Military Suicides On The Rise

Below are highlights from a story by Terry Gildea of OPB News.
To read the story in full, please click here

Defense officials say they are committing new resources to detecting and preventing suicidal behavior in soldiers, including those fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. But watchdogs -- and a recent government report -- suggest the Pentagon may not be doing enough to make sure at-risk personnel get treatment once they get home.

No legislation has been passed, but Oregon lawmakers are pushing the military to do more.
Gordon Smith: "It's a tragedy to ever lose a soldier for any cause, but it just seems extra cruel when the cause is suicide. They're defending our country, America's interests and if we can't give them mental health assistance when they're in harm's way, we're really falling down on the job."

88 active duty soldiers killed themselves in 2005, a number that was up 13% over 2003 and more than 70% over 2001.

Paul Rieckhoff, executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, calls the figures alarming. And he says an overstretched military and repeat tours of duty are taking a toll on soldiers.

Paul Rieckhoff: "The last rotation, roughly 40% were there for the second time. Many are there now for the 3rd or 4th time. Divorce rates are going up, the violence continues to increase, and roughly one in three are coming home with mental health issues or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, so our people are really showing signs of wear."

Senator Smith says he's very alarmed with the military suicides and says the armed forces must do more to address mental health issues.

Gordon Smith: "Well we're not acting enough, these are not illegitimate issues these are real medical problems and if we're going to ask people to go into harm's way to defend our country we need to have medical services in which mental health enjoys an equal setting with physical health."

Recent evidence suggests the Defense Department is not effective in referring soldiers for mental health care.

About 5% of soldiers who've fought in Iraq and Afghanistan met criteria for PTSD in a study by the Government Accountability Office. But only one in five of those soldiers were referred for treatment by military clinicians. The report also found different military branches vary widely in their referral practices.

The study's bottom line: the Pentagon cannot provide reasonable assurance that Afghanistan and Iraq service members who need referrals receive them.

Governor Barkley?

Former basketball star Charles Barkley says he's switched political teams from Republican to Democrat and is again talking about running for governor in his home state of Alabama, possibly in 2010.

"I really believe I was put on Earth to do more than play basketball and stockpile money," said Barkley, known as the Round Mound of Rebound. "I really want to help people improve their lives, and what's left is for me to decide how best to do that."

Barkley has been talking about running for governor of Alabama since he was playing with the Phoenix Suns in the 1990s.

Barkley continued to identify himself as a Republican until recently, when he switched parties. "I was a Republican until they lost their minds," he said earlier this month.

Oregon Adopts Rules to Implement Mental Health Parity Bill

Oregon's Department of Consumer and Business Services has adopted administrative rules to implement the mental health parity bill passed by the 2005 Oregon Legislature. The rules were filed with the Secretary of State's Office on July 14, 2006. The law, which is effective Jan. 1, 2007, requires group health insurance policies to cover treatment of chemical dependency and mental or nervous conditions at the same level as other medical conditions.

To view the rule, visit here

Ireland worker finds ancient psalms in bog

Irish archaeologists Tuesday heralded the discovery of an ancient book of psalms by a construction worker who spotted something while driving the shovel of his backhoe into a bog.

The approximately 20-page book has been dated to the years 800-1000. Trinity College manuscripts expert Bernard Meehan said it was the first discovery of an Irish early medieval document in two centuries.

Wireless comes to Rose City

Mike Rogoway of the Oregonian reports:
The Portland City Council voted unanimously Wednesday to proceed with a Wi-Fi network intended to provide free Web access in "95 percent" of the city.

The pioneering network will be built by a Silicon Valley startup called MetroFi Inc., which will fund the project itself and operate the system. MetroFi hopes to make money on the deal by selling wireless services to the city and through 1-inch ads that appear when Web surfers access the network.

Network construction will cost under $10 million, according to MetroFi, and starts today. The company will begin by unwiring a small portion of Portland's central east side for a "proof of concept" network due online by the end of September. MetroFi's contract gives the company two years to build out the rest of the city.

Big municipalities, including Philadelphia and San Francisco, plan their own citywide projects, too, but no metropolis has a free Wi-Fi network such as the one Portland plans.

Portland officials said Wednesday that they intend to use the network primarily to complement existing communications systems, not replace them. MetroFi's network will use a mix of wireless technologies, including microwaves and a new, long-range standard called WiMAX. Such technology may provide more reliability for city services than Wi-Fi.

Portland commissioners acknowledged Wednesday that the wireless project puts the city in uncharted territory. But they hailed the project as an opportunity to make the Internet more affordable without spending taxpayer money on network construction.

"It's a bet. We don't know whether this will work or not," said Commissioner Erik Sten. "I have my fingers crossed, and my laptop ready to turn on."

Yahoo IM down?

You never know how much you miss something until its gone.

Here I come back and see my computer for the first time in weeks, plug into the Web to see which of my friends are online with Yahoo IM...

...And its DOWN!

I mean, the whole thing.

No one can get on. Its a worldwide outage apparently until sometime tomorrow.

And while I'm bummed out, from the online discussion boards you'd think people have had their water turned off.

Back online...

I know my many readers (all two of you) have been wondering, "oh where, oh where is Dan?"

I've been at Mount Hood working at a summer camp for people with disabilities for the last two weeks.

So... come down off that ledge my friends...

I'm back.

OHSU launches healthcare reform blog

Oregon Health and Science University President Dr. Peter Kohler is host to a new blog on healthcare reform that will support debate among diverse thinkers and leaders in Oregon and beyond. The goal of the online forum is to generate possible solutions to the healthcare access crisis by providing a central place to share perspectives and ideas.

At least 600,000 Oregonians now lack health insurance, hundreds of thousands of others are underinsured and the numbers keep rising.

This online community is still growing, but already includes a nucleus group of 20 regular contributors from OHSU faculty, reform advocacy groups, government, the uninsured and healthcare providers. The Web site is open to the public with real-time posting for comments.

Topics will cover many facets of healthcare reform. So far, columns have been posted on the potential of computer technology to support healthcare teams of the future, a tally of current reform efforts, a discussion of policy changes that would help young adults afford health insurance and ideas about how to patch Oregon's frayed safety net.

The Web site address is rxforhealth.typepad.com.

Microsoft? Spyware? No waaaay!

Microsoft's WGA, software for Windows, is supposed to prevent piracy, but it may violate consumer protection laws in Washington state and California, according to a new class action suit.