There’s nothing “baffling” about the military’s high suicide rate

The same month the GAO’s follow-up report was released, in February 2005, Army Spec. Jeffrey Henthorn, a young father and third-generation soldier, killed himself in Balad, Iraq. The M-16 he used was so powerful that “fragments of his skull pierced the barracks ceiling.” According to the Hartford Courant, which featured Henthorn’s story in a series called “Mentally Unfit to Fight,”he “had been sent back to Iraq for a second tour even though his superiors knew he was unstable and had threatened suicide at least twice, according to Army investigative reports and interviews.”

Henthorn was one of22 soldiers who killed themselves in Iraq or Afghanistan in 2005— nearly double the rate of the year before.Three otherswhose stories were featured had been kept in combat and given potent psychotropic medications—with little supervision and despite the potential of these drugs to increase suicidality.

So enough with the military’s alleged bafflement over the rising service-member suicide rates.

What will it take, if not the suicides of hundreds of men and women, to warrant the same kind of attention for the military’s mental-health crisis?

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Aaron Park, a 29-year-old Portlander who describes himself as a “full-time student, part-time educator and part-time baker” (he works Saturdays at an artisanal bread shop) recently met a pair of anti-fluoridation activists on his porch, and initially expressed support for fluoridation. “The World Health Organization calls it the greatest lifesaving measure of all time,” he said cheerfully as a plump basset hound played at his feet and Tibetan hangings fluttered from eaves above.

But his expression darkened as the activists made their case. “Wow, I’m sure there is some selection bias going on,” Mr. Park said. “I love having my mind changed!”

The controversy has drawn in the city’s indie rockers. “My drummer and my mom both pointed out issues with fluoride to me, so I was already thinking about it,” said Zia McCabe, keyboardist and vocalist for the Dandy Warhols, a Portland rock band.

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— People in Portland, saying Portlandish things, being part-time bakers.

fastcompany:

The sitting Congress has the most women of any in history. Artist Emily Nemens is capturing each of them in paint, and using their likenesses in graphics to show how far we still have to go to bring gender equality to Washington.

The women of Congress, in fabulous watercolor infographics

This is awesome. Ladies in the HOUSE. No, really. Record number of ladies in the House!

"YOLO"

— The Virginia GOP, we assume. Nothing else explains the fact that E.W. Jackson—who once said Planned Parenthood is more evil than the KKK—is their Lieutenant Governor nominee.

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pbsthisdayinhistory:

May 17, 1954: The Supreme Court Rules on Brown v. Board of Education

On this day in 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that racial segregation in public schools violated the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which says that no state may deny equal protection of the laws to any person within its jurisdiction.

Although the decision did not succeed in fully desegregating public education in the United States, it put the Constitution on the side of racial equality and galvanized the nascent civil rights movement into a full revolution.

Can you name all the key players behind Brown v. Board of Education? Revisit the landmark case with PBS’ The Supreme Court site.

You can also learn more about Brown v. Board of Education with “The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow” and explore more events of the Civil Rights Movement with PBS Black Culture Connection.

School integration, Barnard School, Washington, D.C., 1955 (Library of Congress).

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A good primer to both sides of the civil war in Syria.

"Keep in mind that the Republicans’ most serious charge revolves around the creation of misleading talking points. Stop and think about that for a moment. Not intentionally breaking laws passed by Congress as in Iran-Contra, not obstruction of justice as in Watergate, not perjury as in the Lewinsky affair. The creation of misleading talking points."

— Republicans are boarding the impeachment train, and there may be no way to stop it. (via wilwheaton)

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Unfortunately, though, I’ve learned to redefine what constitutes an American tragedy. American tragedies occur where middle America frequents every day: airplanes, business offices, marathons. Where there persists a tangible fear that this could happen to any of us. And rightfully so. Deaths and mayhem anywhere are tragic. That should always be the case. The story here is where American tragedies don’t occur.

American tragedies don’t occur on the southside of Chicago or the New Orleans 9th Ward. They don’t occur where inner city high school kids shoot into school buses or someone shoots at a 10-year old’s birthday party in New Orleans. Or Gary, Indiana. Or Compton. Or Newport News. These are where the forgotten tragedies happen and the cities are left to persevere on their own.

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— David Dennis, on the Mothers’ Day shooting in New Orleans

5 Major Voting Fights You’ll Care About Come Election Time →

States legislatures around the country are busy battling it out over laws that could tilt the balance of the next election.

"I’m very ambitious. I’m very aggressive. But I do it in a really nice way,"

— Senator Kirsten Gillibrand