The presidency of the United States is a big, big job. Every day, dozens of decisions are made, statements released and executive orders issued on a host of subjects, all in the president’s name. No president could find enough hours in the day to sign all the documents personally, much less delve into the policy details, even if he were inclined to do so, which most presidents are not. Jimmy Carter was inclined to seek out the details; look where it got him.
Anyhow, the office of the president, not the president himself, does many things every day. You might think that even with a president as clearly evil as George W. Bush, one of those thousands of actions taken in his name, some offhand, afterthought action – could be a good thing. You might think that, but you’d be wrong. Evil presidents hire evil aides who carry out those dozens of daily tasks and each is more evil than the last.
In March, for example, the office of the president announced the “New Freedom Initiative” which sets the worthy goal of integrating mentally ill Americans into the larger social community. Mental health issues, like any health issues, are most effectively treated when conditions are diagnosed early and treatment is begun. To that end, New Freedom proposes to screen the mental health of all Americans, but to begin in the schools, where 52 million children and six million adults can reliably be found.
The British Medical Journal reports that New Freedom is based on the Texas Medication Algorithm Project, which was launched in 1995, the year after Mr. Bush was elected governor of Texas. Alert readers will notice Mr. Bush’s team is much more sophisticated with names than it was nine years ago. Although “New Freedom Initiative” may carry a connotation of feminine hygiene products, at least the word “medication” is not prominently featured.
The Bushies kept it out of the name this time, but like the TMA Project, medication is the point of New Freedom. The TMAP – which was founded and funded by the pharmaceutical industry – is dedicated to screening schoolchildren for mental health conditions and supplying “state-of-the-art” treatments. “State-of-the-art” is code language for new drugs the pharmaceutical industry has just patented and for which it receives huge royalties.
A commentator scarcely knows where to begin with this. A group of pill pushers invades America’s schools with the authority to screen everyone in the building and a predisposition toward finding mental illness. Since the Bush administration proposes screening on a nationwide basis, one can only imagine our children’s mental health will be diagnosed to the same high standard Mr. Bush has brought to airport security.
Notice New Freedom does not choose health care professionals as its vector, but school administrators – a class of people likely to gain cooperation from parents, but themselves susceptible to political pressure. Turns out “creation science” and school vouchers were just the warm-up act.
One of the “first-line” drugs prescribed in the TMAP is Zyprexa, an anti-psychotic manufactured by Eli Lilly. Eli Lilly made $4.28 billion on Zyprexa in 2003; 70 percent of those sales were paid for by Medicare and Medicaid. In 2000, Eli Lilly made $1.6 million in campaign contributions; $1.3 million went to George W. Bush and the Republican Party. George H. W. Bush is a former member of Lilly’s board and George W. appointed Lilly’s CEO Samuel Taurel to the Homeland Security Council. Feel safer?
Are kids acting out in class? Forget those time-consuming discipline techniques, just dope ‘em up. What about the teachers? Are they too critical of the war in Iraq, are they teaching birth control in health class or are they showing kids how to calculate the national deficit? New Freedom screeners might just be able to detect some mental illness there, so please, take your pill every morning where we can see you or we might have to declare you unfit to be around children.
In the very best light, the New Freedom Initiative will play reckless games with our nation’s most precious resource. At worst, it will lead to a culture of intimidation and a generation (or two) of citizens in a state approaching mind control, just what Karl Rove needs for his “party of permanent majority.” George Orwell wasn’t wrong about 1984; he was just 20 years early.
Why Johnny Can’t Think
The presidency of the United States is a big, big job. Every day, dozens of decisions are made, statements released and executive orders issued on a host of subjects, all in the president’s name. No president could find enough hours in the day to sign all the documents personally, much less delve into the policy details, even if he were inclined to do so, which most presidents are not. Jimmy Carter was inclined to seek out the details; look where it got him.
Anyhow, the office of the president, not the president himself, does many things every day. You might think that even with a president as clearly evil as George W. Bush, one of those thousands of actions taken in his name, some offhand, afterthought action – could be a good thing. You might think that, but you’d be wrong. Evil presidents hire evil aides who carry out those dozens of daily tasks and each is more evil than the last.
In March, for example, the office of the president announced the “New Freedom Initiative” which sets the worthy goal of integrating mentally ill Americans into the larger social community. Mental health issues, like any health issues, are most effectively treated when conditions are diagnosed early and treatment is begun. To that end, New Freedom proposes to screen the mental health of all Americans, but to begin in the schools, where 52 million children and six million adults can reliably be found.
The British Medical Journal reports that New Freedom is based on the Texas Medication Algorithm Project, which was launched in 1995, the year after Mr. Bush was elected governor of Texas. Alert readers will notice Mr. Bush’s team is much more sophisticated with names than it was nine years ago. Although “New Freedom Initiative” may carry a connotation of feminine hygiene products, at least the word “medication” is not prominently featured.
The Bushies kept it out of the name this time, but like the TMA Project, medication is the point of New Freedom. The TMAP – which was founded and funded by the pharmaceutical industry – is dedicated to screening schoolchildren for mental health conditions and supplying “state-of-the-art” treatments. “State-of-the-art” is code language for new drugs the pharmaceutical industry has just patented and for which it receives huge royalties.
A commentator scarcely knows where to begin with this. A group of pill pushers invades America’s schools with the authority to screen everyone in the building and a predisposition toward finding mental illness. Since the Bush administration proposes screening on a nationwide basis, one can only imagine our children’s mental health will be diagnosed to the same high standard Mr. Bush has brought to airport security.
Notice New Freedom does not choose health care professionals as its vector, but school administrators – a class of people likely to gain cooperation from parents, but themselves susceptible to political pressure. Turns out “creation science” and school vouchers were just the warm-up act.
One of the “first-line” drugs prescribed in the TMAP is Zyprexa, an anti-psychotic manufactured by Eli Lilly. Eli Lilly made $4.28 billion on Zyprexa in 2003; 70 percent of those sales were paid for by Medicare and Medicaid. In 2000, Eli Lilly made $1.6 million in campaign contributions; $1.3 million went to George W. Bush and the Republican Party. George H. W. Bush is a former member of Lilly’s board and George W. appointed Lilly’s CEO Samuel Taurel to the Homeland Security Council. Feel safer?
Are kids acting out in class? Forget those time-consuming discipline techniques, just dope ‘em up. What about the teachers? Are they too critical of the war in Iraq, are they teaching birth control in health class or are they showing kids how to calculate the national deficit? New Freedom screeners might just be able to detect some mental illness there, so please, take your pill every morning where we can see you or we might have to declare you unfit to be around children.
In the very best light, the New Freedom Initiative will play reckless games with our nation’s most precious resource. At worst, it will lead to a culture of intimidation and a generation (or two) of citizens in a state approaching mind control, just what Karl Rove needs for his “party of permanent majority.” George Orwell wasn’t wrong about 1984; he was just 20 years early.
(c) Mark Floegel, 2004