Psychiatrists as clerks - unprofessional ?

Conversation overheard on the bus this morning :

               Recovering addict : " The shrink asked me about

    my  insurance plan ".

              addict : " Medicaid or medicare ".

              psychiatrist : " Then you're out of here tomorrow ! "

               addict : " Guess I'll buy another guitar. I a musician

                        you know. "

              I would like to hear him play for the  benefit of the

    shrink the Elvis Presley song: "  You ain't nothing but a hound dog ! "

                My own brother had a stress related nervous breakdown.

      He had an excellent health plan as long as he was healthy.

                His  kind shrink informed him after he lost his

    medical coverage : "  Next stop the IMH. You won't like it

    there at all. And you owe me $80 for the lithium test. "

                My brother is advised to avoid STRESS ! But

    the SYSTEM is clearly not helping him .

Asteroid to end world's misery ?

The astronomers are not  all spaced out when they

    warn us: " The asteroid is coming ! "

             The lucky ones will die with their stock market wealth

    still going up , up , UP ! To astronomical heights !

          A sensitive, objective historian must admit that the

    general misery index of the world has risen as fast as the

    bull market in the last decade.

               At least the asteroid will put billions out of their

    existential misery. If only God were a compassionate conservative,

    there might still be hope .

                 But there is a delirious -DIVINE - joy in

    destruction for the hell of it .

                On the brink of doom , my last wish is that

    Ralph Nader  get at least 5 per-cent of the vote ! 

Lieberman editorial OK , cartoon NO !

I have already observed that Joseph Lieberman is

    a very Jewish Jew. And to be sure, ANY pious soul can be corrupted

    by adulation ( " Lieberman's double run " ) .

          But the cartoon to the right is a bit of nasty silliness,

    surprising in the Projo.

              In no way is Senator Lieberman a threat to the separation

    of Church and State in America.

              I was 90% sure  that I would vote for Nader. Right

    now it is 50/50 . I might vote for Gore & The Rabbi .

               For the record , I find little evidence of a plutocratic

    conspiracy in Projo editorials.  Rich and Poor can both possess

    COMMON sense !

MIT settlement outrageous

I read in the Projo today this odd news item : An MIT

    student drinks himself to death and now MIT will pay

    Scott Krueger's parents $4.75 million.

         Who says kids are just a liability. The insanity of

    the courts! In the world of the common people a drunken son

    would only bring shame to his parents.

        Anyway , wouldn't it make more sense for the Kruegers -

    who should have settled for grief counseling - to use

    THEIR $4.75 million for a  scholarship fund  in Scott's

    memory ?

             How would a working class did be consoled for

    the drunken death of a foolish son ? ( dad )

              With a bottle of beer, no doubt ( Krueger light ? ) .

Going " Dutch " to the altar

I suppose the Dutch have a perfect right to legalize gay

    marriage in their country. My own criticism of gay marriage is

    decidedly Left-wing : If bourgeois marriage is  a farce designed

    to enslave BOTH male and female to the capitalist economic system,

    then what can  GAY marriage be but a farce of a farce ?

             It is remarkably CONSERVATIVE for gays to seek government

    intervention in their -more often than not - wildly promiscuous

    relationships !

            Like the straight couples, gay couples will weep over

    the end of romance - after they foolishly made TRUE PASSION

    legal.

            No I won't stand at the church door to stop this

    abomination. But  I prefer the Wild Ones - the unregistered gays.

    They still have the allure of REBELLION . God bless them !

On their minds - OFF their backs !

For hundreds of years now the average school textbook has

    quite literally weighed down on the spirits of the young. " Watch

    your backs ! " a news item warns them . A broken back should not

    be the price of a well nourished mind.

             Lighten their burden, cruel makers of textbooks !

      Why has no publisher of books yet thought of making them

    - not only waterproof - but with DETACHABLE  chapters.

            Does it take technical genius here ? Check out the

    average high school Biology textbook - or a college  Calculus

    text. Why must a kid carry around the intimidating weight of

    a whole year's course ?

             The secret even of intellectual success is DIVIDE AND

    CONQUER !

            Now back to my  commie political propaganda : Comrades,

    future wage slaves ... "

Dr. Pyles letter in Boston Globe ( Sept. 7 )

Citizens concerned with our deplorable mental health

    care system will appreciate Dr. Robert L. Pyles letter in

    the Boston Globe yesterday ( Sept. 7 ) . Dr. Pyles, past

    president of the American Psychoanalytic Association,  writes :

          " Accumulating research data show that the use of psychiatric

    drugs alone, without therapy, is highly ineffective. "

            I have lived with psychiatric patient whose " therapy "

    consists of little more than lithium regulation. But it

    was obvious to me that the man - divorced and middle aged -

    was " soul sick ".  I concluded  a long time ago that

    that modern psychiatry no longer believes in the human

    soul. And that is very unscientific indeed !

              Can lithium restore a man's faith in life or a good

    God or just a rational universe ?

            Can lithium substitute for " love " - or is that too

    just a buzz word for a biochemical unbalance ?

             Thank you , Dr. Robert L Pyles  .

Hate Crime Demogogues

I STILL admire President Bill  Clinton - and would

    vote for him again for a third term, if that were possible. But

    Bill is wrongheaded  - if well intentioned - on this hate crime

    business. In his final months in office, he wants to make hate

    crime legislation a top priority.

            The mean spirited Republican ogres are  truly RIGHT on

    this inflammatory issue. Must we believe that they are titillated

    by heinous " hate crimes " ?

             Oddly enough - most liberals REJECT the death penalty and

    rightly so. So what is the ultimate legal punishment for a hate

    crime offender ? Just what is already  in the law books !

               It is indeed un -democratic to make CLASS laws . By

    the way why not protect the RICH against hate crime since they

    are the object of so much maniacal jealously ?  How

    many communists would be found guilty of HATE CRIME ?

              No, I don't feel sorry for the rich . Just alarmed

    at fatuous thinking .

All religions equal -honestly ?

Being an atheistic, communist, liberal, born again Catholic

    patriot, I read with amusement this morning that Holy Mother

    Church fancies herself the fairest of the fair in the eyes of

    the Lord.

            Cannot we indulge an old lady's vanity here ? Does

    an orthodox Jew believe that one religion is as good as another ?

    Clearly the Church is only being intellectually honest and

    very politically incorrect. But it endures.

           Dominus Vobiscum !

Suggestion on CNA shortage in R.I.

The story on the nursing home crisis , the shortage of

    CNAs , ( "  Nursing Homes struggle to find enough ", Sept. 3 )

    brought back memories of my experience at Bannister House

    Nursing Home in the early 80s .

            To be sure , the nursing staff was overworked, underpaid,

    and underappreciated. But FEAR - there was high unemployment

    at the time - literally kept them ( many were black ) in

    their place.

            I knew how GOOD many of them were at their jobs. I

    concluded that the job EXPLOITED your conscience.

           Anyway, how to solve the HELP problem in our

    nursing homes ?

          To begin with no CNAs should be working for less than

    $10 per/hour. There are many born saints working in Rhode

    Island nursing homes .  Their kindness and competence is

    assured under all conditions.

             But it is scandalous that society does not show its

    respect for nursing home workers with RESPECTABLE pay.

            Imagine having to flee socially significant work for

    the  gambling lunacy of Foxwoods ( Carol Martino's story ) !

             Perhaps  attracting more part time - always FRESH -

    help is part of the solution. Why  can't the state and

    the nursing homes get together to GUARANTEE health care

    benefits - IMMEDIATE benefits - to  part time nursing

    assistants working at least 20 hours per/week ?


            Happier workers are KINDER workers. And don't

    elderly people deserve to be surrounded by a little kindness

    before checking out of this world forever ?

           For ALL of us Judgment Day may be nearer than we

    think !