In my training back in the day, Dr. Anderson of the Hazelden Foundation was a guest lecturer. He told a story of some research they did on Antabuse. Antabuse, or Disulfiram, is a drug that causes a severe physical reaction when alcohol is consumed. It causes extreme intestinal distress to the point of vomiting, possible swelling of the body, and even an extreme reddening of the skin.
It was a controlled experiment with the usual control group, etc. But all the test subjects received their Antabuse in a yellow cup. From what I remembered, the experiment proved that overall, Antabuse was less effective than other forms of treatment.
However, what stood out in my mind was a comment from one of the test subjects given during a followup interview after the experiment. When asked what he learned from the experience, he replied "Never to drink from a yellow cup."
What, pray tell, does this little story have to do with me and politics? Oh, I know you're curious, admit it.
Well, it turns out my Driver's License is suspended. Why? Because, after having paid my fine, and taking the time to drive up to St. Paul to give the Dept of Motor Vehicles a copy of the receipt, they failed to input it into the system. Hence, my suspension.
I know, I know, it still does not explain my Yellow Cup story. Patience, my few blog readers, patience.
See, it all comes down to the claim of government as the problem. Personally, I never prescribed to that particular idiom. However, after 3 decades of Republicans chanting this little Reagan wit and wisdom, they managed to get into power, and set out to prove their little ideological idiom. Now, this incompetence has filtered down into the bureaucratic layers of government.
My little story, of course, it nothing compared to the wondrous examples of Republican efforts at proving their idiom; Katrina and the Iraqi rebuilding efforts are 2 glaring exhibits. However, considering recent polls regarding the Republican party, like the drunks of Hazelden's research who learned not to drink from yellow cups, Americans seemed to have learned not to vote Republican.
It was a controlled experiment with the usual control group, etc. But all the test subjects received their Antabuse in a yellow cup. From what I remembered, the experiment proved that overall, Antabuse was less effective than other forms of treatment.
However, what stood out in my mind was a comment from one of the test subjects given during a followup interview after the experiment. When asked what he learned from the experience, he replied "Never to drink from a yellow cup."
What, pray tell, does this little story have to do with me and politics? Oh, I know you're curious, admit it.
Well, it turns out my Driver's License is suspended. Why? Because, after having paid my fine, and taking the time to drive up to St. Paul to give the Dept of Motor Vehicles a copy of the receipt, they failed to input it into the system. Hence, my suspension.
I know, I know, it still does not explain my Yellow Cup story. Patience, my few blog readers, patience.
See, it all comes down to the claim of government as the problem. Personally, I never prescribed to that particular idiom. However, after 3 decades of Republicans chanting this little Reagan wit and wisdom, they managed to get into power, and set out to prove their little ideological idiom. Now, this incompetence has filtered down into the bureaucratic layers of government.
My little story, of course, it nothing compared to the wondrous examples of Republican efforts at proving their idiom; Katrina and the Iraqi rebuilding efforts are 2 glaring exhibits. However, considering recent polls regarding the Republican party, like the drunks of Hazelden's research who learned not to drink from yellow cups, Americans seemed to have learned not to vote Republican.
When I was working in law enforcement I discovered early on that the NCIS [National Criminal Information System] and NYSPIN [New York State Police Information Network] were jokes. Agencies were very good at putting in information on arrests and tickets, but the court system sucked on entering resolutions.
It was totally worthless for its intended purpose, and caused no end of problems trying to straighten things out after you pick someone up for a warrant that doesn't exist.
Garbage in, garbage out. Nice concept, but you have to fund it and administer it.
BTW, congratulations on upgrading without a meltdown,
Bryan
Why Now?