Tuesday, March 09, 2010

Veterans

29-year-old Amy Seyboth Tirador died serving in Iraq last November, she was on her second tour of duty in Iraq. The 1998 Colonie Central High School graduate joined the military soon after high school and served for ten years. Christopher Gowan (Albany Times Union) reports that the US military has reached their 'conclusion' and ruled that the death was a suicide. Colleen Murphy, Amy's mother, states, "now our investigation is able to start since the Army has finally closed theirs. [. . .] We're going to find the answers that should have been answered a long time ago." Since the deceases was previously said to have died via a shot to the back of her head, the suicide ruling is puzzling. Meanwhile WRAL reports on Cpl Danny T. O'Leary who died at the age of twenty-three while serving in Iraq and whose funeral was Sunday. AP notes that he was on his second tour of duty in Iraq.

Turning to the issue of PTSD, Martha Rosenberg's "Are Veterans Being Given Deadly Cocktails to Treat PTSD?" (VA Watchdog):

A few months after starting a drug regimen combining the antidepressant Paxil, the mood stabilizer Klonopin and a controversial anti-psychotic drug manufactured by pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca, Seroquel, the Iraq war veteran was "suffering from incontinence, severe depression [and] continuous headaches," according to his widow, Janette Layne.
Soon he had tremors. " ... [H]is breathing was labored [and] he had developed sleep apnea," Layne said.
Janette Layne, who served in the National Guard during Operation Iraqi Freedom along with her husband, told the story of his decline last year, at official FDA hearings on new approvals for Seroquel. On the last day of his life, she testified, Eric stayed in the bathroom nearly all night battling acute urinary retention (an inability to urinate). He died while his family slept.
Sgt. Layne had just returned from a seven-week inpatient program at the VA Medical Center in Cincinnati where he was being treated for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). A video shot during that time, played by his wife at the FDA hearings, shows a dangerously sedated figure barely able to talk.

In other veterans' news, Amy Troy (KGW) reports on veterans groups holding a job fair (second annual one) in Portland. Julie Sullivan (Oregonian) adds, "More than 10,000 veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan live in Oregon, with an additional 2,700 Oregon Army National Guard troops due home from Iraq in May. At least 800 of those, Guard officials estimate, need to find jobs."

The following community sites updated last night:



The Democratic Policy Committee offers daily videos and the latest is from Senator Mark Warner addressing the economy.



Meanwhile Ms. magazine has a new blog: Ms. Blog.


Ms. Magazine

Dear Common Ills,

Winter 2010 Issue of Ms. magazine

Read Lina Abirafeh's on-the-ground report about how Haitian women are faring in the wake of the earthquake.

On this International Women's Day, March 8th, we proudly launch the Ms. Blog.

We're excited to be able to keep readers abreast of the latest feminist news and commentary in between quarterly issues of the magazine.

The Ms. Blog will showcase the sharp writing and informed opinions of a community of feminist bloggers from around the nation and the globe. The diversity and quality of our starting lineup of bloggers is already exceptional: There are contributors reporting on the ground from seven countries and counting, and the overall roster ranges from well-known names to up-and-coming writers/thinkers. Most of the bloggers are women, but some feminist men have joined the team as well!

We at Ms. are thrilled about the prospects of intercultural and intergenerational exchange on this blog.

So please become part of this exciting new community-a place where feminism takes center stage. We can't wait to read your comments, whether in agreement or disagreement or just to add fuel to our feminist fire. We've also created two special pages-Share With Ms. and Take Action-in recognition that real feminist change requires both community dialogue and direct action.

Welcome aboard!

For a Feminist Future,


Katherine Spillar
Executive Editor


The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.


















thomas friedman is a great man






oh boy it never ends

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