Deb Haaland: Two DWI Convictions

Democrat candidate for New Mexico governor Deb Haaland did not exactly have a stellar life when it came to the law in her early years.

According to KJZZ:

A member of the Laguna Pueblo, Haaland was born in Winslow, Arizona, but describes herself as a 35th generation New Mexican. She spent her youngest years on the move as part of a military family, eventually settling in Albuquerque when she was 14.

Personal and professional difficulties followed. Within the next decade, she became a single mom living on public assistance. A drinking problem resulted in two DWI convictions.

To read more, go here. 

NM Democrats Pushing For Alcohol Tax

Above, a brew pub at the Albuquerque Sunport offering several craft beers. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Whenever Democrats aren't promoting abortion or trying to destroy our Second Amendment rights, they try to impose new taxes or raise them.

They are now proposing a flat tax of twenty-five cents per drink to combat to combat the state's alcohol-related death rate. Yeah, right.

Some snippets from Seattle PI:

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Democratic lawmakers in New Mexico are pushing for a flat 25-cents-a-drink tax to combat the state’s alcohol death rate, which is the highest in the country and nearly twice the national average.

The legislation survived its first committee Friday, advancing on a 6-4 vote.

The Albuquerque Journal reports that if the proposal advances through the Capitol, New Mexico would raise alcohol taxes and dedicate an extra $155 million in new revenue to support health, treatment and other programs.

But the newspaper said the proposal is facing blunt opposition from the national alcohol industry, local breweries and others.

Al Park, a lobbyist for the New Mexico Brewers Guild, said the changes would undo incentives that helped the state grow its craft beer scene.

To read the full article, go here. 

Page, Arizona Mayor Makes "Insensitive" Remarks About Navajos

Above, a map of the massive Navajo Nation at the Navajo Museum Library
 & Visitors Center in Window Rock, Arizona. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

As we are almost two months into the lockdown and stay-at-home orders in various states, it is understandable that nerves are frayed a bit and some things are being said and done that shouldn't be and normally wouldn't be.

The latest involves the mayor of Page, Arizona and the Navajo Nation.

From The Middletown Press:

PAGE, Ariz. (AP) — Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez called on elected officials in reservation border towns to work with the tribe to combat the coronavirus after one mayor made a comment he said was insensitive. 

The Navajo Nation has been hit harder by COVID-19 than any other Native American reservation and has one of the highest per capita rates in the country. As of Saturday, 2,292 people have tested positive and 73 have died. 

The tribe instituted nightly curfews and weekend lockdowns, closed its tourist destinations and tribal offices, and ordered people to stay home. 

Levi Tappan, who is mayor of nearby Page, Arizona, and isn't Native American, posted a comment online over the weekend that said, “I wish he would battle alcoholism as hard as COVID19.” It came after Tappan wrote a letter to Nez asking if he would consider reopening some popular recreation areas on the reservation. 

The comment has since been deleted, and Tappan apologized. 

“I know he’s devoted a lot of resources to combating COVID-19, and I think when the number settles, it will show that alcohol is still far deadlier for our residents, and so I just wish that we could work with those kind of resources on all of our diseases,” Tappan said Sunday. 

Alcoholism is one of the largest social ills on the 27,000-square-mile (70,000-square-kilometer) reservation that reaches into New Mexico, Arizona and Utah. The sale and consumption of alcohol largely is banned there, fueling bootleg operations or leading people into border towns that are hubs for basic household supplies, alcohol sales and water hauling stations. 

Albuquerque was sending water tankers to Gallup on Monday, a much smaller New Mexico city about two hours west on the fringes of the Navajo Nation. Gallup is on lockdown until Thursday to prevent nonessential travel after a rise in coronavirus cases was linked to an outbreak at a detox center.

A portion of the Navajo Nation is just across Interstate 40 from our community of Jamestown, New Mexico. The Iyanbito Chapter of the Nation is directly north of us.

I am pleased to read that water tankers are being sent to Gallup for the tribes in the area (the Zuni Pueblo is south of Gallup). Food and other provisions should be also sent to the tribes since Gallup is under lockdown and non-residents aren't allowed in.

To read more, go here. 

Alcohol: No Safe Level?

Above, at Camp Okihi with the Peter Lebeck Chapter, ECV. 

First they say drinking alcohol is bad.

Then they say it's good.

Now they're saying that no level of alcohol consumption is safe.

Why don't they make up their friggin' minds?!

Newsmax reported:

There is no safe level of alcohol, according to a major study on drinking in 195 nations which found even an occasional glass of wine or beer increases the risk of health problems and dying. 

Max Griswold, a researcher at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation in Seattle, Washington, and lead author for a consortium of more than 500 experts, said the study attributes 2.8 million premature deaths worldwide each year to booze. 

Despite recent research showing that light-to-moderate drinking reduces heart disease, the new study found that alcohol use is more likely than not to do harm.

I am more likely to believe what Clark Griswold says instead of Max Griswold!

To read more, go here.

Drowsy RV Drivers More Dangerous Than Drunk Drivers

Above, the bed in The Beast. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

When I was driving cross-country to Metropolis, Illinois, I pushed it a little by driving at or near 400 miles a day (sometimes a little more). My drive back to Los Angeles was more leisurely, averaging around 200-250 miles a day. 

Fortunately for me, I was always well rested as I have the odd tendency to sleep better in The Beast than I do at home. I actually got 7-8 hours of sleep every night on the trip. I never did get drowsy during the trip. I enjoyed the scenery as it passed me by.

RV Life posted an article on the importance of getting enough rest before getting behind the wheel in a RV as a drowsy driver is potentially more of a danger to people than a drunk driver.

They wrote:

Even missing just one hour of sleep can make drivers as risky as an inebriated drunk behind the wheel. The study by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety states that “Drivers who miss between one to two hours of the recommended seven hours of sleep in a 24-hour period nearly double their risk for a crash.” Even more surprising was the news by Dr. David Yang, executive director for the foundation, who says: “Our new research shows that a driver who has slept for less than five hours has a crash risk comparable to someone driving drunk.” 

Just because RVers take their bedroom on the road doesn’t mean they’re less at risk. Effective snoozing doesn’t always come easy at noisy rest areas, brightly lit or busy WalMart camping parking lots and RV parks perched next to interstates or other bustling areas. When a drowsy RV driver gets behind the wheel and commandeers a motorhome or trailer, that person is potentially even more of a risk on the highway than sleep impaired drivers at the wheel of passenger cars. An uncontrolled RV can do far more damage than a sedan.

 To read more, go here.

Medi-Cal/ObamaCare's "Death Panel Of One" and Catch-22

Full Definition of CATCH-22

1:  a problematic situation for which the only solution is denied by a circumstance inherent in the problem or by a rule <the show-business catch–22—no work unless you have an agent, no agent unless you've worked — Mary Murphy>; also :  the circumstance or rule that denies a solution

           2        a :  an illogical, unreasonable, or senseless situation

b :  a measure or policy whose effect is the opposite of what was intended  

          c :  a situation presenting two equally undesirable alternatives

3:  a hidden difficulty or means of entrapment :  catch

My roomie, Jes, is facing a real-life Catch-22 with her hospitalization for liver failure brought on by the prescribed drug, methotrexate. Unless she gets a liver transplant, she only has weeks to live. She is only 33.

She was prescribed this drug due to a skin disorder three years ago. It is a very powerful drug and, as it turns out, can damage vital organs and cause nerve damage.

Her doctor said that the methotrexate caused the damaged liver, not alcohol.

Herein lies the problem. As she had a history of alcohol abuse (she had a DUI four years ago), Medi-Cal (her medical insurer) assigned a "death panel" of one, a Dr. Knealer who said that because of this (and the fact that she had two glasses of champagne on New Year's) her placement on the transplant list has to be deferred until she completes six months of Alcoholics Anonymous classes. This is despite that she completed nine months of AA classes last July. They disregard that as they consider her to have "relapsed" from drinking two glasses of champagne. This is, according to Medi-Cal, is a rule brought on by the Affordable Health Care Act (ObamaCare) that governs Medi-Cal!

Here's the Catch-22: She does not have six months. Even if she did, she is too ill to leave the hospital. Also, the hospital will not allow AA classes in her hospital room. 

So, what the hell are we supposed to do?!

At present, her doctors are appealing Dr. Knealer's ruling. Hopefully, Dr. Knealer will see the stupidity of his ruling and allow Jes to be placed on the transplant list. Keep in mind that our dispute is with Medi-Cal, not the hospital. The hospital has been nothing less than wonderful.

We are exploring other means of getting Dr. Knealer to reverse his ruling. One possibility is to go to court and get an emergency order to force Medi-Cal to put Jes on the transplant list. Another is to force them to reverse their decision through media pressure. This blog post is only the beginning. I will be contacting media representatives shortly.

In any case, we don't have any time to waste. We have been told that another patient is under the same Catch-22 problem.

Thankfully, I have an excellent attorney friend who has given us some great advice, who summed our situation up this way:

If I understand Jes' situation properly, you guys are literally betting on her living that long to see if Medi-Cal changes their bureaucratic pea-brained minds. Why should they? They have no incentive to do so without a push. It saves them money and paperwork to deny her the benefits. They don't care whether she lives or dies - she's a number to them, not a person.  Did you ever watch "Erin Brockovich?"  That took place in my area, and that is a good example of how the big companies will bank on just waiting, since they can afford to, until the person dies or whatever happens.  Jes is not one iota closer to fulfilling what they claim she needs while she is in the hospital, yet she can't come out of the hospital. That is Catch-22.  The only way in which companies give in and pay out is by pressure and repeatedly bugging them. That is not on the hospital - it is on Medi-Cal. And the more mired we become in the Obamacare state of being, the more people who will not get the help they need from here on out.

You would be a great help to our cause if you would pass on this blog post to any media contacts you may have!

UPDATE (3/12/14):
Medi-Cal denied the Jes's doctors's appeal and won't change their position on listing Jes for a transplant and there's no more appeals. We will need to go to Superior Court to get an emergency order to force them.

UPDATE (3/15/14):
I received word yesterday that Jes is "doing better" and is to be released from the hospital next week. While it is nice to have her back home again, I am concerned that this release is the hospital's way of throwing their hands up in the air as Medi-Cal refuses to approve her to be listed for a liver transplant. I will find out more this weekend. Thankfully, we have the "machinery" necessary to pursue an emergency court order to get her listed.

James Bond An Alcoholic, Study Finds

A study, just for fun, found that James Bond 007 is an alcoholic and would have a life expectancy of 56.

USA Today reported:

It's no wonder James Bond prefers his martinis "shaken, not stirred." The man has such a severe drinking problem that he probably suffers from hand tremors that make stirring a cocktail — if not shooting a gun — impossible, say doctors who studied the fictional spy's drinking habits. 

Bond also is at high risk for sexual dysfunction, liver damage, car crashes, stroke and early death, according to findings published Thursday in an annual compendium of quirky medical studies in the British journal BMJ.

The authors found that Bond, as depicted in 14 classic Ian Fleming novels, drinks more than four times the limit recommended for British men.

To read the full article, go here.