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  • A Romney Victory Is Ensured With Trump’s Endorsement ()

    A Romney Victory Is Ensured With Trump's Endorsement ()

    As if you needed another reason to not vote Romney. Celebrity business magnate Donald Trump endorsed Mitt Romney for president Thursday, telling reporters he will not mount an independent campaign if ...

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  • Why I Love Newt Gingrich

    Why I Love Newt Gingrich

    In a perfect world, the Republican contest to find a nominee to face Barack Obama would go on forever...or at least until August. You cannot attach a number to the ...

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  • Republican Cannibalism

    Republican Cannibalism

    I suspect there are a ton of conservatives secretly agreeing with Begala and while it's too early in the game for Dems to get cocky, it's difficult to not smile ...

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  • Romney Hood

    Romney Hood

    One of our readers sent me an email with an idea for an illustration - Mitt Romney as Romney Hood. I thought it was brilliant and came up with the ...

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  • Why Do People Take an Instant Dislike To Newt Gingrich?

    Why Do People Take an Instant Dislike To Newt Gingrich?

    Quotes don't get much better than this one by Bob Dole. "Why do people take such an instant dislike to me?" asked a perplexed Gingrich, to whom Dole bluntly ...

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  • Gingrich Takes A Thrashing

    Gingrich Takes A Thrashing

    After the beating Gingrich took last night, it's hard to imagine under what scenario he can make a comeback.  Florida is going to Romney and for Gingrich to regain the ...

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  • SOTU

    SOTU

    There's a lot out there on the President's SOTU, so I'll keep my thoughts short and sweet. The speech did what it had to do which was target liberals and independents ...

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  • Just Another GOP Debate

    Just Another GOP Debate

    The highlights from last night's debate. - Newt Gingrich can't wait to become president so he can revisit the early 60s and overthrow Castro in Cuba. War, baby, war. - Santorum, who ...

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  • No More Mister Nice Guy for Mitt Romney

    No More Mister Nice Guy for Mitt Romney

    It appears that the South Carolina verdict is forcing Romney to start taking Gingrich seriously. “We’re not choosing a talk show host, we’re choosing a leader,” Romney said, saying that their ...

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  • Mike Huckabee Solidifies His Birther Creds

    Mike Huckabee Solidifies His Birther Creds

    Mike Huckabee offers advice to Mitt Romney concerning his unreleased tax returns. Let him [Romney] make this challenge: "I'll release my tax returns when Barack Obama releases his college transcripts and ...

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  • Late Night Political Humor

    Late Night Political Humor

    Via Political Humor... "Mitt Romney is coming under fire because even though he is a multimillionaire, he only paid 15 percent in taxes. That's not a tax, that's barely a tip." ...

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  • The Last Word On Jon Huntsman

    The Last Word On Jon Huntsman

    Good line. My guess is that after Romney fails to beat Obama in the general, Huntsman will be back in 2016.  The most electable guy in the field and he could ...

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  • Does Romney Urinate Straight Down His Leg?

    Does Romney Urinate Straight Down His Leg?

    I found this pretty funny...and accurate. It comes from a reader over at Balloon Juice. So, let’s review. The contenders for the GOP nomination are A vulture capitalist who believes that any ...

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  • The Constitution – Libertarian’s False Idol

    The Constitution - Libertarian's False Idol

    Lively little debate going on at one of last week's posts with Libertarianism put under the microscope. ocLiberal: I know I am in sketchy territory here, (start the indignant shouting now) but ...

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  • Gingrich’s Delusional Politics

    Gingrich's Delusional Politics

    In the contest to determine the winner of the Far-Right Politics gold medal, rack up a few more points for Newt Gingrich. “I think an intelligent conservative wants the right federal ...

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  • Late Night Political Humor

    Late Night Political Humor

    Via Political Humor... "Congratulations to Mitt Romney. He won the New Hampshire primary last night. See, this is proof that even the multimillionaire son of a multimillionaire can beat the odds ...

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  • What Do North Korea and Indiana Have In Common?

    What Do North Korea and Indiana Have In Common?

    Story 1: North Korea punishing those who 'didn't display enough sadness over Kim Jong Il's death' North Korean authorities are reportedly punishing citizens who did not display enough sadness over the death ...

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  • The Pope’s Hate Speech

    The Pope's Hate Speech

    In case you missed the story, Pope Benedict made headlines this week by doing what it is popes do best - putting the irrational fear of God into his followers. The ...

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  • Mitt Romney’s Idiot Quote of the Day

    Mitt Romney's Idiot Quote of the Day

    Romney was asked whether questions dealing with distribution of wealth and power were a matter of jealousy or fairness. You know, I think it’s about envy. I think it’s about class ...

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  • Is The 2012 Republican Field the Weakest Ever?

    Is The 2012 Republican Field the Weakest Ever?

    If one could meld the Republican presidential candidates into a single person, what would emerge?  I was thinking along the lines of Jekyll and Hyde and the result, as demonstrated ...

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Change A Mind About Mental Illness

We do not need a health care debate for all of us to become better aware of an illness of which most of us have little understanding.
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Glenn Close

What mental health needs is more sunlight, more candor, more unashamed conversation about illnesses that affect not only individuals, but their families as well. Our society ought to understand that many people with mental illness, given the right treatment, can be full participants in our society.

[...]

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that by the year 2020 mental illness will be the second leading cause of death and disability. Every society will have to confront the issue. The question is, will we face it with open honesty or silence?

There is great probability that at some point in our lives, all of us will be touched by someone who suffers from mental illness…a family member, a friend, a coworker, a neighbor or ourselves. There is but a single means of acceptance.  Understanding.

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Comments

  1. Rose says:

    This video hit a nerve with me. I am a daughter of depression. My mother has battled depression most of my life. I am her only child. It was just the two of us, as a family. I have had to fight tooth and nail at times not to get sucked into that dark hole also. Mental illness doesn’t just affect the person with the illness, but everyone around them too. It is so frustrating when your best intentions to help a loved one is only met with resistance or basically ignored.

  2. Tennessean says:

    Well….it may be off topic somewhat, but it IS a commercial. So I’ll make a feeble attempt to tie the two together.

    I find this commercial by Wal Mart very touching. Just a good thought, good feeling kind of presentation. I was very surprised to read the hateful, vitriolic comments from viewers. Nothing “bad” about this effort crossed my mind. (Maybe I’ve been participating here so long the naivete is starting to rub off on me? :-) ) Anyway, I’m sure most of you have seen it.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9lkmd-mMJ0

    Then I go and look at the comments on this commercial for understanding of the difficulties of Mental Illnesses, and see not one disparaging word. (Good thing I might add.)

    My, my…but we do pick our battles.

  3. Karen says:

    My son was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes at age 11, and developed schizoaffective disorder at age 18. With the dual diagnosis he became unable to manage his very brittle diabetes. We lived a hell on earth for many years and he had many commitments (one that lasted ten years), but they finally found the right combination of meds for him. Now 40 yrs old, he is out of the hospital and doing very well. He fathered a son, who is now 13, that we have raised from a baby.

    The point here is don’t give up! We have come to a comfortable place with all of this suffering — our grandson has brought a lot of love to our lives, and our son is doing better now than we ever imagined he could. The mentally ill need our support and understanding — we give it to those stricken with other diseases and this illness should be no different.

  4. ME says:

    THIS DOES NOT EVEN TOUCH THE MAGNITUTE OF THE ISSUE. BUT THANKS MARIO. IT IS THE BEGINNING.

  5. Josephine says:

    Yes I am with you and will support anything that you start to boost this country’s awareness of mental illness.

    When my government gives my disabled son less than $700 to live and expects him to survive on that amount and then spends outrageous amounts of money in the war, then, and only then is when I believe in Hitler’s “Germany above all” statement. We need to be Americans first, take care of our own, and then move on and help other countries.

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