Study: Anti-depressants Don't Work

"Have a nice day" works just as well as Prozac?

The vast majority of patients get little or no good from prescribed anti-depressants, according to researchers.

Almost 50 clinical trials were reviewed by psychologists from the University of Hull who found that new-generation anti-depressants worked no better than a placebo – a dummy pill – for mildly depressed patients.

Even the trials that suggested some clinical benefit for the most severely depressed patients did not produce convincing evidence. Professor Irving Kirsch from the university’s pyschology department said: “The difference in improvement between patients taking placebos and patients taking anti-depressants is not very great.

“This means that depressed people can improve without chemical treatments. Given these results, there seems little reason to prescribe anti-depressant medication to any but the most severely depressed patients.”

Speaking up in defense of anti-depressants was Dr Gary Bell, consultant psychiatrist at Capio Nightingale Hospitals, the provider of private psychiatry treatment, who contested the conclusions of the Hull research.

“Anti-depressants are one of the great breakthroughs in the treatment of depression in last 20 to 30 years,” he said.

“They do not always suit everybody but the results are often life-saving. People who do studies do not have the hands-on experience of using these medicines.”

While we're not sure about the effectiveness of anti-depressants, we do know one thing.

Most studies depress us.

by Mondoreb
idea/image: RidesAPaleHorse
image: funny t-shirts
Source: Study casts doubt on anti-depressants



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

Gun Free Zones Deaths: Gun Free Zones Proven Effective Once More--For Killers

Now we can add Northern Illinois University, St. Valentines Day Massacre 2008

Northern Illinois University Shootings: St. Valentine's Massacre Redeaux 79 years to the day, another Chicagoland massacre occurred--this time Gun Free Zones, not gangsters dressed as policeman helped do in the victims.

Feb. 2, 1996

Moses Lake, Wash.
Two students and one teacher
killed, one other wounded when 14-year-old Barry Loukaitis opened fire
on his algebra class.



March 13, 1996

Dunblane, Scotland
16 children and one teacher killed
at Dunblane Primary School by Thomas Hamilton, who then killed himself.
10 others wounded in attack.


Feb. 19, 1997


Bethel, Alaska
Principal and one student killed,
two others wounded by Evan Ramsey, 16.


March 1997

Sanaa, Yemen

Eight people (six students and two
others) at two schools killed by Mohammad Ahman al-Naziri.


Oct. 1, 1997

Pearl, Miss.
Two students killed and seven
wounded by Luke Woodham, 16, who was also accused of killing his
mother. He and his friends were said to be outcasts who worshiped Satan.



Dec. 1, 1997

West Paducah, Ky.
Three students killed, five wounded
by Michael Carneal, 14, as they participated in a prayer circle at
Heath High School.



Dec. 15, 1997

Stamps, Ark.
Two students wounded. Colt Todd,
14, was hiding in the woods when he shot the students as they stood in
the parking lot.


March 24, 1998


Jonesboro, Ark.
Four students and one teacher
killed, ten others wounded outside as Westside Middle School emptied
during a false fire alarm. Mitchell Johnson, 13, and Andrew Golden, 11,
shot at their classmates and teachers from the woods.


April 24, 1998

Edinboro, Pa.

One teacher, John Gillette, killed,
two students wounded at a dance at James W. Parker Middle School.
Andrew Wurst, 14, was charged.


May 19, 1998

Fayetteville, Tenn.
One student killed in the parking
lot at Lincoln County High School three days before he was to graduate.
The victim was dating the ex-girlfriend of his killer, 18-year-old
honor student Jacob Davis.



May 21, 1998

Springfield, Ore.
Two students killed, 22 others
wounded in the cafeteria at Thurston High School by 15-year-old Kip
Kinkel. Kinkel had been arrested and released a day earlier for
bringing a gun to school. His parents were later found dead at home.



June 15, 1998

Richmond, Va.
One teacher and one guidance
counselor wounded by a 14-year-old boy in the school hallway.


April 20, 1999


Littleton, Colo.
14 students (including killers) and
one teacher killed, 23 others wounded at Columbine High School in the
nation's deadliest school shooting. Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold,
17, had plotted for a year to kill at least 500 and blow up their
school. At the end of their hour-long rampage, they turned their guns
on themselves.


April 28, 1999

Taber, Alberta, Canada

One student killed, one wounded at
W. R. Myers High School in first fatal high school shooting in Canada
in 20 years. The suspect, a 14-year-old boy, had dropped out of school
after he was severely ostracized by his classmates.


May 20, 1999

Conyers, Ga.
Six students injured at Heritage
High School by Thomas Solomon, 15, who was reportedly depressed after
breaking up with his girlfriend.



Nov. 19, 1999

Deming, N.M.
Victor Cordova Jr., 12, shot and
killed Araceli Tena, 13, in the lobby of Deming Middle School.



Dec. 6, 1999

Fort Gibson, Okla.
Four students wounded as Seth
Trickey, 13, opened fire with a 9mm semiautomatic handgun at Fort
Gibson Middle School.


Dec. 7, 1999


Veghel, Netherlands
One teacher and three students
wounded by a 17-year-old student.


Feb. 29, 2000

Mount Morris Township, Mich.

Six-year-old Kayla Rolland shot
dead at Buell Elementary School near Flint, Mich. The assailant was
identified as a six-year-old boy with a .32-caliber handgun.


March 2000

Branneburg, Germany
One teacher killed by a 15-year-old
student, who then shot himself. The shooter has been in a coma ever
since.



March 10, 2000

Savannah, Ga.
Two students killed by Darrell
Ingram, 19, while leaving a dance sponsored by Beach High School.



May 26, 2000

Lake Worth, Fla.
One teacher, Barry Grunow, shot and
killed at Lake Worth Middle School by Nate Brazill, 13, with
.25-caliber semiautomatic pistol on the last day of classes.


Sept. 26, 2000


New Orleans, La.
Two students wounded with the same
gun during a fight at Woodson Middle School.


Jan. 17, 2001

Baltimore, Md.

One student shot and killed in
front of Lake Clifton Eastern High School.


Jan. 18, 2001

Jan, Sweden
One student killed by two boys,
ages 17 and 19.



March 5, 2001

Santee, Calif.
Two killed and 13 wounded by
Charles Andrew Williams, 15, firing from a bathroom at Santana High
School.



March 7, 2001

Williamsport, Pa.
Elizabeth Catherine Bush, 14,
wounded student Kimberly Marchese in the cafeteria of Bishop Neumann
High School; she was depressed and frequently teased.


March 22, 2001


Granite Hills, Calif.
One teacher and three students
wounded by Jason Hoffman, 18, at Granite Hills High School. A policeman
shot and wounded Hoffman.


March 30, 2001

Gary, Ind.

One student killed by Donald R.
Burt, Jr., a 17-year-old student who had been expelled from Lew Wallace
High School.


Nov. 12, 2001

Caro, Mich.
Chris Buschbacher, 17, took two
hostages at the Caro Learning Center before killing himself.



Jan. 15, 2002

New York, N.Y.
A teenager wounded two students at
Martin Luther King Jr. High School.



Feb. 19, 2002

Freising, Germany
Two killed in Eching by a man at
the factory from which he had been fired; he then traveled to Freising
and killed the headmaster of the technical school from which he had
been expelled. He also wounded another teacher before killing himself.


April 26, 2002


Erfurt, Germany
13 teachers, two students, and one
policeman killed, ten wounded by Robert Steinhaeuser, 19, at the Johann
Gutenberg secondary school. Steinhaeuser then killed himself.


April 29, 2002

Vlasenica, Bosnia-Herzegovina

One teacher killed, one wounded by
Dragoslav Petkovic, 17, who then killed himself.


October 28, 2002

Tucson, Ariz.
Robert S. Flores Jr., 41, a student
at the nursing school at the University of Arizona, shot and killed
three female professors and then himself.



April 14, 2003

New Orleans, La.
One 15-year-old killed, and three
students wounded at John McDonogh High School by gunfire from four
teenagers (none were students at the school). The motive was
gang-related.



April 24, 2003

Red Lion, Pa.
James Sheets, 14, killed principal
Eugene Segro of Red Lion Area Junior High School before killing himself.


Sept. 24, 2003


Cold Spring, Minn.
Two students are killed at Rocori
High School by John Jason McLaughlin, 15.


Sept. 28, 2004

Carmen de Patagones, Argentina
Three students killed and 6 wounded
by a 15-year-old Argentininan student in a town 620 miles south of
Buenos Aires.



March 21, 2005

Red Lake, Minn.
Jeff Weise, 16, killed grandfather
and companion, then arrived at school where he killed a teacher, a
security guard, 5 students, and finally himself, leaving a total of 10
dead.


Nov. 8, 2005


Jacksboro, Tenn.
One 15-year-old shot and killed an
assistant principal at Campbell County High School and seriously
wounded two other administrators.


Aug. 24, 2006

Essex, Vt.
Christopher Williams, 27, looking
for his ex-girlfriend at Essex Elementary School, shot two teachers,
killing one and wounding another. Before going to the school, he had
killed the ex-girlfriend's mother.



Sept. 13, 2006

Montreal, Canada
Kimveer Gill, 25, opened fire with
a semiautomatic weapon at Dawson College. Anastasia De Sousa, 18, died
and more than a dozen students and faculty were wounded before Gill
killed himself.


Sept. 26, 2006


Bailey, Colo.
Adult male held six students
hostage at Platte Canyon High School and then shot and killed Emily
Keyes, 16, and himself.


Sept. 29, 2006

Cazenovia, Wis.
A 15-year-old student shot and
killed Weston School principal John Klang.



Oct. 3, 2006

Nickel Mines, Pa.
32-year-old Carl Charles Roberts IV
entered the one-room West Nickel Mines Amish School and shot 10
schoolgirls, ranging in age from 6 to 13 years old, and then himself.
Five of the girls and Roberts died.


Jan. 3, 2007


Tacoma, Wash.
Douglas Chanthabouly, 18, shot
fellow student Samnang Kok, 17, in the hallway of Henry Foss High
School.


April 16, 2007

Blacksburg, Va.
A 23-year-old Virginia Tech student, Cho Seung-Hui, killed
two in a dorm, then killed 30 more 2 hours later in a classroom
building. His suicide brought the death toll to 33, making the shooting
rampage the most deadly in U.S. history. Fifteen others were wounded.



Sept. 21, 2007

Dover, Del.
A Delaware State Univesity Freshman, Loyer D. Brandon, shot
and wounded two other Freshman students on the University campus.
Brandon is being charged with attempted murder, assault, reckless
engagement, as well as a gun charge.


Oct. 10, 2007


Cleveland, Ohio
A 14-year-old student at a Cleveland high school, Asa H.
Coon, shot and injured two students and two teachers before he shot and
killed himself. The victims' injuries were not life-threatening.


Nov. 7, 2007

Tuusula, Finland
An 18-year-old student in southern Finland shot and killed
five boys, two girls, and the female principal at Jokela High School.
At least 10 others were injured. The gunman shot himself and is in the
hospital in critical condition.



Feb. 8, 2008

Baton Rouge, Louisiana
A nursing student shot and killed two women and then herself
in a classroom at Louisiana Technical College in Baton Rouge.


by RidesAPaleHorse
image: RAPH




Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

The United Nations: A Creature of Fiction

"Personal Notice: Danger is my stock-in-trade. If the job is too tough for you to handle, you've got a job for me, George Valentine. Write full details."

The above advertisement was how the hero in 1940s radio thriller "Let George Do it" obtained his clients.

It made for great radio; it makes for lousy foreign policy. Besides, George was a fiction.

Increasingly, political leaders, from the Democrat Party to Greens in Germany, demand that a worldwide "George"--the United Nations--do the work whenever there's a problem.

Environmental problems? Nuclear Iran? The Internet?

"Let George (the U.N.) do it!"

An industry has sprung up castigating George Bush, the United States, Israel, Great Britain: in short any country who doesn't govern by committee, for the grave sin of "unilateralism".

The United Nations has a great track record for padding the pockets of its officials, naming Israel and the United States as a "problem" or "racist" and other amusing sideshow antics.

Its list of accomplishments of actually doing anything about serious problems is much shorter.

Now, there are some calls to let the United Nations police the Internet.

As commercials for risky investments proclaim, "Past performance is no guarantee of future success".

Calls for UN action are shorthand. Substitute the words, "Let George do it" and the results would be the same: nothing.

That anyone should "police" or "take charge" of the Internet is troubling--except to the nanny types who are troubled by nothing except smoking in bars, fatty foods and non-Politically Correct speech. That the United Nations do it is--well, we'll let the reader supply their own reaction.

With that in mind, the following five quotes may be enlightening. Remember them the next time someone gets in front of the cameras with a call for the U.N. to take action on anything, from Iraq to Iran's nuclear ambitions to policing the Internet.

"If I'm president, I will not only personally go to the UN, I will go to other capitals. . . . I will immediately reach out to other nations in a very different way from this administration. Within weeks of being inaugurated, I will return to the UN and I will literally, formally rejoin the community of nations and turn over a proud new chapter in America's relationship with the world."
--John Kerry, NBC's Meet the Press

"Should governance of the Internet be turned over to the United Nations? It seems far-fetched, but that’s exactly what some foreign governments – including China and the European Union – are advocating."

Three women peace activists interrupted today’s Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on John Bolton’s nomination as US Ambassador to the UN. They held up banners reading “NO Bolton, YES UN,” “Bolton = Nuclear Proliferation,” and “Diplomat, Not Bully, Please!” and urged Senators to reject Bolton as the worst possible choice for the job and for world peace.

"When everybody is responsible, nobody is"
--Arthur Rubenstein, among many

"Virtuous motives, trammelled by inertia and timidity, are no match for armed and resolute wickedness. A sincere love of peace is no excuse for muddling hundreds of millions of humble folk into total war. The cheers of weak, well-meaning assemblies soon cease to echo, and their votes soon cease to count. Doom marches on."
--Winston Churchill, writing in The Gathering Storm, of events in 1935. European powers, instead of acting against treaty violations and--in spite of bald declarations by Hitler and Mussolini on what they intended to do--kept insisting no one country but the League of Nations take action.

"Let George do it."

"Let the U.N. take action."

Both entities are fictitious.

In other words: let nobody do it.

by Mondoreb
[image:un]
Source: The Gathering Storm, Winston S. Churhill, p. 190
Let the U.N. Govern the Internet?
Kerry's UN Fetish



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.