Random Notes: 8K Visitors And Growing. 
         -As of today, readership of this blog has transcended the 8000 mark in just around six full months of publication. Recent broadening of my reader base that has come about in direct relation to new contacts in the media world, as well as relatively fresh interests from a host of academic, legal/advocacy, and multi media resources: Including, but not limited to, Mother Jones Magazine, film maker Michael Moore's blog based database, and Brown University's graduate program in Social Sciences and Public Advocacy.
     Sometimes I wish I was still in Phoenix. I wish I could look people like Dr. Pervaiz Akhter, Cory "meathead" Nelson, and Joel "the mortician" Rudd in the eye, and ask them to comment on my work to date, at a minimum; or more so, to declare in clear and simple terms, "I warned you rat bastards. I did, and you know it." But I left Arizona, because I literally received sage advice to the effect as I set out on this journey specific to considering whether it would sensible, as in safe, to remain in Arizona; I knew from the outset that I would likely have to tickle the funny bones of some of Arizona's highest ranking public service monsters, and in predicting this to some of my associates there in Phoenix, more than one person said to me, in effect: 'You might want to consider staying well under the radar, or better yet, conducting your work from another state, because you cannot put anything past these people.' 
     And it's true, seemingly dramatic (I acknowledge this), but true. Arizona's modern history is fraught with violence and mayhem specific to the state governments' willingness to do whatever it has to in order to maintain status quo, all the way back, in fact, to the arrival of the Spaniards with their sabers and Catholic ways, and onto that particularly insidious period of time when modern Arizona's founders were massacring Apaches and other indigenous groups under the guise of civilization and neo-nationalistic enterprise; and of course, as I have discussed in previous articles, the acclaimed Phoenix news reporter, Don Bolles, was assassinated in 1976 in direct relation to his dedicated investigations specific to exposing corruption in Arizona's administrative branches of government with respect for influence peddling, land swindles, and related bribery. I can also attest to having felt so much resentment from the staff at ASH who I fell into a habit of calling out in terms of their abuse of ASH patients, that it was clear to me that some of them would have been comfortable to learn that I had somehow managed to fulfill my suicidal ideation at the time, there in the confines of the ASH facility. 
     I would not have been the first patient to do this. In 2007 or so (I do not know the specifics, my info on this comes from patient reports), a young female patient at ASH, who in group therapy sessions had been openly voicing her ongoing intent to kill herself, managed to do just that by hanging herself from a cabinet door in her room; by the time I arrived at ASH, all of the cabinets in patients' rooms had had their doors removed as a consequence of this, in relation, no doubt the lawsuit filed by the woman's family. It really is that bad. Staff, including certain administrators, would prefer the individuals wiling to report patient abuse go away (as exemplified by Cory "meathead" Nelson's statements to me in his September 30, 2011 letter [see my last article, "Why Do We Care?"]), rather than doing anything to address the problems themselves. Absolute negligence and refusal to meet the terms of well established standards of care, which in my case, directly caused an infliction of distress that detrimented my stability at the time. I am not unique. Many of the patients at ASH share my propensity and vulnerabilities to authoritative abuse and neglect, issues that often arise through childhood abuse and other like aspects of various mental diagnoses.  
     Arizona, meanwhile, is both an unhealthy place for anyone with mental disability to be, and a dangerous place for anyone of reasonably sound character who might choose to stand up in defiance of this sort of shit. And as reported in numerous news outlets of late, the current administration in Arizona is increasingly becoming more scandal ridden than at any time in the past. Again, it really is that bad. But it's only a matter of time, in my humble opinion, before the real shit hits the fan in Arizona, and when that happens, these people- from Governor Jan "Whaddya' say ya' buy me another round, sailor" Brewer to Arizona Attorney General Tom "Trust me, but ignore the federal investigations" Horne, as well as each and every various state agency official currently ignoring their legally required obligations to their citizen clientele- are going to start stabbing one another in the back as they scurry toward the wings of that godforsaken stage, Arizona, and head for the nearest dung hole available for them to hide in. I look forward to that time, granted, but in the meantime, I am operating from a distance of at least three states apart from the center of corruption and directly related substandard mental-medical health care conditions at The Arizona State Hospital that I personally am dedicating to exposing. It is as much a matter of practicality (with respect for my having a very dear old friend where I am today, who graciously offered me a safe place to reside so that I can try and rebuild my life after a decade of crisis that my given mental health issues caused me to suffer), as it is a matter of prudence and common sense.  
     Indeed. Just over 8k visitors to this writing project in about six months of time. That's well over 1000 a month, or 250 a week, etc. Encouraging, to say the least; and the fact is, for the first 8-10 weeks of publishing this blog, I had very few visitors, perhaps one or two hundred, all told. Things are definitely looking up in all senses, and I have lost none of my motivation in terms of remaining fully on top of this campaign as things have slowly but steadily evolved. I owe as much to my friends at ASH, staff and patients alike.  
      -I want to say thank you to the author of "My Life of Crime" for her direct endorsement and willingness to include data that I provided her with in her own writing project, so here it is: Thank you, Bonnie! Keep up the good work! 
      -As well, to the author of the Arizona Prison Watch, for her stalwart moral support of my work, as well as for her own dedication to advocating for the rights of Arizona's inmates, many of whom are unduly subject to any range of unlawful actions and undeserved suffering as a direct consequence of Arizona's prosecution-incarceration happy legal system. Thanks, prison abolitionist chick! You rock!
        
IN CLOSING: I have been advised of the scheduling of my next hearing in the Arizona Office of Administrative Hearings, but there is a definite problem with the scheduling, in the context of there being one other very critical proceeding that should absolutely have been scheduled in advance of this one. It is just another case of the one's assigned the responsibility(s) of serving AZ's citizens doing all they can to avoid accountability interns of their gross failings in this context. Thus, I spent several hours this week doing what I feel I have to in order to get the situation in order, as per my lawful rights and protections in the context of due process,, which is to say that I filed the appropriate form work, contacted and updated the involved parties- rat bastards, all of them- and I will now have to wait and see if the court responds accordingly. I am not a fool, at least not so much of one as the rat bastards in the Arizona Department of Health Services Office of Grievance and Appeals seem to believe I am (How can this be? He is a man, a living, breathing, thinking man! Who in the hell let him into ASH?), and I recognize this latest attempt to manipulate the factual sequence of events specific to my experiences as a patient at The Arizona State Hospital as being just that: An unlawful manipulation of procedural guidelines that is designed to further alter the truths underlying these matters, all in the hope that the fundamental significance of the wrongdoing I have and am still experiencing as a former ASH patient, tax payer, and human being, will be suppressed to such an extent that the one's most directly responsible for the ongoing patient abuse at ASH, and the related administrative corruption, wrongdoing, and utter ineptitude represented in the highest offices of ADHS, the AZ attorney generals office, and so on, might actually continue to get away with their egregious conduct. Well, guess what, you of the evil empire known as ASH to some people, and as Arizona's dirtiest secret, to others: I am onto you, and as one of my favorite poets, Ken Patchett once wrote: "I got the fat poet into a corner and told him he was writing shit and would not get away with it."    

     Come on, people. Let's get involved in supporting my efforts to defend the well being and fundamental rights of Arizona's most seriously mentally ill and disabled adults today. Patient abuse is as sickeningly criminal a thing to have present in our society as anything I can imagine. It is inhumane, and it is unacceptable. Please contact one or more of the individuals or offices included in my April 30, 2012, "Resource Ideas." Better yet, go above and beyond anything I have come up with thus far in suggesting how you can become involved, and contact your various elected officials, and so on. Please do whatever you can. Today. 

paoloreed@gmail.com