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Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Putting Georgia politics on the couch
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Rarely in journalism is one allowed to roll Tom Cruise, Scientology, modern psychiatry and Georgia politics into a single ball of twine.
Such opportunities are meant to be savored. So pardon us if we unwind this knot an inch at a time.
You’ll remember that last year, the couch-jumping actor, who maintains a pew in the Church of Scientology, got into it with NBC anchor Matt Lauer over the topic of psychiatry. Something about Brooke Shields and the use of anti-depressants by women who’ve given birth.
Cruise declared this entire field of medicine to be an out-and-out fraud. “You don’t know the history of psychiatry. I do,” the actor said. His remarks were forgotten before most of us could complain to our shrinks.
But on Monday, an exhibit at CNN Center in downtown Atlanta opened. It details exactly where Cruise got his history. The multi-media presentation is entitled “Psychiatry: An Industry of Death.�
Far from confining itself to your relationship with your mother, psychiatry, the exhibit claims, has engaged in a post-World War II conspiracy to establish a one-world government. Previous, though failed attempts at global domination include American slavery, Adolph Hitler’s program of eugenics, and Soviet gulags.
It is not endorsed by the American Psychiatric Association.
The exhibit is sponsored by the Atlanta chapter of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights, a California-based organization backed by the Church of Scientology. That’s no surprise.
The ribbon-cutter at the exhibit’s opening was state Sen. Nancy Schaefer (R-Turnerville), a Christian fundamentalist who’s in a tight race to keep her north Georgia seat.
That was the surprise. Mostly for GOP strategists paid to worry about Democrats regaining control of the state Senate in November.
Schaefer said her presence could be explained by her long-time opposition to federal efforts to expand mental health care.
“I have legislation having to do with the mental health screening of children, and they have an exhibit that certainly talks about the mental health screening of children, and ADHD and children on Ritalin and many mind-altering drugs. And so that’s why I was there,â€? Schaefer said Tuesday.
A non-binding, 2005 resolution sponsored by Schaefer, which damned government probes into the minds of our little devils, declared that “it is important to understand that the powerful pharmaceutical lobby is behind this idea because of its eagerness to sell psychotropic drugs to millions of new customers, and federal bureaucrats are just as eager to control our lives.�
The measure went nowhere, but signers included Casey Cagle, now the GOP nominee for lieutenant governor.
Yes, Schaefer knew about the Scientology angle of her Monday gig. “My ideology is entirely different. But their research on this issue is excellent, and their exhibit is very good. I would urge people to go see the exhibit,� she said. “I have great concerns about the fact that 10 million children in America are on all of these drugs.�
The north Georgia senator’s relationship with the group goes beyond a single exhibit.
In an undated speech posted on a CCHR web site, Schaefer attacked the American Psychiatric Association “and its claim to a totalitarian stronghold on all mental health issues of our day that psychiatrists claim are mental health diseases but which in reality merely supports their leftist ideology.�
In fact, the CCHR lists Schaefer as a member of its board of advisors. Schaefer said she was told about this honor on Monday. “I said, well, I need for you to remove my name because I’m not a part of this organization in any way. I’m just a senator from Georgia,â€? Schaefer declared.
Meanwhile, Schaefer’s opponent, Democrat Carol Jackson, has begun follow-up radiation treatments following the removal of a small breast tumor three weeks ago.
Jackson, a former state senator, said some cancers cells were found, but the tumor was classed as stage one, non-agressive — “about the size of an English pea.”
It’s not going to interrupt her campaign, she said.
“We got it very early,” said Jackson, who discovered the tumor in a routine self-examination.
In response, Schaefer said she would suspend all campaign events through the Labor Day weekend, “while Jackson makes sure her health is sound.�
Thank God for Hawaii. Georgia’s SAT scores rise from the bottom.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
There’s celebration in the re-elect headquarters of Gov. Sonny Perdue over in Buckhead this morning.
Georgia is no longer mired at the bottom of the nation in SAT scores. Our glorious state has blown its ballast tanks, and is now only 46 fathoms below the surface. Last year we tied South Carolina for last place.
This year, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Hawaii all scored below Georgia. The bad news is that we have risen on the back of our improvement in language skills. Georgia students still suck at math, more so than any state in the nation.
Even so, today’s news means Perdue — not to mention state School Superintendent Kathy Cox — has dodged an embarrassing bullet. You’ll remember that the Republican’s campaign began to catch on four years ago, when 2002 scores put Georgia in last place.
