Absolutely Horrible

I apologize for offering this awful, terrible video. I am ashamed of my country, “the most powerful nation in the history of the world”.

Description from the website:

“a classified US military video depicting the indiscriminate slaying of over a dozen people in the Iraqi suburb of New Baghdad — including two Reuters news staff. Reuters has been trying to obtain the video through the Freedom of Information Act, without success since the time of the attack. The video, shot from an Apache helicopter gun-site, clearly shows the unprovoked slaying of a wounded Reuters employee and his rescuers. Two young children involved in the rescue were also seriously wounded.”


Why am I posting this? It’s because it’s reality. We live in a world where humans do incredibly inhuman things to one another. We imagine we have a “civilization”. Watch this and tell me the value of our civilization. It isn’t like we haven’t been told, that we haven’t been given instruction in finding a different path.

As a Quaker, I embrace non-violence because I know that the God-Christ-Essence is in every on of us; that killing people is an offense against the God of every religion.

More from The Nation (excerpt):

“Well, it’s their fault bringing their kids to a battle.”

Those words, spoken by a faceless soldier, echo from a classified US military video released by the site Wikileaks.org. The release comes on the heels of the revelation of a cover-up in Afghanistan–and the anniversary of the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, as well as the anniversary of his “Beyond Vietnam” speech.

King spoke to the Clergy and Laity Concerned about Vietnam, saying “It should be incandescently clear that no one who has any concern for the integrity and life of America today can ignore the present war. If America’s soul becomes totally poisoned, part of the autopsy must read Vietnam.”

Hearing allegations that special forces troops in Afghanistan may have dug the bullets out of their pregnant victims bodies to hide evidence, hearing airmen on the Wikileaks tape begging “Come on, let us shoot!” and hearing the editor of Wikileaks say that the shooters talked in the way that people do when they’re playing video games–it reminded me of King’s words.

You can write this off as some isolated mistake- go ahead. “Things happen in a war”, right? These things are unacceptable under any circumstances.

I cannot help but believe that if we spent a fraction of the money, resources (and blood?) on finding ways to live in a world without war, we could manage to end this insanity. Now we have the brightest, most accomplished, most technologically superior people on earth working 24 hours a day to invent better ways to kill other humans. We can do better.

We need to do better. War is not the answer. Find another way, by God.

Excuse me while I go throw up.

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You Missed It

So here are some pictures from the KBOO studio in the middle of the night.
The recorded show should be in archives by end of the week.
Mad Liberation by Moonlight-
Mental Health consumer-talk-radio,
tonight, Friday night, 1 a.m. to 2 a.m.-
April 2nd, 2010.
On KBOO 90.7 FM (in Portland, OR)
or streamed on the web: kboo.fm.
Call in at 503-231-8187 to be on the radio
(or show up at the studio).
We need your voice.

Older shows are archived above under the “MLBM” tab.

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Filed under Mad Radio, Mental health recovery

Mozart sandwich with Birthday Cake

I just had a birthday last week. I was born in 1955, 55 years ago.That makes me 5,555 years old! Below is a twenty dollar bill in circulation at the time of my birth.

(click for full size, as usual; you know I never skimp on picture size-always the biggest pictures here at moonsoup!)

Beatles-Birthday

I have a variety of things to share today. Music, pictures, animated gifs, personal history, stories from where I work, other things.

Enjoy! or not.

Okay, some of the Mozart promised in the title:

mozart-sinfonia_

concertante-allegro

mozart-snfonia_

concertante-andante

mozart-sinfonia_concertante-presto

So, this is an odd time of year for me. My birthday last weekend, April 11th will be my older son’s 25th birthday (he’s coming to visit from SF this weekend- riding the dog, ought to arrive by tomorrow morning), and smack in the middle of these things is the anniversary of my oldest/ youngest child’s death- April 6th. I often dread this time of year- if I’m going to be symptomatic mental health wise, this is the time I would do it. These days, however, I’m not expecting badness. She has mellowed in my heart. I experience her as a kind, gentle angel of death; reminding me of the preciousness in each moment. Thank you Erin.

Here’s a doodle by Andrew, the oldest living child,

and one of the most coolest people I know.

One of our cats- Blizzard, has been suffering from glaucoma for years, gradually going blind. Last month she had surgery to remove her eyes- it’s called “enucleation“. Anyway, these are some shots of her recuperation. By the way, she’s doing great. She’s way more comfortable and happy and since she’s been blind for a while she has no trouble finding her way around. My younger son paid for the surgery- over $1000- because he is also a really great guy. Blizz gets the cone off her head later today.

Here’s Blizzard today, sans cone head,

in the arms of my youngest son.

The Jupiter Symphony is one of my favorite Mozart compositions-

mozart-jupiter-allegro

mozart-jupiter-andante

mozart-jupiter-allegretto

mozart-jupiter-molto_allegro

I wrote a while back, I think, about the death of a patient at Oregon State Hospital where I work. The Oregonian newspaper just did it’s first major story about it (better late than never).

From the article linked above:

The body of Moises Perez, 42, was discovered in this bed located just to the left of the door of a room he shared with four other men. The Oregon State Hospital patient had been dead several hours before he was discovered during evening medication checks.

Below- some great pictures of/ from the ESO Paranal Observatory in Chile, high in the Andes. The top picture is a full-sky, 360 degree panorama. The other pictures are of the observatory itself in summer and winter.

Richard Harris is the state Director of Addictions and Mental Health. He wrote this to the Oregon Consumer Survivor Coalition, our primary collective voice as survivors of the Mental Hell treatment system. I don’t know if it’s serious or comic relief. Time will tell. Anyone can yak yak yak.

From: “Richard HARRIS” <richard.harris@state.or.us>
Date: 18 March 2010 12:14:23 PM PDT
Subject: Re: Consumer Voice—-REVISED MEMO

Revised

DATE:        March 18, 2010

TO:            All AMH Staff

FROM:      Richard L. Harris
Assistant Director

RE:            Consumer voice

Over the past several months I have had the opportunity to meet with
many people representing many mental health consumer groups. From
these meetings it has become clear to me that there is a need for
increased consumer voice within local and state government. Len and I
recently met with the Oregon Consumer Survivor Coalition (OCSC) and
together we have identified four ways by which consumer voice can be
amplified:

1.    Increased public education on addiction and mental health issues;
2.    Increased training for those providing addiction and mental
health treatment;
3.    Continued and increased peer support services and;
4.    Supporting and promoting an independent voice in the addictions
and mental health consumer community.

My initial commitment to increase consumer voice and to support and
promote peer delivered services will be for AMH to provide phone and
video support to the upcoming strategic planning summit sponsored by
OCSC. The summit will identify a clear pathway to establishing a
formal mechanism to support consumer voice statewide. In addition
Oregon’s Olmstead Plan calls for increased consumer participation in
all aspects of transition from residential facilities to independent
living with people having a key to their own home with access to
addiction and mental health services when needed.

To further consumer voice and increase consumer visibility in the
community, OCSC will reach out to the addictions community and attend
and participate in the OHA/DHS statewide budget forums scheduled
around the state later this spring.

These are important first steps in creating a solid foundation to
promote consumer voice and visibility within local communities and
local and state government. I look forward to continuing dialogue with
the OCSC and others to develop a highly visible and robust consumer
voice as part of AMH and the developing OHA.

Richard L. Harris
Assistant Director
Addictions and Mental Health Division
500 Summer St NE E-86
Salem, OR 97301-1118
richard.harris@state.or.us
Blackberry: 503-569-3183
FAX: 503-373-7327

Heads up: may contain graphic violence–

By the way, you can’t outrun a Samurai!

My personal favorite by Mozart, his unfinished “requiem”. This is the whole shebang, huge file, high quality-

Mozart_Requiem_July_4_1985

A couple weekends back my wife and I went hiking at Catherine Creek to look at the first wildflowers of spring. You get there by going to Hood River, Oregon, crossing the troll bridge (don’t look! you’ll turn to stone!) into Washington, driving east through the town of Bingen, Washington and at the second roadside lake take the old state road that climbs the hill. You’ll know you’re there when you get to it. There are a few waves of wildflowers that bloom and pass relatively quickly in the stony volcanic earth. By now there’s a whole new batch. By the middle of April they’ll almost all be gone. I hope we get back up there before the end of the season.

Mozart plays the bassoon!

mozart-bassoon_concerto-allegro

mozart-bassoon_concerto-andante

mozart-bassoon_concerto-rondo

Bye for now, have a great day.

-Rick


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Quote Parade

I would not be surprised if some of this is repetitive- shared in previous posts. So, it gets the official seal:

Quote Parade (or did I say that already):

“The being of separate beings is non-separate being.” Chuang-tse (c.369-c.286 BCE).

“We, the originally vast, serene, and marvellous mind are all pure and illuminatingly all-inclusive. Nothing can hinder us: we are as free as the firmament.” Tsung Kao (1089-1163)

“From the beginning, not a thing is.” Hui Neng (638-713)

“Be still. And know I am God” Psalm 46

“This consciousness exists as each being, and nothing else exists.” The Vigyan Bkairava and Sochanda Tantra.

“The eye through which I see God is the same eye through which God sees me: my eye and God’s eye are one eye, one seeing, one knowing, one love.” Meister Eckhart

“Seeing that one cannot see the absence-of-things (subjectivity) is true seeing, permanent seeing.” Shen Hui

“You must have a clear understanding that all things are only a manifestation of the mind itself. Everything, everything in this world is nothing but a complex manifestation of one’s mental activities.” Lankavatara Sutra

“Remember that from the first to the last not even the smallest grain of anything perceptible has ever existed or ever will exist.’ Huang Po

“I am Not, but the Universe is my Self.” Shih T’ou (700-790)

“Body, heaven and hell, bondage and freedom, as also fear, all these are mere concepts. What have I to do with all these, I who am pure Consciousness?” Ashtavakra Gita

“Let me remind you that the perceived cannot perceive.” Huang Po

“Prajna (Subjectivity) is our true nature.” Hui Neng

“Our original Buddha-nature is, in highest truth, devoid of any atom of objectivity.” Huang Po

“I’ve told you all that constitutes the very core of Truth; there is no you, no me, no Superior Being, no disciple, no guru.” Dattatreya

“Moreover, in thus contemplating the totality of phenomena, you are contemplating the totality of Mind. All these phenomena are intrinsically void and yet this Mind with which they are identical is no mere nothingness.” Huang Po

“Phenomena only exist in the mind that perceives them.” Tibetan Book of the Dead

“What you are looking for is what is looking.” St. Francis of Assisi (attrib.)

“Simply see the world as yourself. Embrace things as they are.” Lao Tzu

“If this principle is understood, that will amount to real deliverance, for the attainment of which there can be no other method.” Hui Hai (trans. John Blofeld 1948)

“Why this talk of seeing into your own nature?……That Nature and your perception of it are one.” Huang Po

“Seeing that one cannot see the absence-of-things (subjectivity) is true seeing, permanent seeing.” Shen Hui

“There is absolutely nothing which can be attained.” Huang Po, Wan Ling Record

“Form is emptiness and emptiness is form. Emptiness is nothing but form, and form is nothing but emptiness. Apart from nothing there is no anything, and apart from anything there is no nothing. Apart from our phenomenal world there is no Void, and apart from the Void, there is no phenomenal world.” Heart Sutra

“Since there is no room in the Infinite even for nothingness, I cannot be nothing; and since the Infinite has no parts, I am therefore the Whole.” Shaikh Ahmad al Alawi (1870-1932).

“The essential Understanding is that in reality nothing is. This is so obvious that it is not perceived.” Wei Wu Wei

“There is neither creation nor destruction, neither destiny nor free will, neither path nor achievement. This is the final truth.” Ramana Maharshi (1879-1950)

“The very idea of going beyond the dream is illusory. Why go anywhere? Just realise that you are dreaming a dream you call the world, and stop looking for ways out. The dream is not your problem. Your problem is that you like one part of the dream and not another. When you have seen the dream as a dream, you have done all that needs to be done.” Nisargadatta Maharaj

(1897?-1981)

“There is no such thing as an entity. Now you know you are awake because you are here and you have that knowledge. There is nothing else other than this knowledge, no entity.” Nisargadatta Maharaj

“Greater than the greatest good in life is to know who we are.” Nisargadatta Maharaj

“With the belief in the individual entity/doer, problems never cease. When the illusory nature of the individual is seen, problems never arise.” Ramesh Balsekar

“There is a Presence that is unnameable that thought cannot touch. It is not your possession; it is what you are.” Adyashanti

“From the perspective of the infinite it is obvious that the individual self absolutely does not exist. The idea that we have a self that controls, arbitrates, or is the doer behind our actions, is absurd. The individual self is nothing but an idea of who we are.” Suzanne Segal

“All said and done: everything is I and I am no thing. All phenomena are objective manifestations. What I am objectively is the totality of phenomenal manifestation. What I am subjectively is all that all phenomena are. Nothing personal about it anywhere or at any stage. The personal notion is not inherent and is the whole trouble.” Wei Wu Wei

“I am Presence; not I am present or you are present or he is present. When one sees the situation as it really is, that no individual is involved, that what is present is Presence as a whole, then the moment this is perceived there is liberation.” Nisargadatta Maharaj

“The Vastness is perceiving itself out of itself at every moment, within every particle of itself everywhere simultaneously.” Suzanne Segal

“ So-called self-realization is the discovery for yourself that there is no self to discover.” U.G.Krishnamurti

“You will come in due course to realise that your true glory lies where you cease to exist.” Ramana Maharshi

“What is real does not die. What is unreal never lived.” Nisargadatta Maharaj

“A person is not a thing or a process but an opening through which the absolute manifests.” Martin Heidegger

“Pure Apperceiving is the subjective Functioning of Potential, sense perception is the temporal reflex in objectivity, phenomena are a conceptual interpretation of that. Therefore that which they are is the mind that is perceiving them. True Apperceiving is perceiving that, as mind, you are bringing into apparent existence whatever you perceive. Consequently the fundamental nature of all phenomena is the Apperceiving of it.” Wei Wu Wei

“An eye cannot see itself, and Truth cannot express itself,because, being non-duality, it cannot be conveyed dualistically as the object of a subject.” Wei Wu Wei

“There is no such thing as an entity. Now you know you are awake because you are here and you have that knowledge. There is nothing else other than this knowledge, no entity.” Nisargadatta Maharaj

“The Void is nothing, absolutely nothing – and Nothing is absolutely everything. For both exist in mind.” Wei Wu Wei

“The essential Understanding is that in reality nothing is. This is so obvious that it is not perceived.” Wei Wu Wei


“You see, the search takes you away from yourself; it is in the opposite direction. It has absolutely no relation. The search is always in the wrong direction, so that all you consider very profound, all that you consider sacred is a contamination in that consciousness. You may not like the word ‘contamination’ but all that you consider sacred, holy and profound is a contamination.” U.G. Krishnamurti


“What is real does not die. What is unreal never lived. Once you know that death happens to the body and not to you, you just watch your body falling off like a discarded garment. The real you is timeless and beyond life and death. The body will survive as long as it is needed. It is not important that it should live long.” Nisargadatta Maharaj


Neem Keroli Baba

Devyaparadhaksamapana Stotram
na mantram no yantram tadapi ca na jane stutimaho
na cahvanam dhyanam tadapi ca na jane stutikathah
na jane mudraste tadapi ca na jane vilapanam
param jane matastva danusaranam klesaharanam

Neither do I know chants nor do I know methods, nor do I know how to make prayer. I don’t know how to invoke you nor how to meditate, I have no knowledge of any songs. I don’t know any signs (mudras) and I don’t know the method of imploring deep pleading. But I know one thing for sure, if I follow you (within the folds of your love) I will be released from all my troubles.

vidher-ajnanena dravina-virahenalasataya
vidheya sakyatvat-tava caranayor-ya cyutir-abhut
tad-etat ksantavyam janani sakaloddharini sive
kuputro jayeta kvacidapi kumata na bhavati.

O, Kind Mother (the Liberator of all without discrimination), I don’t know the method of doing puja and I am also lazy by nature. I also do not have the capacity to do the right kind of prayer, With all these shortcomings, if there have been any mistakes, please overlook them. Because a son can be bad, however, it is not in the Mother’s nature to be bad.

prthivyam putraste janani bahavah santi saralah
param tesam madhye viralataralo ham tava sutah
madiyo yam tyagah samucitamidam no tava sive
kuputro jayeta kvacidapi kumata na bhavati.

O, Mother, on this earth you have many good sons and daughters but out of all these I am the most bad child of yours 0, Goddess, you have forsaken me because I have not concentrated on you, this is not reasonable, Because a son can be bad, however, it is not in the Mother’s nature to be bad.

jaganmatarmatastava caranaseva na racita
na va dattam devi dravinamapi bhuyastava maya
tathapi tvam sneham mayi nirupamam yatprakuruse
kuputro jayeta kvachidapi kumata na bhavati

O, Mother of the Universe, I have never rubbed your feet or done any sort of service, I have not given you wealth, but even strangely enough, you are bestowing your grace on undeserving me Because a son can be bad, however, it is not in the Mother’s nature to be bad.

parityakta deva vividha-vidha-seva kulataya
maya pancagiter-adhikam-apanite tu vayasi
idanim cen-matas-tava yadi krpa napi bhavita
niralambo lambodara-janani kam yami saranam.

O, Paravati Ma, Mother who has given birth to Ganesh, while I do prayers to other gods, I remain busy with different kinds of works, all gods have left me because I ‘m eighty-five years, and I can not give them all the prayers. I am despaired and I can not expect any help from them. If you also leave me at this time where shall I go for support except to you?

svapako jalpako bhavati madhu-pakopama-gira
niratanko ranko viharati ciram koti-kanakaih.
tavaparne karne visati manuvarne phalam-idam
janah ko janite janani japaniyam japa-vidhau

O, Mother! If anybody hears even a word of your chant, the result is–even the meanest man can utter the sweet pronunciation of this chant like honey and he becomes a very proficient speaker, The poorest man, you will find suitable work for him (The poorest man enjoys millions of pieces gold ) When even a word of your chant has such a result, the ones who are doing it regularly and methodically, we can not fathom what the result will be, and who is that mortal who can know it?

cita-bhasmalepo garalam-asanam dik-pata-dharo
jata-dhan kanthe bhujaga-pati-hanr pasupatih
kapall bhutego bhajati jagadlrgaika-padavim
bhavani tvatpani grahana-paripati-phalam-idam

O, Goddess, Bhavani, the Adi-Goddess, the one who rubs his body with ashes and whose fool is poison, and the one whose body is nude, and has matted hair and a necklace of cobras and a hung skull in his hands as an alms bowl, gets that name of Jagadeesh (the Lord of the World) what is the reason for this? How did he get such an immanent position? It is only because of the union with you, and by this his importance has increased

na mokshas-yakanksa bhava-vibhava-vanchapi ca na me
na vijnana-peksa sasimukhi sukhecchapi na punah
atastvam samyace janani jananam yatu mama vai
mrdani rudrani siva siva bhavaniti japatah

O, the Mother whose countenance is like the moon! I do not have any desire for deliverance (moksha), I do not have any desire for worldly wealth. I do not have any craving for knowledge. I also do not want happiness. . . so I have this prayer that the rest of my life may pass in uttering all the names of the Goddess.

naradhitasi vidhina vividhopacaraih
kim ruksa cintana-parair-na krtam vacobhih
syame tvameva yadi kincana mayyanathe
dhatse krpam-ucitam-amba param tavaiva

O, Mother! Shayam, (the blue-bodied one), I could not do methodically your puja or prayer with various religious articles (demeaning oneself before the Godgess). Always my meditation was not crystal clear because it had the hurdness. What fault did I have with all these shortcomings? You bestow on me the greatest grace which is only deserving of you. such a merciful mother can give shelter to such an undeserving son.

Doha:
apatsu magnah smaranam tvadiyam, karomi durge karunarnavesi. naitacchathatvam mama bhavayethah, ksudhatrsarta jananim smaranti.

O, Mother! Durga! The ocean of mercy! I am remembering you because I have got all around me the difficulties. I did not pray before this. Kindly don’t consider this prayer of mine as my wickedness, because the child who is suffering from hunger and thirst, only remembers the Mother.

jagadamba vicitram atra kim, paripurna karunasti cenmayi
aparadha-parampara-param na hi, mata samupeksate sutam

O, Mother of the universe. I am not surprised, because of your complete grace. A son may do fault after fault, but the mother never ignores him.

matsamah pataki nasti papaghni tvatsama na hi
evam jnatva mahadevi yatha-yogyam tatha kuru

O, Mahadevi, Great Goddess, there is no sinner like me on the earth and there is no other person condoning the sins except you. Knowing all this, you do whatever you think is reasonable.

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DSM 5 drafted, Kill Ugly Radio and Friends

In what has to be considered a bold move, the APA has posted the draft of the DSM 5 on the web and made it available for reading and comment here. A variety of changes and non-changes are already attracting attention. One of my favorite blog authors, at Furious Seasons, has inspected enough of it to raise some concerns.

You can see for yourself (please), but here are the things I noticed browsing through the current draft in order of appearance:

Disorders usually first diagnosed in infancy, childhood, adolescence

I am especially concerned with the labeling of children with psychiatric disorders. For the most part, kids don’t “misbehave” because they are crazy. More likely explanations are that their behavior is a natural and even positive coping mechanism for dealing with seriously wrong family environment issues. Other common reasons for “odd” behavior in children are food or environmental allergies and medical or metabolic problems. Regardless of what the behaviorists might say, the reason why people act the way they do is sometimes very important and is often their best response they can have to biological, social and traumatic factors in their lives.

Temper dysregulation with dysphoria is proposed with the parameters available here. The positive side of this potentially stigmatizing new diagnosis for kids is that it is not the Child Bi-Polar Disorder that has been promoted by both the FDA and the friendly shrinks at Harvard. Of course any diagnosis invites the possibility of medicating the behavior but at least it won’t be an automatic road to a jumbo list of potentially dangerous mind altering chemical restraints. So, no doubt, they will have to develop a new list for this new diagnosis.

Another new diagnosis for kids, a conduct disorder, is labeled Callous and Unemotional Specifier for Conduct Disorder. This was not in the previous DSM. The jury is out how this might be suppressed with drugs.

Non Suicidal Self Injury has been added as a diagnosis for kids. I can hardly wait for the good folks at GSK or Lilly to bring out a new pill for this one. Since self-injurious behavior is often a normal response to severe trauma, it might be good if someone looked behind the curtain before attaching the label.

Some old/DSM 4 disorders for kids are being removed or subsumed under the heading of other existing disorder categories including Childhood Disintegrative Disorder, Asperger’s Disorder and Pervasive Developmental Disorder NOS, all of which will be under the general heading of Autism Spectrum Disorder. (That Child Disintegrative thing sounds very dangerous.)

For grownups

We now have Psychotic Risk Disorder. There are plenty of subjective, unscientific criteria for this one. Like this phrase- “but of sufficient severity and/or frequency so as to be beyond normal“- I suppose you have to go to school to know what normal is. Just sop you won’t confuse it with other disorders they say “characteristic attenuated psychotic symptoms are not better explained by another DSM-V diagnosis“. That’s a relief.

Several types of Schizophrenia are being removed- paranoid type, catatonic type, disorganized type etc. I suppose they are all going to be under the general heading of Schizophrenia. Another to be removed is something called “Shared Psychotic Disorder”.  I need to look that up- sounds like a friendly sort of illness. Misery loves company but psychosis no longer does in the new DSM.

Mindfreedom News/ lazy blogger

Off the subject (really) but related, there is a good collection of news from Mindfreedom here about the impact of the mental health consumer movement in Lane County, Oregon. Two news items of interest to Oregonians and others originated from Lane County today:

** Eugene Weekly newspaper covers alternatives to psychiatric drugs.
MindFreedom activists are quoted several times.

** Now you can compare Lane County’s ‘guidelines’ for empowerment of
mental health clients, with a stronger version recommended by Lane
County Mental Health Consumer/Survivor Council.

So check it out at the link above.

Kill Ugly Radio-

Check out the archived show celebrating famous people who died in 2009. There is not much more to say.

Everything else

Dao de jing, T. Chilcott

limitlesslifesutra

Tunes-unto-the-Infinite

WilliamPennReGeorgeFox

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Rootabaga Stories

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Filed under Chinese poetry, CS/X movement, Free E-Books, Mental Hell Treatment, mindfreedom news, Music, silly, sound bite, Spirituality

Radio Archive Updated

Yep, if you click on the MLBM tab above it will take you to the Mad Liberation by Moonlight radio archives. Over a year’s worth of stuff in there now. Be uninformed! Listen before it’s too late!

That didn’t come out right… I really don’t know if there’s any important information and the show is always on too late so just listen for amusement.

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Filed under Mad Radio, mp3, Uncategorized

News Roundup Plus+

I have been so completely swamped by events and work so far this decade that it has been difficult to keep y’ll updated, inspired or entertained. So, today I resolve to correct this problem. At least a little bit.

working backwards:

March 19-26, Romero Legacy Delegation to El Salvador

March 24, 2010 marks the 30th anniversary of the assassination of Monseñor Oscar Romero, Archbishop of El Salvador, on the orders of a graduate of the School of the Americas. SOA Watch and Father Roy Bourgeous will be leading a delegation to El Salvador to commemorate this individual who died fighting for the rights of the common folk in that country.

If you are interested in learning more about Oscar Romero and go here:

http://soaw.org/docs/esdelegation.pdf

More blogging on Bishop Romero: http://annaarcosdiary.wordpress.com/2009/11/08/archbishop-romeros-murder/

For even more about Romero:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Óscar_Romero or

http://www.silk.net/RelEd/romero.htm

Friday night is MLBM- Mad Radio

And we have especially good reasons to be mad this week. Portland police have shown how they handle people in crisis once again. This week, police killed a man who was suicidal following the death of his brother that same day.

News excerpt:

Police said Frashour shot and killed Aaron Marcell Campbell only after Campbell began making statements to officers that they were going to have to shoot him and behaved in a threatening manner.

According to a news release, Campbell had told a friend that he wanted to commit suicide by having the police shoot him.

The shooting followed by less than 12 hours the death of Campell’s brother, Timothy Douglass, who succumbed to heart failure at an area hospital.

Campbell’s mother, Marva Campbell, said Campbell was “distraught” about his brother’s death.

The mother was distraught. I’d think so after losing 2 children in one day. What else did the police say about this?

Police said the man came out after 6 p.m. and initially cooperated. But they said Campbell then stopped complying and told officers would have to shoot him. Wheat said an officer first fired beanbag rounds but when Campbell “acted threateningly,” Frashour shot him with an AR-15 rifle.

For the police information release, you can go here.

As long as we’re on my home town, Shock (Electro Convulsive Therapy, ECT) is alive and well in Portland, Oregon. At least we are not alone.

It’s the new/ old thing.

In modern ECT, the patient is sedated and paralyzed. Then an electrical charge is delivered through the scalp, inducing a seizure. Because of the muscle-relaxing drugs, the convulsion is barely observable.


Judi Chamberin dies at age 65

The “grandmother of mental health consumer advocacy passed away after a long battle with a chronic illness. Judi reported on her condition and struggle in her blog, Life as a Hospice Patient.


Duh

Metabolic risks remain largely unmonitored in Medicaid patients taking
antipsychotics* January 4th, 2010 in Medicine & Health / Medications


*Despite government warnings and professional recommendations about diabetes risks associated with second-generation antipsychotic drugs, fewer than one-third of Medicaid patients who are treated with these medications
undergo tests of blood glucose or lipid levels, according to a report in the
January issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives
journals.*

In 2003, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) began requiring a warning on labels of second-generation antipsychotics-including olanzapine, fluoxetine and risperidone-describing an increased risk for high blood sugar and diabetes, according to background information in the article. The warning
stated that glucose levels should be monitored in patients with diabetes, at
risk for the disease or with symptoms of high blood glucose. At the same
time, the American Diabetes Association and American Psychiatric Association published a consensus statement describing the metabolic risks associated with second-generation antipsychotics and specifying a monitoring protocol for all patients receiving these medications.

Elaine H. Morrato, Dr.P.H., M.P.H., of the University of Colorado Denver,
and colleagues studied laboratory claims data from the Medicaid population
of three states (California, Missouri and Oregon) between 2002 and 2005.
Metabolic testing (testing of blood glucose and lipid levels) rates were
compared between a group of 109,451 patients receiving second-generation
antipsychotics and a control group of 203,527 who began taking albuterol (an
asthma drug) but not an antipsychotic. Rates were also compared before and
after the FDA warning.

Initial testing rates for patients treated with second-generation
antipsychotics were low-27 percent underwent glucose testing and 10 percent underwent lipid testing. The FDA warning was not associated with any
increase in glucose testing and only a marginal increase in lipid testing
rates (1.7 percent). “Testing rates and trends in second-generation
antipsychotic-treated patients were not different from background rates
observed in the albuterol control group,” the authors write.

New prescriptions of olanzapine, which carries a higher metabolic risk,
declined during the warning period. Prescriptions of the lower-risk drug
aripiprazole increased, but this may also be attributable to the elimination
of prior authorization for the drug in California during the same timeframe.

“Although this retrospective study was not able to identify or quantify
reasons why laboratory screening did not increase after the FDA warnings,
whereas prescribing practices did change, we might speculate on some
possible explanations,” the authors write. Switching to lower-risk drugs or
avoiding drug treatment altogether may be simpler than the initiation of new
screening procedures. In addition, although surveys have shown that
psychiatrists are aware of the metabolic risk factors of these drugs,
primary care providers who would generally order the necessary laboratory
tests may not be.

“More effort is needed to ensure that patients who receive second-generation
antipsychotic drugs are screened for diabetes and dyslipidemia and monitored for potential adverse drug effects, beginning with baseline testing of serum glucose and lipids, so that patients can receive appropriate preventive care and treatment,” the authors conclude.

*More information:* Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2010;67[1]:17-24.


MLBM

Did I happen to mention that Friday night, tomorrow, 2/5/10 at 1 am (I know that this is technically Saturday the 6th but- hey, give me a break, it’s only radio, right?)?

As always, we’ll be on KBOO, 90.7 FM in Portland or streamed on the web at kboo.fm.  You can join the conversation- Call 503-231-8187 between 1 and 2 am Friday night.

You can also find our old shows (at least for the past year or so) by clicking the MLBM tab above.

Another thing you can find on Moonsoup today, if you haven’t had time to check out the secret pages, is this memorial to those of us with mental illness diagnosis who have died too young. Go here.

Now for Something Completely Different

Hare Rama Hare Krishna – 05 – Dance Music – Part 1

Hare Rama Hare Krishna – 09 – Dance Music – Part 2

Krishnamurti + David Bohm – The Future of Humananity

Bird Songs on Bear Creek – Relaxation Meditation – 47 min

Bye for now, happy new year and such.

(really big space picture below, click for full size- it’s the Subaru observatory (ESA) deep field view of the “Jewel Box”.

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Filed under CS/X movement, Free Audio Books, Free Music, Mad Radio, Mental Hell Treatment, mp3, Music, sound bite, wellness and systems change

Twenty Ten

First post of the new year.

Note: I’ve uploaded the first radio show of the new year to the MLBM archive (tab above).

I will add more to this post when time allows. My life has been challenging. Cute picture of kitten follows. Click for full size.

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Radio night again

Friday, 1/1/10 (New Year’s night), at 1 a.m. will be the monthly installment of Mad Liberation by Moonlight on KBOO 90.7 FM (or kboo.fm streaming on the web).

Department of Redundancy Department:
Mad Liberation by Moonlight- Mental Health consumer-talk-radio, 1/1/10, Friday night, 1 a.m. to 2 a.m. On KBOO 90.7 FM or streamed on the web: kboo.fm. Call in at 503-231-8187 to be on the radio (or show up at the studio). We need your voice. There are people listening (all over the world, by internet). Call in at 503-231-8187 between 1 and 2 am, late Friday night. Archived shows are available at the tab above that says MLBM or at https://rickpdx.wordpress.com/mad-liberation-by-moonlight-archives/
Be well,
Rick
Remember: Call 503-231-8187 between 1 and 2 am Friday night

Mad Liberation by Moonlight- Mental Health consumer-talk-radio, Friday night, 1 a.m. to 2 a.m.-December 4th, 2009. On KBOO 90.7 FM or streamed on the web: kboo.fm. Call in at 503-231-8187 to be on the radio (or show up at

the studio). We need your voice. There are people listening (all over the

world, by internet). Call in at 503-231-8187 between 1 and 2 am, late Friday night. Archived shows are available at https://rickpdx.wordpress.com/mad-

liberation-by-moonlight-archives/Be well,RickRemember: Call 503-231-8187

between 1 and 2 am Friday night

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Filed under CS/X movement, Mad Radio, Mental health recovery, Mental Hell Treatment

Beach Pictures

Spent most of last week at the coast, Rockaway beach, with my wife and both sons. Number 1 son came up from SF/ California, went back Sunday. Wednesday we went to Short Sands Beach in Oswald West State Park.

About a half mile down from the road is a smallish beach between two capes. The trail is guarded by old, wonderful trees and green green green with a stream rushing alongside. Short Sands is prized by surfers for the way waves are focused into the narrow beach.

Also features a severe riptide/ undertow and “sneaker” waves. A friend of mine lost a child in 2000 who became trapped under a log that rolled in the surf. There is a bench dedicated to her.

Pictures are big. Click for full size, as per usual.

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Filed under Family pictures, personal story, pictures