A Prayer for Lee Eisenberg..A Call for Help

You know, I am old enough to remember when Ronald Reagan decided to mainstream (a polite word for throw them out into the streets) program of cutting all funding to the mental hospitals in our country.

This began what is now known are perhaps the greatest horror story in this country.  Please take a moment to look this up.  This country has always had homeless people, and always will.

But this flagrant beginning of starting from the bottom up to dismantle those that are in most need, was what I heard today....did you?

Please forgive me for this not being one of those diary's that are all filled with facts and figures, but what I saw today, was just another human being (who I have a feeling when the facts come out)....was denied mental health benefits (which is part and parcel) by the Corporate Godzillas health care industry that are just turning down people that are crying out for help to get their lives back on tract, and are being thrown under the bus.

I try to look at this from their point of view...knowing how many of our military are being denied this same kind of help now.....They are lost, they are lonely, they need help, they need some understanding, they don't want to feel the way they do, but no one answers them.  No one is there, no one cares.  Suicide in the military has skyrocketed...is anyone doing anything about it?  No. Post Traumatic Syndrome is out of control.  Is anyone doing anything about it?  No.   An inordinate amount of homeless men are from the Vietnam War...is anyone doing anything about it?  NO, NO, and NO.

I wonder in my heart, why he picked Hilary's office...Was it because she tried to do something about Health Care in the past? I'm not sure, but he wanted to talk to her, he wanted to express his pain to someone that would listen, and perhaps, have the courage to get his message across.

Will that happen?  Probably not, but if Hilary had courage and guts and fortitude, I wish with all my heart, that she would at least find out, take 10 minutes out of her "busy schedule" and find out what this man wanted...

I am not condoning his actions, but you know what?  He is only one of thousands of Americans, thrown into the streets.  He represents to me, in a strange way, "what America used to be like"....we used to take care of our own....

I quoted this earlier, but will again:  "A civilized society that no longer takes care of its' children, its elderly and its indigent, no longer has the right to call its self a civilized society"....I wish to hell I could remember who said that...a Greek teacher...at least I remember that....but I regress...

When Ronald Reagan began to dismantle our basic systems to "let us ever be mindful of those less fortunate than ourselves" with an ax that cut into the souls of the heart of America, then it all just feel down.  "Tear down that Wall, Mr. Gorbachave....and why you do that, I'll be doing the same.

Today we all heard a call for help, but this man was one of hundreds and thousands that need that help, and I think it was karma and appropriate and the right thing, when one of those people put a bullet in Ronald Reagan....maybe he had a few second thoughts, but I think not.....No one else has, have we....?

Badabing

•  I agree. 5 men were killed here in Albuquerque

  a year or so ago by a man with schizophrenia who had been begging for an appointment. His family also had called Pres for appointments for him telling them he was actively psychotic and paranoid, off his meds and could be dangerous.  But Pres gets a set amount per person on their list so if they give care that lowers profits. So they deny or string along those that they can get away with doing so.

  Two of the men killed were cops -- when the family finally got a pick up order.

  Pres is a large donor to Bill Richardson's campaigns. It has paid off handsomly for them.

  sam

  by samddobermann on Sat Dec 01, 2007 at 02:59:51 AM PDT

•  Reagan did soo much harm to the poor, now Bush

  has made the middle class the poor.
  Clinton made the future hopeful and made us believe we could achieve anything we worked hard for.

  Ten years ago this was a hopeful country.
  Now it is in a dark fog.
  People are suffering, the mental stress caused by tis administration is making so many more mentally ill.

  The young people and the returing troops will take care of getting rid of the conservatives and their ideas this time, like last time, but this time they will never let them get anywhere close to control again.

  The troops are needing and going to need so much mental illness care.
  That will make it more available, someday.
  After Bush and co is gone.

  by Mulkum on Sat Dec 01, 2007 at 03:24:42 AM PDT

•  Excellent observation

  All I saw was a frightened person at the end of his rope.  We need universal health care especially mental health.

  by M Sullivan on Sat Dec 01, 2007 at 03:49:06 AM PDT

•  RayGun was an evil person

   I remember when he emptied the wards -- the people were then warehoused in cheap housing -- around colleges. They sit on the porch -- or the real nuts would expose themselves in windows. I think they were doing what ever they could think of to get back into the hospital. For some that was the only life they knew.

   Now many of these people are warehoused in prisons -- and that's where they get their meds. Or their the homeless people -- sleeping in alleys.

   Health Care and Mental health care -- what a f***ed up mess.

   I really don't know what else HRC can do -- generally when individuals get this bad you CANNOT talk to them. They need to be in a hospital getting help.

   Basically she did the right thing -- she acknowledged that this person had a problem and then she dealt with her staff. HE got the attention and hopefully the help he needs -- HER staff now needs help.

   The un-hospitalized mental patients can traumatize anyone who comes in contact with them. Some crazy people believe they are normal -- there is ABSOLUTELY NO TALKING TO THEM -- you cannot use logic. They are in their own crazy world. If you have a family member who has major mental health issue -- then you know what I mean. Psychotic breaks with reality -- means treatment in a secure facility. This guy should have been in treatment -- not on the streets and not terrorizing his family.

   What they need is a safe place where they can go and get help.

   LACK of Mental health care in the US is a huge issue and damned it to hell -- Tipper Gore would have lead the way. But we've had 7 years of fufu Laura bush-head-idiot -- and her horrible self centered daughters. But then their father should have been put in a nut house and locked up forever. He's a psychopathic killer.

  by Carib and Ting on Sat Dec 01, 2007 at 03:56:18 AM PDT

•  The guy was an alcoholic and the damage

  alcohol does to the brain is massive.
  I am separated from a severe alcoholic and when he was drunk he became violent and bizarre on so many levels.

  The few times he asked for help and I'd get on the phone looking for a rehab there were weeks and months of waiting list.

  When a person cries out for help they need it THEN and THERE and the resources are not available. After that moment of wanting help goes by with no help, the alcoholic goes back to his regular drinking habits until the next bottom-hit.

  Alcoholism is rampant and dangerous to everyone who is touched by it. Everyone knows this but there seems to be no real solution and certainly not enough resources to stop it.

  "Time is for careful people, not passionate ones"

  by roseeriter on Sat Dec 01, 2007 at 04:10:04 AM PDT

•  The best thing that can come from this

  is that it highlight the damage that Reagan and the Repugs have done to all of those with mental illness

  by wtxdem on Sat Dec 01, 2007 at 05:28:07 AM PDT

•  But . . . but

  we have all those great new privatized prisons.  What's the problem?

  by marykk on Sat Dec 01, 2007 at 05:57:08 AM PDT

•  The mentally ill have no voice and no vote

  ....and the heartless conservatives, starting with Ronald Raygun, have pushed them aside.  This is a human rights issue.  We measure the greatness of a society like ours by the way it treats those with no voice and no power....like the mentally ill.

  These people live in a hell few of us can imagine.

  They need to have universal healthcare coverage so they can get the care they need.  

  by Trial Lawyer Richard on Sat Dec 01, 2007 at 06:44:56 AM PDT

•  Thank you for your compassion.

  If there is one attribute that is in short supply in America, it is compassion. Compassion is what separates the enlightened from the unenlightened.

  by brjzn on Sat Dec 01, 2007 at 07:01:51 AM PDT