Rush Limbaugh and Attitudes toward Addiction.

I was just reading an article of Molly Ivins' in which she spent the bulk of her words upbraiding herself for feeling sorry for Rush. She was also going on a bit about how right-wing pundits were easily forgiving him for something for which they would pound Al Franken or Michael Moore. She apparently feels inadequate because she cannot deliver the invective she imagines the other side would deliver if the roles were reversed. But she's overlooking a few important things.

The first is that "drug addict" does not mean a wealthy white man scoring US made pharmaceuticals off his maid. It means a youth of whichever minority is hated by contemporary community standards buying a drug produced in Colombia or Afghanistan with money obtained by mugging an old lady for her social security check.

The second is that, as long as your addiction does not conform to the description in the preceding paragraph, it is a "respectable" addiction. Like Valium in the '50s. The trailhead of Rush's path to addiction was the clinical setting of a doctor, a hospital, a surgery. Not some guy on a street corner rasping "Hey kid, lookin' for some fun?"

The third is the "there but for the Grace of God" factor. Whether we like or hate Rush, to those of us who share his skin color and native language, we recognize that he is sufficiently similar to us in most ways that what has befallen him could befall any of us. It's called empathy folks, and it is the selfish motivation behind noble feelings like mercy and compassion. This is why Conservatives forgive him and Liberals are merely sniggering rather than creating an organized campaign to put him away for life. This is why Ivins' feels pity for him.

What this all means, of course, is that the "War on Drugs," is not a war on drugs at all, but a war against the Other. Drug addiction is somehow more forgivable if:

A) The addict is generally acceptable to the dominant regime,
B) The drug money goes back to nice Pharmaceutical companies rather than evil Coca overlords in Latin America or Afghanistan,
C) The path to addiction was "inadvertent." and
D) We can see how we might end up like that.

In short, more than anything, this exposes the race, class, and cultural biases that constitute the underlying narrative of our so called "war on drugs" for the simple hatred that they are. Something for which Conservatives and Liberals share culpability.

So, while Molly should perhaps forgive herself for her unwillingness to upbraid Rush, she should perhaps explore how her condescending patholigization of drug use is every bit as nasty in its way as Rush's edict that drug addicts all be "sent up the river."

Bison Stew

Fixing some for dinner tonight.

Night before:

Saute in oil 1 Large onion, sliced.
Add two sliced cloves of garlic.
Add a sliced stalk of celery.
Remove and reserve.
Brown 3/4 Lb Cubed Bison in the oil.
Remove and reserve.
Toast 1 heaping Tbsp of Flour in the oil. (you might need to add a little more oil)
Deglaze the pan by pouring in 3/4 c. Cooking Burgundy and blending pan residue with it.
Add 1 can (1 1/4c) Chicken or beef Broth.
Add 1 can (1 1/4c) Tomato Sauce.
Add the needles of 1 sprig rosemary.
Add the leaves of two sprigs fresh dill.
Return the solids to the pan.
Cut a large leek into 1/2" pieces and add.
Simmer for 45 minutes.

Stash it in the fridge overnight. The following morning, before you leave for work, stick it in a slow (~220 degrees Fahrenheit/110 degrees Celsius) oven. Come home dragged out and tired to the smell of major numminess.