Death of Alice Miller, Brilliant Defender of Children.

Hat-tip to fellow Miller enthusiast Arthur Silber.

Let Them Eat Cake? No! Let Them Make Tea!!

I work with people (adults and children) who have chronic complex PTSD and dissociative disorders, many of whom self-injure, and many if not most of whom have suicidal ideation, and some of whom are actively suicidal. Meaning that sometimes they act on their thoughts.

When I, as their clinician, think they are a danger to themselves or others, part of a safety plan we've put together includes going for an evaluation at a hospital or crisis center. I don't just send people to the ER on a whim, because that would be, well, idiotic, would it not? Generally, I try to speak with someone there to express my concerns, and my familiarity with my patients' patterns. If they listen to me.

Lately, that hasn't been so much the case. And I am discovering many of my colleagues are having similar experiences. Seems like, more and more, people who should be inpatient are not being admitted, whether it's because of having poor insurance with poor benefits, or I'm not sure what.

It is often very hard for people who are a danger to themselves or others to admit that. So the act of actually going to an ER and saying, yes, I have been having those thoughts, and yes, I am afraid I will act on them, is really quite a step forward, clinically-speaking. For someone to respond to that admission in a trivializing way, as in the "Oh, it's not so bad, why don't you just go home and make a cup of tea" (which actually just happened, I kid you not) gatekeeper incident, is completely unacceptable.

Obama, who is quite ready to spend on physical infrastructure (roads, bridges, etc.) needs to spend money on shoring up our social infrastructure -- mental health and child welfare, doing it from the bottom up, not from the top down. More services, not fewer. More services for the most endangered.

Are we hypnotized, as a nation, by some weird gender-biased kinda frame? Bridges and roads are visible, strong, real and manly and tough? Minds are invisible, weak, fickle, unreal, not truly existent, thus unworthy of making a top priority?

Polanski Got Off Lightly, Lawyers Say

Polanski would face tougher prosecution today

By GILLIAN FLACCUS (AP) – 3 hours ago

LOS ANGELES — If Roman Polanski were charged with child rape today, DNA evidence, stiffer penalties, outcry over childhood sexual abuse and tougher scrutiny of celebrity justice would make prosecutors much less willing to cut the plea deal the director received more than 30 years ago, legal experts say.

For one thing, changes in state law since the 1970s would give prosecutors other options in pursuing charges, including a law that includes a mandatory 15 years to life in state prison for rape, sodomy or a lewd act with a child coupled with certain circumstances, such as the use of a controlled substance, said Robin Sax, a former sex crimes prosecutor with the district attorney's office.

"He should be shutting up and thanking goodness for his sentence," said Sax, who is also a victim's advocate. "There's one part of me that says, 'Bring it on, you want your trial? Let's let everyone here see what the evidence really is.'"

Polanski was accused of plying a 13-year-old girl with champagne and part of a Quaalude during a modeling shoot in 1977 and raping her. He was initially indicted on six felony counts, including rape by use of drugs, child molesting and sodomy.

The director pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of unlawful sexual intercourse; in exchange, the remaining charges were dropped, and the judge agreed to send Polanski to prison for a 90-day psychiatric evaluation. But Polanski was released after 42 days and fled the country on the eve of his Feb. 1, 1978 sentencing after the judge reportedly told lawyers he planned to add more prison time.

"I intended that he at least serve a full 90 days in state prison," Superior Court Judge Laurence Rittenband said in an AP story from the time.

Rittenband also called the prison psychiatric report on Polanski "a complete whitewash" and told reporters he believed it didn't adequately explore Polanski's reasons for committing the sex offense.

Victims of clergy sexual abuse staged a protest outside the district attorney's office Wednesday to protest celebrities who have publicly supported Polanski since his arrest in Zurich, Switzerland over the weekend.

"It is very, very similar to the allegations against the priests ... and no one says that we should just ignore the priest pedophilia," said Katie Buckland, executive director of the California Women's Law Center and former Los Angeles city attorney, who was not affiliated with the protesters.

An HBO documentary released last year suggested judicial misconduct surrounding Polanski's plea deal. The victim, who didn't want to testify against him at the time, has joined in Polanski's bid for dismissal, which is currently before a California appellate court.

Chad Hummel, Polanski's attorney, declined to comment Wednesday.

Experts watching the case unfold on two continents say in today's climate, Polanski would have very little chance of getting the sort of plea deal he got in 1977 — judicial misconduct or not.

"I think we treat sex and sex with minor cases now much more severely than we did then," said Stan Goldman, a law professor at Loyola Law School of Los Angeles. "I think Polanski or anybody today would be looking at massive amounts of time in jail ... in light of the allegation, as originally charged, that this was forcible, and that he fed her drugs."

Devout Christian Incests Step-daughter

Mom says she had no clue her husband was raping her daughter.

But let's get all worked up about snowflakes rather than incest, shall we?