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From: Gregory Brown To: undisclosed-recipients:; Bcc: jeevacation@gmail.com Subject: Greg Brown's Weekend Reading and Other Things.... 08/17/2014 Date: Sun, 17 Aug 2014 07:51:14 +0000 Attachments: POLITICO_poll,fitay_out_of Ulcraine,_Middle_East_Alexander_BumsfOLITICO_07_2 2_2014.docx; Locking_Up_Fewer Feople_Doesn't_Lead_Toincreased_Crime,_Report_Says_Lydia_O'Co nner_Huff Post_07_25_20 I 4.docx; Roy_Ayers_bio.docx; 18 Health Benefits_Of Whole_Grains_Amanda Gardner Health.com_Aug._10,_2014.doc x Inline-Images: image.png; image( I ).png; image(2).png; image(3).png; image(4).png; image(5).png; image(6).png; image(7).png; image(8).png; image(9).png; image(10).png DEAR FRIEND He was beloved. Successful. Wealthy. Famous. As emotional tributes pour in for Robin Williams, there is also an unspoken, troubling question: Why? As we know depression can strike anyone, at any time — but for many it comes as a surprise when someone who seemingly has it all and makes the world laugh is quietly suffering. Many will claim that every time someone who is talented, beloved, successful, wealthy and famous commits suicide it is a "sad" surprise. Well no, I say. When I first met Robin with his first wife Valeri in the South of France at the top of his celebrity during his hit television show Mork & Mindy in 1979 he was self-medicating as his comic manic demeanor bordering on true genius covered up the fact that he was fighting demons even then. Recognizing the symptoms, I remember asking him about Freddie Prinze who was staring in the hit show, Chico and the Man when he shot himself after struggling with depression and drug use on January 28, 1977. Rather than to answer my inquiry he chose to seduce me with a bit of his comic genius and we sauntered on to Circus Circus which was the reigning disco at that time in Cannes. But since we haven't identified his exact demons let's talk about depression because it is estimated that there are 19 million American adults living with major depression today. Major depressive disorder (MDD) (also known as clinical depression, major depression, unipolar depression, or unipolar disorder; or as recurrent depression in the case of repeated episodes) is a mental disorder characterized by a pervasive and persistent low mood that is accompanied by low self- esteem and by a loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities. This cluster of symptoms (syndrome) was named, described and classified as one of the mood disorders in the 1980 edition of the American Psychiatric Association's diagnostic manual. The term "depression" is used in a number of different ways. It is often used to mean this syndrome but may refer to other mood disorders or simple to a low mood. Major depressive disorder is a disabling condition that adversely affects a person's family, work or school life, sleeping and eating habits, and general health. In the United EFTA01204385 States, around 3.4% of people with major depression commit suicide, and up to 6o% of people who commit suicide had depression or another mood disorder. The diagnosis of major depressive disorder is based on the patient's self-reported experiences, behavior reported by relatives or friends, and a mental status examination. There is no laboratory test for major depression, although physicians generally request tests for physical conditions that may cause similar symptoms. The most common time of onset is between the ages of 20 and 3o years, with a later peak between 3o and 4o years. Typically, people are treated with antidepressant medication and, in many cases, also receive counseling, particularly cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Medication appears to be effective, but the effect may only be significant in the most severely depressed. Hospitalization may be necessary in cases with associated self-neglect or a significant risk of harm to self or others. A minority are treated with electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). The course of the disorder varies widely, from one episode lasting weeks to a lifelong disorder with recurrent major depressive episodes. Depressed individuals have shorter life expectancies than those without depression, in part because of greater susceptibility to medical illnesses and suicide. It is unclear whether or not medications affect the risk of suicide. Current and former patients may be stigmatized which is why many suffers continue to hide this illness. Most cases of potential suicide have warning signs. Attempting to kill oneself or harming oneself, talking about or planning suicide, writing a suicide note, talking or thinking frequently about death, exhibiting a death wish by expressing it verbally or by taking potentially deadly risks, or taking steps towards attempting suicide (e.g., obtaining rope and tying it to a ligature point to attempt a hanging or stockpiling pills for an attempted overdose) are all indicators of a suicide crisis. More subtle clues include preparing for death for no apparent reason (such as putting affairs in order, changing a will, etc.), writing goodbye letters, and visiting or calling family members or friends to say farewell. The person may also start giving away previously valued items (because he or she "no longer needs them"). In other cases, the person who seemed depressed and suicidal may become normal orfilled with energy or calmness again; these people particularly need to be watched because the return to normalcy could be because they have come to terms with whatever act is next (e.g., a plan to attempt suicide and "escape" from their problems) . Depression is a major causative factor of suicide, and individuals suffering from depression are considered a high-risk group for suicidal behavior. However, suicidal behavior is not just restricted to patients diagnosed with some form of depression. More than 90% of all suicides are related to a mood disorder, such as bipolar disorder, or other psychiatric illnesses, such as schizophrenia. The deeper the depression, the greater the risk, often manifested in feelings or expressions of apathy, helplessness, hopelessness, or worthlessness. The understanding of the nature and causes of depression has evolved over the centuries, though this understanding is incomplete and has left many aspects of depression as the subject of discussion and research. Proposed causes include psychological, psycho-social, hereditary, evolutionary and biological factors. Long-term substance abuse may cause or worsen depressive symptoms. Psychological treatments are based on theories of personality, interpersonal communication, and learning. Most biological theories focus on the monoamine chemicals serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine, which are naturally present in the brain and assist communication between nerve cells. This is far too clinical. Because one of my loneliest moments in life was believing that I had made it and realizing that I was sitting alone on the back of a private jet calling friends trying to find someone to come and play with me. Needless to say this resulted in me going into a deep depression, with the exception that EFTA01204386 I was competent enough to reach out to friends and that they realized I need help. Otherwise there but for the grace of God go I. Robin openly spoke about some of struggles, especially his ongoing battle with drugs, but he never publicly acknowledged suffering from any kind of mood disorder and a press representative said the comedian had been "battling severe depression." Williams was found dead at his home at age 63, and officials believe the cause may have been suicide by asphyxia. But the comedian had denied having manic-depression, or bipolar disorder, or even clinical depression. In a 2006 interview with NPR's Terri Gross, he described being slapped with the label after posing for the cover of Newsweek for a 1998 story headlined, "Are We All A Little Crazy?" "And when the guy said, 'Well, do you ever get depressed?' I said, 'Yeah, sometimes I get sad.' I mean, you can't watch newsfor more than three seconds and go, 'Oh, this is depressing.'And then immediately, all of a sudden, they branded me manic depressive. I was like, 'Um, that's clinical. I'm not that,'" Williams said on NPR. "Do I perform sometimes in a manic style? Yes. Am I manic all the time? No. Do I get sad? Oh, yeah. Does it hit me hard? Oh, yeah." As Alastair Campbell wrote this week in The Huffington Post - It is almost cliché to say that comedy comes from tragedy, but there is some research to confirm the point. One early study found that comedians often felt misunderstood, angry, anxious and depressed. Earlier this year, Gordon Claridge and his colleagues at Oxford University published a study looking at psychotic traits among comedians. They found that comedians tended to have what he calls a "conflicted" profile: "a combination of introverted, depressive traits, on the one hand, and on the other, the complete opposite: extraverted, impulsive, manic traits." "So this does give substance to the idea of the sad clown," Claridge explained Tuesday by email, adding that for some comedians, performance can be a "front" or a form of self-medication for underlying depression, shyness or insecurity. "Sadly Robin Williams was a prime example of that conclusion: a man with underlying insecurity and depression who covered it with comedy." While no one can be sure exactly what was going on in Williams' mind, just knowing that he'd told others he was depressed could offer some clues. Cautioning that she could not speaks specifically about Williams, psychologist Kay Redfield Jamison said "The rate of suicide in patients with bipolar disorder and also in severe depression is high and it's one of the many reasonsfor getting treatment." Jamison, who nearly killed herself in a suicide attempt after going off her medication for bipolar disorder, certainly understands the dangers of untreated mood disorders. In fact, some 75 to 8o percent of people who kill themselves have suffered from a mood disorder, said Jamison, a professor of psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and author of "Touched with Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament" and "An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness." Williams had also been open about his ongoing battle with alcohol and about drug use earlier in his career. In a 2010 interview with The Guardian, he spoke of going off the wagon on location in Alaska in 2003 after 20 years of sobriety. "I just thought, hey, maybe drinking will help," Williams told the newspaper. "Because 'felt alone and afraid." He underwent treatment for alcohol abuse in 2006, and just this summer sought treatment again, this time to maintain his sobriety, not for a relapse, according to a representative. A combination of depression or bipolar disorder and continuing struggles with alcohol abuse would be of particular concern in a patient, said Dr. Liza Gold, a clinical professor of psychiatry at Georgetown University and a forensic psychiatrist. "The prognosis is always guarded, unless you can really stabilize someone and they can maintain sobrietyfor a long period of time," she said. That Williams was fighting addiction at age 63 put him at even higher risk, she said, EFTA01204387 emphasizing that she could only speak generally since she had never treated him. White males overall have the highest rate of suicide, the loth leading cause of death in the U.S., and that risk rises with age, she said. 'As we get older we get less resilient,"Gold said. "That which does not kill us makes us stronger? That's not true." Dr. J. John Mann, a professor of psychiatry at Columbia University and director of the molecular imaging and neuropathology division at the New York State Psychiatric Institute, said Williams' recent return to rehab "is probably highly relevant." "What happens in someone like Robin Williams is that alcohol can change the whole equation. When they drink they are different. They are altered. Their decision malting process is changed. Their probability of acting on emotions increases," he said. "The lesson for anybody suffering from a mood disorder is that alcohol is a tremendous risk factor for suicide." Still, Gold said, protective factors can help bring someone back from the edge: Having family and friends around you; removing the means of suicide, such as pills or a gun; getting appropriate treatment, even intervention, if it comes to that. In the end, talent, fame, wealth and power don't guarantee a good outcome for someone with depression or bipolar disorder. "No matter what their strengths or gifts are, there are moments when these people are in crisis," Gold said. Families of someone who may be struggling should be on the lookout for signs of trouble like sleeping all day or missing work, and "not be persuaded there is nothing wrong when their hearts tell them otherwise,"said Lloyd Sederer, Medical Director of the New York State Office of Mental Health. If you see someone suffering, Sederer suggests gathering a family together and giving support like housing or money to insist that a loved one gets care. "It is hard, really hard, but no less can move a person who may not see his/her illness, or feel too ashamed, or hopeless, or guilty to get treatment that can be lifesaving." There is a suicide every 13 minutes in America with more than 39,000 each year, which is more than the number killed in car accidents. The sudden death of Robin Williams has ignited a national conversation about depression, substance abuse, depression and suicide. Robin Williams joins a long list of suicide victims that seem to have it all including Philip Seymour Hoffman, Tony Scott, Kurt Cobain, Don Cornelius, Spalding Gray, Donny Hathaway, Michael Hutchence, Mindy McCready, Alexander McQueen, Mark Rothko, General Angelo Reyes, Junior Seau, Hunter S. Thompson, Vincent van Gogh, David Foster Wallace, Bob Welch, Gig Young, Marilyn Monroe, Ernest Hemingway, Lee Thompson Young and Phoebe Prince the American high school student who committed suicide by hanging in 2012 due to school bullying and cyberbullying. But again why? And why someone so beloved, talented and successful did not receive or accept the help and support needed to get pass the pain. Because having considered suicide as a rational alternative myself and somehow getting past that moment, we need to be more aware since most cases of potential suicide have warning signs. But enough of the whys because Robin Williams was truly special touching tens if not hundreds of millions of people whom he never met and as the President tweeted; "He made us laugh. He made us cry. He gave his immeasurable talentfreely and generously to those who needed it most — from our troops stationed abroad to the marginalized on our own streets." — President Obama EFTA01204388 Not the End of the Story: Building Empathy in Pursuit of a Culture of Health In 1991, Shaka Senghor shot and killed a man. He was, he says, "a drug dealer with a quick temper and a semi-automatic pistol." Jailed for second degree murder, that could very well have been the end of the story. But it wasn't because of a letter from his son which change the course of his life. So instead, it was the beginning of a years-long journey to redemption, one with humbling and sobering lessons for us all. Web Link: http://www.ted.coniltalksishaka senghor why your worst deeds don t define you Writer, teacher and MIT Media Fellow Shah Senghor gave the last talk of Session 10: Passion at TED2o14, and he starts with a literal bang: When he was 19, he shot and killed another man. At the time, he was a young drug dealer "with a quick temper and a semi-automatic pistol." Speaking remotely from a salon in New York, Senghor says that the "23 years since have been a story of apology, acknowledgement and atonement." Growing up, Senghor was an honor roll student who dreamed of being a doctor, but things took a dark turn when his parents divorced and separated. When he was 17 he got shot three times on the corner of his block in Detroit. He was patched up at the hospital and sent home, not expecting that he would become paranoid and hyper-violent in response. Fourteen months later, Senghor shot a man dead. In prison, Senghor was bitter, angry and hurt. He blamed his parents, and he blamed the system. And feeling helpless and abandoned in his cell, things got darker for Senghor. He ran black market stores, loan-sharked and sold drugs. The warden called him "the worst of the worst," which he wore proudly EFTA01204389 as a badge of honor. And as a result he wound up spending seven and a half years in solitary confinement. He says, "It's one of the most inhumane and barbaric places you canfind yourself." One day Senghor received a letter from his son. Its message had a profound effect on him: "My mama told me why you're in prison: Murder. Dad, don't kilt Jesus watches what you do. Pray to him." Senghor thought of Socrates' sentiment that an unexamined life is not worth living, and he decided it was time to transform himself. Through strong mentors, literature, family and writing, Senghor was able to lift himself out of his misery and look at his life honestly. In trying to share his positive experiences with other prisoners, he was sad to realize that so many of them had the same story as he did. 'The system,"he says, "which keeps 2.5 million people in it, is designed to be a warehouse, rather than to rehabilitate or transform." In 2010 Senghor left prison after 20 years (like Fred Flintstone walking into the Jetsons, he jokes), and since then he has devoted his life to changing the system. Senghor believes strongly that the majority of men and women who are incarcerated are redeemable; that's why it's his wish for society to "embrace a more empathetic approach to how we approach mass incarceration." After all, he says, "Anyone can have a transformation if we give them the space. Misdeeds should not define you for the rest of your life." "That wasn't the end of my story," says Shaka Senghur -- during his TED Talk. We need to allow children to be more than their experiences. Regardless of what has happened to any of us in our past, there is potential for so much more. I urge everyone to share this story because 'There butfor the grace of God go I" as I could have easily gone through that same journey.... There are millions of Shaka Senghurs and they all need help... I invite you all to listen to Shaka's story Greg Brown EFTA01204390 I am a loyal viewer of the Sunday morning news programs on the three major networks and after moderator David Gregory's initial framing of the issues NBC's Meet The Press started out last Sunday's broadcast with an assessment by Jim Miklaszewski titled IRAQ IN CRISIS. JIM MIKLASZEWSKI: SIS has easily stormed through Iraq for the past eight months, terrorizing their enemies, forcing religious conversions, and slaughtering those who resist their rule and religion. But President Obama waited to intervene militarily until this week, when the extremist group threatened to topple the Kurdish capital, Erbil. But why now? When ISIS took Mosul in June, the president sent 3oo American troops to support and advise the Iraqi military, but not to fight. PRESIDENT OBAMA in a clip: I think we always have to guard against mission creep. American combat troops are not going to be fighting in Iraq again. JIM MIKLASZEWSKI: But since then, the militants have gone on a rampage, taking Iraq's largest Christian town earlier this month, seizing the Mosul dam, key to Iraq's infrastructure, and routing the Kurdish Peshmerga forces last week. But when thousands of Yazidi worshipers were forced to flee for their lives to the mountains with no food or water to escape the brutality, it forced the President's hand and gave him the opening he needed. Now any U.S. military intervention would be framed, in part, as a humanitarian operation. PRESIDENT OBAMA in a clip: And I believe the United States of America cannot turn a blind eye. JIM MIKLASZEWSKI: But saving Erbil, the Kurdish region, and the Peshmerga, the most capable military force in Iraq, was the most immediate objective. STEVEN A. COOK (SENIOR FELLOW, COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS): The Iraqi security forces have, up till now, not proven themselves to be effective, despite a lot of American training, which leaves us with the Kurds. JIM MIKLASZEWSKI: EFTA01204391 And the Kurds have proven to be a loyal ally to the United States. Too much was at stake to let the region fall without a fight. But with no inclusive Iraqi government in place, and little support from N.A.T.O. allies for military action, the U.S. is going it alone in an open-ended operation. PRESIDENT OBAMA: This is going to be a long-term project. JIM MIKLASZEWSKI: But critics say the current U.S. strategy is all wrong. GEN. BARRY MCCAFFERY (NBC NEWS MILITARY ANALYST): We need to arm the Kurds and let them protect themselves, and stop trying to hold together an Iraq that is already disintegrated. JIM MIKLASZEWSKI: And the president acknowledged Saturday that any substantial progress against ISIS may hinge on bringing them down, not just in Iraq, but in Syria, as well. And while American air strikes may keep Erbil safer, they will not stop ISIS. And even with U.S. support, the outlook may be grim for a long time to come. (END TAPE) JIM MIKLASZEWSKI: President Obama has vowed he would not send U.S. ground troops back to an Iraq, but acknowledged only yesterday that the U.S. military will be engaged in that war for some time to come. And as we heard him just a moment ago, for what he calls that "long-term project," David. DAVID GREGORY: Jim Miklaszewski, thanks so much this morning. I'm joined now by Democratic Senator, Assistant Majority Leader, Dick Durbin of Illinois, a member of the foreign relations committee. Senator, welcome. SEN. DICK DURBIN: Thanks, David. DAVID GREGORY: EFTA01204392 You have heard Jim's reporting. Just the goals here, preventing genocide, stopping ISIS, protecting the Kurdish territory, protecting, really, the integrity of Iraq and American personnel on the ground. All of those goals so important. Why are you already talking about limits to this operation? SEN. DICK DURBIN: Because only Iraq can save Iraq. The president has stepped in because it has threatened genocide. I support that. Bringing food and water to these people who are dying on that mountaintop, of course the United States should do that. And when it comes to the Kurds, yes, they have been the adults in this neighborhood, the grownups. And I think that we ought to help them preserve their capital against this ISIS invasion. And we also want to make certain that the Americans that are on the ground are protected. The bottom line is this: there is so much that we can do to help the Iraqis help themselves. But ultimately, they have to save their own country. Then moderator Dick Gregory brought on Republican Congressman Peter King of New York, member of the House Homeland Security Committee. to respond. REP. PETER KING: Well first of all, David, this is not just Iraq. ISIS is a direct threat to the United States of America. What Dick Durbin just said and what President Obama has said, is really a shameful abdication of American leadership. This isn't Iraq we're talking about. And we can't wait until Maliki and the Iraqi parliament to fight ISIS. Every day that goes by, ISIS builds up this caliphate, and it becomes a direct threat to the United States. They are more powerful now than al-Qaeda was on 9-11. So Dick Durbin says we're not going to do this, we're not going to do that. I want to hear what he says when they attack us in the United States. NOW: I have to ask why every knucklehead group of fanatics anywhere in the world are seen as a threat to the United States. And I have to also ask why every conflict in the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Asia is the responsibility of the United States. Because as Dick Durbin said last Sunday, "We need to make certain not that as many argue, that we should be in every theater in every war that is not the United States' role. We need to be certain that what we do has surgical precision to it and a clear goal of success." As Fareed Zakaria wrote in an op-ed last week in the Washington Post, in today's conflicts there are no longer Moderates, especially in the Middle East and the idea that providing more backing to "moderates" might have prevented the rise of the Islamic State is not tough foreign policy, it is a naive fantasy with dangerous consequences. The governments and people in Brazil, Argentina, Japan, China, Switzerland and Ireland don't think that ISIS is a direct threat to them, so what's the difference? The idea that we haven't supported the government in Iraq is ludicrous. And unless we are willing to maintain a major ground force of soldiers in Iraq, giving more weapons for the Iraqi soldiers to abandon is stupid. A conservative friend of mine sent me a video this week by Bruce Herschensohn, titled the Truth About the Vietnam War — in what Herschensohn argues that if the Democrat Congress hadn't stop funding war efforts in 1975, the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong would have never won. Don't you EFTA01204393 think that we did enough for the South Vietnamese? Well didn't we support South Vietnam through four Presidents at the cost of tens of billions of dollars and more than 55,000 American lives? And after a decade and a half of war that resulted in the death of more than two million Vietnamese, guess what, today the Vietnamese harbor no grudge against America or Americans and have not and do not threatened us in anyway. And yet we have American idiots like Herschensohn trying to relive this idiotic war. People forget how corrupt the South Vietnamese government was, which like Maliki in Iraq today, led to their own demise. Putting good money after bad will not win wars if the local government doesn't have the support of its people. And the Viet Cong couldn't have defeated the South Vietnamese if they had the hearts and minds of their people. Haven't we learn any lessons? We followed the French into Vietnam in the late 195os/early 1960s into a disastrous misadventure. And forty some odd years later we followed the Russians into Afghanistan with a similar result, the corrupt faction we supported sooner or later will be overthrown. Imposing our will on the rest of the world isn't diplomacy, it's a fantasy. Remember, the Islamic State, formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, was created in Iraq and grew out of that country's internal dynamics. Over the past decade, the United States helped organize Iraq's "moderates"- the Shiite-dominated government — giving them tens of billions of dollars in aid and supplying and training their army. But, it turned out, the moderates weren't that moderate. As they became authoritarian and sectarian, Sunni opposition movements grew and jihadi opposition groups such as ISIS gained tacit or active support. This has been a familiar pattern throughout the region. For decades, U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East has been to support "moderates." The problem is that there are actually very few of them. The Arab world is going through a bitter, sectarian struggle that is "carrying the Islamic world back to the Dark Ages," said Turkish President Abdullah Gul. In these circumstances, moderates either become extremists or they lose out in the brutal power struggles of the day. Look at Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Libya and the Palestinian territories. Zakaria: The Middle East has been trapped for decades between repressive dictatorships and illiberal opposition groups — between Hosni Mubarak and al-Qaeda — leaving little space in between. The dictators try to shut down all opposition movements, and the ones that survive are vengeful, religious and violent. There was an opening for moderates after the Arab Spring in 2011 and 2012, but it rapidly closed. In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood had a chance to govern inclusively, but it refused. Without waiting for vindication at the polls, Egypt's old dictatorship rose up and banned and jailed the Brotherhood and other opposition forces. In Bahrain, the old ruling class is following the example of the Egyptian regime, while the Saudi monarchy funds the return to repression throughout the region. All of this leads to an underground and violent opposition. "Because of the culture of impunity [from the government], there is a new culture of revenge" on the street, Said Yousif al-Muhafda, head of documentation at the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, told Al-Monitor, a news and analysis Web site. In the Palestinian territories, Mahmoud Abbas, who heads the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, is indeed a moderate. But notice that the Israeli government and the West have happily postponed elections in the West Bank year after year — because they know full well who would win. Moderates don't do well in an atmosphere of despair and war. Perhaps the biggest stretch of all is the idea that the moderates could win in Syria. It is one thing to believe that moderates can organize well, make their case and get to the polls. But the Bashar al-Assad EFTA01204394 regime turned its guns on the -opposition from the start. In thai circumstance, the groups that are going to gain power are those that will fight back with ferocity. Consider the new head of the Western- backed Syrian opposition, Hadi al-Bahra, who urges more support for moderates like him. A successful businessman of decency and sincerity, he left Syria in 1983. How likely is it that people like him can take over from those on the ground who are fighting and dying? And who are those people? After the Syrian struggle began, the Associated Press reported that the opposition to the Assad regime could be characterized as `rpoor, pious and rural." Describing these people in Aleppo, it said, "Theyframe thefight in a religious context and speak of martyrdom as something they wishfor." University of Oklahoma scholar Joshua Landis points out that of the four largest and most effective rebel forces in Syria, not one espouses democracy. In an excellent essay for The Post, George Washington University professor Marc Lynch cites careful historical studies that demonstrate that in a chaotic, violent civil war such as Syria's — with many outside players funding their favorite groups — U.S. intervention would have had little effect other than to extend and exacerbate the conflict. "Had the plan to arm Syria's rebels been adopted back in 2012," Lynch writes, "the most likely scenario is that the war would still be raging and look much as it does today, except that the United States would be far more intimately and deeply involved." Again, asserting that the moderates in Syria (and the same for Iraq) could win is not tough foreign policy talk, it is a naive fantasy with dangerous consequences. 'Superest' Supermoon Full Moon of 2014 Rises last Sunday/Monday: Watch Live Online EFTA01204395  Web Link: http://www.space.com/26780-fourth-supermoon-of-2014-august-skywatching-video.html If you missed it, this is the picture of the largest full moon of 2014 rises tonight (August to, 2014), and even if you didn't have a clear view of the sky, you can still catch the cosmic action live online. August's full moon, a so-called "supermoon," rises when the natural satellite is at perigee — the closest point to Earth in its orbit. It is the second of three supermoons this summer, according to NASA. The amazing picture was taken by Gary Rose in Los Angeles. ****** ANOTHER BLACK MAN SHOT DEAD BY COPS And we are not talking about St. Louis. On Monday a Los Angeles police officer in the Florence neighborhood shot an unarmed 25 year-old black man, Ezell Ford who according to his family members said that he was on the ground complying with officer's commands when he was shot in the back. Family members described Ford as "mentally challenged" and demanded answers. The LAPD's Force Investigation Division is handling the investigation. Police Chief Charlie Beck, Inspector General Alex Bustamante and the Board of Police Commissioners will ultimately review the results to verify whether the shooting fell within guidelines mandating that use of force be "objectively reasonable." And the Los Angeles County district attorney's office will also investigate the shooting, which is standard practice in officer-involved shootings. There have been at least 303 people killed in officer-involved shootings since 2007, according to The Times' Homicide Report database. And 16 people killed in officer-involved shootings this year. Ezell Ford joins the list of Luis Ramirez — 38, Paul Ray Kemp Jr. — 4o, Samuel Johnson — 45, Antoine D. Hunter — 24, Noel Enrique Aguilar -23, Danny Christian Molina — 34, James Renee White Jr. — 21, Daniel Ibarra - 26, Salvador Palencia - 42, Eddie Phongsavad - 45, Jairo Armando Pedraza - 24, Monty Wayne Barker — 74, Michael Valentino — 27, Kenny Clinton Walker — 23, Javier Mendez — 35 and Paul Smith — 58 of Blacks, Latinos and Asians who have died at the hands of LAPD since January ist. Granted that almost all of the above victims precipitated the actions that resulted in their death. But these are just the homicides. This list does not include the dozens of shootings and beatings that didn't end in death. Nor does it show the many acts of bravery, compassion and sacrifice that Los Angeles' Finest do on a daily basis. But we have to wonder why there are so many Ezell Fords, Michael EFTA01204396 Browns, Oscar Grants, Eric Garners, Renisha McBrides, Jordan Davis, John Crawfords and Trayvon Martins — senseless killings of unarmed people of color. Ezell Ford suffered from mental illness, Michael Brown would have started college this week and Trayvon Martin who was killed on his way home from a convenience store might be in college today if a trigger happy zealot hadn't profiled and accost him. These three weren't harden criminals and until people begin paying the price for profiling, accosting, beating and killing unarmed men for any flimsy reason these senseless killings (which is the extreme) will continue and today this can no longer be tolerated. And this is my rant of the week.... WEEK's READINGS Last week the article in The Huffington Post by Lydia O'Connor - Locking Up Fewer People Doesn't Lead To Increased Crime, Report Says - caught my interest because it confirmed something that I believe — prison sentencing reforms toward more lenient punishments for non- violent offenders doesn't increase the crime rate. O'Connor points out that the states making strides with sentencing reforms haven't just seen their prison populations drop at a faster rate than the rest of the country, they have also seen a disproportionate crime drop, an analysis released Wednesday by the advocacy group The Sentencing Project found. The report points to New York, New Jersey and California as examples of how moving toward more lenient punishments for non-violent offenders is linked to lower rates of both violent crime and property crime. While the nation's state prison population shot up by 10 percent from 1999 to 2012 with violent and property crime dropping by 26 percent and 24 percent, respectively, New York and New Jersey each slashed their prison populations by 26 percent and saw crime drop a respective 31 percent and 3o percent during the same period. "At least in three states we now know that the prison population can be reduced by about 25% with little or no adverse effect on public safety," The Sentencing Project's Marc Mauer and Nazgol Ghandnoosh wrote in their report. "Individual circumstances va►y by state, but policymakers should explore the reforms in New York, New Jersey, and California as a guidefor other states." EFTA01204397 An analysis of California turned up similar results. From 2006 to 2012, the state shrunk its prison population by 23 percent while the U.S. state prison population overall downsized by only 1 percent. During that time, the state's 21 percent drop in violent crime exceeded the national 19 percent decrease. In a slight deviation, California's 13 percent drop in property crime lagged behind the national 15 percent reduction. While California has hardly been a model of state prisons and has had a long history of overcrowding, the report points to a 2011 ruling that mandated the state reduce its prison population in compliance with health and safety codes, which moved many non-violent offenders into county jails and made punishments for parole violations less strict. The Sentencing Project also notes efforts by New York and New Jersey that altered enforcement and sentencing for drug offenses and increased rates of parole. Such "smart on crime" efforts have received increasing bipartisan support in recent months. Last week, Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) teamed up to introduce the REDEEM Act, which lessens penalties for juveniles who commit crimes. Slate points out that Paul and Booker are only the latest bipartisan duo to introduce measures to address the United States' embarrassing incarceration rate having quadrupled since 1980 -- the highest in total numbers and per-capita in the world. Serving time in prison isn't pleasant as it can include barely edible food, poor sanitation, being raped by fellow prisoners or staff, beaten by guards for the slightest provocation, driven mad by long-term solitary confinement, or killed off by medical neglect. People should understand that most of our penal institutions are just warehouses and worse factories that indoctrinate and educate criminals with inmates often treated like contagious animals. And putting non-violent offenders in with murders, rapist and cranes is only going to turn them into harden criminals especially when they are young, if only because they have to become just to survive. These are the fates of thousands of prisoners every year—men, women, and children housed in lockups that give Gitmo and Abu Ghraib a run for their money. There is an old saying, "if you can't do the time, don't do the crime." But putting non-violent offenders in prisons for any extended time may not be the right punishment as it can harden (institutionalizing) them, while doing little to lower crime outside of prison. As such America should serious revisit sentencing and hopefully this latest study will help change current policy. There is a Prison-Industrial Complex with more than two million Americans behind bars — the majority of them nonviolent offenders — mean jobs for depressed regions and windfalls for profiteers. The origins of the prison-industrial complex can be dated to January of 1973. Senator Barry Goldwater had used the fear of crime to attract white middle-class voters a decade earlier, and Richard Nixon had revived the theme during the 1968 presidential campaign, but little that was concrete emerged from their demands for law and order. On the contrary, Congress voted decisively in 1970 to eliminate almost all federal mandatory-minimum sentences for drug offenders. Leading members of both political parties applauded the move. Mainstream opinion considered drug addiction to be largely a public-health problem, not an issue for the criminal courts. The Federal Bureau of Prisons was preparing to close large penitentiaries in Georgia, Kansas, and Washington. From 1963 to 1972 the number of inmates in California had declined by more than a fourth, despite the state's growing population. The number of inmates in New York had fallen to its EFTA01204398 lowest level since at least 1950. Prisons were widely viewed as a barbaric and ineffective means of controlling deviant behavior. Then, on January 3, 1973, Nelson Rockefeller, the governor of New York, gave a State of the State address demanding that every illegal-drug dealer be punished with a mandatory prison sentence of life without parole. The precursor to the War On Drugs a decade later. The prison-industrial complex is not only a set of interest groups and institutions. It is also a state of mind. The lure of big money is corrupting the nation's criminal-justice system, replacing notions of public service with a drive for higher profits. The eagerness of elected officials to pass "tough-on- crime" legislation — combined with their unwillingness to disclose the true costs of these laws — has encouraged all sorts of financial improprieties and has driven up America's prison population to be the largest in the world. In the realm of psychology a complex is an overreaction to some perceived threat. Eisenhower no doubt had that meaning in mind when, during his farewell address, he urged the nation to resist "a recurring temptation tofeel that some spectacular and costly action could become the miraculous solution to all current difficulties." This mindset has to change especially in the case of non-violent offenders. Monaco The City Where A Third Of All People Are Millionaires If you want to hang with the rich, head to Monaco, where nearly a third of the people are millionaires. The city-state boasts a higher percentage of millionaires than any other place in the world, according to a recent report by Spear's magazine and wealth consultancy company Wealthinsight. And while the 19 cities behind Monaco in the millionaire rankings vary widely by location and size, there are some common threads to be found. "Favorable tax and outstanding location are important criteria for attracting clusters of millionaires, but so too is ready access to wealth managers and private banks," according to Wealthlnsight analyst Oliver Williams, citing the Swiss cities of Geneva and Zurich as prime examples. Check out the ranking below. EFTA01204399 WHERE YOU'RE MOST LIKELY TO RUB ELBOWS WITH MILLIONAIRES Key financial and banking cities are horn* to the highest percentages of millionaires, with city-stato Monaco taking the lead. Top 20 global cities by milk:mains' density, 2014 maaco 29.21% ID MICH 27.34% GENEVA 17.92% NEW YORK ■ 4.63% FRANKFURT ■ 3.8014 LONDON • 3.39% OSIA ■ 2.9% SINGAPORE ■ 2.8% AMSTERDAM 12.63% Ewa 239% HONG KONG 12.50% ROME ■ aux Dmi 12.4% DOHA I 2.31% TORONTO 12.29% VENICE I 2.25% LRDSSFI$1 2.11% HOOSICti 1 2.09% SAN FILM 12.07% PARE 12.04% •This ranking defined millionaires as those with net assets of US SI million or mom, excluding their primary residences. LONDON LEADS IN BILLIONAIRES Thi map shows the cities with the most people whose weafth exceeds 1 billion pa nds, or about $1.7 billion, accorchno to a British study. Numbs of blionakm per eft% as of May 2014 tomxiN MOSCOW SAN FRANCISCO \EA YORK 4) 1101% KONG 0 LOS AMES Soutar *AA. Wealehlmick. Anotheed Pea THE HUFFINGTON POST EFTA01204400  POLITICO POLL FOREIGN POLICY NATIONAL SECURITY Which party do you trust ma to hen& foreign poky, moth of the following statement come: [the Democratic party] or (the Rettubkin party)? closest to your cmn yew' U.B. military action: Not Repubiloan ■ party should be limited to dlreot threat: to our sure Deollne Demooratlo ■ party national security A: the world's moral to answer Not 1% sure leader, the U.S. It= a responsibility to it. 10% it: military to proteot demooraoy around the globe -,Al.,7,:e07Tharflrwrilota lEb° r oira rci fighPERCSIITACE a Routar Tours nza NOTEOUV. OLV1/3 SY SILL - pounco Amid deepening violence across Eastern Europe and the Middle East, Americans are recoiling from direct engagement overseas and oppose U.S. involvement in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Ukraine by large margins, according to a POLITICO poll of 2014 battleground voters. The survey provides a unique look at the foreign policy attitudes of voters who will decide the most competitive Senate and House races this fall. It shows an intensely skeptical view of American military intervention: Asked whether the U.S should do more to counter Russian aggression in Ukraine, just 17 percent answered in the affirmative. Thirty-one percent said the current policy is correct and 34 percent said the U.S. should be less involved. The poll was completed before the downing last week of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, the civilian airliner that was apparently attacked over eastern Ukraine. • More than three-quarters of likely voters say they support plans to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2016. Only 23 percent oppose the plan. • Forty-four percent of likely voters favor less involvement in Iraq's civil war, versus 19 percent who favor more involvement and 23 percent who say the current level of involvement is appropriate. • A 51 percent majority said the situation in Iraq affects U.S. national security "a little"or "not at all." Forty-two percent said it affects U.S. national security "a lot." • Likely voters prefer less involvement in Syria's civil war over more involvement, 42 percent to 15 percent. Twenty-six percent of likely voters support the current, limited level of involvement. • On the issue of foreign policy specifically, voters say they trust Republicans over Democrats by 7 points, 39 percent to 32 percent. Twenty-eight percent said they were unsure which party to trust. The picture that emerges from the survey is consistent across issues of foreign policy and national security: Americans are profoundly wary of getting entangled overseas and seem to be skeptical of the value of projecting U.S. power on foreign conflicts. Republicans are modestly more hawkish than Democratic and independent voters, but a majority of self-identified GOP voters support pulling o