'Porn addiction' just another harmful lie told by religious fanatics

A new study shows that so-called “porn addiction” doesn’t actually exist. In fact, behavioral health expert David Ley, PhD, Executive Director of New Mexico Solutions in Albuquerque says that viewing porn is actually healthy and can be beneficial. “Ley and his team believe that the positive benefits attached to viewing such images do not make it problematic de facto,” the report tells us. “It can improve attitudes towards sexuality, increase the quality of life and variety of sexual behaviors and increase pleasure in long-term relationships. It provides a legal outlet for illegal sexual behaviors or desires, and its consumption or availability has been associated with a decrease in sex offenses, especially child molestation.”

And here’s where things get interesting. People who complain about having a “porn addiction” aren’t concerned about their interest in porn per se, but rather the type of porn that keeps bringing them back for more.

Clinicians should be aware that people reporting “addiction” are likely to be male, have a non-heterosexual orientation, have a high libido, tend towards sensation seeking and have religious values that conflict with their sexual behavior and desires. They may be using visually stimulating images to cope with negative emotional states or decreased life satisfaction.

“We need better methods to help people who struggle with the high frequency use of visual sexual stimuli, without pathologizing them or their use thereof,” writes Ley, who is critical about the pseudoscientific yet lucrative practices surrounding the treatment of so-called porn addiction. “Rather than helping patients who may struggle to control viewing images of a sexual nature, the ‘porn addiction’ concept instead seems to feed an industry with secondary gain from the acceptance of the idea.

Consider it a relative of “the more you hate gays, the more likely you are to be gay" scenario. This is also why homophobes often argue that homosexuality is a choice. Many are deep in denial and they’re hoping like hell that it is a choice — so they can choose not to be. And it doesn’t take much looking to find people who claim to be straight looking for help to “cure” them of their “gay porn addiction.”

That’s what Ley and team seem to mean by an “industry with secondary gain from the acceptance of the idea”; the homophobia industry, the ex-gay scam, and religious right in general. It’s just another way that rightwing anti-science isn’t just pointing people in the wrong direction, but is actively harming people by telling them their healthy desires are a disorder that needs a cure. When it turns out that there is no “cure,” people get depressed and hopeless — and tragedy is the predictable consequence.

These people have no interest in helping anyone. In fact, to a large degree, they’re the ones with an unhealthy obsession. They’re obsessed with eliminating their own homosexual desires — and they don’t care who they hurt with their mad scientist experiments and quack pursuit of a “cure.”

[photo via Wikimedia Commons]

CO Republican blames poverty on ‘the black race’s’ love of fried chicken

FOX31 Denver: Democratic lawmakers couldn’t believe their ears as they listened to Sen. Vicki Marble, R-Fort Collins, deliver a long soliloquy explaining that more blacks and Hispanics live in poverty, in part, because of fried chicken.

The comments came during a meeting of the Economic Opportunity Poverty Reduction Task Force Wednesday at the Capitol as lawmakers on the committee were presented with a number of statistics highlighting racial disparities in the poverty rate.

“When you look at life expectancy, there are problems in the black race: sickle-cell anemia is something that comes up, diabetes is something that’s prevalent in the genetic makeup and you just can’t help it,” Marble said. “Although I’ve got to say, I’ve never had better BBQ and better chicken and ate better in my life than when you go down south and you — I love it.”

Democrat Sen. Evie Hudak said, “there was an audible gasp in the room.”

Democratic Rep. Rhonda Fields, who is African-American, spoke of the incident and did not have kind things to say about her arguments.

“The title for this committee is the Economic Opportunity Poverty Reduction Task Force; and one of the things I will not tolerate is racist and insensitive comments about African Americans, the color of their skin. You mentioned what we eat — I was highly offended by your remarks,” Fields said, addressing Marble directly.

“I will not engage in a dialogue where I’m in the company where you are using the stereotype references about African Americans and chicken and food and all kinds of things. I will just not tolerate that,” Fields continued.

“This is not what this committee is all about. So I will ask that you suspend your perceptions and judgments about African Americans, about poverty — what we’re trying to do is come up with solutions and it’s not about chicken.

“It’s not about eating chicken.”

Marble released the far too familiar Republican non-apology for her remarks. “My comments were not meant to be disparaging to any community,” she said in a statement. “I am saddened they were taken in that regard. I take my responsibility seriously and I hope our work on this committee will offer real solutions to the health and financial challenges of our vulnerable populations.”

Translation: “If you thought that was racist, I’m sorry that you’re imagining things.” But this is just so common among Republicans. They always blame poverty on the poor. And isn’t it interesting that when the subject is the crappy food that’s all you can afford on food stamps, nutrition is not an issue. But when you want to blame poverty on the choices people make, nutrition is totally an issue?

Luckily, given the response to her remarks, I don’t think we’ll see Marble’s arguments again. They’re going to have to think up some new angle to blame poverty on the poor. Perhaps one that recognizes that most people in poverty are white. And they aren’t poor because they love them some frozen pizza so much.

[photo by Thomas Hawk]

McDonald’s CEO: ‘We don’t serve junk food’

Raw Story: Confronted by a 9-year-old girl during a shareholder’s meeting, the CEO of McDonald’s insisted that the company does not sell “junk food” and defended advertising practices that target children with colorful characters.

“Something I don’t think is fair is when big companies try to trick kids into eating food that isn’t good for them by using toys and cartoon characters,” 9-year-old Hannah Robertson told McDonald’s CEO Don Thompson. “If parents haven’t taught their kids about healthy eating then the kids probably believe that junk food is good for them because it might taste good.”

“It would be nice if you stopped trying to trick kids into wanting to eat your food all the time,” the younger Robertson told Thompson, reading from a prepared statement. “I make cooking videos with my mom that show kids that eating healthy can be fun and yummy. We teach them that eating a rainbow of fruits and veggies makes kids healthier, smarter and happier because that is the truth.”

Thompson seemed to balk at Robertson’s question and scolded her. “First of all, we don’t sell junk food, Hannah,” he said. “My kids also eat McDonald’s. When they were about your size, to my son who is with us today, who was a little bit bigger, he was a football player, and also they cook with me at home. I love to cook. We cook lots of fruits and veggies at home.” He added that the company wants to sell more fruits and veggies, and pointed out their salad selection and the inclusion of apple slices in Happy Meals.

In 2012, McDonald’s put the nutrional information for their menu online and we learned that the Premium Southwest Salad with Crispy Chicken had more calories than a double cheeseburger — so maybe bragging up the “healthy” salads isn’t a great idea.

McDonald’s faces increasing criticism for marketing their food to children. One is reminded of Camel cigarette’s “Joe Camel” marketing campaign which used a cartoon character. According to the report, “McDonalds faced a lawsuit in 2010 over marketing processed foods loaded with salt and fat to children through the use of toys and cartoon characters, which the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) calls deceptive, and a main driver of the childhood obesity epidemic in the U.S.” That lawsuit was defeated in 2012, but this has done nothing to silence the criticism.

[photo by pointnshoot]

The Contrary Party

Washington Post’s WonkBlog:

A New York judge isn’t the only one taking aim at New York City’s ban on large, sugary drinks.

In a move to prevent such regulations from taking hold elsewhere, Mississippi legislators have passed an “anti-Bloomberg bill” that bars counties from passing and enacting laws that require calorie counts to be posted or caps the size of beverages or foods. You can read it here.

The legislation is now on Gov. Phil Bryant’s desk and NPR reports that he is expected to sign it. Mississippi, it’s worth noting here, already has the highest obesity rate in the country.

Is there any danger of Yankee Mike Bloomberg swooping down from the Big Apple to take Mississippians God-Given Right to Big Gulps away? I’ll let you go ahead and figure that one out on your own. Suffice it to say that the government of Mississippi is on the verge of solving something that was in absolutely no danger of ever becoming a problem. Although, from the sound of it, the state would save a lot of healthcare money if they took a similar position.

But this is what the GOP has reduced itself to — weird stunts of contrariness, designed to score points off the idea that liberals are always wrong about everything. In this case, it’s merely goofy and stupid. In other cases, it’s deadly — although giant silos of sugar-glop aren’t exactly the healthiest things ever.

When talk of meaningful gun regulation began after the Sandy Hook Massacre, Republicans in many states went fullblown contrarian. Liberals thought fewer guns were the answer, so they wrote bills designed to put more guns on the streets and loosen already nearly non-existent gun laws. As a result, we have school workers getting shot in firearms training classes in Texas and Sheriff Joe Arpaio sending sex offenders to “protect” schoolkids as part of an armed posse program in Arizona. Fewer guns? Ha! More guns! Everywhere! Now! Not because it’s actually a good idea, but because it’ll piss off those damned liberals. This is the sort of governance we’d expected from a five-year old who won’t share because he thinks it’s funny when his sister cries.

At bottom, the point of these laws is to score cheap political points with gullible asses who believe Sean Hannity is a towering intellect. If that means a few of those same gullible dopes get shot — or, in Mississippi’s case, develop type II diabetes — well, you can’t make an omelet without breaking a few chumps. Those chumps are getting exactly the government they deserve. Unfortunately, the smarter residents they’re so busy trying to troll have to live with this boneheaded crap too.

Griper Blade: Righteous Lies

Yesterday, I wrote that the influence of the religious right on the Republican party seems to be on the decline. So much so that a top Republican could get away with calling funding for embryonic stem cell research a mere distraction -- not a horror show, not a second Holocaust, but just something not very interesting and not as important as the economy. What was once the "destruction of human life" was now something to yawn over. Let's get on with this economy thing, let's not screw around with stuff no one cares about.

But, of course, people do care about this stuff. Supporters of embryonic stem cell research believe it may lead to treatments for spinal injuries, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, diabetes. etc. "...I urge researchers to make use of the opportunities that are available to them, and to do all they can to fulfill the promise that stem cell research offers. Countless people, suffering from many different diseases, stand to benefit from the answers stem cell research can provide," said former first lady Nancy Reagan in a written statement. "We owe it to ourselves and to our children to do everything in our power to find cures for these diseases -- and soon. As I’ve said before, time is short, and life is precious."

But others weren't half as thrilled. I wrote the the religious right was less influential, not that it's gone. And looking at the insane reactions from leading figures and organizations in the movement, we get an idea why they're on the outs -- they're mostly a pack of lying lunatics.

This is the thing about religious fanatics -- they believe they're literally working for God and anyone who opposes them is working, either consciously or unconsciously, for the devil. Why would you feel the need to fight fair against Satan? No matter what you do, your cause remains as just as a cause can possibly be and this frees you up to lie, to cheat, to do whatever it takes to win the fight of the moment. So statements from the religious right tend to be characterized by hyperbole, paranoia, and outright lies... [CLICK TO READ FULL POST]

The Rise of the Godless Heathens

It's a big day for science and medicine. President Obama has removed the ban on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. Bush had banned the funding, kissing up to those who believe every fertilized ovum deserves a Social Security card. The Bush ban was -- not surprisingly -- based on a poorly thought out argument; that we shouldn't be destroying life to save life. But, even if you believed that a mindless collection of frozen cells constitutes "life," Bush's ban did absolutely nothing to save any of them. The embryos were created for in vitro fertilization and unused embryos are just discarded. All Bush managed to do was to keep those embryos from being used in research, not from being destroyed. Bush's ban didn't "save" a single embryo.

During a signing ceremony reversing Bush's executive order, Obama also signed a pledge to "restore scientific integrity in governmental decision making." Clearly, this is the first step toward an anti-human dystopia ruled by the cold hand of science.

When the controversy over stem cell research began, Republicans quickly took the position of the religious right. Embryonic stem cell research was the worst thing ever, the wanton destruction of human life by medical science gone mad. Some still believe this. "If an embryo is a life, and I believe strongly that it is life, then no government has the right to sanction their destruction for research purposes," wrote Sen. Sam Brownback in a statement... [CLICK TO READ FULL POST]

Griper Blade: 'The Only Solution Given is Pills'

The Army has a bit of a problem. Despite efforts to curb suicide among troops, Army suicides continue to rise. "One week after the U.S. Army announced record suicide rates among its soldiers last year, the service is worried about a spike in possible suicides in the new year," CNN reported yesterday. "The Army said it already has confirmed seven suicides, with 17 additional cases pending that it believes investigators will confirm as suicides for January.

"If those prove true, more soldiers will have killed themselves than died in combat last month. According to Pentagon statistics, there were 16 U.S. combat deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq in January."

In fact, the Army has seen a rise in suicide every year for the past four years. To combat the problem, the service has created a "battle-buddy" program, which is basically the buddy system for suicide, but this has turned out to be as ineffective as you might have thought it would be.

In 2005, in testimony to a House Appropriations subcommittee, the Army’s surgeon general placed the blame squarely on the troops. "That’s still part of our culture: Real men don’t see [mental health counselors]…" said Lt. Gen. Kevin Kiley. "I would like to see a culture that resets the force mentally." Macho, tough guy culture was killing troops, but it seems a pretty safe assumption that this culture had been with the Army longer than its suicide problem. I don't remember the Army having a previous reputation as being a place for sharing and emotional support. Clearly, this "real men" culture -- which, of course, includes real women -- may be aggravating the problem, but it couldn't possibly be the cause.

For their part, the Army seems at a loss to explain the real cause of the suicides. "This is terrifying," Col. Kathy Platoni, chief clinical psychologist for the Army Reserve and National Guard told CNN. "We do not know what is going on." She speculated that maybe it was winter blahs.

"There is more hopelessness and helplessness because everything is so dreary and cold," she said.

"But Platoni said she sees the multiple deployments, stigma associated with seeking treatment and the excessive use of anti-depressants as ongoing concerns for mental-health professionals who work with soldiers," CNN reported.

Now we're getting someplace... [CLICK TO READ FULL POST]

Griper Blade: A Return to Reality in Fighting HIV/AIDS

Back in 2006, I wrote a post I called "A Delusion-Based Global AIDS Policy." Since it was way back in the days before we had any hope of reason in the White House, the news on the global fight against HIV/AIDS wasn't all that good. The Bush administration, not wanting to contradict its domestic education policy, created a global AIDS strategy based on the same non-reasoning. That non-reasoning worked like this; since HIV/AIDS is a sexually transmittable disease, then the only way to fight it is to fight human nature -- which the religious right believes is basically evil -- and promote abstinence above all other measures. The only way for the world to fight this contagion would be for everyone in the world to adopt a tiny fraction of global population's world-view -- that of the Evangelical right -- and become "good people" the only way they believed it was possible to be a good person. In other words, by acting like a right wing evangelical. Or, least, like right wing evangelicals pretend to behave.

Of course, this works about as well as you'd expect it to work. The most pious wingnuts have failed at it in very humiliating and public ways. These people made their livings pretending human nature is a matter of choice -- imagine how hard it must be for an amateur. The results were as predictable as they were tragic.



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Griper Blade: Pro-Lifers Discover Reality

The right has been stringing their voters along for decades with the wedge issue of abortion. Few Republican candidates get their campaigns off the ground without taking a position as close to the right pole of the issue as they can get away with. Even John McCain, who didn't seem comfortable with the issue, described himself as "proudly pro-life" and expressed a desire to overturn Roe v. Wade. In the final presidential debate, McCain treated the question of a woman's health as an excuse to get an abortion. "That's the extreme pro-abortion position, quote, 'health,'" McCain said, making air quotes with his fingers.

But the thing is, Republican candidates have talked a good game on abortion. While Bush claimed to want to foster a "culture of life" in America, he got right to work creating a culture of death. We absolutely needed go to war and kill people and, if you wanted to stop killing people, it would be an insult to those who had died. If we quit after it became clear the Iraq war was pointless, Bush argued, the dead would have "died in vain." Not only did we have to spread death and misery around the world, but we then had to worship that portion of the dead who were American. The glorious culture of life was only mentioned when throwing a bone to the anti-abortion folks, mostly through actions that wouldn't reduce the number of abortions performed in any way -- a ban on funding embryonic stem cell research, for example. The ban didn't stop a single fetus from being aborted. Not one...

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Obama: McCain's Health Plan 'Radical'

clipped from afp.google.com Exactly one month before the presidential vote, Democrat Barack Obama Saturday accused Republican rival John McCain of scheming to deprive millions more Americans of life-saving health insurance. "So here's John McCain's radical plan in a nutshell," he said. "He taxes health care benefits for the first time in history; millions lose the health care they have; millions pay more for the health care they get; drug and insurance companies continue to make exorbitant profits; and middle-class families watch the system they rely on begin to unravel before their eyes."

Annenberg FactCheck had this to say about McCain's healthcare proposal:

• Workers would be taxed on the value of any employer-paid health benefits, partially offsetting the $5,000 credit for those now covered by such plans.
  
  
• Experts say a tax credit plan like this would likely cause companies to reduce or eliminate health benefits for their employees.

Sounds great, John. Got any more crap you want to sell us?

Video Calls for McCain to Release Medical Records

clipped from therealmccain.com John McCain's health records must be released John McCain has not yet released his medical records to the public. McCain is 72 years old, and has been diagnosed with invasive melanoma. In May of this year, a small group of selected reporters were allowed to review 1,173 pages of McCain's medical records that covered only the last eight years, and were allowed only three hours to do so. John McCain's health is an issue of profound importance. We call on John McCain to issue a full, public disclosure of all of his medical records, available for the media and members of the general public to review.

There's an open letter at the site and, when I visited, it had been signed by 13,742 people -- including 473 doctors. Given people's skepticism about his VP choice, McCain owes it to the American people to let them know exactly how healthy he is.

McCain's Healthcare Plan -- Emergency Rooms

John McCain's healthcare adviser on how to fix healthcare -- declare there are no uninsured. Hell, that'd solve so many problems. We can declare there are no poor, no unemployed, no undereducated, and no homeless.

Freakin' brilliant...

clipped from thinkprogress.org Mr. Goodman, who helped craft Sen. John McCain’s health care policy, said anyone with access to an emergency room effectively has insurance, albeit the government acts as the payer of last resort. (Hospital emergency rooms by law cannot turn away a patient in need of immediate care.) “So I have a solution. And it will cost not one thin dime,” Mr. Goodman said. “The next president of the United States should sign an executive order requiring the Census Bureau to cease and desist from describing any American – even illegal aliens – as uninsured. Instead, the bureau should categorize people according to the likely source of payment should they need care. “So, there you have it. Voila! Problem solved.”

Study: Risk of Alcoholism High in Returning Combat Vets

clipped from ap.google.com National Guard and Reserve combat troops in Iraq and Afghanistan are more likely to develop drinking problems than active-duty soldiers, a new military study suggests. The authors speculate that inadequate preparation for the stress of combat and reduced access to support services at home may be to blame. The study, appearing in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association, is the first to compare Iraq and Afghanistan veterans' alcohol problems before and after deployment. The research is one of the first major studies to emerge from the Pentagon's landmark "Millennium" study, launched in 2001 because of concerns about possible health effects from the first Gulf War. It includes tens of thousands of military personnel and is designed to evaluate the long-term health effects of military service. The Millennium study will continue to track veterans' health and may determine whether drinking problems among returning combat troops are long-lasting, Boyko said.

The article includes this statement:

Alcohol abuse, post-traumatic stress disorder and depression make up an "unholy trinity" that haunts some combat soldiers, said psychologist William Schlenger of the consulting firm Abt Associates Inc. in Durham, N.C. He was a principal investigator of the influential National Vietnam Veterans' Readjustment Study, but was not involved in the new research.

"They have intrusive recollections: 'I keep remembering it, I have nightmares about it, I can't escape it,'" Schlenger said. Vets try to escape the memories through alcohol or drugs, he said.

This is a lasting damage to the country that we'll pay for for decades.

Americans Want Healthcare Reform

clipped from rawstory.com Americans are deeply dissatisfied with their health care choices and want the 2008 presidential candidates to put health care reform high on their campaign agenda, according to a poll released Thursday. The survey by the non-profit Commonwealth Fund, a charitable group promoting health care reform, found that 82 percent of adults surveyed believe that the US health care system is in need of a complete overhaul. The random telephone survey of 1,004 adults found broad agreement that the health system should be reorganized to ensure better access and flow of information between doctors and patients. According to a report that accompanied the survey, "a majority of adults look to the next president to lead by proposing reforms that could improve the quality of health care, ensure affordable care and decrease the number of uninsured."

If you go by GOP talking points, this means that 82% of Americans are socialists. Maybe that explains why this issue has become such a loser for Republicans. No one believes Republicans are ever going to address healthcare.

Obama Shifts on Abortion

clipped from tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com In a sign that he wants to reach out to pro-life voters, Barack Obama has told a Christian magazine that he would be against overly-broad exceptions to the prohibition on late-term abortions. "Now, I don't think that 'mental distress' qualifies as the health of the mother," Obama told Relevant Magazine. I think it has to be a serious physical issue that arises in pregnancy, where there are real, significant problems to the mother carrying that child to term. Otherwise, as long as there is such a medical exception in place, I think we can prohibit late-term abortions." During the primaries, Obama was critical of the Supreme Court's decision to uphold the federal ban on late-term abortions, saying that the court had disregarded "a woman's medical concerns and the very personal decisions between a doctor and patient."

Another disappointment, really. Obama's not a doctor -- and it shows. By making a distinction between "mental distress" and "a serious physical issue," he makes the far too common mistake of discounting mental illness -- like depression -- as a "real" and damaging illness.

What he should do is leave the medical stuff alone and think like a lawyer -- which he is. Is there a reason to limit a woman's choices at a certain stage of pregnancy and, if so, what are they?

Arguing from a position of ignorance is never a good idea.

Griper Blade: The Philosophy of Scrooge

It's the day after Christmas and a lot of us are in the same situation. We've eaten way too much and we're wearing new clothes. I sit here in a new flannel shirt, looking like a lazy lumberjack.

Another thing many of us have in common is that we watched some version of A Christmas Carol in the near past. And, watching this, the same thought crossed many of our minds -- what the hell is wrong with Tiny Tim?

Is it polio, explaining the crutch? Is it TB, explaining his weakness? Dickens never really gets around to saying. Tiny Tim is just really, really sick with some undefined wasting disease.

Dickens' Britain was a lot like Mexico -- there was no middle class. You were either very rich or very poor. There were almost zero social programs and those that existed only existed to punish the poor for their poverty -- debtors' prisons and work houses. Health insurance, as far as I know, didn't exist. You could either afford health care or you couldn't. And most couldn't. There was child labor and children who's parents couldn't afford to feed them were put into orphanages (an idea that Newt Gingrich once suggested we bring back). There were no labor laws, no worker safety protections, and no environmental protections. There was very little regulation and social and economic darwinism ruled. There was no public education.

In short, Dickensian England was the modern conservative's wet dream. It just goes to prove something I've said more than once -- when a conservative talks about change, it means they want to change things back. It's never about progress, it's about undoing progress. Conservatives are defined by what they oppose, not what they stand for. This is because opposing things is pretty much all they stand for...

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Griper Blade: The War to End All Wars

After WWI, November 11 was celebrated as Armistice Day. On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918, the armistice was signed between the Allies and Germany. WWI was called "the war to end all wars" -- didn't really work out that way. Since WWI, America alone has fought fourteen wars -- at least, by my count. I may have missed one or two. The war to end all wars was followed by one helluva lot of wars. In fact, to a large degree, WWII was a result of a poorly thought out treaty ending WWI. The German economy was ruined by the cost of reparations and the people, tired of runaway inflation in combination with a worldwide depression, were desperate enough to follow anyone who promised a way out. Fascism made that promise.

Then, as now, money made the world go 'round.

After WWII, Armistice Day became Veterans Day. It was that day that Americans celebrated yesterday. It was a day to honor the fallen and has become a day to honor all war veterans. It'd be nice if we followed up the wreaths and parades and speeches and flags with some sort of actual help, though. As things are now, we help a few and let the majority of those who need help slide. No doubt we've made a lot of progress since WWI, but we haven't come close to solving all the problems we create with our wars. Like the Armistice that ended WWI, our past wars intrude on the present. The wars come home with the heroes who'd fought them.

Voice of America:

Veterans Day, November 11, is a national holiday set aside to honor the men and women who have served in America's armed forces and to acknowledge the debt we owe them. However, a new study shows that veterans are more likely to be homeless than those in the general population, and that, nationwide, veterans tend to have less access to health care and other supportive services than they need.

The study, which was done by the Washington, D.C.-based National Alliance to End Homelessness, also found that nearly half a million veterans were homeless at some time during 2006, and as many as 66,000 of those vets were chronically without shelter. And while veterans comprise only 11 percent of the American population, they make up one of every four of the nation's homeless...

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Griper Blade: Disposable

Proof positive that there is no issue that some fringe nut won't politicize.

Associated Press:

Congress took steps [Oct. 23] to reduce the high rate of suicides among former members of the armed forces, but only after a gun-rights senator succeeded in removing a plan to track veterans treated for mental illnesses.

[...]

[Oklahoma Republican gun nut] Coburn succeeded in making changes to "help protect the privacy of veterans' medical records" because of his concern that a provision requiring the VA to track the veterans it cares for could result in veterans treated for mental-health issues being denied the right to purchase guns.

Because it's the job of the federal government to make it more difficult for states to enforce their laws, I guess. Republicans are all for state and local control -- except when they're not, then they're big fans of big government.

Meanwhile, according to Veterans' Affairs Committee chairman Rep. Bob Filner, suicide among veterans is a national tragedy of massive proportions. "It's a terrible statistic: As many Vietnam veterans have now committed suicide as died in the original war," he said. "That's over 58,000."

But it's all-important that they be able to get guns...

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Griper Blade: Rove Care

There are two major issues going into the '08 campaign -- war in Iraq and health care. Republicans have pretty much ceded the issue of Iraq to Democrats, taking the position on the issue farthest from the mainstream. The hope seems to be that the occupation of Iraq will either be over or winding down by November '08, with Bush and the GOP able to brag about glorious victory for the fatherland... er, homeland.

Given the extreme unlikelihood of this scenario, the right seems to be trying to compete on the health care issue and the White House, seeking to give Bush some kind of legacy, is jumping in with its own health care plan.

In an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, former White House aide Karl Rove writes:

All around America, families are grappling with health-care concerns. They wonder if they'll have insurance at a price they can afford. They worry about how much out-of-pocket health costs take from the family budget. They question if they'll be able to pick their own doctor. Some feel trapped in jobs they don't like out of fear of losing their health insurance.

As the latest government-heavy plan announced by Hillary Clinton yesterday once again shows, the answers politicians offer on health care highlight the deep differences between liberals and conservatives. This is a debate Republicans cannot avoid. But it is one we can win -- if we offer a bold plan. Conservatives must put forward reforms aimed at putting the patient in charge. Increasing competition will ensure greater access, lower costs and more innovation.

Remember back when Bill Clinton signed the Telecom Bill into law? Remember how increased competition was supposed to bring down cable and internet costs? Remember how it didn't?...

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Griper Blade: Non-Combat Related?

From the Department of Defense:

IMMEDIATE RELEASE
No. 1072-07
September 03, 2007

DoD Identifies Army Casualty

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Spc. Travis M. Virgadamo, 19, of Las Vegas, Nev., died Aug. 30 in Taji, Iraq, in a non-combat related incident. He was assigned to the 3d Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 2d Brigade Combat Team, 3d Infantry Division, Fort Stewart, Ga.

The circumstances surrounding the death are under investigation.

For more information related to this release, the media may contact the Fort Stewart public affairs office at (912) 767-2479.

That's pretty much all you get from the DoD when it comes to soldiers' deaths. Who he was, where he was, and nothing else. "Non-combat related" means... Hit by a bus? Heatstroke? It may be under investigation, but you'd assume the cause of death would be obvious in such a young man.

It was, according to his local newspaper, the Pahrump Valley Times, "The soldiers who notified Vergadamo's family about his death reportedly said he died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound." Just another victim of the Army's suicide crisis.

Like all big stories involving huge numbers, we tend to see the Army suicide rate as matter of appalling numbers -- 17.3 per 100,000, up from a low of 9.1 per 100,000 in 2001. They're just numbers and it's hard to see what they really mean. Newspapers turn them into bars on a graph -- they're so much more digestable that way.

We have an inherent fear of suicide -- we don't want to linger over the loss for too long. The survivors recover and the world moves on. The media, for their part, seem to have moved on. After the Associated Press broke the story that Army suicides were at a 26 year high, they moved on to the next story. After all, Paris Hilton probably sneezed or somebody running for president said something stupid. The military suicide rate became a two or three day story, then down the memory hole...

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