Just damn.
If you want on the list, FReepmail me. This IS a high-volume PING list...
Posted on 06/21/2004 10:19:15 PM PDT by JohnHuang2
President Bush plans to unveil next month a sweeping mental health initiative that recommends screening for every citizen and promotes the use of expensive antidepressants and antipsychotic drugs favored by supporters of the administration.
The New Freedom Initiative, according to a progress report, seeks to integrate mentally ill patients fully into the community by providing "services in the community, rather than institutions," the British Medical Journal reported.
Critics say the plan protects the profits of drug companies at the expense of the public.
The initiative began with Bush's launch in April 2002 of the New Freedom Commission on Mental Health, which conducted a "comprehensive study of the United States mental health service delivery system."
The panel found that "despite their prevalence, mental disorders often go undiagnosed" and recommended comprehensive mental health screening for "consumers of all ages," including preschool children.
The commission said, "Each year, young children are expelled from preschools and childcare facilities for severely disruptive behaviors and emotional disorders."
Schools, the panel concluded, are in a "key position" to screen the 52 million students and 6 million adults who work at the schools.
The commission recommended that the screening be linked with "treatment and supports," including "state-of-the-art treatments" using "specific medications for specific conditions."
The Texas Medication Algorithm Project, or TMAP, was held up by the panel as a "model" medication treatment plan that "illustrates an evidence-based practice that results in better consumer outcomes."
The TMAP -- started in 1995 as an alliance of individuals from the pharmaceutical industry, the University of Texas and the mental health and corrections systems of Texas -- also was praised by the American Psychiatric Association, which called for increased funding to implement the overall plan.
But the Texas project sparked controversy when a Pennsylvania government employee revealed state officials with influence over the plan had received money and perks from drug companies who stand to gain from it.
Allen Jones, an employee of the Pennsylvania Office of the Inspector General says in his whistleblower report the "political/pharmaceutical alliance" that developed the Texas project, which promotes the use of newer, more expensive antidepressants and antipsychotic drugs, was behind the recommendations of the New Freedom Commission, which were "poised to consolidate the TMAP effort into a comprehensive national policy to treat mental illness with expensive, patented medications of questionable benefit and deadly side effects, and to force private insurers to pick up more of the tab."
Jones points out, according to the British Medical Journal, companies that helped start the Texas project are major contributors to Bush's election funds. Also, some members of the New Freedom Commission have served on advisory boards for these same companies, while others have direct ties to TMAP.
Eli Lilly, manufacturer of olanzapine, one of the drugs recommended in the plan, has multiple ties to the Bush administration, BMJ says. The elder President Bush was a member of Lilly's board of directors and President Bush appointed Lilly's chief executive officer, Sidney Taurel, to the Homeland Security Council.
Of Lilly's $1.6 million in political contributions in 2000, 82 percent went to Bush and the Republican Party.
Another critic, Robert Whitaker, journalist and author of "Mad in America," told the British Medical Journal that while increased screening "may seem defensible," it could also be seen as "fishing for customers."
Exorbitant spending on new drugs "robs from other forms of care such as job training and shelter program," he said.
However, a developer of the Texas project, Dr. Graham Emslie, defends screening.
"There are good data showing that if you identify kids at an earlier age who are aggressive, you can intervene ... and change their trajectory."
Wow...that was scary.
Fool that I am, I checked my ping-page before hitting the sack. :)
The problem is more subtle -- and crooked -- than that. Actually, the teachers hate it, because it makes it damn near impossible to teach their clases. Clarification -- the teachers except for the "special ed" teachers hate it.
But ah, there's the rub. The ones that really love it are the administrators. Here's the deal: They don't have enough "special ed" teachers, because 1) they cost more than "regular" teachers, and 2) at the wholesale rate they're going "domini domini domini, you're a special ed student", there's no way they could ever hope to channel all the special ed kids into special ed classes.
The result is a lot of seriously messed-up kids thrown into regular classes, where the only thing that gets accomplished (besides more taxbux to the coffers) is major league disruption on an ongoing basis.
And yeah, they *do* shove 'em into any and every class, including "advanced computers". They also still illegals who can't speak a word of English into those classes too. Why? $$$ That's why. Not for the teachers, either. No one wants to believe it, but administration is so bloatedly top-heavy that it's a wonder it doesn't collapse of its own weight. Incredible cronyism, incredible featherbedding -- and no union involved in the process. And, administrator salaries go up each year at a rate that leaves teacher wages in the dust.
Teachers here don't even make COLA. They don't keep up with inflation. Administrators leave it in the dust.
And the f'n union?
Too damn busy stumping and humping for Jenni and Kerry to bother negotiating a decent contract.
The picture you get in the press about "teachers and unions" ain't 'zackly how it is in the real world. Maybe in the big cities it's different, but out here in flyover country, it's a whole 'nuther thing from the way we see it in the news.
Danke!
Now I'm really outta here.
Just damn.
If you want on the list, FReepmail me. This IS a high-volume PING list...
Thank you for the link. Once again, a paper with a reputation for over-the-top sensational articles posts an article filled with hysterical assertions without any effort to back them up with facts, and people just believe it.
I'm gonna have to not believe this one until I see it.
Bush could not be that stupid. Rove maybe, not Bush.
Screening for every citizen ... hmmm.
I think Bush needs a screening. Who is going to end up paying for this program? Taxpayers.
Has Bush lost his mind?
I motion that he be the first one screened under this new proposal.
This can not be for real. It's just way too twisted.
Just get the listing of all registered far lefty groups to start. The only ones in that gene pool that won't be crazy are the dead ones....
Good Comment! Kudos to you from Houston.
I can't believe that YOU bought this ridiculous article.
What about this article makes you think it's credible? The fact that World Net Daily published it? The fact that the author's name isn't even published? The hysterical nature of the article? Or maybe it's the fact that no proof, no confirmation, no evidence is offered up to support the assertions made in the article.
IF THIS IS TRUE . . . the Republican Party just lost this chick.
Thank you, neighbor!
"Could have found this" LOL
Silly goose. I remember the speech when it was given.
Your point is.....what?
bumpkins
...Mental Illness= Spoiled brats getting away with whatever they can...
Dec31,1999... Your ignorance is blinding...
Bears repeating.
Typos or not, it's the most logical post on this thread so far.
The mere suggestion of this, is outrageous by *any* measure. What are these people thinking?
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