Hillary Clinton's Office attacked by Mentally Ill man

The radio announcement of this incident said this man was a diagnosed mentally ill person who had been in non-compliance with his medicine.


Hostage Crisis Ends at Clinton Office
By BEVERLEY WANG,
AP
Posted: 2007-11-30 19:49:17
ROCHESTER, N.H. (AP) - A distraught man wearing what appeared to be a bomb walked into a Hillary Rodham Clinton campaign office Friday and demanded to speak to the candidate during a hostage drama that dragged on for nearly six hours before he peacefully surrendered.Shortly after releasing the last of at least four hostages unharmed, 47-year-old Leeland Eisenberg walked out of the storefront office, put down a homemade bomb-like package and was immediately surrounded by SWAT team with guns drawn. Clad in gray slacks, white dress shirt and a red tie, he was put on the ground and handcuffed.Clinton was in the Washington area the whole time, but the confrontation brought her campaign to a standstill just five weeks before the New Hampshire primary, one of the first tests of the presidential campaign season. She canceled all appearances, as did her husband, former President Bill Clinton, and the security around her was increased as a precaution."Everything stopped, and it had to because we had nothing on our minds except the safety of these young people who work for me," Clinton told reporters shortly after the standoff ended. She said she was "just relieved to have this situation end so peacefully," and that she was headed to New Hampshire to thank law enforcement officials.According to police, the drama began shortly before 1 p.m., when the man walked into the office and peeled back his jacket to reveal what appeared to be a bomb duct-taped to his chest. He took several hostages, but let a woman with an infant go immediately. At least one other woman got out about two hours later.Seconds before he surrendered, shortly after 6 p.m., the last hostage walked from the office. The hostage then ran down the street toward the police roadblocks surrounding Clinton's office.Not long after the surrender, police maneuvered a robot to the hostage-taker's package and triggered an explosion to destroy it.Witness Lettie Tzizik told television station WMUR of Manchester that she spoke to the woman who was released first and that she was crying, holding the infant."She said, 'You need to call 911. A man has just walked into the Clinton office, opened his coat and showed us a bomb strapped to his chest with duct tape," Tzizik said.Heavily armed SWAT team members, protecting themselves with shields, called to the man over bullhorns and attempted to hand a phone into the office.CNN reported after Eisenberg surrendered that a woman had called the network from the office and put Eisenberg on the phone. He told CNN he had mental problems and couldn't get anyone to help him, and called the network several times during the standoff.CNN's Wolf Blitzer said the network called police after hearing from Eisenberg, but did not air those details until Eisenberg surrendered out of concern for the hostages' safety.A law enforcement official confirmed to The Associated Press earlier that the suspect's name was Leeland Eisenberg, and was known around the town to be mentally unstable. The official declined to be identified because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the case.The official said the man walked into the campaign office and opened his jacket, revealing what appeared to be a pipe bomb, and that he demanded to speak with Clinton. Authorities did not know what Eisenberg wanted to talk to Clinton about.They believe the device strapped to the man's chest was made with road flares, not a bomb, the official said.The office, in a town of 30,000, is one of many Clinton has around New Hampshire. The campaign said the people taken hostage were volunteers for the campaign.Eisenberg walked into the office about a half-hour before he was scheduled to appear in Strafford County court with his wife for a domestic violence hearing, according to Foster's Daily Democrat in Dover.Divorce papers filed Tuesday indicated Eisenberg was arrested and charged with criminal mischief, domestic related, and violation of a protective order. In the papers, Eisenberg's wife said the divorce was a result irreconcilable differences and complained that he suffered from "severe alcohol and drug abuse, several verbal abuse and threats."Eisenberg also was arrested at least twice earlier this year, once for allegedly driving under the influence and once on two counts of stalking. The status of those cases was not immediately clear.Eisenberg made local headlines in March when he held a news conference on the steps of Rochester City Hall to complain about a police policy of placing fliers in unlocked cars warning motorists to lock their doors."This is nothing more than a gimmick to get around the Constitution and go around in the middle of the night upon unsuspecting citizens in their own yard and search their vehicles," Eisenberg said.Police, who said they were just trying to reduce theft from motor vehicles, changed the policy in response.Associated Press writers Glen Johnson in Rochester and Lara Jakes Jordan in Washington contributed to this report.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. Active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.

Moody Is the New Bipolar

Drug makers and company sponsored doctors are encouraged to diagnose "mood" disorders, e.g., Bio-polar, autism, and by labeling them as such, keep the prescriptions flying through the air -- a real boon in the amount of money for drug manufacturers. Is your child "autistic" or just a "handful"? Do these new Drugs really make a difference --

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Mental Health Mental Retardation

Another friend of mine had a profoundly retarded daughter who this week had a seizure in the bathtub and drowned before her mother could get to her. I include this in my blog because the organization of Mental Health Mental Retardation, MHMR, was a great help to her for 23 years. This organization provided the child with benefits and training. They also gave advice and direction to my friend who had to learn about her profoundly retarded daughter since she was born. This blog is in tribute to Briann, you taught us a lot and you will be greatly missed.

Friend's sister

I saw a friend I don't see a lot anymore at the park today. I knew her older sister who is 60 years old was manic-depressive. She has had a rough year, in and out of the hospital. She can't take lithium, which was working for her, because her liver blood counts were too high. This sister is at the point where she can't take care of herself and the family is having to make some very serious and tough decisions. This is their loved one and they want her to be safe and have compassionate caregivers. Money is also a factor that comes into play at this point. Some nursing homes also will not take psy-patients, only if their facilities are equiped for the memtally ill geriatric residents. My friend was very upset and worried about her sister and what can they do to help her now. It is my experience that the last ten years of life of a severe mentally ill person are the most sad years of all. Their anti-psychiotic treatments, being either chemicals or EST, start to take a toll on their brain cells. Their bodies just can't hold up for years on end with the toxic treatments needed to help them maintain in the "real world". My heart aches for her and I hate to see the families experience such trauma and turmoil.

A Brilliant Madness, Patty Duke

Tuesday, November 6, 2007 - 11:46 AM MST
Patty Duke to speak on mental illness for fundraiser
New Mexico Business Weekly
Academy Award-winning actress and author Patty Duke will speak about her personal experience with mental illness and the accompanying public stigma at an event organized by the Life Link, a group that helps people coping with mental illness, addiction and homelessness.
Duke will speak about recovery and overcoming the stigma surrounding mental illness as well as sign her book, "A Brilliant Madness," at 2 p.m. on Nov. 10 at the Life Link, 2325 Cerrillos Rd. in Santa Fe. There will also be a reception from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Vanessie restaurant, with Duke scheduled to speak at 9 p.m. at the Lensic Theatre nearby.
The local band E. Clayton and the Soul Deacons will perform at the Lensic at 8:30 p.m. prior to the talk. Tickets range from $15 to $45. Special seating and reception tickets to meet Duke are $150. All ticket sales benefit the Life Link and can be purchased through the Lensic box office.
Duke was diagnosed in 1982 with bipolar disorder. She has written a number of books and has launched an online site for mental illness, www.pattyduke.net. She is also a member of the Center for Mental Health Services National Advisory Council.
The New Mexico Behavioral Health Collaborative partners with the Life Link as fiscal agent and is participating in the event. Life Link officials said some 370,000 New Mexicans may suffer from some form of mental illness, including depression. Of those, 71,000 adults have a serious mental illness, including schizophrenia, manic depression, major depression, panic attacks and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Patty Duke's book explains how and why a mentally ill person can commit some of the brilliantly intelligent and unspeakable acts, but in reality be very sick people. Most of the mentally ill are very intelligent, just have a chemical imbalance that they have no control over. This is a good book that has been on the market for a long time. Thanks to Patty Duke for continuing to share her story as well.

David Kaczynski, Unibomber's brother

The Death Penalty Up Close and Personal by David Kaczynski
I am including this article for those of you too young to know anything about the infamous Uni-Bomber. His story is good to understand and see that the mentally ill sometimes do not get the unbiased treatment by the judicial system they deserve. Also, David Kaczynski, is an active advocate against the death penalty for the diagnosed mentally ill.

"I never thought it would happen to my family." I often hear this remark when I speak with family members of murder victims. But it applies equally to me and to other family members of serious offenders. The shock wave from a violent act spreads out in all directions. It isn't possible to be prepared in advance. You may try to imagine how you would feel, but imagination never comes close to the crushing reality.
In October 1995, after my wife Linda broached her suspicions concerning my brother Ted, I made a trip to the public library and read everything I could about the Unabomber's 17-year bombing spree. It relieved me that none of the victims' names were known to me, for it made it appear less likely that my brother Ted would have targeted them. I focused at the time on my worry about Ted, yet it wasn't possible to read about the bombings - the unsuspecting victims, the horrified and grieving families - and not feel a sudden twinge of pity. I wondered what it must feel like to be "struck by lightning," to feel one's whole universe shift and teeter as a result of some seemingly random violence. Unfortunately for me, I was soon to find out.
As I combed through the Unabomber's "manifesto" published in the Washington Post, it seemed increasingly likely that my brother could have written it. It was nightmarish to consider that my brother's mental illness and distorted thinking could have affected him so terribly. Simultaneously, Linda and I faced another kind of nightmare: what should we do? Say nothing and run the risk that my brother might attack others? Or alert the FBI knowing that the Unabomber would likely face execution?
In the end, Linda and I went to the authorities. We shared our suspicions with the FBI agents and helped them investigate and ultimately arrest my brother. Ironically, a 17-year manhunt (the most expensive criminal investigation in US history) was powerless to catch the Unabomber - or not until an anguished family came forward, willing to turn over a loved one because it recognized its responsibility to protect others.
The Kaczynski family's partnership with the Justice Department ended on the day of Ted's arrest. Until then, we had worked closely with law enforcement to save lives. After my brother's arrest, however, I watched in dismay and horror as the Justice Department quickly refocused its resources on the goal of taking a human life: my brother's. It didn't seem to concern prosecutors that my brother was mentally ill with schizophrenia, or that executing him would discourage other families from following our example in the future.
Since my brother's trial, and especially since becoming executive director of New Yorkers Against the Death Penalty, I've tried to point out some lessons that can be learned from the Kaczynski case. There are many things wrong with the death penalty, as evidenced by the alarming number of wrongful convictions, the thinly concealed racial and class bias, the fact that we regularly execute juvenile offenders and people with serious mental illnesses. To most thinking people, these reasons are sufficient to reject a system for imposing ultimate punishment that operates with limited rationality and fairness. But in my view (an uncomfortably close and personal view) problems in the application of capital punishment are traceable to a deeper, underlying problem. It is a problem that appears whenever we attempt to excuse or justify violence.
The justice system focuses on the crime with little attention given to the offender as a human being. Nevertheless, by subtle or overt inferences, the justice system equates the condemned person with his or her criminal conduct. It's the crime that we deplore, yet it's the human being whom we put to death (as if one could be substituted for the other). Do we undo the crime by killing the criminal? Of course not. Family members of offenders are acutely aware of this confusion. When my mother and I provided background information on Ted to the authorities, we said, "We'll do everything in our power to help you catch the Unabomber, but please understand that this is our loved one: a disturbed person, not a monster." The agents, in turn, acknowledged that Ted was seriously mentally ill. But when it came to seeking the death penalty, the Justice Department did an about-face and hired a psychiatrist who was much criticized for his unorthodox views and prosecutorial bias. His job wasn't to discover the humanity in my brother, but instead to hide my brother's humanity so that the jury wouldn't be tempted to empathize.
The death penalty thrives on a polarized vision of human society. It's good against bad, us vs. them. But what happens if one of them is actually one of us? Usually, defendants targeted for death belong to some marginalized group - people of color, people of lower economic status, gays and people "accused" of being gay - all conveniently described as one of them. But in reality they're members of the human family, members of our community, usually members of a family group. Just as the death penalty misdirects hatred for the crime at the offender's humanity, it also inflicts injury on the offender's family and damages core values of responsibility and compassion - values indispensable to the community's health. By seeking my brother's execution, thereby turning us into its adversary, the Justice Department sent a terribly mixed message. By giving way to anger and vengeance, it validated the emotions that often lead to violence while dismissing the humane values which are so desperately needed to prevent it.
In the end, my brother's life was spared, not because the Justice Department recognized its error, but because he had great lawyers (the kind of lawyers that few capital defendants ever see). He's now serving a life sentence in a federal prison. It's an outcome we, his family, can live with. For those affected on both sides, my brother's violence has changed all our lives forever. In different ways, we struggle to survive with the better part of our humanity intact.
Would I do it again, knowing what I know now? The answer is yes. I believe that we probably saved lives. I trust the values and ethics that moved us to do what we did. I know that it would be a mistake to use others' failures as an excuse to avoid personal responsibility. The truth is a very powerful thing. I believe there's no possibility of overcoming evil with evil, falsehood with silence, violence with indifference. If we want to change the world for the better, we must put ourselves on the line.
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This man has lived, as a lot of us have, with a loved one who is dangerously mentally ill. It is wonderful and commendable that he is using his painful experience with his brother to try to have laws changed for the mentally ill. It is the crime that they commit in their deleria that is monsterous, not the person themselves. They are victims also and first-most of a serious illness. The list of stories happening everyday grows longer as we speak. The laws, in my opinion, can be changed in a lot of areas. Mr. Kaczynski is working on not executing the mentally ill because of a crime they committed while not being on the proper medications. These ill people can be contributing, positive members of society with adequate medical care. The questions are; what can we do to help provide quality psychiatric care to these people? Is it the funding, the laws, or how the hands of the medical staffs are tied. Another title I may have used for my book is My Mother Could Have been the Unabomber, instead of Mr. Kaczynski, My Brother is the Uni-bomber. I know, without a doubt, that if my mother, who was bipolar thought God was telling her to create a bomb because of a government conspiracy, she would have done it. If she thought God had appointed her as a prophet,(which she said many times), and wanted her to kill her children, she would have done so as well. We have too many innocent and very sad victims, being killed for no reason in America.

Hidden truths about violence

Community News
When Mental Illness Makes News, Facts Often Missing in Action Aaron Levin
Almost 40 percent of articles in U.S. daily newspapers associate mental illness with dangerousness and crime. There are ways that psychiatrists can work with reporters, however, to help ensure that the public gets correct information.
Newspaper stories about mental illness still focus most commonly on danger and crime, according to a study of 3,353 articles in 70 major U.S. dailies.
Thirty-nine percent, or 1,291, of the stories fell under the danger heading, most of them in the front section of the papers surveyed, said researchers led by Patrick W. Corrigan, Psy.D., of Evanston Northwestern Healthcare, in the May Psychiatric Services. At the same time, 26 percent of the stories dealt with treatment and recovery, and 20 percent covered advocacy actions and concerns.
The 39 percent of the stories related to dangerousness was smaller than the 50 percent to 75 percent reported in earlier research, wrote Corrigan and colleagues.
"From this survey, we discovered that stories about danger and crime are waning, although they are still the largest single focus among stories about mental illness," they stated.
Nevertheless, Corrigan sees the glass of stigma as half full, if 3 out of 5 stories do not use disrespectful language about mentally ill individuals.
"This is an improvement over the status quo," he said in an interview. "It's good to hear that coverage of stigma is moving in the right direction, although the public is still being influenced with messages about mental illness and dangerousness."
The researchers selected all daily newspapers in the U.S. with a circulation greater than 250,000, plus the largest newspaper in any state where no paper's circulation reached that figure. The average daily circulation of the 70 papers was about 451,000, ranging from 16,755 to 2,195,805. They searched online databases for the 70 papers using the terms "mental," "psych," and "schizo." Articles dealing only with drug or alcohol abuse were not included.
The stories were identified and coded during six weeklong periods in 2002. The coding system was based on the authors' previous research and had four main categories: dangerousness, blame, recovery, and advocacy action. Some stories could fall into more than one category.
Within the danger category, the most common references were to violent crime, suicidal or self-injurious behavior, or mental illness as a legal defense. In contrast, only 56 of the 1,291 articles under the danger heading focused on mental illness as a danger to others, and 132 connected mental illness with being victimized by crime.
Of the 3,353 articles that mention mental illness, 13 percent referred to biological treatments and 14 percent to psychosocial treatments, but only 4 percent considered recovery as an outcome.
"The news media may not be adequately informing the public about the role of recovery in treatment," wrote Corrigan and colleagues.
Only 15 percent of the stories (501) addressed blame or causation. Almost none blamed the mentally ill individuals or their parents for their condition. Mental illness was most often ascribed to environment, genetics, or biology.


This article was printed in Psychiatry Today a few years ago. When I see news stories in the paper about a random shooting, or of a mother in Texas who cut off the arms of her baby because God told her to do it, or a single mother in Ft. Worth who hung her children from the clothes rack in the closet; I have to read almost through the whole article and find a single line of text that mentions, like a footnote, that the person had a known history of mental illness. These people can be wonderful contributing members of society when taking the proper medicines. These children do not have to die at the hands of their loved ones who are delusional and sick.

High school shooter in Finland

TUUSULA, Finland - An 18-year-old gunman opened fire at his high school in this placid town in southern Finland on Wednesday, killing seven other students and the principal before mortally wounding himself in a rampage that stunned a nation where gun crime is rare.
Police were analyzing YouTube postings that appeared to anticipate the massacre, including clips in which a young man calls for revolution and apparently prepares for the attack by test firing a semiautomatic handgun.
Investigators said the gunman, who was not identified, shot himself in the head after the shooting spree at Jokela High School in Tuusula, some 30 miles north of the capital, Helsinki. He died later at Toolo Hospital in Helsinki.

These are the stories that we read about almost on a daily basis that do not need to be happening. Most of the people who commit these disasterous acts are good citizens, they are just mentally ill in some form or another. This makes me really sad to continue to read about people who are obviously delusional, who are imagining they are God or God has given them a message. Most mentally ill and delusional people have the same stories. My opinion is that the laws in England are the best. They state that if you have been diagnosed by a trained expert, and have been prescribed medications, that you can be monitored. If you do not take your medicine, they can have you detained by the police until you co-operate by being in compliance with the medical staff. This does not infringe upon their civil liberities. This keeps innocent bystanders from becoming victims of a very sick mind.

Exerpt from Who are the Victims? A Bipolar Quandary

This is a small exerpt from my book. " But when she would come home from having had shock-treatments, it would be so obvious how very fragile she still was emotionally. She never remembered any of the craziness she had thought or done after her treatments, so it would do more harm than good to confront her with her actions. But as the daughter of a bipolar mother and knowing I have inherited her genes, I always lived wiht the fear of turning out like her. I was afraid of transforming into someone who was delusional and paranoid for most of my childhood. Not until I was about twenty five years old was I able to relax and realize that I was normal. What sad and very realistic choices these bipolar people have, brain killing drugs, asylums, or living on the street. Six weeks later, on the day of her death, she was still taking 1250 milligrams of an anti-psychotic drug for this "disorder bipolar".

Another book about bipolar mother

A friend of mine recently gave me another book written by the daughter of a bipolar mother. Sights Unseen by Kay Gibbons written in 1995. It was an uncanny story very similar to mine. I predict that if all the daughters of bipolar mothers wrote a book about their experiences, their stories would all be the same. The disorder of bipolar treats everyone the same with no discrepencies. The people are all diverse, but the unrelenting disorder is very stable in it's characteristics. Exerpt from her book, "If I had a little girl, I thought, I would look at her and discover ways to ground myself. I would find reasons to move out of the haze and into the clearing, where a husband, a son, and a daughter could see me fully and welcome me. If I had a daughter as needy for my love as I was for her, I could, I thought, will myself to be well for her sake. But Mother did not find that inspiration in me. Her illness, manic depression, was beyond her control. I mourned the inability to change her, to restore her." When I was a small girl, and actually into my adult years, 46 years to be exact; I prayed everyday for God to heal my mother of this illness. But I realized after all those years that this illness was stronger even than God. After all that time in prayer, I started to question the brainwashing I received in my youth of prayer being the answer to all problems. I was told, of course, that your prayers weren't answered because it wasn't God's will. Well, if after 46 years of prayer, it all boils down to what God wants anyway, then what is point in asking for what I want.

Son's Experience

My son had a college roommate who was bipolar. The man was staying up all night and sleeping all day. He would get up and shower at 500pm when most people are getting home from work. He had his days and nights backwards. He also was unemployed. Turned out to be extremely depressed, then he did realize he was having suicidal thoughts and asked my son to take him to the psy-ward for help. I comment this young man for reaching out and realizing that he needed professional help before he got worse.

Bipolar loved ones

Living with and caring for a loved one who is bipolar is very frustrating. We want to help the bp loved one, but they will not accept our help. But we are the first ones called when the pb loved one makes inappropriate decisions. Please post here if you just want to "vent" after a frustrating week or day, and know that you are not alone in this adventure.