BREAKING: Rep. Mark Olson Politicizes VA Tech Shootings on State House Floor [UPDATE]

by Matt Martin | 13 Comments

April 18, 2007, 10:25 pm | Category: MN State House and MN State Senate |

13 Responses to “BREAKING: Rep. Mark Olson Politicizes VA Tech Shootings on State House Floor [UPDATE]”

Feed for this Entry Trackback Address

Sandie
April 19, 2007 at 12:51 am

This well edited version, yes you’re right - taken completely out of context - is not the whole story.

Rep. Olson was not the first to bring up the VA Tech shootings in this discussion, Rep. Mindy Greiling - the sponsor of this bill, was. She of course was trying to politicize the subject from the opposite viewpoint stating that because of the shootings we need more mental health screening in schools which will lead to more psychotropic drugging of our children.

Rep. Olson was stating what a lot of people across the state are concerned about - that those shootings are a direct cause from the same psychotropic drugs that Greiling supports in her role as one of the National Alliance of Mental Illness’(NAMI) Directors.

This clip shows Rep. Olson reading the well documented statistics from those drugs - violence, homicide and suicide. Due to those same statistics many are calling on the White House to investigate the role these drugs have in the rising violence and suicides in our schools.

Rep. Olson did NOT state that “Virginia Tech was caused by psychiatric drugs”, he did state what major newspapers are reporting across the country - that Cho is reported to have been on those drugs.

I don’t know where Rep. Olson stands on other subjects, but I heartily support his views on this one.

Reply
Avidor
April 19, 2007 at 5:41 am

Sorry, can’t get rid of him this session on the wife-beating.

A judge yesterday postponed Olson trial until after the session.

The legislature could file ethics charges against Olson based on his attempt (with Zimmermann and Bachmann) to scam Minnesota taxpayers with his phony PRT legislation.

Reply
Avidor
April 19, 2007 at 7:05 am

Watch the video at the Dump Mark Olson Blog.

Reply
Ioannes Magnumus
April 19, 2007 at 9:26 am

Olson’s motion to delay the trial until after the legislature adjurns is appropriate, and the judge made the right decision. It is written into MN law, and it has a historical context. In the early days of our country, the British used the courts to keep our Founding Fathers from meeting. They figured if they could keep you in court, you and your nasty rebellion wouldn’t conspire to overthrow the Crown.

Keith Ellison regularly relied on this when he was in the legislature, with the same results. Keith wouldn’t show for appearances, then he would parade into court later with a copy of the specific law which allowed him to blow off court. The difference is that Keith was an attorney, not the plaintiff or defendant. In some cases he would agree to a date (during the legislative session) in court, then simply not show. IF anyone griped, he’d flash the letter.

Reply
Waffletushie
April 19, 2007 at 9:44 am

OK folks, psychiatric drugs do not, in and of themselves, cause psychosis.

Inappropiately or incorrectly prescribed psychiatric drugs however may. As may drugs taken incorrectly by the patient or taken along with alcohol or other street drugs. Or if the patient was just handed a bottle of pills and not followed up on. Or they couldn’t afford the drugs. Or the drug was tested on full grown adults and not on developing child/adolescent brains.

There are countless reasons why any particular drug might not work.

An example is what may have happened to a friend’s brother. He was bipolar and while he was waiting for a real appointment with a psychiatrist (due to state cutbacks in the mental health system recently this was a several week wait) he was prescribed Prozac. Unfortunately Prozac treats depression and may make the bipolar symptoms worse. He didn’t make it to the appointment and died of suicide before then.

This is what may have happened to Abbie Hoffman too.

Hey, here’s an idea … why don’t we support research into brain disorders such as these?

Reply
Chris
April 19, 2007 at 10:30 am

I don’t think it’s a good idea for our public schools to be a one-stop substitute for parenting. I think schools are burdened enough with the things they need to accomplish without adding mental health screening to their list. In fact, given the difficulties some children have with their teachers and peers, schools should be the last place mental health screening is conducted.

As for the drugs, there is no doubt many are extremely beneficial to the people who take them. People with schizophrenia, bi-polar disorder and other severe mental illnesses could not function well without medication. However, I also know of people who have committed suicide after taking certain medications. Here is a link to Woody Matters, which is about a guy from Minneapolis who committed suicide at age 37 after taking Zoloft for 5 weeks. http://www.woodymatters.com/

I think anyone who tries exploiting what happened in Viriginia for political gain is terrible. But so far, the exploitation I’ve seen has been from the gun control crowd and people like Congressman Jim Moran (D-VA) who said the shooting was the fault of House Republicans and President Bush for not passing strict gun control.

Reply
Avidor
April 19, 2007 at 10:49 am

That wasn’t the only wacky Olson performance yesterday… Mark Olsonraved about other things like the IB program “teaching kids totalitarianism” and other stuff.

Something else… Mark Olson has a history of anger management problems at the Capitol… Steve Sviggum enabled Olson to stay without completing treatment.

Also. Olson is well known to carry a gun.

Reply
Mockingbird
April 19, 2007 at 11:33 am

What a lot of disjointed commentary.

— — —
Quoting Sandie: Rep. Olson was stating what a lot of people across the state are concerned about - that those shootings are a DIRECT (????) cause from the same psychotropic drugs that Greiling supports in her role as one of the National Alliance of Mental Illness’(NAMI) Directors.
— — —
How is that DIRECT causality assessed?
Does he have information none of the rest of us do?

If a person unfortunately committed suicide after Zoloft - one presumes the person was taking the med for depression - which itself can result in suicidal behavior. Whether or not there was something valid in this one case - remains to be assessed.

However, how does one relate that to Cho? Did Cho even take Zoloft? That is is a tenuous association if no one knows!

Mandatory mental health assessments in schools - does that mean those people also then, are in favor of TREATING kids with issues? A real medical coverage for kids - and extending it to mental health similar to what Paul Wellstone wanted?

Perhaps research. Perhaps even stem cell research?
Perhaps referring to experts.

Reply
Avidor
April 19, 2007 at 12:30 pm

Who is giving Olson the crazy idea that the IB program is un-American?….Edwatch.

Reply
LimaBN
April 20, 2007 at 4:33 am

Wonder why he was charged with 5th degree (misdemeanor) assault, instead of domestic abuse?
Perhaps because a conviction on the latter charge is (a) easy to obtain, and (b) results in taking your guns away?
Cops and gun lovers just hate that part.

Olson is a serious menace. Looks like one of those people who feels guilty as hell and externalizes his self-loathing.

Commonly found among the theocracy, particularly the dominionists - the ones who see a need for God to take control of our government, because people aren’t good enough to do it “right.”

Hope his wife and family have moved to safety. Wish our country could do the same.

Reply
Swiftee
April 20, 2007 at 10:08 am

Olson brought up a pertinent question; that is his job.

Before strapping more responsibility on a public school system that is failing miserably with the responsibilities it has *now* does not seem the best answer to a problem that may, or may not merit a widespread public reaction.

Several years ago, ADD became a topic of public discussion, then the schools got involved and now we have armies of kids being medicated; many of them inappropriately.

As usual, the answer from the left to a perceived problem is instantaneous, intrusive involvement of the government. History has proved that is not usually an effective solution.

=========

BTW, can someone give Avidor a cookie, or a really shiny dime to keep him busy while the adults have a discussion?

Reply
Ioannes Magnumus
April 20, 2007 at 10:59 am

LimaBN -

5th Degree Assault is a “simple” assault. 5th Degree Domestic Assault can be a misdemeanor, gross misdemeanor, or a felony (enhancement is based on several factors, usually prior conviction). 5th Degree Domestic Assault can be a physical assault or fear of an assault. Additionally there is a separate statute that makes Domestic Assault by Strangulation an automatic felony.

Now watch this drive…..

Reply
Joey
May 7, 2007 at 11:03 am

If I’m not mistaken, Rep. Olson was arguing three points. (Which, like swiftee says, is his job. Love him or hate him, he still has a job to do.) Those three points were:

1. Psychotropic meds are indeed linked to higher suicides in children than those who are not on meds. This wasn’t his opinion. This was data from a study.

2. Children taking this ‘TeenScreen’ test will be much more likely to be drugged than to be actually helped. Many of these children are depressed because they’ve had messed-up family lives. All the drugs in the world aren’t going to fix that.

3. Rep. Greiling had a clear conflict of interest in this particular piece of legislation, due to the fact that she sits on the Minnesota branch of ‘non-profit’ NAMI, who is largely funded by Big Pharma, and helped to launch the TeenScreen program.

The Tabloid piece that KSTP had on Olson was one of the worst excuses for ‘News’ I’ve ever seen. They had a unique opportunity to dig into a really big story on NAMI and Big Pharma, which you would think they would have jumped on, but when it’s in opposition or damaging to their DFL buddies, they create a fluffy tabloid piece to cover the real dirt.

I wrote a blog article on this very subject: http://www.pheistyblog.com/archives/128

Reply