Re: Medicare Means Test

"Gretchen Evans" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> On Sun, 9 Nov 2003 14:52:49 -0700, "Founding Father" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> wrote:
>
> >
> >"Gretchen Evans" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
> >news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> >> On Sun, 9 Nov 2003 02:10:47 -0700, "Founding Father" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> >> wrote:
> >>
> >> >
> >> >"Gretchen Evans" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
> >> >news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> >> >> On 7 Nov 2003 12:54:34 -0500, [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Herman
> >> >> Rubin) wrote:
> >> >>
> >> >> >Libertarians would pay a lot less if they only funded the
> >> >> >military and related budget, and you totalitarians had to
> >> >> >fund the much greater welfare budget.
> >> >>
> >> >> I assume that the standard policy of the libertarians is to simply
> >> >> allow the less fortunate die in the steets to save funds? Good
> >> >> thinking, with your plan we've got a massive military and people
> >> >> starving.
> >> >>
> >> >> pixie
> >> >
> >> >You tell us - when did homelessness become a "structural problem" -
> >before
> >> >or after the Great Society and its massive increases in social welfare
> >> >spending?
> >> >
> >>
> >> We've always had some homeless as anyone with common sense would
> >> admit.. A large portion of the problem came about when the Reps...
> >> under the addled Ronnie... made he decision to dump all the marginal
> >> psych cases out of confined care and into the streets.
> >>
> >> Just one more example of their brand of 'compassion'
> >>
> >> pixie
> >
> >There you go again.  I can't tell if you're lying or just relentlessly
> >ignorant, so filled with hatred of Reagan and the right that you just
> >mindlessly parrot the lies that the left wing media spew forth.
> >
> Typical Republican nonsense.. Anyone who disagrees with Ronnie's
> actions is immediately labeled with 'hatrid', etc., An asinine claim.
>
> >Deinstitutionalization started in the 60s and was largely a fait accompli
by
> >the end of the 70s.  As I recall, it was largely a
> >group of fanatics opposed to the idea that mental illness is a disease.
> >They were aided by activist lawyers who did everything possible to
prevent
> >treating these patients "against their will."  Even now it is almost
> >impossible to institutionalize violent repeat offenders who are mentally
> >ill.  ALCU types even go around to street people and tell them they have
a
> >"right" to stay on the street in the freezing cold.  The left is even
> >raising a big stink :-) about laws prohibiting public defecation.  As
usual,
> >it's the liberals messing things up.
> >
> And do you recall Ronnie making the statement that the homeless were
> wandering the streets 'by choice'?

Some clearly do.  And the mentally ill are left there "by choice" because
liberals pass laws and issue judicial rulings preventing us from taking them
off the streets "against their will."

>  And let us also not forget that
> many of the 'fanatics' were strongly supported by the 'compassionate
> conservatives' who wanted to cut mental health spending even then.

There were no conservatives in power at the time (i.e., before 1980).
Goldwater had gotten routed in 1964 and taken down the few conservatives
with him.  Nixon was no conservative.  And in any case, the liberal
Democrats had a total lock on the House fo 40 years and the Senate almost
that long.

> >Beyond that, it is not even clear that deinstitutionalization actually
> >caused homelessness.  See the following (and note that this is from a
> >decidedly left wing source):
> >
> Why of course it didn't... Tossing a large group of people unable to
> fully care for themselves out on the streets simply caused a slight
> traffic congestion.  Yep, right..
>
> >Deinstitutionalization and the Homeless Mentally Ill
> >by H. Richard Lamb
> >http://www.interactivist.net/housing/deinstitutionalization_1.html
> >
> >A Brief History of Deinstitutionalization
> >http://www.interactivist.net/housing/deinstitutionalization_2.html
> >
> >
> Try again
>
> pixie

Why bother?  You're as immune to facts as George.