Beverly & Pack / CC BY-SA 2.0

Estimates suggest the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan will produce more than 1 million veterans.

In this week’s news section, I highlighted the lack of media coverage on veteran’s issues. I spoke with local members of Iraq Veterans Against the War in January after Kenneth Ellis III, who was being treated at the VA Medical Center for PTSD, was killed by Albuquerque police. He was pulled over for bad plates, and stepped out of the car with a gun to his head.

Romeo Rocha, a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War, said he hoped Ellis’ death would give PTSD more media attention. "It's still showing up, but it's not making headlines anymore,” he told the Alibi in January.

Even if American media isn’t focused on the issue right now, an Italian documentary at the Venice Film Festival follows three veterans who served in Iraq and how they were treated by the military. It’s called Ward 54, so named for the psychiatric ward of Walter Reed Army Medical Center. In 2005, Mark Benjamin penned a piece for Salon.com that shined a light on the hospital’s neglect of PTSD patients.

Benjamin spoke of the substandard care for mental disorders caused by the war in a “Democracy Now!” interview:

“... the entire time that they’re at Walter Reed, the Army seems to be more bent on trying to determine that their problems were not, in fact, caused by the war and that, in fact, these soldiers were just crazy of their own accord.”

Though, as the AP story on Ward 54 points out, a report to Congress last month shows that these wars have produced significantly high rates of suicides for the U.S. military. More than 1,100 service members killed themselves between 2005 and 2009. The suicide rate is only going up in 2010.

Stash your valuables in an out-of-date medical book with graphic pictures of the birthing process. It’ll work like a charm ... unless you get robbed by a gang of pregnant women.

"The Complete Book of Pregnancy and Childbirth" by Sheila Kitzinger - Book Safe w/ hidden storage.

This book has been transformed into a recycled hollow book safe. It has a compartment inside to hide things.

Inside dimensions of book are 4.25 x 7.5 inches and is 5/8 inch deep.

Please note there are graphic photos of a child being born at the first of the book. Book looks great with or without the paper cover.

• Brilliant (RodStewartsLov​er) [ Tue Sep 7 2010 1:56 PM ]
  

McDonald’s raises its dollar menu prices, and the homeless ain’t happy.

Snooki a member of the Third Reich? Swastikas are found scribbled on a Jersey Shore boardwalk.

The devastating New Zealand earthquake tore open a new fault line on the Earth’s surface.

North Korea creates two video games based off of The Big Lebowski and Men in Black; Kim Jong Il reportedly changes legal name to simply “The Dude.”

New Orleans Saints running back Reggie Bush to be stripped of his 2005 Heisman Trophy with USC.

The University of Baltimore is offering a Zombies 101 class for those who can’t get enough of our dead-walking flesh-eating breathren.

Tiger Woods gets selected for the U.S. Ryder Cup team, even though he sucks now.

Dublin, Georgia passes an ordinance which will outlaw the wearing of saggy pants.

John Lennon’s killer Mark David Chapman is up for parole again.

More than 25,000 people attended this past weekend’s record-breaking New Mexico Wine Festival.

Blackrock City can kiss my ass. Santa Fe's been burning a giant dude to for way longer and with a lot less hippie.

Yuppers, it's Zozobra time (I want to put that in all caps because I'm so excited). Zozobra is the best day ever in Santa Fe. We all gather on a baseball field and send our gloom away by burning Zozo, or Old Man Gloom.

Side note: Someone tweets under the Old Man Gloom moniker and it's hilarious.

Anyway, Burque, I know you all want to come but driving back after the excitement of seeing a giant puppet go up in flames is a lot. So don't. I mean, come to Zozobra, but don't drive home. You can't crash at my house but you can ride the Rail Runner from the Santa Fe Depot at 11 p.m.

¡QUE VIVA!

Thursday, Sept. 9

3 p.m.

Fort Marcy Park, Santa Fe

zozobra.com

$10

• zozobra
• rail runner
• santa fe
• fiesta

A snapshot of less attractive Forever 21 merchandise

Praise the gods of affordable apparel, the 20,000 square foot Forever 21 at Coronado Center is open. Out of key makeup items, yesterday I grudgingly stopped by Coronado to shop at Sephora and was pleasantly surprised to find the new Forever 21 open for business. The store shines like a tranny out on the town. The decor, naturally, is that mega-trendy faux Lucite and chandelier-bedecked, quasi French boudoir style, which compliments the voluminous stock of cheap, whimsy-laden merchandise. This store, unlike its Cottonwood Mall counterpart, has a men’s section, a lingerie section, shitloads of accessories and who knows what else. I’d have to spend hours in there to give a full assessment. Sadly, the store was closing when I arrived and it was all I could do just to contain my excitement long enough to locate and purchase some big-ass sunglasses and ruffley pajama shorts.

• Re: Forever 21 (amberparker) [ Mon Sep 6 2010 2:28 PM ]
  
• Duh (Wednesday) [ Mon Sep 6 2010 2:50 PM ]