The guy in the standoff in Los Angeles today is:

[Mari333]

A Westchester man suspected of making a threat against the White House poses no danger, but sometimes becomes loud and profane when he fails to take his medication for mental illness, his neighbors said today.

"The guy is harmless, but once he gets off his meds he is screaming profanity," said one neighbor.

Neighbors and his mother identified the man as Joe Moshe, 56. Moshe fled from U.S. Secret Service agents and Los Angeles police officers Thursday, leading a chase in a 2002 Volkswagen Beetle up the San Diego (405) Freeway.

He stopped near the Federal Building in Westwood and is engaged in a standoff with law enforcement officers.













http://www.dailybreeze.com/ci_13054596

56 yr old male, mentally ill and goes crazy without meds. made threats against White House.

[HopeHoops]

1. That's a long way for a VW beetle to get to the WH.

I doubt he would make it.

[JuniperLea]

2. I dunno...

I used to go to Mexico to watch VW Beetles race... in the desert... in the heat and dust. Damn things go forever on very little.

[HopeHoops]

4. I just meant he doesn't seem to be much of a threat that far off in a small car.

I don't care WHAT kind of mileage it gets - he would need gas at some point.

[AuntPatsy]

6. You'd be surprised then...a friends brother is schizophrenic, and unknowingly

to the mother had quit taking his meds....he drove from california to new york all by his lonesome and hadn't been behind the wheel by himself in years...

[JuniperLea]

8. I know s schizophrenic just like that...

Nothing is impossible, because they believe they can do it. Weird!

I think it's dangerous labeling anyone like this "not a threat." It's not their fault they are ill, but when they get to this stage of the game, they need watching for their own safety as well as the safety of others.

[AuntPatsy]

20. They are very dangerous and one of those dangers is the fact that our country

no longer cares squat about the mentally ill so they are simply kept drugged up because we all know how the pharmaceutical companies are in cahoots with the government and there is definitely money to be had since so many are in need...


Makes me sick how little care and or thought is given for american citizens who are in need of true medical care for their mental disabilities and yes that makes them dangerous because sadly...they will never be cured, simply drugged to mask the problems..

And when someone of that magnitude of mental disabilities does not stay drugged up as they are prone not to do, they strike and the media jumps on the bandwagon of..."oh my, why didn't someone do something" never answering thier own questions with the right response..."because unless you are a millionaire there is NO help available...

[JuniperLea]

21. "because unless you are a millionaire there is NO help available..."

Yep, bottom line.

Families are guilted into taking care of their loved ones, without any assistance with understanding the diseases, and no experience in handling the situation. And when they throw up their hands and give up, they are guilted again by society.

I work in Downtown LA, and I go through the skid row area every day on my way to and from the freeway. The numbers of homeless are increasing drastically, and among them are many who clearly need to be in a mental care facility.

Now we have thousands lining up for free health care... from doctors and other health professionals who normally volunteer their time in third-world countries. What does that make us, but also a third-world country? It sickens me.

We are a moral and ethical failure to allow these people to live on the streets, and to get their health care at a sports arena, lined up like animals... it's disgusting and embarrassing to be us.

[AuntPatsy]

22. You state the obvious so brilliantly.....and this country should be ashamed.....

We are a moral and ethical failure to allow these people to live on the streets, and to get their health care at a sports arena, lined up like animals... it's disgusting and embarrassing to be us.

As you have stated.....the homeless are mostly made up of people that are mentally disabled...and your right..the families are shamed into taking care of what they are obviously ill equipped to take care of which is why so many end up on the streets. Many times when the one person care taker passes away the victim and I see them as victims are then left to defend themselves and its so obvious just how unable they are to do such...

And society? The same idiots that stand on street corners holding signs against abortion clinics do NOTHING for the lives already here...they seriously make me sick and I cannot help letting them know it when I see them....they pretend to care about human life, and its "your on your own" when you become a disability to society...

In the south, the streets flow with those obviously homeless, the heat has been more than unbearable and yet, mid afternoon, sun high in the sky beating down without end upon those that are constantly being told to move on...leave....go , go where? they have no where to go...

Your right, it is disgusting and any and all churches and church goers who continue to drive past these individuals, never stopping, never offering anything other than a shout of a horn for the lost soul to move out of their way...they fear them, they disgust them as well or more would be done and they can deny such all they want...actions speak louder than words and the actions of support for the mentally ill are left wanting...

They should be embarrassed but I doubt very seriously they lose one moment of sleep over another persons life, tragic as one might be....because if people cared, and so many even on DU swear that the majority of us citizens are so called christians than something more would be done...instead of holding up signs and raising funds to fight, gay marriage, woman's rights, and of course any and all things liberal than those signs would be screaming for help for people who honestly need such devotion, and the funds would be used to prove they honestly do value life, not used for air time or for new and mansion like getaways for church groups and those that run them...

Hypocrites the lot of them, and because of RONALD REAGAN a supposed angel for the GOP, they were thrown away and made to live worse than dogs..at least the dogs get some care before being put to sleep, homeless people often die alone and sick on some little piece of land they have found to lie upon...uncared for in death as they were in life..

Screw this country and it's bullshit flyer's that say Americans are the best....no, its just that americans have more expensive toys than most and they believe that makes them superior....far from it.........

[FSogol]

3. deleted

my bad.

[Posteritatis]

5. The GOP doesn't have a monopoly on mental illness. Don't politicize it like that. (nt)

[billyoc]

12. You're right, mental illness has a monopoly on THEM.

[Posteritatis]

14. Fuck that noise, too. DUers are way too comfortable with this kind of casual bigotry. (nt)

[JuniperLea]

15. Sadly, yes...

The mentally ill cannot help that they are ill any more than those with cancer or leprosy or any other physical disease. Some forms of mental illness are actually due to a physical or metabolic or allergic or hormonal condition. We are a mass of cells dependent on each other to work correctly, in a world full of toxins that try to hinder the work.

[Posteritatis]

16. And some are trauma, and some are our genes being jerks, etc

Definitely not the massive personal or (heaven help us) political failure that too many people here seem to think they are.

The fact that mental illness is about the one disability people here can get away with pissing on as a sign of someone's clear inferiority or whatever is a little sickening, and I wish it got slapped down harder than it does.

[JuniperLea]

18. Me too...

I have a schizophrenic family member, and I've been living with this disease for over 40 years now. This person is absofuckinglutely brilliant, and incredibly talented in art and music and clothing design. But she hears voices, and does what they tell her. One of the things they tell her is that she doesn't need the medication, that the meds are what's making her sick. She is going to sue everyone, too... for taking away her driver's license, for arresting her when she hits a cop with her fist, for arresting her when she's found driving the wrong way on an Interstate Hwy, 200 miles from home.

Yeah, isn't it special to feel so much bigger and better than someone else?

I think these idiots have a severe self-esteem issues... that's usually how it goes when bullies pick on the defenseless.

[emilyg]

10. Shame on you.

[FSogol]

13. You are correct, my apologies. n/t

[Caliman73]

7. Thanks governor Schwarzenegger and Republicans!!

Perhaps the man could use some wrap around services, maybe some case management to check in regarding medications every once in a while. That however, has been slashed out of the budget to the point of non-existence. Perhaps he is not a legitimate threat being far enough away and getting caught out early. Goes to show that mental health services are important. Fortunately no one was hurt or killed, but when police have to serve as mental health services, that is just a disaster waiting to happen.

[JuniperLea]

9. With special thanks to King Ronnie...

For getting rid of the help they needed in the first place.

[gleaner]

11. With extra special thanks.....

to Baby Bush for finishing what Ronnie started and eliminating all safety nets for everyone who needs them.

[EFerrari]

17. Los Angeles Co. is the world's biggest mental health care provider.

My husband went to their clinics for a while but I pulled him out because I was afraid they were going to get him dead with their horrible negligence.

[Fleshdancer]

19. May he receive the health care he needs so badly

Hopefully Obama will make it happen.