Clueless Conformist Lawyers
[An edited version of this letter was published in the May 8, 2009 edition of the Boston Phoenix here, second letter]
http://thephoenix.com/Boston/News/82639-Law-students-luckier-than-the-rest/
Baskin makes no distinction between those who go to law school to make
money and those who want to help vulnerable people. (KARA BASKIN,
"Nervous, stressed, and depressed, LLC," Boston Phoenix, April 29,
2009) Even if they want to make money and help people the path is open
and opportunities are available. Artists, actors and other creative
people work at jobs to make money and do their primary work after
hours. There are so many poor who need help in this country it is
shameful that this essay does not encourage these young lawyers to
just begin. Prairie doctors used to accept livestock as payment for
health care. Why do these conformist lawyers only seek work at
corporate law firms? Who wants to work 60 hours a week and endure
pressure to bill more hours. Is that how human suffering is reduced?
No wonder there is so much government corruption. Lawyers who are
licensed to correct abuses, officers of the courts, have no clue or
desire to solve problems. They wait for the wealthy and powerful to
tell them what to do. Is that how universities train young lawyers?
http://thephoenix.com/Boston/Life/81762-Nervous-stressed-and-depressed-LLC/
or
http://tinyurl.com/dmur83
Nervous, stressed, and depressed, LLC
What's a recent law grad expected to do in this economy?
By KARA BASKIN
Boston Phoenix
April 29, 2009
April 30, 2009
April 29, 2009
Curb Academic Global Warming
Part of the KSG (Kennedy School of Government) mission is "to generate the ideas that provide the answers to our most challenging public problems.” If Global Warming is a real problem why doesn't the KSG capture the hot wind energy generated at the school all year long and use it to melt snow covered sidewalks and heat homes of the poor? Instead the KSG exacerbates the problem of overheating the atmosphere.
http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=528002
Students Seek Public Focus
Published On Wednesday, April 29, 2009 1:30 AM
By NIHA S JAIN
Harvard Crimson Staff Writer
Part of the KSG (Kennedy School of Government) mission is "to generate the ideas that provide the answers to our most challenging public problems.” If Global Warming is a real problem why doesn't the KSG capture the hot wind energy generated at the school all year long and use it to melt snow covered sidewalks and heat homes of the poor? Instead the KSG exacerbates the problem of overheating the atmosphere.
http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=528002
Students Seek Public Focus
Published On Wednesday, April 29, 2009 1:30 AM
By NIHA S JAIN
Harvard Crimson Staff Writer
Ann Coulter is Funny (2 articles)
There are no more funny readers of columns than those who read Ann Coulter's and post comments. On her Human Events pages she gets over 2000 comments for one essay. I've seen no other humorous political writer get as many comments. She is hilarious and shows that liberals have no sense of humor and take themselves all too seriously.
http://www.columbiaspectator.com/2009/04/23/case-coulter
April 23, 2009 - 8:47pm
The case for Coulter
by Will Prasifka
Columbia Spectator
* * *
Menckenlite April 29, 2009
College Republicans gain what anyone will if they attend her talk. Ann Coulter is funny and exposes hypocrisy by liberals. She uses logic and sarcasm. It is upsetting to the people who laugh at Jon Stewart to see her do the same to their icons. She uses words spoken by her targets just as Stewart does. What is the difference?
* * *
Ldubbs April 29, 2009
The difference is that people laugh AT Ann Coulter, whereas people laugh WITH Jon Stewart. For every rare valid point Ann Coulter makes, she drowns it out with 100 invalid points and thus completely discredits herself, much to the delight of liberals.
People will certainly be attending her speech for its entertainment value, but not for the reasons you give, menckenlite.
* * *
menckenlite April 29, 2009
We disagree. Coulter answers liberal extremist personal attacks, which they see as valid arguments. She points out obvious errors of their thinking, which enrages liberals who ridicule her as they did Gov. Palin. She makes rational arguments which liberals are unable to do. She admits that she enjoys upsetting liberals. Jon Stewart shows his hatred when he makes fun of conservatives.
Ldubbs April 30, 3009
Like Palin?
LOL. Reminder:
"COURIC: You've cited Alaska's proximity to Russia as part of your foreign policy experience. What did you mean by that?
PALIN: That Alaska has a very narrow maritime border between a foreign country, Russia, and on our other side, the land-- boundary that we have with-- Canada. It-- it's funny that a comment like that was-- kind of made to-- cari-- I don't know, you know? Reporters--
COURIC: Mock?
PALIN: Yeah, mocked, I guess that's the word, yeah.
COURIC: Explain to me why that enhances your foreign policy credentials.
PALIN: Well, it certainly does because our-- our next door neighbors are foreign countries. They're in the state that I am the executive of. And there in Russia--"
Such OBVIOUS errors. Who would have thought that we should use basic grammar when speaking? I'm enlightened now. Thank you, Sarah Palin!
* * *
menckenlite April 30, 2009
Um, like you know, I totally disagree with, you know, like, Um, thinking that, Um, humans speak grammatically except, Uh, perfessers in collidge classrumes. Totally not all politicians can, Um, like, talk like Joe (Stand up Joe!) Biden, and like, Um, "57 states" Obama. I used to talk the way you talk. Until I learned the right way to talk. You know what I'm talkin' about?
* * *
[Original article at]
http://www.columbiaspectator.com/2009/04/28/separating-right-wrong
Separating the right from wrong
April 28, 2009
by Eric Lukas
Columbia Spectator
There are no more funny readers of columns than those who read Ann Coulter's and post comments. On her Human Events pages she gets over 2000 comments for one essay. I've seen no other humorous political writer get as many comments. She is hilarious and shows that liberals have no sense of humor and take themselves all too seriously.
http://www.columbiaspectator.com/2009/04/23/case-coulter
April 23, 2009 - 8:47pm
The case for Coulter
by Will Prasifka
Columbia Spectator
* * *
Menckenlite April 29, 2009
College Republicans gain what anyone will if they attend her talk. Ann Coulter is funny and exposes hypocrisy by liberals. She uses logic and sarcasm. It is upsetting to the people who laugh at Jon Stewart to see her do the same to their icons. She uses words spoken by her targets just as Stewart does. What is the difference?
* * *
Ldubbs April 29, 2009
The difference is that people laugh AT Ann Coulter, whereas people laugh WITH Jon Stewart. For every rare valid point Ann Coulter makes, she drowns it out with 100 invalid points and thus completely discredits herself, much to the delight of liberals.
People will certainly be attending her speech for its entertainment value, but not for the reasons you give, menckenlite.
* * *
menckenlite April 29, 2009
We disagree. Coulter answers liberal extremist personal attacks, which they see as valid arguments. She points out obvious errors of their thinking, which enrages liberals who ridicule her as they did Gov. Palin. She makes rational arguments which liberals are unable to do. She admits that she enjoys upsetting liberals. Jon Stewart shows his hatred when he makes fun of conservatives.
Ldubbs April 30, 3009
Like Palin?
LOL. Reminder:
"COURIC: You've cited Alaska's proximity to Russia as part of your foreign policy experience. What did you mean by that?
PALIN: That Alaska has a very narrow maritime border between a foreign country, Russia, and on our other side, the land-- boundary that we have with-- Canada. It-- it's funny that a comment like that was-- kind of made to-- cari-- I don't know, you know? Reporters--
COURIC: Mock?
PALIN: Yeah, mocked, I guess that's the word, yeah.
COURIC: Explain to me why that enhances your foreign policy credentials.
PALIN: Well, it certainly does because our-- our next door neighbors are foreign countries. They're in the state that I am the executive of. And there in Russia--"
Such OBVIOUS errors. Who would have thought that we should use basic grammar when speaking? I'm enlightened now. Thank you, Sarah Palin!
* * *
menckenlite April 30, 2009
Um, like you know, I totally disagree with, you know, like, Um, thinking that, Um, humans speak grammatically except, Uh, perfessers in collidge classrumes. Totally not all politicians can, Um, like, talk like Joe (Stand up Joe!) Biden, and like, Um, "57 states" Obama. I used to talk the way you talk. Until I learned the right way to talk. You know what I'm talkin' about?
* * *
[Original article at]
http://www.columbiaspectator.com/2009/04/28/separating-right-wrong
Separating the right from wrong
April 28, 2009
by Eric Lukas
Columbia Spectator
Courts and Prosecutors Need Cleansing
Government does not police itself. Judge Wolf is a voice in the wilderness trying to bring accountability into a cess pool of self interest. Without support from his colleagues it is unlikely that much will change. Prosecutors overlook miscarriages of justice. How many thousands have had their careers ruined by the failure of judges and prosecutors to do their jobs? Corrective mechanisms are not working and are often used against the whistle blower. Why would anyone file complaints if they become the target of the investigators? That is how law enforcement works in Massachusetts. Government not only blames victims, but also punishes victims. Massachusetts journalists are part of the "COALITION" and barred from exposing wrongdoing by any member of the coalition.
http://bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view/2009_04_29_Mark_Wolf_not_sheepish_about_exposing_court_misconduct/
or
http://tinyurl.com/cg2t5r
Mark Wolf not sheepish about exposing court misconduct
By Peter Gelzinis
Boston Herald
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Government does not police itself. Judge Wolf is a voice in the wilderness trying to bring accountability into a cess pool of self interest. Without support from his colleagues it is unlikely that much will change. Prosecutors overlook miscarriages of justice. How many thousands have had their careers ruined by the failure of judges and prosecutors to do their jobs? Corrective mechanisms are not working and are often used against the whistle blower. Why would anyone file complaints if they become the target of the investigators? That is how law enforcement works in Massachusetts. Government not only blames victims, but also punishes victims. Massachusetts journalists are part of the "COALITION" and barred from exposing wrongdoing by any member of the coalition.
http://bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view/2009_04_29_Mark_Wolf_not_sheepish_about_exposing_court_misconduct/
or
http://tinyurl.com/cg2t5r
Mark Wolf not sheepish about exposing court misconduct
By Peter Gelzinis
Boston Herald
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
April 28, 2009
Research Gone Wrong
I am shocked to learn that psychologists are experts concerning sexual deviance. Did they invent this stuff or what? Was Dr. Phil going into psychiatry? Maybe this was a medical research project funded by the stimulus bill. It is all a big mistake. No one ever thought to ask. Wait until this gets to court and the lawyer explains how stupid the police and his fiance were. This is a NIMH sponsored research project. No one holds researchers accountable for deaths in experiments. Dr. Phil will be vindicated.
http://bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view/2009_04_28_Sleazy_descent_all_too_easy/
or
http://tinyurl.com/d3jmw2
Sleazy descent all too easy
By Margery Eagan
Boston Herald
Tuesday, April 28, 2009 -
I am shocked to learn that psychologists are experts concerning sexual deviance. Did they invent this stuff or what? Was Dr. Phil going into psychiatry? Maybe this was a medical research project funded by the stimulus bill. It is all a big mistake. No one ever thought to ask. Wait until this gets to court and the lawyer explains how stupid the police and his fiance were. This is a NIMH sponsored research project. No one holds researchers accountable for deaths in experiments. Dr. Phil will be vindicated.
http://bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view/2009_04_28_Sleazy_descent_all_too_easy/
or
http://tinyurl.com/d3jmw2
Sleazy descent all too easy
By Margery Eagan
Boston Herald
Tuesday, April 28, 2009 -
Fines Due to Negligence of Officials
The taxpayer covers for intentional negligence of public officials. It is now 36 years after the Rehabilitation Act required entities getting US taxpayer funds to be accessible to persons with disabilities. 36 years!!! The ADA became law in 1990, 19 years ago. Public officials continue to ignore the basic Constitutional Rights (e.g., to travel) of persons with disabilities. This shows how depraved these politicians are. They suck up to powerful and politically connected women, homosexuals and African Americans but ignore persons with disabilities. The MCAD and the Civil Rights Division of the US Department of Justice (Hello Cadillac Deval) ignored complaints. Only the Architectural Access Board a state agency acts to enforce the laws. The pols should pay these fines out of their own pockets and be banned from government employment for life.
http://bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1168527&srvc=news&position=4
or
http://tinyurl.com/c6fcpl
Dumb as bricks: MBTA’s $265G goes chop-chop
By Richard Weir
Boston Herald
Tuesday, April 28, 2009 -
The taxpayer covers for intentional negligence of public officials. It is now 36 years after the Rehabilitation Act required entities getting US taxpayer funds to be accessible to persons with disabilities. 36 years!!! The ADA became law in 1990, 19 years ago. Public officials continue to ignore the basic Constitutional Rights (e.g., to travel) of persons with disabilities. This shows how depraved these politicians are. They suck up to powerful and politically connected women, homosexuals and African Americans but ignore persons with disabilities. The MCAD and the Civil Rights Division of the US Department of Justice (Hello Cadillac Deval) ignored complaints. Only the Architectural Access Board a state agency acts to enforce the laws. The pols should pay these fines out of their own pockets and be banned from government employment for life.
http://bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1168527&srvc=news&position=4
or
http://tinyurl.com/c6fcpl
Dumb as bricks: MBTA’s $265G goes chop-chop
By Richard Weir
Boston Herald
Tuesday, April 28, 2009 -
Police Don't Profile Persons with Disabilities?
This report about HUPD profiling includes input from the Asian American Association, the Black Men's Forum, and Harvard Law School's faculty. The authors tried to contact the Black Students Association and Fuerza Latina. Why is there no mention of persons with disabilities? Did "It never entered my mind" dominate the thinking at the University regarding police profiling of persons with disabilities? Does the University Community not believe that being accused of mental illness is a disability? Excluding persons (students?) with disabilities from this discussion and this study suggests that police profiling at Harvard is only an issue for some groups who are more equal than others. Are there any persons with disabilities on the University Safety Advisory Committee? Does the Diversity and Community Liaison Officer protect the rights of persons with disabilities from police abuses?
http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=527963
Report Critiques HUPD’s Profiling
Published On Tuesday, April 28, 2009 3:10 AM
By EMILY J. HOGAN and MARIANNA N TISHCHENKO
Harvard Crimson Staff Writers
This report about HUPD profiling includes input from the Asian American Association, the Black Men's Forum, and Harvard Law School's faculty. The authors tried to contact the Black Students Association and Fuerza Latina. Why is there no mention of persons with disabilities? Did "It never entered my mind" dominate the thinking at the University regarding police profiling of persons with disabilities? Does the University Community not believe that being accused of mental illness is a disability? Excluding persons (students?) with disabilities from this discussion and this study suggests that police profiling at Harvard is only an issue for some groups who are more equal than others. Are there any persons with disabilities on the University Safety Advisory Committee? Does the Diversity and Community Liaison Officer protect the rights of persons with disabilities from police abuses?
http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=527963
Report Critiques HUPD’s Profiling
Published On Tuesday, April 28, 2009 3:10 AM
By EMILY J. HOGAN and MARIANNA N TISHCHENKO
Harvard Crimson Staff Writers
April 27, 2009
Air Force One Flies Low over Lower Manhattan, Causes Panic
[This one has a video clip.]
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2009/04/27/2009-04-27_plane_stupid_mayor_bloomberg_outraged_over_military_photoop_involving_lowflying_.html
or
http://tinyurl.com/c9ou4s
Plane stupid: Mayor Bloomberg outraged over military photo-op involving low-flying presidential jet
BY Kenneth R. Bazinet, Frank Lombardi and Corky Siemaszko
New York DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Updated Monday, April 27th 2009, 9:52 PM
* * *
http://wcbstv.com/topstories/air.force.one.2.996457.html
Apr 29, 2009 6:01 am US/Eastern
FAA Memo: Feds Knew NYC Flyover Would Cause Panic
Threatened Federal Sanctions Against NYPD, Secret Service, FBI & Mayor's Office If Secret Ever Got Out
WCBS-TV (New York)
Marcia Kramer
* * *
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124084127590859371.html
or
http://tinyurl.com/dh6fm2
A 'Classified' Photo Op Turns Into a Soaring Blunder for the White House
Mission to Get Beauty Shots of Presidential Jet at Statue of Liberty Panics 9/11-Wary New York
Wall Street Journal
By SUZANNE SATALINE, JONATHAN D. ROCKOFF and CHRISTOPHER CONKEY
April 28, 2009
* * *
http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/F-16s-at-Lady-Liberty-Put-City-on-Edge.html
or
http://tinyurl.com/dddc7h
Jumbo Jet, F-16 Buzz Lady Liberty, Put New York on Edge "I take responsibility for that decision," said Louis Caldera, Dir. White House Military Office
By BRIAN THOMPSON and HASANI GITTENS
NBC News
April 27, 2009
[This one has a video clip.]
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2009/04/27/2009-04-27_plane_stupid_mayor_bloomberg_outraged_over_military_photoop_involving_lowflying_.html
or
http://tinyurl.com/c9ou4s
Plane stupid: Mayor Bloomberg outraged over military photo-op involving low-flying presidential jet
BY Kenneth R. Bazinet, Frank Lombardi and Corky Siemaszko
New York DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Updated Monday, April 27th 2009, 9:52 PM
* * *
http://wcbstv.com/topstories/air.force.one.2.996457.html
Apr 29, 2009 6:01 am US/Eastern
FAA Memo: Feds Knew NYC Flyover Would Cause Panic
Threatened Federal Sanctions Against NYPD, Secret Service, FBI & Mayor's Office If Secret Ever Got Out
WCBS-TV (New York)
Marcia Kramer
* * *
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124084127590859371.html
or
http://tinyurl.com/dh6fm2
A 'Classified' Photo Op Turns Into a Soaring Blunder for the White House
Mission to Get Beauty Shots of Presidential Jet at Statue of Liberty Panics 9/11-Wary New York
Wall Street Journal
By SUZANNE SATALINE, JONATHAN D. ROCKOFF and CHRISTOPHER CONKEY
April 28, 2009
* * *
http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/F-16s-at-Lady-Liberty-Put-City-on-Edge.html
or
http://tinyurl.com/dddc7h
Jumbo Jet, F-16 Buzz Lady Liberty, Put New York on Edge "I take responsibility for that decision," said Louis Caldera, Dir. White House Military Office
By BRIAN THOMPSON and HASANI GITTENS
NBC News
April 27, 2009
Ann Coulter and Jon Stewart
If Columbia is an educational institution it is possible that some of the "open minds" will see that Ann Coulter does no more than what Jon Stewart does - she in books and articles, he on his cable TV show. They have their hilarious targets who they quote then ridicule. Both Stewart and Coulter are funny people. Stewart is no less mean than Coulter. Coulter is more tolerant and more rational than Stewart.
http://columbiaspectator.com/2009/04/24/considering-coulter#disqus_thread
Staff Editorial | April 24, 2009 - 12:16am
Considering Coulter
by Editorial Board
Columbia University Spectator
If Columbia is an educational institution it is possible that some of the "open minds" will see that Ann Coulter does no more than what Jon Stewart does - she in books and articles, he on his cable TV show. They have their hilarious targets who they quote then ridicule. Both Stewart and Coulter are funny people. Stewart is no less mean than Coulter. Coulter is more tolerant and more rational than Stewart.
http://columbiaspectator.com/2009/04/24/considering-coulter#disqus_thread
Staff Editorial | April 24, 2009 - 12:16am
Considering Coulter
by Editorial Board
Columbia University Spectator
Dancing with a Disability
When disability is raised as a civil rights issue too many people say, "It never entered my mind." It is good to see that this issue entered someone's mind at the Crimson. Discrimination based upon disability is as illegal as unlawful bias due to race, sexual preference, and gender. Journalists, politicians, lawyers, and even diversity officers prioritize the three politically connected groups as being more equal.
http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=527882
'Gimp' Explores Disability
Published On Friday, April 24, 2009 2:13 AM
By ANTONIA M.R. PEACOCKE
Harvard Crimson
Contributing Writer
When disability is raised as a civil rights issue too many people say, "It never entered my mind." It is good to see that this issue entered someone's mind at the Crimson. Discrimination based upon disability is as illegal as unlawful bias due to race, sexual preference, and gender. Journalists, politicians, lawyers, and even diversity officers prioritize the three politically connected groups as being more equal.
http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=527882
'Gimp' Explores Disability
Published On Friday, April 24, 2009 2:13 AM
By ANTONIA M.R. PEACOCKE
Harvard Crimson
Contributing Writer
HUPD Needs More Than an Ombudsman
Harvard police need more than an ombudsman. HUPD (like real police departments) is used for political and personal purposes contrary to law. But (unlike real police departments) Harvard has enough clout at the state house and in state courts that they avoid accountability for violations of state and US laws. [Cambridge police have special access to the MA Attorney General whose husband is a supervising Cambridge police officer.] HUPD is not required to answer Public Records requests. They arrest people as favors to faculty and staff. Campus cops in MA have a free pass to abuse their police powers. According to this article the report did not study abuses of HUPD toward non Harvard affiliates and the abuses of their police powers outside of the campus. Calls to Cambridge police dispatchers (who are not police officers) are diverted to HUPD creating danger for persons who report abuses of city ordinances which HUPD is not empowered to enforce. City police and Harvard police have an unofficial work agreement to permit HUPD to patrol "near" campus. These abuses and unlawful policies continue as a special privilege to the University by the City Manager.
http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=527928
Report On HUPD Released
Safety committee gives four primary recommendations; HUPD reacts positively
Published On Monday, April 27, 2009 2:20 AM
By EMILY J. HOGAN and MARIANNA N TISHCHENKO
Harvard Crimson Staff Writers
Harvard police need more than an ombudsman. HUPD (like real police departments) is used for political and personal purposes contrary to law. But (unlike real police departments) Harvard has enough clout at the state house and in state courts that they avoid accountability for violations of state and US laws. [Cambridge police have special access to the MA Attorney General whose husband is a supervising Cambridge police officer.] HUPD is not required to answer Public Records requests. They arrest people as favors to faculty and staff. Campus cops in MA have a free pass to abuse their police powers. According to this article the report did not study abuses of HUPD toward non Harvard affiliates and the abuses of their police powers outside of the campus. Calls to Cambridge police dispatchers (who are not police officers) are diverted to HUPD creating danger for persons who report abuses of city ordinances which HUPD is not empowered to enforce. City police and Harvard police have an unofficial work agreement to permit HUPD to patrol "near" campus. These abuses and unlawful policies continue as a special privilege to the University by the City Manager.
http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=527928
Report On HUPD Released
Safety committee gives four primary recommendations; HUPD reacts positively
Published On Monday, April 27, 2009 2:20 AM
By EMILY J. HOGAN and MARIANNA N TISHCHENKO
Harvard Crimson Staff Writers
April 26, 2009
Depraved Journalism
If anyone is All-American is was Julissa Brisman, child of immigrants, the murder victim. She was taking control of her demons and trying to lift herself up by her own bootstraps not her by her immigrant parents' money. Why do depraved journalists focus on the criminal and his associates who comfort him. The victim is marginalized by creepy journalists.
http://bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/2009_04_26_Friends_defend_%E2%80%98easygoing__Phil_Markoff/
or
http://tinyurl.com/c7kdrs
Friends defend ‘easygoing’ Phil Markoff
By Marie Szaniszlo
Boston Herald
Sunday, April 26, 2009 -
If anyone is All-American is was Julissa Brisman, child of immigrants, the murder victim. She was taking control of her demons and trying to lift herself up by her own bootstraps not her by her immigrant parents' money. Why do depraved journalists focus on the criminal and his associates who comfort him. The victim is marginalized by creepy journalists.
http://bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/2009_04_26_Friends_defend_%E2%80%98easygoing__Phil_Markoff/
or
http://tinyurl.com/c7kdrs
Friends defend ‘easygoing’ Phil Markoff
By Marie Szaniszlo
Boston Herald
Sunday, April 26, 2009 -
April 25, 2009
HUPD Ombudsman?
Harvard police need more than an ombudsman. Harvard has enough clout at the state house and in the state courts that they avoid accountability for violations of state and US laws. They are not required to answer Public Records requests. They arrest people as favors to faculty and staff. Campus cops in MA have a free pass to abuse their police powers.
http://bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/2009_04_25_Cop_ombudsman_for_Harvard_/
or
http://tinyurl.com/c4ld4t
Cop ombudsman for Harvard?
By Staff and wire reports
Boston Herald
Saturday, April 25, 2009 -
Harvard police need more than an ombudsman. Harvard has enough clout at the state house and in the state courts that they avoid accountability for violations of state and US laws. They are not required to answer Public Records requests. They arrest people as favors to faculty and staff. Campus cops in MA have a free pass to abuse their police powers.
http://bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/2009_04_25_Cop_ombudsman_for_Harvard_/
or
http://tinyurl.com/c4ld4t
Cop ombudsman for Harvard?
By Staff and wire reports
Boston Herald
Saturday, April 25, 2009 -
Lawyers Can be Believed?
LLLB says, "I am an attorney [. . .] you should question the authority, the source and the possibility of truth in everything you read or hear from the media." Only the media? Why does this rule not apply to what lawyers, politicians and judges say? Can you believe what scientists say? Why should anyone ever believe what a lawyer says?
http://bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/2009_04_25_Accused_Craigslist_killer_tells_kin:_%E2%80%98Forget_about_me_/
or
http://tinyurl.com/cpb32u
Accused Craigslist killer tells kin: ‘Forget about me’
By Dave Wedge and O’Ryan Johnson
Saturday, April 25, 2009
LLLB says, "I am an attorney [. . .] you should question the authority, the source and the possibility of truth in everything you read or hear from the media." Only the media? Why does this rule not apply to what lawyers, politicians and judges say? Can you believe what scientists say? Why should anyone ever believe what a lawyer says?
http://bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/2009_04_25_Accused_Craigslist_killer_tells_kin:_%E2%80%98Forget_about_me_/
or
http://tinyurl.com/cpb32u
Accused Craigslist killer tells kin: ‘Forget about me’
By Dave Wedge and O’Ryan Johnson
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Dwinell the New Comedian
Dwinell is hilarious quoting psychiatrists who have the highest suicide rate of all professions. They are also (Ahem!) doctors, members of the profession which attracts the same sickos. But Dwinell the conformist journalist is in denial with politicians who love psychiatrists.
http://bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1167909
Medical field can be draw for sickos who like to hurt, shrink says
By Joe Dwinell
Boston Herald
Saturday, April 25, 2009 -
Dwinell is hilarious quoting psychiatrists who have the highest suicide rate of all professions. They are also (Ahem!) doctors, members of the profession which attracts the same sickos. But Dwinell the conformist journalist is in denial with politicians who love psychiatrists.
http://bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1167909
Medical field can be draw for sickos who like to hurt, shrink says
By Joe Dwinell
Boston Herald
Saturday, April 25, 2009 -
April 24, 2009
Love is a Human Emotion
Tebucky is right. Journalists subscribe to the psychiatric theory of conformity. They always quote psychiatrists and in this case a criminal profiler -- about love? Ahem! Poets for eons wrote about love. Philosophers before Plato talked about it. Brooke Astor captured the essence of love saying "You know you're in love when you found your heart and lost your mind." Millions of humans were as blinded by their love not seeing lesser flaws. Love like hate is a human emotion. Psychiatrists employed by corporations and government manipulate humans who are clueless about their emotions. Liberals who demand eliminating hate show they want to eliminate humans.
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/2009_04_24_Experts_say_fiancee_blinded_by_love/
or
http://tinyurl.com/d7fprs
Experts say Philip Markoff’s fiancee blinded by love
By Joe Dwinell
Boston Herald
Friday, April 24, 2009 - Updated 22m ago
Tebucky is right. Journalists subscribe to the psychiatric theory of conformity. They always quote psychiatrists and in this case a criminal profiler -- about love? Ahem! Poets for eons wrote about love. Philosophers before Plato talked about it. Brooke Astor captured the essence of love saying "You know you're in love when you found your heart and lost your mind." Millions of humans were as blinded by their love not seeing lesser flaws. Love like hate is a human emotion. Psychiatrists employed by corporations and government manipulate humans who are clueless about their emotions. Liberals who demand eliminating hate show they want to eliminate humans.
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/2009_04_24_Experts_say_fiancee_blinded_by_love/
or
http://tinyurl.com/d7fprs
Experts say Philip Markoff’s fiancee blinded by love
By Joe Dwinell
Boston Herald
Friday, April 24, 2009 - Updated 22m ago
Clueless Readers
Readers are as clueless about suspects as voters are about politicians. Saying an innocent person would be screaming about his innocence is nonsense. That would be used by the courts as evidence of mental illness and they would have the suspect placed in a mental hospital for evaluation. Many innocent persons try suicide when in custody. Studies show that confessing to crime is not certain proof of guilt. These comments show how ignorant people are and how many people they think they know when they only believe what they think with no evidence.
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1167712
Sources: Cops make gun link in Philip Markoff case
By O’Ryan Johnson, Marie Szaniszlo, Laurel J. Sweet & Dave Wedge
Boston Herald
Friday, April 24, 2009 -
Readers are as clueless about suspects as voters are about politicians. Saying an innocent person would be screaming about his innocence is nonsense. That would be used by the courts as evidence of mental illness and they would have the suspect placed in a mental hospital for evaluation. Many innocent persons try suicide when in custody. Studies show that confessing to crime is not certain proof of guilt. These comments show how ignorant people are and how many people they think they know when they only believe what they think with no evidence.
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1167712
Sources: Cops make gun link in Philip Markoff case
By O’Ryan Johnson, Marie Szaniszlo, Laurel J. Sweet & Dave Wedge
Boston Herald
Friday, April 24, 2009 -
April 23, 2009
Psychiatrists Treat Illnesses They Cause
What is missing from this questionable academic study is the number of students who considered suicide ONLY after taking anti depressants. Even the drug-company-friendly FDA places a Black Box warning on anti depressants. In addition no one knows the effects on humans, of a combination of drugs a so-called drug cocktail. Psychiatrists love to prescribe such cocktails, hoping it will stop the offensive speech or behavior. So in some cases we know that drug companies and psychiatrists cause suicidal thoughts in their patients. Why should anyone listen to them?
Replies were posted, and my replies follow.
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Helen Yu ’12 commented that while MHS and Room 13—a peer-to-peer counseling service that operates under UHS supervision—provide accessible and highly confidential help, not all students are aware of these services, and many are simply unwilling to go.
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jtr03c [Replied April 27, 2009]
menckenlite, the concern for the effectiveness and side effects of any medication, pscyhotropic or otherwise, is a critical issue. Every scientific limitation. Each study can not focus on every topic or issue. Good science focuses on a particular issue in-depth so that methods can be repeated. Here, the article focuses on the epidemiology and seriousness of suicidality among college students not double-blind controlled studies of antidepressants. Suicide and murder-suicide behaviors are critical social and medical issues. For the understanding and knowledge of the efficacy and safety of medication, I would prefer seeking professional opinion over street opinions. Unfortunately, the stigma surrounding treatment of mental illness and living with mental illness itself inhibits acceptance of treatment and hence the compliance with taking psychotropic medications is extremely poor outside of controlled studies.
Furthermore, we could ask the question, "Why should anyone trust anybody?" My best advice would be to seek treatment only with the physician you trust. I think the best treatment comes from a psychiatrist who understands you and is an advocate of your health along every aspect. Cardiologists and physicians from every speciatly treat disease using multidrug regimens, which you refer to as "cocktails". Medicine is a science and research based profession as much as it is a clinical profession. That being said, there is no substitute for years of experience and clinical training to advance decision making on a patient-by-patient basis. Patients, after all, are individuals and require individualized treatments.
Best of luck. Please consider reading more about mental illness at http://www.nami.org/ or http://www.nmha.org/. Many patients are successfully and happily treated, living enriching lives despite having a mental illness (please read*). Some patients are not satisfied. Whatever the reason for poor treatment results, we must strive for the best treatments and advance research in this field, NOT ABANDON our efforts.
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[My response] April 27, 2009
NAMI is a deep pocketed lobbyist funded by the drug industry that promotes drug treatment. Conformist attitudes among academics trust credentials. But credentials do not necessarily bring integrity. We've seen instances of compromised Harvard academics who take millions from the drug industry (Joe Biederman, Fred Goodwin recently) to promote drugs. Scientific journals were compromised by drug companies who pay prominent academics to sign articles about flawed research by the drug companies. In 1890 Louis Pasteur (not a doctor) knew washing hands prevented passing bacteria from one patient to another. The medical profession ridiculed him. Today washing hands is still a problem among professionals with credentials.
My question is why seek treatment? If psychiatrists treat symptoms with no pathology to show (only psychiatrists can see the illnesses they treat), who needs psychiatry at all besides the drug industry? You say medicine is a science. But psychiatry is personal opinion masquerading as science. Cardiology can show a pathology. Drug cocktails can kill. No doctor knows what they can do to a humans. Some entries in Merck's explain the dangers. But the doctors prescribe them anyway. Please read about the dangers of psychiatry at cchr.org. Or read some of Thomas Szasz'z, Peter Breggin's Fred Baughman's books about the fraudulent boondoggle in which you believe.
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jtr03c April 27, 2009
Interesting opinion.
Mechanics often see things wrong with my car that I can not see due to expertise and training. Again, I would not trust any mechanic, nor would I say that all mechanics are perfect or ethically motivated in their profession. You must seek treatment from someone you trust. Do not throw out the baby with the bath water.
What is the cause of schizophrenia, depression, anxiety, etc. in your opinion? What is the cause of mental retardation or is this not a reality in your opinion? What about addictions treatment? To make a statement that psychiatry (the entire profession, body of research, treatment successes, etc.) and everything about mental illness is a hoax is extremely generalizing, polarizing, and essentially unhelpful to patients who know that their mental illness is real, when you believe that mental illness is fantasy.
The goal of a real psychiatrist is to treat patients and improve quality of health. Psychiatrists who do not hold true to this standard are truly a shame to the profession. Psychiatrists also treat with psychotherapy and alternative therapies, not just coporate drug company agendas.
P.S. I was a student of Dr. Beer's, Merck's editor-in-chief.
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menckenlite April 27, 2009
How are psychiatrists different from mechanics or lawyers or politicians? Your heroes claim to be human but expect others to believe that they are different from all the rest. They act as if their genes have been cleansed of mendacity, greed and sadism. They predict the future!!!! They claim moral superiority and superior knowledge of humans. What to they know that ordinary civilians do not? I read about how depraved they are more and more. Psychiatric illnesses are created by consensus. There is no evidence of any psychiatric illness other than the claims of psychiatrists. "Mental retardation" went out about a decade ago. Please update your terminology to reflect respect for persons with developmental disabilities. Addictions are a boondoggle of psychiatry and the human services industrial complex. Big taxpayer funded business. No one is forced to take recreational drugs or alcohol or cigarettes. People are forced by the police power of the state to accept toxic psychiatric drugs into their bodies. Why is this a police matter? You believe that psychiatry is real. You are entitled to your belief. Read Robert Whitaker's (Cambridge resident) book, "Mad in America" for many essays about your belief system. I do not force my belief on you. But the psychiatric industry, and their drug company bankers, through their lapdogs in the legislature force their beliefs and businesses on others. Provide evidence that psychiatric illness has a pathology. Show physical evidence of mental illness. You say, "patients [. . .] know that their mental illness is real." Beliefs of mental patients are evidence? You say "The goal of a real psychiatrist is to treat patients and improve quality of health." Oh? Have you ever read the oaths of office of politicians, lawyers and police? How closely do they come to perform that to which they swear? I agree, psychiatrists are shameful. But they have no shame. They are psychopaths abusing humans in the name of good. You do not have to emphasize that you admire credentials. That is obvious. Regarding who to believe, common sense teaches to base trust on past performance with no guarantee of future reliability.
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jtr03c April 27, 2009
How can psychiatrists be "psychopaths" when you do not believe that psychiatric illness exists?
Calling someone a "retard" or "retarded" is politically incorrect. However, the term "mental retardation" is not politically incorrrect.
"Mental retardation is a generalized disorder, characterized by subaverage cognitive functioning and deficits in two or more adaptive behaviors with onset before the age of 18. Once focused almost entirely on cognition, the definition now includes both a component relating to mental functioning and one relating to the individual's functional skills in their environment."
It is not shameful to have mental retardation. It is shameful to think the former.
P.S. Is this Tom Cruise?
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menckenlite April 27, 2009
You need to read your own question in order to answer it. I am glad that you have your own special list of what is politically correct. Good for you. Is this Joe Biederman?
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jtr03c April 28, 2009
Believe it or not, I really do not have a special list of what is P.C. Using a label like "psychopath" in a derogatory sense undermines the positive movement in helping persons living with mental illness.
I would recommend volunteering some time helping the mentally ill and homeless in order to familiarize yourself with the impact of mental illness with the approach of an open mind. Also, please watch PBS Frontline April 28, 2009 for the special titled "The Released".
First, do you believe that someone can be depressed so severely to the point of disability? Second, if the answer is yes, what treatment would you recommend or approach to helping this person would be?
Yes, I am not Joe.
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Menckenlite April 28, 2009
Psychopath: "A person with a personality disorder, esp. one manifested in aggressively anti social behavior." It is a person not an illness. Psychiatry in prisons is not voluntary. The courts use psychiatry as a form of punishment. Treatment is punishment in the topsy turvy world of psychiatry. Was Humpty Dumpty a psychiatrist? Why do people with problems go to psychiatrists? Why do they put their parents in nursing homes? Why are social problems psychiatric? When did having a feeling, an emotion become a mental illness? It is about business. Is Obama giving stimulus funds to drug companies? Lawyers and doctors earn their living from human suffering. If they have relaxed rectitude they exploit vulnerable persons. You mention disability. Do Constitutional Rights apply to persons with disabilities? A depressed person can lie down and cry for weeks, months, years. Or he can eat ice cream, cake and pizza, and watch Marx Brothers movies. Or he can spend time with his friends. It all depends on the kind of person. Or he can get drugs from a psychiatrist. They may increase his self esteem and make him suicidal. Lots of options Cambridge. You "recommend" helping the homeless. Do you know how much taxpayer money is appropriated for homelessness? Do you know how much is spent on academic consultants who write papers on how to solve the problem? Providing for homeless persons is a business. Taxpayers fund psychiatric drugs for homeless persons but have no money for housing them. What special interest arranged that priority?
Link to two-minute video clip about the difference between disease and psychiatric illness.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3JQ8OVHVWA&feature=channel_page
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Link to a story about US Sen. Grassley's investigation of NAMI and the money it gets from drug corporations.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a4V6UEpXf_mY
Bloomberg News
6 April 2009
Grassley Probes Financing of Advocacy Group for Mental Health
By Nicole Gaouette
To contact the reporter on this story: Nicole Gaouette in Washington
at ngaouette@bloomberg.net.
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jtr03c wrote April 28, 2009
I meant that you should personally volunteer in a mental health facility or homeless shelter to get first-hand experience. To live disconnected from the real experience as you browse the www for support of your ideals is really a loss.
True. Homelessness is largely a problem resulting from mental illness; however, many people find themselves in unfortunate financial situations despite having a previously history of no mental illness. Psychologists, by enlarge (depending on state legislature), treat mental illness without medications. Do you feel that their definitions of mental disorders are irrelevant as well since they too are using the same criteria.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/takeonestep/depression/video-ch_01.html
Mental illness is only illness when it impairs an individual to an extent to care for self or become a danger to self or others. For example, delirium and dementia are common mental disorders which can be medical emergenices threatening fatality (i.e. delirium) or cause one to be dangerous to self by forgetting to take medications for diabetes, forgetting their location or family, etc. (i.e. dementia).
Your agenda is to wipe out psychiatry, psychology, social science, and disembowel the notion of mental illness. How does this help individuals suffering and actively SEEKING help on their own? Who would you refer patients suffering with mental illness when they seek help? How would you prefer treating depression and panic attacks? How would you treat a combative and agitated 70 year old male who just came out of surgery for colon tumor resection? Would you let him walk out of the hospital with extreme risk of post-op infection and lack of medical care?
You are ignoring so many critical issues that it is rediculous! According to your health policy, a patient would walk up to a doctor's office saying, "I'm depressed and suicidal. Please help me." Your recommended response, "Depression and suicide are normal parts of life. Please leave the office. I have nothing to offer you except drugs that will destroy your life. Have a nice day." To let a patient just walk out without supportive treatment creates massive legal liability, and in the event of suicide the non-treating physician obviously becomes the failing party in ignoring the PATIENT'S complaint and request for help.
The drug company is not the patient. Drug companies are essential for the creation of life-saving medications. How else do you recommend medications be developed? By magic?
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Menckenlite April 28, 2009
Thanks for your career suggestions. My ideas come from participating in government watching as the politicians do what you think I do. You may want to take your own advice to learn what self serving elected officials do with taxpayer money and what they say about homeless people. Talk about living in a psychiatric bubble?!? You broadcast the psychiatric conformist business position about homelessness with no connection to reality. PBS is a taxpayer funded cheerleader for the drug industry. I am aware of how effective the PR industry is promoting drugs and psychiatry. It began with Edward Bernays a nephew of Sigmund Freud. You act as if drugs help people with no adverse effects. Psychiatrists kill and encourage others to kill babies. Even the drug pusher psychiatrists admit that they do not know what the drugs will do and try different combos using humans for experiments. My health policy is to end the abuses of psychiatry. You are in denial about that or you are Joe Biederman's PR flack, sometimes called useful idiots. Drug companies are essential to the profits of their stockholders. That is the legal mission of drug companies contrary to your fantasy. Drug companies with academic researchers develop drugs with taxpayer funds on tax exempt property and prevent the taxpayer from enjoying the financial benefits.
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jtr03c April 29, 2009
Suicide is a critical issue. Depression does not respect boundaries of race, gender, or income. You must have proof and data to support claims that antidepressant treatment and psychotherapy increase suicide as opposed to placebo. Furthermore, mental health professionals treat patients who are often times suicidal to begin with and, hence, at a higher risk for suicidal behaviors. 300-400 physicians commit suicide in the U.S. each year. A large part for suicide among medical professionals results from the stigma associated with getting appropriate treatment--stigma which is promoted at the expense of patient health by extremist organizations like cchr. I am thankful for your imput as I was participating in this debate so that I may further understand your perspectives and the proposed alternatives to treatment of mental illness in the philosphical absence of psychiatry and psychology. At this stage, I am not convinced that witholding treatment is the best alternative.
Okay, I will answer some of your questions in the hope that you will answer the ones from this excerpt: "Your agenda is to wipe out psychiatry, psychology, social science, and disembowel the notion of mental illness. How does this help individuals suffering and actively SEEKING help on their own? Who would you refer patients suffering with mental illness when they seek help? How would you prefer treating depression and panic attacks? How would you treat a combative and agitated 70 year old male who just came out of surgery for colon tumor resection? Would you let him walk out of the hospital with extreme risk of post-op infection and lack of medical care?"
1. Was Humpty Dumpty a psychiatrist? I don't know, but I think he was a fictional character.
2. Why do people with problems go to psychiatrists? The reasons/motivations are vast as the number of different illnesses, types of practice settings, and many other variables. A 50 year old male recently divorced with a history of depression may convince himself to seek help to cope with increased stressors which have lowered his threshold for experiencing depression. Treatment with medication may be temporary. He must be thoroughly evaluated and tested. Yes, there are tests in psyhiatry (e.g. psychological measures/scales, blood tests--http://www.mayo.edu/pmts/mc8000-mc8099/mc8012-24.pdf, thyroid studies for differential diagnosis, electrolytes for delirium, biological markers are in the pipline, etc.). To say that there is an isolated gene for depression, would be foolish at this point; most likely this will not materialize as depression, like many other diseases in medicine, has a multifactorial cause. In fact, there are many diseases in non-psychiatric medicine which do not have identified causes or specific marker genes.
In general, I would think that the higher the prevelance of any mental illness the more likely its incidence of presentation for treatment would be. Therefore, more common complaints of anxiety and depression would be more common than schizophrenia, which has a prevelance of only 1%. Also, addiction treatment is a very, very common problem especially in an economic recession. Alcohol abuse is a huge cause of medical comorbidity and also contributes to motor vehicle accidents and death; I would like to see optimal treatment for alcohol abuse. Saying that alcohol abuse or addiction does not exist or is normal (hence should be left untreated), is quite naive to say the least.
70-90% of antidepressants and anti-anxiety (i.e. anxiolytics) are prescribed by non-psychiatrists, such as general practice physicians, family medicine doctors, internists, pediatricians, surgeons, etc. These are physicians not formally trained in mental illness. I would turn your admirable energy to the advocacy of proper use of psychotropic medication by physicians trained in mental illness this would eliminate over-use of psychotropic medications and ensure proper use and diagnosis.
3. Why do they put their parents in nursing homes? I'm assuming you are referring to people in general. I'm not sure for each case. I think caring for an elderly patient who is in severe bone pain dying from metastatic cancer would be a difficult job for a working single mother of 2 children. Putting her mother in hospice care is not unacceptable. Dementia, a neuropsychiatric illness, also can become complicated with patients setting fires by forgetting cooking food. Full-time surveillane can be very stressful for the family members with competing work, family, social, etc. demands.
4. Why are social problems psychiatric? Psychiatric illnesses often lead to social problems more than not. For example, a schizophrenic patient who shows up to the office naked, screaming, and paranoid that the FBI has planted a homing device in his underwear creates a problem which impacts others, hence a social issue. An addict to cocaine and marijuanna happens to be an eye surgeon shows up to work to do a corneal transplant on your family member and "accidently" mistakes the eye for an insect and gouges it out; this would create a social issue. A depressed father of 5 can not make payments and lost his job, results to suicide after killing all his family members while refusing to see a psychiatrist because he was "man enough to care for himself". Yes, these any many many more case scenarios based on actual incidents happen every day in the U.S. and world wide. The impact of refusing mental health care and refusing to treat patients who desire help for emotional, addiction, and other psychiatric illness is tremendous, and I would not want to take responsibility for the moral and ethical implications.
5. When did having a feeling, an emotion become a mental illness? Feelings are natural and can be most healthy to experience, share, and develop. Feeling depressed to the point of apathy, self-destruction, and lack of capacity to care for self or others creates a problem. In the not so distant past and in all of history, patients with mental illness, espcially among Christians, were burnt, tortured, abandoned, or abolished from society many living in caves or essentially torture centers. Psychiatry has come a long way in transforming mental illness and care for patients suffering from egodystonic psychiatric issues. How society veiws mental illness and patients with disease largely impacts how we all care for each other. Just like in the case of AIDS/HIV. At first, the stigma, hate, and fear was unmeasurable. Some religious leaders even labelled HIV as the curse from God meant to wipe out homosexuals; the thought was patients should be left to their own demise without treatment. Thankfully, many folks have left this ignorant approach and treatment for HIV/AIDS is advancing.
6. Is Obama giving stimulus funds to drug companies? Personally, I am not aware if he donates to drug companies. In terms of stimulus money, I haven't heard of money going directly to drug companies. Please go to www.recovery.gov to see exactly where our money is going. Psychiatrists do not run the government; to believe this, would be evidence for the ignorance surrounding the lack of impact psychiatrists have in contrast to financial institutions, automakers, pharmaceutical companies, etc.
7. Do Constitutional Rights apply to persons with disabilities? Yes, they apply to all U.S. citizens. Google "American Disabilities Act".
8. Do you know how much taxpayer money is appropriated for homelessness? No, please give me the exact number. I don't know where to find this fact.
9. Do you know how much is spent on academic consultants who write papers on how to solve the problem? No, please give me the exact number. I don't know where to find this fact.
10. Taxpayers fund psychiatric drugs for homeless persons but have no money for housing them. What special interest arranged that priority? Well, I did not know that no money existed for housing the homeless (see answer to question 8). Honestly, without facts off-hand, I highly doubt $0 exists for housing the homeless; on the other hand, I personally would agree that funding for care of the homeless is lacking. Interestingly, social workers are a good source of information on this issue. This would be a great place to start volunteering for you. Volunteer in a homeless shelter. It is good for the soul. I've enjoyed my experiences in volunteering for the homeless, abused, hungry, sick, and with patients with mental illness. It is more educational than cchr propaganda. Yes, thank you for info on Edward Bernays--what an interesting and influential character in American history!
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menckenlite April 30, 2009
Dear Snake Oil salesman, I am not buying. Drug companies don't get stimulus payments because they make too much money. Please continue your volunteer work helping the homeless. Your efforts are greatly appreciated. What did humans do for millions of years until the priests of the mental health movement appeared on the scene? Since the psychiatric drug industry began has violence increased or decreased? Has learning in schools increased or decreased? Was psychiatry a part of the Nazi movement in Germany and the Soviet system in Russia? Is it only German and Russian psychiatrists who do bad things to humans? Have the genes of Americans been cleansed of mendacity, greed and sadism? Yes, Edward Bernays is right up there being influential and a role model with Adolf Hitler, Joe Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Joe McCarthy, Saddam Hussein. Medicalizing social problems is what the Nazi doctors did.
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jtr03c April 30, 2009
Dear misguided schlemiel,
I am not a salesman or a doctor. Rather, I am a student concerned about the health and wellbeing of individuals and society.
A psychiatrist by the name of Sigmund Freud, M.D. was not a Nazi but rather an Ashkanazi Jew like Albert Einstein. Edward Bernays, also a Jew, was not even a psychiatrist, in fact, "In 1912 he graduated from Cornell University with a degree in agriculture, but chose journalism as his first career."
Once again, you can not answer questions. Your proposed agenda has no solutions or even a structure or plan. Why do you avoid responding to questions? It's like an interview with Sarah Palin.
AGAIN...
Okay, I will answer some of your questions in the hope that you will answer the ones from this excerpt: "Your agenda is to wipe out psychiatry, psychology, social science, and disembowel the notion of mental illness. How does this help individuals suffering and actively SEEKING help on their own? Who would you refer patients suffering with mental illness when they seek help? How would you prefer treating depression and panic attacks? How would you treat a combative and agitated 70 year old male who just came out of surgery for colon tumor resection? Would you let him walk out of the hospital with extreme risk of post-op infection and lack of medical care?"
FYI(BELOW)==>FROM WWW.NAMI.ORG
HUD Allocates Funding for Homelessness Prevention
April 29, 2009
As part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has already moved aggressively to disburse more than $13 billion in funding for public housing modernization, economic development and project-based rent subsidy renewals. Critical among these is a $1.5 billion Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Fund. These funds will be allocated through existing state and local homeless programs by formula. However, there is unprecedented flexibility for state and local agencies to award these funds to individuals and families at imminent risk of homelessness in the current economic downturn.
State and local agencies that serve homeless individuals are already beginning to receive these funds with instructions to direct them in a variety of ways for rapid re-housing including: short-term or medium-term rental assistance and housing relocation and stabilization services, including such activities as mediation, credit counseling, security or utility deposits, utility payments, moving cost assistance, and case management.
NAMI affiliate leaders are strongly encouraged to get involved in the required planning process at the state and local level for allocation of resources from the Homeless Prevention Fund. It is critical that people living with serious mental illness and their families at risk of homelessness be able to access assistance from this initiative.
More information on the Homeless Prevention Fund is available on the HUD website.
The National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH) has also developed resources to help advocates and non-profits get involved in the planning for implementation of this program at the local level before the May 18 application deadline. More information is available on the NAEH website.
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jtr03c April 30, 2009
You once wrote:
"Sarah Palin has executive experience leading the largest state in the union and as a Mayor. Obama is speaker without substance or consistency. This shows as he promotes himself on media instead of solving the problems he was elected to solve."
No wonder I was getting failed Sarah Palin antics from you!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-wellington-e...
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Menckenlite April 30 2009
The way you write shows that you are a student. George Bernard Shaw said, "The road to hell is paved with good intentions." A pre-Homeric Greek philosopher, Cleobulous said, "The chief source of evil among men is excessive good." How does that apply to your "concerns," which merge with the intentions of the psychiatric and drug industries? As a student what are your standards for the "well-being of individuals and society?" Do you and the psychiatric industry have a special secret knowledge that ordinary persons do not? What is the evidence for your "well-being of individuals and society?" Where did you learn this? I am shocked to learn that Einstein, Bernays and Freud were Jewish. I never suspected that. To repeat "my agenda" is to end psychiatric abuses. You flatter me comparing me to Gov. Palin. I never ran for office and never ran a city or a state. Can you share your concern for the "well-being of individuals and society" with her? You ask me questions as if I were a psychiatrist. I am an ordinary citizen focused on ending psychiatric abuses. I do not believe in psychiatry as you do. You ask me as questions about your religious beliefs, psychiatry, and I subscribe to a different religion. You ask me what I would do with "a combative and agitated 70 year old male who just came out of surgery." My question about this hypothetical is "What's the problem? Did he violate any laws?" Your religion has a higher calling above the laws of the nation and of man. The city of Cambridge submitted a plan to end homelessness. If they failed to submit a plan they would not get the taxpayer funds. So they had meetings with about 50 people and submitted a plan. They do this every few years (when there is an appropriation of new funds) so that they can continue to get US taxpayer funds. But they never end homelessness. It is not necessary to make any progress at all. All they need to do to get funds is to submit a plan. They don't try to end it. The City is a member of The Coalition which supports jobs with do little work. It is a way to keep people employed and help them get their pensions. Recall the underlying article is about suicide not homelessness or Gov. Palin. Suicide is one of several issues that NAMI uses to promote more taxpayer funding for more psychiatric drug treatment. If you go to the MA state house when the budget is being discussed you will hear a NAMI mother speaking loudly in support of increased funding explaining that her son committed suicide because he did not get treatment. She never speaks about her role making her son suicidal. I posted a link to US Sen. Grassley's investigation of NAMI and its drug company funding. Did you read it?
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jtr03c May 1, 2009
First you ask, "Do you and the psychiatric industry have a special secret knowledge that ordinary persons do not?"
Readers can easily assume from this rhetorical question that you believe psychiatrists do NOT have special secret knowledge beyond that of ordinary persons.
However, in stark contradiction, you write, "You ask me questions as if I were a psychiatrist. I am an ordinary citizen...."
Well, ACCORDING TO YOUR ORIGINAL OPINION, you do not need to be a psychiatrist to make clinical judgements. So, you should be able to answer, or your beliefs surrounding mental health are fatally flawed, which I believe the latter to be true.
Back to your question at the top of this comment, yes, psychiatrists do have "special secret knowledge" compared to laypersons. Yes, it is called 4 years of college, 4 years of medical school, 4 years of psychiatry residency, passing extremely rigorous United States Medical Licensing Exam Steps 1, 2 CS, 2 CK, and 3. Most psychiatrists also have extensive experience in scietific literature and many in clinical research in psychiatry and medicine.
All medical doctors, including surgeons, train in psychiatry as medical school students.
Is there a personal experience that has made this subject especially of interest to you? It is a shame that not all people experience professional and appropriate care.
I have a degree in psychology, and in 15 days I will be a doctor of medicine (M.D.). Best of luck in your ventures.
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jtr03c May 1, 2009
FYI, psychiatry is not religion; psychiatrists are not priests, ministers, or prophets. Psychiatrists are first and foremost physicians. Additionally, psychiatry and religion are not mutually exclusive. Being Muslim, Buddhist, Christian, Atheist, etc. does not constitute mental illness. Research in mental health shows to the contrary that spiritual affiliation and strong social support leads to greater psychological resilience.
Prior to attending medical school, I was also student of biblical studies and theology. I scored in the national top 20th percentile for the Bible Doctrine Examination--a test taken by pastors in training for ministry. Let me emphasize the point that I firmly believe in the peaceful coexistence of many religions, spiritualities, cultures, and races.
Although most Republicans contribute the downfall of their party during this recent election to Sarah Palin, I believe her superior incompetence was a minor factor overshadowed by the co-dependent, enmeshed marriage of Christians (speaking of fundamentalist, conservative Protestants) to the Republican party, which turned off the majority of open-minded, educated Americans and minorities from different cultural and religious backgrounds. As America embraces the beauty of its true diversity, the dissociation from the Republican party will increase as long as it is identified as the Christian Caucasian clan that it presents itself as today.
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jtr03c May 1, 2009
Wow!
Sally Satel, M.D. is an interesting psychiatrist on staff at Oasis and a survivor of mental illness herself (i.e., depression---http://booknotes.onstreammedia.com/vss-bin/vss_SR/cspan_booknotes/search?template=popup_frame.tmpl&_query=&access=Private&ShowID=1622&_query4=Entire+Program&CspanUserId=&cbin=&asset_id=1123).
Watch out who you quote!!! Watch this video!!
"Oasis Treatment Center provides a full range of skilled and compassionate personnel. The interdisciplinary staff members include professionals specializing in the treatment of addictive disorders. The Medical Doctor, an addiction specialist, provides initial evaluations and our staff Psychiatrist is available for the dual-diagnosed client." (http://www.oasistreatment.org/dual_diag.html)
Dr. Satel's treatment of dual-diagnosis clients involves the following:
"There are three parts to dealing with clinical mood disorders, all equally important to fully address the issue. 1) Psychiatric evaluation and diagnosis followed by regular monitoring of medication with the goal of getting the client chemically balanced. 2) Individual and group therapies addressing specific addictions and co-occurring conditions."
Again, make sure watch this video: http://www.booknotes.org/Program/?ProgramID=1622
By the way, I know very little more about Sally Satel, except that she also writes on contraversial issues and puts forth some odd but thought-povoking questions. Good cognitive exercising it seems. However, the one excerpt I was reading from her book "The Health Disparities Myth" shows that she has really done this extremely important topic of racial disparity in medicine significant injustice.
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Menckenlite May 2, 2009
Dear Doctor Doctor, If I knew you were a doctor I would never question you. Everyone knows that doctors always speak the truth with scientific certainty, and listen to their patients. We are not worthy, forgive us oh great ones. Doctors know it all especially today after all of those exquisite treatments like bleeding, cold baths, electro-shock and neuroleptics. The treatments just keep getting more exotic. Um, is wildly popular Phil Markoff a medical student too? You say, "ACCORDING TO YOUR ORIGINAL OPINION, you do not need to be a psychiatrist to make clinical judgements (sic)." It is not just my opinion. Massachusetts state law gives police officers guidelines to make psychiatric diagnoses. Journalists do it every day. Friends, relatives, prosecutors, neighbors, lawyers, lovers all make psychiatric diagnoses. According to you I am wrong and you are right, correct? So psychiatry is not a religion but the only reason psychiatry exists is because people believe in it. Only psychiatrists can see mental illnesses. Why is that? Along with that special secret knowledge is there some special abilities they learn (or are they born with them?) to see what others cannot see? Isn't that what psychiatrists call paranoia? Many highly educated humans are thoroughly caught up with all of their book learning but have little or no common sense. They can talk and write and sell their beliefs to others not as well educated. But when it comes to applying their knowledge to the real world they are lost and do a lot of harm due to their huge egos. That is a serious problem with doctors. Are you one of them? From where did you get the idea that "most Republicans contribute (sic) the downfall of their party during this recent election to Sarah Palin?" CNN? Chris Matthews? George Stephanopolous? Janeane Garofalo? This was a discussion about suicide, not Republicans, homelessness and religion. Do you have difficulty concentrating on one subject at a time? Would you like to try a Ritalin cocktail on the rocks? Finally! You bring up race. I wondered why it was missing. Your medical professors taught you well about all the important issues, To-The-Media. How will this affect your treatment of humans who disagree with your dogmas?
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jtr03c May 5, 2009
I doubt that you will be one of my patients, at least voluntarily. Have a nice day.
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menckenlite May 6, 2009
US Senate Reveals Drug cos Fund 56 percent of NAMI
http://enoughroom.blogspot.com/2009/05/nami-and...
or
http://tinyurl.com/dzr32w
* * *
http://www.pharmfree.org/
I AGREE that funding must be transparent. In my opinion, public funding should be the primary source of healthcare and pharmaceutical research in all areas of medicine not just psychiatry. Once a drug is developed and approved, private industry could then bid competitively to manufacture and sell the products for the cheapest prices possible. I also support a universal healthcare system free of insurance, pharmacy INC. dominance, and private hospital big business.
http://www.pnhp.org/news/2009/april/testimony_o...
Interestingly (OR NOT) drug companies have had major influences in politics and all specialties--an ethical issue of great interest and debate publically and professionally. Nonetheless, instead of discrediting an entire profession or specialty, efforts must be made to reform and redefine each specialty as innovations are made. Creating hate and fear is by no means a diplomatic method for improvement. Another problem with medicine in general is the resistance to change, which is probably worse than the military or government.
Case in point, Libby Zion died needlessly in NY (1984) likely due in part to over-worked, sleep-deprived doctors (patient's cocaine abuse was also an issue). "Libby Zion law" did not come into place until 5 years later in the state of NY, which limited residents to an 80-hour work week (still many old-school doctors feel that 100-hour work weeks are too restrictive). It wasn't until almost 20 years later that ACGME finally made this a national requirement for all U.S. residency programs. By the way, residents get paid on average $46,000/yr. What does that work out to be, around $11/hr? Registered nurses, with 2 years of post-high school education make 2-3 times this amount.
* * *
It is fitting that your focus as a medical student (unlike Phil Markoff) is on the health care system. One observer calls it more appropriately a disease management system. But this was about suicide. To repeat, my focus is on ending psychiatric abuses. You may have no conception of the brutality of psychiatrists. I'm aware of how diseased doctors murder patients and get away with the first two killings. No snitchin' is the rule among doctors too. You accept the false assumptions of psychiatry. You don't question psychiatrists and their flawed journal articles. You trust the FDA, which is a taxpayer funded lobbyist for the drug and device industries. I'm aware that it is easier to open a rock than a mind. I am not a diplomat. Regarding the fear of insiders (medical professionals included) to speak out about abuses see Stanley Milgram's "Obedience to Authority," and
http://thephoenix.com/Boston/News/82548-Sunshine-on-the-ACLU-a-mea-culpa/
or
http://tinyurl.com/p5anan
Sunshine on the ACLU: a mea culpa
Freedom Watch
By HARVEY SILVERGLATE
Boston Phoenix
May 6, 2009
* * *
jtr03c wrote, May 10, 2009
IF YOUR FAMILY MEMBER, LOVED ONE, OR FRIEND CAME TO YOU WITH COMPLAINTS THAT SHE WAS VERY SAD AND DEPRESSED FOR THE PAST TWO MONTHS WITH ALMOST ZERO ENERGY, NO APPETITE, DIFFICULTY SLEEPING, NO INTEREST IN GOING OUT OR DOING HER REGULAR ACTIVITIES, GRADES IN COLLEGE DROPPING FROM A's & B's TO D's & F's, A FEW REPRIMANDS AT HER PART TIME JOB FOR BEING FREQUENTLY LATE, AND SERIOUS THOUGHTS OF SUICIDE HOURLY TO DAILY WITH PLANS TO END IT ALL BY USING HER DAD'S HAND GUN, WHAT WOULD YOU RECOMMEND HER TO DO IN YOUR PROPOSED ABSENCE OF PSYCHIATRY AND PSYCHOLOGY GIVEN THAT SHE HAS NO HISTORY OF SEEING ANYBODY FOR MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES IN THE PAST AND TAKES NO MEDICATIONS?
I'M NOT ASKING HOW SHOULD A DOCTOR OR MENTAL HEALTH CARE WORKER RESPOND TO THIS SITUATION, ALTHOUGH YOUR RESPONSE TO THIS WOULD ALSO BE VERY HELPFUL. SIMPLY, WHAT WOULD YOU SAY TO HER OR RECOMMEND HER TO DO GIVEN THE FACTS YOU HAVE ABOVE.
AGAIN, YOUR ABILITY TO ANSWER THIS RELEVANT, ON-TOPIC QUESTION MUST BE SATISFIED IN ORDER TO ESTABLISH CREDIBILITY TO YOUR ARGUMENTS THAT (1) MENTAL ILLNESS DOES NOT EXIST, (2) MENTAL HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS ARE BRUTAL KILLERS (SIC), AND (3) MEDICATIONS ARE THE SOURCE OF ILLNESS NOT THE TREATMENT FOR ILLNESS.
* * *
menckenlite May 10, 2009
Why are you yelling? (All caps?)
If my "FAMILY MEMBER, LOVED ONE, OR FRIEND CAME" to me with problems I would sit with him or her and listen.
You say, "THIS RELEVANT, ON-TOPIC QUESTION MUST BE SATISFIED IN ORDER TO ESTABLISH CREDIBILITY." Oh? To what is it relevant? Who made up that rule? Credibility with who or what? Answers to hypothetical questions are traps. Are you willing to volunteer with WHO at the United Nations, or CNN?
(1) You want proof that mental illness does not exist? Here it is (...). Now you prove that it does exist.
(2) Nazi Doctors and Stalinist psychiatrists were brutal killers. Do you think
that American psychiatrists are not like the rest?
(3) I previously cited the drug company friendly FDA black box warnings on anti depressants as one example.
* * *
jtr03c May 10, 2009
I didn't realize that typing with CAPS LOCK was yelling, my bad. It was on so I just used it.
So what does listening without action achieve? Is that the therapy that works? If so, we are getting closer to something substantial now with this constructive discussion. I would definitely agree that listening, empathy, compassion, trust, confidentiality, and insightful reflection are all very therapeutic in a relationship, especially one between a patient and therapist.
Look, this is extremely simple. As an analogy, if I propose that gasoline is bad for the environment and that we should ban all gas burning engines immediately, the obvious response (given that everyone agrees with my proposal) would be, "How the hell do we get to work?" Yes, there must be an alternative solution. So a thorough proposal, hence a credible one, would not only state what the problem is but provide a solution or alternative. In the gas engine example, I could finish my proposal with recommendations that electric engines should be used instead.
Okay, back to our topic of discussion. We have a hypothetical case of a "FAMILY MEMBER, LOVED ONE, OR FRIEND" as described above presenting to you with signs and symptoms of major depressive disorder. Your proposal is that psychiatry is bad. As an alternate or solution, you would prefer to listen to her (the hypothetical girl with depression). What if your listening leaves you where you started. That is to say, she is still depressed and suicidal at the end of your conversation. Then what?
* * *
You brought in a third person with an economic interest. That is why hypotheticals are traps. You add things as you go. This began as a two persons with a positive relationship. You say this is meaningful? I think it is hilarious. The "therapist" is an adjunct. Therapy means to minister. It does not define what is being ministered.
You say "everyone agrees with my proposal." Is that by definition, axiom, postulate or your rules? That is one element that makes this funny. You think that you know better than others and that everyone agrees with you. In your mind perhaps they do.
You ask, "Then what?" What is it that you expect to happen? Yes, then what? Under your totalitarian system it is necessary to act because nothing has changed? If nothing has changed what happened? Has the person committed a crime? It appears that under your system if you do not like what a person says that is criminal and requires action to stop more crimes. That too is hilarious for this nation. Have you ever read the US Constitution or the state constitution where you reside? Try reading the First Amendment. Then read about protected speech. Think about WHO at the UN. You are better suited to another country with the rest of the psychiatric industry.
* * *
jtr03c May 11, 2009
Listening without action?
* * *
menckenlite May 11, 2009
Your negative view of persons accused of mental illness is obvious. Aside from your requirement demanding an answer to a hypothetical, you show your negative bias. What action is needed when two persons talk? What is it that you expect from the person talking? Are you sure you do not want to volunteer for WHO at the UN? Your attitude toward troubled persons fits better in non democratic nations. Where is your proof that mental illnesses exist?
* * *
jtr03c wrote, May 11, 2009
Now, you are just getting plain sloppy. Even responding to simple questioning proves to be overwhelming for you. Furthermore, your use of language and terminology is frequently incorrect and applied without much thought. Honestly, you often lose me in your train of thought. Many times while reading your work, I find myself asking, what the heck is this cat rambling out?
When asked clearly and directly about a case, you defer to obsessively discussing politics, political and organizational bodies, crime, and ministry/religion. For the love of maple oatmeal, I really do not understand the crime thing. I did not mention any legal history in the vignette.
FYI - I do not think depression and suicide are hilarious. I do not believe that everyone agrees with me or you for that matter. I often spend many a nights losing sleep while reading state constitutions...okay, that one is a lie.
* * *
menckenlite May 11, 2009
You posited an hypothetical. Now you say it is a case? Is this a violation of the HIPAA laws?
You ask "Then what?" after talking. Why do you ask that question? I know you do not understand the "crime thing." You think you are helping a person giving them treatment "they do not know they need." You take a person's freedom and force drugs on them, an assault. But you see it as treatment. That is what is a crime, your alleged treatment.
How do you justify putting a person in a hospital against his or her will? It is not for a crime. But you think taking a person's freedom for forced treatment is OK.
Responding to your hypothetical (case?) I suggested I would listen to the person. You asked "Then what?" You don't understand why asking that question is a problem. I know how you think and why you do not understand my response. Without doing an act you want further interference with a person's life. Who are you to interfere with another person's pursuit of happiness? Who do you think you are? You think psychiatry is treatment, but it is an abusive business.
As an example of real world facts, not an hypothetical, read David Rosenhan's experiments with grad student. What they said was used to admit them into a mental hospital. Protected speech under the US Constitution was used as a reason to make the students patients. It is parallel to how you think about what you do.
Think about WHO at the UN. I think you are suitable for that organization.
* * *
jtr03c wrote, May 11, 2009
It's a hypothetical, realistic case or vignette. I do not see the confusion What does HIPAA have to do with hypothetical cases?
In the case, I did not say the patient committed a crime.
Anyways, I would not recommend forced hospitalization or medication to every person who says, "I'm depressed." Not everybody is hospitalized by force as you imply. Most people see a psychiatrist because they seek help on their own free will. Most psychiatric patients are treated in an office or other outpatient setting not a "mental hospital". Most mental illnesses can be managed/treated with talk therapy from a licensed professional counselor or psychiatrist. Only rare, extreme cases result in hospitalization to protect a patient or others from threat of violence, homicidal/suicidal attempts (e.g. Hanging self in closet), or reckless endangerment (e.g. Driving a car into a flea market to run over "aliens" and escape attack from the white bear spirit).
Again, if a patient comes to me as a psychiatrist and the patient asks for medical therapy because talk therapy has had limited results for his/her particular complaint, then I do not see how the patient's free will is violated by giving psychotropic medication. To refuse a patient's request for medical therapy would be violation of his/her wishes; however, medications are often refused because of potential side effects or harm which doctors must always consider in treatment of any disease, psychiatic or otherwise.
To my knowledge the WHO and UN do not regulate psychiatric practice or run all U.S. Hospitals. Reference to these organizations is quite biazzare.
Happy trails!
* * *
menckenlite May 11, 2009
You changed your terms from "what if" to "a case." That is why HIPAA laws came into the discussion. You don't even check your own posts for errors, no less mine. You make up what I say. You are deceptive and a bully.
You never provided evidence that mental illnesses exist. You asked "Then what." after talking to a troubled person. You did not answer why you ask that. What is it that you expect?
Taking a person's freedom is a "good" for you. It is a violation of rights, a deprivation for the person detained. You do not reveal from what state you speak. If you are in MA the standards you suggest for taking a person's freedom are wrong. There are five instances which allow involuntary hospitalization under MA laws. All require a "likelihood of serious harm." You are not the only medical professional (or wannabe) who is ignorant of the laws they abuse. You scoff at the Constitution. You are not unique in that either among medical professionals.
Your most offensive flaw is speaking about things you do not know. You make up facts and base your doctrines on false information and assumptions. That is a dangerous characteristic for a doctor.
I recommend that you join WHO at the UN not because of its psychiatric focus, but to get you out of this country so you do not harm American citizens.
You have a lot to learn. I hope that you are not typical when it comes to arrogant young doctors with little knowledge of humans and the laws. To repeat for the third time I focus on psychiatric abuses, which if you do not improve your knowledge you will be the source of many.
* * *
jtr03c wrote [May 12, 2009]
You are truly an amazing creation! John 3:16
[This Bible citation, John 3:16, is "For God so loved the
world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in
him should not perish, but have everlasting life."]
[This post was removed and replaced by the next post after I asked some people if they thought it was a threat.]
* * *
jtr03c May 12, 2009
Thanks for the conversation; I've enjoyed your passion and willingless to engage on this topic. Take care.
* * *
[Original article]
http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=527841
Study Reveals Suicide Risk Statistics
Published On Thursday, April 23, 2009 11:31 AM
By MONICA S. LIU
Harvard Crimson
Contributing Writer
What is missing from this questionable academic study is the number of students who considered suicide ONLY after taking anti depressants. Even the drug-company-friendly FDA places a Black Box warning on anti depressants. In addition no one knows the effects on humans, of a combination of drugs a so-called drug cocktail. Psychiatrists love to prescribe such cocktails, hoping it will stop the offensive speech or behavior. So in some cases we know that drug companies and psychiatrists cause suicidal thoughts in their patients. Why should anyone listen to them?
Replies were posted, and my replies follow.
* * *
Helen Yu ’12 commented that while MHS and Room 13—a peer-to-peer counseling service that operates under UHS supervision—provide accessible and highly confidential help, not all students are aware of these services, and many are simply unwilling to go.
* * *
jtr03c [Replied April 27, 2009]
menckenlite, the concern for the effectiveness and side effects of any medication, pscyhotropic or otherwise, is a critical issue. Every scientific limitation. Each study can not focus on every topic or issue. Good science focuses on a particular issue in-depth so that methods can be repeated. Here, the article focuses on the epidemiology and seriousness of suicidality among college students not double-blind controlled studies of antidepressants. Suicide and murder-suicide behaviors are critical social and medical issues. For the understanding and knowledge of the efficacy and safety of medication, I would prefer seeking professional opinion over street opinions. Unfortunately, the stigma surrounding treatment of mental illness and living with mental illness itself inhibits acceptance of treatment and hence the compliance with taking psychotropic medications is extremely poor outside of controlled studies.
Furthermore, we could ask the question, "Why should anyone trust anybody?" My best advice would be to seek treatment only with the physician you trust. I think the best treatment comes from a psychiatrist who understands you and is an advocate of your health along every aspect. Cardiologists and physicians from every speciatly treat disease using multidrug regimens, which you refer to as "cocktails". Medicine is a science and research based profession as much as it is a clinical profession. That being said, there is no substitute for years of experience and clinical training to advance decision making on a patient-by-patient basis. Patients, after all, are individuals and require individualized treatments.
Best of luck. Please consider reading more about mental illness at http://www.nami.org/ or http://www.nmha.org/. Many patients are successfully and happily treated, living enriching lives despite having a mental illness (please read*). Some patients are not satisfied. Whatever the reason for poor treatment results, we must strive for the best treatments and advance research in this field, NOT ABANDON our efforts.
* * *
[My response] April 27, 2009
NAMI is a deep pocketed lobbyist funded by the drug industry that promotes drug treatment. Conformist attitudes among academics trust credentials. But credentials do not necessarily bring integrity. We've seen instances of compromised Harvard academics who take millions from the drug industry (Joe Biederman, Fred Goodwin recently) to promote drugs. Scientific journals were compromised by drug companies who pay prominent academics to sign articles about flawed research by the drug companies. In 1890 Louis Pasteur (not a doctor) knew washing hands prevented passing bacteria from one patient to another. The medical profession ridiculed him. Today washing hands is still a problem among professionals with credentials.
My question is why seek treatment? If psychiatrists treat symptoms with no pathology to show (only psychiatrists can see the illnesses they treat), who needs psychiatry at all besides the drug industry? You say medicine is a science. But psychiatry is personal opinion masquerading as science. Cardiology can show a pathology. Drug cocktails can kill. No doctor knows what they can do to a humans. Some entries in Merck's explain the dangers. But the doctors prescribe them anyway. Please read about the dangers of psychiatry at cchr.org. Or read some of Thomas Szasz'z, Peter Breggin's Fred Baughman's books about the fraudulent boondoggle in which you believe.
* * *
jtr03c April 27, 2009
Interesting opinion.
Mechanics often see things wrong with my car that I can not see due to expertise and training. Again, I would not trust any mechanic, nor would I say that all mechanics are perfect or ethically motivated in their profession. You must seek treatment from someone you trust. Do not throw out the baby with the bath water.
What is the cause of schizophrenia, depression, anxiety, etc. in your opinion? What is the cause of mental retardation or is this not a reality in your opinion? What about addictions treatment? To make a statement that psychiatry (the entire profession, body of research, treatment successes, etc.) and everything about mental illness is a hoax is extremely generalizing, polarizing, and essentially unhelpful to patients who know that their mental illness is real, when you believe that mental illness is fantasy.
The goal of a real psychiatrist is to treat patients and improve quality of health. Psychiatrists who do not hold true to this standard are truly a shame to the profession. Psychiatrists also treat with psychotherapy and alternative therapies, not just coporate drug company agendas.
P.S. I was a student of Dr. Beer's, Merck's editor-in-chief.
* * *
menckenlite April 27, 2009
How are psychiatrists different from mechanics or lawyers or politicians? Your heroes claim to be human but expect others to believe that they are different from all the rest. They act as if their genes have been cleansed of mendacity, greed and sadism. They predict the future!!!! They claim moral superiority and superior knowledge of humans. What to they know that ordinary civilians do not? I read about how depraved they are more and more. Psychiatric illnesses are created by consensus. There is no evidence of any psychiatric illness other than the claims of psychiatrists. "Mental retardation" went out about a decade ago. Please update your terminology to reflect respect for persons with developmental disabilities. Addictions are a boondoggle of psychiatry and the human services industrial complex. Big taxpayer funded business. No one is forced to take recreational drugs or alcohol or cigarettes. People are forced by the police power of the state to accept toxic psychiatric drugs into their bodies. Why is this a police matter? You believe that psychiatry is real. You are entitled to your belief. Read Robert Whitaker's (Cambridge resident) book, "Mad in America" for many essays about your belief system. I do not force my belief on you. But the psychiatric industry, and their drug company bankers, through their lapdogs in the legislature force their beliefs and businesses on others. Provide evidence that psychiatric illness has a pathology. Show physical evidence of mental illness. You say, "patients [. . .] know that their mental illness is real." Beliefs of mental patients are evidence? You say "The goal of a real psychiatrist is to treat patients and improve quality of health." Oh? Have you ever read the oaths of office of politicians, lawyers and police? How closely do they come to perform that to which they swear? I agree, psychiatrists are shameful. But they have no shame. They are psychopaths abusing humans in the name of good. You do not have to emphasize that you admire credentials. That is obvious. Regarding who to believe, common sense teaches to base trust on past performance with no guarantee of future reliability.
* * *
jtr03c April 27, 2009
How can psychiatrists be "psychopaths" when you do not believe that psychiatric illness exists?
Calling someone a "retard" or "retarded" is politically incorrect. However, the term "mental retardation" is not politically incorrrect.
"Mental retardation is a generalized disorder, characterized by subaverage cognitive functioning and deficits in two or more adaptive behaviors with onset before the age of 18. Once focused almost entirely on cognition, the definition now includes both a component relating to mental functioning and one relating to the individual's functional skills in their environment."
It is not shameful to have mental retardation. It is shameful to think the former.
P.S. Is this Tom Cruise?
* * *
menckenlite April 27, 2009
You need to read your own question in order to answer it. I am glad that you have your own special list of what is politically correct. Good for you. Is this Joe Biederman?
* * *
jtr03c April 28, 2009
Believe it or not, I really do not have a special list of what is P.C. Using a label like "psychopath" in a derogatory sense undermines the positive movement in helping persons living with mental illness.
I would recommend volunteering some time helping the mentally ill and homeless in order to familiarize yourself with the impact of mental illness with the approach of an open mind. Also, please watch PBS Frontline April 28, 2009 for the special titled "The Released".
First, do you believe that someone can be depressed so severely to the point of disability? Second, if the answer is yes, what treatment would you recommend or approach to helping this person would be?
Yes, I am not Joe.
* * *
Menckenlite April 28, 2009
Psychopath: "A person with a personality disorder, esp. one manifested in aggressively anti social behavior." It is a person not an illness. Psychiatry in prisons is not voluntary. The courts use psychiatry as a form of punishment. Treatment is punishment in the topsy turvy world of psychiatry. Was Humpty Dumpty a psychiatrist? Why do people with problems go to psychiatrists? Why do they put their parents in nursing homes? Why are social problems psychiatric? When did having a feeling, an emotion become a mental illness? It is about business. Is Obama giving stimulus funds to drug companies? Lawyers and doctors earn their living from human suffering. If they have relaxed rectitude they exploit vulnerable persons. You mention disability. Do Constitutional Rights apply to persons with disabilities? A depressed person can lie down and cry for weeks, months, years. Or he can eat ice cream, cake and pizza, and watch Marx Brothers movies. Or he can spend time with his friends. It all depends on the kind of person. Or he can get drugs from a psychiatrist. They may increase his self esteem and make him suicidal. Lots of options Cambridge. You "recommend" helping the homeless. Do you know how much taxpayer money is appropriated for homelessness? Do you know how much is spent on academic consultants who write papers on how to solve the problem? Providing for homeless persons is a business. Taxpayers fund psychiatric drugs for homeless persons but have no money for housing them. What special interest arranged that priority?
Link to two-minute video clip about the difference between disease and psychiatric illness.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3JQ8OVHVWA&feature=channel_page
* * *
Link to a story about US Sen. Grassley's investigation of NAMI and the money it gets from drug corporations.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a4V6UEpXf_mY
Bloomberg News
6 April 2009
Grassley Probes Financing of Advocacy Group for Mental Health
By Nicole Gaouette
To contact the reporter on this story: Nicole Gaouette in Washington
at ngaouette@bloomberg.net.
* * *
jtr03c wrote April 28, 2009
I meant that you should personally volunteer in a mental health facility or homeless shelter to get first-hand experience. To live disconnected from the real experience as you browse the www for support of your ideals is really a loss.
True. Homelessness is largely a problem resulting from mental illness; however, many people find themselves in unfortunate financial situations despite having a previously history of no mental illness. Psychologists, by enlarge (depending on state legislature), treat mental illness without medications. Do you feel that their definitions of mental disorders are irrelevant as well since they too are using the same criteria.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/takeonestep/depression/video-ch_01.html
Mental illness is only illness when it impairs an individual to an extent to care for self or become a danger to self or others. For example, delirium and dementia are common mental disorders which can be medical emergenices threatening fatality (i.e. delirium) or cause one to be dangerous to self by forgetting to take medications for diabetes, forgetting their location or family, etc. (i.e. dementia).
Your agenda is to wipe out psychiatry, psychology, social science, and disembowel the notion of mental illness. How does this help individuals suffering and actively SEEKING help on their own? Who would you refer patients suffering with mental illness when they seek help? How would you prefer treating depression and panic attacks? How would you treat a combative and agitated 70 year old male who just came out of surgery for colon tumor resection? Would you let him walk out of the hospital with extreme risk of post-op infection and lack of medical care?
You are ignoring so many critical issues that it is rediculous! According to your health policy, a patient would walk up to a doctor's office saying, "I'm depressed and suicidal. Please help me." Your recommended response, "Depression and suicide are normal parts of life. Please leave the office. I have nothing to offer you except drugs that will destroy your life. Have a nice day." To let a patient just walk out without supportive treatment creates massive legal liability, and in the event of suicide the non-treating physician obviously becomes the failing party in ignoring the PATIENT'S complaint and request for help.
The drug company is not the patient. Drug companies are essential for the creation of life-saving medications. How else do you recommend medications be developed? By magic?
* * *
Menckenlite April 28, 2009
Thanks for your career suggestions. My ideas come from participating in government watching as the politicians do what you think I do. You may want to take your own advice to learn what self serving elected officials do with taxpayer money and what they say about homeless people. Talk about living in a psychiatric bubble?!? You broadcast the psychiatric conformist business position about homelessness with no connection to reality. PBS is a taxpayer funded cheerleader for the drug industry. I am aware of how effective the PR industry is promoting drugs and psychiatry. It began with Edward Bernays a nephew of Sigmund Freud. You act as if drugs help people with no adverse effects. Psychiatrists kill and encourage others to kill babies. Even the drug pusher psychiatrists admit that they do not know what the drugs will do and try different combos using humans for experiments. My health policy is to end the abuses of psychiatry. You are in denial about that or you are Joe Biederman's PR flack, sometimes called useful idiots. Drug companies are essential to the profits of their stockholders. That is the legal mission of drug companies contrary to your fantasy. Drug companies with academic researchers develop drugs with taxpayer funds on tax exempt property and prevent the taxpayer from enjoying the financial benefits.
* * *
jtr03c April 29, 2009
Suicide is a critical issue. Depression does not respect boundaries of race, gender, or income. You must have proof and data to support claims that antidepressant treatment and psychotherapy increase suicide as opposed to placebo. Furthermore, mental health professionals treat patients who are often times suicidal to begin with and, hence, at a higher risk for suicidal behaviors. 300-400 physicians commit suicide in the U.S. each year. A large part for suicide among medical professionals results from the stigma associated with getting appropriate treatment--stigma which is promoted at the expense of patient health by extremist organizations like cchr. I am thankful for your imput as I was participating in this debate so that I may further understand your perspectives and the proposed alternatives to treatment of mental illness in the philosphical absence of psychiatry and psychology. At this stage, I am not convinced that witholding treatment is the best alternative.
Okay, I will answer some of your questions in the hope that you will answer the ones from this excerpt: "Your agenda is to wipe out psychiatry, psychology, social science, and disembowel the notion of mental illness. How does this help individuals suffering and actively SEEKING help on their own? Who would you refer patients suffering with mental illness when they seek help? How would you prefer treating depression and panic attacks? How would you treat a combative and agitated 70 year old male who just came out of surgery for colon tumor resection? Would you let him walk out of the hospital with extreme risk of post-op infection and lack of medical care?"
1. Was Humpty Dumpty a psychiatrist? I don't know, but I think he was a fictional character.
2. Why do people with problems go to psychiatrists? The reasons/motivations are vast as the number of different illnesses, types of practice settings, and many other variables. A 50 year old male recently divorced with a history of depression may convince himself to seek help to cope with increased stressors which have lowered his threshold for experiencing depression. Treatment with medication may be temporary. He must be thoroughly evaluated and tested. Yes, there are tests in psyhiatry (e.g. psychological measures/scales, blood tests--http://www.mayo.edu/pmts/mc8000-mc8099/mc8012-24.pdf, thyroid studies for differential diagnosis, electrolytes for delirium, biological markers are in the pipline, etc.). To say that there is an isolated gene for depression, would be foolish at this point; most likely this will not materialize as depression, like many other diseases in medicine, has a multifactorial cause. In fact, there are many diseases in non-psychiatric medicine which do not have identified causes or specific marker genes.
In general, I would think that the higher the prevelance of any mental illness the more likely its incidence of presentation for treatment would be. Therefore, more common complaints of anxiety and depression would be more common than schizophrenia, which has a prevelance of only 1%. Also, addiction treatment is a very, very common problem especially in an economic recession. Alcohol abuse is a huge cause of medical comorbidity and also contributes to motor vehicle accidents and death; I would like to see optimal treatment for alcohol abuse. Saying that alcohol abuse or addiction does not exist or is normal (hence should be left untreated), is quite naive to say the least.
70-90% of antidepressants and anti-anxiety (i.e. anxiolytics) are prescribed by non-psychiatrists, such as general practice physicians, family medicine doctors, internists, pediatricians, surgeons, etc. These are physicians not formally trained in mental illness. I would turn your admirable energy to the advocacy of proper use of psychotropic medication by physicians trained in mental illness this would eliminate over-use of psychotropic medications and ensure proper use and diagnosis.
3. Why do they put their parents in nursing homes? I'm assuming you are referring to people in general. I'm not sure for each case. I think caring for an elderly patient who is in severe bone pain dying from metastatic cancer would be a difficult job for a working single mother of 2 children. Putting her mother in hospice care is not unacceptable. Dementia, a neuropsychiatric illness, also can become complicated with patients setting fires by forgetting cooking food. Full-time surveillane can be very stressful for the family members with competing work, family, social, etc. demands.
4. Why are social problems psychiatric? Psychiatric illnesses often lead to social problems more than not. For example, a schizophrenic patient who shows up to the office naked, screaming, and paranoid that the FBI has planted a homing device in his underwear creates a problem which impacts others, hence a social issue. An addict to cocaine and marijuanna happens to be an eye surgeon shows up to work to do a corneal transplant on your family member and "accidently" mistakes the eye for an insect and gouges it out; this would create a social issue. A depressed father of 5 can not make payments and lost his job, results to suicide after killing all his family members while refusing to see a psychiatrist because he was "man enough to care for himself". Yes, these any many many more case scenarios based on actual incidents happen every day in the U.S. and world wide. The impact of refusing mental health care and refusing to treat patients who desire help for emotional, addiction, and other psychiatric illness is tremendous, and I would not want to take responsibility for the moral and ethical implications.
5. When did having a feeling, an emotion become a mental illness? Feelings are natural and can be most healthy to experience, share, and develop. Feeling depressed to the point of apathy, self-destruction, and lack of capacity to care for self or others creates a problem. In the not so distant past and in all of history, patients with mental illness, espcially among Christians, were burnt, tortured, abandoned, or abolished from society many living in caves or essentially torture centers. Psychiatry has come a long way in transforming mental illness and care for patients suffering from egodystonic psychiatric issues. How society veiws mental illness and patients with disease largely impacts how we all care for each other. Just like in the case of AIDS/HIV. At first, the stigma, hate, and fear was unmeasurable. Some religious leaders even labelled HIV as the curse from God meant to wipe out homosexuals; the thought was patients should be left to their own demise without treatment. Thankfully, many folks have left this ignorant approach and treatment for HIV/AIDS is advancing.
6. Is Obama giving stimulus funds to drug companies? Personally, I am not aware if he donates to drug companies. In terms of stimulus money, I haven't heard of money going directly to drug companies. Please go to www.recovery.gov to see exactly where our money is going. Psychiatrists do not run the government; to believe this, would be evidence for the ignorance surrounding the lack of impact psychiatrists have in contrast to financial institutions, automakers, pharmaceutical companies, etc.
7. Do Constitutional Rights apply to persons with disabilities? Yes, they apply to all U.S. citizens. Google "American Disabilities Act".
8. Do you know how much taxpayer money is appropriated for homelessness? No, please give me the exact number. I don't know where to find this fact.
9. Do you know how much is spent on academic consultants who write papers on how to solve the problem? No, please give me the exact number. I don't know where to find this fact.
10. Taxpayers fund psychiatric drugs for homeless persons but have no money for housing them. What special interest arranged that priority? Well, I did not know that no money existed for housing the homeless (see answer to question 8). Honestly, without facts off-hand, I highly doubt $0 exists for housing the homeless; on the other hand, I personally would agree that funding for care of the homeless is lacking. Interestingly, social workers are a good source of information on this issue. This would be a great place to start volunteering for you. Volunteer in a homeless shelter. It is good for the soul. I've enjoyed my experiences in volunteering for the homeless, abused, hungry, sick, and with patients with mental illness. It is more educational than cchr propaganda. Yes, thank you for info on Edward Bernays--what an interesting and influential character in American history!
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menckenlite April 30, 2009
Dear Snake Oil salesman, I am not buying. Drug companies don't get stimulus payments because they make too much money. Please continue your volunteer work helping the homeless. Your efforts are greatly appreciated. What did humans do for millions of years until the priests of the mental health movement appeared on the scene? Since the psychiatric drug industry began has violence increased or decreased? Has learning in schools increased or decreased? Was psychiatry a part of the Nazi movement in Germany and the Soviet system in Russia? Is it only German and Russian psychiatrists who do bad things to humans? Have the genes of Americans been cleansed of mendacity, greed and sadism? Yes, Edward Bernays is right up there being influential and a role model with Adolf Hitler, Joe Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Joe McCarthy, Saddam Hussein. Medicalizing social problems is what the Nazi doctors did.
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jtr03c April 30, 2009
Dear misguided schlemiel,
I am not a salesman or a doctor. Rather, I am a student concerned about the health and wellbeing of individuals and society.
A psychiatrist by the name of Sigmund Freud, M.D. was not a Nazi but rather an Ashkanazi Jew like Albert Einstein. Edward Bernays, also a Jew, was not even a psychiatrist, in fact, "In 1912 he graduated from Cornell University with a degree in agriculture, but chose journalism as his first career."
Once again, you can not answer questions. Your proposed agenda has no solutions or even a structure or plan. Why do you avoid responding to questions? It's like an interview with Sarah Palin.
AGAIN...
Okay, I will answer some of your questions in the hope that you will answer the ones from this excerpt: "Your agenda is to wipe out psychiatry, psychology, social science, and disembowel the notion of mental illness. How does this help individuals suffering and actively SEEKING help on their own? Who would you refer patients suffering with mental illness when they seek help? How would you prefer treating depression and panic attacks? How would you treat a combative and agitated 70 year old male who just came out of surgery for colon tumor resection? Would you let him walk out of the hospital with extreme risk of post-op infection and lack of medical care?"
FYI(BELOW)==>FROM WWW.NAMI.ORG
HUD Allocates Funding for Homelessness Prevention
April 29, 2009
As part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has already moved aggressively to disburse more than $13 billion in funding for public housing modernization, economic development and project-based rent subsidy renewals. Critical among these is a $1.5 billion Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Fund. These funds will be allocated through existing state and local homeless programs by formula. However, there is unprecedented flexibility for state and local agencies to award these funds to individuals and families at imminent risk of homelessness in the current economic downturn.
State and local agencies that serve homeless individuals are already beginning to receive these funds with instructions to direct them in a variety of ways for rapid re-housing including: short-term or medium-term rental assistance and housing relocation and stabilization services, including such activities as mediation, credit counseling, security or utility deposits, utility payments, moving cost assistance, and case management.
NAMI affiliate leaders are strongly encouraged to get involved in the required planning process at the state and local level for allocation of resources from the Homeless Prevention Fund. It is critical that people living with serious mental illness and their families at risk of homelessness be able to access assistance from this initiative.
More information on the Homeless Prevention Fund is available on the HUD website.
The National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH) has also developed resources to help advocates and non-profits get involved in the planning for implementation of this program at the local level before the May 18 application deadline. More information is available on the NAEH website.
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jtr03c April 30, 2009
You once wrote:
"Sarah Palin has executive experience leading the largest state in the union and as a Mayor. Obama is speaker without substance or consistency. This shows as he promotes himself on media instead of solving the problems he was elected to solve."
No wonder I was getting failed Sarah Palin antics from you!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-wellington-e...
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Menckenlite April 30 2009
The way you write shows that you are a student. George Bernard Shaw said, "The road to hell is paved with good intentions." A pre-Homeric Greek philosopher, Cleobulous said, "The chief source of evil among men is excessive good." How does that apply to your "concerns," which merge with the intentions of the psychiatric and drug industries? As a student what are your standards for the "well-being of individuals and society?" Do you and the psychiatric industry have a special secret knowledge that ordinary persons do not? What is the evidence for your "well-being of individuals and society?" Where did you learn this? I am shocked to learn that Einstein, Bernays and Freud were Jewish. I never suspected that. To repeat "my agenda" is to end psychiatric abuses. You flatter me comparing me to Gov. Palin. I never ran for office and never ran a city or a state. Can you share your concern for the "well-being of individuals and society" with her? You ask me questions as if I were a psychiatrist. I am an ordinary citizen focused on ending psychiatric abuses. I do not believe in psychiatry as you do. You ask me as questions about your religious beliefs, psychiatry, and I subscribe to a different religion. You ask me what I would do with "a combative and agitated 70 year old male who just came out of surgery." My question about this hypothetical is "What's the problem? Did he violate any laws?" Your religion has a higher calling above the laws of the nation and of man. The city of Cambridge submitted a plan to end homelessness. If they failed to submit a plan they would not get the taxpayer funds. So they had meetings with about 50 people and submitted a plan. They do this every few years (when there is an appropriation of new funds) so that they can continue to get US taxpayer funds. But they never end homelessness. It is not necessary to make any progress at all. All they need to do to get funds is to submit a plan. They don't try to end it. The City is a member of The Coalition which supports jobs with do little work. It is a way to keep people employed and help them get their pensions. Recall the underlying article is about suicide not homelessness or Gov. Palin. Suicide is one of several issues that NAMI uses to promote more taxpayer funding for more psychiatric drug treatment. If you go to the MA state house when the budget is being discussed you will hear a NAMI mother speaking loudly in support of increased funding explaining that her son committed suicide because he did not get treatment. She never speaks about her role making her son suicidal. I posted a link to US Sen. Grassley's investigation of NAMI and its drug company funding. Did you read it?
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jtr03c May 1, 2009
First you ask, "Do you and the psychiatric industry have a special secret knowledge that ordinary persons do not?"
Readers can easily assume from this rhetorical question that you believe psychiatrists do NOT have special secret knowledge beyond that of ordinary persons.
However, in stark contradiction, you write, "You ask me questions as if I were a psychiatrist. I am an ordinary citizen...."
Well, ACCORDING TO YOUR ORIGINAL OPINION, you do not need to be a psychiatrist to make clinical judgements. So, you should be able to answer, or your beliefs surrounding mental health are fatally flawed, which I believe the latter to be true.
Back to your question at the top of this comment, yes, psychiatrists do have "special secret knowledge" compared to laypersons. Yes, it is called 4 years of college, 4 years of medical school, 4 years of psychiatry residency, passing extremely rigorous United States Medical Licensing Exam Steps 1, 2 CS, 2 CK, and 3. Most psychiatrists also have extensive experience in scietific literature and many in clinical research in psychiatry and medicine.
All medical doctors, including surgeons, train in psychiatry as medical school students.
Is there a personal experience that has made this subject especially of interest to you? It is a shame that not all people experience professional and appropriate care.
I have a degree in psychology, and in 15 days I will be a doctor of medicine (M.D.). Best of luck in your ventures.
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jtr03c May 1, 2009
FYI, psychiatry is not religion; psychiatrists are not priests, ministers, or prophets. Psychiatrists are first and foremost physicians. Additionally, psychiatry and religion are not mutually exclusive. Being Muslim, Buddhist, Christian, Atheist, etc. does not constitute mental illness. Research in mental health shows to the contrary that spiritual affiliation and strong social support leads to greater psychological resilience.
Prior to attending medical school, I was also student of biblical studies and theology. I scored in the national top 20th percentile for the Bible Doctrine Examination--a test taken by pastors in training for ministry. Let me emphasize the point that I firmly believe in the peaceful coexistence of many religions, spiritualities, cultures, and races.
Although most Republicans contribute the downfall of their party during this recent election to Sarah Palin, I believe her superior incompetence was a minor factor overshadowed by the co-dependent, enmeshed marriage of Christians (speaking of fundamentalist, conservative Protestants) to the Republican party, which turned off the majority of open-minded, educated Americans and minorities from different cultural and religious backgrounds. As America embraces the beauty of its true diversity, the dissociation from the Republican party will increase as long as it is identified as the Christian Caucasian clan that it presents itself as today.
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jtr03c May 1, 2009
Wow!
Sally Satel, M.D. is an interesting psychiatrist on staff at Oasis and a survivor of mental illness herself (i.e., depression---http://booknotes.onstreammedia.com/vss-bin/vss_SR/cspan_booknotes/search?template=popup_frame.tmpl&_query=&access=Private&ShowID=1622&_query4=Entire+Program&CspanUserId=&cbin=&asset_id=1123).
Watch out who you quote!!! Watch this video!!
"Oasis Treatment Center provides a full range of skilled and compassionate personnel. The interdisciplinary staff members include professionals specializing in the treatment of addictive disorders. The Medical Doctor, an addiction specialist, provides initial evaluations and our staff Psychiatrist is available for the dual-diagnosed client." (http://www.oasistreatment.org/dual_diag.html)
Dr. Satel's treatment of dual-diagnosis clients involves the following:
"There are three parts to dealing with clinical mood disorders, all equally important to fully address the issue. 1) Psychiatric evaluation and diagnosis followed by regular monitoring of medication with the goal of getting the client chemically balanced. 2) Individual and group therapies addressing specific addictions and co-occurring conditions."
Again, make sure watch this video: http://www.booknotes.org/Program/?ProgramID=1622
By the way, I know very little more about Sally Satel, except that she also writes on contraversial issues and puts forth some odd but thought-povoking questions. Good cognitive exercising it seems. However, the one excerpt I was reading from her book "The Health Disparities Myth" shows that she has really done this extremely important topic of racial disparity in medicine significant injustice.
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Menckenlite May 2, 2009
Dear Doctor Doctor, If I knew you were a doctor I would never question you. Everyone knows that doctors always speak the truth with scientific certainty, and listen to their patients. We are not worthy, forgive us oh great ones. Doctors know it all especially today after all of those exquisite treatments like bleeding, cold baths, electro-shock and neuroleptics. The treatments just keep getting more exotic. Um, is wildly popular Phil Markoff a medical student too? You say, "ACCORDING TO YOUR ORIGINAL OPINION, you do not need to be a psychiatrist to make clinical judgements (sic)." It is not just my opinion. Massachusetts state law gives police officers guidelines to make psychiatric diagnoses. Journalists do it every day. Friends, relatives, prosecutors, neighbors, lawyers, lovers all make psychiatric diagnoses. According to you I am wrong and you are right, correct? So psychiatry is not a religion but the only reason psychiatry exists is because people believe in it. Only psychiatrists can see mental illnesses. Why is that? Along with that special secret knowledge is there some special abilities they learn (or are they born with them?) to see what others cannot see? Isn't that what psychiatrists call paranoia? Many highly educated humans are thoroughly caught up with all of their book learning but have little or no common sense. They can talk and write and sell their beliefs to others not as well educated. But when it comes to applying their knowledge to the real world they are lost and do a lot of harm due to their huge egos. That is a serious problem with doctors. Are you one of them? From where did you get the idea that "most Republicans contribute (sic) the downfall of their party during this recent election to Sarah Palin?" CNN? Chris Matthews? George Stephanopolous? Janeane Garofalo? This was a discussion about suicide, not Republicans, homelessness and religion. Do you have difficulty concentrating on one subject at a time? Would you like to try a Ritalin cocktail on the rocks? Finally! You bring up race. I wondered why it was missing. Your medical professors taught you well about all the important issues, To-The-Media. How will this affect your treatment of humans who disagree with your dogmas?
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jtr03c May 5, 2009
I doubt that you will be one of my patients, at least voluntarily. Have a nice day.
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menckenlite May 6, 2009
US Senate Reveals Drug cos Fund 56 percent of NAMI
http://enoughroom.blogspot.com/2009/05/nami-and...
or
http://tinyurl.com/dzr32w
* * *
http://www.pharmfree.org/
I AGREE that funding must be transparent. In my opinion, public funding should be the primary source of healthcare and pharmaceutical research in all areas of medicine not just psychiatry. Once a drug is developed and approved, private industry could then bid competitively to manufacture and sell the products for the cheapest prices possible. I also support a universal healthcare system free of insurance, pharmacy INC. dominance, and private hospital big business.
http://www.pnhp.org/news/2009/april/testimony_o...
Interestingly (OR NOT) drug companies have had major influences in politics and all specialties--an ethical issue of great interest and debate publically and professionally. Nonetheless, instead of discrediting an entire profession or specialty, efforts must be made to reform and redefine each specialty as innovations are made. Creating hate and fear is by no means a diplomatic method for improvement. Another problem with medicine in general is the resistance to change, which is probably worse than the military or government.
Case in point, Libby Zion died needlessly in NY (1984) likely due in part to over-worked, sleep-deprived doctors (patient's cocaine abuse was also an issue). "Libby Zion law" did not come into place until 5 years later in the state of NY, which limited residents to an 80-hour work week (still many old-school doctors feel that 100-hour work weeks are too restrictive). It wasn't until almost 20 years later that ACGME finally made this a national requirement for all U.S. residency programs. By the way, residents get paid on average $46,000/yr. What does that work out to be, around $11/hr? Registered nurses, with 2 years of post-high school education make 2-3 times this amount.
* * *
It is fitting that your focus as a medical student (unlike Phil Markoff) is on the health care system. One observer calls it more appropriately a disease management system. But this was about suicide. To repeat, my focus is on ending psychiatric abuses. You may have no conception of the brutality of psychiatrists. I'm aware of how diseased doctors murder patients and get away with the first two killings. No snitchin' is the rule among doctors too. You accept the false assumptions of psychiatry. You don't question psychiatrists and their flawed journal articles. You trust the FDA, which is a taxpayer funded lobbyist for the drug and device industries. I'm aware that it is easier to open a rock than a mind. I am not a diplomat. Regarding the fear of insiders (medical professionals included) to speak out about abuses see Stanley Milgram's "Obedience to Authority," and
http://thephoenix.com/Boston/News/82548-Sunshine-on-the-ACLU-a-mea-culpa/
or
http://tinyurl.com/p5anan
Sunshine on the ACLU: a mea culpa
Freedom Watch
By HARVEY SILVERGLATE
Boston Phoenix
May 6, 2009
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jtr03c wrote, May 10, 2009
IF YOUR FAMILY MEMBER, LOVED ONE, OR FRIEND CAME TO YOU WITH COMPLAINTS THAT SHE WAS VERY SAD AND DEPRESSED FOR THE PAST TWO MONTHS WITH ALMOST ZERO ENERGY, NO APPETITE, DIFFICULTY SLEEPING, NO INTEREST IN GOING OUT OR DOING HER REGULAR ACTIVITIES, GRADES IN COLLEGE DROPPING FROM A's & B's TO D's & F's, A FEW REPRIMANDS AT HER PART TIME JOB FOR BEING FREQUENTLY LATE, AND SERIOUS THOUGHTS OF SUICIDE HOURLY TO DAILY WITH PLANS TO END IT ALL BY USING HER DAD'S HAND GUN, WHAT WOULD YOU RECOMMEND HER TO DO IN YOUR PROPOSED ABSENCE OF PSYCHIATRY AND PSYCHOLOGY GIVEN THAT SHE HAS NO HISTORY OF SEEING ANYBODY FOR MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES IN THE PAST AND TAKES NO MEDICATIONS?
I'M NOT ASKING HOW SHOULD A DOCTOR OR MENTAL HEALTH CARE WORKER RESPOND TO THIS SITUATION, ALTHOUGH YOUR RESPONSE TO THIS WOULD ALSO BE VERY HELPFUL. SIMPLY, WHAT WOULD YOU SAY TO HER OR RECOMMEND HER TO DO GIVEN THE FACTS YOU HAVE ABOVE.
AGAIN, YOUR ABILITY TO ANSWER THIS RELEVANT, ON-TOPIC QUESTION MUST BE SATISFIED IN ORDER TO ESTABLISH CREDIBILITY TO YOUR ARGUMENTS THAT (1) MENTAL ILLNESS DOES NOT EXIST, (2) MENTAL HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS ARE BRUTAL KILLERS (SIC), AND (3) MEDICATIONS ARE THE SOURCE OF ILLNESS NOT THE TREATMENT FOR ILLNESS.
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menckenlite May 10, 2009
Why are you yelling? (All caps?)
If my "FAMILY MEMBER, LOVED ONE, OR FRIEND CAME" to me with problems I would sit with him or her and listen.
You say, "THIS RELEVANT, ON-TOPIC QUESTION MUST BE SATISFIED IN ORDER TO ESTABLISH CREDIBILITY." Oh? To what is it relevant? Who made up that rule? Credibility with who or what? Answers to hypothetical questions are traps. Are you willing to volunteer with WHO at the United Nations, or CNN?
(1) You want proof that mental illness does not exist? Here it is (...). Now you prove that it does exist.
(2) Nazi Doctors and Stalinist psychiatrists were brutal killers. Do you think
that American psychiatrists are not like the rest?
(3) I previously cited the drug company friendly FDA black box warnings on anti depressants as one example.
* * *
jtr03c May 10, 2009
I didn't realize that typing with CAPS LOCK was yelling, my bad. It was on so I just used it.
So what does listening without action achieve? Is that the therapy that works? If so, we are getting closer to something substantial now with this constructive discussion. I would definitely agree that listening, empathy, compassion, trust, confidentiality, and insightful reflection are all very therapeutic in a relationship, especially one between a patient and therapist.
Look, this is extremely simple. As an analogy, if I propose that gasoline is bad for the environment and that we should ban all gas burning engines immediately, the obvious response (given that everyone agrees with my proposal) would be, "How the hell do we get to work?" Yes, there must be an alternative solution. So a thorough proposal, hence a credible one, would not only state what the problem is but provide a solution or alternative. In the gas engine example, I could finish my proposal with recommendations that electric engines should be used instead.
Okay, back to our topic of discussion. We have a hypothetical case of a "FAMILY MEMBER, LOVED ONE, OR FRIEND" as described above presenting to you with signs and symptoms of major depressive disorder. Your proposal is that psychiatry is bad. As an alternate or solution, you would prefer to listen to her (the hypothetical girl with depression). What if your listening leaves you where you started. That is to say, she is still depressed and suicidal at the end of your conversation. Then what?
* * *
You brought in a third person with an economic interest. That is why hypotheticals are traps. You add things as you go. This began as a two persons with a positive relationship. You say this is meaningful? I think it is hilarious. The "therapist" is an adjunct. Therapy means to minister. It does not define what is being ministered.
You say "everyone agrees with my proposal." Is that by definition, axiom, postulate or your rules? That is one element that makes this funny. You think that you know better than others and that everyone agrees with you. In your mind perhaps they do.
You ask, "Then what?" What is it that you expect to happen? Yes, then what? Under your totalitarian system it is necessary to act because nothing has changed? If nothing has changed what happened? Has the person committed a crime? It appears that under your system if you do not like what a person says that is criminal and requires action to stop more crimes. That too is hilarious for this nation. Have you ever read the US Constitution or the state constitution where you reside? Try reading the First Amendment. Then read about protected speech. Think about WHO at the UN. You are better suited to another country with the rest of the psychiatric industry.
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jtr03c May 11, 2009
Listening without action?
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menckenlite May 11, 2009
Your negative view of persons accused of mental illness is obvious. Aside from your requirement demanding an answer to a hypothetical, you show your negative bias. What action is needed when two persons talk? What is it that you expect from the person talking? Are you sure you do not want to volunteer for WHO at the UN? Your attitude toward troubled persons fits better in non democratic nations. Where is your proof that mental illnesses exist?
* * *
jtr03c wrote, May 11, 2009
Now, you are just getting plain sloppy. Even responding to simple questioning proves to be overwhelming for you. Furthermore, your use of language and terminology is frequently incorrect and applied without much thought. Honestly, you often lose me in your train of thought. Many times while reading your work, I find myself asking, what the heck is this cat rambling out?
When asked clearly and directly about a case, you defer to obsessively discussing politics, political and organizational bodies, crime, and ministry/religion. For the love of maple oatmeal, I really do not understand the crime thing. I did not mention any legal history in the vignette.
FYI - I do not think depression and suicide are hilarious. I do not believe that everyone agrees with me or you for that matter. I often spend many a nights losing sleep while reading state constitutions...okay, that one is a lie.
* * *
menckenlite May 11, 2009
You posited an hypothetical. Now you say it is a case? Is this a violation of the HIPAA laws?
You ask "Then what?" after talking. Why do you ask that question? I know you do not understand the "crime thing." You think you are helping a person giving them treatment "they do not know they need." You take a person's freedom and force drugs on them, an assault. But you see it as treatment. That is what is a crime, your alleged treatment.
How do you justify putting a person in a hospital against his or her will? It is not for a crime. But you think taking a person's freedom for forced treatment is OK.
Responding to your hypothetical (case?) I suggested I would listen to the person. You asked "Then what?" You don't understand why asking that question is a problem. I know how you think and why you do not understand my response. Without doing an act you want further interference with a person's life. Who are you to interfere with another person's pursuit of happiness? Who do you think you are? You think psychiatry is treatment, but it is an abusive business.
As an example of real world facts, not an hypothetical, read David Rosenhan's experiments with grad student. What they said was used to admit them into a mental hospital. Protected speech under the US Constitution was used as a reason to make the students patients. It is parallel to how you think about what you do.
Think about WHO at the UN. I think you are suitable for that organization.
* * *
jtr03c wrote, May 11, 2009
It's a hypothetical, realistic case or vignette. I do not see the confusion What does HIPAA have to do with hypothetical cases?
In the case, I did not say the patient committed a crime.
Anyways, I would not recommend forced hospitalization or medication to every person who says, "I'm depressed." Not everybody is hospitalized by force as you imply. Most people see a psychiatrist because they seek help on their own free will. Most psychiatric patients are treated in an office or other outpatient setting not a "mental hospital". Most mental illnesses can be managed/treated with talk therapy from a licensed professional counselor or psychiatrist. Only rare, extreme cases result in hospitalization to protect a patient or others from threat of violence, homicidal/suicidal attempts (e.g. Hanging self in closet), or reckless endangerment (e.g. Driving a car into a flea market to run over "aliens" and escape attack from the white bear spirit).
Again, if a patient comes to me as a psychiatrist and the patient asks for medical therapy because talk therapy has had limited results for his/her particular complaint, then I do not see how the patient's free will is violated by giving psychotropic medication. To refuse a patient's request for medical therapy would be violation of his/her wishes; however, medications are often refused because of potential side effects or harm which doctors must always consider in treatment of any disease, psychiatic or otherwise.
To my knowledge the WHO and UN do not regulate psychiatric practice or run all U.S. Hospitals. Reference to these organizations is quite biazzare.
Happy trails!
* * *
menckenlite May 11, 2009
You changed your terms from "what if" to "a case." That is why HIPAA laws came into the discussion. You don't even check your own posts for errors, no less mine. You make up what I say. You are deceptive and a bully.
You never provided evidence that mental illnesses exist. You asked "Then what." after talking to a troubled person. You did not answer why you ask that. What is it that you expect?
Taking a person's freedom is a "good" for you. It is a violation of rights, a deprivation for the person detained. You do not reveal from what state you speak. If you are in MA the standards you suggest for taking a person's freedom are wrong. There are five instances which allow involuntary hospitalization under MA laws. All require a "likelihood of serious harm." You are not the only medical professional (or wannabe) who is ignorant of the laws they abuse. You scoff at the Constitution. You are not unique in that either among medical professionals.
Your most offensive flaw is speaking about things you do not know. You make up facts and base your doctrines on false information and assumptions. That is a dangerous characteristic for a doctor.
I recommend that you join WHO at the UN not because of its psychiatric focus, but to get you out of this country so you do not harm American citizens.
You have a lot to learn. I hope that you are not typical when it comes to arrogant young doctors with little knowledge of humans and the laws. To repeat for the third time I focus on psychiatric abuses, which if you do not improve your knowledge you will be the source of many.
* * *
jtr03c wrote [May 12, 2009]
You are truly an amazing creation! John 3:16
[This Bible citation, John 3:16, is "For God so loved the
world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in
him should not perish, but have everlasting life."]
[This post was removed and replaced by the next post after I asked some people if they thought it was a threat.]
* * *
jtr03c May 12, 2009
Thanks for the conversation; I've enjoyed your passion and willingless to engage on this topic. Take care.
* * *
[Original article]
http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=527841
Study Reveals Suicide Risk Statistics
Published On Thursday, April 23, 2009 11:31 AM
By MONICA S. LIU
Harvard Crimson
Contributing Writer
Writer is Clueless About his Misguided Neighbors
Peter Wilson, Cambridge resident shows he is unaware of how brainwashed his neighbors are about people who disagree with him. There is no tolerance among Cambridge conformists. I've written about this for a few years with no support from anyone. The current editors of the local weekly newspaper began censoring my comments when other readers attacked me personally. That's what the liberals in this case homosexual liberals call tolerance. It is shameful that the people with the most to lose are clueless about how they are hated by their neighbors.
http://www.wickedlocal.com/cambridge/news/opinions/x50624800/Letter-Educate-thyself-about-conservatives
or
http://tinyurl.com/cwz7lp
Letter: ‘Educate thyself’ about conservatives
Cambridge Chronicle
Posted Apr 23, 2009 @ 08:08 AM
Peter Wilson
Peter Wilson, Cambridge resident shows he is unaware of how brainwashed his neighbors are about people who disagree with him. There is no tolerance among Cambridge conformists. I've written about this for a few years with no support from anyone. The current editors of the local weekly newspaper began censoring my comments when other readers attacked me personally. That's what the liberals in this case homosexual liberals call tolerance. It is shameful that the people with the most to lose are clueless about how they are hated by their neighbors.
http://www.wickedlocal.com/cambridge/news/opinions/x50624800/Letter-Educate-thyself-about-conservatives
or
http://tinyurl.com/cwz7lp
Letter: ‘Educate thyself’ about conservatives
Cambridge Chronicle
Posted Apr 23, 2009 @ 08:08 AM
Peter Wilson
I.F. Stone: Spy or No Spy?
Oleg Kalugin appeared on FOX News admitting he was the chief KGB agent in the US. He revealed that the goal of the Soviet Union was to divide the US. They recruited anyone with a grievance. Persons who lost their job, unhappy in love, whatever. Blacks, homosexuals and women had lots of grievances. Today the USA is divided according to breeders and homosexuals, women against men, blacks against whites. Did the Soviet Union succeed? You betcha. Was Kalugin making this up too? In any case I.F. Stone revealed a lot keeping voters informed, unlike today's journalists too many of whom are propagandists.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-04-22/slandering-if-stone/
or
http://tinyurl.com/cn8xcc
I.F. Stone Was No Spy
by Eric Alterman
The Daily Beast
April 22, 2009
Oleg Kalugin appeared on FOX News admitting he was the chief KGB agent in the US. He revealed that the goal of the Soviet Union was to divide the US. They recruited anyone with a grievance. Persons who lost their job, unhappy in love, whatever. Blacks, homosexuals and women had lots of grievances. Today the USA is divided according to breeders and homosexuals, women against men, blacks against whites. Did the Soviet Union succeed? You betcha. Was Kalugin making this up too? In any case I.F. Stone revealed a lot keeping voters informed, unlike today's journalists too many of whom are propagandists.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-04-22/slandering-if-stone/
or
http://tinyurl.com/cn8xcc
I.F. Stone Was No Spy
by Eric Alterman
The Daily Beast
April 22, 2009
Janet Homeland Insecurity Chief Speaks
Janet Homeland Insecurity Chief Speaks
http://blog.heritage.org/2009/04/20/napolitano-illegal-immigration-not-a-crime/
Napolitano: Illegal Immigration NOT a Crime?
Jenna McNeill
Heritage Foundation
The Foundry
April 20th, 2009
http://blog.heritage.org/2009/04/20/napolitano-illegal-immigration-not-a-crime/
Napolitano: Illegal Immigration NOT a Crime?
Jenna McNeill
Heritage Foundation
The Foundry
April 20th, 2009
April 21, 2009
Where's The Outrage?
Where's The Outrage?
This letter was sent to the Wall Street Journal on August 8, 2008 by Alisa Wilson, Ph.D. Of Beverly Hills, CA. in response to the Wall Street Journal article titled "Where's The Outrage?" that appeared July 31,2008.
Really. I can tell you where the outrage is. The outrage is here, in this middle-aged, well-educated, upper-middle class woman. The outrage is here, but I have no representation, no voice. The outrage is here, but no one is listening for who am I?
I am not a billionaire like George Soros that can fund an entire political movement. I am not a celebrity like Barbra Streisand that can garner the attention of the press to promote political candidates. I am not a film maker like Michael Moore or Al Gore that can deliver misleading movies to the public.
The outrage is here, but unlike those with money or power, I don't know how to reach those who feel similarly in order to effect change. Why am I outraged? I am outraged that my country, the United States of America , is in a state of moral and ethical decline. There is no right or wrong anymore, just what's fair.
Is it fair that millions of Americans who overreached and borrowed more than they could afford are now being bailed out by the government and lending institutions to stave off foreclosure? Why shouldn't these people be made to pay the consequences for their poor judgment?
When my husband and I purchased our home, we were careful to purchase only what we could afford. Believe me, there are much larger, much nicer homes that I would have loved to have purchased. But, taking responsibility for my behavior and my life, I went with the house that we could afford, not the house that we could not afford. The notion of personal responsibility has all but died in our country.
I am outraged, that the country that welcomed my mother as an immigrant from Hitler's Nazi Germany and required that she and her family learn English now allows itself to be overrun with illegal immigrants and worse, caters to those illegal immigrants.
I am outraged that my hard-earned taxes help support those here illegally. That the Los Angeles Public School District is in such disarray that I felt it incumbent to send my child to private school, that every time I go to the ATM, I see "do you want to continue in English or Spanish?", that every time I call the bank, the phone company , or similar business, I hear "press 1 for English or press 2 for Spanish". WHY? This is America , our common language is English and attempts to promote a bi- or multi-lingual society are sure to fail and to marginalize those who cannot communicate in English.
I am outraged at our country's weakness in the face of new threats on American traditions from Muslims. Just this week, Tyson's Food negotiated with its union to permit Muslims to have Eid-al-Fitr as a holiday instead of Labor Day. What am I missing? Yes, there is a large Somali Muslim population working at the Tyson's plant in Tennessee. Tennessee, last I checked, is still part of the United States . If Muslims want to live and work here they should be required to live and work by our American Laws and not impose their will on our long history.
In the same week, Random House announced that they had indefinitely delayed the publication of The Jewel of Medina, by Sherry Jones, a book about the life of Mohammed's wife, Aisha due to fear of retribution and violence by Muslims. When did we become a nation ruled by fear of what other immigrant groups want? It makes me so sad to see large corporations cave rather than stand proudly on the principles that built this country.
I am outraged because appeasement has never worked as a political policy, yet appeasing Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is exactly what we are trying to do. An excellent article, also published recently in the Wall Street Journal, went through over 20 years of history and why talking with Iran has been and will continue to be ineffective. Yet talk, with a madman no less, we continue to do. Have we so lost our moral compass and its ability to detect evil that we will not go in and destroy Iran 's nuclear program? Would we rather wait for another Holocaust for the Jews - one which they would be unlikely to survive? When does it end?
As if the battle for good and evil isn't enough, now come the Environmentalists who are so afraid of global warming that they want to put a Bag tax on grocery bags in California; to eliminate Mylar balloons; to establish something as insidious as the recycle police in San Francisco. I do my share for the environment: I recycle, I use water wisely, I installed an energy efficient air conditioning unit. But when and where does the lunacy stop? Ahmadinejad wants to wipe Israel off the map, the California economy is being overrun by illegal immigrants, and the United States of America no longer knows right from wrong, good from evil.. So what does California do? Tax grocery bags.
So, America , although I can tell you where the outrage is, this one middle-aged, well-educated, upper middle class woman is powerless to do anything about it. I don't even feel like my vote counts because I am so outnumbered by those who disagree with me.
Alisa Wilson, Ph.D. Beverly Hills , California
This letter was sent to the Wall Street Journal on August 8, 2008 by Alisa Wilson, Ph.D. Of Beverly Hills, CA. in response to the Wall Street Journal article titled "Where's The Outrage?" that appeared July 31,2008.
Really. I can tell you where the outrage is. The outrage is here, in this middle-aged, well-educated, upper-middle class woman. The outrage is here, but I have no representation, no voice. The outrage is here, but no one is listening for who am I?
I am not a billionaire like George Soros that can fund an entire political movement. I am not a celebrity like Barbra Streisand that can garner the attention of the press to promote political candidates. I am not a film maker like Michael Moore or Al Gore that can deliver misleading movies to the public.
The outrage is here, but unlike those with money or power, I don't know how to reach those who feel similarly in order to effect change. Why am I outraged? I am outraged that my country, the United States of America , is in a state of moral and ethical decline. There is no right or wrong anymore, just what's fair.
Is it fair that millions of Americans who overreached and borrowed more than they could afford are now being bailed out by the government and lending institutions to stave off foreclosure? Why shouldn't these people be made to pay the consequences for their poor judgment?
When my husband and I purchased our home, we were careful to purchase only what we could afford. Believe me, there are much larger, much nicer homes that I would have loved to have purchased. But, taking responsibility for my behavior and my life, I went with the house that we could afford, not the house that we could not afford. The notion of personal responsibility has all but died in our country.
I am outraged, that the country that welcomed my mother as an immigrant from Hitler's Nazi Germany and required that she and her family learn English now allows itself to be overrun with illegal immigrants and worse, caters to those illegal immigrants.
I am outraged that my hard-earned taxes help support those here illegally. That the Los Angeles Public School District is in such disarray that I felt it incumbent to send my child to private school, that every time I go to the ATM, I see "do you want to continue in English or Spanish?", that every time I call the bank, the phone company , or similar business, I hear "press 1 for English or press 2 for Spanish". WHY? This is America , our common language is English and attempts to promote a bi- or multi-lingual society are sure to fail and to marginalize those who cannot communicate in English.
I am outraged at our country's weakness in the face of new threats on American traditions from Muslims. Just this week, Tyson's Food negotiated with its union to permit Muslims to have Eid-al-Fitr as a holiday instead of Labor Day. What am I missing? Yes, there is a large Somali Muslim population working at the Tyson's plant in Tennessee. Tennessee, last I checked, is still part of the United States . If Muslims want to live and work here they should be required to live and work by our American Laws and not impose their will on our long history.
In the same week, Random House announced that they had indefinitely delayed the publication of The Jewel of Medina, by Sherry Jones, a book about the life of Mohammed's wife, Aisha due to fear of retribution and violence by Muslims. When did we become a nation ruled by fear of what other immigrant groups want? It makes me so sad to see large corporations cave rather than stand proudly on the principles that built this country.
I am outraged because appeasement has never worked as a political policy, yet appeasing Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is exactly what we are trying to do. An excellent article, also published recently in the Wall Street Journal, went through over 20 years of history and why talking with Iran has been and will continue to be ineffective. Yet talk, with a madman no less, we continue to do. Have we so lost our moral compass and its ability to detect evil that we will not go in and destroy Iran 's nuclear program? Would we rather wait for another Holocaust for the Jews - one which they would be unlikely to survive? When does it end?
As if the battle for good and evil isn't enough, now come the Environmentalists who are so afraid of global warming that they want to put a Bag tax on grocery bags in California; to eliminate Mylar balloons; to establish something as insidious as the recycle police in San Francisco. I do my share for the environment: I recycle, I use water wisely, I installed an energy efficient air conditioning unit. But when and where does the lunacy stop? Ahmadinejad wants to wipe Israel off the map, the California economy is being overrun by illegal immigrants, and the United States of America no longer knows right from wrong, good from evil.. So what does California do? Tax grocery bags.
So, America , although I can tell you where the outrage is, this one middle-aged, well-educated, upper middle class woman is powerless to do anything about it. I don't even feel like my vote counts because I am so outnumbered by those who disagree with me.
Alisa Wilson, Ph.D. Beverly Hills , California
Exploiting Women
Missing from this report of former NY Governor Eliot Spitzer is his abuse of power using the NY State police to spy on his Republican opponent, Senate President Joe Bruno. That scandal remains unresolved. Prostitution in general exploits women many of whom are sex slaves controlled by international sex rings. Until the government geniuses recognize this and begin arresting men for soliciting sex and bringing the women in from the cold, criminals will continue to abuse these women. Boston is run by Harvard and MIT geniuses who hold paleolithic positions on this criminal institution.
http://bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1166981&srvc=news&position=4
or
http://tinyurl.com/daf8c3
Hooker’s john has it easy
By Margery Eagan
Boston Herald
Tuesday, April 21, 2009 - Updated 3h ago
Missing from this report of former NY Governor Eliot Spitzer is his abuse of power using the NY State police to spy on his Republican opponent, Senate President Joe Bruno. That scandal remains unresolved. Prostitution in general exploits women many of whom are sex slaves controlled by international sex rings. Until the government geniuses recognize this and begin arresting men for soliciting sex and bringing the women in from the cold, criminals will continue to abuse these women. Boston is run by Harvard and MIT geniuses who hold paleolithic positions on this criminal institution.
http://bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1166981&srvc=news&position=4
or
http://tinyurl.com/daf8c3
Hooker’s john has it easy
By Margery Eagan
Boston Herald
Tuesday, April 21, 2009 - Updated 3h ago
Is Alleged Craigslist Killer a Homophobe?
and
Good Police Work? Where's Integrity?
The Boston Herald fails to provide the most important facts. Is this guy a Democrat [peaceful, gentle, loving, tolerant] or a Republican [hateful, ignorant, homophobic, intolerant? Did he support same sex marriage? If he opposed it that explains the crime. What kind of person opposes equal rights for others? Homophobes and Republicans always show their violent tendencies toward women. Perhaps Boston needs a security fence to keep Republicans and heterosexuals out of the city. [Is this Barney Frank?]
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1166993
Murder suspect described as ‘nice, clean-cut guy’
By Laurel J. Sweet, Edward Mason and Jessica Van Sack
Boston Herald
Tuesday, April 21, 2009 - Updated 1h ago
* * *
Where's Integrity?
This is good police work. What kind of work found James Bulger? Bad police work. These are best and brightest going to medical school and to law school? Is the candidate's integrity measured when admitted to prestigious grad schools? We hear of how smart and ambitious these people are. But when they show their lack of integrity [Eliot Spitzer, Markoff, Franklin Raines, Barney Frank] journalists seldom mention what is lacking. Intelligence and competitiveness is no match for integrity. When will journalists and admissions officers recognize what is missing?
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1166983
Web link leads cops on chase for killer
By Boston Herald staff
Tuesday, April 21, 2009 - Updated 4h ago
and
Good Police Work? Where's Integrity?
The Boston Herald fails to provide the most important facts. Is this guy a Democrat [peaceful, gentle, loving, tolerant] or a Republican [hateful, ignorant, homophobic, intolerant? Did he support same sex marriage? If he opposed it that explains the crime. What kind of person opposes equal rights for others? Homophobes and Republicans always show their violent tendencies toward women. Perhaps Boston needs a security fence to keep Republicans and heterosexuals out of the city. [Is this Barney Frank?]
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1166993
Murder suspect described as ‘nice, clean-cut guy’
By Laurel J. Sweet, Edward Mason and Jessica Van Sack
Boston Herald
Tuesday, April 21, 2009 - Updated 1h ago
* * *
Where's Integrity?
This is good police work. What kind of work found James Bulger? Bad police work. These are best and brightest going to medical school and to law school? Is the candidate's integrity measured when admitted to prestigious grad schools? We hear of how smart and ambitious these people are. But when they show their lack of integrity [Eliot Spitzer, Markoff, Franklin Raines, Barney Frank] journalists seldom mention what is lacking. Intelligence and competitiveness is no match for integrity. When will journalists and admissions officers recognize what is missing?
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1166983
Web link leads cops on chase for killer
By Boston Herald staff
Tuesday, April 21, 2009 - Updated 4h ago
The film "Drug Wars: The Camarena Story" is a true story about a DEA
agent murdered in Mexico. It shows how high up the corruption goes. It
was made in 1989, four years after Enrique Camarena was killed.
In the film there is a scene where the US President (Reagan) made a
policy decision to focus on discouraging use of drugs in the US rather
than interdiction.
This was more than a political decision. It involved international
economics. Hillary Clinton Secretary of State repeated a similar
policy statement in March 2009
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7963292.stm
before Obama met with Felipe Calderon Mexico's President. Does that
suggest that not much has changed and the corruption is still at high
levels in Mexico? What evidence is there that the same corruption does
not exist this country?
Images came to my mind watching the part when the Mexican Attorney General was protecting the drug cartels misleading the DEA agents who were investigating their colleague's death. I kept thinking about Harvard University administrators and Massachusetts state court judges. That is not to say that Harvard University administrators and Massachusetts state court judges are as corrupt as the Mexican officials in the film, just that their images came to my mind.
agent murdered in Mexico. It shows how high up the corruption goes. It
was made in 1989, four years after Enrique Camarena was killed.
In the film there is a scene where the US President (Reagan) made a
policy decision to focus on discouraging use of drugs in the US rather
than interdiction.
This was more than a political decision. It involved international
economics. Hillary Clinton Secretary of State repeated a similar
policy statement in March 2009
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7963292.stm
before Obama met with Felipe Calderon Mexico's President. Does that
suggest that not much has changed and the corruption is still at high
levels in Mexico? What evidence is there that the same corruption does
not exist this country?
Images came to my mind watching the part when the Mexican Attorney General was protecting the drug cartels misleading the DEA agents who were investigating their colleague's death. I kept thinking about Harvard University administrators and Massachusetts state court judges. That is not to say that Harvard University administrators and Massachusetts state court judges are as corrupt as the Mexican officials in the film, just that their images came to my mind.
April 20, 2009
Is This Official FBI Policy Statement?
Winters a math lecturer and political expert (?) who was unable to get elected to the City Council describes Larry Ward's actions as "stumbling?" Are his uninspired observations the official policy position of the Boston FBI or only his personal opinion? Is Ward stupid and incompetent or are only smooth talking Harvard and MIT grads acceptable as Cambridge officials? Citizens vote according to perceptions not reality. PR flacks manipulate citizens who remain clueless due to the failure of journalists who are as clueless about politics, history and logic. Larry Ward campaigned as a sincere citizen wanting to improve the city. How many career politicians even appear to be that?
http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=527754
New Councillor Seeks Own Niche
Ward chairs of University Relations committee as those ties are stretched
Published On Sunday, April 19, 2009 11:58 PM
By DANELLA H. DEBEL and SARAH J. HOWLAND
Harvard Crimson Staff Writers
Winters a math lecturer and political expert (?) who was unable to get elected to the City Council describes Larry Ward's actions as "stumbling?" Are his uninspired observations the official policy position of the Boston FBI or only his personal opinion? Is Ward stupid and incompetent or are only smooth talking Harvard and MIT grads acceptable as Cambridge officials? Citizens vote according to perceptions not reality. PR flacks manipulate citizens who remain clueless due to the failure of journalists who are as clueless about politics, history and logic. Larry Ward campaigned as a sincere citizen wanting to improve the city. How many career politicians even appear to be that?
http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=527754
New Councillor Seeks Own Niche
Ward chairs of University Relations committee as those ties are stretched
Published On Sunday, April 19, 2009 11:58 PM
By DANELLA H. DEBEL and SARAH J. HOWLAND
Harvard Crimson Staff Writers
Spitzer's Other Sins
Gasparino suggests that Spitzer's "role as Client 9 forced him
to resign" forgetting his abuse of power using the state police for
political purposes. (CHARLES GASPARINO, "BLAME SPITZER," New York
Post, April 20, 2009)
He also says, "AIG lost its Triple A rating." Wasn't it the three
rating agencies now under investigation for fraud by Cuomo the same
agencies which gave the Credit Default Swaps a Triple A rating?
Planning his return to government service while the state police
scandal remains unresolved shows Spitzer has not lost his arrogance.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/04202009/postopinion/opedcolumnists/blame_spitzer_165277.htm
or
http://tinyurl.com/dkw3wp
BLAME SPITZER
HIS AIG PROBE TRIGGERED FIRM'S BIGGEST MISTAKE
By CHARLES GASPARINO
New York Post
Last updated: 6:01 am
April 20, 2009
Posted: 1:37 am
Gasparino suggests that Spitzer's "role as Client 9 forced him
to resign" forgetting his abuse of power using the state police for
political purposes. (CHARLES GASPARINO, "BLAME SPITZER," New York
Post, April 20, 2009)
He also says, "AIG lost its Triple A rating." Wasn't it the three
rating agencies now under investigation for fraud by Cuomo the same
agencies which gave the Credit Default Swaps a Triple A rating?
Planning his return to government service while the state police
scandal remains unresolved shows Spitzer has not lost his arrogance.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/04202009/postopinion/opedcolumnists/blame_spitzer_165277.htm
or
http://tinyurl.com/dkw3wp
BLAME SPITZER
HIS AIG PROBE TRIGGERED FIRM'S BIGGEST MISTAKE
By CHARLES GASPARINO
New York Post
Last updated: 6:01 am
April 20, 2009
Posted: 1:37 am
April 17, 2009
Homer's Message
Posted to Craig's List Personals:
To the Guy Who Tried to Mug Me in
Downtown Savannah, GA the night before last.
Date: 2009-03-23, 3:43 AM EST
I was the guy with the black Burberry jacket that you demanded I hand over, shortly after you pulled the knife on me and my girlfriend. You also asked for my girlfriend's purse and earrings.
I hope you somehow come across this message. I'd like to apologize.
I didn't expect you to crap in your pants when I drew my pistol after you took my jacket. Truth is, I was wearing the jacket for a reason that evening, and it wasn't that cold outside. You see, my girlfriend had just bought me that Kimber Model 1911 .45 ACP pistol for Christmas, and we had just picked up a shoulder holster for it that evening. Beautiful pistol, eh?
It's a very intimidating weapon when pointed at your head, isn't it? I know it probably wasn't a great deal of fun walking back to wherever you'd come from with that brown sludge flopping about in your pants. I'm sure it was even worse since you also ended up leaving your shoes, cell phone, and wallet with me. I couldn't have you calling up any of your buddies to come help you try to mug us again.
I took the liberty of calling your mother, or "Momma" as you had her listed in your cell, and explaining to her your situation. I also bought myself and four other people in the gas station this morning a tank full of gas on your credit card. The guy with the big motor home took 150 gallons and was extremely grateful! I gave your shoes to one of the homeless guys over by Vinnie Van Go Go's, along with all of the cash in your wallet.
I threw the wallet in a fancy pink "pimp mobile" parked at the curb after I broke the windshield and side window out and keyed the driver̢۪s side. I called a bunch of phone sex numbers from your cell phone. They'll be on your bill in case you'd like to know which ones. Ma Bell just shut down the line, and I've only had the phone for a little over a day now, so I don't know what's going on with that. I hope they haven't permanently cut off your service.
I could only get in two threatening phone calls to the DA's office and one to the FBI with it. The FBI guy was really pissed and we had a long chat (I guess while he traced the number).
I'd also like to apologize for not killing you and instead making you walk back home humiliated. I'm hoping that you'll reconsider your choice of path in life. Next time you might not be so lucky…
- Homer
P.S. Remember this motto...an armed society is a polite society!
Posted to Craig's List Personals:
To the Guy Who Tried to Mug Me in
Downtown Savannah, GA the night before last.
Date: 2009-03-23, 3:43 AM EST
I was the guy with the black Burberry jacket that you demanded I hand over, shortly after you pulled the knife on me and my girlfriend. You also asked for my girlfriend's purse and earrings.
I hope you somehow come across this message. I'd like to apologize.
I didn't expect you to crap in your pants when I drew my pistol after you took my jacket. Truth is, I was wearing the jacket for a reason that evening, and it wasn't that cold outside. You see, my girlfriend had just bought me that Kimber Model 1911 .45 ACP pistol for Christmas, and we had just picked up a shoulder holster for it that evening. Beautiful pistol, eh?
It's a very intimidating weapon when pointed at your head, isn't it? I know it probably wasn't a great deal of fun walking back to wherever you'd come from with that brown sludge flopping about in your pants. I'm sure it was even worse since you also ended up leaving your shoes, cell phone, and wallet with me. I couldn't have you calling up any of your buddies to come help you try to mug us again.
I took the liberty of calling your mother, or "Momma" as you had her listed in your cell, and explaining to her your situation. I also bought myself and four other people in the gas station this morning a tank full of gas on your credit card. The guy with the big motor home took 150 gallons and was extremely grateful! I gave your shoes to one of the homeless guys over by Vinnie Van Go Go's, along with all of the cash in your wallet.
I threw the wallet in a fancy pink "pimp mobile" parked at the curb after I broke the windshield and side window out and keyed the driver̢۪s side. I called a bunch of phone sex numbers from your cell phone. They'll be on your bill in case you'd like to know which ones. Ma Bell just shut down the line, and I've only had the phone for a little over a day now, so I don't know what's going on with that. I hope they haven't permanently cut off your service.
I could only get in two threatening phone calls to the DA's office and one to the FBI with it. The FBI guy was really pissed and we had a long chat (I guess while he traced the number).
I'd also like to apologize for not killing you and instead making you walk back home humiliated. I'm hoping that you'll reconsider your choice of path in life. Next time you might not be so lucky…
- Homer
P.S. Remember this motto...an armed society is a polite society!
Abolish the MA DMH, Save $$$
MA taxpayers fund $2 billion each year for human services corporations. The MA Department of Mental Health is a taxpayer funded lobbyist for the psychiatric and pharmaceutical industries. What other "illness" has diagnoses enforced by the police power of the state and has a state agency promoting treatment? Is there a state agency promoting treatment of rashes and broken legs? Abolishing the DMH would save state taxpayers many millions every year. All 57 states (thank you President Obama) and the US NIMH can be eliminated without any harm to persons accused of mental illness. There is no barrier preventing psychiatric treatment. What rational purpose does the DMH serve?
http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=527731
Mass. House May Cut Local Aid
House puts forth early budget for fiscal year 2010; Cambridge would lose $2.6M
Published On Friday, April 17, 2009 12:29 AM
By LIYUN JIN
Harvard Crimson Staff Writer
MA taxpayers fund $2 billion each year for human services corporations. The MA Department of Mental Health is a taxpayer funded lobbyist for the psychiatric and pharmaceutical industries. What other "illness" has diagnoses enforced by the police power of the state and has a state agency promoting treatment? Is there a state agency promoting treatment of rashes and broken legs? Abolishing the DMH would save state taxpayers many millions every year. All 57 states (thank you President Obama) and the US NIMH can be eliminated without any harm to persons accused of mental illness. There is no barrier preventing psychiatric treatment. What rational purpose does the DMH serve?
http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=527731
Mass. House May Cut Local Aid
House puts forth early budget for fiscal year 2010; Cambridge would lose $2.6M
Published On Friday, April 17, 2009 12:29 AM
By LIYUN JIN
Harvard Crimson Staff Writer
Public Officials Refuse to Help Workers
Cambridge City Councilors say they are compassionate for the plight of the laid off Harvard workers. So why don't they give a part of their income to hire some of these workers? The Harvard Corporate Lawyer Governor has two large mansions and drives a Cadillac on the taxpayer dime. He got $1.6 million for his book which he writes while Governor. Why doesn't he contribute funds so that these workers will stay employed? And most of all Harvard lawyer Obama gave away $187 billion to fat cat bankers and insurance executives. Why not some money for the low wage Harvard workers?
http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=527735
SLAM Protests Staff Layoffs
Published On Friday, April 17, 2009 12:54 AM
By JAMES FISH
Harvard Crimson
Contributing Writer
Cambridge City Councilors say they are compassionate for the plight of the laid off Harvard workers. So why don't they give a part of their income to hire some of these workers? The Harvard Corporate Lawyer Governor has two large mansions and drives a Cadillac on the taxpayer dime. He got $1.6 million for his book which he writes while Governor. Why doesn't he contribute funds so that these workers will stay employed? And most of all Harvard lawyer Obama gave away $187 billion to fat cat bankers and insurance executives. Why not some money for the low wage Harvard workers?
http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=527735
SLAM Protests Staff Layoffs
Published On Friday, April 17, 2009 12:54 AM
By JAMES FISH
Harvard Crimson
Contributing Writer
April 16, 2009
Racism is One Form of Discrimination
Robert Jensen says, "many in the white community are afraid to discuss racial issues" echoing Eric Holder. Could the reason be that people dislike being called racist? That's what happens when white people discuss racism. Black people refuse to recognize black racism which is as offensive but seldom addressed. Jensen promotes a double standard. He mentions "fears that come from being white [saying] that sources of these fears include the difficulty of trying to occupy the middle ground." Huh? What he defines as the "middle ground" is addressing only white racism, a double standard. Why must white people only address one form of discrimination? Why is racism prioritized over discrimination toward persons with disabilities? The law makes no distinction. Both are equally unlawful. Journalists and politicians discriminate based on kinds of discrimination. In 2009 in some communities like Cambridge for example black people get privileges withheld from whites. Why is that not an issue? Whites are only 16 percent of the world population. Why is that not an issue? Is the African American lobby stronger than they want to admit? Does that explain why they get attention while persons with disabilities do not?
* * *
Scobes May 4, 2009
The comment by menckenlite says that "black racism . . . is as offensive" as white racism. This idea has several assumptions that render it ridiculous. One is the assumption that racism is a tool that can be wielded by any person toward anyone else in society. But it isn't. Racism, a systemic tool of oppression, requires the means of controlling the institutions in society. In the US, only one race dominates when it comes to controlling society's institutions. Racism is the orientation of a society toward delineation based on race, which, when one looks at the stark differences between white people and every other group--in income, health, presence in top institutional positions and other factors--is clearly the case in the US. Racism, in other words, isn't something that one person directs at another; it is something basic to the whole society. What menckenlite seems to equate with racism is called discrimination. That's different from what Jensen is talking about. And Jensen's talk was about white supremacy (not of the KKK type but of the almost invisible cultural type); that's why he didn't talk about discrimination toward persons with disabilities. But that only means that he is able to stay on topic, not that he somehow denies other discriminations.
* * *
menckenlite May 5, 2009
Scobes says racism is "a systemic tool of oppression, [and] requires the means of controlling the institutions in society." So when a person calls another individual a racist (as Janeane Garofalo does) that is meaningless? Scobes adds, "In the US, only one race dominates when it comes to controlling society's institutions." Barack Obama is President, but whites control the White House? The Mayor of Newark, NJ is black but the government is controlled by whites? For 20 years the Cambridge police had a black police commissioner but the police were controlled by whites? For 8 of the past 12 years the Mayor of Cambridge was black, but the chief political mechanism was controlled by whites? The Governors of Mass (Cadillac Deval Patrick) and New York (David Paterson) are black and but their offices are controlled by whites? Under that reasoning all African governments are racist. Citi Corp is racist now and Time Warner was racist when Parsons was the CEO? The US House Appropriations Committee is chaired by Charles Rangel, but it is controlled by whites? Then Scobes says racism is a matter of economics and access to health care. So multi-millionaires Cadillac Deval Patrick, Oprah Winfrey and Barack Obama are racists? Or do we measure racism (one form of discrimination) based on collectivism? In that case persons with disabilities are the most discriminated against group in America. 70 percent of persons with disabilities (PWD) are unemployed or underemployed. When persons accused of mental illness are counted it is 85 percent unemployed or underemployed. What corporations are headed by persons with disabilities? Prominent Boston pundit, Emily Rooney, on her taxpayer funded PBS show lamented in April 2009, that making the Boston subway system accessible to persons who use wheelchairs "is an eyesore." When was the last time that a black person was forced to take off all of his or her clothes when he or she went to an emergency room? It happens frequently to persons with disabilities (access to health care?). When police profiling is discussed why are persons with disabilities always excluded? When the city of Cambridge had a seminar on discrimination why were persons with disabilities excluded? When universities have programs for diversity in hiring why are persons with disabilities excluded? Isn't that an example of "a systemic tool of oppression," by persons of color toward persons with disabilities? The issue of white supremacy brings up another one-sided issue. Why do black supremacists get a free pass? But if as Scobes says racism is not an issue of discrimination from one person to another why do so may black persons call white persons racist when they disagree with them? If racism is a tool how can a person be racist? Perhaps Scobes is an older person who is living in the past and cannot see who the President is, who the Governor is and who the Mayor is.
* * *
[original article]
http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=527665
Author Confronts White Privilege
Published On Wednesday, April 15, 2009 1:25 AM
By SAMI M. KHAN
Harvard Crimson
Contributing Writer
Robert Jensen says, "many in the white community are afraid to discuss racial issues" echoing Eric Holder. Could the reason be that people dislike being called racist? That's what happens when white people discuss racism. Black people refuse to recognize black racism which is as offensive but seldom addressed. Jensen promotes a double standard. He mentions "fears that come from being white [saying] that sources of these fears include the difficulty of trying to occupy the middle ground." Huh? What he defines as the "middle ground" is addressing only white racism, a double standard. Why must white people only address one form of discrimination? Why is racism prioritized over discrimination toward persons with disabilities? The law makes no distinction. Both are equally unlawful. Journalists and politicians discriminate based on kinds of discrimination. In 2009 in some communities like Cambridge for example black people get privileges withheld from whites. Why is that not an issue? Whites are only 16 percent of the world population. Why is that not an issue? Is the African American lobby stronger than they want to admit? Does that explain why they get attention while persons with disabilities do not?
* * *
Scobes May 4, 2009
The comment by menckenlite says that "black racism . . . is as offensive" as white racism. This idea has several assumptions that render it ridiculous. One is the assumption that racism is a tool that can be wielded by any person toward anyone else in society. But it isn't. Racism, a systemic tool of oppression, requires the means of controlling the institutions in society. In the US, only one race dominates when it comes to controlling society's institutions. Racism is the orientation of a society toward delineation based on race, which, when one looks at the stark differences between white people and every other group--in income, health, presence in top institutional positions and other factors--is clearly the case in the US. Racism, in other words, isn't something that one person directs at another; it is something basic to the whole society. What menckenlite seems to equate with racism is called discrimination. That's different from what Jensen is talking about. And Jensen's talk was about white supremacy (not of the KKK type but of the almost invisible cultural type); that's why he didn't talk about discrimination toward persons with disabilities. But that only means that he is able to stay on topic, not that he somehow denies other discriminations.
* * *
menckenlite May 5, 2009
Scobes says racism is "a systemic tool of oppression, [and] requires the means of controlling the institutions in society." So when a person calls another individual a racist (as Janeane Garofalo does) that is meaningless? Scobes adds, "In the US, only one race dominates when it comes to controlling society's institutions." Barack Obama is President, but whites control the White House? The Mayor of Newark, NJ is black but the government is controlled by whites? For 20 years the Cambridge police had a black police commissioner but the police were controlled by whites? For 8 of the past 12 years the Mayor of Cambridge was black, but the chief political mechanism was controlled by whites? The Governors of Mass (Cadillac Deval Patrick) and New York (David Paterson) are black and but their offices are controlled by whites? Under that reasoning all African governments are racist. Citi Corp is racist now and Time Warner was racist when Parsons was the CEO? The US House Appropriations Committee is chaired by Charles Rangel, but it is controlled by whites? Then Scobes says racism is a matter of economics and access to health care. So multi-millionaires Cadillac Deval Patrick, Oprah Winfrey and Barack Obama are racists? Or do we measure racism (one form of discrimination) based on collectivism? In that case persons with disabilities are the most discriminated against group in America. 70 percent of persons with disabilities (PWD) are unemployed or underemployed. When persons accused of mental illness are counted it is 85 percent unemployed or underemployed. What corporations are headed by persons with disabilities? Prominent Boston pundit, Emily Rooney, on her taxpayer funded PBS show lamented in April 2009, that making the Boston subway system accessible to persons who use wheelchairs "is an eyesore." When was the last time that a black person was forced to take off all of his or her clothes when he or she went to an emergency room? It happens frequently to persons with disabilities (access to health care?). When police profiling is discussed why are persons with disabilities always excluded? When the city of Cambridge had a seminar on discrimination why were persons with disabilities excluded? When universities have programs for diversity in hiring why are persons with disabilities excluded? Isn't that an example of "a systemic tool of oppression," by persons of color toward persons with disabilities? The issue of white supremacy brings up another one-sided issue. Why do black supremacists get a free pass? But if as Scobes says racism is not an issue of discrimination from one person to another why do so may black persons call white persons racist when they disagree with them? If racism is a tool how can a person be racist? Perhaps Scobes is an older person who is living in the past and cannot see who the President is, who the Governor is and who the Mayor is.
* * *
[original article]
http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=527665
Author Confronts White Privilege
Published On Wednesday, April 15, 2009 1:25 AM
By SAMI M. KHAN
Harvard Crimson
Contributing Writer
April 15, 2009
A Beautiful Woman
IRENA SENDLER
The Nobel Peace Prize doesn't always go to the most deserving!
See why below:*
Irena Sendler
There recently was a death of a 98 year-old lady named Irena. During WWII, Irena, got permission to work in the Warsaw Ghetto, as a Plumbing/Sewer specialist.
She had an ' ulterior motive ' ... She KNEW what the Nazi's plans were for the Jews, (being German.)
Irena smuggled infants out in the bottom of the tool box she carried and she carried in the back of her truck a burlap sack, (for larger kids.).
She also had a dog in the back that she trained to bark when the Nazi soldiers let her in and out of the ghetto.
The soldiers, of course, wanted nothing to do with the dog and the barking covered the kids/infants noises.
During her time of doing this, she managed to smuggle out and save 2,500 kids/infants.
She was caught, and the Nazis broke both her legs and arms, and beat her severely.
Irena kept a record of the names of all the kids she smuggled out and kept them in a glass jar, buried under a tree in her back yard.
After the war, she tried to locate any parents that may have survived it and reunited the family. Most, of course, had been gassed.
Those kids she helped got placed into foster family homes or adopted.
In 2007, Irena was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize..... She was not selected.
* Al Gore won, for a slide show on Global Warming.
GOD BLESS HER May she rest in Peace. She died on May 12, 2008
IRENA SENDLER
The Nobel Peace Prize doesn't always go to the most deserving!
See why below:*
Irena Sendler
There recently was a death of a 98 year-old lady named Irena. During WWII, Irena, got permission to work in the Warsaw Ghetto, as a Plumbing/Sewer specialist.
She had an ' ulterior motive ' ... She KNEW what the Nazi's plans were for the Jews, (being German.)
Irena smuggled infants out in the bottom of the tool box she carried and she carried in the back of her truck a burlap sack, (for larger kids.).
She also had a dog in the back that she trained to bark when the Nazi soldiers let her in and out of the ghetto.
The soldiers, of course, wanted nothing to do with the dog and the barking covered the kids/infants noises.
During her time of doing this, she managed to smuggle out and save 2,500 kids/infants.
She was caught, and the Nazis broke both her legs and arms, and beat her severely.
Irena kept a record of the names of all the kids she smuggled out and kept them in a glass jar, buried under a tree in her back yard.
After the war, she tried to locate any parents that may have survived it and reunited the family. Most, of course, had been gassed.
Those kids she helped got placed into foster family homes or adopted.
In 2007, Irena was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize..... She was not selected.
* Al Gore won, for a slide show on Global Warming.
GOD BLESS HER May she rest in Peace. She died on May 12, 2008
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