Even though I realize that such a thing would NEVER be approved by Congress, the mere suggestion is surreal.

I agree. I'm already very concerned by the overuse of Ritalin. I have two daughters who are active every minute in which they are not sleeping. Even more so than other children.

This is their norm and one day, if I have my way, they'll both be making multiple millions of dollars. :-) Seriously though, it is ridiculous, especially as doctors are NOT trained psychologists. Enacting such a policy would be like sending someone with a cavity to the hair stylist.

If President Bush ever tried to seriously propose such a thing, conservatives would go nuts! Uh oh!

Thanks,

David

But doesn't the screaming irony bother any conservatives out there? This Orwellian proposal has been made by a group of Bushies. I mean, what happened to "I trust the American people" and the supposed love of small government?

while I do not like the idea of mental health screenings for all...I will agree there's probably a need for it.

what happened to "I trust the American people" and the supposed love of small government?

Good question. The answer is, and you are hearing this from a Republican and a Bush supporter, Bush is not a small government Republican.

It's one of the things that conservatives are uncomfortable with in our current president. We prefer small government.

Thanks,

David

Indeed! It's just so rare to hear a Bush supporter acknowledge his conservative shortcomings, as it were.

Guess What.

It is no longer a proposal. This measure was funded as part of the Omnibus budget bill and passed last week. $20 million (they wanted $44 million) was placed in the budget bill that no one had time to read to test and drug 60 million school and preschool kids, pregnant woman and their teachers. The same TAMAP program has been used in Texas and 2 out of 3 children in foster care are drugged.

And guess what, they forget to put anthing in the bill requiring parental consent for testing or administering these extremely expensive and often dangerous drugs, (children have committed suicide taking these drugs).

The drug companies are ecstatic and members of the administration and the Bush family who have been on the boards of directors of drug companies and their friends are making money.
1984 was a little late, but we are catching up fast!

http://forum.therandirhodesshow.com/index.php?act=ST&f=88&t=39513

The mandatory screenings, which will likely be a result of this bill, is bad enough. But can the schools really prescribe drugs for children without their parents' consent?

Even if they can't, it's very worrisome that in today's age of labeling kids who dare to act like kids -- you know, the little ones who can't sit still for six hours every day so an adult can talk at them -- as being defective in some way, that the schools will now have a bigger say in which kids get those labels. I predict that more and more children will be labeled with some sort of "syndrome" as a result of these screenings, simply so that schools can make "classroom management" easier and so they can make it easier to remove "bad" kids from standard classrooms and stick them in special ed, where they will wallow in failure.

Oh, and let's not forget that the NCLB act will help push these screenings along. As soon as the NCLB requirements are altered to account for differences in scores among special ed kids, you will see A LOT more kids being labeled as special ed, so that schools can keep their scores up and continue to receive funding while doing nothing to help the kids who need it.

This could be easily explained, Winston, if Bush were a Communist mole and they won the Cold War - doesn't it sound like Russia in the 30s and 40s?

Hmm, could be a novel in that.