and neighborhoods back home, as Hallinan goes on to note:
The trade in opium and heroin in Laos was linked in turn to the U.S.-supported regime in South Vietnam led by President Nguyen Van Thieu. Much of that heroin ended up in the bodies of American GIs-during the height of the war there were between two and three fatal overdoses a day-as well as decimating neighborhoods back in the U.S.
Nothing much has changed with the "War on Terror" (aka "Long War")....
"Drugs are a scourge on our society - hurting children, families and communities alike," Hatch said in a statement. "This amendment is a way to help people get off of drugs to become productive and healthy members of society, while ensuring that valuable taxpayer dollars aren't wasted."
Because you are unemployed.
First they said the unemployed are just "lazy." Now they want to humiliate you by making you pee in a cup.
On that note, this is an open thread. because I'm too lazy to write any more. And I need to go score a fix. And really, really, really pissed off.
On Friday, May 14th 2010, I got the chance to sit down with Neill Franklin, the Executive Director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP).
Neill Franklin, LEAP's incoming executive director, is a 32-year law enforcement veteran who spent more than two decades with the Maryland State Police (leading the drug division's education and training) and then moved to Baltimore PD. Like a character from HBO's "The Wire," Neill could tell you stories of colleagues being gunned down in the line of fire, as he did in this Washington Post op-ed.
Full, Unedited Interview (highlight clips below the fold)
Another year has come and gone. Everywhere she goes she hears people speak of New Years resolutions. They all say this time will be different. I will decide to do as I had not done previously or at least had not done well. Countless commit to a life of calorie counting. Others merely muse that they will exercise more. Drugs, drinking, there are also discussions of these concerns. People are confident. This year I will deliver myself from what I think evil. A few philosophize as to their personal career path. Change is the objective. A greater goal is thought to be golden. As Author Mary Anne Radmacher reflected and now millions whisper as their mantra, "Live with intention . . . Choose with no regret. . . . Do what you love. Live as if this is all there is." Therein lies the problem.
Afghanistan is currently the largest opium producer in the world. It is the only significant source of wealth in the country aside from US and other foreign aid. All of this opium is going to organized crime to be sold illegally, primarily as heroin.
Meanwhile, the market is legal prescription opiates is many billions of dollars a year. Such drugs include morphine, codeine, Vicodin, and Oxycotin. These drugs are made from opium produced by licensed growers, largely in India and Turkey. There is also a large shortage of prescription opiates in the developing world, primarily among the population too poor to buy them at market rates.
Without an economic basis, there is no way for Afghanistan to stabilize, develop, and escape from poverty. And if Afghanistan does not do these things, its people will continue in lives of grinding poverty and danger, the place will continue to be ruled by warlords or religious fanatics, and the prospect of renewal as an export station for terror returns. Our military objectives in Afghanistan are beyond military powers. An army cannot provide a basis for a functioning modern society; it's nation building or bust. And the only productive economic activity within reach is the one already being engaged in.
In 2008, a disturbing trend developed in mainstream media regarding Mexico. While Mexico's President Felipe Calderón began his aggression against the Cartels roughly two years ago, the resulting uptick in violence was of no real interest to mainstream media. But when the U.S. Joint Forces Command reportJoint Operating Environment (JOE 2008) was issued in November, 2008, and declared Mexico and Pakistan nations in danger of a "rapid and sudden collapse," mainstream news outlets and certain politicians began broadcasting fears of violence spilling over into the US.
This week, we bring you news of drugs, sex, and single-payer health insurance, including a fun video clip on Obama's new drug czar from the Rachel Maddow show. Now that Obama has chosen his top healthcare advisers, the administration is beginning to chart a course for healthcare reform. Not surprisingly, there is vigorous debate about what our new healthcare system would look like, and how to pay for it.
1984 Cindy Became Interested in Third World Medical Help During a Vacation. "It was on a [1984] scuba diving vacation in Truk Lagoon in Micronesia that McCain got the bug to help more than just her disabled students at home. A friend was cut in an accident and had to go to the small island hospital. The McCains went, too, and were given a tour while they waited. 'They opened the door to the OR where the supplies were, and there were two cats and a whole bunch of rats climbing out of the sterile supplies,' McCain recalled. 'They had no X-ray machine. It was very rudimentary, and also they had no beds. To me, it was devastating because it was a [U.S.] trust territory. It was embarrassing.' She went home and arranged for medical supplies and a hyperbaric chamber to be sent back. Later, the hospital contacted her and said it needed an orthopedist to treat children on the island. McCain put together a medical team and returned to Truk, and that's how her medical relief missions began. She visited Kuwait five days after the 1991 Persian Gulf war ended there, as well as Nicaragua, Bangladesh, Rwanda and even Vietnam before relations were normalized with the United States." (Chicago Tribune, April 15, 2008)
1988 Cindy Founded AVMT in 1988. Cindy McCain founded the American Voluntary Medical Team (AVMT) in 1988. The non-profit organization was established to organize trips for volunteer doctors, nurses, dentists, and other medical personnel to travel to disaster-struck and war-torn Third World countries, including Bangladesh, Micronesia, Iraq, Vietnam, El Salvador, and Somalia. Mrs. McCain personally led 55 such missions.
1989 Cindy Had Two Back Surgeries Which Led to her Drug Addiction. In 1989, after two surgeries to repair four ruptured discs in her spine failed to ease back pain, Mrs. McCain began taking prescription pain medications beyond her prescribed dose. This led to an addiction that continued for four years. She admitted to using four to five times the prescribed dosage of Vicodin and Percocet. Mrs. McCain's claimed that her addiction was exacerbated by the stress surrounding the 1991 Keating Five investigation.
September 1, 1991 Gosinski Hired at AVMT. According to the Hensley & Co new hire employee form, Gosinski was hired as Director of Government & International Affairs at a rate of $4,000 a month on September 1, 1991.
1991 Doctor Johnson First Joins AVMT and Calls DEA with Questions. In 1991 Doctor Johnson joined AVMT for a trip to Kuwait and soon after joined as medical director. After he joined, he asked Cindy about calling the DEA regarding the practice of using employee's names on prescriptions and she suggested he call Barbara Roberts.
1991/1992 Cindy Drug Rehabilitation in Wickenburg, Arizona. Mrs. McCain admits that she acquired a drug dependency for Percocet because of a back problem and received rehabilitation in Wickenburg Arizona during 1991 & 1992."
She did admit that she became dependant on pain killers after having back surgery and in 1992 spent approximately one week in a rehabilitation program in Wickenburg Arizona."
"Cindy told the reporters that she finally entered The Meadows, a drug-treatment center in Wickenburg, and went to anti-dependency meetings twice a week." (Arizona Republic, October 3, 1999)
NOTE: Reportedly as of September 1994, Cindy Had Not Been Accepted Into a Diversion Program (Phoenix New Times, September 8. 1994, http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com... April 24, 1992 Doctor Johnson Wrote Two Prescriptions in Gosinski's Name. On April 24, 1992 Doctor Johnson wrote two prescriptions in Mr. Gosinski's name to obtain drugs for an AVMT mission, one for 100 Vicodin and one for 100 Tylenol 3.
May 1992 Doctor Johnson Wrote Prescriptions that are Not in the DEA Database. "Well I don't think they, they were filled because I think that the DEA would, would have a record of those but there's no record of those particular prescriptions, see the only records they got are the prescriptions where the ones that I had made for the, for at the hospital's request in 1992, I think in May of 1992 and then there were two prescriptions I think that for controlled substances for the El Salvador trip and that t was I think it was those were all written at the same time... See now I just assumed that those, those, those were filled and until that I had the interview with DEA and they talked to me about that, I assumed that the prescriptions that I had written prior to the Bangladesh trip were in the bunch and they weren't and it came as a surprise to them and it came to an surprise to me because they, they didn't have a record of those."
1992 Doctors Began Complaining that Cindy was Using Their DEA Numbers; DEA Began Calling AVMT About Large Orders of Percocet. "The previous year [1992], volunteer doctors began complaining that Cindy McCain had been using their DEA numbers. The Drug Enforcement Agency itself had been calling and asking about rather sizable orders of Percocet, an addictive painkiller. Hundreds of Percocets were missing from AMVT's inventory." (Salon, July 2, 1999)
October 5, 1992 JOURNAL: Hensley's Pilot Dalton Smith Knew Details of Pre-1992 Cindy Overdose During Which John Rushed to the Hospital to Remove Cindy. "Last Friday, late in the afternoon, Miss Jeri was visiting with Dalton Smith, the Hensley's pilot, about Jim and Smitty confronting Cindy about her drug problem. During the conversation Dalton mentioned an incident which took place a couple of years ago - Cindy had taken too many pills and had been rushed to a hospital near their home on Oak Creek. John McCain was rushed to the hospital and rather than helping Cindy obtain help he had her dismissed from the hospital and taken to the cabin. I had assumed the entire family knew of the incident as Kathy Walker had mentioned it to me many months ago but come to find out Jeri and the Hensley's knew nothing of it." (Journal, October 5, 1992)
October 7, 1992 JOURNAL: Anonymous Caller Told the DEA to Look Into Cindy McCain; Kathy and Doctor Johnson Traveled to DEA to Dispose of Drugs. "This morning Cindy called me to inform me that she and Max Johnson had contacted the DEA and asked that an investigation be conducted to 'investigate allegations made against her.' She said a 'bogus' phone call had been received which made wild accusations about her and that she believed the phone call was 'political.' Cindy also said she had called the supposed originator of the call and that the individual denied ever making the call. No time during her discussion with me did Cindy state Dr. Tom Moffo's name. Cindy went on to state that Kathy would be accompanying Max Johnson to the DEA this afternoon to dispose of drugs in AVMT's possession. She again stated that she had asked for a followup investigation of the accusations of yesterday." (Journal, October 7, 1992)
January 14, 1993 Gosinski Terminated from AVMT. On January 14, 1993 Gosinski's was terminated from AVMT due to "financial constraints."
"It is with deep regret and a heavy heart that I must terminate your position with AVMT. Your termination is due to the decline in contributions and our inability to continue to pay you at this time. Your service both to a small non profit such as we are and more importantly to the suffering peoples of the world is commendable. You have made a financial sacrifice to join us as well as a personal sacrifice. The many missions you have helped organize and participate in have saved countless lives around the world. Your service is indeed laudable and your commitment to those less fortunate in far away countries will not soon be forgotten. I have enjoyed our professional relationship and your efforts will missed. AVMT is prepared to supply you with a month salary as compensation as well as a whatever assistance I can offer in helping you secure a new position in Arizona or wherever you choose. You are a fine young man and I wish you well." (Letter from Cindy McCain to Tom Gosinski, January 14, 1993)
February 1993 Gosinski Approached DEA: In February 1993, Gosinski approached an agent from the DEA and posed a "what-if" scenario, asking, "If a person knows that prescriptions have been written in their name, and they never met with the doctor and they don't know the whereabouts of the drugs, what is their responsibility?" When the DEA agent informed Gosinski that it would be his responsibility to report such activity, Gosinski began to cooperate with the DEA. Gosinski maintains that he did not approach the DEA with the intent to blow the whistle on Mrs. McCain, but to keep his name clear in any potential investigation that might result from Mrs. McCain's activity. Over the next eighteen months he would meet with DEA agents over fifteen times.
1993 AVMT Failed to Provide a Fair Recommendation to Potential Gosinski Employers. After Gosinski left AVMT, Tracy Orrick stated that four or five prospective employers did call AVMT requesting to speak with the personnel manager. Tracy said she turned these calls over to Kathy Walker but Walker said she never talked to potential employers. Gosinski found it very difficult to find employment.
January 14, 1994 Gosinski Filed Wrongful Termination Against Cindy McCain/AVMT: On January 14, 1994, Gosinski filed a civil suit for wrongful termination against AVMT. Gosinski felt that his firing was not due to budget issues, as Cindy McCain claimed, but because he had become too knowledgeable about Cindy McCain's drug issues. Gosinski also sued for libel and slander because Cindy McCain, he charged, had badmouthed Gosinski when he tried to get another job. Gosinski further alleged that Cindy had asked him to lie to make it easier for her to adopt a baby from Bangladesh.
January 15, 1994 One-Year Statute of Limitations on Gosinski's Lawsuit
February 1994 Gosinski Lawyer Requested Settlement of Suit. "On February 4, 1994, Mrs McCain [through her lawyers] received a civil complaint along with a letter from Mr. Stanley Lubin, Attorney at Law. The letter indicated that Mr. Lubin was retained as legal counsel by Thomas Gosinski in a lawsuit against Mrs. McCain. Later in February 1994, Gosinski's attorney Stan Lubin wrote a letter to one of McCain's attorneys, Gary Stuart, asking for a $250,000 settlement. That offer was not agreed to.
April 28, 1994 McCain Lawyer (Dowd) Approached Maricopa County Attorney to Open an Extortion Investigation into Gosinski. In retaliation to Gosinski's wrongful termination suit, McCain attorney John Dowd requested that Maricopa County Attorney Richard Romley to open an extortion investigation against Gosinski. In a letter from Dowd to Romley on April 28, 1994, Dowd wrote, "we believe that Mr. Gosinski is aware that in the past Cindy had an addiction to prescription painkillers . . . Given Cindy's public position, exposure of this sensitive matter would harm her reputation, career, the operation of AVMT, and subject her to contempt and ridicule."
May 10, 1994 Maricopa County Division Chief Requests Investigation Into Possible Extortion Attempt on Cindy McCain. "On May 10, 1994, I was requested by Division Chief, Bobby Joyner, to look into a possible extortion attempt involving Mrs. Cindy McCain... The initial information was turned over to the Maricopa county Attorney's Office by Investigative lead, John Dowd. Mr. Dowd represents Mrs. McCain and contacted our office from his Washington D.C. office on April 28, 1994." (Maricopa County Investigation Report Summary, July 12, 1994, pages 2-3)
May 12, 1994 Maricopa County Investigators Contact Cindy McCain. Deputy County Attorney Richard Mesh and investigator Terry Blake contacted Cindy McCain for the purpose of interviewing her in reference to a May 10 request by Division Chief Bobby Joyner to look into a possible extortion attempt by Tom Gosinski.
May 12, 1994 Cindy McCain Admitted DEA Investigation Into AVMT Drug Procedure. During a May 12, 1994 interview with investigators "she said a DEA investigation is being conducted at this time into the process the corporation uses in obtaining their prescription drugs." (Maricopa County Investigation Report Summary, July 12, 1994, page 8)
May 19, 1994 AVMT Employees Interviewed. On May 19, 1994 the Maricopa County investigator interviewed investigative leads, Kathy Walker and Tracey Orrick, at 4201 North Avenue.
June 15, 1994 Hensley & Co Pilot Interviewed. On June 15, 1994 Maricopa County investigators interviewed King Aviation pilot Dalton Smith.
May/June 1994 Doctor Johnson Interviewed by DEA Officials Regarding the AVMT Investigation. Doctor Johnson said on June 29, 1994 that he was interviewed "about a month ago" by DEA officials.
August 19, 1994 John McCain's Political Strategist Arranged Private Meeting with Friendly Journalists and Cindy McCain. "In August 1994, a group of Valley journalists received an unusual phone call from Jay Smith, McCain's political strategist. They were offered an exclusive story in exchange for agreeing to certain terms. They would attend individual interview sessions Aug. 19 and sit on the story until Aug. 22. The five journalists - three print reporters, a television reporter and a radio reporter - agreed. One by one, they went to the McCain home, where they heard an incredible story. Cindy McCain, 40, told them that she had been a drug addict for three years. From 1989 to 1992, as the Keating Five made headlines, she was addicted to Percocet and Vicodin. Worse, she had stolen pills from the American Voluntary Medical Team, a relief organization that she founded to aid Third World countries." (Arizona Republic, "Overcoming scandal, moving on," March 1, 2007)
August 22, 1994 Phoenix New Times Requested Maricopa County Investigation, McCain's Political Team Flew to Phoenix for Damage Control. When an edited copy of the Maricopa County investigation was set to be released on August 22, 1994, in response to a Phoenix New Times public information request, Senator McCain's political strategist Jay Smith arranged for Mrs. McCain to preempt that release by meeting with a select group of reporters to disclose her prior drug addiction, which she did on August 19, 1994.
1994 No Charges Filed Against Gosinski; No DEA Charges Filed Against Cindy McCain
1995 Doctor Johnson Forced to Relinquish his Medical License for Writing Fraudulent Prescriptions. Following an investigation by the Arizona Board of Medical Examiners in 1995, Johnson admitted to writing fraudulent prescriptions and was forced to relinquish his medical license. As a result, he was prohibited from practicing medicine anywhere in the United States.
Jonathan Levine's new film The Wackness is great. It really is. It's depressing. No doubt. But it's a good movie.
Josh Peck, as recently graduated- prep school- drug dealer- hip hop enthusiast- virgin- depressive- bored Luke Shapiro and Sir Ben Kingsley as lost- frustrated- depressive- addicted- bored- tired Dr. Squires are excellent together. Their relationship gives the movie an uncompromising reality that infiltrates every moment of the New York City Hip-Hopped bildungsroman. All the actors have a great understanding for their characters and the director really gets you into the protagonists head. So much so, that your emotions twist and squeeze along with Luke's as he suffers through heartbreak, insecurity and a drugged out emptiness that pervades each frame.
As to the movie's authenticity: A+. I know kids from my New York City high school of whom this movie could very well be a biography. The film stays true to its location, its music and the complexity of each of its characters and the real life teens whose lives this story replicates. So, what about the drugs?
How come, people ask, Luke was never arrested for dealing drugs, even though in the movie he was often doing so in public, out in the open, using a converted Italian Ice cart? Why was there never the slightest fear of repercussions of his actions. Even though 1994 was right when Rudy Giuliani stepped up his anti-drug enforcement? Simple answer: HE'S WHITE.
Isn't it kind of odd for a culture that trumpets its 'family values' to treat its children like cattle, fattening them up on corn and soy by-products? We love our kids so much we've let Big Food turn them into cash cows for Big Pharma. A new study estimates that "about 1.2 million American children now are taking pills for Type 2 diabetes, sleeping troubles and gastrointestinal problems such as heartburn."
Of course, they're just aping their elders; as the study shows, we're the most medicated people on the planet. Apparently, our blessed way of life is a risk factor for depression, heart disease, diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, erectile dysfunction, and any other malady for which Madison Avenue can find a market. Are parents counting on pills to compensate for their children's lousy diet and lack of exercise? As Dr. Daniel W. Jones, president of the American Heart Association, told the AP:
"Unless we do things to change the way we're managing health in this country...things will get worse instead of getting better." Jones noted that "body weights are so much higher in children in general, and so we're going to have larger numbers of adults who develop high blood pressure or abnormal cholesterol or diabetes at an earlier age."
Conservatives and liberals can't agree on how to tackle this impending catastrophe. Remember Hillary Clinton's book It Takes A Village? Its premise-that we have a collective stake in the well-being of every child-raised the hackles of the Let 'Em Eat TastyKakes contingent and inspired a rebuttal from Republican Senator Rick Santorum entitled It Takes A Family.
What it really takes, though, is a family farmer to provide us with fresh, healthy produce. The more fresh fruits and vegetables we pile on our plates, the less pills we need from the medicine cabinet, as the New York Times noted last Tuesday in an article entitled Eating Your Way To A Sturdy Heart. And a study released last month by the California Center for Public Health Advocacy confirmed that people who lack access to fresh produce face "a significantly higher prevalence of obesity and diabetes regardless of individual or community income."
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