Columnists

On April 25th, former Vice-President Joe Biden launched his 2020 presidential campaign. On May 18th, Biden gave his first campaign address in Philadelphia (http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1905/18/cnr.05.html), making clear what his strategy will be. His campaign is not policy based, it is personality based. Joe has taken the role of the anti-Trump. -more-

People with psychiatric disabilities cannot take for granted that we will always have our full faculties. While most people seem to assume their minds aren't playing tricks on them or failing them in other ways, people with mental illness cannot make that assumption, for numerous reasons. -more-

Weed Culture Goes Straight

We knew this day would come, 'way back in the Sixties. That was when the Underground Press revealed a major tobacco company had taken out a patent on the name "Acapulco Gold" (a widely popular variety of pot). Now, in the Tens of a New Century, we have alternative weeklies that are filled with pot news and weed ads celebrating the availability of a growing range of commercial marijuana products.

Even so, a recent two-page spread in the East Bay Express has raised the bar for ad firms working to engage new customers with targeted print media "pot spots." The pioneering hippies and potheads of yesterday would surely be appalled, but there it was: A photo of a clean-shaven, white Millennial, dressed in a neatly pressed business shirt and tie, contemplating a well-rolled reefer clamped firmly in his right hand. The high-minded ad copy read:

"Smoke for the job you want… Not the one you have.

Unlock your creativity with our CBD-rich daytime flowers, designed to get you into that successful headspace without the overwhelming high."

So forget that cup of morning Joe and dispense with the post-work mug of brew.

It you want to succeed in today's competitive business world, just inhale, get high, and get hired!

-more-

PG&E Profiteering

California Public Utility Commissioner Michael Picker and CPUC spokeswoman, Terrie Prosper recently laid down some bad news: If PG&E is allowed to burden customers with the estimated $30 billion in liability costs for the 2017 wildfires linked to the company's equipment failures, we can expect average utility rates to rise by $25 per month.

Here's why: In the aftermath of the company's declaration of bankruptcy, many PG&E stockholders are starting to move their investments elsewhere. So, in order to "encourage investors" to provide PG&E with more capital, the CPUC has proposed raising the guaranteed return on equity to stockholders from 10.25% to 16%. To many, it looks like more evidence that the CPUC is in the pocket of PG&E. -more-

Alabama became the eleventh state to pass anti-abortion legislation. Now eleven of the 22 states with both a Republican governor and legislature have passed anti-abortion laws. I expect it to be eventually 22 of 22. -more-

In my first months of taking antipsychotic medication, in 1982, the side effects made me incredibly miserable. I took Stelazine and then Prolixin. The dosages at the time were not huge, yet, it was bad enough that it resembled a chemical straitjacket. -more-