Arkansas Blog

The downside to a non-gambling state (outside of Oaklawn and Southland, of course) -- no one's booking bets on how high gas prices are going to go this summer. It's a real shame when it's cheaper to fly to Dallas or St. Louis (via Southwest) than it is to drive it.

lawsuit against an environmentally sensitive city. The mayor has balls.

A Pulaski County land development company is suing the Greenland City Council and mayor, claiming they used a moratorium on building permits to protect a locally owned business from competition.

Little Rock attorney Stephen R. Giles filed the lawsuit Tuesday, saying his client, Greenland Properties, saw its contract with Love's Truck Shop terminated after the City Council extended a moratorium on building permits during an April 14 meeting.

At that meeting, Greenland Mayor John Gray read the council an excerpt from the book, "Big Box Swindles," and claimed Love's would be a category killer.

The site for the Love's shop is along the Greenland exit of Interstate 540, across the road from a locally owned truck stop named Tobo's.

During the April 14 meeting, Gray read the council a letter he had written, stating in part, "I am willing to fight to save Todd Bohannon's business, Tobo's. Bohannon is a third-generation native local business who spends his money locally ... He deserves the full support of ever (sic) member of the Greenland City Council ..."

Gray's letter also recommended the council, "send this 'Big Box Category Killer' corporation packing."

Gray also states the council should admonish the land speculator involved to actually earn his money by bringing Greenland a business it needs, that will add to the sales tax base and be an asset to the community.

read on at bluename

Click my blue name to see two consecutive comments on why Al Gore is to blame for the sorry state of the world. It's in a long and satisfying thread of Republican bashing from of my very favorite blogs of all time.

Oh, why not...have some fun?

click

Well, the big brown horse won again today....maybe we will have a triple crown winner.
Cato, meet me at Oaklawn and show me how to bet.

WOMAN'S PERFECT BREAKFAST

She's sitting at the table with her gourmet coffee.

Her son is on the cover of the Wheaties box.

Her daughter is on the cover of Business Week.

Her boyfriend is on the cover of Playgirl.

And her husband is on the back of the milk carton

Man, when you list it all it really has been a bad week for the Repugs.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/5/17/155621/783/135/517520

Lucy (Lucifer) gives Mr. Deity a tour of hell. (4:23)

I was walking past a mental hospital the other day, and all the patients were shouting, "13...13...13!"

The fence was too high to see over, but I saw a little gap in the planks so I looked through to see what was going on. Some bastard poked me in the eye with a stick.

Then they all started shouting, "14...14...14!"

CIGARETTES AND TAMPONS

A man walks into a pharmacy and wanders up & down the aisles.

The sales girl notices him and asks him if she can help him.

He answers that he is looking for a box of tampons for his wife.

She directs him down the correct aisle.

A few minutes later, he deposits a huge bag of cotton balls and a ball of string on the counter.

She says, confused, 'Sir, I thought you were looking for some tampons for your wife?

He answers, 'You see, it's like this, yesterday, I sent my wife to the store

to get me a carton of cigarettes, and she came back with a tin of tobacco

and some rolling papers; cause it's sooo-ooo--oo- ooo much cheaper.

So, I figure if I have to roll my own .......... so does she.

(I figure this guy is the one on the milk carton!)

Jazzy, dear, I would if I could but I have a high school class reunion the weekend of the Belmont and won't be able to even watch it. I hope Brown wins it for this is a weak bunch of three year olds. If one is skeptical of that statement, look at the Arkansas Derby winner as to how he is doing in these triple crown races. He's a dud, like so many of the other three year olds. I see nothing so far in this crop that can challenge Brown so here's hoping......

So, I was heading back to the great northwest corner of the state after a day in Little Rock. Needing to take a quick stop at the restroom, I pulled over in Mayflower and headed for a gas station mensroom. After nearly swallowing my tongue over the ridiculous price of gas, I headed for the back and did my business. While washing up at the sink, just like my mama taught me to do, I noticed that someone had left their business card propped up beside the faucet as if they wanted someone to find it and take it with them. Lo and behold, guess who's it was!? It was that piece of shit Billy Roper...Chairman of Arkansas White Revolution...a crappy and impotent group if there ever was one. I picked it up and started to throw it in the trash can...but thought better of it. Wouldn't ya know that little 'ole business card found its way into the men's urinal, somehow?

Just so you know, it put a smile on my face and was the best think I did all day. Here's to you, Billy...

You mean there was no odor? Click on Cato......(perhaps we need to start looking for Spirit this way)

Goof,,,click for your weekend Louisiana story. Only direct hit I ever went thru.....
Hubby wanted to pack up and head out of Dodge but, I thot it would be exciting.........
yeah, uh huh.
Be sure and read it all and compare LBJ to idiot.
PITIFUL JUST PITIFUL.

Word has it that Ted Kennedy's new intern got fired on his first day for calling 911 for the Senator this morning - Slurred, incoherent speech, slumping posture, flushed face, glassy eyes, unstable walk, disoriented - the aide didn't know that was the Senator's normal appearance.

Cato,,,, who could miss a reunion??????
Hope we have a triple this year...........
he sure looks like a winner, beautiful horse.

Thanks to Donkey for another classy Republican post...

What next? A cheap shot on President Kennedy's developmentally-disabled sister?

jazzy you are right. with all i have gone through, i am doing all i can to be able to make my 40th. i would hate to miss seeing those old coots again as they get fewer by the year and i dearly love most of them. it is really nice to see the small group of people you went to school with for 12 years. that experience cannot be duplicated and we know each others life history, good and bad. it seems that our group has kept up fairly well and enjoy each other which makes for fun parties. i have seen other groups which seem stilted and didn't really have a good time. maybe my friends drink more or maybe we are just more fun in general. anyway go class of 68'. i have also noticed this with friends from college in other towns, they say they have seen the same thing in their town. 1968 was a changing point in the history of the country and in the middle of the country it was the year of changing. it may have been different but we sure had fun but we also have to stop and mourn those we lost in that horrible mistake of a war. times haven't gotten that much different except nixon was smarter than bush but just as crooked.

Had a rough, depressing day.........
gonna flop on my belly, leave it to you night owls and see what WWL radio has to offer.......
Oh, click for something I just found............nice pix.
Ga'night

ZONK....God love you darling for we sure do.
Hope you rest well tonight..........xoxoxoxoxoxo
Jazzy

That's cool Jazzy. Thanks. Did you by chance read Kat Robinsons New Orleans review yesterday?

Regarding the earlier story of the NLRPD Swat Team raid on Tracy Ingle's home, who was the judge who issued the no-knock warrant for the raid & is that judge running for re-election on Tuesday?

Well this kind of sux.

I've heard this guy has been very accurate.

/click name and weep

Welfare food is pretty skimpy in Ark at $3 day. Try feeding a prisoner on $1.75 per day and you get to keep the change. Bet that two-ton guy up in Benton County jail would raise a stink:

"BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) - Back in the day of chain gangs, Alabama passed a law that gave sheriffs $1.75 a day to feed each prisoner in their jails, and the sheriffs got to pocket anything that was left over. More than 80 years later, most Alabama counties still operate under this system, with the same $1.75-a-day allowance, and some sheriffs are actually making money on top of their salaries.

But exactly how much is something of a mystery because state auditors do not have access to sheriffs' private accounts.

"Most of it is like powdered food, and the portions are minimal in the county jails," said the Rev. Kenneth Glasgow, who visits Alabama jails to register prisoners to vote.

The few sheriffs who would discuss the arrangement defended it as cost-effective for their counties and disputed any suggestion they are making a lot of money.

"If you've got the most lucrative food account in the state, you're not getting rich," said Limestone County Sheriff Mike Blakely.

Any relation to our Zoo director?

I know I can't be all that old, but I can remember when $1.75 could get you:
Four tacos and a drink at the old Mexican restaurant at Markham and Barrow (1990)
Garlic roll, meatball, and cup of water at Sbarro's (1992)
Three scoops of ice cream in a triple-barrell cone at Minuteman on University (1985)
Egg rolls, a side of rice and fried noodles at Go-Go China (1991)
Plain hamburger, small fries, and coffee at McDonald's (1986)
Personal pizza, chocolate milk, and bag of chips at Parkview High School (1989)

From what I understand, you can get Jack and Squat for about $1.75 today. Of course, Squat's kinda grisly. Or a Banquet dinner and a packet of Kool-Aid. Which, remembering my leaner years, ain't that bad of a fate. Of course, I had my gall bladder back then.

Any relation to our Zoo director?

I know I can't be all that old, but I can remember when $1.75 could get you:
Four tacos and a drink at the old Mexican restaurant at Markham and Barrow (1990)
Garlic roll, meatball, and cup of water at Sbarro's (1992)
Three scoops of ice cream in a triple-barrell cone at Minuteman on University (1985)
Egg rolls, a side of rice and fried noodles at Go-Go China (1991)
Plain hamburger, small fries, and coffee at McDonald's (1986)
Personal pizza, chocolate milk, and bag of chips at Parkview High School (1989)

From what I understand, you can get Jack and Squat for about $1.75 today. Of course, Squat's kinda grisly. Or a Banquet dinner and a packet of Kool-Aid. Which, remembering my leaner years, ain't that bad of a fate. Of course, I had my gall bladder back then.

Whoops, posted twice. Darn that Windows Vista and its inability to correctly perform Internet Explorer tasks!

Any*Mouse,
I truly hope that article-link you posted gets beau coup distribution. It's one of the most revealing commentaries on the failing R party I've read in a long time. And, it's documented, not just opinion.

By all means I hope everyone reads it and passes it along to your non-blogging friends.

I reposted the original at my blue name. The Week That Was In The Collapse Of The Republican Party

Hey Miz Kat,
Want to make your work much easier?
Download Mozilla FireFox browser. It's much smoother than IE 95% of the time, faster, rarely gets spyware or Trojan horses. It's free too. The download is quick. Just google for it. You will love the multi-tabs when posting numerous jpeg files.
.

Ted Kennedy is a grown man with self-inflicted wounds. A great senator who would've been a bad choice for president.

The day I realized Mallard Fillmore had no reason to exist (other than having pretty good artwork--I like his drawing style) was the day he and Doonesbury both went after Clinton and Kennedy, and Doonesbury hit harder and was funnier.

Kat, since you are "remembering" perhaps you can remember the Golden Hawk Studebaker. Click on Cato

jazzy,

Speaking of Digg, I ran into a very interesting story about it yesterday:"MrBabyMan: Digg Users Revolt Against the One Pure Man at the Top". It's maybe a little more inside baseball than you'd be interested to read, but I personally know very little about Digg and have never visited it, and I still enjoyed reading it. Granted, I do live in that world, but Digg is a neighborhood I've never visited. You can click my blue name to read it.

STIMULUS CHECKS REDUX

It seems as though a lot of folks were arbitrarily denied the twinkie check promised by the shrub. Close to 300,000 military personnel who are married to foreign residents who do not yet have a social security number were automatically denied. The anti immigrants and anti terrosist nutjobs argued that "they" dint want some terrorist getting that big windfall.

Here comes the irony...most if not all the the foreign spouses disqualified have a Tax ID number authorized by the IRS. A foreign spouse can easily get one, it is necessary so you can file taxes. So you can work and pay taxes but screw you on stimulus checks. What really hurts is that the soldiers are screwed as well. Not only does your spouse not get a check buy you don't get one either. The only exception is if the soldier or civilian for that matter files separately. Most do not because filing jointly provides more options for deductions.

Now as a vet and civil servant my position is rather unique. My wife has a Tax ID and we have used it to file jointly for the last two years. We declared her income and paid taxes on it. The IRS has accepted every deduction we can legally claim based on my spouse. But because we filed jointly both she and I do not qualify for the stimulus check...I don't need the money but it is the g**d dam principal of the issue. And it pisses me off even more because our daughter, a US citizen with a SSN is disqualified as well.

Ah well what can I expect from a cluster f**k administration run by a bunch of escapees from the loony farm. Hope everyone has a great Sunday...Go Celtics!

I've seen one before, but I'm tapping my head trying to come up with where I saw it.

I do remember there was a place called Studebaker's on south Rodney Parham, close to the old BBQ joint with the cannon. Never went in -- I think I was underage and it was a nightclub at the time.

Gotta try that Mozilla Firefox. I'm assuming it doesn't "burp" like 90% of the programs Vista runs.

Cato - I remember that car well. Lived in South Bend, Indiana for a couple of years. My favorite was the Avanti.

Another one bites the dust. So what else is new? Pathetic!

Has anyone actually gotten one of those November-bribe checks?

On a more serious note (ha)...are my lead crystal glasses leaching lead into my drinks? (Daughter-in-law informed me so this weekend...I love my crystal glasses.)

Could figuratively strangle my supposedly educated son (journalism degree to boot)...he's not bothered to register to vote. And I'm not sure if he ever has. Clearly nagging and leading by example hasn't worked (it's immoral not to vote in our world)...perhaps I'll try bribery...he likes his electronics/his Mac stuff. What do ya think, darling boy?

Sounds par for the course to me, Ci.Ci. Every pervert I've ever known was in church every time the doors were open.

Me too, Zelda. Sometimes I think that's what religion was organized for - just to hide the asses of the hypocrites and pharisees. As for our sons, my oldest (and supposed to be wisest) is convinced Obama is a Muslim and intends to destroy America. He thinks (learned it in church) that Rev. Wright is also a Muslim, so Obama's 20 yrs in church is null and void. Mind is closed and like most of my other relatives and acquaintances, can't imagine why I can't see nuthing! I tell you, we are in a world of hurt, folks!

Every pervert I've ever known was in church every time the doors were open. -Posted by: Zelda
**********
Well, when you attend church, y0u typically find children and friendly accepting people, including single women (and men) - Maybe this is fertile prospecting ground for the "perverts" you know.

Or, maybe some of the "perverts" have finally recognized their personal crisis and are there desperately looking for help to change their behavior. Its pretty well known that addicts and others overcome by personal compulsions can't change on their own - and many churches offer professionally trained help for overcoming or dealing with many "perversions".

Sometimes I think that's what religion was organized for - just to hide the asses of the hypocrites and pharisees -Posted by: Ci.Ci
********
Well, you're probably half-right.

Open ANY church door and you will no doubt find some hypocrites and "Pharisees" hiding their a**** there. After all, a church should welcome those awful sinners - since we ALL wear that darn sinner-label.

And try though we might, we will each still have instances where we lose the neverending struggle daily to resist behavior that you might call "hypocritical" or "Pharisee-like". The key is whether you (or I) recognize this behavior in your own (my own) life and whether you are (or I am) doing anything about it.

If this hypocritical behavior occurred so frequently in the churches you attended that it convinced you that hiding hypocrites is the purpose of Religion, then I hope you will at least try other churches - A faithful church doesn't encourage hypocritical behavior - but it welcomes the "hypocrites" and, hopefully, transforms them into people who go beyond lip service and strive to truly live out their own personal beliefs.

Don, it's not those who struggle daily to resist certain behaviors that have soured me on organized religion, it is those who use the sincere and devout around them to cover their own 'use' of attendance and membership to further their own personal agendas - agendas that have nothing to do with spirituality or faith. I would guess that I've attended at least as many churches and church services as anyone on this blog, so my knowledge of organized religions is not scant. More and more, those around me who are sincere and devout are finding they do just as well in the quiet of their home or the beauty of the woods as they do in those buildings where it is hard to know very many who are there for reasons of true faith.

Do you know that church, CiCi??? I never heard of that one. Funny, they always just want
to put it behind them, look at it in the rearview mirror. Ya'll might be surprised at what goes
on in empty sunday school rooms, broom closets.......and, the disgraced Vito Fusella was in
a damn parade sat............how do all these repug men get away with it????
Beats the hell out of me.

Omigosh! Listen to this voice, please. She will blow you away!

"Has anyone actually gotten one of those November-bribe checks?"

I have zelda. We got $1,200. I cashed it for twelve hundred one dollar bills. Today I am giving $300 each to my four grandchildren. After all, it is theirs and when their taxes increase to pay off this credit card manipulation of my generation I am hoping they will remember their grandfather tried to atone what his stupid congressmen did in 2008.

Yeah, don, that's it...a little truth to all your scenarios. But it's the abusers of women/children who deliberately use the church to hide their perversions that I find so offensive (think Catholic Priests/ etc.). And usually they're the ones who are the loudest at berating everyone else for their sins. Same in politics...it's usually the politician that screams the most and loudest about God/fiscal responsibility/personal accountability that turns out to be the most removed from their rhetoric. Granted, most churchgoers are far from that level of hypocrisy and most churches do more good work than bad...and granted that I may have just had a run of bad luck encountering bible thumping perverts...but we work with our experiences. And I'll take a straight-up thief any day...I know where they're coming from and money/greed is a different motivator than repressed sexual perversions.

Sorry Methodist that I am, I don't go to church much, lessin' maybe I've a drinkin' too hard or sinned so egregiously that I need to reconnect with The Force. When that happens, I drop in for Sunday services at Cowboy Church in Hot Springs. There, in addition to the world's strongest coffee and scent of Old Spice, you'll find some really fine ole cowpokes and some sweet ole cowgirls, too. Pastor Harvey Perdue's preachin' will get you back on track, and even you gentlemen and ladies who describe yourselves as "godless" can enjoy the music of the Fabulous Cowboy Church Band. And, hey, if you'd rather yodel than sing, that's OK. I've posted 'em before, but fer you newcomers to this here blog, here are the Ten Commandments, cowboy style:

(01) Just one God.
(02) Honor yer Ma & Pa.
(03) Watch yer mouth.
(04) No killin'.
(05) Don't take what ain't yers.
(06) No foolin' around with another feller's gal.
(07) No telling tales or gossipin'.
(08) Don't go hankerin' fer yer buddy's stuff.
(09) Put nothin' before God.
(10) Git yerself to Sunday meetin'.

Next time ya sin too much (and you cain't possibly do that, sweet jazzy), come on down to Cowboy Church. Maybe I'll see ya air.

Lucy (Lucifer) gives Mr. Deity a tour of hell. (4:23)

Lucy (Lucifer) gives Mr. Deity a tour of hell. (4:23)

Hugh man that was funny.
I was laughing and I hit the wrong button.

Or, maybe some of the "perverts" have finally recognized their personal crisis and are there desperately looking for help to change their behavior. Its pretty well known that addicts and others overcome by personal compulsions can't change on their own - and many churches offer professionally trained help for overcoming or dealing with many "perversions".

Good call Don Keyhotay

Thanks, CiCi, for that link to the wonderful Charice! Beautiful! (Also interesting to watch Oprah try to pull one of those, "Thank you, Jesus" moments from the kid by saying, "Your voice obviously must come from something bigger than yourself." The old, "I am nothing: Jesus is everything," affirmation.

Charice wasn't having any. "There are so many ways to sing. My voice, my throat, my diaphragm." She was so overjoyed to be on Oprah's show, one of her childhood dreams, that she cried.

50 years ago, this or any other Oprah show would never have been produced on TV because of racism.

Now, no one is born hating anybody. Children, in fact, are innately curious about other people's skin colors, nationality, food, customs, religions, etc.

"You have to be carefully taught," goes the Rogers and Hammerstein song from "South Pacific," "by six or seven or eight."

Who teaches hate? Of blacks, whites, Jews, gays and lesbians, Christians, Muslims, et al.?"

Religions.

And since the thread's turned religious, we have comments like this: "Its [sic] pretty well known that addicts and others overcome by personal compulsions can't change on their own," and goes on to recommend church.

Actually, the statement is incorrect. Despite the many religious and non-religious support groups for addicts, psychologists and scientists recognize the most successful cases of cessation are addicts who decide to stop, cold turkey, on their own. (As Dr. Eric Berne put it in "Games People Play" in the '70s, and to paraphrase, "People are just switching from one addition (drugs or alcohol) to another (religion or AA). They're not cured at all."

Too, we get CiCi's saying, "my knowledge of organized religions is not scant." Neither is mine, I'm happy to say. Though it took many years for me to piece the truth together, after I moved to the Big, Really Big, City (where a wide variety of books was readily available).

I have never met a religionist of any faith who had the slightest idea of the true origins of their beliefs and holy days. "Bible Studies" of "holy" texts of any kind simply turn out better parrots. They teach nothing of the origins of those texts and beliefs.

Today, it takes less than half an hour to learn the truth about the origin of ALL religions, thanks to the internet. That ancient truth is not only factual and obvious, once realized, but quite beautiful, based as it is on the same ancient scientific observations that created the Pyramids and the Sphix and their still unduplicable construction and precise terrestrial orientation to the solar system and cosmos (North Star, anybody?).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeZB2EsPqGE

If only I'd been born later, I could have saved myself twenty years of searching.

Uh, "Sphinx?" My "n" key is experiencing anger-management issues.

I listened to Mcbush give a speech this aft, don't have any good reason except I was in a
half coma and couldn't raise my arm to zap him. I didn't think anyone could be worse than
idiot, after all he is kinda fun to watch, kinda like waiting for the other shoe to drop, but,
Mcbush, holy shit batman........that sing-song monotone, enough to put me in a full zombie
like state......and, he got very little appaulse, just a smatter here and there.
Obama had a crowd of 65,000 today with 16,000 more on the outside.
If ole Mcbush is that boring in bed no wonder Cindy looks so stiff and uptight.

psychologists and scientists recognize the most successful cases of cessation are addicts who decide to stop, cold turkey, on their own. (As Dr. Eric Berne put it in "Games People Play" in the '70s, and to paraphrase, "People are just switching from one addition (sic) (drugs or alcohol) to another (religion or AA). They're not cured at all."-Posted by: NormaBates
********
Norma - you might want to add a (sic) to your own comment if grammar is so important to you - that's OK, I did it for you.

I don't doubt that addicts that successfully quit cold-turkey are the most successful - they are just rare. I know very few of these - I know far more that were only able to reform by acknowledging their inability to change on their own and getting help from someone they enlisted (and continued to seek support from) for encouragement.

Arguably, Dr. Eric Berne's 70s philosophy probably screwed up as many people as Dr. Benjamin Spock of pretty much the same era.

I don't doubt that addicts that successfully quit cold-turkey are the most successful - they are just rare. I know very few of these - I know far more that were only able to reform by acknowledging their inability to change on their own and getting help from someone they enlisted (and continued to seek support from) for encouragement.

Again Don Keyhotay; your statement rings true. Our pastor was an alcoholic who overcame his addiction before he started attending church. And I believe it is because of his previous addiction that he well capable to be the light that he is. He will encourage any one to do the best they but has always made his self and the services of the church available to those who want and need our help.

>>Who teaches hate? Of blacks, whites, Jews, gays and lesbians, Christians, Muslims, et al.?"

Religions.<<

True, Norma, and would that it were not. I remember wondering, even as a child in church, how "Jesus Loves Me" actually meant Jesus loves me as long as I do as I'm not black, Catholic, gay, etc.

Why is it so many judicial candidates post their campaign signs in locations prohibited by Little Rock election sign ordinances? Drive down Pleasant Valley drive to see what I mean. Gary Sullivan and Judge McGowan - shame on you for your disrepect of the law by placing signs in the median. Don't expect my vote

Well, Wes, DonKehotay et al.: here's the psychology behind quitting addictions.

First, one has to "bottom out." That's personally defined. You reach the lowest point you're willing to go. Maybe it's an arrest for DUI. Maybe it's running over a child while driving drunk. Maybe it's your spouse leaving you or losing your job. Maybe it's your third DUI and revocation of your drivers' license. Maybe it's embarrassing yourself at a business function.

Whatever it takes, you "bottom out." Of course you seek help. You finally say, "Never again."

You can exchange one addiction for another and affirm, week after week, that you are "helpless" in the face of that inanimate object over there (that beer bottle or liquor bottle or white powder). Week after week you affirm you are "helpless" against that inanimate object.

Notice the not-so-subtle stripping away of your individual power in favor of the Group as your outside authority?

Scientology, anybody? Religion, Hogs?

You are weak and they are strong.

Affirmation after weekly affirmation of your "weakness" finally produces exactly that, and you're now addicted to AA because you're "helpless."

OR, you say, affirming your personal strength, "Wait a minute. That recreational substance that so many other people safely enjoy in moderation is completely neutral, and I am NOT helpless. It's my CHOICE to stay drunk or stoned. Why? Why do I prefer to be drunk or stoned all the time?"

That's the question.

And far from being "rare," Wes, these are the people (the majority) who successfully face their issues and quit, cold turkey, successfully, on their own.

Yep, the majority.

Therein lies their psychological strength. "No inanimate object has any 'power' over me whatsoever. That's silly. It's my free choice to stay drunk or stoned. Now that I know WHY I choose that (and inevitably that choice is based on a desire to shed "inhibitions" [fear] of various kinds and to stave off the exigencies of life and live as a dependent child, free of responsibilities) I can change, if I wish."

Addictions are rooted in fear and childish dependency and loneliness, and trying to live up to somebody else's standards. "If I have a few drinks, or a few tokes, or a snort or two, I'll appear socially confident, sexually desirable and popular. I will fit in."

Except maybe I'm NOT socially confident. Maybe I don't give a shit about "fitting in" or being "sexually desirable" or "popular."

And if I'm my own woman, my own man, then who cares? I am stronger than a can of beer or a shot of scotch or a line of coke. Those are CHOICES of mine.

I'm a grown-up. There's a different way to live. I can make another choice, if I want.

One choice, vis a vis addictions, comes from realizing and affirming personal strength.

The other choice comes from substituting a different addiction for the one you really prefer, thus maintaining your weakness and "helplessness." Caffeine and nicotine, say, at AA meetings, instead of booze.

Nobody is "addicted" to anything (including religion) without a payoff. All you need know is what your payoff is, for being "hooked" on something.

Once you know THAT, and can face it honestly, you're free.