[Vision2020] How Many More Jared Loughners? America's Mental Health Crisis

Thu Jan 27 19:26:03 PST 2011

Fine, Roger. First, it is worth noting that Michael O'Neal is very
offensive. All of his articles are filled with anti-left bashing,
distortions of the truth, and over-the-top rhetoric. As several Daily News
letters-to-the-editor have pointed out, his last column was guilty of
exactly what he accused folks on the left of doing: exploiting a tragic
situation for political gain.

My point is that the right is worse than the left wrt the kinds of things
Nick is talking about. I understand you disagree and that some on the left
like to say "we're all to blame" but that strikes me as bunk. Folks like
Rush, Beck, Palin, and others are far worse in this respect --
disrespectful, angry, hateful, distorted comments about their political
opponents -- than any of the folks on the left. I'm not saying all the blame
goes to the right. This is a comparative claim.

Again, you're free to prove me wrong by illustrating the kinds of examples I
note below. I doubt you can do it but I'm willing to listen. But there
really is no comparison.

On Thu, Jan 27, 2011 at 6:16 PM, lfalen <lfalen at turbonet.com> wrote:

> I said nothing about any school. Nether did Nick for that matter. He
> referred to Rush in particular. My comments were on the broad spectum of the
> left vs right as were Micheal O'Neal's.
> Roger
> -----Original message-----
> From: Joe Campbell philosopher.joe at gmail.com
> Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2011 15:54:56 -0800
> To: lfalen lfalen at turbonet.com
> Subject: Re: [Vision2020] How Many More Jared Loughners? America's Mental
> Health Crisis
>
> > Every bit as violent? I'm sorry Roger but you're wrong. Name one school
> which has on the front page of it's website an example of the kind of
> rhetoric that NSA has on it's website. Name one potential Democratic
> candidate for president who had a poster like Palin's with crosshairs
> designating Republican candidates. Name two liberal/progressive radio talk
> show hosts who regularly portray Republicans as Nazis (or whatever the
> rightwing equivalent of Communists is).
> >
> > Be honest, Roger. Of course you can find examples on both sides but they
> are hardly equal in number or volume.
> >
> >
> > On Jan 26, 2011, at 11:10 AM, lfalen <lfalen at turbonet.com> wrote:
> >
> > > Nick
> > > I agree with you that we should take care of the mentally ill and the
> disabled. I just wish  that you could find it in your heart to be a little
> more even handed in parcelling out blame. As the Michael O'Neal article
>  points out, the rhetoric coming from the left is every bit as violent if
> not more so than that from the right. I personally think violent video
> games, TV and rap music have more of an impact that that of politicians. I
> have seen research reports that say these things have no effect. I think
> something is wrong with their research. A constant bombardment of these
> things can not help but deaden the senses. Particularly for the mentally
> unstable.
> > > Roger
> > > -----Original message-----
> > > From: nickgier at roadrunner.com
> > > Date: Tue, 25 Jan 2011 16:21:38 -0800
> > > To: vision2020 at moscow.com
> > > Subject: [Vision2020] How Many More Jared Loughners? America's Mental
> Health Crisis
> > >
> > >> Dear Visionaries:
> > >>
> > >> Below is my radio commentary/column for this week.  The full version
> is attached.
> > >>
> > >> Nick
> > >>
> > >> HOW MANY MORE JARED LOUGHNERS? AMERICA’S MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS
> > >>
> > >> Jared Loughner, the gunman who killed six and wounded 14 at a Tucson
> Safeway, has all the symptoms of someone who is mentally ill.  Even though
> anti-government rhetoric was found in his writings, many people want us to
> believe that Loughner’s actions are exclusively those of a deranged mind.
> > >>
> > >> In a heart-wrenching letter in the Daily News, a father wrote about
> his autistic son, who listens to Rush Limbaugh every day and sends
> frightening e-mails to his father. He confesses that he “can easily see how
> Eric might decide to make himself instantly famous with the aid of a gun.
>  Violent rhetoric can indeed have violent consequences.
> > >>
> > >> Mental health professionals are reminding us that not all those who
> have a mental disorder are violent individuals.  In fact, the mentally ill
> are more often the targets of abuse not perpetrators.  It is estimated that
> only 40,000 of 4 million mentally ill Americans can be considered violent.
> > >>
> > >> Loughner should have been referred to a mental health clinic, but he
> most likely would not have received treatment.  In his own Pima County 45
> percent of those in mental health programs were disenrolled in 2009 because
> of budget cuts.
> > >>
> > >> A 2007 study in the British medical journal The Lancet estimated that
> 67 percent of Americans with mental disorders do not receive any treatment
> (vol. 370: 878-89).  As with other social and health statistics—such a teen
> births and infant mortality—U.S. mental health care compares with Third
> World countries.
> > >>
> > >> Fox News’ psychiatrist Keith Ablow states that “in most states, the
> mental health care delivery systems have been gutted by disproportionate
> cuts that leave them reeling, understaffed and unreliable.”
> > >>
> > >> Ablow also blames private health insurers “who routinely deny
> comprehensive services (like hospitalization) to people, even if they are
> psychotic and drug addicted and even if they have expressed very serious
> thoughts of violence.” But Ablow and his friend Glenn Beck condemn the
> civilized world’s socialized medicine that offers much better mental health
> coverage.
> > >>
> > >> Republicans now control the House and the most state legislatures
> ever, and they will make sure that economic inequality increases and funding
> for social and health programs decreases.
> > >>
> > >> The GOP mantra of “No New Taxes” will prevent the implementation of
> the New Freedom Commission on Mental Health’s recommendations. Set up in
> 2002 by then President George W. Bush, the commissioners bemoaned the
> collapse of the nation’s mental health services and proposed increased
> federal funding in this area.
> > >>
> > >> The advocacy group America Mental Health makes a strong pitch to the
> nation’s business leaders by reminding them that “untreated and mistreated
> mental illness costs the United States $150 billion in lost productivity
> each year, and U.S. businesses foot up to $44 billion of this bill.
> > >>
> > >> American Mental Health proposes that “many considerations—ranging from
> social justice to economic self-interest—make it imperative that the federal
> government assume a major, focused, coordinated role in mental health
> policy, a role both different and larger than it currently plays.”
> > >>
> > >> In his state of the state address Idaho Governor “Butch” Otter
> encouraged families to gather around the kitchen table to solve their
> problems rather than relying on “soul-crushing” state and federal programs
> to help them.
> > >>
> > >> Even the strongest families are helpless in the face of the challenges
> posed by the Jared Loughners of the nation. Even the wisest fathers and
> mothers on limited Idaho budgets must admit that government subsidized
> mental health is the only way their troubled children are going to get the
> help they need.
> > >>
> > >> Gov. Otter is not calling for cuts in Health and Welfare in his FY12
> budget, but the department has suffered a 21 percent reduction over the past
> three years.  In mental health alone 49 positions have been eliminated in
> the adult and youth divisions.  In 2009 a Pocatello man, who had been
> removed from a mental health program, shot and wounded a man near his home.
> > >>
> > >> When I travel to India it is depressing to see so many beggars on the
> streets and so many people that are obviously mentally ill.  The US
> Conference of Mayors estimates that 40 percent of America’s 1.6 million
> homeless people are mentally ill.  This is a national disgrace and an
> international embarrassment.
> > >>
> > >> No amount of Otter “table talk” is going to solve these basic social
> and psychological problems. Far too many souls have already been crushed and
> fallen through the huge holes in America’s social safety net.
> > >>
> > >> Nick Gier taught philosophy at the University of Idaho for 31 years.
> > >>
> > >>
> > >
> > > =======================================================
> > > List services made available by First Step Internet,
> > > serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
> > >               http://www.fsr.net
> > >          mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
> > > =======================================================
> >
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/vision2020/attachments/20110127/94ef5b79/attachment-0001.html 