This is pretty horrifying. An ex-Marine was convicted of torturing and killing his wife:
Prosecutors contended that on Nov. 30, 2004, Speights assembled a series of torture and restraint devices, including chains, ankle cuffs, plastic ties, mace and a 300,000-volt stun gun at the Irvine apartment the couple shared. He then chained Zill to the bed, tortured her with the stun gun and strangled her with a plastic tie, prosecutors said.
Last night, Democratic candidates for president gathered for the seventh debate. There are more debates in this election season than I'm pretty sure ever before -- and it's only (almost) November. Still, the debates don't really seem to be productive. Paul WaldmanattacksTim Russert as a moderator, and I think he's mainly right, but to me, the real problem is that as much as we like to think that debates are where candidates hash out issues and prove to us who is the better candidate, they are mainly just pieces of political theater.
A recent study reported in the New York Times shows that suicide rates among veterans are the same as among civilians as long as they are receiving treatment for depression. There were some differences, though. While suicide rates among civilians typically peak later in life, veterans experience a peak between the ages of 18 to 24. Also, a previous study showed veterans are far more likely (80 percent versus 55 percent) to commit suicide with a gun.
The Guardianreports that officials fear that up to 20,000 UK soldiers have undiagnosed brain injuries. And the DoD says that up to 20 percent of American soldiers may suffer from "mild traumatic brain injuries." The reason this is such a problem is that soldiers are suffering injuries primarily from blasts, so even if they get checked over, minor bruising and blood clots in the brain may go undetected. This can cause symptoms long associated with post-traumatic stress disorder: anxiety, sleep loss, depression, and violence.
Over at Campus Progress (full disclosure: they pay my salary), UC-Santa Barbara student Kristen Tuckerhighlights an army of young conservatives, more commonly known as the Young America's Foundation, who gathered for a weekend of Ronald Reagan-worship and some good old-fashioned Muslim-bashing at a seminar at the Gipper's ranch called "Radical Islam 101: Defining America’s Enemy & Developing A Strategy For Success." It's all in the wake of Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week, the David Horowitz-orchestrated press campaign.
