Nearly 50 Percent Of Mental Health Services Recipients In Giffords' County Were Dropped In 2010

Weekly Pulse: Giffords Shooting Reveals Flaws in U.S. Mental Health Services
( - promoted by Paul Rosenberg) By Lindsay Beyerstein, Media Consortium blogger Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) was shot in the head at a constituent outreach event in a Supermarket Parking Lot in Tucson on Saturday. In all, the gunman shot 18 people, killing 6, including a Federal Judge and a 9-year-old girl. Jamelle Bouie of TAPPED urges President Obama to take up the issue of Mental Health care in his upcoming Speech on the Mass Shooting. Several people who knew the alleged shooter came forw...

Shooting suspect fell through mental health cracks
(01-12) 13:11 PST Tucson, Ariz. (AP) -- Jared Loughner had never been in major trouble with the law or overtly violent, but his behavior at his community college was so disturbing that Campus Police gave him and his parents an ultimatum: Get a Mental Health evaluation or don't come back. Loughner went away but his deteriorating mental condition didn't. Just more than three months later, he is charged in a horrific Mass Shooting that killed six people and left Rep. Gabrielle Giffords clinging t...

Shooting Suspect Fell through Mental Health Cracks
Wednesday, January 12, 2011 By Gillian Flaccus, Associated Press Tucson, Ariz. (AP) - Jared Loughner had never been in major trouble with the law or overtly violent, but his behavior at his community college was so disturbing that Campus Police gave him and his parents an ultimatum: Get a Mental Health evaluation or don't come back. Loughner went away but his deteriorating mental condition didn't. A year later, he is charged in a horrific Mass Shooting that killed six people and left Rep. G...

The Media Consortium: Weekly Pulse: Giffords Shooting Reveals Flaws in U.S. Mental Health Services
By Lindsay Beyerstein, Media Consortium blogger Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) was shot in the head at a constituent outreach event in a Supermarket parking lot in Tucson on Saturday. In all, the gunman shot 18 people, killing 6, including a Federal Judge and a 9-year-old girl. Jamelle Bouie of TAPPED urges President Obama to take up the issue of Mental Health care in his upcoming Speech on the Mass Shooting. Several people who knew the alleged shooter came forward with stories of bizarre beha...

Mental health lessons from the Tucson tragedy
The deadly shooting in Tucson last week should remind families of the importance of getting help for troubled Children, Mental Health experts say. While parents can take a young child to a pediatrician, experts acknowledge that getting help for adult children — especially those who resist treatment — can be a challenge. "If you have a Heart Attack or a broken arm, everyone knows where to get services," said Michael Fitzpatrick of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. "If someone h...

Giffords District Unable to Meet Mental Health Needs
The Huffington Post reports: WASHINGTON — In the past year, Pima County, Ariz., where Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and 19 others were shot Saturday, has seen more than 45 percent of its Mental Health services recipients forced off the public rolls, a service advocate told The Huffington Post. The deep cuts in treatment were protested strongly at the time, with opponents warning that they would result in a spike in Suicide attempts, public disturbances, hospitalizations and brushes ...

Involuntary Commitment and the Prison Population
We need legal reform to shift the balance in favor of protecting the community, especially against those who are armed and deranged. This means two changes in particular. First, those who acquire credible evidence of an individual’s mental disturbance should be required to report it to both Law Enforcement authorities and the courts, and the legal jeopardy for failing to do so should be tough enough to ensure compliance…Second, the law should no longer require, as a condition of invo...

Weekly Pulse: Giffords Shooting Reveals Flaws in U.S. Mental Health Services
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) was shot in the head at a constituent outreach event in a Supermarket Parking Lot in Tucson on Saturday. In all, the gunman shot 18 people, killing 6, including a Federal Judge and a 9-year-old girl. Jamelle Bouie of TAPPED urges President Obama to take up the issue of Mental Health care in his upcoming Speech on the Mass Shooting. Several people who knew the alleged shooter came forward with stories of bizarre behavior and run-ins with Campus Police at his commu...

Change mental health laws, Gazette?
From the Charleston Gazette’s lead editorial today: Here’s a yes-or-no question: Should psychotic Jared Loughner have been allowed to carry a loaded, hidden, semiautomatic pistol with a clip holding 30-plus bullets? The deranged young Arizona man paid $500 for a Glock 9 mm and two clips on Nov. 30. He passed a federal Background Check because he had no felony record and his glaring Mental Illness — visible to most who encountered him — hadn’t been certified by a j...

Mental health in Arizona
A family member who made the mistake of glancing at my blog this morning points out that -- more clearly now than on Saturday -- the central story out of Arizona isn't about politics or even guns, but about Mental Health. High profile Crimes committed by disturbed people often produce policy reactions -- Kendra's Law in New York, Laura's Law in California -- aimed at forcing the mentally ill to accept treatment. They're Controversial, and for good reasons, as there's a painful, international ...

Shooting suspect fell through mental health cracks
Jared Loughner had never been in major trouble with the law or overtly violent, but his behavior at his community college was so disturbing that Campus Police gave him and his parents an ultimatum: Get a Mental Health evaluation or don't come back. Loughner went away but his deteriorating mental condition didn't. A year later, he is charged in a horrific Mass Shooting that killed six people and left Rep. Gabrielle Giffords clinging to life. For those living with mentally ill family members or fr...

Giffords shooting about health care not Palin
As far as anyone knows, Jared Lee Loughner was neither a tea partier, nor a fan of Sarah Palin. But he was dire in need of Health Care for Mental Illness. Blaming Tea Party Rhetoric for the Tucson shootings means proving that Loughner self-identified with the Far Right. But the facts suggest his personal political proclivities were as disjointed as his mental functioning. Not to say Loughner’s politics should not raise eyebrows: anybody that subscribes to failed philosophies like MarxR...

Prominent Tucson Republican to Obama: End Politicization of Shooting
As President Obama prepares to address the tragedy in Tucson at a memorial Wednesday evening, a prominent Pima County Republican offered advice to the "consoler-in-chief," asking Mr. Obama to take the opportunity to end the politicization of the shooting involving Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. "I am hopeful the President will lead by example. I am confident he will and that he will ask for people to stop the finger pointing," Pima County GOP Chairman Brian Miller said in an appearance on "Washingto...

Those with mental illness not more violent
WASHINGTON, Jan. 12 (UPI) -- A person with a Mental Health condition is no more likely to be violent than any other person, a U.S. non-profit group says. Linda Rosenberg, president and Chief Executive Officer of the National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare, which together with 1,800 member organizations, serves the more than 8 million adults and Children with mental illnesses and Addiction disorders, says much has been made about the mental state of the accused killer in Tuscon, no ...

Report: Arizona Was The Only State To Cut Childrens Health Insurance In 2010
Report: Arizona Was The Only State To Cut Children’s Health Insurance In 2010 Yesterday, the Kaiser Family Foundation released its 50-state survey of Medicaid programs around the country and found that despite tight Budgets, “nearly all states maintained or made targeted expansions or improvements in their Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Programs (CHIP) eligibility and enrollment rules in 2010.” “This stability in large part reflects the temporary fiscal rel...

Giffordss Jewish Journey: From Israel To Service and Study
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords invited her rabbi, Stephanie Aaron, to accompany her to this year’s National Prayer Breakfast, on February 3. Aaron plans to be in Washington for the gathering, but acknowledges she won’t likely be sitting alongside Giffords, her friend, congregant and Student. The third-term Arizona Democrat was shot in the head, targeted while hosting a meet-and-greet with constituents outside a Tucson Supermarket. Doctors expect her to survive, but her long-term prognosis remains...

MHA of Southeastern PA Responds to Arizona Tragedy With a Call to Repair the Broken Mental Health System
PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 12, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Mental Health Association of Southeastern Pennsylvania (MHASP) (https://www.mhasp.org)  joins the nation in grieving for those whose lives were ended or forever altered by the tragedy that occurred in Arizona on January 8, and in wishing Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and the others who were injured a swift and complete recovery.  "This terrible incident, which reports indicate was the act of an individual with mental Health Problems,...

Police, the Mentally Ill, and How the Former Deals with the Latter
Since June at least three mentally ill people were shot by the SFPD in separate incidents. Two were fatal. One of those killed was a 46-year-old man named Vinh Bui who was holding a knife, maybe a scalpel, when police burst into his home. They were responding to a call about an attack on a 15-year-old girl in the house. Another was Michael Lee, a 43-year-old man police also said had a history of Mental Illness. Lee lived in a residential hotel and neighbors complained about the nuisance his loud...

David Frum Blames AZ Shooting on Reefer Madness
Jared Lee Loughner is accused of shooting 20 people in Tucson, Arizona. The former Bush Speechwriter who coined the term “Axis of Evil” claims a link between Jared Lee Loughner, schizophrenia and pot-smoking. Forget guns, “The Tucson shooting should remind us why we regulate Marijuana.” Much of our culture’s historic intolerance for marijuana grew out of Racism and the quack science used to justify it. Frum acknowledges in his blog post that “The connection b...

Ariz. Sheriff's Dept. Releases Documents on Suspected Gunman's Past Arrests
The Pima County Sheriff's Department released reports on Wednesday detailing its contact with alleged Arizona gunman Jared Loughner prior to Saturday's shooting. You must login to comment. The Fox Nation is for those opposed to intolerance, excessive government control of our lives, and attempts to monopolize opinion or suppress freedom of thought, expression, and worship. Read more... We invite all Americans who share these values to join us here at Fox Nation. 'Cautious Optimism' for Rep. Giff...

Psychiatrist Weighs In On Attitudes Toward Mental Illness After Loughner
What is this? In an opinion piece in today's Baltimore Sun, Johns Hopkins Psychiatrist Larry Wissow argues that there are still real barriers to getting care for people with apparent Mental Health concerns like the alleged Tucson shooter Jared Loughner. Wissow can't, of course, definitively diagnose Loughner, whom he's never met. But Wissow writes, "accounts of Jared Loughner's prior behavior strongly suggest that he was psychotic — not just 'wacky,' but having a definable, treatable menta...

Hannity: 'Reckless Hoax Coming Apart Brick by Brick'
On his Radio Show today, Sean Hannity explains how the the left's campaign to link Jared Loughner with Talk Radio, Sarah Palin and the Tea Party is falling apart "brick by brick." You must login to comment. The Fox Nation is for those opposed to intolerance, excessive government control of our lives, and attempts to monopolize opinion or suppress freedom of thought, expression, and worship. Read more... We invite all Americans who share these values to join us here at Fox Nation. 'Cautious Optim...

Beautiful Editorial from Tucson Newspaper
Dear President and Mrs. Obama, Welcome to Tucson. We wish you were here under much happier circumstances, but we are glad you came just the same. People are hurting and we need all the good wishes and support we can get. We're afraid, however, that the depraved act of one person who has caused so much pain and destruction will give you, and the rest of the world, the wrong idea about our town. And yes, we mean our town. Tucson is an area of about 1 million people, but to many it's still a town a...

Liberals Seek Ban on Metaphors in Wake of Arizona Shooting
After the monstrous shooting in Arizona last week, surely we can all agree that we've got to pass Obama's agenda immediately and stop using metaphors. At least I think that's what the Mainstream Media are trying to tell me. Liberals instantly leapt on the sickening massacre at a Tucson political event over the weekend to accuse tea partiers, Sarah Palin and all Conservatives who talk out loud of being complicit in Murder by inspiring the shooter, Jared Loughner. You must login to comment. The Fo...

Kansas Bill Would Stop Mental Health Exception for Late-Term Abortion
Previously in Kansas,  late-term Abortion practitioners like George Tiller have been able to merely cite the law when doing abortions on unborn Children later in Pregnancy rather than providing medical reasons that supposedly justify the abortion. Kansas law currently bans post-viability abortions unless the continuation of the Pregnancy would present a “substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function” of the pregnant woman. Since 2000, that law has been inter...