"Experts have concluded Loughner suffers from schizophrenia...He talks about how remorseful he is."

[originalpckelly]

Well no duh dipshit, really? You mean he went nuts because our society neglected him medically? No, really?

People look to the shooting of Rep. Giffords as a reason to have gun control, what it really must be is a call for real universal healthcare.

If Mr. Loughner had been involuntarily committed after his school reported problems with him along these lines, if it had just happened, there are a whole bunch of people who would still be alive today, a Representative who would be speaking her heart out on the House floor, and a young man who wouldn't have to feel remorseful for our society's failure to care for him when he could not care for himself.

Holy fuck, we live in a nation of monsters, and it's not the crazy people who are the monsters.
It's not the people who've devoted their lives to the treatment of chronic brain illnesses who are the monsters, it's the nation as a whole.
It's the morons who would actually think someone in such a compromised state could actually make a logical move.
It's about the conservatives who think their state shouldn't even pay for organ transplants for organs people already accept become ill.

I'd like to see you be logical when the organ you reason with is completely fucked up. That is all for the rant, now on to the actual story:

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/psychologist-testifies-loughner-hearing-14625920

[mdmc]

1. yes to universal healthcare

as someone who treats schizophrenics I know how well treatment can work:kick:

[DrDan]

2. why one or the other - why not both?

better healthcare and more control over guns?

Let's double-down on the problem.

[originalpckelly]

3. Because it's a damn sight easier to treat an illness than to get conservatives to control guns.

[DrDan]

4. and what has the WH or the Dems attempted to do since the incident?

any attempt at control legislation?
any commissions to look for alternatives?

anything?

Nope - too big an election issue.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

12. Because the lack of gun control is not a problem

They are in fact over regulated in some repressive areas like Chicago, Wash DC, and California

[DrDan]

13. certainly a difference of opinion

[Ian David]

5. There will always be crazy people.

There is a whole right-wing media devoted to directing them to the "right" targets.

"To the Victims of This Tragedy We Send Our Thoughts and Prayers" by Roy Zimmerman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8ouBFh04DU

[pipoman]

6. Of coarse he's remorseful..

the old "three hots and a cot" is an extreme over simplification of the misery of prison life..

[gordianot]

9. Finally being treated and getting his medication helps.

He most likely is in a high security treatment facility and is not abused. Even the Republican Barbarians of Arizona might be capable of a slight measure of humanity for the criminally insane.

[LuvNewcastle]

7. Loughner's case is a tragic one.

He lived with his parents, who by some accounts were alcoholics and at least one of them was probably mentally ill as well. Loughner is also known to have been a heavy user of hallucinogenic drugs. The dysfunctional family life and drug use would have been enough to drive him over the edge; the schizophrenia was the icing on the cake. It's important for there to be a good system in place to deal with the mentally ill, but there were other factors also at play in his case. He had no one in his life who gave a damn, or apparently even realized that there was anything wrong with him. No one cared, and even if they had it would have been hard to get anything done about it.

[originalpckelly]

11. Sometimes, we need to step up as a society to help out people in bad situations.

We should think of it as making an investment, and an insurance policy for ourselves, because you never know when you might go nuts.

[MadHound]

8. So once we get him to the point of sanity,

We will convict him for a crime that he committed while he was insane.

Anybody else think this is fucked up?

[originalpckelly]

10. Indeed, MadHound, it is just about insane as Loughner was.

We need a system like the Juvenile justice system in America for individuals who commit crimes while impaired.

We need to do this for drug addicts to individuals with schizophrenia. If we don't, we will be monsters ourselves. We have to wake the fuck up about this shit and change our ways as a nation, and maybe one day we can really put a stop to these kinds of things.

[area51]

14. The $64,000 quote.

"People look to the shooting of Rep. Giffords as a reason to have gun control, what it really must be is a call for real universal healthcare."

[yardwork]

15. Agreed. k&r. Our country spends too much effort on vengeance, too little on prevention.