Joe Biden, Gun Control and his Mental Health Scam!

     During the 2012 Presidential campaign, Vice President Joe Biden did his best drunken sailor routine as he debated Representative Paul Ryan. It was here that rather than answering questions in a proper and dignified manner, he called every answer given by his opponent Malarkey, which is essentially slang for nonsense. Though time has revealed that most of what Biden said would be categorized more closely as Malarkey, he continues to spread his ignorance to new levels,  Which gets us to the current administrations recent proposal to amend the deficiencies in mental health treatment.

     It must be remembered that he has spent most of his time after tragedies in Aurora Colorado, Tucson Arizona and Newton Connecticut demonizing gun owners and attacking groups like the Tea Party and of course Sarah Palin who had nothing to do with these killings. So with fanfare, it is thrilling to see him take a pause to address the core issue, mental illness. On the Anniversary of the Newton Connecticut massacre, and nearly 3 years after the tragedy in Tucson Arizona,  Mr. Biden pledged that this administration was now going to make available, 100 Million dollars to improve the mental health system. He boasted that this was a new frontier for those that suffer with these disorders. Well the truth is this proposal, like many of this administrations answer to these tragic shootings, is nothing more than Malarkey!

     To begin with, numbers do not lie. With about 50 million people in this country having a diagnosable mental illness, his proposal amounts to about 2 dollars a person, about the cost of a cup of coffee. For Biden's sake, let's go back and find the true understanding of where the failures in the mental health system began, and how Biden should be in the center of the storm of this decay.

     In 1963, President John F. Kennedy began the process of deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill. His motives were to move those in mental health facilities back into their communities to assist in their recovery. This bold move coincided with the increased knowledge of the physiology and treatability of those afflicted. This plan would allow more and more people to live happy productive lives with easy access to treatment.  Part of the funding that was saved from closing these hospitals was to be earmarked to community treatment centers so the patients could have access to the needed treatment. Sadly, the Democratic House and Senate instead used that money for many useless pork barrel projects, and the centers were never built, leaving the patients to fend for themselves.

     It was back then that the seeds were planted for these tragedies. Police shootings involving the mentally ill were common place because they were never provided training to become, by default, the new mental health care workers. In response, new and innovative programs were developed by the local police and mental health advocates to deal with this new problem. This effort and insight led to fewer violent confrontations with the mentally ill. This successful effort was accomplished in spite of the Joe Biden's of the world.

     In 2002 Former President George W. Bush established the New Freedom Commission on Mental health, which proposed several changes to the current mental health system. It centered on early intervention and treatment, and most importantly, on eliminating the stigma of mental illness. The commission's findings were largely ignored by Biden, though many consumer groups widely embraced the proposed changes.

     Throughout this debate, the Biden Obama team have done something that is incomprehensible, and untrue, they categorized those with mental illness with violence. This archaic thinking was addressed in that commission's findings; "For our Nation to reduce the burden of mental illness, to improve access to care, and to achieve urgently needed knowledge about the brain, mind and behavior, stigma must no longer be tolerated." It is unlikely that Biden read this report, because it was not politically advantageous to him. Instead, he demonizes law abiding gun owners while discriminating against those with afflictions of the brain.      

     Encouragingly, there are some true heroes emerging. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, a demon of the Liberal left and friend of the castigated Tea Party, increased mental health treatment funding in Wisconsin by 29 million. In essence, he placed a much higher priority on treating those with an unwanted illness, then Barack Obama and Joe Biden. However, gun control puts Obama and Biden on the front page.

     Now let us contrast this financial offering of this administration with the money being spent by the gun control PACS. New York Mayor Bloomberg injected 9 million of his own money into his super PAC, and raised at least 12 million more, to elect those that wish to impose stringent gun laws. As of July of this year, Former Congresswoman Gabrielle Gifford's, who was seriously wounded in the shooting in Tucson, announced her gun control PAC had raised over 6 million in the first 6 months of operation. As the list grows, it would not be a stretch to say that the gun control organizations will spend more on their Gun Control efforts which will have little impact on preventing mass shootings, then this 100 million touted by Biden. Not surprisingly, none of these "advocates" talk about the lack of action on their parts as the mental health safety net slowly collapsed. This inaction includes Gabrielle Gifford's tenure in the United States Congress.

     In 1972, Joe Biden was first elected to the US Senate and became a career politician. In his over 40 years in office, many in a leadership role, he has done nothing of any significance in turning the tide of funding for those left out in the cold on deinstitutionalization. There is no evidence that he attempted in any way, to revive funding for the community mental health centers promised by President Kennedy. In essence, if he wants to see a serious culprit in the mental health deterioration, he should stop blaming Sarah Palin, the Tea Party and groups such as them, he should look in the mirror, and I am certain he may finally understand who is the true villain. What is that old saying;"we have met the enemy, and it us"