Month: June 2011

A reader writes:

At first, I figured that the best thing for Tina Fey to do was to kill Tracy Morgan's character and base their last season around trying to save TGS without Tracy Jordan. I really wasn’t willing to forgive on this one, and I did expect the pro forma apologies. But a couple things have changed my mind and left me willing to forgive. Number one, he’s not going to rehab. He’s actually taken up GLAAD’s challenge and will be meeting with gay kids who have been victims of abuse. He’s actually going before the people he offended to apologize, rather than just releasing a ghostwritten apology from a thousand miles away.

Number two, the revelation about how his father died of AIDS tells me he’s probably actually sincere.

Ryan White’s experience of homophobia and violence is well documented, and at the time Morgan’s father died, he would have experienced the same or worse. I think that when Morgan did his act, he probably didn’t connect the two, but the uproar that has ensued has probably helped him recognize the connection. While most of the time, you know that the celebrity is unrepentant and making an apology in the hopes of salvaging their career, I think for once a celebrity has actually had an uproar change his mind and made a sincere apology that will be followed up with actual acts of contrition.

(Screenshot via Gabe, who offers a lengthy dissent to Louis C.K.)

Marc Lynch agrees with Daniel Larison that our options are limited:

The administration is right about the limits of Washington's influence over events in Syria and correct to resist pressure to indulge in symbolic gestures such as withdrawing the Ambassador or calling on Asad to leave.  Prudence is not weakness.  It is the only rational response to the turbulence and uncertainty surrounding Syria today.  That does not mean doing nothing.

The Obama administration should continue to ratchet up its rhetorical condemnation of Syrian violence. It might use the threat of International Criminal Court referral and targeted sanctions to encourage regime defections. But increasing pressure is not enough.  Instead, it should continue to focus on a regional and international approach, in cooperation with regional partners such as Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the Arab League, designed to create a real alternative to the seemingly unstoppable descent into brutality and rebellion.

Opponents of marriage equality attempted to get Judge Vaughn Walker's anti-Prop 8 ruling thown out on the grounds that Walker is a gay man. That argument was rejected (scribd) by Judge James Ware. Money quote from the ruling:

[I]t is inconsistent with the general principles of constitutional adjudication to presume that a member of a minority group reaps a greater benefit from application of the substantive protections of our Constitution than would a member of the majority. The fact that this is a case challenging a law on equal protection and due process grounds being prosecuted by members of a minority group does not mean that members of the minority group have a greater interest in equal protection and due process than the rest of society. In our society, a variety of citizens of different backgrounds coexist because we have constitutionally bound ourselves to protect the fundamental rights of one another from being violated by unlawful treatment. Thus, we all have an equal stake in a case that challenges the constitutionality of a restriction on a fundamental right.

Rob Tisinai unpacks this:

Judge Ware is saying that Walker had no special interest in the case. Why? Because everybody in society benefits from equal treatment under the law. Not just the minority, the oppressed, the downtrodden.  Everybody.

Dale Carpenter summarizes the rest of Ware's ruling.

This ranking of economic fears helps explain why Social Security is the third rail of politics:

In general, the recession had a significant effect on Americans' personal financial worries. More Americans are worried now about each of the eight items Gallup tracks than were so in the early 2000s. While Americans' concerns about being able to maintain their standard of living reached a new high this year, their predominant financial worry continues to be about being able to fund their retirement.

Pareene notes how New York state Senator Carl Kruger changed his vote from anti-gay marriage to pro after being outed by the NYT:

Barney Frank became one of the most prominent gay politicians in the world since his outing, long ago. Ken Mehlman now fights for marriage equality. Carl Kruger switched his vote. Keeping "open secrets" that "everyone knows" from the public is already a questionable journalistic practice, and now there's a great deal of evidence that the private lives of politicians have very real effects on public policy.

Yes, but not all ends justify all means. My basic principle: engage first to see if the person can come out themselves. It should be an act of empowerment, not shaming or punishment, or the entire moral basis of the gay rights movement (may it soon be over!) is compromised.

And lastly, caritas. No moral movement should be based on cruelty or contempt. No cruelty. To find the line between cruelty and not telling the truth as a journalist is something unique in each case. But in the end, my gut goes with the defense of the individual, and his or her right to define him or herself as she wants. And – do I need to repeat myself? – no cruelty.

Monknash, South Wales, 12 pm

Alex Massie predicts Rick Perry's campaign theme. Massie sees the logic of a Perry run:

The story is simple: Texas is working. Despite some difficulties (don't expect Perry to elaborate on these) the Lone Star State has enjoyed boom times in recent years, in stark contrast to much of the rest of the United States. That's Perry's record and it's a better one to stand on than anything enjoyed by any of his rivals for the Republican nomination.

Hertzberg is wary of Perry.

A charming moment with the Dalai Lama:

There was an instant and overwhelming response to our reader's story. One offer of support:

Re: your depressed reader, I've also had the experience of being turned down from a support group because I was too depressed. I've also been through treatment with antidepressants and therapy. I'm sure you will get hundreds of emails, with hundreds of suggestions, but nevertheless, here are mine.

One thing really jumped out at me in this letter: the author mentions drugs and therapy, but not more fundamental causes of depression, like sleep, diet, and exercise.

When I was chronically depressed, health professionals also never mentioned these things. I had to discover them on my own, over the course of nearly 20 years. Without knowing anything else about this person, I would highly recommend keeping strict sleeping and eating hours, never missing a meal, eating healthy food, avoiding anything that might disrupt sleep (caffeine, alcohol), seeing a doctor if a sleep disorder is suspected, and taking up an endurance sport. Personally, I cycle. I think the "endurance" part is important. More mild workouts haven't been as effective for me.

Another thing to note is all the recent brain research finding that we feel how we act, as much as we act how we feel. Plaster a smile on your face, and you will feel better, after you get over feeling stupid. Act like a happy person, and you are more likely to become one.

I know this all sounds cracked: forced smiling and cycling are going to succeed, where highly-trained medical professionals have failed. Right.

It's at least worth trying. I believe that at this date, with the recent failures of anti-depressants in clinical studies, and the continued failure of therapy in the same, these suggestions are actually better backed by the available evidence. In fact, our ancestors didn't spend their days sitting and eating refined sugars. We haven't evolved to tolerate such a life.

Another:

I just finishing your reader’s piece on feeling depressed and the idea of assisted suicide and I couldn’t help but feel both touched and sympathetic. I have been there, I think I know exactly how he feels. I have been through years of depression, mostly from multiple childhood issues (the details aren’t important) and probably also partly genetics (long history of depression in my family). I have tried therapy, medications, religion, monastic retreats, meditation, etc. Most of it didn’t help and the medications made it worse for me. Maybe I am wrong, but the only reason I can think that the therapist would stop seeing him is because he had given up on trying to help himself, and if he’s not willing to do that then no drug or therapist or group can do it for him.

And that sums up everything for how depression has been for me. It is not about hope. It is about purpose. I can’t control if I am going to be depressed or not, I can’t control what I feel (which is the saddest realization I have ever felt). But, you can control how you live and what you live for. What do I do this day? What do I create? What do I add to this world that makes it just a little bit higher quality a place?

Your feelings might influence and motivate your actions, but they don’t control them, and maybe I can’t not be depressed but I can live with some quality. I can spend a little bit each day drawing or sketching, keep a journal, learning martial arts or Tai Chi or yoga or meditation (it’s new age but really does help), take a continuing Ed class, or something. And, then you just do that every day for a little bit each day. Once you do that, you try a part-time job, do that for six months, and then (only once you’re ready) you try full-time and you get an apartment and you begin to respect yourself for taking care of yourself.

Some people say faith helps; it didn’t for me (I lost mine a long time ago). What finally helped me was to feel I was doing something of value. For myself I tried all of those things I just mentioned. Got to a point where I was doing ok and then tried a long-term goal. Mine included joining the military; and I think the only time in my adult life where I have not been seriously depressed was deployed in Iraq in a war zone.

And that is why I say it is ultimately not about how you feel or the depression or anxiety. It is based on the purpose you choose in this life. That I know add some small quality to this world and am trying to make things a little bit better. What I do now to deal with depression is to practice a little meditation every day and also a little Tai Chi, and although I do have long-term goals I focus more on how I live each day. It’s a cliché, but it works. Not perfectly. The depression does not go away (at least for me it hasn’t), but it does get better, as long as you keep trying.

Another:

There is certainly something going on in his brain, and that makes this problem physical, not spiritual. It also makes it temporary, not permanent. He must remember that physical problems often have physical solutions. The brain is the physical seat of all sensation and thoughts – experience. But it is an organ just like any other organ. It too is susceptible to disease,  and these diseases can many times be treated.

Organic disease can manifest as depression through some sort of inflammatory process in the brain. Just because his depression is anti-depressant-refractory does not mean it is treatment-refractory. He might explore Lyme Disease, hypothyroidism, heavy metal poisoning, or other medical disorders that can often manifest as depression. These could certainly help explain why anti-depressants have not worked for him.

Even if it turns out to be a primary psychiatric illness, there are still treatments it appears he has not explored.  Vagus nerve stimulation and deep brain stimulation are possibilities. Electro-convulsive therapy is much more evolved now than it used to be.  Even though it is clearly very painful for him to be him, he needs to know that somewhere, somehow, there's a solution out there in the physical world that will make life tolerable. He can find it.

There is still hope. If this person can remember any time in his life when he felt happy, even for an instant, then it is possible to feel that way again. He might have to rack his brain to find such a moment, but if he can, he can habituate himself to remember that moment over and over again, and to remember, most importantly, that it's possible to experience the world in that way once more. He has, at least in most senses, the same brain he had then, the same brain he had when he felt that way. Even more importantly, there are people who love him and who will fight for him to get that moment back. His mother.

Disclaimer: I am a patient, not a professional. I do have an inflammatory brain illness: Lyme Disease encephalopathy. The fact that Lyme Disease is so common in the northeast and quite curable at early stages belies the seriousness of the disease. Once it gets to an advanced stage undetected it is, quite honestly, dangerous. It is no accident that it often gets confused with serious diseases such as MS, ALS, Alzheimer's and syphilis. While it may not be able to kill you directly, it will make you want to die.  (I've written to you before about that, and you posted it.)

But I too know what it is like to live without hope. I spent decades trying to get rid of this illness, since I was a child. I made it through secondary education and into college  not being able to think very well.  I suffered from diminished awareness, depression, social anxiety, and a multitude of other cognitive and psychiatric issues. Eventually I couldn't even breathe correctly. It was impossible for me to conceive that there was a solution out there, and so I very much  though the only solution was death.

My father finally suggested it was Lyme Disease, and my blood tests came back positive.  Treating for it took years; killing off the spirochete once it has advanced to this stage happens only very, very, slowly.   Nonetheless, my health has improved dramatically since I wrote that post to you, and I feel immensely better now that I can think, feel, and breathe again. I am immersed in reality, and can comprehend what goes around me much more clearly.  I am finally better. 

I am returning to school in the fall, at the age of 28, to finish my last semester. Now my life begins again. Know hope.

The great healthcare system that the Republicans see as the lynchpin of our freedom has not exactly been doing a great job. It spends up to 50 percent more per capita than other countries and is now providing healthcare in which, in some regions, life-spans are actually declining. Money quote:

Some US counties have a life expectancy today that nations with the best health outcomes had in 1957 …  Five counties in Mississippi have the lowest life expectancies for women, all below 74.5 years, putting them behind nations such as Honduras, El Salvador, and Peru. Four of those counties, along with Humphreys County, MS, have the lowest life expectancies for men, all below 67 years, meaning they are behind Brazil, Latvia, and the Philippines.

Black men are in terrible shape:

Black men and women have lower life expectancies than white men and women in all counties. Life expectancy for black women ranges from 69.6 to 82.6 years, and for black men, from 59.4 to 77.2 years. In both cases, no counties are ahead of the international frontier, and some are more than 50 years behind.

Shouldn't our main issue with healthcare be first: why is the largely private sector doing so terribly? And shouldn't this be a question conservatives should be asking themselves rather than reiterating slogans from the 1980s?