My cousin is a professor and researcher at the University of Pennsylvania. A few years back she shared that she was doing research on the connection between foreclosure and health problems. Citing the idea that while people were saving their houses they often neglected their health. I thought it was a good idea but did not think it applied to me. She knew I was going through foreclosure and chapter 13 bankruptcy to save my house.

After hearing Mr. Gibbs’ remarks about “the professional left” needing drug testing, my blood began to boil. This diary is an attempt to share a slice of the middle America pie which has valid complaints about the job left undone by President Obama. Sure, Obama has tried — but when you are bleeding to death, a bandaid is little comfort.

People are wringing their hands this morning, conflicted about Obama’s speech last night. Some say it was pitch perfect, others are disappointed. Obama has a pattern going in regard to accountability. Some people are more “threatened” by this pattern than others. In my opinion, the underlying controversy can be summed up in one word: Accountability. This is a discussion about the pattern of accountability as it relates to Obama’s presidency and why some of his constituency might be getting anxious.

Union guys are angry right now. They are sitting on the benches, they are paying union dues, and losing insurance benefits. They are watching corporate America gain strength and infiltrate the environment at big industrial sites. They are feeling like pieces of meat, instead of skilled human beings. Imagine middle class life in America without the unions? It’s the beginning of the slippery slope where humans are just cogs in a wheel.

This is my personal story. In it my hope is that there are patterns and truths that others can learn from. My journey is like so many people who are trying to live with a problem that is bigger than they are. My solutions did not come from me, but from a collective wisdom that goes far back into history.

As a therapist who specializes in working with personality disorders my perspective on the Israeli Palestinian might be considered offensive to some, but my challenge is to see if others see potential truth and potential solution in my observations. My career began as a sexual assault counselor, a psychiatric technician at a psych hospital, and then a licensed mental health counselor specializing in the therapy of Dialectical Behavior Therapy. (DBT) My clients were generally men and women who had been horribly abused as children, some qualified for the diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder, while others simply shared some of the symptoms on a continuum. This therapy was created to treat Borderline Personality Disorder, but has been found to be effective in treating many different problems. http://www.behavioraltech.com/downloads/dbtSummaryOfData.pdf What does this have to do with Israel? I think DBT could help.

There is a new ad in Nebraska, if anyone can find the video, I would greatly appreciate it. I couldn’t find a u-tube copy. But the new ad reinforces the idea that Americans who have just lost their jobs are going to have to pay 1500.00 a month for insurance or be fined or see jail time if they don’t pay for it. This ad without some kind of relief in health care reform for the “average Joe” will mean defeat for democrats, and will only help Republicans.

It’s all about our relationship to power and control as a legitimate way to achieve an outcome. There has been a paradigm shift occurring in the United States of America for over 200 years. It’s been going on since the revolution. But it’s a hard sell. That shift has to do with how “we the people” view the use of power and control to change others vs “attraction” to a righteous and valid ideal.

Yesterday Sheldon Whitehouse used the idea that we could hold the current Guantanamo detainees similar to the way we hold people under a mental health commitment. Here is some information about the rights of those under a mental health commitment and concerns about the analogy being used in this context.

During Obama’s speech last night he referred to the idea that dealing with the financial sector, specifically AIG, is kind of like dealing with someone who has a bomb strapped to their chest. He said we have to deal with them cautiously. I found this statement fascinating and telling. William Black has written extensively about “control fraud” in which the executive of a large institution uses this fraud to manipulate markets and steal money. He says that 80% of these loans contained accounting fraud. So how is the accounting fraud in my mortgage and the mortgages of others, connected to what Obama describes as a “terrorist” like event? Let me tell you.