Flannel Shirt

Cooper in his Mini Cooper

This is Lindsay's dog Cooper in their Mini Cooper. Lindsay is an EMT and as such she is occasionally sent to various disasters around the country. She's going down with a contingent of other EMTs to help out in the hurricane aftermath. They are being flown into Atlanta tonight. 

Otherwise, Joan and I are doing all the things we have to do in order to be as ready as we can be for the knee operation. There may be a few days when I'm not real chatty.

Happy Mothers Day

About town

That's what it's been like around here this week. A lot of bending over to guide the little one. Lots of conversations that she seems to understand.  

Joan's daughter is in Costa Rica

With friends, celebrating her fortieth birthday.

Cousins

Bridget, with friend and children

Happy birthday, Sis

Happy birthday, Sis

My trust in mankind...

...is getting tested.

More people in Louisiana's Republican Party think Obama is to blame for the post-Katrina government actions than George Bush. Obama wasn't President for another three years after Katrina. Bush was.

This is not a hard one to figure out. How stupid do you have to be?

A significant chunk of Louisiana Republicans evidently believe that President Barack Obama is to blame for the poor response to the hurricane that ravaged their state more than three years before he took office.

The latest survey from Democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling, provided exclusively to TPM, showed an eye-popping divide among Republicans in the Bayou State when it comes to accountability for the government's post-Katrina blunders.

Twenty-eight percent said they think former President George W. Bush, who was in office at the time, was more responsible for the poor federal response while 29 percent said Obama, who was still a freshman U.S. Senator when the storm battered the Gulf Coast in 2005, was more responsible. Nearly half of Louisiana Republicans — 44 percent — said they aren't sure who to blame.

Bush was criticized heavily when he did not immediately return to Washington from his vacation in Texas after the storm had reached landfall. The government was also slow to provide relief aid and Michael Brown, then-director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), admitted in a televised interview that he learned that many of the storm's victims at the New Orleans Convention Center were without food and water well after the situation had been reported in the press.

Brown's handling of the response ultimately led to his resignation, but Bush offered an infamous endorsement of the FEMA chief only days before he stepped down. 

"Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job," Bush said.

Gangs not good for mental health

There is an interesting study that says people in gangs have more mental illness. What isn't addressed in the article is if people with these types of mental illness are attracted to gangs and gangs reinforce it or if gangs are the source. I'd guess the former.

Young men in gangs are significantly more likely to suffer from a mental disorder and need psychiatric help than other young men, says a UK study.

It surveyed 108 gang members and found that half had an anxiety disorder, more than 85% a personality disorder and 25% screened positive for psychosis.

Exposure to violence was the likely cause of their mental health problems, it said.

Experts said opportunities to help young people were often missed.

The research team from Queen Mary, University of London, started by surveying 4,664 men aged between 18 and 34 in Britain.

Researchers included significant numbers of men from areas of the country with high gang memberships, such as Hackney and Glasgow East, from areas with high ethnic minority populations and areas of social deprivation.

From the total sample, 3,284 said they had not been violent in the past five years, 1,272 said they had assaulted another person or been involved in a fight and 108 said they were currently in a gang.

Cycle of violence

The gang members and the violent men were found to be particularly prone to mental disorders and more likely to access psychiatric services.

Prof Jeremy Coid, lead study author and director of the forensic psychiatry research unit at Queen Mary, University of London, explained the likely cause.

"It is probable that, among gang members, high levels of anxiety disorder and psychosis were explained by post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the most frequent psychiatric outcome of exposure to violence."

He said the fear of future violence and victimisation led young men to experience extreme anxiety.

The study, published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, said: "Readiness to retaliate violently if disrespected, excitement from violence, and short-term benefits from instrumental violence lead to further cycles of violence and risk of violent victimisation."

The study also found that, of the 108 gang members surveyed, around a third had attempted suicide.

The authors said this could be linked "to the notion that impulsive violence may be directed both outward and inward".

However depression was significantly less common among gang members and violent men, the study found.

Andy Bell, deputy chief executive of the Centre for Mental Health, said they had carried out their own research in this area and found very high rates of multiple health and social issues in both boys and girls in gangs.

"It is very clear they have numerous problems throughout their lives, often related to drug, alcohol problems and maltreatment at home - and they all contribute to poor mental health.

"One vulnerability leads to another. The earlier they are dealt with the better - but sadly opportunities are often missed."

Street therapy

Prof Coid agrees that healthcare professionals should be aware of gang membership when assessing young men with psychiatric illnesses in urban areas.

The study reports that although just 1% of 18- to-34 year-old men in Britain are gang members, in areas such as Hackney this rises to around 8.6%. Yet the average age of gang membership can be as low as 15, it adds.

MAC-UK, a charity based in Camden and Southwark, in London, targets the mental health needs of young people aged 16 to 25 involved in gangs and antisocial behaviour in a novel way.

Dr Charlie Alcock, chief executive officer of the charity and a clinical psychologist, says youth offending is a public mental health issue which requires a different approach.

"We support young people by taking mental health on to the streets and working with them in a place which is convenient and comfortable for them.

"We believe one in three young people has an unmet mental health need," she says.

These can range from stress and anxiety to hearing voices and more serious forms of psychosis.