Friday, December 25, 2015

Urge for Going by Joni Mitchell, take the time to listen to this song about a generation of love and grace

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3EofN3Flag Joni Mitchell sings about winter, the frost on the landscape, our generation speaking out the truth, soulfully, gently, with such beauty and grace. Urge for going, a winter song about love and loss.

Tuesday, December 15, 2015

From our good Senator Peter DeFazio:

Thank you for contacting me with your support for H.R. 2646, the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act. I appreciate hearing from you. You will be pleased to know that I am a cosponsor of this legislation.

As you may know, H.R. 2646   was created to fix our broken mental health care system by increasing funding and support for patients and families in need of mental health services. This legislation  would implement a  complete overhaul  of  our national  mental health system, starting with  the creation of an Assistant Secretary for Mental Health position within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) .  The Assistant Secretary would be responsible and accountable for all HHS mental health programs and policies and would be required to report to Congress on findings.  H.R. 2646 would also   expand Medicaid to cover psychiatric hospital services   for adults and  giv   necessary power to families to be front-line caregivers 

Additionally,  this   legislation provides support for advances in behavioral health clinics, medical research on mental health, and tele-psychiatry access. H.R. 2646  would  also  require  emphasiz ing treating mental health patients in the healthcare system and not in jail, providing necessary criminal justice reforms.

As a member of the Mental Health Caucus I have consistently fought for increased access to mental health services and increased funding for mental health research. I was a strong supporter of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, which prohibits insurance companies from discriminating against Americans who need mental health treatment. I have also supported efforts to ensure psychologists and other mental health providers have access to federal incentives to adopt electronic health records and are able to bill Medicare for services that they are legally authorized to perform without physician supervision requirements.  

We cannot afford to ignore mental illness and the tragedies that may ensue if it is left untreated.  H.R. 2646  would  initiate   the major reforms needed to fix our failing mental health system.  You can be sure  I will continue to work with the Mental Health Caucus and the rest of my colleagues to  ensure that  mental health services are available to any and every American who needs them.

Thanks again for writing. Please continue to keep in touch.
Sincerely,

U.S. REPRESENTATIVE PETER DeFAZIO
Fourth Congressional District, Orego

Saturday, December 5, 2015

Read the New York Times Editorial on the front page

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/05/opinion/end-the-gun-epidemic-in-america.html?smid=tw-nytopinion&smtyp=cur&_r=0
Keep an open mind, does anyone who is on the no flight list need to own an assault rifle, ever? Should anyone else need to have these types of guns? I come from a family where most of the men fought in American's wars and yet none of them owned a gun. I am nearly 60 and I've never owned a gun nor would ever buy one.
There is no need to stockpile weapons, there is no government take over in the forseeable future. Stop with all this macho man stuff and get real. But your weapons away and learn to solve our problems using our minds and a lot of compassion.