The Redstar Perspective

Rates are up 20% since last year, and at the highest level since the Army began keeping records in 1980.  From The WP (my emphases):

The Army was unprepared for the high number of suicides and cases of post-traumatic stress disorder among its troops, as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have continued far longer than anticipated.

[An army study] found that the common factors in suicides and attempted suicides include failed personal relationships; legal, financial or occupational problems; and the frequency and length of overseas deployments…The study…acknowledges that the Army still does not know how to adequately assess, monitor and treat soldiers with psychological problems. In fact, it says that “the current Army Suicide Prevention Program was not originally designed for a combat/deployment environment.”

Staff Sgt. Gladys Santos, an Army medic who attempted suicide after three tours in Iraq, said the Army urgently needs to hire more psychiatrists and psychologists who have an understanding of war. “They gave me an 800 number to call if I needed help,” she said. “When I come to feeling overwhelmed, I don’t care about the 800 number. I want a one-on-one talk with a trained psychiatrist who’s either been to war or understands war.”

Santos, who is being treated at Walter Reed, said the only effective therapy she has received there in the past year have been the one-on-one sessions with her psychiatrist, not the group sessions in which soldiers are told “Don’t hit your wife, don’t hit your kids” or the other groups where they play bingo or learn how to properly set a table.

The article also tells this miserable story of a female Army medic who was repeatedly harrassed by her commander in Iraq, had a nervous breakdown and shot herself, and then was brought up on charges by her commander and faced a court-martial.  After she tried to kill herself, the charges were dropped. 

Under this Administration, we’ve overtaxed and underserved our Armed Forces, to put it mildly.  This week the House and Senate will negotiate the differences in their economic stimulus plans.  The House bill is the one the Administration supports.  The much more generous Senate bill is the one in which disabled vets would receive rebates.  They were not included in the House/Bush bill.  Fortunately, we’ve got this to look forward to, and, of course, THIS.

Supplemental Reading: 

Clinton’s plans for Vets: 21st Century GI Bill for education, streamlined and  accessible healthcare/treatment, and a major expansion of economic benefits, especially housing and jobs.

Obama’s plans for Vets: improved administration, benefits expansion, and explicit emphasis on mental health

Current proposed legislation on veterans’ benefits

Mental Health Parity Act: Passed in the Senate, languishing in the House

 

How often do you get those in political debate these days?  Check out this terrific thread on what folks LIKE about Clinton and Obama.  (While it’s neck and neck between the candidates in the feel-good-vibes thread here, Michelle Obama is beating the pants off Bill Clinton!  Ew, no pun intended!)

This is much more enjoyable than my very convoluted earlier post about Clinton and Obama as role models (yeah, I think that was supposed to be the point).

It’s last call for the oldest bar in Mexico City.

Heads up, uni: You can take the revolutionaries out of the bar, but you can’t take the spirits out of the revolutionaries!!

Clearly, this calls for a drink.

 

Sing along with Diana Ross, y’all:

It’s My Turn, to see what I can see. I hope you’ll understand, this time’s just for me. Because It’s My Turn, with no apologies, I’ve given up the truth to those I’ve tried to please. 

It’s My Turn, with no more room for lies.  For years I’ve seen my life through someone else’s eyes.  It’s My Turn, to try and find my way.  And if I should get lost, at least I’ll own today. 

It’s My Turn, to start from number one: trying to undo some damage that’s been done.  But now It’s My Turn to reach and touch the sky. No one’s gonna say at least I didn’t try.

Honestly, does it get any better than that?  Yes, some might say, if, for instance, we realized the amazing opportunity to vote into office the first woman or African-American president in our two hundred plus years of that elected office.  And yet, for some reason, with two excellent candidates before us, whom arguably share few policy differences, those of us who culturally identify with either are chastised for, or (often vocally) shy away from, the idea that we take into account the gender, race, personal history, etc. of either candidate. 

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I said to the M.A.S. on the last night of our L.A. vacation: “you’re the image, i’m the words.”  A metaphor for our relationship constructed of his photography work and my writing. 

He’s recently uploaded hundreds of his photos of New Orleans on Flickr - the majority of which were taken during joint visits to the region since January 2006.  His work is foremost a testament to the city, and is accompanied by a moving essay describing his love affair with it, including his mourning and desires for the place since Katrina hit in August ‘05.  He writes: (more…)

Don’t believe Edwards’s hype: it ain’t him.  And as most Dems seem to already know, we can’t go wrong with Clinton or Obama. 

Closely reading the candidates’ platforms on poverty and inequality might have been more interesting several months ago for all you handicappers, wonks and voters, but the recent summaries of the anti-poverty platforms of Edwards, Clinton and Obama in the new academic journal Pathways only arrived in my inbox this week.  Check out Latoya Peterson’s excellent summary of the candidates’ positions over at Racialicious.  I highly recommend looking at it, because with the exception of my critique of Edwards’s plan, as I won’t be delving too deeply into the details here.  After the jump, what follows is my analysis of their overall priorities and approaches to fighting poverty.

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While I continue to mull over my options for life in new-thousand-eight, here are some links to interesting political convos around the web that right now I’m too self-absorbed to join.  But it’s good to know my peeps are out there edu-ma-catin’ in my absence.

Rockstar organizer, KSG professor and Obama campaigner Marshall Ganz explains different kinds of power in presidential leadership.  Commenters tell him to “stop shilling” and debate history amongst themselves.

Now that Hillary’s fightin’ like a “Re-thug-lican” (to quote The Field Negro), some progressives find they hate it.  Including Obama.  Meanwhile, CNN wishes Bill Clinton would just punch a reporter already.

New Orleans is the “vagina of America.”  You know, because it’s got a lot people rushing it (two grad students in my dept. today separately told me they were thinking of moving there), and the city’s control and autonomy over its property is under seige.  Solution?  Bring on the 10th anniversary of The Vagina Monologues!

Oh, how I long to be as hilarious as Ms. McEwan while pointing out the hypocrisy in the criticisms over Bill campaigning for Hillary.  Bonus: She trashes Maureen Dowd too!  (Actually, Dowd trashing is the point, but I’m too unmotivated to write about the hypocrisy, so I’m tucking it in here.)

The accountants speak: We’re all fucked.

And PS: Politicians lie.  A lot.  Is it any wonder the word for politics in Swahili “sihasa” is the blend of two words “si,” meaning “not” and “hasa,” meaning “right” or “true.” 

Good!

Bad.  Very bad.

Weboy here.

It was during the third shampoo - the one before the scalp massage and the Shiatsu in my chair - that I realized I like the pampering of my hair salon. I have given up a great many extravagances - I no longer shop til I drop, or go to the Spa for massages - but my hair is one thing where I just cant skimp.

And too, there’s the moments, like the shampoo, that are just utter indulgences. I usually close my eyes to experience the sensations of having someone else touch my head; it’s not something that happens all that regularly, and because, like many, I carry a lot of stress, it does take a lttle work to let oneself be touched. I completely understand people who say they simply leave their body - I drift into semi-consciousness.

Red is quite simply the only woman I know who came with amazing hair and needs to do little to it - when I first met her we discussed hair coloring, and she decided she couldn’t do it because her natural red might never be the same. And dash-it-all, she’s right: I don’t think I will ever see such golden tresses, especially when they’re kissed by the summer sun. Not only that, but with little effort - and I mean one basic blow-and-go haircut she’s had pretty much in all the time I’ve known her - her hair falls in waves of cascading shoulder length curls that most people get perms to achieve.

Me, not one thing about my hair is natural - I’ve cut it and dyed it and straightened it and braided it and done God knows what else. My current regime is the famous “Asian straight perm,” which I love, and which is utterly time consuming. My hair stylist is a genius, a wizard at cutting straight hair, and a great chemist - the results are long and lustrous, with minimal damage.

And, with a toss of my long mane, that may be that: thanks for having me over. Red should be back online shortly. With a tan, no doubt, and a refreshed spirit. It is, after all, a glamorous life.

I’ve been marinating this particular post in my brain for a couple of weeks - it started when I was thinking about writing more about the assassination of Benazir Bhutto when I got back after taking Christmas week off.  And I’ve been contemplating writing it here since Red offered me the chance to sub in for her while she went away.  Red and I share a deep interest in plicy thinking, in developing new ideas and seeing where they lead.  Were she and I in the same city, this is what I would be bouncing back and forth with her over dinner.  In lieu of that - I miss you, too, Red - I’m putting my thoughts here.

President Bush has apparently settled on the traditional Lame Duck presidential route of “concentrating” on foreign plicy on his way out the door - laughably, in his case, because he’s been lousy at foreign policy, the messes he’s dealing with are largely of his own making, and his “Policy team” seems especially short on skill these days. Thinking about that has led me though to think about what comes next, why we are where we are in the world, and how we got here.

And here’s the thing - by accident or by design (though mostly, I think, by accident), Mr. Bush has forced a transition from Post World War 2 diplomacy into a new, somewhat uncharted territory: I don’t have a name for it yet, but it’s something like “Post Post Colonial” or “Post Yalta”… something that reflects the changes of 60 or so years of recent history.

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My time is almost up here (I’m hoping to fit in one or two more pithy thoughts), but I’d like to discuss my main task this week: housekeeping.  Red asked me to fill in, in part, to help keep her comment queue clean.  Unlike my comments section over at nycweboy, Red is inundated with spam comments of all sorts (the fact that it’s a sign of popularity, of course makes me wildly jealous), and left unchecked, almost 100 messages can be lined up in a matter of hours.

What I noticed, in fact, was that since last year, things have gotten exponentially worse.  Dozens of comments show up afer only 3 or 4 hours, and because I don’t want to miss any real ones, I’ve been scanning through the material.  And it’s awful - there’s a repeating porn message I’ve been deleting all day that’s really just unbelievably nasty.  And that doesn’t mention the ones who try “Nice post!” and some sneaky link as a way in. And I’m not trying to goose Red’s readership by bringing this up (it’s not like I posted a gratuitous shot of Pam Anderson or anything), but I feel like someone needs to say something, and I haven’t seen a lot of people remark on this.

There’s been some effort to control spam messages on e-mail boxes (there kind of had to be, because people were getting furious, and businesses were struggling to keep firewalls operational), but I think the governemnt response was entirely backwards: rather than make the problem the spammers, it made the probem us, by making us sign on to “do not mail” lists of dubious usefulness. The problem isn’t the fact that we have e-mail addresses or websites; the problem is that all sorts of dubious enterprises - financial scams, porn sites, car salesmen and God knows what else - seem to think all’s fair in the pursuit of audience and sales.  It’s that behavior that’s the problem, and that’s the thing that needs to be addressed.

It’s easy to let this discussion get bogged down in the nature of our 1st Amendment and in looking like… I don’t know… some sort of fascist, maybe? … by complaining.  But I don’t know anyone - no one - who is a fan of this stuff.  Like “thank goodness I got another message from some bank scam trying to access my information” or “gee, I had no idea big blonde women were so versatile!”  No, mostly we know what this is - a nuisance and where we want it to go - away.  And the dirty secret is, no one’s doing a damn thing about it.

Okay, I did put it off for a while on top of my original plan… but even so, the first day back to the gym really sucked.

If you want to know why no one starts with the man in the mirror… it’s because it’s painful and it leaves you nauseous.

And really there’s no less fun feeling at the gym than feeling like the biggest loser.

Yes, I’m being a whiny little beyotch, but I’m also sore.

More upbeat posts in a bit…

… or, the week The Weboy had:

Monday

• Write a little
• Drive to Boston on clear, sunny day.
• Arrive in Boston early evening, enjoy wonderful weather, visit old job
• Go back to house to pack, confront remains of leaving in haste
• Contemplate futility of current plans
• Write a little, go to bed, resolve to pack thoroughly tomorrow

Tuesday

• Feel overwhelmed; write a little
• Attempt to pack
• Realize I haven’t eaten, get food
• Attempt to pack some more; contemplate futility of moving, meaning of life, decide, sadly, to go on
• Visit coworkers, as promised, on warm sunny day; find they are very busy and can’t talk.
• Hang out with really cool Asst Manager and his fiancee and meet their new dog (a very cute small Yorkiepoo)
• Go home, pack some more; make progress, but not enough.
• Attempt to load car, only make it as far as basement; feel tired, call Mom and agree that driving late at night and tired not good
• Prepare to stay the night; get New Hampshire primary results, enjoy Clinton comeback, write a little (more…)

As in…

This vacation.  Walking, talking, eating, touring, reunions, great weather, and good company.  What more could I want? (You’re right, a little shopping)

The media.  If I have to read one more hyperbolic news report about HRC’s “stunning” reversal, blah blah blah, I might scream.  1 caucus does not a statistical sample make.  And go see Weboy and elsewhere re: the male liberal exuberance over Obama that also fuels much of the media reports…Go Hillary!  Good work, ladies of NH. 

Hillary’s win! Nice!

And now I’m checking out of our terrific oceanside hotel for several days in the San Gabriel mountains.  Then it’s off to a glam weekend in the Hollywood Hills.  Weboy is doing an excellent job over here; don’t you just LUV him?  This Boston girl sure does. 

Weboy here.  It appears our Red-headed mistress has decided to bask in the sun, without more posting.  Good.

I think it’s only fitting that my last post in Boston should be on Red’s site - it’s her town, and now I leave it to her. Red isn’t happy about the fact that I’ve moved back to New York (I am, after all, an NYC Weboy), but I think time has shown that one town can only contain the both of us for so long - at some point, no town is big enough.

Last night on my blog, I talked about the feeling that it’s over.  Today, walking around town, I was reminded that it’s not.  It was a beautiful day (take that, LA), and people all over reveled in the ability to skip the winter coat and play outdoors.  Boston, at heart, is an “outdoorsy” town - ruddy faced people who enjoy a brisk run or a game of pickup touch football on the quad (there’s a reason the northeastern college experience is so quintessential).  RedStar, our very own, confessed to me one rainy day that for years she got mistaken as the “field hockey” type… when really she’s probably a kindred spirit to nice Upper East Side girls who’s main competitive sport is shopping…. or nightclubbing.

I’d say I’m with her, but really, I’m not.  There’s a secret, solitary jock inside of me who likes a good run.  I may have felt a little lost, a bit out of place here in my two year residency… but we were getting there, Boston and I, on a mutual agreement of terms. In New York, it puts me in something akin to the “gym bunny” class of gay men, but without the Zone diet and the crazy abs. Healthy, and a little thinner… that would be fine.

Walking home today across the Public Garden, I was sad to see that the Swan Boats are on their winter hiatus.  As a kid, nothing thrilled me more than visits to the Garden, and a chance to ride around the (man made) lake.  Looking for Mack, Jack, Lack and Quack and all the other ducklings. My first gift to my nephew (the Most Adorable Nephew in the Universe), in fact was just that book. Now, with adult eyes, I see that the amazing lake is really just a man made pond, no deeper than a duckling’s legs.  But in Spring and Summer, with the Swan Boats circling, it still seems magical.  It’s not the worst memory to go home with.

Everyone loves a Boston Girl.  I still love mine - the inner one, and the Redheaded stepchild. Take care of our town, Red.

My almost perfect breakfast with my man on the veranda of our oceanside Santa Monica hotel in sunny 60 degree weather (supported by heat lamps - love ‘em!) was marred by the media hype regarding Obama’s lead over Clinton in USA Today’s most recent poll (what do you want, on vacation it’s the nation’s newspaper or bust). Check out Weboy’s post below (maybe he’ll even provide the link for me here - ask and ye shall receive - ed.) and his final emphasis that HRC needs to distance herself from Bill to really charge ahead like many of us want and expected.

I am more saddened by this - hopefully temporary - turn of events than I anticipated. I don’t like Obama, and like my mother, I can’t articulate exactly why. It’s less about the man than the context of his rise - namely, his candidacy vis-a-vis our first serious female contender. This is how I see this race, removing the personalities of Obama and Clinton for the moment. If I was home, I’d take the time to link to the gender research supporting this perspective, but from this hotel lobby, my digital library is beyond my reach.

Clinton is 60; Obama is 46. She, like many women - especially of her generation - has had to wait for “her chance” to lead. She has had to follow on the heels of her husband, and, per our political process, has been able to lead in part because of the path he laid for his equally competent and sharp wife. But there is no question that she has come second, due to the general intersection of gender roles and life chances for men versus women. Now, her chance to lead the nation is seriously threatened by legitimate Clinton fatigue, and this noble if vacuous national desire for “change” that Weboy so clearly describes. Our ability to see her as an obvious choice for change is marred not only by some of her more centrist political stances, but by the sheer fact that she is indelibly linked to her husband’s past leadership. No male candidate - now, or ever, I bet - has to deal with that kind of gendered baggage. Including Obama, who as a light-skinned mixed-race male forty-something, can paint this eloquent picture of being not only unfettered by past personal political baggage, but can also use his race to paint himself as the only one who can unite our racially polarized country. Forgive me if I find his potential nomination less illuminating of this opportunity than if we nominated Jesse Jackson - the oft invoked other former black Presidential candidate (though there have been others), especially given Obama’s high support among people under the age of 35, some of whom are certainly, arguably believe a more racially equitable future is possible.

Then there is the issue of negative campaigning. A great deal of gender research reveals that women are penalized more heavily than men for acting aggressive or assertive; tests show that men and women alike sanction such behavior from women much more strongly. That Clinton is going negative against Obama can have significant costs for her that Edwards or Richardson would not face, that Obama would not face if/when he is negative towards Clinton. They simply do not face the same costs for adopting this particular strategy. According to the USA Today I have in front of me, Obama leads significantly among men, with almost 50% of their support. He is slightly ahead of Clinton among female supporters, in part because of the youth vote. Given the gendered risks of negative campaigning and baggage of campaigning in part on her husband’s record, Clinton’s road to the White House is uniquely difficult in a way that Obama and all the others (e.g., “high road” Huckabee, per Weboy) do not face.

Certainly, there is the reality of HRC’s strategic choices in her campaign, and that she would continue a perhaps-too-recent-for-many dynasty, but remember, we didn’t invoke dynastic fatigue when Dubya ran so soon after his father’s reign, even as it was so obvious we invaded Iraq to avenge his daddy somehow. Whatever people may believe about Clinton’s electability, or their personal feelings towards her, it is impossible to disentangle her gender from whatever outcomes we face in this primary.

And now I have to go walk on the beach with my boyfriend. Over to you, Weboy.

Weboy here. I’ll spare the long introduction - we did it last time. (Yes, I still look like Billy Bob Thornton.)
Speaking of last time, it’s fascinating to me that a year later, my observations on John Edwards, and the issue of New Orleans in the campaign, still seem pretty spot on. I thought then, and it really never changed, that Edwards never seemed… entirely authentic, not in a way that would catch on with most voters. That appears to be the case, as his third place poll numbers have never really moved, the campaign has got angrier and more shrill, turning off yet more voters (as I observed after Iowa, I think voters have settled on a vaguely optimistic notion of change that works best with few specifics, not more).

At the time, a year ago, I didn’t discuss Hillary Clinton’s potential campaign… because it didn’t exist. Oh, we all knew she was going to run, but she was still being coy, and it made discussing her “potential” run very oblique and theoretical. Months later, there she was, and it was all real. Red’s made no secret - to me, anyway - of her generally supportive feeling towards Hillary Clinton, and so, I think it’s probably worth me giving her blog my Clinton-ic post-Iowa observations. We don’t entirely agree, but I do know where she’s coming from.

For me, watching the Clinton campaign has been somewhere between mystifying and frustrating - at first, it seemed she’d read the secret handbook on how to launch a Presidential operation, and she quickly established herself as a fundraising powerhouse (even with the whiff of scandal attached), and she draped herself in an aura of inevitability that made discussing her, and her in relation to her opponents, challenging, at best. It was frustrating, if one wanted to see a healthy consideration of all candidate possibilities, that Mrs. Clinton seemed to use up every available extra piece of air in the discussion.
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In flannel pj’s, recovering from a cold, pre-packing for vacation in L.A.  I leave tonight.  By prepacking I mean a) checking the weather for the 8 millionth time, b) making a list of what to pack, c) doing last minute laundry, and d) taking care of the essentials, like blogging and updating my iPod for the trip. 

I finally surrendered to the real reason behind my major fatigue this week - a head cold picked up somewhere on the Eastern Seaboard during my holiday travels.  I’ve had two consecutive nights of between 9 and 10 hours of sleep - sumptuous! - and sat on my couch til 4pm yesterday watching Waitress.  I was initially like, “eh,” but I keep thinking about it.  I doubt I’ll post a review; it was a bit too emphatically quirky for me, but there were definitely some sublime moments.  Probably a good rental.

Then last night, after a quick trip to the Wrentham outlets, where I experienced my first shoe mania in the 50% OFF EVERYTHING IN THE STORE AS WE CLOSE FOR REMODELING Cole Haan (seriously, a jacket and 2 pairs of shoes for $100), and a bowl of chicken soup at home, the M.A.S. and I had our requisite fight before we leave on vacation.  I say “requisite” because Bill Simmons, aka the Sports Guy, says this is one of the rules of relationships, that you’ll fight the night before you leave.  Ours involved mapping out our expectations of our trip to this former home of the M.A.S., after I told him I didn’t want him to lecture me on the history and significance of L.A. the entire time. Some bickering led to the mutual awareness that I am not into marching from monument to monument, and that a good trip for both of us involves wandering around neighborhoods and eating and drinking.  I think we’re going to have a fine old time. 

In my absence, NYC Weboy has once again graciously agreed to hold down the fort over here, cleaning out my spam folder and posting some original and cross-posted content for your reading pleasure.  Please show him the love you show me, and rest assured you’ll be more up to speed on current events in his stead than you normally are with me (New Orleans notwithstanding).  My life, home and blog are fortunate to have someone looking in on us in my absence. 

Be Good!!

That’s about right for what I can contribute to the official ‘08 horse race that kicks off with the Iowa caucuses tonight.  See The Curvature for the “I have no idea what’s going to happen” perspective, NYC Weboy for the “this system is a skewed and unproductive mess” p.o.v., and RaceWire for the “it’s policy, not politics, that matters” lens.  And Louisiana 1976, g-d luv her/him, reminds us at Daily Kos not to forget about the on-going crisis in NOLA this election season.  But perhaps the most timely report is the “F*CK it’s COLD out here!” one from Ezra Klein in New Hampshire.

With the exceptions of my competitive hate-to-lose streak that fuels my desire to see Clinton clinch the nomination despite admitted ambivalence about some of her positions, and my work in the Gulf, my general orientation towards politics and elections is most akin to RaceWire’s.  (Although sitting in my Boston kitchen in flannel pj’s while WBUR describes the -15 degree wind chill factor outside, I’m hearin’ Ezra right now.)  The M.A.S. reminded me that perhaps tomorrow morning I’ll actually have something to say about Iowa.  Good point, my genius beau.  For now, it’s catching up on bills and Xmas returns and avoiding the looming dissertation proposal that hangs over this post-general exam January break.

May your candidate of choice win tonight - unless he is different from my candidate of choice, of course.  In the interim, enjoy TPM’s Great List of Scandalized Administration Officials.  As Al Green would say, for the good times.

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