Bush to Screen Every American for Mental Illness
A frightening article made the rounds of Rapid Response – Iowa
this weekend and set off warning bells all around. After checking
and double checking sources and doing further research, the good folks
at Rapid Response – Iowa
determined that this plan does indeed exist and has already been funded
to the tune of $20 million. Oh, and Bush is going to start the national evaluation by
testing and medicating (for mental illness) our teachers and school
children first.
Christina Butts of Des Moines describes why this is so alarming:
“The
people pushing for this have an agenda not to help the truly mentally
ill but to start on an invasive government program to start requiring
testing, diagnosis, and then medication for increased labeling of
behaviors NOT presently listed by American Psychiatric Associations, but
to start falsely labeling enemies, and the public in general for
coercion, control, manipulation, and conditioning – for the benefit of
the powerful corporations in control of the present administration.
[For
people who suffer from mental illness or who have some kind of brain
injury,] the fear and terror that are involved when they are aware that
their every move and response is what can be used to deny them rights
and liberty is barely imaginable by the normal public. To think that a
slow, insidious move like this is trying to be implemented to get the
US citizenry literally addicted and dependant on 'Soma'-type
pharmaceutical drugs, for mood enhancement or combating mislabeled
ADHD or other 'mental illness', is horrendous. No more protests or
wrong-thinking voters will ever be a problem again for the extreme
conservative rightwing. Why try to solve the problems of society when
they can make money and medicate the public to accept and forget.
No more competing with 'illegal' drugs, because now the government and
business can feed the good stuff to us at a market-valued profit.”
Here's the article that set off the flurry of concern, and below, you will find links to further reports corroborating this information.
Now Bush wants to test every American for mental illness–including you! And guess who will create the tests?
By Jordanne Graham, InterventionMag.org
Next
month, George W. Bush plans to unveil a broad new mental health plan
called the “New Freedom Initiative.” Never mind that it couldn’t have
less to do with freedom; if you’re a thinking American, this initiative
should scare the hell out of you.
The New
Freedom Initiative proposes to screen every American, including you,
for mental illness. To this end, the pResident established a New
Freedom Commission on Mental Health, to study the nation’s mental
health delivery service and make a report. It’s interesting to note
that many on the staff appointed to the Commission have served on the
advisory boards of some of the nation’s largest drug companies.
The
commission reported that “despite their prevalence, mental disorders
often go undiagnosed,” so it recommended comprehensive mental health
screening for “consumers of all ages,” including preschool children
because “each year, young children are expelled from preschools and
childcare facilities for severely disruptive behaviors and emotional
disorders.”
Children
and school personnel will be the first to be screened. The panel
concluded that schools are in “key positions” to screen the 52 million
students and six million adults who work at the schools. By doing this,
the commission expects to flush out another six million persons not now
receiving treatment. But who will decide the screening criteria? Bush
and his people? The drug companies? What are their qualifications?
…The Texas Medication Algorithm Project, or TMAP, was named by the commission as
a “model” medication treatment plan that “illustrates an evidence-based practice
that results in better consumer outcomes.” Medical algorithms are a
decision-tree approach to treatment. If symptoms A, B, and C are evident, use
treatment X. In 1995, TMAP began as an alliance of individuals from the
University of Texas, the pharmaceutical industry, and the mental health and
corrections systems of Texas.
…In an article in the British Medical Journal, Jones shows that many
companies who helped launch TMAP are also major contributors to Bush’s
re-[s]election funds. For example, Eli Lilly manufactures olanzapine. This
is one of the drugs recommended in the New Freedom plan. Lilly has
numerous ties to the Bush administration according to the British
Medical Journal. It says George Herbert Walker Bush was once a member
of Lilly’s board of directors. Our current [pseudo-]pResident Bush appointed
Lilly’s chief executive officer, Sidney Taurel, as a member of the
Homeland Security Council. Eighty-two percent of Lilly’s $1.6 million
in political contributions in 2000 went to Bush and the Republican
Party.
Read the rest of the article here.
Here are a couple of links to corroborating reports:
Bush to screen population for mental illness
The New Freedom Initiative (US): Ready To Be Tested?
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