Day: May 23, 2008

John McCain’s on Ambien. So much for being ready for that 3 a.m. call.

Ambien is the sleep aid that was at the center of a class action lawsuit after users noticed bizarre side effects, like getting up in the middle of the night and cooking huge meals, then leaving the burners at full blast and going back to bed. I remember reading one man’s account. He said he heard sounds from the kitchen and found his wife tearing open a package of hamburger buns, “like a grizzly bear.”

But there are less humorous risks as well.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has uncovered more than a dozen reports of sleep-driving, all linked to the drug. Partly in response to such reports, the FDA urged sleep drug manufacturers on March 14, 2007 to strengthen their package labeling to include warnings of sleep walking, “sleep driving” and other behaviors.

…”Ambien should only be taken when you have a window of seven to eight hours for sleep,” [Director of the Strong Sleep Disorders Center at the University of Rochester Medical Center Dr. Donald W.] Greenblatt said. “Your staff should know that you’ve taken the medication, and that you should not be involved in any decision-making during that time.”

Official sources go beyond that recommendation.

Ambien can cause side effects that may impair your thinking or reactions. You may still feel sleepy the morning after taking the medication. Until you know how this medication will affect you during waking hours, be careful if you drive, operate machinery, pilot an airplane, or do anything that requires you to be awake and alert…Ambien may be habit-forming and should be used only by the person it was prescribed for. Ambien should never be shared with another person, especially someone who has a history of drug abuse or addiction. Keep the medication in a secure place where others cannot get to it.

Hear that, Johnny? That means you should be keeping it locked away from your wife, Cindy, whose past addiction to Vicoden and Percocet is self-disclosed legend.

But there’s one more little problem.

[Medical director of the St. Joseph Sleep Disorders Center in Orange, Calif. Dr. Peter A.] Fotinakes added that sleeping pills and other sedatives have been proven to be more potent in the elderly.

Um, has anyone noticed McCain is elderly? Let’s connect the dots.

“The key is to use Ambien-like sleeping medications in moderation and don’t mix them with other sedative drugs or alcohol,” Fotinakes said. “Most importantly, avoid use in the event you have to consider escalation from Defcon 4 to Defcon 3.”

Har-dee-har-har, Dr. Fotinakes. I bet your patients think you’re a regular stand-up comedian. The point is, McCain is one of the millions upon millions of Americans who feel they need prescriptions to get through the day, or in this case, the night. He also has a stake in making a drug that might well turn out to be very, very bad look acceptable.

I prefer my presidents to be ‘script-free, unless it’s stuff for blood pressure (which McCain is also on) or antibiotics. I don’t want them to need help from pills in falling asleep, battling anxiety, or fighting depression. And I damn sure don’t want them on something that makes them incapable of doing their job — making decisions — for more than one-third of every day.

“[McCain told Ellen] that even though she‘s gay, she should be allowed to sign her name like an adult … Next thing, he‘ll say gay people should be allowed to drive and keep pets.”
— Rachel Maddow
John McCain humiliated himself on Ellen DeGeneris’ show this week when he said he opposes gay marriage but is in favor of permitting gay people to “enter into legal agreements.”

ELLEN DEGENERES, “ELLEN”: I‘m, obviously, excited and to me this is only fair and only natural and what are your thoughts?

MCCAIN: Well, my thoughts are that I think that people should be able to enter into legal agreements. I just believe in the unique status of marriage between man and woman.

On MSNBC’s Countdown last night, openly gay Air America host Rachel Maddow hilarilously ridiculed McCain’s paternalism:

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“Imagine a world in which generations of human beings come to believe that certain films were made by God or that specific software was coded by him. Imagine a future in which millions of our descendants murder each other over rival interpretations of Star Wars or Windows 98. Could anything — anything — be more ridiculous? And yet, this would be no more ridiculous than the world we are living in.”

— Sam Harris (1967 – ), author, The End of Faith, Letter to a Christian Nation

Although it is disappointing that slightly more than half of Californians disapprove of the state supreme court decision that overturned the ban on gay marriage, this represents a significant deflation of opposition from 2000, when a ballot initiative banning gay marriage passed with 61 percent of the vote.
Ballot initiatives that pass usually start with higher favorability in polling than 54 percent, which means there is a good chance this measure can be defeated.
The new Los Angeles Times poll found that:

By bare majorities, Californians reject [by 52 percent] the state Supreme Court’s decision to allow same-sex marriages and back [by 54 percent] a proposed constitutional amendment aimed at the November ballot that would outlaw such unions, a Los Angeles Times/KTLA Poll has found.

But the survey also suggested that the state is moving closer to accepting nontraditional marriages, which could create openings for supporters of same-sex marriage as the campaign unfolds.

More than half of Californians said gay relationships were not morally wrong, that they would not degrade heterosexual marriages and that all that mattered was that a relationship be loving and committed, regardless of gender.

Overall, the proportion of Californians who back either gay marriage or civil unions for same-sex couples has remained fairly constant over the years. But the generational schism is pronounced. Those under 45 were less likely to favor a constitutional amendment than their elders and were more supportive of the court’s decision to overturn the state’s current ban on gay marriage. They also disagreed more strongly than their elders with the notion that gay relationships threatened traditional marriage.

If the out-of-state political operatives behind the ballot initiative were hoping to help deliver California to John McCain in November, they may have miscalculated:

Responding to a separate question, only 10 percent of registered voters said that gay marriage was the most important issue facing the state, although more than 5 in 10 voters characterized it as important, just not the most important. Another third of voters said it was not important at all.

Among those who felt it was the most important, more than 6 in 10 were conservatives or those who consider themselves part of the Republican religious base. They were overwhelmingly voting for McCain, the poll found.

Ballot initiatives that pass usually start with higher favorability in polling than 54 percent, which means there is a good chance this measure can be defeated.

Good riddance:

Irmo High School Principal Eddie Walker’s has announced he’ll resign effective June 2009 over the creation of a Gay-Straight Alliance club at the school.

But for one group, June 2009 isn’t soon enough.

South Carolina Equality is demanding that either Walker’s resignation be effective immediately, or he be terminated.

“This Principal has emphatically and publicly stated that he does not support a significant portion of his student body. He has created an atmosphere where intolerance is considered a principled stand,” says SCE Executive Director C. Ray Drew.

The group says research shows 80 percent of gay students do not know a single supportive adult at their school, 38 percent of gay students face hostility and violence, and 18 percent of gay students experience physical assault.

“Eddie Walker has created a liability problem for the school. If a gay student is harmed, the District could be held accountable for creating a hostile school environment,” says Drew. “Every day that this Principal remains at Irmo High, students will continue to live in fear for their safety. These unsafe and dangerous conditions for gay students are intolerable. ”

So far, Lexington School District Five has not commented on the group’s demands.

A man this ignorant should not be in charge of the education of young people.

Kevin Wuzzardo, a morning anchor on the ABC affiliate in Wilmington, N.C., and an alumnus of Irmo High School, says he finds Walker’s stance to be an embarrassment for the school:

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