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

Fri Jan 28 06:03:53 PST 2011

I think that this is an important point. Of course, there are extremists on
the left but are there any with the popularity of Rush, Beck, Coulter, etc.?
I can't think of any.

On Thu, Jan 27, 2011 at 8:17 PM, Sunil Ramalingam <
sunilramalingam at hotmail.com> wrote:

>  Roger,
>
> Are there any people you identify as left wing who sell books like those
> written by Ann Coulter, and sell them in the volume she does?
>
> Sunil
>
> > Date: Thu, 27 Jan 2011 18:16:06 -0800
> > From: lfalen at turbonet.com
> > To: philosopher.joe at gmail.com
> > CC: vision2020 at moscow.com
>
> > Subject: Re: [Vision2020] How Many More Jared Loughners? America's Mental
> Health Crisis
> >
> > 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
> > > > =======================================================
> > >
> >
> > =======================================================
> > 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
> > =======================================================
>
> =======================================================
>  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
> =======================================================
>
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