By Jeffrey Page

At long last, it appears that the question of gay marriage is switching to an express track to the Supreme Court.

A pair of cases, decided last week in Boston, are not the emotion stirrers of tenant rights, sodomy laws, employment, adoption and health. Instead the cases were decided by an examination of the hoary Tenth Amendment, the last item in the Bill of Rights, which reserves all powers to the states if the Constitution doesn’t grant them to the federal government. So, the questions – Can two men marry? Can two women? – were answered not with ancient prejudices and irrational fears, but on a federal trial judge’s ruling that the Constitution says nothing about marriage.

Therefore, he reasoned, marriage is a matter for the states – several of which have already legalized same-sex marriage.

Specifically, Judge Joseph L. Tauro ruled, the federal ban on same-sex marriage – contained in the Defense of Marriage Act – is unconstitutional because it violates the the 28 words of the Tenth Amendment: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively or to the people.”

Declare war? Congress, not the states, is empowered to do that. Enter into treaties with other nations? Raise a Navy? Punish pirates? Coin money? Same thing; they’re matters for the federal government. But create an official definition of marriage? No.

The Defense of Marriage Act was signed into law 14 years ago by Bill Clinton, Last week, a judge ruled that DOMA has Tenth Amendment problems. It’s impossible to know how many people have been victimized by DOMA during its existence. I think of gay friends, dead now, who likely would have married if they’d had the opportunity. I think of them when I read newspaper stories about same-sex marriage and wonder what their lives were like with the knowledge that a political faction in the United States considered them less than human.

The Defense of Marriage Act is intellectually indefensible especially in light of that stirring business in the preamble to the Constitution about establishing justice, promoting the general welfare and securing the blessings of liberty. These were not, and are not, pretty poetry. They were, and remain, the glove slapped across the wretched face of tyranny. It will be fascinating to watch Roberts, Alito, Thomas and Scalia jump through flaming hoops to craft a response to Tauro’s reasoning.

By the way, just who is this Judge Joseph L. Tauro anyway? Why, it turns out that he was appointed to the federal district court in Boston by none other than that radical, commie comforting, pink to the core socialist bum, uh, Richard M. Nixon.

Clearly, the matters that went before Tauro can never be concluded in his courtroom. Doubtless there will be at least two appeals, one to an appellate panel, and one to the Supreme Court, several of whose members have decried activist interpretations of the Constitution. And to find marriage where marriage does not exist, such as in the Constitution, sounds like the very definition of judicial activism.

For now at least, it is important to note that nothing unusual happened in the several days since Judge Tauro’s ruling. This should ease the terrible fears of people who believe that two men holding hands on Tuesday mean the death of America on Wednesday.

Jeffrey can be reached at jeffrey@zestoforange.com

Shawn Dell Joyce is an award-winning columnist and director of the Wallkill River School in Orange County, NY. Shawn@zestoforange.com

By Michael Kaufman

If you, a friend, or a family member is an older person being treated with antidepressant and/or antipsychotic drugs, this post could save your life.

Seniors who take these drugs during a heatwave are at significantly greater risk of death, according to findings of a recent study presented in May at the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association (APA).

How great is the risk? “Use of any psychotropic drug by people aged 70 to 100 was associated with a 30 percent increased risk of death during the heatwave,” said Clementine Nordon, M.D., of the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research, lead investigator. She was referring to the massive heatwave experienced by Western Europe in August 2003. In France alone there were 15,000 more deaths than had been anticipated under normal weather conditions. Most of the deaths occurred among the elderly.

Nordon and her fellow researchers used information obtained from the French Social Security Insurance national database to compare death rates before, during, and after the 13-day heatwave. More than 23,000 records were analyzed.

“Our findings suggest that a causal relationship may exist between psychotropic drug use during a heatwave and increased risk of death in older people,” she explained. The risk was greatest for those who took more than one drug.

Although the findings were published in the December 2009 issue of the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, they attracted little or no attention in other U.S. medical journals and publications, and were largely ignored by the U.S. mass media. The implications, however, are huge in the U.S. Nowhere in the world do seniors take more antidepressants and antipsychotic drugs.

“The risk/benefit ratio of antidepressant and antipsychotic drugs should be carefully assessed in older people during a heatwave,” said Nordon.

I spoke with Nordon as she stood in front of her “New Research” poster at the APA meeting.  Because of the risks often associated with abrupt stopping of medication, she said patients should consult their physicians before initiating any change in treatment on their own.

If your physician is unaware of Nordon’s study, refer them to the journal article, titled Psychotropic drug use in older people and risk of death during heatwaves: population-based case-control study.

The list of drugs of concern is too long to print here but many of the brand names are familiar. If you or someone you know is a senior being treated for depression, bipolar disorder, or schizophrenia, you are probably taking one or more of these drugs…drugs  that put you at 30-percent higher risk of dying during a heatwave. Don’t wait. Talk to your doctor…now!  

FROM THE VIRTUAL MAILBAG—Since this is our first post since the month-long mysterious disappearance of Zest from the internet, we have some catching up to do. Thanks to EDWARD G. of Middletown for his comments on the virtues of bilingualism and the dual-language program being launched in Middletown elementary schools in September. “Our daughters both now work in the health related fields,” he wrote. “And as you said, being bilingual or multilingual gave them an advantage when they entered the workforce as adults.” Edward’s daughters began learning Spanish in elementary school in Middletown, which he said, “led to growth in tolerance and understanding.”

KRIS KERR, director of bilingual education in the Middletown schools, wrote, “Thanks for your blog post about your experience with two-way bilingual education. I will be including some of your words in my power point for the second parent meeting at the Truman Moon school.” Thanks, Kris. Glad to help, especially in these times.

RUSS L. wrote to say he could not attend the peace rally at West Point on graduation day because “I’ll be at my regular Saturday Peace Vigil in Wappingers Falls with Pete Seeger, who is 91 years young, still singing…and… STILL chopping wood!” Russ added that  Pete “is still feisty, always has his banjo…can’t quite hear as well as in his youth, but his mind is as sharp as a tack. He’s got some wonderful stories.”

And AMIE F. wrote to let us know we can download the first 45 episodes of Happiness in the Wind at http://d-addicts.com. “It’s updated every 3 weeks with 15 episodes at a time with English subtitles.” Thanks, Amie. Happiness in the Wind is my favorite of all the Korean dramas, although I have grown quite fond lately of Three Brothers, which airs at 9 p.m. on weekends. Happiness, as I’m sure our readers are aware, is shown weeknights at 9:20 p.m.  Both are on WMBC (Cablevision channel 20). 

Hey, it’s good to be back!

Michael can be reached at Michael@zestoforange.com.

By Jeffrey Page

After watching the self-inflicted downfall of Gen. Stanley McChrystal, I’m thinking about firing off a letter to the Army about an incident at Fort Dix years ago. I want a do-over.

The general and some of his top aides cracked wise to a reporter for Rolling Stone about their civilian commanders. And generals are supposed to be smart. The response was quicker than most things President Obama does. Within days, McChrystal was fired and now fades away with retirement pay of $150,000 a year. (May I digress? Have you heard New Jersey Governor Chris Christie or any other critics of public pensions railing about McChrystal’s retirement benefits, or do they save their anger just for teacher pensions?)

Now, when I was in basic training at Fort Dix, I responded – in a manner considered disrespectful – to a sergeant who had imposed an absurd punishment for an infraction that couldn’t be avoided. For that I was hauled before the company commander and offered my choice of punishment.

While McChrystal gets his $150K, I was told I could request a court martial for disobeying an order and probably wind up in the stockade. Or I could accept what was known as non-judicial punishment, which meant my pay could be cut and I’d probably draw extra guard duty and/or KP. Or, the captain of Tango Company, Second Training Regiment said, I could come in after training and sweep and mop his office three nights running, and we would call it a day. He didn’t offer to pension me out and send me home.

I started to complain and the captain said, “Shut up, Page, and just go get the broom.”

“But the man’s a dope,” I managed. He cut me off. Such disrespect could not be tolerated if unit cohesion was to be maintained, he said. Which sounds like a principle someone ought to have taught General McChrystal.

He and his aides insulted the president of the Unites States in the most sophomoric manner and he gets his pension and a ticket home. I insulted a staff sergeant by failing to do 10 pushups for “refusal to come to parade rest as commanded” and lost most of three nights sleep. (Note: The men of Tango Company had been standing on a small mountain of construction rubble waiting their turn to enter the mess hall for breakfast. Standing at parade rest was not possible.)

The depth of McChrystal’s disrespect for his civilian commanders was staggering. One of his staffers was quoted in the Rolling Stone article as saying of an early meeting of President Obama and General McChrystal: “Obama clearly didn’t know anything about him, who he was. Here’s the guy who’s going to run his fucking war, but he didn’t seem very engaged. The boss was pretty disappointed.”

Rolling Stone also reported on McChrystal’s preparing to deliver a speech and jokingly saying that if asked about Vice President Biden – with whom he had differences on counterterrorism – he could respond: “Are you asking about Vice President Joe Biden? Who’s that?”

An aide had a better idea and offered it up: “Biden? Did you say Bite Me?”

What was that business about unit cohesion?

There’s more. Biden’s counterterrorism plan would lead to “Chaosistan” in Afghanistan, McChrystal said. One of his men dismissed Obama’s national security adviser, James Jones – himself a retired general – as “a clown,” while another revealed McChrystal’s view of Obama’s man in South Asia, Richard Holbrooke: “The boss says he’s like a wounded animal. Holbrooke keeps hearing rumors that he’s going to get fired. So that makes him dangerous.”

McChrystal’s contempt for Obama created a situation designed for hypocrites. He was a general who was “pretty disappointed” with his commander, but apparently not so disappointed that he thought about resigning his commission and putting in his retirement papers. And so he continued to send his soldiers into harm’s way in Afghanistan to satisfy a commander he believed was not fully engaged.

How do you explain that to the spouses and parents of your troops who are killed or gravely wounded in battle?

Jeffrey can be reached at jeffrey@zestoforange.com

The study, led by physician Stewart Wolf, studied the entire population of two thousand people and discovered that the death rate from disease was 35 percent lower than the rest of the country. There was no suicide, alcoholism, drug addiction, and very little crime. No one was on welfare, and no one had peptic ulcers.
They found that Rosetons ate pretty much what the rest of the country was eating, deriving 41 percent of their calories from fat, with many struggling with obesity, and lots of heavy smokers. The difference between Roseto and the rest of the country was not diet, exercise, or a genetic predisposition to good health. It had nothing to do with the land or the water, and everything to do with the town itself.

What these immigrants brought with them to rural Pennsylvania was an “old world” sense of community. Rosetans made the time to stop and chat with each other on the street, they cooked for each other in backyard parties, and held friendships in high priority. Extended families lived under the same roof, with elderly parents commanding respect. There were twenty-two civic groups serving the small population.

Roseto had a healthy and prosperous localized community where everyone knew each other, and were all there to lend a helping hand when things got rough. Wealth was never flaunted, and those falling on hard times were never shunned. The villagers had woven a social fabric of interconnected relationships where each thread was valued and needed for the good of the whole.

As a result, individuals had a sense of belonging and well-being. Their labor was valued, and all were considered equally important to the community whether they were the mayor or the garbage men.  This fabric was economic as well as social with much of the community’s needs met by member’s labors. No chain stores, big box stores, or Chinese imports were valued over locally-produced goods and services.

Sound familiar? Yes, many of the Wallkill Valley hamlets, towns and villages could pass for Roseto.

Researchers who worked with Wolf found new ways to look at heart disease, and treat the patient holistically, as a member of a community. The ongoing recession and state of the world weigh heavy on our communities.  Money is tight for most of us, family relations as strained, and stress is wearing out our last nerves. Now is the time when we need to pull together and look above our individual problems to building a stronger community.

When we look at individuals in our community, they are each unique and beautiful, but what really makes a work of art is seeing each individual brushstroke as part of a whole painting. As an artist, I often have to take a few steps back from my work to see the painting as a whole. As a community member, lets collectively take a few steps back , regard the lovely tapestry of friends, neighbors, small businesses, and ask, “What can I do to make it better?” Then realize that what effort you do to build a stronger community is also good for your health, your family’s health, and the well-being of us all.
Shawn Dell Joyce is an award-winning columnist and director of the Wallkill River School in Montgomery.

shawn@zestoforange.com