A good start in treating mentally ill

12/30/2006

I would like to thank The Blade for its continuous and unrelenting support of our legislative efforts to end health insurance discrimination against those who suffer from mental illness (mental health parity). Yesterday, Gov. Bob Taft signed into law Senate Bill 116, which will provide thousands of Ohio families affordable access to mental health treatment.

I would also like to thank the numerous consumers of mental health services, their family members, and mental health advocates who took the time to share their personal stories with me and the other members of the Ohio General Assembly over the years.

Their message was clear: Treatment of mental illness works. Without treatment many cannot cope with everyday life, let alone hold a job. With treatment, many can.

The passage of this landmark legislation will not erase the entire stigma associated with mental illness, but it's a good start.

Lynn Olman

Former State Representative

District 46

Editor's note: Mr. Olman played a crucial role in the General Assembly in adoption of this important legislation.

Here are two points on the war in Iraq to ponder.

1. Trained police prevent killing to preserve peace whereas trained soldiers pacify by killing.

Therefore, we need trained Iraqi police rather than our soldiers in Iraq. The press makes hay over this situation all the time.

2. The war in Iraq is perceived in America through our press. Our enemies in Iraq follow and perform for our press by fighting near our press cameras. If our press moved to another Iraqi city, other than Baghdad, we would get the same news in favor of our enemy from that city. Because the enemy chooses the battle sites, this tactic of localized warfare reduces the enemy losses while maintaining the illusion of intense war all over Iraq in our liberal negative press. Thus, 80 percent of the fighting in Iraq is now within a 13-mile radius of Baghdad, where our press is concentrated, according to our secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice.

Since our press does not print enemy losses or distinguish civilian from enemy casualties, the war is presented as if our army is against Iraqi civilians everywhere in Iraq. The enemy could not be happier with our daily press coverage there.

J. Murray Stewart

Shoreland Avenue

Why should Gary Britten apologize for making an inappropriate religious slur?

He feels he did nothing wrong. It is obvious he either doesn t know any better, or doesn t care. And why should he?

There is no reason for him to be sorry. Furthermore, if he did apologize, it would clearly be insincere. The notion that people should be held accountable for their own ignorance is as ridiculous as asking a woman to do a man s job.

I hope the voters in Perrysburg understand that their elected representatives are reflections of themselves.

Joshua Z. Singer

Harford Road