Following are action alerts from the Liberty Committee regarding mandatory mental health screening for children. It is lengthy and informative, but represents four seperate alerts.

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ACTION ALERT

November 8, 2004

High-priced lobbyists in Washington are tough to beat; especially the ones who represent the pharmaceutical industry. But we can't let them win this time.

On September 7th, we told you about the New Freedom Commission on Mental Health's plan (a presidential commission) to subject every child in America to mandatory mental-health screening; a plan that will result in the forced drugging of children. Two days later, Congressman Ron Paul tried to stop this insidious plan by offering an amendment to the Labor, HHS, and Education Appropriations Act for FY 2005. The amendment received 95 "yes" votes, but it failed to pass.

However, Congressman Paul and several of his colleagues are not giving up. Neither are we. They have drafted a letter to Congressman Ralph Regula, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education Appropriations, asking for his help. The letter will be sent to Mr. Regula this Friday. As of today, 11 House members have signed the letter which is a very good start. But the high-priced lobbyists representing the drug companies are already working to oppose our effort, so we need to get additional support for our side.

Read the letter and then urge your U.S. representative to sign it. If you think mandatory mental-health screening can’t happen in the good ol' USofA, think again. In 1995, while George W. Bush was governor, the state of Texas launched the Texas Medication Algorithm Project. The state of Illinois launched a similar program in 2003. Backers of those two state programs now want to go nationwide! We must stop them!!

To read the letter and send your message, go to http://www.thelibertycommittee.org/regula.htm

November 9, 2004

Your efforts are paying off! Nine more members of the U.S. House signed Congressman Paul's letter today. The letter now has 20 signers. In addition, several producers of radio talk shows and press reporters contacted Dr. Paul's office.

Adding nine more signers in one day is great; especially when you consider that House members are not in their Capitol Hill offices this week, and many members of their staffs are away too. Your efforts have pushed staff members to call their bosses at home to get their approval.

We have one more day. Thursday is Veterans Day, so Capitol Hill offices will be closed. Dr. Paul will send his letter to Chairman Regula first thing Friday morning, leaving tomorrow as our last day to get more signers.

Here's the checklist:

1. Read the letter and see who signed today. 2. Send a message to your representative. 3. Spread the word.

Thank you for your help! We can't allow mandatory mental-health screening (and forced drugging) of kids to take place in America.

We have one more day. Let's make the most of it. Go to http://www.thelibertycommittee.org/regula.htm

ACTION ALERT

November 15, 2004

Congressman Ron Paul's letter expressing opposition to mandatory mental-health screening of children was sent to Chairman Ralph Regula last Friday. Twenty-two other House members signed Dr. Paul's letter. Those additional signatures were added in large part due to your efforts. Thank you!

We must now focus our efforts on House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. Mr. DeLay can be extremely helpful to our cause.

The House will likely pass an omnibus spending bill by this Saturday. It must include language prohibiting money from being spent on mandatory mental-health screening of kids; otherwise, the screening programs already operating in Texas and Illinois will be implemented nationwide.

Should the government subject your children to mandatory mental-health screening without your consent? We say "NO!"

The pharmaceutical industry says "yes" because it wants millions of new customers for drugs such as Ritalin. The psychiatry/psychology/counseling establishment says "yes" because they want millions of new patients. These groups are represented by the most powerful and highest paid lobbyists in Washington and they are working this week to satisfy their clients -- at the expense of your rights as parents and the well-being of your children.

The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons warned the public five days ago that universal psychiatric screening and drugging of children is "a dangerous scheme that will heap even more coercive pressure on parents to medicate children with potentially dangerous side effects."

Congressman Ron Paul, a physician for over 30 years, abhors the "notion of federal bureaucrats ordering potentially millions of youngsters to take psychotropic drugs like Ritalin."

We must stop this new federal program before it gets millions of dollars to spend. As Dr. Paul cautions, "Anyone who understands bureaucracies knows they assume more and more power incrementally. A few scattered state programs over time will be replaced by a federal program implemented in a few select cities. Once the limited federal program is accepted, it will be expanded nationwide."

We have until this Saturday at the latest. Urge House Majority Leader Tom DeLay to help. Ask him to make sure the omnibus spending bill or final committee report on Labor/HHS appropriations includes the following language: "None of the funds made available for State incentive grants for transformation should be used for any programs of mandatory or universal mental-health screening that performs mental-health screening on anyone under 18 years of age without the express, written permission of the parents or legal guardians of each individual involved."

Mr. DeLay has a copy of the letter Dr. Paul and 22 of his colleagues sent to Chairman Regula, so he knows about it.

Mr. DeLay's office telephone number is 202-225-4000. His fax number is 202-225-5117. An E-mail form is at http://www.majorityleader.gov/CONTACT.ASP?a=form

Your efforts are paying off! After over 7,600 messages from us(!), the House leadership supports the Paul language prohibiting the funding of mandatory mental-health screening. In fact, key members of the House leadership attempted to add Dr. Paul's language to the omnibus spending bill, but some members of the Senate objected.

So now the question of whether your kids can be subjected to forced psychological testing -- and perhaps even forced drugging -- rests in the hands of the U.S. Senate.

We have little time left. The final version of the omnibus spending bill will likely be agreed upon this Friday morning. Between now and then, we must convince senators to add Congressman Paul's language to it.

Just as we convinced the House leadership to support the Paul language, we must now go to work to convince the Senate.

Urge your two U.S. senators to support the Paul language to the omnibus spending bill. The language is as follows: "None of the funds made available for State incentive grants for transformation should be used for any programs of mandatory or universal mental-health screening that performs mental-health screening on anyone under 18 years of age without the express, written permission of the parents or legal guardians of each individual involved."

Here's the checklist:

1. Call your two U.S. senators. The main Capitol switchboard number is 202-224-3121.

2. Send a message to your senators. Go to, http://capwiz.com/liberty/issues/alert/?alertid=6664601&type=CO

3. Spread the word.

Your efforts paid off in the U.S. House. We must take the next step and convince the U.S. Senate.

"No Child Left Behind" must not become "No Child Left Undrugged."

Kent Snyder

-- Dreen (animalwaitress@yahoo.com), November 19, 2004