I was honored to have the opportunity to read this new book before it was published. As I considered the early historical pictures, it came to me how this age-old problem still cries out for attention and action. That is exactly what the author is seeking!
About the time I was reading the manuscript, I was struck by the news covering the case of a young man, in a hazing case, who was killed because of excess alcohol consumption. Sadly, this is not a unique situation on college campuses, nor is it only through hazing that it occurs. A young teen now hosts a blog alerting readers about her willingness to binge and in doing so, almost died, or could have been brain-dead.
Graybill writes in his chapter, Frats, Vats and Stats, that drinking and its results make this environment one of the most dangerous places for young adults, noting, Colleges make college towns unique. Alcohol makes them colorful...and sometimes deadly. The author then proceeds to provide actual, researched, stories to support each situation. Quoting Carla Johnson of the Associated Press, it was explained that underage college students who have never tried alcohol before college are more likely to have it for the first time when they arrive. Finding that about 1200 underage students per day first drink alcohol, even acquiring the skills to create fake IDs to do so...
Introduction
Regarding an Innocent term: alcohol
When considering a title for this polemic, the author considered the similarity between the term for an international Arab terrorist organization--al Qaeda--and alcohol, the term for the many strong drinks that Americans consume in such staggering quantities, for this work. I considered taking the liberty to change the spelling of the damnable potion to Al Qohol, to remind readers of the deadliness of the liquid that kills thousands of Americans every single year...before 2001 and since Readers may be surprised to find that the very word, aocohol, is from the Arab, al-coh'l. How fortuitous! That makes the author's intended use of the slight corruption, Al Qohol, to be a reasonable intention.
However, the use of the variant, Al Qohol, has been abandoned, to be certain that we are not insulting innocent members of the Arab world, many of whom have been very highly regarded for their moral, cultural and academic leadership. The author proclaims profound admiration for members of every culture in the univeerse, just as he reviles all the jackasses--fanatic or faithless, Occidental or Oriental, drunken or sober--who abuse their fellow humans. Further, if this year is like other years, the world will witness--through bloodshot eyes--about two million alcohol-related deaths!
May the catalog of horrors begin...
~~~
Graybill has a keen interest in various issues. You may recall his books Bravo!
and Whimsy and Wry, both of which I've enjoyed and shared selections from in this blog. But he has also written two books about prohibition and other nonfiction books. It is common for him to insert interesting reader-provoking sidebars such as he has done with his "Sober Slogan" boxes found throughout the narrative such as: #1 Our two alcohol problems: A. Underage drinking and B. Overage drinking... Even providing case after case of horrendous actions, he writes with a witty sarcasm that will grab you and chastise anyone who dares to disagree with the reality of what alcohol consumption has done to our nation.
One simple, but effective way is that he calls public drunkards-cum terrorists as he reports on the various terroristic deaths via DUIs. How apropos that we immediately see a terrorist as he attacks school children or concert goes with guns...but daily watch death on the roadways via drunkards with little or no thought to act...
Ethanasia?
According to a Time website (by the way all references of research are provided within the narrative as well as a complete index.) a Texas teen, Ethan Couch, is from a very affluent family. In 2013, he and several friends stole some beer. He jumped into his Ford F150 pickup truck and took off, with a couple of his friends in the bed of the truck. When he smashed his truck into a woman whose vehicle was broken down on the roadway, the woman and three others at the scene were killed! Also, two of his buddies were critically injured, with one, Sergio Molina, unable to speak or move. The teen admitted to driving drunk and to losing control of his machine. Did this liquored teen bring deadly terror to a Texas roadway?
Some people must learn the hard way, but what did this teen learn? He learned that if he steals beer and drives while intoxicated, and causes friends to be horribly injured and four strangers killed, he needs a skilled attorney and an injudicious judge. How somber was the music he faced? The trial became a nationally celebrated court case when the deadly teen's attorney told the court that the youth came from a wealthy family and, therefore, had no sense of right or wrong... and it goes on!
Another unfortunate abuse area is domestic violence, including date rape, and other types of subterfuge where victims have no opportunity to prevent their abusive attacks! Not all may be associated with alcohol but many are!
After a thorough exploration of where we have come in America, Graybill turns our minds and heart to the Constitution. How often we are speaking of what the Constitution provides for us in these chaotic days! And the author starts right at the beginning:
We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity do ordain and establish this constitution for the United States of America.
Once again...focus! Did you notice that our government leaders have all been derelict? They have given no notice to the highlighted passages of our national Constitution's Preamble.
The fact is that a small percentage of Americans--who drink excessively--are responsible for violating the constitutional rights due to all of us! Daily, not every once in a while, but daily, drunkenness definitely destroys the domestic tranquility that we all have the right to. The sad part is that, just as drugs have now become deadly to Americans, those responsible for nation-wide control have failed. Given the opioid crisis that is now publicized in today's news, this, too, will become part of the alcohol addictive crisis that has already become deadly and statistically kills more Americans than those in military war activities.
Why should the few continue to act as terrorists on the streets and in the homes of American families, while nothing is done to protect those who become the victims of these few individuals who routinely cause the death of thousands and millions?
This is not the first cry against alcoholism. But this book, coming out now when more individuals are speaking out about sexual abuse, drug addictions of opioids, we cannot afford to not also spotlight the terrorists who daily drive our streets, or drink and abuse their families or friends...or strangers. If alcohol is part of your household, I highly recommend you read this book and consider how the use of alcohol is being used in your home. If it has become excessive, now is the time to start speaking out. The book has an extensive bibliography to provide additional information beyond this book, which the publisher has declared The Best Temperance Book Ever Written.
My own blurb on the back cover shares my first and immediate reaction to reading the numerous terrifying stories: How many ways can Alcohol Kill?" might well be the subtitle of Guy Graybill's latest book, Intoxication Nation! The author takes readers through researched specific case results of deaths, sexual assaults, and more. Reading like an actual news special investigative study, Graybill shares horrific details, at the same time adding witty sarcasm--urging personal and political action! GAB
Now, I highly recommend it to those who seek a better and safer America that can be found when those who "choose" to drink also "choose" to act out in criminal ways are required to be penalized. This takes political action... Consider this an important topic as you decide who you vote for in the upcoming and future elections!
GABixlerReviews
Guy Graybill is the author of KEYSTONE, BRAVO!, PROHIBITION'S PRINCE, PRINCE AND THE PAUPERS, WHIMSY AND WRY and FROST!
Guy attended rural Pennsylvania schools and graduated from Gettysburg College with a degree in History.
Guy Graybill worked in a Pennsylvania state capital mail room, in a brick plant, in the Geisinger Medical Center (Danville, PA) and in schools in Aguilar, Colorado (one year) and Loganton, Pennsylvania (two years). His career position was three decades in Middleburg, PA as a secondary History teacher. After retiring from Middleburg, he was elected to a four-year term as chairman of the board of commissioners of Snyder County.
Guy Graybill is proud of the support he has received from individuals who wrote the forewords to his books. They include a man who is now Budget Secretary to the governor of Pennsylvania, a Philadelphia opera singer, and a former speechwriter to five U.S. presidents.
Other than writing, Guy Graybill's hobbies include travel, amateur archaeology and photography. Guy has traveled in more than 40 of the U.S. states, as well as Japan, Okinawa, Canada and Guatemala. He conducted one local archaelogy project for the 1976 U.S. Bicentennial observance and his photographs have appeared on greetings, postal cards, and more than 100 covers of small magazines.
Two samples of rhymes from Whimsy and Wry follow:
The following title comes from
the word, 'century' that Nostradamus
used to identify a group of his verses.
It seems especially appropriate following
the Mayan Doomsday silliness.
CENTURIES
The fabled Nostradamus
Fooled simple-minded hacks,
With riddles that were riddled
With trash instead of facts.
Yet, ev'ry generation
Construes his mutant rhymes
In ways that fit their motives
And SEEM to match the times.
The truly thoughtful person
Will always be content,
To save each grand prediction
'Til AFTER the event.
]]] [[[
AN ACT OF SELF DEFENSE
Her smile is a rebel smile.
She knows the disarming art.
Her lips bring to light her guile:
A threat to my sov'reign heart.
Before my defiance slips,
I'll show that her threat is known.
I'll siege those rebellious lips,
To crush them beneath my own!
]]] [[[
Copyright, Guy Graybill
Guy attended rural Pennsylvania schools and graduated from Gettysburg College with a degree in History.
Guy Graybill worked in a Pennsylvania state capital mail room, in a brick plant, in the Geisinger Medical Center (Danville, PA) and in schools in Aguilar, Colorado (one year) and Loganton, Pennsylvania (two years). His career position was three decades in Middleburg, PA as a secondary History teacher. After retiring from Middleburg, he was elected to a four-year term as chairman of the board of commissioners of Snyder County.
Guy Graybill is proud of the support he has received from individuals who wrote the forewords to his books. They include a man who is now Budget Secretary to the governor of Pennsylvania, a Philadelphia opera singer, and a former speechwriter to five U.S. presidents.
Other than writing, Guy Graybill's hobbies include travel, amateur archaeology and photography. Guy has traveled in more than 40 of the U.S. states, as well as Japan, Okinawa, Canada and Guatemala. He conducted one local archaelogy project for the 1976 U.S. Bicentennial observance and his photographs have appeared on greetings, postal cards, and more than 100 covers of small magazines.
Two samples of rhymes from Whimsy and Wry follow:
The following title comes from
the word, 'century' that Nostradamus
used to identify a group of his verses.
It seems especially appropriate following
the Mayan Doomsday silliness.
CENTURIES
The fabled Nostradamus
Fooled simple-minded hacks,
With riddles that were riddled
With trash instead of facts.
Yet, ev'ry generation
Construes his mutant rhymes
In ways that fit their motives
And SEEM to match the times.
The truly thoughtful person
Will always be content,
To save each grand prediction
'Til AFTER the event.
]]] [[[
AN ACT OF SELF DEFENSE
Her smile is a rebel smile.
She knows the disarming art.
Her lips bring to light her guile:
A threat to my sov'reign heart.
Before my defiance slips,
I'll show that her threat is known.
I'll siege those rebellious lips,
To crush them beneath my own!
]]] [[[
Copyright, Guy Graybill
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