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Jeb Bush Considers Veto of Money for Mental Health Care

By TChris, Section Crime Policy
Posted on Thu May 12, 2005 at 08:54:01 AM EST
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by TChris

Gov. Jeb Bush has no problem spending the money of Florida's taxpayers to incarcerate sex offenders for a mandatory minimum term of 25 years. Nor did he mind spending money to intervene in the Schiavo case, or in his failed effort to prevent a girl from exercising her right to have an abortion.

But when it comes to doing something helpful, something that is likely to prevent crime while serving a public need, Jeb doesn't want to cough up the bucks.

Gov. Jeb Bush is said to be considering vetoing the $2.8 million for Orange County's Central Receiving Center. That's a terrible idea.

The CRC takes in mentally ill adults who are going through a life-threatening crisis and gives them a few days' inpatient treatment to get them stable and medicated. It gets so little state funding that many who need the center instead languish in jail cells or hospital corridors, sometimes for days.

Leaving people who are desperate for mental health treatment to wander the street is inexcusable.

Crisis care can prevent suicides, assaults on police and others, addiction relapse and homelessness.

It's time for Jeb to start listening to all of his constituents, not just members of the extreme religious right.

The governor needs to realize that this bill is not a "turkey." The CRC serves a wide area and has the fervent support of law-enforcement, judges and other leaders.

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    Jeb Bush Considers Veto of Money for Mental Health Care | 15 comments (15 topical)
    Re: Jeb Bush Considers Veto of Money for Mental He (none / 0) (#1)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:58:59 PM EST
    The wonders never cease with that guy.

    Re: Jeb Bush Considers Veto of Money for Mental He (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:58:59 PM EST
    nevermind that florida is looking at a 3.5 billion dollar surplus this year. link here 2.8 million is nothing.

    Re: Jeb Bush Considers Veto of Money for Mental He (none / 0) (#3)
    by Johnny on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:58:59 PM EST
    But see, he is a republican, and as such, believes that people should be accountable to themselves, and if they are sick, it is their own fault.

    Re: Jeb Bush Considers Veto of Money for Mental He (none / 0) (#4)
    by Wile ECoyote on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:58:59 PM EST
    Johnny: So you don't think people should be accountable for anything?

    Re: Jeb Bush Considers Veto of Money for Mental He (none / 0) (#5)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:58:59 PM EST
    Wile E. asks,
    So you don't think people should be accountable for anything?
    It's one version of Christian hypocrisy that I happen to be very well acquainted with, Wile E. as I grew up with it. Good things happen to good people. If something bad happens you deserved it. The Irish/Catholic post-serfdom culture that I come from believes in "casting out" pregnant women and is ashamed of mental illnes and any kind of failure in life. Failures, crazy people and "bad" women are not fit company for society and are not welcome.

    Re: Jeb Bush Considers Veto of Money for Mental He (none / 0) (#6)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:58:59 PM EST
    PBS's "Frontline" this week was about mentally ill prisoners. In this show defense lawyers discuss sentences judges have imposed because it's the only way for mentally ill indigents to get the medication and health care they need.

    Re: Jeb Bush Considers Veto of Money for Mental He (none / 0) (#7)
    by Johnny on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:58:59 PM EST
    I said nothing of the sort wile. But this program undoubtedly falls under the "welfare" stigma, and as such, many people (usually wrong wingers) will feel like their tax dollars are being wasted when these people should take their lives in their own hands, buck up, pull themselves up by the bootstraps, and dive into middle class america by finding ajob, buying a home, and chasing that old american dream. So goes the mantra from wrong wingers when it comes to spending tax dollars on anything remotely resembling non-faith-based support centers. Now if these people were brain dead rather than mentally diseased etc... governor Bush would sally forth with typical Bushian bragadaccio. To say again, I never said no-one should be held accountable for anything. In point of fact, I feel that Preznit Bush should be held accountable for this whole war fiasco! ;-)

    Re: Jeb Bush Considers Veto of Money for Mental He (none / 0) (#8)
    by Wile ECoyote on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:58:59 PM EST
    Johnny: If you read your statement, you made two declarations. The first is that
    he is a republican, and as such, believes that people should be accountable to themselves
    That is that bad? And the second is that:
    and if they are sick, it is their own fault.
    That is how I read it. Mfox: I tend to believe good things happen more often to people who plan ahead, consider the future and save. I was not addressing mental illness in my post. Please point out the hypocrisy.

    Re: Jeb Bush Considers Veto of Money for Mental He (none / 0) (#9)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:58:59 PM EST
    Why is anyone surprised by this? Jeb has his lips firmly attatched to the backside of the radical right. The religious elements of the radical right have historically had BIG problems with psychology and psychiatry, and those who practice. Guess they don't like those potential tithe dollars going to the medical community, when all they need "is ta git rite wit jeezus".

    Re: Jeb Bush Considers Veto of Money for Mental He (none / 0) (#10)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:00 PM EST
    Wile E., let me know where I've strayed: Johnny says that Jeb Bush doesn't want to fund mental illness initiatives because the "politics of personal responsibility" means every man for himself, regardless of ability to take care of oneself. He summarizes Jeb's thought process by paraphrasing his policy "if you're sick, it's your own fault". You then ask: "So you don't think people should be accountable for anything?". In the context of the thread (which is actually about mental illness) your comment reads as an argument to Johnny's summary - as if there were only two choices - everybody being accountable for everything or nobody being accountable for anything and implies you side with Bush on this one. My comment was an attempt to show you the kind of thinking that can make a supposedly very religious person think of the mentally ill as not worthy of funding. The hypocrisy is inherent in a govenor who goes to church every week and touts a culture of life while leaving the homeless and mentally ill (a largely overlapping population) to basically rot on the streets. Any more questions? ; )

    Re: Jeb Bush Considers Veto of Money for Mental He (none / 0) (#11)
    by Wile ECoyote on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:00 PM EST
    Mfox: I was looking for where Bush said, if you are sick its your own fault. Can you show it to me?

    Re: Jeb Bush Considers Veto of Money for Mental He (none / 0) (#12)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:01 PM EST
    Backtracking, Wile E. maybe we misconstrued your question. What did you mean when you questioned Johnny about his feeling that "nobody should be accountable for anything". He did make the accusation that the Pious Jeb doesn't care about mentally ill folks because of the new "politics of personal responsibility" If you're sick - find help yourself! What was your response supposed to imply?

    Re: Jeb Bush Considers Veto of Money for Mental He (none / 0) (#13)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:01 PM EST
    I was looking for where Bush said, if you are sick its your own fault. Can you show it to me?
    What other reason would there be for vetoing funding when there is such a clear need?

    Re: Jeb Bush Considers Veto of Money for Mental He (none / 0) (#14)
    by Johnny on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:02 PM EST
    Wile, if ya gonnajust pick bones about semantics and not make a point, go troll somewhere else. I was making a broad, sweeping generalization of wrong-wingers. I was making a little bit of fun about the traditional Republican "accountability" issue. Sorry if I did not make myself clearer. Next time try to read everything in context, or request clarification. Don't just go off on something that has no bearing on the topic at hand, or what was actually meant.

    Re: Jeb Bush Considers Veto of Money for Mental He (none / 0) (#15)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:21 PM EST
    FYI, the Governor's veto message is out, and he did not veto the $2.8 for the Orange County CRC.

    Jeb Bush Considers Veto of Money for Mental Health Care | 15 comments (15 topical)