Pain Relief Through Photography
Can looking at the photograph of a loved one make pain go away?
Numerous studies show that strong social connections have benefits for health. People who have active social lives seem to live longer than those who are isolated, and married cancer patients have a better outlook than divorced cancer patients. Now, a study [pdf] suggests that merely looking at a photograph of a loved one can relieve the sensation of physical pain.
Psychologists at the University of California, Los Angeles, recruited 25 women who had steady boyfriends. Using a tool that applied heat to the women’s forearms, they turned up the temperature until it was slightly uncomfortable and asked the women to rate the pain they experienced on a scale of one to 20.
The researchers manipulated the heat and recorded the women’s reactions under different conditions: while she was looking at a photo of her boyfriend, or a photo of a complete stranger and a chair. They also had the women rate the pain while they held the hand of a stranger hidden behind a curtain, and as they held their boyfriend’s hand or a squeeze ball.
“We saw lower pain ratings on average when the women were holding their partner’s hand compared with a stranger’s hand or an object,” said Sarah L. Master, the lead author of the paper, who did the study at U.C.L.A. as part of her doctoral research.
When the women looked at photographs of their boyfriends, they rated the pain lower than when they were staring at a photo of a stranger or a chair. Surprisingly, they even ranked the pain lower than they had while holding their boyfriend’s hand.
“It’s interesting that a physical sensation can actually become more manageable by just looking at a photo of someone you find supportive,” Dr. Master said. The study appeared in the November issue of the journal Psychological Science.
Under certain circumstances, Dr. Master suggested, looking at a photo may have an even stronger effect than having the person physically present. “Having the actual person there might not be a good thing if the person is in a bad mood or not being supportive at that moment. A picture could be a better solution,” she said.
Dr. Master said the mere reminder of the loved one may engender feelings of support, possibly by prompting the release of endogenous opioids, chemicals in the brain that have pain relief effects.
Monday, January 23, 2012
Really? The Claim: Yoga Can Help Manage Pain
Really? The Claim: Yoga Can Help Manage Pain
THE FACTS
For many people, yoga is more than just exercise: Studies show it is one of the most commonly used forms of alternative therapy in the country. Many rely on yoga to relieve chronic and acute pain.
The reasons for this are varied. Some researchers believe that yoga may alleviate pain through relaxation and the release of endorphins. Others say it may reduce inflammation and promote positive emotions.
Plenty of studies have tried to determine whether taking up yoga can actually help lessen pain. In a recent report, a team of researchers sifted through the science and identified 10 randomized clinical trials on the subject involving hundreds of patients.
The studies looked at yoga’s effect on pain stemming from ailments like arthritis, low back problems, pregnancy symptoms and migraines. The control conditions were standard treatments and exercise, diet and lifestyle changes.
Nine out of the 10 clinical trials found yoga could help provide relief from pain, which the authors called “encouraging.” But they also noted that no definitive conclusion could be reached, for a number of reasons.
The studies involved patients experiencing pain from a wide variety of conditions, and they looked at several types of yoga that had some similarities, like breathing, stretching and relaxation exercises — but also many differences. Complicating matters was that the intensity, amount of time and frequency of the yoga sessions differed from one study to the next.
While the evidence suggests that yoga has the potential to alleviate pain, they wrote, the science is not firm enough to say for certain.
THE FACTS
For many people, yoga is more than just exercise: Studies show it is one of the most commonly used forms of alternative therapy in the country. Many rely on yoga to relieve chronic and acute pain.
The reasons for this are varied. Some researchers believe that yoga may alleviate pain through relaxation and the release of endorphins. Others say it may reduce inflammation and promote positive emotions.
Plenty of studies have tried to determine whether taking up yoga can actually help lessen pain. In a recent report, a team of researchers sifted through the science and identified 10 randomized clinical trials on the subject involving hundreds of patients.
The studies looked at yoga’s effect on pain stemming from ailments like arthritis, low back problems, pregnancy symptoms and migraines. The control conditions were standard treatments and exercise, diet and lifestyle changes.
Nine out of the 10 clinical trials found yoga could help provide relief from pain, which the authors called “encouraging.” But they also noted that no definitive conclusion could be reached, for a number of reasons.
The studies involved patients experiencing pain from a wide variety of conditions, and they looked at several types of yoga that had some similarities, like breathing, stretching and relaxation exercises — but also many differences. Complicating matters was that the intensity, amount of time and frequency of the yoga sessions differed from one study to the next.
While the evidence suggests that yoga has the potential to alleviate pain, they wrote, the science is not firm enough to say for certain.
Giving Chronic Pain a Medical Platform of Its Own
Giving Chronic Pain a Medical Platform of Its Own
Most doctors view pain as a symptom of an underlying problem — treat the disease or the injury, and the pain goes away.
But for large numbers of patients, the pain never goes away. In a sweeping review issued last month, the Institute of Medicine — the medical branch of the National Academy of Sciences — estimated that chronic pain afflicts 116 million Americans, far more than previously believed.
The toll documented in the report is staggering. Childbirth, for example, is a common source of chronic pain: The institute found that 18 percent of women who have Caesarean deliveries and 10 percent who have vaginal deliveries report still being in pain a year later.
Ten percent to 50 percent of surgical patients who have pain after surgery go on to develop chronic pain, depending on the procedure, and for as many as 10 percent of those patients, the chronic postoperative pain is severe. (About 1 in 4 Americans suffer from frequent lower back pain.)
The risk of suicide is high among chronic pain patients. Two studies found that about 5 percent of those with musculoskeletal pain had tried to kill themselves; among patients with chronic abdominal pain, the number was 14 percent.
“Before, we didn’t have good data on what is the burden of pain in our society,” said Dr. Sean Mackey, chief of pain management at the Stanford School of Medicine and a member of the committee that produced the report. “The number of people is more than diabetes, heart disease and cancer combined.”
For patients, acknowledgment of the problem from the prestigious Institute of Medicine is a seminal event. Chronic pain often goes untreated because most doctors haven’t been trained to understand it. And it is isolating: Family members and friends may lose patience with the constant complaints of pain sufferers. Doctors tend to throw up their hands, referring patients for psychotherapy or dismissing them as drug seekers trying to get opioids.
“Most people with chronic pain are still being treated as if pain is a symptom of an underlying problem,” said Melanie Thernstrom, a chronic pain sufferer from Vancouver, Wash., who wrote “The Pain Chronicles: Cures, Myths, Mysteries, Prayers, Diaries, Brain Scans, Healing and the Science of Suffering” (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2010) and was a patient representative on the committee.
“If the doctor can’t figure out what the underlying problem is,” she went on, “then the pain is not treated, it’s dismissed and the patient falls down the rabbit hole.”
Among the important findings in the Institute of Medicine report is that chronic pain often outlasts the original illness or injury, causing changes in the nervous system that worsen over time. Doctors often cannot find an underlying cause because there isn’t one. Chronic pain becomes its own disease.
“When pain becomes chronic, when it becomes persistent even after the tissue and injury have healed, then people are suffering from chronic pain,” Dr. Mackey said. “We’re finding that there are significant changes in the central nervous system and spinal cord that cause pain to become amplified and persistent even after the injury has gone away.”
The institute emphasized the importance of prevention and early treatment, a novel concept for many doctors who try to diagnose the source of pain before treating it or advise patients to wait it out in the hope it will go away on its own.
“Having pain that is not treated is like having diabetes that’s not treated,” said Ms. Thernstrom, who suffers from spinal stenosis and a form of arthritis in the neck. “It gets worse over time.”
Ms. Thernstrom compared the effect of chronic pain on the body to the rushing waters of a river carving out a new tributary. Pain, she says, also changes the body’s landscape.
“My pain is at the level where it’s manageable,” she said. “I do wish I had gotten aggressive treatment in the first year. There is a window of time to intervene, because pain changes your nervous system and pain pathways develop.”
The report also acknowledged the “conundrum of opioids,” noting that doctors are conflicted about how to treat pain because of worries about drug addiction. But the group noted that proper use of the drugs early in a pain cycle can resolve pain problems sooner, and stated that opioids are also particularly useful for pain management near the end of life.
The pain report is only a first step for the community of medical professionals who treat pain. It will be up to medical schools to begin better education of doctors in the treatment of pain, and the National Institutes of Health to decide whether to promote research into chronic pain. Patients, too, need to be educated about the importance of early treatment of pain rather than gutting it out or waiting until it has become severe and chronic.
“Some people were expecting a cure within the report,” Dr. Mackey said. “There’s no immediate cure. But I’ve seen a lot of patients who have said, ‘Finally they are putting out a report that helps others understand what I’m going through.’ ”
Most doctors view pain as a symptom of an underlying problem — treat the disease or the injury, and the pain goes away.
But for large numbers of patients, the pain never goes away. In a sweeping review issued last month, the Institute of Medicine — the medical branch of the National Academy of Sciences — estimated that chronic pain afflicts 116 million Americans, far more than previously believed.
The toll documented in the report is staggering. Childbirth, for example, is a common source of chronic pain: The institute found that 18 percent of women who have Caesarean deliveries and 10 percent who have vaginal deliveries report still being in pain a year later.
Ten percent to 50 percent of surgical patients who have pain after surgery go on to develop chronic pain, depending on the procedure, and for as many as 10 percent of those patients, the chronic postoperative pain is severe. (About 1 in 4 Americans suffer from frequent lower back pain.)
The risk of suicide is high among chronic pain patients. Two studies found that about 5 percent of those with musculoskeletal pain had tried to kill themselves; among patients with chronic abdominal pain, the number was 14 percent.
“Before, we didn’t have good data on what is the burden of pain in our society,” said Dr. Sean Mackey, chief of pain management at the Stanford School of Medicine and a member of the committee that produced the report. “The number of people is more than diabetes, heart disease and cancer combined.”
For patients, acknowledgment of the problem from the prestigious Institute of Medicine is a seminal event. Chronic pain often goes untreated because most doctors haven’t been trained to understand it. And it is isolating: Family members and friends may lose patience with the constant complaints of pain sufferers. Doctors tend to throw up their hands, referring patients for psychotherapy or dismissing them as drug seekers trying to get opioids.
“Most people with chronic pain are still being treated as if pain is a symptom of an underlying problem,” said Melanie Thernstrom, a chronic pain sufferer from Vancouver, Wash., who wrote “The Pain Chronicles: Cures, Myths, Mysteries, Prayers, Diaries, Brain Scans, Healing and the Science of Suffering” (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2010) and was a patient representative on the committee.
“If the doctor can’t figure out what the underlying problem is,” she went on, “then the pain is not treated, it’s dismissed and the patient falls down the rabbit hole.”
Among the important findings in the Institute of Medicine report is that chronic pain often outlasts the original illness or injury, causing changes in the nervous system that worsen over time. Doctors often cannot find an underlying cause because there isn’t one. Chronic pain becomes its own disease.
“When pain becomes chronic, when it becomes persistent even after the tissue and injury have healed, then people are suffering from chronic pain,” Dr. Mackey said. “We’re finding that there are significant changes in the central nervous system and spinal cord that cause pain to become amplified and persistent even after the injury has gone away.”
The institute emphasized the importance of prevention and early treatment, a novel concept for many doctors who try to diagnose the source of pain before treating it or advise patients to wait it out in the hope it will go away on its own.
“Having pain that is not treated is like having diabetes that’s not treated,” said Ms. Thernstrom, who suffers from spinal stenosis and a form of arthritis in the neck. “It gets worse over time.”
Ms. Thernstrom compared the effect of chronic pain on the body to the rushing waters of a river carving out a new tributary. Pain, she says, also changes the body’s landscape.
“My pain is at the level where it’s manageable,” she said. “I do wish I had gotten aggressive treatment in the first year. There is a window of time to intervene, because pain changes your nervous system and pain pathways develop.”
The report also acknowledged the “conundrum of opioids,” noting that doctors are conflicted about how to treat pain because of worries about drug addiction. But the group noted that proper use of the drugs early in a pain cycle can resolve pain problems sooner, and stated that opioids are also particularly useful for pain management near the end of life.
The pain report is only a first step for the community of medical professionals who treat pain. It will be up to medical schools to begin better education of doctors in the treatment of pain, and the National Institutes of Health to decide whether to promote research into chronic pain. Patients, too, need to be educated about the importance of early treatment of pain rather than gutting it out or waiting until it has become severe and chronic.
“Some people were expecting a cure within the report,” Dr. Mackey said. “There’s no immediate cure. But I’ve seen a lot of patients who have said, ‘Finally they are putting out a report that helps others understand what I’m going through.’ ”
In Rating Pain, Women Are the More Sensitive Sex
In Rating Pain, Women Are the More Sensitive Sex
Do women feel more pain than men?
It has long been known that certain pain-related conditions, like fibromyalgia, migraine and irritable bowel syndrome, are more common in women than in men. And chronic pain after childbirth is surprisingly common; the Institute of Medicine recently found that 18 percent of women who have Caesarean deliveries and 10 percent who have vaginal deliveries report still being in pain a year later.
But new research from Stanford University suggests that even when men and women have the same condition — whether it’s a back problem, arthritis or a sinus infection — women appear to suffer more from the pain.
There is an epidemic of chronic pain: Last year, the Institute of Medicine estimated that it afflicts 116 million Americans, far more than previously believed. But these latest findings, believed to be the largest study ever to compare pain levels in men and women, raise new questions about whether women are shouldering a disproportionate burden of chronic pain and suggest a need for more gender-specific pain research.
The study, published Monday in The Journal of Pain, analyzes data from the electronic medical records of 11,000 patients whose pain scores were recorded as a routine part of their care. (To obtain pain scores, doctors ask patients to describe their pain on a scale from 0, for no pain, to 10, “worst pain imaginable.”)
For 21 of 22 ailments with sample sizes large enough to make a meaningful comparison, the researchers found that women reported higher levels of pain than men. For back pain, women reported a score of 6.03, men 5.53. For joint and inflammatory pain, it was women 6.00, men 4.93. Women reported significantly higher pain levels with diabetes, hypertension, ankle injuries and even sinus infections.
For several diagnoses, women’s average pain score was at least one point higher than men’s, which is considered a clinically meaningful difference. Over all, their pain levels were about 20 percent higher than men’s.
Unfortunately, the data don’t offer any clues as to why women report higher pain levels. One possibility is that men have been socialized to be more stoic, so they underreport pain. But the study’s senior author, Dr. Atul Butte, an associate professor at Stanford’s medical school, said that explanation probably did not account for the gender gap.
“While you can imagine such a bias,” he said, “across studies, across thousands of patients, it’s hard to believe men are like this. You have to think about biological causes for the difference.”
An extensive 2007 report by the International Association for the Study of Pain cited studies showing that sex hormones may play a role in pain response. In fact, some of the gender differences, particularly regarding headache and abdominal pain, begin to diminish after women reach menopause.
Research also suggests that men and women have different responses to anesthesia and pain drugs, reporting different levels of efficacy and side effects. That bolsters the idea that men and women experience pain differently.
One reason for the lack of information about sex differences is that many pain studies, in both animals and humans, are done only in males. One analysis found that 79 percent of the animal studies published in a pain journal over a decade included only male subjects, compared with 8 percent that used only female animals.
In addition, experiments testing pain in men and women have shown that they typically have different thresholds for various types of pain. In general, women report higher levels of pain from pressure and electrical stimulation, and less pain when the source is from heat.
Melanie Thernstrom, a patient representative on the Institute of Medicine pain committee from Vancouver, Wash., said the newest research “really highlights the need for more treatment and better treatment that is gender-specific, and the need for far more research to really understand why women’s brains process pain differently than men.”
Some researchers believe the pain experience for women may be even more complicated. Women who have given birth, for instance, may have a different threshold for “worst pain ever,” causing them to underreport certain types of pain. The bottom line, Dr. Butte said, is that far too little is known about how men and women experience pain and that more study is needed so that, ultimately, pain treatment can be customized to each patient’s needs.
“If doctors have a threshold for when they give a dose or start a medication,” he said, “you could imagine that the number they are using is too high or too low because a person may be in more pain than they are saying.
“In the end, it comes down to what the brain perceives as pain.”
Do women feel more pain than men?
It has long been known that certain pain-related conditions, like fibromyalgia, migraine and irritable bowel syndrome, are more common in women than in men. And chronic pain after childbirth is surprisingly common; the Institute of Medicine recently found that 18 percent of women who have Caesarean deliveries and 10 percent who have vaginal deliveries report still being in pain a year later.
But new research from Stanford University suggests that even when men and women have the same condition — whether it’s a back problem, arthritis or a sinus infection — women appear to suffer more from the pain.
There is an epidemic of chronic pain: Last year, the Institute of Medicine estimated that it afflicts 116 million Americans, far more than previously believed. But these latest findings, believed to be the largest study ever to compare pain levels in men and women, raise new questions about whether women are shouldering a disproportionate burden of chronic pain and suggest a need for more gender-specific pain research.
The study, published Monday in The Journal of Pain, analyzes data from the electronic medical records of 11,000 patients whose pain scores were recorded as a routine part of their care. (To obtain pain scores, doctors ask patients to describe their pain on a scale from 0, for no pain, to 10, “worst pain imaginable.”)
For 21 of 22 ailments with sample sizes large enough to make a meaningful comparison, the researchers found that women reported higher levels of pain than men. For back pain, women reported a score of 6.03, men 5.53. For joint and inflammatory pain, it was women 6.00, men 4.93. Women reported significantly higher pain levels with diabetes, hypertension, ankle injuries and even sinus infections.
For several diagnoses, women’s average pain score was at least one point higher than men’s, which is considered a clinically meaningful difference. Over all, their pain levels were about 20 percent higher than men’s.
Unfortunately, the data don’t offer any clues as to why women report higher pain levels. One possibility is that men have been socialized to be more stoic, so they underreport pain. But the study’s senior author, Dr. Atul Butte, an associate professor at Stanford’s medical school, said that explanation probably did not account for the gender gap.
“While you can imagine such a bias,” he said, “across studies, across thousands of patients, it’s hard to believe men are like this. You have to think about biological causes for the difference.”
An extensive 2007 report by the International Association for the Study of Pain cited studies showing that sex hormones may play a role in pain response. In fact, some of the gender differences, particularly regarding headache and abdominal pain, begin to diminish after women reach menopause.
Research also suggests that men and women have different responses to anesthesia and pain drugs, reporting different levels of efficacy and side effects. That bolsters the idea that men and women experience pain differently.
One reason for the lack of information about sex differences is that many pain studies, in both animals and humans, are done only in males. One analysis found that 79 percent of the animal studies published in a pain journal over a decade included only male subjects, compared with 8 percent that used only female animals.
In addition, experiments testing pain in men and women have shown that they typically have different thresholds for various types of pain. In general, women report higher levels of pain from pressure and electrical stimulation, and less pain when the source is from heat.
Melanie Thernstrom, a patient representative on the Institute of Medicine pain committee from Vancouver, Wash., said the newest research “really highlights the need for more treatment and better treatment that is gender-specific, and the need for far more research to really understand why women’s brains process pain differently than men.”
Some researchers believe the pain experience for women may be even more complicated. Women who have given birth, for instance, may have a different threshold for “worst pain ever,” causing them to underreport certain types of pain. The bottom line, Dr. Butte said, is that far too little is known about how men and women experience pain and that more study is needed so that, ultimately, pain treatment can be customized to each patient’s needs.
“If doctors have a threshold for when they give a dose or start a medication,” he said, “you could imagine that the number they are using is too high or too low because a person may be in more pain than they are saying.
“In the end, it comes down to what the brain perceives as pain.”
Men Struggle for Rape Awareness
Men Struggle for Rape Awareness
Keith Smith was 14 when he was raped by a driver who picked him up after a hockey team meeting. He had hitchhiked home, which is why, for decades, he continued to blame himself for the assault.
When the driver barreled past Hartley’s Pork Pies on the outskirts of Providence, R.I., where Mr. Smith had asked to be dropped off, and then past a firehouse, he knew something was wrong.
“I tried to open the car door, but he had rigged the lock,” said Mr. Smith, of East Windsor, N.J., now 52. Still, he said, “I had no idea it was going to be a sexual assault.”
Even today, years after the disclosure of the still-unfolding child abuse scandal in the Catholic Church and the arrest of a former Pennsylvania State University assistant football coach accused of sexually abusing boys, rape is widely thought of as a crime against women.
Until just a few weeks ago, when the federal government expanded its definition of rape to include a wider range of sexual assaults, national crime statistics on rape included only assaults against women and girls committed by men under a narrow set of circumstances. Now they will also include male victims.
While most experts agree women are raped far more often than men, 1.4 percent of men in a recent national survey said they had been raped at some point. The study, by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, found that when rape was defined as oral or anal penetration, one in 71 men said they had been raped or had been the target of attempted rape, usually by a man they knew. (The study did not include men in prison.)
And one in 21 said they had been forced to penetrate an acquaintance or a partner, usually a woman; had been the victim of an attempt to force penetration; or had been made to receive oral sex.
Other estimates have run even higher. A Department of Justice report found that 3 percent of men, or one in 33, had been raped. Some experts believe that one in six men have experienced unwanted sexual contact of some kind as minors.
But for many men, the subject is so discomfiting that it is rarely discussed — virtually taboo, experts say, because of societal notions about masculinity and the idea that men are invulnerable and can take care of themselves.
“We have a cultural blind spot about this,” said David Lisak, a clinical psychologist who has done research on interpersonal violence and sexual abuse and is a founding board member of 1in6, an organization that offers information and services to men who had unwanted or abusive sexual experiences as children.
“We recognize that male children are being abused,” Dr. Lisak said, “but then when boys cross some kind of threshold somewhere in adolescence and become what we perceive to be men, we no longer want to think about it in this way.”
Even when high-profile cases dominate the news, said Mai Fernandez, executive director of the National Center for Victims of Crime advocacy organization in Washington, “attention goes to the things we feel more comfortable talking about — such as whether Penn State had done enough, and what will happen to their football program — and not to the question, ‘What do we do to prevent boys from being sexually assaulted?’ ”
In an interview with The Washington Post this month, Joe Paterno, the Penn State football coach who was fired after the abuse scandal erupted and who died of lung cancer on Sunday, said that when an assistant had told him about witnessing an inappropriate encounter between a young boy and Jerry Sandusky, the former assistant coach who is facing charges of sexual abuse, he had been confused and unsure how to proceed. Mr. Paterno said the assistant “didn’t want to get specific. And to be frank with you, I don’t know that it would have done any good, because I never heard of, of rape and a man.”
Much of the research on the sexual assault of men has focused on prisons. But men are also raped outside of prison, usually by people they know, including acquaintances and intimate partners, but occasionally by complete strangers. They are raped as part of violent, drunken or drug-induced assaults; war crimes; interrogations; antigay bias crimes; and hazing rites for male clubs and organizations, like fraternities, and in the military.
In one study of 3,337 military veterans applying for disability benefits for post-traumatic stress disorder, 6.5 percent of male combat veterans and 16.5 percent of noncombat veterans reported either in-service or post-service sexual assault. (The rates were far higher for female veterans, 69.0 percent and 86.6 percent respectively.)
A Pentagon report released on Thursday found a 64 percent increase in sexual crimes in the Army since 2006, with rape, sexual assault and forcible sodomy the most frequent violent sex crimes committed last year; 95 percent of all victims were women.
Some studies have reported that the risk of rape is greatest for men who are young, are living in poverty or homeless, or are disabled or mentally ill. The C.D.C. study found that one-quarter of men who had been raped were assaulted before they were 10 , usually by someone they knew.
And young men raised by poor single mothers are especially vulnerable to male predators, said Dr. Zane Gates, an internist who cares for low-income patients on Medicaid at a community health center in Altoona, Pa.
“You’re looking for a male figure in your life desperately, and you’ll give anything for that,” he said.
Keith Smith was 14 when he was raped by a driver who picked him up after a hockey team meeting. He had hitchhiked home, which is why, for decades, he continued to blame himself for the assault.
When the driver barreled past Hartley’s Pork Pies on the outskirts of Providence, R.I., where Mr. Smith had asked to be dropped off, and then past a firehouse, he knew something was wrong.
“I tried to open the car door, but he had rigged the lock,” said Mr. Smith, of East Windsor, N.J., now 52. Still, he said, “I had no idea it was going to be a sexual assault.”
Even today, years after the disclosure of the still-unfolding child abuse scandal in the Catholic Church and the arrest of a former Pennsylvania State University assistant football coach accused of sexually abusing boys, rape is widely thought of as a crime against women.
Until just a few weeks ago, when the federal government expanded its definition of rape to include a wider range of sexual assaults, national crime statistics on rape included only assaults against women and girls committed by men under a narrow set of circumstances. Now they will also include male victims.
While most experts agree women are raped far more often than men, 1.4 percent of men in a recent national survey said they had been raped at some point. The study, by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, found that when rape was defined as oral or anal penetration, one in 71 men said they had been raped or had been the target of attempted rape, usually by a man they knew. (The study did not include men in prison.)
And one in 21 said they had been forced to penetrate an acquaintance or a partner, usually a woman; had been the victim of an attempt to force penetration; or had been made to receive oral sex.
Other estimates have run even higher. A Department of Justice report found that 3 percent of men, or one in 33, had been raped. Some experts believe that one in six men have experienced unwanted sexual contact of some kind as minors.
But for many men, the subject is so discomfiting that it is rarely discussed — virtually taboo, experts say, because of societal notions about masculinity and the idea that men are invulnerable and can take care of themselves.
“We have a cultural blind spot about this,” said David Lisak, a clinical psychologist who has done research on interpersonal violence and sexual abuse and is a founding board member of 1in6, an organization that offers information and services to men who had unwanted or abusive sexual experiences as children.
“We recognize that male children are being abused,” Dr. Lisak said, “but then when boys cross some kind of threshold somewhere in adolescence and become what we perceive to be men, we no longer want to think about it in this way.”
Even when high-profile cases dominate the news, said Mai Fernandez, executive director of the National Center for Victims of Crime advocacy organization in Washington, “attention goes to the things we feel more comfortable talking about — such as whether Penn State had done enough, and what will happen to their football program — and not to the question, ‘What do we do to prevent boys from being sexually assaulted?’ ”
In an interview with The Washington Post this month, Joe Paterno, the Penn State football coach who was fired after the abuse scandal erupted and who died of lung cancer on Sunday, said that when an assistant had told him about witnessing an inappropriate encounter between a young boy and Jerry Sandusky, the former assistant coach who is facing charges of sexual abuse, he had been confused and unsure how to proceed. Mr. Paterno said the assistant “didn’t want to get specific. And to be frank with you, I don’t know that it would have done any good, because I never heard of, of rape and a man.”
Much of the research on the sexual assault of men has focused on prisons. But men are also raped outside of prison, usually by people they know, including acquaintances and intimate partners, but occasionally by complete strangers. They are raped as part of violent, drunken or drug-induced assaults; war crimes; interrogations; antigay bias crimes; and hazing rites for male clubs and organizations, like fraternities, and in the military.
In one study of 3,337 military veterans applying for disability benefits for post-traumatic stress disorder, 6.5 percent of male combat veterans and 16.5 percent of noncombat veterans reported either in-service or post-service sexual assault. (The rates were far higher for female veterans, 69.0 percent and 86.6 percent respectively.)
A Pentagon report released on Thursday found a 64 percent increase in sexual crimes in the Army since 2006, with rape, sexual assault and forcible sodomy the most frequent violent sex crimes committed last year; 95 percent of all victims were women.
Some studies have reported that the risk of rape is greatest for men who are young, are living in poverty or homeless, or are disabled or mentally ill. The C.D.C. study found that one-quarter of men who had been raped were assaulted before they were 10 , usually by someone they knew.
And young men raised by poor single mothers are especially vulnerable to male predators, said Dr. Zane Gates, an internist who cares for low-income patients on Medicaid at a community health center in Altoona, Pa.
“You’re looking for a male figure in your life desperately, and you’ll give anything for that,” he said.
Chaotic Start to Egypt’s First Democratically Elected Parliament
Chaotic Start to Egypt’s First Democratically Elected Parliament
CAIRO — As Egypt’s first freely elected Parliament in six decades held its opening session on Monday, the Muslim Brotherhood received a lesson in the unwieldiness of democracy when a dispute over choosing a speaker degenerated into a shouting match that overshadowed the day.
It took until nightfall for the Muslim Brotherhood to decisively beat back the challenge to its choice of Saad el-Katatni, a Brotherhood stalwart, by a vote of nearly 400 to fewer than 100.
Its victory was another marker in the group’s transformation from outlawed opposition to political establishment. The Brotherhood won nearly half the legislative seats during the first free elections since last year’s ouster of Hosni Mubarak. After struggling for 84 years in the shadows of monarchy and dictatorship, the Brotherhood — the secretive, hierarchical once-militant group that became the fountainhead of Islamist ideologies — gained political power and the hope of democratic legitimacy as a result of Monday’s vote.
Its triumph, in the heart of the Arab world and the center of last year’s regional uprising, was arguably the closest that Islamists have ever come to governing an Arab country since their movement was born here 80 years ago. Although a party with Islamist roots dominated Tunisia’s elections last fall, it has sought to jettison the label in order to emphasize its commitment to democracy and pluralism, while the Brotherhood still considers itself the movement’s flagship.
In a weary speech after his election late Monday night, Mr. Katatni said the differences of opinion expressed over his selection were democracy in action. “This is democracy that had left this hall for years, and now the people have grasped it,” he said. “We want Egypt and the whole world to know that our revolution will continue and we will not rest and our eyes won’t sleep until the revolution fulfills all its demands.”
But the acrimony of the challenge to Mr. Katatni from a former Brotherhood leader was also a reminder of the difficulties facing the group as it tries to unite the country, the Parliament and even its fellow Islamists, especially at a time when Egypt remains under the rule of the generals who seized power from Mr. Mubarak.
The bedlam in the chamber tempered a day that had begun as a joyous occasion for some Brotherhood members. Hundreds of them arrived outside the Parliament in the early morning, directed by their leaders both to cheer for the new lawmakers and to ensure against any outbreak of violence. “Everyone has his role to play,” said Mohsen Eid, 44, an aviation engineer and Brotherhood member.
For many, it was the first opportunity to recognize an achievement three generations in the making. “This is the most important day in our lives, after the day Mubarak left,” said Abdul Moneim el-Tantawy, 67, a mechanical engineer. “This is our celebration,” he said, looking up at the Parliament building. “Before, if we stood here, we would be taken directly to jail.”
Men held hands and danced in the street, singing religious and patriotic songs. They carried paunchy middle-aged men in suits and ties on their shoulders to lead them in chants like a high school sports team that won a big game. Some handed the lawmakers flowers as they approached the door, and a few men and women cried tears of joy.
Some members of Parliament tried to approach by car but the crowds were so thick they had to get out and walk. “At this time there is no one who can overcome the people,” said Ahmed Hassanin, 41, a neurologist who turned up before 8 a.m. to watch the lawmakers arrive for the historic session. “It was beautiful.”
The streets around the Parliament had been repainted, to hide the evidence of the deadly clashes between security forces and protesters challenging military rule that took place there just a month before. But by midafternoon a few thousand other demonstrators had arrived, many repeating the demand for the military rulers to step down immediately — a call the Muslim Brotherhood has not endorsed. It has accepted the military’s plan to hand over power to a newly elected president by the end of June.
CAIRO — As Egypt’s first freely elected Parliament in six decades held its opening session on Monday, the Muslim Brotherhood received a lesson in the unwieldiness of democracy when a dispute over choosing a speaker degenerated into a shouting match that overshadowed the day.
It took until nightfall for the Muslim Brotherhood to decisively beat back the challenge to its choice of Saad el-Katatni, a Brotherhood stalwart, by a vote of nearly 400 to fewer than 100.
Its victory was another marker in the group’s transformation from outlawed opposition to political establishment. The Brotherhood won nearly half the legislative seats during the first free elections since last year’s ouster of Hosni Mubarak. After struggling for 84 years in the shadows of monarchy and dictatorship, the Brotherhood — the secretive, hierarchical once-militant group that became the fountainhead of Islamist ideologies — gained political power and the hope of democratic legitimacy as a result of Monday’s vote.
Its triumph, in the heart of the Arab world and the center of last year’s regional uprising, was arguably the closest that Islamists have ever come to governing an Arab country since their movement was born here 80 years ago. Although a party with Islamist roots dominated Tunisia’s elections last fall, it has sought to jettison the label in order to emphasize its commitment to democracy and pluralism, while the Brotherhood still considers itself the movement’s flagship.
In a weary speech after his election late Monday night, Mr. Katatni said the differences of opinion expressed over his selection were democracy in action. “This is democracy that had left this hall for years, and now the people have grasped it,” he said. “We want Egypt and the whole world to know that our revolution will continue and we will not rest and our eyes won’t sleep until the revolution fulfills all its demands.”
But the acrimony of the challenge to Mr. Katatni from a former Brotherhood leader was also a reminder of the difficulties facing the group as it tries to unite the country, the Parliament and even its fellow Islamists, especially at a time when Egypt remains under the rule of the generals who seized power from Mr. Mubarak.
The bedlam in the chamber tempered a day that had begun as a joyous occasion for some Brotherhood members. Hundreds of them arrived outside the Parliament in the early morning, directed by their leaders both to cheer for the new lawmakers and to ensure against any outbreak of violence. “Everyone has his role to play,” said Mohsen Eid, 44, an aviation engineer and Brotherhood member.
For many, it was the first opportunity to recognize an achievement three generations in the making. “This is the most important day in our lives, after the day Mubarak left,” said Abdul Moneim el-Tantawy, 67, a mechanical engineer. “This is our celebration,” he said, looking up at the Parliament building. “Before, if we stood here, we would be taken directly to jail.”
Men held hands and danced in the street, singing religious and patriotic songs. They carried paunchy middle-aged men in suits and ties on their shoulders to lead them in chants like a high school sports team that won a big game. Some handed the lawmakers flowers as they approached the door, and a few men and women cried tears of joy.
Some members of Parliament tried to approach by car but the crowds were so thick they had to get out and walk. “At this time there is no one who can overcome the people,” said Ahmed Hassanin, 41, a neurologist who turned up before 8 a.m. to watch the lawmakers arrive for the historic session. “It was beautiful.”
The streets around the Parliament had been repainted, to hide the evidence of the deadly clashes between security forces and protesters challenging military rule that took place there just a month before. But by midafternoon a few thousand other demonstrators had arrived, many repeating the demand for the military rulers to step down immediately — a call the Muslim Brotherhood has not endorsed. It has accepted the military’s plan to hand over power to a newly elected president by the end of June.
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Lechery, Immodesty and the Talmud
IS it possible for a religious demand for modesty to be about anything other than men controlling women’s bodies? From recent events in Israel, it would certainly seem that it is not.
Last month, an innocent, modestly dressed 8-year-old girl, Naama Margolese, living in Beit Shemesh, described being spat on and vilified by religious extremists — all men — who believed that she did not dress modestly enough while walking past them to the religious school she attends. And more and more, public buses in Israel are enforcing gender segregation imposed by ultra-Orthodox riders in and near their neighborhoods. Woe to the girl or woman who refuses to move to the back of the bus.
This is part of a larger battle being waged in Israel between the ultra-Orthodox and the rest of Israeli society over women’s place in society, over their very right to have a visible presence and to participate in the public sphere.
What is behind these deeply disturbing events? We are told that they arise from a religious concern about modesty, that women must be covered and sequestered so that men do not have improper sexual thoughts. It seems, then, that a religious tenet that begins with men’s sexual thoughts ends with men controlling women’s bodies.
This is not a problem unique to Judaism. But the Talmud, the basis for Jewish law, offers a perhaps surprising answer: It places the responsibility for controlling men’s licentious thoughts about women squarely on the men.
Put more plainly, the Talmud says: It’s your problem, sir; not hers.
The ultra-Orthodox men in Israel who are exerting control over women claim that they are honoring women. In effect they are saying: We do not treat women as sex objects as you in Western society do. Our women are about more than their bodies, and that is why their bodies must be fully covered.
In fact, though, their actions objectify and hyper-sexualize women. Think about it: By saying that all women must hide their bodies, they are saying that every woman is an object who can stir a man’s sexual thoughts. Thus, every woman who passes their field of vision is sized up on the basis of how much of her body is covered. She is not seen as a complete person, only as a potential inducement to sin.
Of course, once you judge a female human being only through a man’s sexualized imagination, you can turn even a modest 8-year-old girl into a seductress and a prostitute.
At heart, we are talking about a blame-the-victim mentality. It shifts the responsibility of managing a man’s sexual urges from himself to every woman he may or may not encounter. It is a cousin to the mentality behind the claim, “She was asking for it.”
So the responsibility is now on the women. To protect men from their sexual thoughts, women must remove their femininity from their public presence, ridding themselves of even the smallest evidence of their own sexuality.
All of this is done in the name of the Torah and Jewish law.
But it’s actually a complete perversion. The Talmud, the foundation of Jewish law, acknowledges that men can be sexually aroused by women and is indeed concerned with sexual thoughts and activity outside of marriage. But it does not tell women that men’s sexual urges are their responsibility. Rather, both the Talmud and the later codes of Jewish law make that demand of men.
It is forbidden for a man to gaze sexually at a woman, whether beautiful or ugly, married or unmarried, says the Talmud. Later Talmudic rabbis extended this ban even to “her smallest finger” and “her brightly colored clothing — even if they are drying on the wall.”
To make these the woman’s responsibility is to demand that Jewish women cover their hands, and that they not dry their clothes in public. No one has ever said this. At least not yet.
The Talmud tells the religious man, in effect: If you have a problem, you deal with it. It is the male gaze — the way men look at women — that needs to be desexualized, not women in public. The power to make sure men don’t see women as objects of sexual gratification lies within men’s — and only men’s — control.
Jewish tradition teaches men and women alike that they should be modest in their dress. But modesty is not defined by, or even primarily about, how much of one’s body is covered. It is about comportment and behavior. It is about recognizing that one need not be the center of attention. It is about embodying the prophet Micah’s call for modesty: learning “to walk humbly with your God.”
Eight-year-old Naama could teach her attackers a thing or two about modesty.
Dov Linzer, an Orthodox rabbi, is the dean of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School in the Riverdale section of the Bronx.
Last month, an innocent, modestly dressed 8-year-old girl, Naama Margolese, living in Beit Shemesh, described being spat on and vilified by religious extremists — all men — who believed that she did not dress modestly enough while walking past them to the religious school she attends. And more and more, public buses in Israel are enforcing gender segregation imposed by ultra-Orthodox riders in and near their neighborhoods. Woe to the girl or woman who refuses to move to the back of the bus.
This is part of a larger battle being waged in Israel between the ultra-Orthodox and the rest of Israeli society over women’s place in society, over their very right to have a visible presence and to participate in the public sphere.
What is behind these deeply disturbing events? We are told that they arise from a religious concern about modesty, that women must be covered and sequestered so that men do not have improper sexual thoughts. It seems, then, that a religious tenet that begins with men’s sexual thoughts ends with men controlling women’s bodies.
This is not a problem unique to Judaism. But the Talmud, the basis for Jewish law, offers a perhaps surprising answer: It places the responsibility for controlling men’s licentious thoughts about women squarely on the men.
Put more plainly, the Talmud says: It’s your problem, sir; not hers.
The ultra-Orthodox men in Israel who are exerting control over women claim that they are honoring women. In effect they are saying: We do not treat women as sex objects as you in Western society do. Our women are about more than their bodies, and that is why their bodies must be fully covered.
In fact, though, their actions objectify and hyper-sexualize women. Think about it: By saying that all women must hide their bodies, they are saying that every woman is an object who can stir a man’s sexual thoughts. Thus, every woman who passes their field of vision is sized up on the basis of how much of her body is covered. She is not seen as a complete person, only as a potential inducement to sin.
Of course, once you judge a female human being only through a man’s sexualized imagination, you can turn even a modest 8-year-old girl into a seductress and a prostitute.
At heart, we are talking about a blame-the-victim mentality. It shifts the responsibility of managing a man’s sexual urges from himself to every woman he may or may not encounter. It is a cousin to the mentality behind the claim, “She was asking for it.”
So the responsibility is now on the women. To protect men from their sexual thoughts, women must remove their femininity from their public presence, ridding themselves of even the smallest evidence of their own sexuality.
All of this is done in the name of the Torah and Jewish law.
But it’s actually a complete perversion. The Talmud, the foundation of Jewish law, acknowledges that men can be sexually aroused by women and is indeed concerned with sexual thoughts and activity outside of marriage. But it does not tell women that men’s sexual urges are their responsibility. Rather, both the Talmud and the later codes of Jewish law make that demand of men.
It is forbidden for a man to gaze sexually at a woman, whether beautiful or ugly, married or unmarried, says the Talmud. Later Talmudic rabbis extended this ban even to “her smallest finger” and “her brightly colored clothing — even if they are drying on the wall.”
To make these the woman’s responsibility is to demand that Jewish women cover their hands, and that they not dry their clothes in public. No one has ever said this. At least not yet.
The Talmud tells the religious man, in effect: If you have a problem, you deal with it. It is the male gaze — the way men look at women — that needs to be desexualized, not women in public. The power to make sure men don’t see women as objects of sexual gratification lies within men’s — and only men’s — control.
Jewish tradition teaches men and women alike that they should be modest in their dress. But modesty is not defined by, or even primarily about, how much of one’s body is covered. It is about comportment and behavior. It is about recognizing that one need not be the center of attention. It is about embodying the prophet Micah’s call for modesty: learning “to walk humbly with your God.”
Eight-year-old Naama could teach her attackers a thing or two about modesty.
Dov Linzer, an Orthodox rabbi, is the dean of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School in the Riverdale section of the Bronx.
New Definition of Autism Will Exclude Many, Study Suggests
Proposed changes in the definition of autism would sharply reduce the skyrocketing rate at which the disorder is diagnosed and might make it harder for many people who would no longer meet the criteria to get health, educational and social services, a new analysis suggests.
The definition is now being reassessed by an expert panel appointed by the American Psychiatric Association, which is completing work on the fifth edition of its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the first major revision in 17 years. The D.S.M., as the manual is known, is the standard reference for mental disorders, driving research, treatment and insurance decisions. Most experts expect that the new manual will narrow the criteria for autism; the question is how sharply.
The results of the new analysis are preliminary, but they offer the most drastic estimate of how tightening the criteria for autism could affect the rate of diagnosis. For years, many experts have privately contended that the vagueness of the current criteria for autism and related disorders like Asperger syndrome was contributing to the increase in the rate of diagnoses — which has ballooned to one child in 100, according to some estimates.
The psychiatrists’ association is wrestling with one of the most agonizing questions in mental health — where to draw the line between unusual and abnormal — and its decisions are sure to be wrenching for some families. At a time when school budgets for special education are stretched, the new diagnosis could herald more pitched battles. Tens of thousands of people receive state-backed services to help offset the disorders’ disabling effects, which include sometimes severe learning and social problems, and the diagnosis is in many ways central to their lives. Close networks of parents have bonded over common experiences with children; and the children, too, may grow to find a sense of their own identity in their struggle with the disorder.
The proposed changes would probably exclude people with a diagnosis who were higher functioning. “I’m very concerned about the change in diagnosis, because I wonder if my daughter would even qualify,” said Mary Meyer of Ramsey, N.J. A diagnosis of Asperger syndrome was crucial to helping her daughter, who is 37, gain access to services that have helped tremendously. “She’s on disability, which is partly based on the Asperger’s; and I’m hoping to get her into supportive housing, which also depends on her diagnosis.”
The new analysis, presented Thursday at a meeting of the Icelandic Medical Association, opens a debate about just how many people the proposed diagnosis would affect.
The changes would narrow the diagnosis so much that it could effectively end the autism surge, said Dr. Fred R. Volkmar, director of the Child Study Center at the Yale School of Medicine and an author of the new analysis of the proposal. “We would nip it in the bud.”
Experts working for the Psychiatric Association on the manual’s new definition — a group from which Dr. Volkmar resigned early on — strongly disagree about the proposed changes’ impact. “I don’t know how they’re getting those numbers,” Catherine Lord, a member of the task force working on the diagnosis, said about Dr. Volkmar’s report.
Previous projections have concluded that far fewer people would be excluded under the change, said Dr. Lord, director of the Institute for Brain Development, a joint project of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, Columbia University Medical Center and the New York Center for Autism.
Disagreement about the effect of the new definition will almost certainly increase scrutiny of the finer points of the psychiatric association’s changes to the manual. The revisions are about 90 percent complete and will be final by December, according to Dr. David J. Kupfer, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh and chairman of the task force making the revisions.
At least a million children and adults have a diagnosis of autism or a related disorder, like Asperger syndrome or “pervasive developmental disorder, not otherwise specified,” also known as P.D.D.-N.O.S. People with Asperger’s or P.D.D.-N.O.S. endure some of the same social struggles as those with autism but do not meet the definition for the full-blown version. The proposed change would consolidate all three diagnoses under one category, autism spectrum disorder, eliminating Asperger syndrome and P.D.D.-N.O.S. from the manual. Under the current criteria, a person can qualify for the diagnosis by exhibiting 6 or more of 12 behaviors; under the proposed definition, the person would have to exhibit 3 deficits in social interaction and communication and at least 2 repetitive behaviors, a much narrower menu.
Dr. Kupfer said the changes were an attempt to clarify these variations and put them under one name. Some advocates have been concerned about the proposed changes.
“Our fear is that we are going to take a big step backward,” said Lori Shery, president of the Asperger Syndrome Education Network. “If clinicians say, ‘These kids don’t fit the criteria for an autism spectrum diagnosis,’ they are not going to get the supports and services they need, and they’re going to experience failure.”
The definition is now being reassessed by an expert panel appointed by the American Psychiatric Association, which is completing work on the fifth edition of its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the first major revision in 17 years. The D.S.M., as the manual is known, is the standard reference for mental disorders, driving research, treatment and insurance decisions. Most experts expect that the new manual will narrow the criteria for autism; the question is how sharply.
The results of the new analysis are preliminary, but they offer the most drastic estimate of how tightening the criteria for autism could affect the rate of diagnosis. For years, many experts have privately contended that the vagueness of the current criteria for autism and related disorders like Asperger syndrome was contributing to the increase in the rate of diagnoses — which has ballooned to one child in 100, according to some estimates.
The psychiatrists’ association is wrestling with one of the most agonizing questions in mental health — where to draw the line between unusual and abnormal — and its decisions are sure to be wrenching for some families. At a time when school budgets for special education are stretched, the new diagnosis could herald more pitched battles. Tens of thousands of people receive state-backed services to help offset the disorders’ disabling effects, which include sometimes severe learning and social problems, and the diagnosis is in many ways central to their lives. Close networks of parents have bonded over common experiences with children; and the children, too, may grow to find a sense of their own identity in their struggle with the disorder.
The proposed changes would probably exclude people with a diagnosis who were higher functioning. “I’m very concerned about the change in diagnosis, because I wonder if my daughter would even qualify,” said Mary Meyer of Ramsey, N.J. A diagnosis of Asperger syndrome was crucial to helping her daughter, who is 37, gain access to services that have helped tremendously. “She’s on disability, which is partly based on the Asperger’s; and I’m hoping to get her into supportive housing, which also depends on her diagnosis.”
The new analysis, presented Thursday at a meeting of the Icelandic Medical Association, opens a debate about just how many people the proposed diagnosis would affect.
The changes would narrow the diagnosis so much that it could effectively end the autism surge, said Dr. Fred R. Volkmar, director of the Child Study Center at the Yale School of Medicine and an author of the new analysis of the proposal. “We would nip it in the bud.”
Experts working for the Psychiatric Association on the manual’s new definition — a group from which Dr. Volkmar resigned early on — strongly disagree about the proposed changes’ impact. “I don’t know how they’re getting those numbers,” Catherine Lord, a member of the task force working on the diagnosis, said about Dr. Volkmar’s report.
Previous projections have concluded that far fewer people would be excluded under the change, said Dr. Lord, director of the Institute for Brain Development, a joint project of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, Columbia University Medical Center and the New York Center for Autism.
Disagreement about the effect of the new definition will almost certainly increase scrutiny of the finer points of the psychiatric association’s changes to the manual. The revisions are about 90 percent complete and will be final by December, according to Dr. David J. Kupfer, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh and chairman of the task force making the revisions.
At least a million children and adults have a diagnosis of autism or a related disorder, like Asperger syndrome or “pervasive developmental disorder, not otherwise specified,” also known as P.D.D.-N.O.S. People with Asperger’s or P.D.D.-N.O.S. endure some of the same social struggles as those with autism but do not meet the definition for the full-blown version. The proposed change would consolidate all three diagnoses under one category, autism spectrum disorder, eliminating Asperger syndrome and P.D.D.-N.O.S. from the manual. Under the current criteria, a person can qualify for the diagnosis by exhibiting 6 or more of 12 behaviors; under the proposed definition, the person would have to exhibit 3 deficits in social interaction and communication and at least 2 repetitive behaviors, a much narrower menu.
Dr. Kupfer said the changes were an attempt to clarify these variations and put them under one name. Some advocates have been concerned about the proposed changes.
“Our fear is that we are going to take a big step backward,” said Lori Shery, president of the Asperger Syndrome Education Network. “If clinicians say, ‘These kids don’t fit the criteria for an autism spectrum diagnosis,’ they are not going to get the supports and services they need, and they’re going to experience failure.”
Haywire (2012) review
Someone Done Her Wrong. Horrible Mistake.
When you think about it, the phrase “action movie” is a bit redundant. Really, what else are motion pictures for? In the earliest days of cinema our ancestors were thrilled to behold images of galloping horses, hurtling trains and capering dancers. Though our entertainments are now more elaborate, our appetites are not so different. A large part of what we crave is action: running, jumping, fighting, driving, flying. Sometimes everything else — plot, character, emotion — can seem superfluous.
This appears to be the working hypothesis behind “Haywire,” a cold and kinetic experiment in high-impact, low-concept genre filmmaking directed by Steven Soderbergh. Starting with a brawl in a rural roadside diner, the film, written by Lem Dobbs, proceeds through a series of expertly choreographed, meticulously edited scuffles and chases, set pieces threaded around a plot that seems almost defiantly preposterous and uninteresting.
The main character is Mallory Kane, played by the mixed martial arts fighter and “American Gladiators” cast member Gina Carano, making her acting debut. Mallory is a professional black-ops superwarrior (at least I think that’s what her business card says) whose troubles are a reminder of just how dangerous it can be to mix work and romance. To say too much about the guys she deals with would be to risk inflaming the spoiler-sensitive, but her dealings with them frequently end, and sometimes begin, with punches and kicks, though there are also occasional kisses and job interviews.
Mallory is the victim of an elaborate double-cross, which she explains to one of the few men not implicated in it, a young fellow named Scott (Michael Angarano), whose chivalrous intervention in that diner melee plunges him into a welter of mayhem and high-speed exposition. As Mallory drives Scott’s car toward the next showdown, a flurry of flashbacks explains the significance of certain proper nouns, notably Aaron, Paul, Kenneth and Barcelona.
Kenneth (Ewan McGregor) is Mallory’s ex-boyfriend and also her erstwhile employer at a firm that does nasty contract work for the government, here represented by Michael Douglas. Aaron (Channing Tatum) did a job with Mallory in Barcelona, where things got a little complicated. So that takes care of that. Further complications turn out to involve Antonio Banderas and Michael Fassbender (who is Paul, but that’s enough for now). Apart from Scott, the only man Mallory trusts (there are no other women in the world of “Haywire”) is her father (Bill Paxton), a former Marine (as is his daughter) with a wonderfully cinematic and conveniently isolated house in New Mexico.
Another important stop on Mallory’s itinerary of flight and payback is Dublin, scene of an intricate and suspenseful foot chase that serves as Mr. Soderbergh’s critique of current trends in action filmmaking, in particular those associated with the British director Paul Greengrass. Instead of the splintered, speeded-up cutting favored by Mr. Greengrass and his followers — most memorably deployed in the second and third “Bourne” movies, which turned the cities of the world into Google Earth kaleidoscopes of controlled chaos — Mr. Soderbergh builds momentum and uncertainty through extended tracking shots and tight, restricted perspectives. Like Mallory the audience can’t see everything that’s happening and isn’t sure what will happen next.
In another sense, though, nothing is really in doubt, and very little is at stake. Unlike the “Bourne” films, whose baroque webbing of plot and counterplot suggested an allegory of global paranoia, “Haywire” goes to great lengths to avoid being about anything beyond its immediate situations and effects. It is self-consciously and aggressively trivial, a feast for formalists who sentimentalize the gloriously cheap B-movies of the past.
Nowadays everyone must love (or at least pretend to love) pleasures that were supposedly once disdained or taken for granted: dive bars, street food, trashy films. But knowing, sophisticated attempts to replicate those things often traffic in their own kind of snobbery, confusing condescension with authenticity. Movies like “The American,” “Drive” and now “Haywire” offer strained pulp, neither as dumb as we want them to be nor as smart as they think they are, and not, in the end, all that much fun.
There is no doubting Mr. Soderbergh’s skill or the sincerity of his interest in some of the technical problems of postmodern cinema. And “Haywire” explores interesting questions about the nature of acting. Ms. Carano does, strictly speaking, very little of it. Her expressions run the gamut from glower to pout, and her features give little indication of her character’s inner state.
This is partly consistent with Mallory’s guardedness, but her blankness also contrasts with the nimble, slick pretending of Ms. Carano’s male co-stars. Their professionalism manifests itself in different ways — Mr. McGregor and Mr. Douglas are practiced hams, while Mr. Fassbender prefers to keep kosher — but in each case there is a fascinating awkwardness to their encounters with Ms. Carano, who is a more purely physical screen presence. (She and Mr. Tatum, on the other hand, have the chemistry of shared clumsiness.)
The fighting that Ms. Carano and her co-stars pretend to do in “Haywire” is something she has done more or less for real, which makes her performance, like the porn star Sasha Grey’s in Mr. Soderbergh’s “Girlfriend Experience,” an intriguing curiosity and something of a conceptual puzzle. Once the talking stops and the action begins, her professionalism is very much in evidence and exciting to watch. And yet, somehow, it cannot quite relieve the tedium of a movie that is too cool even to pretend that there is anything worth fighting about.
“Haywire” is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). Strong action and rough talk.
HAYWIRE
Opens on Friday nationwide.
Directed by Steven Soderbergh; written by Lem Dobbs; production design by Howard Cummings; music by David Holmes; costumes by Shoshana Rubin; produced by Gregory Jacobs and Ryan Kavanaugh; released by Relativity Media. Running time: 1 hour 33 minutes.
WITH: Gina Carano (Mallory Kane), Ewan McGregor (Kenneth), Michael Fassbender (Paul), Michael Douglas (Coblenz), Channing Tatum (Aaron), Antonio Banderas (Rodrigo), Bill Paxton (Mr. Kane), Michael Angarano (Scott) and Mathieu Kassovitz (Studer).
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: January 21, 2012
A film review on Friday about “Haywire,” starring Gina Carano, misidentified her role on the television show “American Gladiators.” She was a member of the gladiator cast, not a contestant.
When you think about it, the phrase “action movie” is a bit redundant. Really, what else are motion pictures for? In the earliest days of cinema our ancestors were thrilled to behold images of galloping horses, hurtling trains and capering dancers. Though our entertainments are now more elaborate, our appetites are not so different. A large part of what we crave is action: running, jumping, fighting, driving, flying. Sometimes everything else — plot, character, emotion — can seem superfluous.
This appears to be the working hypothesis behind “Haywire,” a cold and kinetic experiment in high-impact, low-concept genre filmmaking directed by Steven Soderbergh. Starting with a brawl in a rural roadside diner, the film, written by Lem Dobbs, proceeds through a series of expertly choreographed, meticulously edited scuffles and chases, set pieces threaded around a plot that seems almost defiantly preposterous and uninteresting.
The main character is Mallory Kane, played by the mixed martial arts fighter and “American Gladiators” cast member Gina Carano, making her acting debut. Mallory is a professional black-ops superwarrior (at least I think that’s what her business card says) whose troubles are a reminder of just how dangerous it can be to mix work and romance. To say too much about the guys she deals with would be to risk inflaming the spoiler-sensitive, but her dealings with them frequently end, and sometimes begin, with punches and kicks, though there are also occasional kisses and job interviews.
Mallory is the victim of an elaborate double-cross, which she explains to one of the few men not implicated in it, a young fellow named Scott (Michael Angarano), whose chivalrous intervention in that diner melee plunges him into a welter of mayhem and high-speed exposition. As Mallory drives Scott’s car toward the next showdown, a flurry of flashbacks explains the significance of certain proper nouns, notably Aaron, Paul, Kenneth and Barcelona.
Kenneth (Ewan McGregor) is Mallory’s ex-boyfriend and also her erstwhile employer at a firm that does nasty contract work for the government, here represented by Michael Douglas. Aaron (Channing Tatum) did a job with Mallory in Barcelona, where things got a little complicated. So that takes care of that. Further complications turn out to involve Antonio Banderas and Michael Fassbender (who is Paul, but that’s enough for now). Apart from Scott, the only man Mallory trusts (there are no other women in the world of “Haywire”) is her father (Bill Paxton), a former Marine (as is his daughter) with a wonderfully cinematic and conveniently isolated house in New Mexico.
Another important stop on Mallory’s itinerary of flight and payback is Dublin, scene of an intricate and suspenseful foot chase that serves as Mr. Soderbergh’s critique of current trends in action filmmaking, in particular those associated with the British director Paul Greengrass. Instead of the splintered, speeded-up cutting favored by Mr. Greengrass and his followers — most memorably deployed in the second and third “Bourne” movies, which turned the cities of the world into Google Earth kaleidoscopes of controlled chaos — Mr. Soderbergh builds momentum and uncertainty through extended tracking shots and tight, restricted perspectives. Like Mallory the audience can’t see everything that’s happening and isn’t sure what will happen next.
In another sense, though, nothing is really in doubt, and very little is at stake. Unlike the “Bourne” films, whose baroque webbing of plot and counterplot suggested an allegory of global paranoia, “Haywire” goes to great lengths to avoid being about anything beyond its immediate situations and effects. It is self-consciously and aggressively trivial, a feast for formalists who sentimentalize the gloriously cheap B-movies of the past.
Nowadays everyone must love (or at least pretend to love) pleasures that were supposedly once disdained or taken for granted: dive bars, street food, trashy films. But knowing, sophisticated attempts to replicate those things often traffic in their own kind of snobbery, confusing condescension with authenticity. Movies like “The American,” “Drive” and now “Haywire” offer strained pulp, neither as dumb as we want them to be nor as smart as they think they are, and not, in the end, all that much fun.
There is no doubting Mr. Soderbergh’s skill or the sincerity of his interest in some of the technical problems of postmodern cinema. And “Haywire” explores interesting questions about the nature of acting. Ms. Carano does, strictly speaking, very little of it. Her expressions run the gamut from glower to pout, and her features give little indication of her character’s inner state.
This is partly consistent with Mallory’s guardedness, but her blankness also contrasts with the nimble, slick pretending of Ms. Carano’s male co-stars. Their professionalism manifests itself in different ways — Mr. McGregor and Mr. Douglas are practiced hams, while Mr. Fassbender prefers to keep kosher — but in each case there is a fascinating awkwardness to their encounters with Ms. Carano, who is a more purely physical screen presence. (She and Mr. Tatum, on the other hand, have the chemistry of shared clumsiness.)
The fighting that Ms. Carano and her co-stars pretend to do in “Haywire” is something she has done more or less for real, which makes her performance, like the porn star Sasha Grey’s in Mr. Soderbergh’s “Girlfriend Experience,” an intriguing curiosity and something of a conceptual puzzle. Once the talking stops and the action begins, her professionalism is very much in evidence and exciting to watch. And yet, somehow, it cannot quite relieve the tedium of a movie that is too cool even to pretend that there is anything worth fighting about.
“Haywire” is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). Strong action and rough talk.
HAYWIRE
Opens on Friday nationwide.
Directed by Steven Soderbergh; written by Lem Dobbs; production design by Howard Cummings; music by David Holmes; costumes by Shoshana Rubin; produced by Gregory Jacobs and Ryan Kavanaugh; released by Relativity Media. Running time: 1 hour 33 minutes.
WITH: Gina Carano (Mallory Kane), Ewan McGregor (Kenneth), Michael Fassbender (Paul), Michael Douglas (Coblenz), Channing Tatum (Aaron), Antonio Banderas (Rodrigo), Bill Paxton (Mr. Kane), Michael Angarano (Scott) and Mathieu Kassovitz (Studer).
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: January 21, 2012
A film review on Friday about “Haywire,” starring Gina Carano, misidentified her role on the television show “American Gladiators.” She was a member of the gladiator cast, not a contestant.
Scientists to Pause Research on Deadly Strain of Bird Flu
The scientists who altered a deadly flu virus to make it more contagious have agreed to suspend their research for 60 days to give other international experts time to discuss the work and determine how it can proceed without putting the world at risk of a potentially catastrophic pandemic.
Suspensions of biomedical research are almost unheard of; the only other one in the United States was a moratorium from 1974 to 1976 on some types of recombinant DNA research, because of safety concerns.
A letter explaining the flu decision is being published in two scientific journals, Science and Nature, which also plan to publish reports on the research, but in a redacted form, omitting details that would let other researchers copy the experiments. The letter is signed by the scientists who produced the new, more contagious form of the flu virus, as well as by more than 30 other leading flu researchers.
“We recognize that we and the rest of the scientific community need to clearly explain the benefits of this important research and the measures taken to minimize its possible risks,” the letter states. At an international meeting next month in Geneva, participants selected by the World Health Organization will consider what to do next. Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institutes of Health, said the gathering would “address some of these difficult issues on an international scale instead of something restricted to the United States government.”
The scientists say their work has important public health benefits, but they acknowledge that it has sparked intense public fears that the deadly virus could accidentally leak out of a laboratory, or be stolen by terrorists, and result in a devastating pandemic. A national biosecurity panel in the United States has already taken the unusual step of asking the scientists to keep part of their data secret to prevent others from reproducing their work.
Scientists are split regarding the research, with some praising it as important and urging that it be published, and others saying the experiments are so dangerous that they should never have been done.
The experiments involve a type of bird flu virus known as H5N1, which rarely infects people but is highly deadly when it does. The work, paid for by the National Institutes of Health, was done by two separate research teams, at Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Ron Fouchier, a virologist who conducted the research at Erasmus Medical Center, explained why he and his colleagues decided to pause the research. “It is unfortunate that we need to take this step to help stop the controversy in the United States,” he said. “I think if this were communicated better in the United States it might not have been needed to do this. In the Netherlands we have been very proactive in communicating to the press, politicians and public, and here we do not have such a heated debate.”
Dr. Fauci said that he had never seen the scientific world so polarized, and that led him to urge the researchers to show good faith and flexibility by declaring the moratorium themselves. A concern “looming in the background,” he said, was that biosecurity experts might overreact and impose excessive restrictions on the research.
“I think it’s important research that needs to go forward,” Dr. Fauci said. “I think we need to get greater input on the conditions in which it goes forward.”
Dr. Fauci and others who support the research say it may help explain how flu viruses that start out in animals adapt to humans and become transmissible, and therefore able to cause pandemics. That information, the researchers say, could help them recognize viruses on the way to developing pandemic potential.
Richard H. Ebright, a molecular biologist at Rutgers, is among those who oppose the research because of its risks, and doubts that it could be used to predict pandemics. He said that a moratorium was a good idea, but that this one did not go far enough. He said that the letter did not acknowledge the need for improved “biosafety, biosecurity and oversight,” and that in any case, 60 days would not be enough time to put the needed safeguards in place. The letter noted a “perceived fear” among the public, Dr. Ebright said, and seemed to suggest that the debate would cool down if people would just let the researchers explain that they had done the experiments safely.
Dr. Ebright said experiments with this virus should be done only in laboratories with the highest biosafety rating, BSL4, not in the “enhanced BSL3” in which the work was actually done.
Dr. Fouchier disagreed. He also said that his center did not have BSL4 labs.
Dr. Fauci said various expert groups, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, had determined that enhanced BSL3 was good enough for bird flu research.
Since 1997, when the H5N1 virus was first identified, about 600 people have been infected, and more than half died — an extraordinarily high death rate. The saving grace of H5N1 is that when people do become infected — nearly always from contact with birds — they almost never transmit the disease to other people. But the virus has persisted in the environment, infecting millions of birds, and scientists have warned that if it mutates to become more contagious in people, disaster could ensue.
But what mutations would make the virus more easily transmissible? And how hard, or easy, would it be for those mutations to occur? Hoping to answer those questions, some researchers began experimenting with bird flu, working with ferrets, which are considered the best model for studying flu, because they contract it and get sick in much the same way that people do. Recently, the teams in Rotterdam and Madison announced that they had produced a form of H5N1 with mutations that allowed it to “go airborne,” meaning that it spread through the air from one ferret to another. Presumably, though not certainly, the virus could spread in the same way among people.
Dr. Fouchier said he was surprised by how easy it was to change the virus into the very form that the world has been dreading. Now, scientists around the world will have to grapple with what to do with Dr. Fouchier’s creation.
Suspensions of biomedical research are almost unheard of; the only other one in the United States was a moratorium from 1974 to 1976 on some types of recombinant DNA research, because of safety concerns.
A letter explaining the flu decision is being published in two scientific journals, Science and Nature, which also plan to publish reports on the research, but in a redacted form, omitting details that would let other researchers copy the experiments. The letter is signed by the scientists who produced the new, more contagious form of the flu virus, as well as by more than 30 other leading flu researchers.
“We recognize that we and the rest of the scientific community need to clearly explain the benefits of this important research and the measures taken to minimize its possible risks,” the letter states. At an international meeting next month in Geneva, participants selected by the World Health Organization will consider what to do next. Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institutes of Health, said the gathering would “address some of these difficult issues on an international scale instead of something restricted to the United States government.”
The scientists say their work has important public health benefits, but they acknowledge that it has sparked intense public fears that the deadly virus could accidentally leak out of a laboratory, or be stolen by terrorists, and result in a devastating pandemic. A national biosecurity panel in the United States has already taken the unusual step of asking the scientists to keep part of their data secret to prevent others from reproducing their work.
Scientists are split regarding the research, with some praising it as important and urging that it be published, and others saying the experiments are so dangerous that they should never have been done.
The experiments involve a type of bird flu virus known as H5N1, which rarely infects people but is highly deadly when it does. The work, paid for by the National Institutes of Health, was done by two separate research teams, at Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Ron Fouchier, a virologist who conducted the research at Erasmus Medical Center, explained why he and his colleagues decided to pause the research. “It is unfortunate that we need to take this step to help stop the controversy in the United States,” he said. “I think if this were communicated better in the United States it might not have been needed to do this. In the Netherlands we have been very proactive in communicating to the press, politicians and public, and here we do not have such a heated debate.”
Dr. Fauci said that he had never seen the scientific world so polarized, and that led him to urge the researchers to show good faith and flexibility by declaring the moratorium themselves. A concern “looming in the background,” he said, was that biosecurity experts might overreact and impose excessive restrictions on the research.
“I think it’s important research that needs to go forward,” Dr. Fauci said. “I think we need to get greater input on the conditions in which it goes forward.”
Dr. Fauci and others who support the research say it may help explain how flu viruses that start out in animals adapt to humans and become transmissible, and therefore able to cause pandemics. That information, the researchers say, could help them recognize viruses on the way to developing pandemic potential.
Richard H. Ebright, a molecular biologist at Rutgers, is among those who oppose the research because of its risks, and doubts that it could be used to predict pandemics. He said that a moratorium was a good idea, but that this one did not go far enough. He said that the letter did not acknowledge the need for improved “biosafety, biosecurity and oversight,” and that in any case, 60 days would not be enough time to put the needed safeguards in place. The letter noted a “perceived fear” among the public, Dr. Ebright said, and seemed to suggest that the debate would cool down if people would just let the researchers explain that they had done the experiments safely.
Dr. Ebright said experiments with this virus should be done only in laboratories with the highest biosafety rating, BSL4, not in the “enhanced BSL3” in which the work was actually done.
Dr. Fouchier disagreed. He also said that his center did not have BSL4 labs.
Dr. Fauci said various expert groups, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, had determined that enhanced BSL3 was good enough for bird flu research.
Since 1997, when the H5N1 virus was first identified, about 600 people have been infected, and more than half died — an extraordinarily high death rate. The saving grace of H5N1 is that when people do become infected — nearly always from contact with birds — they almost never transmit the disease to other people. But the virus has persisted in the environment, infecting millions of birds, and scientists have warned that if it mutates to become more contagious in people, disaster could ensue.
But what mutations would make the virus more easily transmissible? And how hard, or easy, would it be for those mutations to occur? Hoping to answer those questions, some researchers began experimenting with bird flu, working with ferrets, which are considered the best model for studying flu, because they contract it and get sick in much the same way that people do. Recently, the teams in Rotterdam and Madison announced that they had produced a form of H5N1 with mutations that allowed it to “go airborne,” meaning that it spread through the air from one ferret to another. Presumably, though not certainly, the virus could spread in the same way among people.
Dr. Fouchier said he was surprised by how easy it was to change the virus into the very form that the world has been dreading. Now, scientists around the world will have to grapple with what to do with Dr. Fouchier’s creation.
Friday, January 20, 2012
Afghanistan’s Soldiers Step Up Killings of Allied Forces
Afghanistan’s Soldiers Step Up Killings of Allied Forces
KABUL, Afghanistan — American and other coalition forces here are being killed in increasing numbers by the very Afghan soldiers they fight alongside and train, in attacks motivated by deep-seated animosity between the supposedly allied forces, according to American and Afghan officers and a classified coalition report.
A decade into the war in Afghanistan, the report makes clear that these killings have become the most visible symptom of a far deeper ailment plaguing the war effort: the contempt each side holds for the other, never mind the Taliban. The ill will and mistrust run deep among civilians and militaries on both sides, raising questions about what future role the United States and its allies can expect to play in Afghanistan.
Underscoring the danger, a gunman in an Afghan Army uniform killed four French service members and wounded several others on Friday, according to an Afghan police official in Kapisa Province in eastern Afghanistan, prompting the French president to suspend his country’s operations here.
The violence, and the failure by coalition commanders to address it, casts a harsh spotlight on the shortcomings of American efforts to build a functional Afghan Army, a pillar of the Obama administration’s strategy for extricating the United States from the war in Afghanistan, said the officers and experts who helped shape the strategy.
The problems risk leaving the United States and its allies dependent on an Afghan force that is permeated by anti-Western sentiment and incapable of combating the Taliban and other militants when NATO’s combat mission ends in 2014, they said.
One instance of the general level of antipathy in the war exploded into uncomfortable view last week when video emerged of American Marines urinating on dead Taliban fighters. Although American commanders quickly took action and condemned the act, chat-room and Facebook posts by Marines and their supporters were full of praise for the desecration.
But the most troubling fallout has been the mounting number of Westerners killed by their Afghan allies, events that have been routinely dismissed by American and NATO officials as isolated episodes that are the work of disturbed individual soldiers or Taliban infiltrators, and not indicative of a larger pattern. The unusually blunt report, which was prepared for a subordinate American command in eastern Afghanistan, takes a decidedly different view. The Wall Street Journal reported on details of the investigation last year. A copy was obtained by The New York Times.
“Lethal altercations are clearly not rare or isolated; they reflect a rapidly growing systemic homicide threat (a magnitude of which may be unprecedented between ‘allies’ in modern military history),” it said. Official NATO pronouncements to the contrary “seem disingenuous, if not profoundly intellectually dishonest,” said the report, and it played down the role of Taliban infiltrators in the killings.
The coalition refused to comment on the classified report. But “incidents in the recent past where Afghan soldiers have wounded or killed I.S.A.F. members are isolated cases and are not occurring on a routine basis,” said Lt. Col. Jimmie E. Cummings Jr. of the Army, a spokesman for the American-led International Security Assistance Force. “We train and are partnered with Afghan personnel every day and we are not seeing any issues or concerns with our relationships.”
The numbers appear to tell a different story. Although NATO does not release a complete tally of its forces’ deaths at the hands of Afghan soldiers and the police, the classified report and coalition news releases indicate that Afghan forces have attacked American and allied service members nearly three dozen times since 2007.
Two members of the French Foreign Legion and one American soldier were killed in separate episodes in the past month, according to statements by NATO. The classified report found that between May 2007 and May 2011, when it was completed, at least 58 Western service members were killed in 26 separate attacks by Afghan soldiers and the police nationwide. Most of those attacks have occurred since October 2009. This toll represented 6 percent of all hostile coalition deaths during that period, the report said.
KABUL, Afghanistan — American and other coalition forces here are being killed in increasing numbers by the very Afghan soldiers they fight alongside and train, in attacks motivated by deep-seated animosity between the supposedly allied forces, according to American and Afghan officers and a classified coalition report.
A decade into the war in Afghanistan, the report makes clear that these killings have become the most visible symptom of a far deeper ailment plaguing the war effort: the contempt each side holds for the other, never mind the Taliban. The ill will and mistrust run deep among civilians and militaries on both sides, raising questions about what future role the United States and its allies can expect to play in Afghanistan.
Underscoring the danger, a gunman in an Afghan Army uniform killed four French service members and wounded several others on Friday, according to an Afghan police official in Kapisa Province in eastern Afghanistan, prompting the French president to suspend his country’s operations here.
The violence, and the failure by coalition commanders to address it, casts a harsh spotlight on the shortcomings of American efforts to build a functional Afghan Army, a pillar of the Obama administration’s strategy for extricating the United States from the war in Afghanistan, said the officers and experts who helped shape the strategy.
The problems risk leaving the United States and its allies dependent on an Afghan force that is permeated by anti-Western sentiment and incapable of combating the Taliban and other militants when NATO’s combat mission ends in 2014, they said.
One instance of the general level of antipathy in the war exploded into uncomfortable view last week when video emerged of American Marines urinating on dead Taliban fighters. Although American commanders quickly took action and condemned the act, chat-room and Facebook posts by Marines and their supporters were full of praise for the desecration.
But the most troubling fallout has been the mounting number of Westerners killed by their Afghan allies, events that have been routinely dismissed by American and NATO officials as isolated episodes that are the work of disturbed individual soldiers or Taliban infiltrators, and not indicative of a larger pattern. The unusually blunt report, which was prepared for a subordinate American command in eastern Afghanistan, takes a decidedly different view. The Wall Street Journal reported on details of the investigation last year. A copy was obtained by The New York Times.
“Lethal altercations are clearly not rare or isolated; they reflect a rapidly growing systemic homicide threat (a magnitude of which may be unprecedented between ‘allies’ in modern military history),” it said. Official NATO pronouncements to the contrary “seem disingenuous, if not profoundly intellectually dishonest,” said the report, and it played down the role of Taliban infiltrators in the killings.
The coalition refused to comment on the classified report. But “incidents in the recent past where Afghan soldiers have wounded or killed I.S.A.F. members are isolated cases and are not occurring on a routine basis,” said Lt. Col. Jimmie E. Cummings Jr. of the Army, a spokesman for the American-led International Security Assistance Force. “We train and are partnered with Afghan personnel every day and we are not seeing any issues or concerns with our relationships.”
The numbers appear to tell a different story. Although NATO does not release a complete tally of its forces’ deaths at the hands of Afghan soldiers and the police, the classified report and coalition news releases indicate that Afghan forces have attacked American and allied service members nearly three dozen times since 2007.
Two members of the French Foreign Legion and one American soldier were killed in separate episodes in the past month, according to statements by NATO. The classified report found that between May 2007 and May 2011, when it was completed, at least 58 Western service members were killed in 26 separate attacks by Afghan soldiers and the police nationwide. Most of those attacks have occurred since October 2009. This toll represented 6 percent of all hostile coalition deaths during that period, the report said.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Osteoporosis Patients Advised to Delay Bone Density Retests
Osteoporosis Patients Advised to Delay Bone Density Retests
Bone loss and osteoporosis develop so slowly in most women whose bones test normal at age 65 that many can safely wait as long as 15 years before having a second bone density test, researchers report in a new study.
The study, published in Thursday’s issue of The New England Journal of Medicine, is part of a broad rethinking of how to diagnose and treat the potentially debilitating bone disease that can lead to broken hips and collapsing spines.
A class of drugs, bisphosphonates, which includes Fosamax, have been found to prevent fractures in people with osteoporosis. But medical experts no longer recommend the medicines to prevent osteoporosis itself. They no longer want women to take them indefinitely, and no longer consider bone density measurements the sole defining factor in deciding if a woman needs to be treated.
Now, with the new study, researchers are asking whether frequent bone density measurements even make sense for the majority of older women whose bone density is not near a danger zone on initial tests, recommended at age 65.
“Bone density testing has been oversold,” said Steven Cummings, the study’s principal investigator and an emeritus professor of medical epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco.
The study followed nearly 5,000 women ages 67 and older for more than a decade. The women had a bone density test when they entered the study and did not have osteoporosis. (In a separate national study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 70 percent of women over age 65 did not have osteoporosis.)
The researchers report that fewer than 1 percent of women with normal bone density when they entered the study, and fewer than 5 percent with mildly low bone density, developed osteoporosis in the ensuing 15 years. But of those with substantially low bone density at the study’s start, close to the cutoff point for osteoporosis of fewer than 2.5 standard deviations from the reference level, 10 percent progressed to osteoporosis in about a year.
Dr. Margaret Gourlay, the study’s lead author and a family practice specialist and osteoporosis researcher at the University of North Carolina, said she and her colleagues were surprised by how slowly osteoporosis progressed in women.
Medicare pays for a bone density test every two years and many doctors have assumed that is the ideal interval, although national guidelines recommend them only at “regular intervals.”
“I think this will change the way doctors think about screening,” Dr. Gourlay said.
The results, said Joan A. McGowan, director of the division of musculoskeletal diseases at the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, “provide telling evidence that you are not going to fall off a cliff if you have normal bone density in your 60s or early 70s, that you are not going to have osteoporosis in the next five years unless something else happens.”
For example, said Dr. McGowan, who was not involved in the study, a woman who had to take high doses of corticosteroids for another medical condition would lose bone rapidly. But the findings “cover most normal women,” she said.
Bone density screening took off after Fosamax, the first bisphosphonate, was approved at the end of 1995. For the first time, doctors had a specific treatment that had been shown to prevent fractures in people with osteoporosis.
For years doctors were overly enthusiastic, prescribing it for women whose bone density was lower than normal but not in a danger zone, keeping women on the drug indefinitely. They even gave a name, osteopenia, to lower than normal bone density, although it was not clear it had real clinical significance.
Now, osteoporosis experts consider osteopenia to be a risk factor, not a disease, and its importance varies depending on a patient’s age, said Dr. Ethel S. Siris, an osteoporosis researcher at Columbia University who was not involved in the study.
Doctors are more likely to prescribe bisphosphonates for older patients and recommend against them for most younger postmenopausal women with osteopenia.
The experts also generally recommend that most people on bisphosphonates take them for just five years at a time, followed by a drug holiday of undetermined length. The idea is to reduce the risk of rare but serious side effects, including unusual thighbone fractures and loss of bone in the jaw.
A risk calculator, FRAX, can help determine whether treatment is recommended. It assesses a combination of risk factors: whether a parent has had a hip fracture, the age of the patient, steroid use, bone density at the hip, and whether the person has broken a bone after age 50, an especially important indicator. Nearly half who break a hip already had already broken another bone, Dr. Siris said.
“If you are an older individual, a man or a woman, who already broke a major bone — spine, hip, shoulder, or pelvis or wrist — take it very seriously and get treated,” she said. “If you have relatively good bone density then you are not at risk now.”
Bone loss and osteoporosis develop so slowly in most women whose bones test normal at age 65 that many can safely wait as long as 15 years before having a second bone density test, researchers report in a new study.
The study, published in Thursday’s issue of The New England Journal of Medicine, is part of a broad rethinking of how to diagnose and treat the potentially debilitating bone disease that can lead to broken hips and collapsing spines.
A class of drugs, bisphosphonates, which includes Fosamax, have been found to prevent fractures in people with osteoporosis. But medical experts no longer recommend the medicines to prevent osteoporosis itself. They no longer want women to take them indefinitely, and no longer consider bone density measurements the sole defining factor in deciding if a woman needs to be treated.
Now, with the new study, researchers are asking whether frequent bone density measurements even make sense for the majority of older women whose bone density is not near a danger zone on initial tests, recommended at age 65.
“Bone density testing has been oversold,” said Steven Cummings, the study’s principal investigator and an emeritus professor of medical epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco.
The study followed nearly 5,000 women ages 67 and older for more than a decade. The women had a bone density test when they entered the study and did not have osteoporosis. (In a separate national study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 70 percent of women over age 65 did not have osteoporosis.)
The researchers report that fewer than 1 percent of women with normal bone density when they entered the study, and fewer than 5 percent with mildly low bone density, developed osteoporosis in the ensuing 15 years. But of those with substantially low bone density at the study’s start, close to the cutoff point for osteoporosis of fewer than 2.5 standard deviations from the reference level, 10 percent progressed to osteoporosis in about a year.
Dr. Margaret Gourlay, the study’s lead author and a family practice specialist and osteoporosis researcher at the University of North Carolina, said she and her colleagues were surprised by how slowly osteoporosis progressed in women.
Medicare pays for a bone density test every two years and many doctors have assumed that is the ideal interval, although national guidelines recommend them only at “regular intervals.”
“I think this will change the way doctors think about screening,” Dr. Gourlay said.
The results, said Joan A. McGowan, director of the division of musculoskeletal diseases at the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, “provide telling evidence that you are not going to fall off a cliff if you have normal bone density in your 60s or early 70s, that you are not going to have osteoporosis in the next five years unless something else happens.”
For example, said Dr. McGowan, who was not involved in the study, a woman who had to take high doses of corticosteroids for another medical condition would lose bone rapidly. But the findings “cover most normal women,” she said.
Bone density screening took off after Fosamax, the first bisphosphonate, was approved at the end of 1995. For the first time, doctors had a specific treatment that had been shown to prevent fractures in people with osteoporosis.
For years doctors were overly enthusiastic, prescribing it for women whose bone density was lower than normal but not in a danger zone, keeping women on the drug indefinitely. They even gave a name, osteopenia, to lower than normal bone density, although it was not clear it had real clinical significance.
Now, osteoporosis experts consider osteopenia to be a risk factor, not a disease, and its importance varies depending on a patient’s age, said Dr. Ethel S. Siris, an osteoporosis researcher at Columbia University who was not involved in the study.
Doctors are more likely to prescribe bisphosphonates for older patients and recommend against them for most younger postmenopausal women with osteopenia.
The experts also generally recommend that most people on bisphosphonates take them for just five years at a time, followed by a drug holiday of undetermined length. The idea is to reduce the risk of rare but serious side effects, including unusual thighbone fractures and loss of bone in the jaw.
A risk calculator, FRAX, can help determine whether treatment is recommended. It assesses a combination of risk factors: whether a parent has had a hip fracture, the age of the patient, steroid use, bone density at the hip, and whether the person has broken a bone after age 50, an especially important indicator. Nearly half who break a hip already had already broken another bone, Dr. Siris said.
“If you are an older individual, a man or a woman, who already broke a major bone — spine, hip, shoulder, or pelvis or wrist — take it very seriously and get treated,” she said. “If you have relatively good bone density then you are not at risk now.”
Russian Says Western Support for Arab Revolts Could Cause a ‘Big War’
Russian Says Western Support for Arab Revolts Could Cause a ‘Big War’
MOSCOW — Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, warned Wednesday that outside encouragement of antigovernment uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa could lead to “a very big war that will cause suffering not only to countries in the region, but also to states far beyond its boundaries.”
Mr. Lavrov’s annual news conference was largely devoted to a critique of Western policies in Iran and Syria, which he said could lead to a spiral of violence.
His remarks came on the heels of a report on state-controlled television that accused the American ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul, who has been in Moscow for less than a week, of working to provoke a revolution here. Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin, at an impromptu meeting with prominent editors, also unleashed an attack on the liberal radio station Ekho Moskvy, which he said was serving American interests.
Mr. Lavrov said Russia would use its position on the United Nations Security Council to veto any United Nations authorization of military strikes against the government of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria. The United Nations has repeatedly called for Syria end a crackdown on opposition demonstrators, which Arab League monitors say resulted in hundreds of deaths over the past month.
“If someone conceives the idea of using force at any cost — and I’ve already heard calls for sending some Arab troops to Syria — we are unlikely to be able to prevent this,” Mr. Lavrov said. “But this should be done on their own initiative and should remain on their conscience. They won’t get any authorization from the Security Council.”
Mr. Lavrov said foreign governments were arming “militants and extremists” in Syria, and he gave a bristling response to Susan E. Rice, the American ambassador to the United Nations, who on Tuesday expressed concern about possible Russian arms shipments to Syria.
“We don’t find it necessary to explain or justify anything,” Mr. Lavrov said. “We are only trading goods with Syria that are not prohibited by international law.”
Mr. Lavrov offered a similarly grave message about the possibility of a military strike against Iran, which he said would be a “catastrophe.” He said sanctions now being proposed against Tehran were “intended to have a smothering effect on the Iranian economy and the Iranian population, probably in the hopes of provoking discontent.”
Relations between Moscow and Washington have worsened over the past year, as the cordial tone of the “reset” between President Obama and President Dmitri A. Medvedev has been replaced by a drumbeat of criticism. Mr. Lavrov said that Russia and the United States were not adversaries, and that “the cold war ended a long time ago.” By contrast, however, he was glowing about Russia’s cooperation with China, which he said was “the highest in the history of our bilateral relationship.”
Late on Tuesday night, Russia’s Channel 1 broadcast a segment about Mr. McFaul, who is one of Mr. Obama’s top advisers on Russia and a primary architect of the relationship’s reset. The commentary emphasized Mr. McFaul’s relationship with opposition leaders and suggested that his intent was to lay the groundwork for revolution.
“McFaul is not a specialist on Russia,” said Mikhail V. Leontyev, a Channel 1 commentator. “He is a specialist solely in the promotion of democracy.” Singling out a book by Mr. McFaul, titled “Russia’s Unfinished Revolution,” Mr. Leontyev added: “Is it possible Mr. McFaul came to Russia to work in his specialty? That is, to finish the revolution?”
The segment delved into Mr. McFaul’s previous work in Russia, including a stint in the 1990s with the National Democratic Institute, an organization that Mr. Leontyev said was “known for its proximity to the American intelligence services and its work preparing the political leaders of the third world.” Mr. McFaul should have “no problems” forging relationships with the opposition, Mr. Leontyev said. “Cooperating with the government is another story.”
The commentary followed news coverage on Channel 1 showing opposition leaders who visited the American Embassy to meet with Mr. McFaul. In the video, which was uploaded to YouTube with the title “Receiving Instructions at the United States Embassy,” people accost the opposition leaders on the sidewalk and ask: “Why did you come to the embassy today? What are your reasons for coming?”
Mr. McFaul dismissed the criticism of his meeting with the opposition figures, noting that he had already met with several high-ranking Russian officials.
“U.S. officials visiting Russia make a point of meeting with both government officials and civil society leaders,” he wrote on his blog in Russian and English.
The theme of American interference emerged again during a rapidly convened meeting between top journalists and Mr. Putin, which ended in a confrontation between the prime minister and Aleksei A. Venediktov, the editor of the radio station Ekho Moskvy. The station is an important platform for the opposition, and Mr. Putin said he had been horrified when he happened to hear a broadcast that contended that a planned United States missile defense system posed no great threat to Russia.
“Listen, it was such bull, I just don’t know — where do they get this stuff?” Mr. Putin said. “I thought, This is not information — what they’re broadcasting, it’s serving the foreign policy interests of one country with respect to another, to Russia.”
“I do not take offense when you pour diarrhea on me day in and day out, and yet you have taken offense,” Mr. Putin told Mr. Venediktov as the meeting came to a close, according to an official transcript. “I just said two words, and you took offense.”
MOSCOW — Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, warned Wednesday that outside encouragement of antigovernment uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa could lead to “a very big war that will cause suffering not only to countries in the region, but also to states far beyond its boundaries.”
Mr. Lavrov’s annual news conference was largely devoted to a critique of Western policies in Iran and Syria, which he said could lead to a spiral of violence.
His remarks came on the heels of a report on state-controlled television that accused the American ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul, who has been in Moscow for less than a week, of working to provoke a revolution here. Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin, at an impromptu meeting with prominent editors, also unleashed an attack on the liberal radio station Ekho Moskvy, which he said was serving American interests.
Mr. Lavrov said Russia would use its position on the United Nations Security Council to veto any United Nations authorization of military strikes against the government of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria. The United Nations has repeatedly called for Syria end a crackdown on opposition demonstrators, which Arab League monitors say resulted in hundreds of deaths over the past month.
“If someone conceives the idea of using force at any cost — and I’ve already heard calls for sending some Arab troops to Syria — we are unlikely to be able to prevent this,” Mr. Lavrov said. “But this should be done on their own initiative and should remain on their conscience. They won’t get any authorization from the Security Council.”
Mr. Lavrov said foreign governments were arming “militants and extremists” in Syria, and he gave a bristling response to Susan E. Rice, the American ambassador to the United Nations, who on Tuesday expressed concern about possible Russian arms shipments to Syria.
“We don’t find it necessary to explain or justify anything,” Mr. Lavrov said. “We are only trading goods with Syria that are not prohibited by international law.”
Mr. Lavrov offered a similarly grave message about the possibility of a military strike against Iran, which he said would be a “catastrophe.” He said sanctions now being proposed against Tehran were “intended to have a smothering effect on the Iranian economy and the Iranian population, probably in the hopes of provoking discontent.”
Relations between Moscow and Washington have worsened over the past year, as the cordial tone of the “reset” between President Obama and President Dmitri A. Medvedev has been replaced by a drumbeat of criticism. Mr. Lavrov said that Russia and the United States were not adversaries, and that “the cold war ended a long time ago.” By contrast, however, he was glowing about Russia’s cooperation with China, which he said was “the highest in the history of our bilateral relationship.”
Late on Tuesday night, Russia’s Channel 1 broadcast a segment about Mr. McFaul, who is one of Mr. Obama’s top advisers on Russia and a primary architect of the relationship’s reset. The commentary emphasized Mr. McFaul’s relationship with opposition leaders and suggested that his intent was to lay the groundwork for revolution.
“McFaul is not a specialist on Russia,” said Mikhail V. Leontyev, a Channel 1 commentator. “He is a specialist solely in the promotion of democracy.” Singling out a book by Mr. McFaul, titled “Russia’s Unfinished Revolution,” Mr. Leontyev added: “Is it possible Mr. McFaul came to Russia to work in his specialty? That is, to finish the revolution?”
The segment delved into Mr. McFaul’s previous work in Russia, including a stint in the 1990s with the National Democratic Institute, an organization that Mr. Leontyev said was “known for its proximity to the American intelligence services and its work preparing the political leaders of the third world.” Mr. McFaul should have “no problems” forging relationships with the opposition, Mr. Leontyev said. “Cooperating with the government is another story.”
The commentary followed news coverage on Channel 1 showing opposition leaders who visited the American Embassy to meet with Mr. McFaul. In the video, which was uploaded to YouTube with the title “Receiving Instructions at the United States Embassy,” people accost the opposition leaders on the sidewalk and ask: “Why did you come to the embassy today? What are your reasons for coming?”
Mr. McFaul dismissed the criticism of his meeting with the opposition figures, noting that he had already met with several high-ranking Russian officials.
“U.S. officials visiting Russia make a point of meeting with both government officials and civil society leaders,” he wrote on his blog in Russian and English.
The theme of American interference emerged again during a rapidly convened meeting between top journalists and Mr. Putin, which ended in a confrontation between the prime minister and Aleksei A. Venediktov, the editor of the radio station Ekho Moskvy. The station is an important platform for the opposition, and Mr. Putin said he had been horrified when he happened to hear a broadcast that contended that a planned United States missile defense system posed no great threat to Russia.
“Listen, it was such bull, I just don’t know — where do they get this stuff?” Mr. Putin said. “I thought, This is not information — what they’re broadcasting, it’s serving the foreign policy interests of one country with respect to another, to Russia.”
“I do not take offense when you pour diarrhea on me day in and day out, and yet you have taken offense,” Mr. Putin told Mr. Venediktov as the meeting came to a close, according to an official transcript. “I just said two words, and you took offense.”
Mexico’s Drug War Bloodies Areas Thought Safe
Mexico’s Drug War Bloodies Areas Thought Safe
MEXICO CITY — The Mexican drug war that has largely been defined by violence along the border is intensifying in interior and southern areas once thought clear of the carnage, broadening a conflict that has already overwhelmed the authorities and dispirited the public, according to analysts and new government data.
Last week, two headless bodies were found in a smoldering minivan near the entrance to one of the largest and most expensive malls in Mexico City, generally considered a refuge from the grisly atrocities that have gripped other cities throughout the drug war.
Two other cities considered safe just six months ago — Guadalajara and Veracruz — have experienced their own episodes of brutality: 26 bodies were left in the heart of Guadalajara late last year, on the eve of Latin America’s most prestigious book fair, and last month the entire police force in Veracruz was dismissed after state officials determined that it was too corrupt to patrol a city where 35 bodies were dumped on a road in September.
The spreading violence, believed to largely reflect a widening turf war between two of the biggest criminal organizations in the country, has implications on both sides of the border, putting added pressure on political and law enforcement leaders who are already struggling to show that their strategies are working.
“It is a situation ever more complicated and complex,” said Ricardo Ravelo, a Mexican journalist who has written several books on criminal organizations. “Resources are and will be stretched to deal with this.”
American officials here acknowledge that the mayhem is unpredictable but contend that they have a way to help tackle it, spreading word that the $1.6 billion Merida Initiative, Washington’s signature antidrug program, will step up training and advising for the Mexican state and local police and judicial institutions this year, rather than emphasizing the delivery of helicopters and other equipment.
In a year in which President Felipe Calderón’s party, in power since 2000, may struggle to hang on to the presidency in July elections, the expanding violence is giving political rivals, all promising a more peaceful country, much to run on.
Discerning patterns of violence in the drug war can be perilous; it is often like a tornado skipping across terrain, devastating one area while leaving another untouched.
But government statistics released last week showed a surge in deaths presumed to be related to drug or organized crime in Mexico State, which surrounds the capital and is the nation’s most populous state, in the first nine months of last year. The government data also show that violence has now afflicted 831 communities nationwide, an increase of 7 percent.
Although questions have emerged about the government’s tally, many analysts agree that the violence is widening.
“There has been a definite shift of violence away from the border and back to the interior states,” said David A. Shirk, director of the Trans-Border Institute at the University of San Diego, who closely tracks drug crime.
In a way, he said, the shift is a stark reversal of the trend of six years ago, when violence exploded in more southerly states and migrated north along drug-trafficking routes, accelerating a drug war that has now left more than 47,000 people dead, according to the government.
In response, the Mexican government deployed its military and the federal police, arresting and killing more than two dozen cartel leaders and splintering or dismantling several groups. Their push has been backed by American aid in the form of helicopters, remotely piloted drones and the deepening involvement of American drug agents in investigations and raids.
The violence slackened in many areas along the border, including Ciudad Juárez, the bloodiest city, where homicides have been declining. Mexican officials say the decrease is proof that they are making headway, but analysts say it may have more to do with one rival group’s defeat of another, reducing competition and the bloodshed that comes with it.
As for the violence in other areas — Acapulco, in the south, is now the second most violent city — that, too, may reflect the shifting contours of the fights between criminal organizations.
The drug war, Mr. Shirk and other analysts say, is increasingly coming down to a fight to the death between the Sinaloa cartel, a more traditional drug-trafficking organization widely considered the most powerful, and Los Zetas, founded by former soldiers and considered the most violent as it expands into extortion, kidnapping and other rackets in regions far off the drug route map. A third, the Gulf Cartel, remains well armed and rises to attack from time to time.
Many of the clashes have been in central or more southern areas where the two main rivals have not previously fought each other so violently, analysts say. George W. Grayson, a longtime researcher of Mexican violence and co-author of a coming book on Los Zetas, said the group had spread to 17 states from 14 a year ago.
MEXICO CITY — The Mexican drug war that has largely been defined by violence along the border is intensifying in interior and southern areas once thought clear of the carnage, broadening a conflict that has already overwhelmed the authorities and dispirited the public, according to analysts and new government data.
Last week, two headless bodies were found in a smoldering minivan near the entrance to one of the largest and most expensive malls in Mexico City, generally considered a refuge from the grisly atrocities that have gripped other cities throughout the drug war.
Two other cities considered safe just six months ago — Guadalajara and Veracruz — have experienced their own episodes of brutality: 26 bodies were left in the heart of Guadalajara late last year, on the eve of Latin America’s most prestigious book fair, and last month the entire police force in Veracruz was dismissed after state officials determined that it was too corrupt to patrol a city where 35 bodies were dumped on a road in September.
The spreading violence, believed to largely reflect a widening turf war between two of the biggest criminal organizations in the country, has implications on both sides of the border, putting added pressure on political and law enforcement leaders who are already struggling to show that their strategies are working.
“It is a situation ever more complicated and complex,” said Ricardo Ravelo, a Mexican journalist who has written several books on criminal organizations. “Resources are and will be stretched to deal with this.”
American officials here acknowledge that the mayhem is unpredictable but contend that they have a way to help tackle it, spreading word that the $1.6 billion Merida Initiative, Washington’s signature antidrug program, will step up training and advising for the Mexican state and local police and judicial institutions this year, rather than emphasizing the delivery of helicopters and other equipment.
In a year in which President Felipe Calderón’s party, in power since 2000, may struggle to hang on to the presidency in July elections, the expanding violence is giving political rivals, all promising a more peaceful country, much to run on.
Discerning patterns of violence in the drug war can be perilous; it is often like a tornado skipping across terrain, devastating one area while leaving another untouched.
But government statistics released last week showed a surge in deaths presumed to be related to drug or organized crime in Mexico State, which surrounds the capital and is the nation’s most populous state, in the first nine months of last year. The government data also show that violence has now afflicted 831 communities nationwide, an increase of 7 percent.
Although questions have emerged about the government’s tally, many analysts agree that the violence is widening.
“There has been a definite shift of violence away from the border and back to the interior states,” said David A. Shirk, director of the Trans-Border Institute at the University of San Diego, who closely tracks drug crime.
In a way, he said, the shift is a stark reversal of the trend of six years ago, when violence exploded in more southerly states and migrated north along drug-trafficking routes, accelerating a drug war that has now left more than 47,000 people dead, according to the government.
In response, the Mexican government deployed its military and the federal police, arresting and killing more than two dozen cartel leaders and splintering or dismantling several groups. Their push has been backed by American aid in the form of helicopters, remotely piloted drones and the deepening involvement of American drug agents in investigations and raids.
The violence slackened in many areas along the border, including Ciudad Juárez, the bloodiest city, where homicides have been declining. Mexican officials say the decrease is proof that they are making headway, but analysts say it may have more to do with one rival group’s defeat of another, reducing competition and the bloodshed that comes with it.
As for the violence in other areas — Acapulco, in the south, is now the second most violent city — that, too, may reflect the shifting contours of the fights between criminal organizations.
The drug war, Mr. Shirk and other analysts say, is increasingly coming down to a fight to the death between the Sinaloa cartel, a more traditional drug-trafficking organization widely considered the most powerful, and Los Zetas, founded by former soldiers and considered the most violent as it expands into extortion, kidnapping and other rackets in regions far off the drug route map. A third, the Gulf Cartel, remains well armed and rises to attack from time to time.
Many of the clashes have been in central or more southern areas where the two main rivals have not previously fought each other so violently, analysts say. George W. Grayson, a longtime researcher of Mexican violence and co-author of a coming book on Los Zetas, said the group had spread to 17 states from 14 a year ago.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Williams Battles Injury, and Insects
Williams Battles Injury, and Insects
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — If anything, it was the insects buzzing around Rod Laver Arena that bothered Serena Williams the most.
Her injured left ankle held up fine in her opening match Tuesday at the Australian Open, and even the near-midnight start time was O.K. But the bugs?
“I hate bugs more than you can imagine,” Williams said after reaching the second round by beating Tamira Paszek, 6-3, 6-2.
The match started at 11:32 p.m., and Williams hit a service winner 79 minutes later to finish it off. Between points, though, she picked up and moved or shooed away bugs that landed on court, and two that landed on her back.
“I’m going to request not to play at night anymore because I hate bugs, except for the final,” Williams said. “I heard it’s at night.”
Two years after her last Australian Open title, Williams extended her winning streak to 15 matches at Melbourne Park. She won titles in 2009 and 2010 but missed the chance to defend her title last year amid a prolonged injury layoff.
The match started late because Williams and Paszek had to wait until the conclusion of a four-hour men’s match won by Lleyton Hewitt. It was Williams’s first match since she badly sprained her ankle two weeks ago at the Brisbane International, an injury that jeopardized her participation in Melbourne. Williams was playing only her third match since losing the United States Open final to Samantha Stosur last September, and she said she was “a wee bit tight.”
“Physically I felt fine,” Williams said. “I was definitely moving better than I suspected. I still think I can move better, though, and just get that confidence.”
Stosur, the last woman to beat Williams, did not make the second round. She lost, 7-6 (2), 6-3, to No. 59-ranked Sorana Cirstea.
Fourth-ranked Maria Sharapova won the first eight games of a 6-0, 6-1 rout of Gisela Dulko of Argentina.
Hewitt gave the night session crowd something to cheer when he beat Cedrik-Marcel Stebe of Germany, 7-5, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5. Hewitt will face his old rival Andy Roddick, who defeated Robin Haase of the Netherlands, 6-3, 6-4, 6-1. Top-ranked Novak Djokovic beat Paolo Lorenzi of Italy, 6-2, 6-0, 6-0. Djokovic wore pair of red, white and blue shoes with images of the three major trophies he won in 2011 on the sides and a Serbian flag on the heels.
In an early match Wednesday, the defending champion Kim Clijsters needed only 47 minutes to beat Stephanie Foretz Gacon of France, 6-0, 6-1. She will meet Daniela Hantuchova in the third round, and faces a potential rematch of last year’s final in the fourth round with Li Na, who won, 6-2, 6-2, over Olivia Rogowska.
FISH OUSTED No. 8 Mardy Fish, the top-ranked American, became the first top 10 player to fall in the men’s draw when he lost in the second round to the 71st-ranked Alejandro Falla of Colombia, 7-6 (4), 6-3, 7-6 (6), in three hours.
Fish had trouble controlling both his forehand and his backhand — hitting 58 unforced errors to Falla’s 34 — but also his temper.
Down by two sets to none, Fish appeared distracted and aggravated by the treatments Falla received for cramping. He complained to the chair umpire, Enric Molina, and sarcastically questioned a tournament referee about rules for cramping treatments.
Fish grew increasingly chippy as momentum shifted throughout the third set; several times, he unfurled a series of loud profanities after unforced errors.
“When you think someone is cramping or ailing physically, you sort of change your game a tiny bit,” Fish said, using air quotes to underline his skepticism of Falla’s condition. “I thought he was having some physical issues. But then in between every point, you know, he was totally fine.”
The second-round loss abbreviated what was an uncharacteristically cantankerous month for Fish in Australia. During losses in singles and mixed doubles at the Hopman Cup in Perth two weeks ago, Fish exchanged words with the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov. At one point he needed to be separated from the 20-year-old Dimitrov by a tournament official.
No. 3 seed Roger Federer, meanwhile, advanced to the third round when Andreas Beck withdrew because of a lower back injury. Second-seeded Rafael Nadal also moved on, with a 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Tommy Haas. BEN ROTHENBERG
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — If anything, it was the insects buzzing around Rod Laver Arena that bothered Serena Williams the most.
Her injured left ankle held up fine in her opening match Tuesday at the Australian Open, and even the near-midnight start time was O.K. But the bugs?
“I hate bugs more than you can imagine,” Williams said after reaching the second round by beating Tamira Paszek, 6-3, 6-2.
The match started at 11:32 p.m., and Williams hit a service winner 79 minutes later to finish it off. Between points, though, she picked up and moved or shooed away bugs that landed on court, and two that landed on her back.
“I’m going to request not to play at night anymore because I hate bugs, except for the final,” Williams said. “I heard it’s at night.”
Two years after her last Australian Open title, Williams extended her winning streak to 15 matches at Melbourne Park. She won titles in 2009 and 2010 but missed the chance to defend her title last year amid a prolonged injury layoff.
The match started late because Williams and Paszek had to wait until the conclusion of a four-hour men’s match won by Lleyton Hewitt. It was Williams’s first match since she badly sprained her ankle two weeks ago at the Brisbane International, an injury that jeopardized her participation in Melbourne. Williams was playing only her third match since losing the United States Open final to Samantha Stosur last September, and she said she was “a wee bit tight.”
“Physically I felt fine,” Williams said. “I was definitely moving better than I suspected. I still think I can move better, though, and just get that confidence.”
Stosur, the last woman to beat Williams, did not make the second round. She lost, 7-6 (2), 6-3, to No. 59-ranked Sorana Cirstea.
Fourth-ranked Maria Sharapova won the first eight games of a 6-0, 6-1 rout of Gisela Dulko of Argentina.
Hewitt gave the night session crowd something to cheer when he beat Cedrik-Marcel Stebe of Germany, 7-5, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5. Hewitt will face his old rival Andy Roddick, who defeated Robin Haase of the Netherlands, 6-3, 6-4, 6-1. Top-ranked Novak Djokovic beat Paolo Lorenzi of Italy, 6-2, 6-0, 6-0. Djokovic wore pair of red, white and blue shoes with images of the three major trophies he won in 2011 on the sides and a Serbian flag on the heels.
In an early match Wednesday, the defending champion Kim Clijsters needed only 47 minutes to beat Stephanie Foretz Gacon of France, 6-0, 6-1. She will meet Daniela Hantuchova in the third round, and faces a potential rematch of last year’s final in the fourth round with Li Na, who won, 6-2, 6-2, over Olivia Rogowska.
FISH OUSTED No. 8 Mardy Fish, the top-ranked American, became the first top 10 player to fall in the men’s draw when he lost in the second round to the 71st-ranked Alejandro Falla of Colombia, 7-6 (4), 6-3, 7-6 (6), in three hours.
Fish had trouble controlling both his forehand and his backhand — hitting 58 unforced errors to Falla’s 34 — but also his temper.
Down by two sets to none, Fish appeared distracted and aggravated by the treatments Falla received for cramping. He complained to the chair umpire, Enric Molina, and sarcastically questioned a tournament referee about rules for cramping treatments.
Fish grew increasingly chippy as momentum shifted throughout the third set; several times, he unfurled a series of loud profanities after unforced errors.
“When you think someone is cramping or ailing physically, you sort of change your game a tiny bit,” Fish said, using air quotes to underline his skepticism of Falla’s condition. “I thought he was having some physical issues. But then in between every point, you know, he was totally fine.”
The second-round loss abbreviated what was an uncharacteristically cantankerous month for Fish in Australia. During losses in singles and mixed doubles at the Hopman Cup in Perth two weeks ago, Fish exchanged words with the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov. At one point he needed to be separated from the 20-year-old Dimitrov by a tournament official.
No. 3 seed Roger Federer, meanwhile, advanced to the third round when Andreas Beck withdrew because of a lower back injury. Second-seeded Rafael Nadal also moved on, with a 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Tommy Haas. BEN ROTHENBERG
With a Goal, Scholes Puts United Back in the Hunt
With a Goal, Scholes Puts United Back in the Hunt
Paul Scholes scored his first goal since ending his short-lived retirement to help Manchester United to a 3-0 win over visiting Bolton in England’s Premier League on Saturday.
In the second match of his comeback, Scholes turned in Wayne Rooney’s cross in the 45th minute for his first goal since August 2010. It was Scholes’s 151st league goal, and it helped United pull two points ahead of third-place Tottenham, which tied, 1-1, with relegation-threatened Wolverhampton.
United trails the Manchester City on goal difference, although City can restore its three-point lead by beating Wigan on Monday.
Six months after ending a career during which he only played for United, the 37-year-old Scholes returned in last weekend’s F.A. Cup win at Manchester City. On Saturday, he became the oldest Englishman to score a league goal for United.
“It was a surprise to see him at the far post,” United Manager Alex Ferguson said of Scholes. “With his age and the fact he has just come back, we were looking for him to control central midfield, which he did.
“But he has the instinct. He always has had.”
Danny Welbeck made it 2-0 in the 74th minute from another assist by Rooney, and Michael Carrick completed the scoring with seven minutes remaining. Rooney had a first-half penalty kick saved by goalkeeper Adam Bogdan.
Tottenham dominated visiting Wolves at White Hart Lane but Steven Fletcher put the visitors ahead from a rebound in the 22nd minute after Spurs goalkeeper Brad Friedel parried Roger Johnson’s header from a corner. Emmanuel Adebayor had a goal disallowed for offside just before halftime before Luka Modric tied the score in the 51st.
City and United have 48 points, two more than Tottenham. Chelsea is another six points back in the final Champions League qualifying position after beating Sunderland, 1-0, on Frank Lampard’s goal.
“I’ve never said to anybody that we are going to win the league,” Tottenham Manager Harry Redknapp said. “I know where we are at, and if we can get a Champions League position again this season it will be great for us.”
Liverpool played a scoreless tie with visiting Stoke and could be four points behind fifth-place Arsenal if the Gunners win at Swansea on Sunday. Newcastle could replace Liverpool in sixth place if it beats visiting Queens Park Rangers.
Blackburn lifted itself out of the relegation zone with a 3-1 win over Fulham even though it played 67 minutes with 10 men, and the Los Angeles Galaxy teammates Landon Donovan and Robbie Keane faced each other in Everton’s 1-1 tie at Aston Villa. Donovan set up Darren Bent’s 69th-minute equalizer for Everton.
ROMA STOPPED BY RAIN Roma’s Serie A game at Catania was suspended midway through the second half because of heavy rain in the Sicilian city. The referee, Paolo Tagliavento, decided to bring a halt to the match 21 minutes after halftime with the score tied at 1-1. After waiting five minutes to see if the rain would ease up, the game was officially postponed. Similar weather is predicted for Sunday, when the rest of the Serie A schedule is to be played. The Roma-Catania match will be completed on Feb. 8 or 15, depending on whether Roma beats Juventus to qualify for the Italian Cup semifinals.
REAL MADRID ESCAPES The Spanish league leader Real Madrid survived a scare ahead of its Copa del Rey match against Barcelona this week as it came from behind to win, 2-1, at Mallorca. Madrid’s seventh straight away victory in league play extended its advantage over second-place Barcelona to eight points. Barcelona hosts Real Betis on Sunday.
PATO STAYING AT MILAN The A.C. Milan owner Silvio Berlusconi announced he had decided to keep striker Alexandre Pato at the club rather than sell him to Paris St.-Germain for a reported fee of $44 million. The decision seemingly puts the brakes on Milan’s bid to sign the disgruntled Manchester City striker Carlos Tévez. In a statement on Saturday, Berlusconi said of the overture for Pato, “The whole deal didn’t convince me, neither from a technical point nor from an economical one.”
JONES BACK WITH U.S. Schalke midfielder Jermaine Jones, who has been suspended for eight weeks by Germany’s federation, is joining the United States national team’s training camp ahead of exhibition games against Venezuela and Panama. Jones was suspended on Jan. 5 after the German federation concluded he intentionally stepped on an opponent’s foot during a match. He cannot appear in any competitive or exhibition matches for Schalke until March 1. The United States, mostly with players from Major League Soccer, is scheduled to play Venezuela on Saturday, then is at Panama four days later.
JOHN TO WEST HAM ON LOAN West Ham has signed the American defender George John on a two-month loan from Dallas of M.L.S. West Ham, a second-tier London club, said it obtained John, 24, “with a view to a permanent signing.”
Paul Scholes scored his first goal since ending his short-lived retirement to help Manchester United to a 3-0 win over visiting Bolton in England’s Premier League on Saturday.
In the second match of his comeback, Scholes turned in Wayne Rooney’s cross in the 45th minute for his first goal since August 2010. It was Scholes’s 151st league goal, and it helped United pull two points ahead of third-place Tottenham, which tied, 1-1, with relegation-threatened Wolverhampton.
United trails the Manchester City on goal difference, although City can restore its three-point lead by beating Wigan on Monday.
Six months after ending a career during which he only played for United, the 37-year-old Scholes returned in last weekend’s F.A. Cup win at Manchester City. On Saturday, he became the oldest Englishman to score a league goal for United.
“It was a surprise to see him at the far post,” United Manager Alex Ferguson said of Scholes. “With his age and the fact he has just come back, we were looking for him to control central midfield, which he did.
“But he has the instinct. He always has had.”
Danny Welbeck made it 2-0 in the 74th minute from another assist by Rooney, and Michael Carrick completed the scoring with seven minutes remaining. Rooney had a first-half penalty kick saved by goalkeeper Adam Bogdan.
Tottenham dominated visiting Wolves at White Hart Lane but Steven Fletcher put the visitors ahead from a rebound in the 22nd minute after Spurs goalkeeper Brad Friedel parried Roger Johnson’s header from a corner. Emmanuel Adebayor had a goal disallowed for offside just before halftime before Luka Modric tied the score in the 51st.
City and United have 48 points, two more than Tottenham. Chelsea is another six points back in the final Champions League qualifying position after beating Sunderland, 1-0, on Frank Lampard’s goal.
“I’ve never said to anybody that we are going to win the league,” Tottenham Manager Harry Redknapp said. “I know where we are at, and if we can get a Champions League position again this season it will be great for us.”
Liverpool played a scoreless tie with visiting Stoke and could be four points behind fifth-place Arsenal if the Gunners win at Swansea on Sunday. Newcastle could replace Liverpool in sixth place if it beats visiting Queens Park Rangers.
Blackburn lifted itself out of the relegation zone with a 3-1 win over Fulham even though it played 67 minutes with 10 men, and the Los Angeles Galaxy teammates Landon Donovan and Robbie Keane faced each other in Everton’s 1-1 tie at Aston Villa. Donovan set up Darren Bent’s 69th-minute equalizer for Everton.
ROMA STOPPED BY RAIN Roma’s Serie A game at Catania was suspended midway through the second half because of heavy rain in the Sicilian city. The referee, Paolo Tagliavento, decided to bring a halt to the match 21 minutes after halftime with the score tied at 1-1. After waiting five minutes to see if the rain would ease up, the game was officially postponed. Similar weather is predicted for Sunday, when the rest of the Serie A schedule is to be played. The Roma-Catania match will be completed on Feb. 8 or 15, depending on whether Roma beats Juventus to qualify for the Italian Cup semifinals.
REAL MADRID ESCAPES The Spanish league leader Real Madrid survived a scare ahead of its Copa del Rey match against Barcelona this week as it came from behind to win, 2-1, at Mallorca. Madrid’s seventh straight away victory in league play extended its advantage over second-place Barcelona to eight points. Barcelona hosts Real Betis on Sunday.
PATO STAYING AT MILAN The A.C. Milan owner Silvio Berlusconi announced he had decided to keep striker Alexandre Pato at the club rather than sell him to Paris St.-Germain for a reported fee of $44 million. The decision seemingly puts the brakes on Milan’s bid to sign the disgruntled Manchester City striker Carlos Tévez. In a statement on Saturday, Berlusconi said of the overture for Pato, “The whole deal didn’t convince me, neither from a technical point nor from an economical one.”
JONES BACK WITH U.S. Schalke midfielder Jermaine Jones, who has been suspended for eight weeks by Germany’s federation, is joining the United States national team’s training camp ahead of exhibition games against Venezuela and Panama. Jones was suspended on Jan. 5 after the German federation concluded he intentionally stepped on an opponent’s foot during a match. He cannot appear in any competitive or exhibition matches for Schalke until March 1. The United States, mostly with players from Major League Soccer, is scheduled to play Venezuela on Saturday, then is at Panama four days later.
JOHN TO WEST HAM ON LOAN West Ham has signed the American defender George John on a two-month loan from Dallas of M.L.S. West Ham, a second-tier London club, said it obtained John, 24, “with a view to a permanent signing.”
Obesity Rates Stall, But No Decline
Obesity Rates Stall, But No Decline
After two decades of steady increases, obesity rates in adults and children in the United States have remained largely unchanged during the past 12 years, a finding that suggests national efforts at promoting healthful eating and exercise are having little effect on the overweight.
Over all, 35.7 percent of the adult population and 16.9 percent of children qualify as obese, according to data gathered by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and published online Tuesday by The Journal of the American Medical Association. While it is good news that the ranks of the obese in America are not growing, the data also point to the intractable nature of weight gain and signal that the country will be dealing with the health consequences of obesity for years to come.
“We’re by no means through the epidemic,’’ said Dr. David Ludwig, director of the childhood obesity program at Children’s Hospital in Boston. “Children will be entering adulthood heavier than they’ve ever been at any time in human history. Even without further increases in prevalence, the impact of the epidemic will continue to mount for many years to come.’’
The data come from thousands of men, women and children who have taken part in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys — compiled by the National Center for Health Statistics at the C.D.C. since the 1960s — and represent some of the most reliable statistics available on the health of the American public. The most recent findings are based on data collected from 2009-10 that have been compared with previous surveys collected in two-year cycles beginning in 1999-2000.
Although from a statistical standpoint, overall obesity rates haven’t changed in more than a decade, the latest analysis did detect some changes in the prevalence of obesity in certain groups. For instance, men and boys have become fatter since 1999, and so have non-Hispanic black and Mexican-American women. Although those trends were only recently detected in the data, there have been no significant increases in obesity prevalence since the 2003-4 survey.
Nobody knows exactly why obesity rates appear to be leveling off. While it’s possible that public education efforts around healthful eating and exercise have had some effect, it may be that the population has reached a biological saturation point in terms of obesity, and that those most vulnerable have already become obese.
“Until we actually see declines in body mass index we can’t confidently say prevention efforts have succeeded,” said Dr. Ludwig.
Although different data collection methods make it difficult to compare obesity rates around the world, a number of studies in other countries have suggested that the prevalence of obesity is growing more slowly or has hit a plateau. Data from England show that for men the prevalence of obesity was 22.2 percent in 2005 and 22.1 percent in 2009; comparable figures for women were 23 percent and 23.9 percent. Studies in Sweden, Switzerland and Spain have also suggested a leveling off of obesity rates.
After two decades of steady increases, obesity rates in adults and children in the United States have remained largely unchanged during the past 12 years, a finding that suggests national efforts at promoting healthful eating and exercise are having little effect on the overweight.
Over all, 35.7 percent of the adult population and 16.9 percent of children qualify as obese, according to data gathered by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and published online Tuesday by The Journal of the American Medical Association. While it is good news that the ranks of the obese in America are not growing, the data also point to the intractable nature of weight gain and signal that the country will be dealing with the health consequences of obesity for years to come.
“We’re by no means through the epidemic,’’ said Dr. David Ludwig, director of the childhood obesity program at Children’s Hospital in Boston. “Children will be entering adulthood heavier than they’ve ever been at any time in human history. Even without further increases in prevalence, the impact of the epidemic will continue to mount for many years to come.’’
The data come from thousands of men, women and children who have taken part in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys — compiled by the National Center for Health Statistics at the C.D.C. since the 1960s — and represent some of the most reliable statistics available on the health of the American public. The most recent findings are based on data collected from 2009-10 that have been compared with previous surveys collected in two-year cycles beginning in 1999-2000.
Although from a statistical standpoint, overall obesity rates haven’t changed in more than a decade, the latest analysis did detect some changes in the prevalence of obesity in certain groups. For instance, men and boys have become fatter since 1999, and so have non-Hispanic black and Mexican-American women. Although those trends were only recently detected in the data, there have been no significant increases in obesity prevalence since the 2003-4 survey.
Nobody knows exactly why obesity rates appear to be leveling off. While it’s possible that public education efforts around healthful eating and exercise have had some effect, it may be that the population has reached a biological saturation point in terms of obesity, and that those most vulnerable have already become obese.
“Until we actually see declines in body mass index we can’t confidently say prevention efforts have succeeded,” said Dr. Ludwig.
Although different data collection methods make it difficult to compare obesity rates around the world, a number of studies in other countries have suggested that the prevalence of obesity is growing more slowly or has hit a plateau. Data from England show that for men the prevalence of obesity was 22.2 percent in 2005 and 22.1 percent in 2009; comparable figures for women were 23 percent and 23.9 percent. Studies in Sweden, Switzerland and Spain have also suggested a leveling off of obesity rates.
Young, in Love and Sharing Everything, Including a Password
Young, in Love and Sharing Everything, Including a Password
Young couples have long signaled their devotion to each other by various means — the gift of a letterman jacket, or an exchange of class rings or ID bracelets. Best friends share locker combinations.
The digital era has given rise to a more intimate custom. It has become fashionable for young people to express their affection for each other by sharing their passwords to e-mail, Facebook and other accounts. Boyfriends and girlfriends sometimes even create identical passwords, and let each other read their private e-mails and texts.
They say they know such digital entanglements are risky, because a souring relationship can lead to people using online secrets against each other. But that, they say, is part of what makes the symbolism of the shared password so powerful.
“It’s a sign of trust,” Tiffany Carandang, a high school senior in San Francisco, said of the decision she and her boyfriend made several months ago to share passwords for e-mail and Facebook. “I have nothing to hide from him, and he has nothing to hide from me.”
“That is so cute,” said Cherry Ng, 16, listening in to her friend’s comments to a reporter outside school. “They really trust each other.”
We do, said Ms. Carandang, 17. “I know he’d never do anything to hurt my reputation,” she added.
It doesn’t always end so well, of course. Changing a password is simple, but students, counselors and parents say that damage is often done before a password is changed, or that the sharing of online lives can be the reason a relationship falters.
The stories of fallout include a spurned boyfriend in junior high who tries to humiliate his ex-girlfriend by spreading her e-mail secrets; tensions between significant others over scouring each other’s private messages for clues of disloyalty or infidelity; or grabbing a cellphone from a former best friend, unlocking it with a password and sending threatening texts to someone else.
Rosalind Wiseman, who studies how teenagers use technology and is author of “Queen Bees and Wannabes,” a book for parents about helping girls survive adolescence, said the sharing of passwords, and the pressure to do so, was somewhat similar to sex.
Sharing passwords, she noted, feels forbidden because it is generally discouraged by adults and involves vulnerability. And there is pressure in many teenage relationships to share passwords, just as there is to have sex.
“The response is the same: if we’re in a relationship, you have to give me anything,” Ms. Wiseman said.
In a 2011 telephone survey, the Pew Internet and American Life Project found that 30 percent of teenagers who were regularly online had shared a password with a friend, boyfriend or girlfriend. The survey, of 770 teenagers aged 12 to 17, found that girls were almost twice as likely as boys to share. And in more than two dozen interviews, parents, students and counselors said that the practice had become widespread.
In a recent column on the tech-news Web site Gizmodo, Sam Biddle called password sharing a linchpin of intimacy in the 21st century, and offered advice to couples and friends on how to avoid missteps.
“I’ve known plenty of couples who have shared passwords, and not a single one has not regretted it,” said Mr. Biddle in an interview, adding that the practice includes the unspoken notion of mutually assured destruction if somebody misbehaves. “It’s the kind of symbolism that always goes awry.”
Students say there are reasons, beyond a show of trust, to swap online keys. For instance, several college students said they regularly shared Facebook passwords — not to snoop on or monitor each other, but to force themselves to study for finals. A student would give her password to a friend to change it — and not disclose the new password — thereby temporarily locking out the Facebook account holder and taking away a big distraction to studying.
Alexandra Radford, 20, a junior at San Francisco State University, said she had done this for friends several times during exams. One friend wanted to know the new password before finals ended, but Ms. Radford held firm.
“Once finals were over, I gave it to her,” she said. “She was, like, ‘Oh, my gosh, thank you.’ She knew I was good about not giving her the password back.”
Young couples have long signaled their devotion to each other by various means — the gift of a letterman jacket, or an exchange of class rings or ID bracelets. Best friends share locker combinations.
The digital era has given rise to a more intimate custom. It has become fashionable for young people to express their affection for each other by sharing their passwords to e-mail, Facebook and other accounts. Boyfriends and girlfriends sometimes even create identical passwords, and let each other read their private e-mails and texts.
They say they know such digital entanglements are risky, because a souring relationship can lead to people using online secrets against each other. But that, they say, is part of what makes the symbolism of the shared password so powerful.
“It’s a sign of trust,” Tiffany Carandang, a high school senior in San Francisco, said of the decision she and her boyfriend made several months ago to share passwords for e-mail and Facebook. “I have nothing to hide from him, and he has nothing to hide from me.”
“That is so cute,” said Cherry Ng, 16, listening in to her friend’s comments to a reporter outside school. “They really trust each other.”
We do, said Ms. Carandang, 17. “I know he’d never do anything to hurt my reputation,” she added.
It doesn’t always end so well, of course. Changing a password is simple, but students, counselors and parents say that damage is often done before a password is changed, or that the sharing of online lives can be the reason a relationship falters.
The stories of fallout include a spurned boyfriend in junior high who tries to humiliate his ex-girlfriend by spreading her e-mail secrets; tensions between significant others over scouring each other’s private messages for clues of disloyalty or infidelity; or grabbing a cellphone from a former best friend, unlocking it with a password and sending threatening texts to someone else.
Rosalind Wiseman, who studies how teenagers use technology and is author of “Queen Bees and Wannabes,” a book for parents about helping girls survive adolescence, said the sharing of passwords, and the pressure to do so, was somewhat similar to sex.
Sharing passwords, she noted, feels forbidden because it is generally discouraged by adults and involves vulnerability. And there is pressure in many teenage relationships to share passwords, just as there is to have sex.
“The response is the same: if we’re in a relationship, you have to give me anything,” Ms. Wiseman said.
In a 2011 telephone survey, the Pew Internet and American Life Project found that 30 percent of teenagers who were regularly online had shared a password with a friend, boyfriend or girlfriend. The survey, of 770 teenagers aged 12 to 17, found that girls were almost twice as likely as boys to share. And in more than two dozen interviews, parents, students and counselors said that the practice had become widespread.
In a recent column on the tech-news Web site Gizmodo, Sam Biddle called password sharing a linchpin of intimacy in the 21st century, and offered advice to couples and friends on how to avoid missteps.
“I’ve known plenty of couples who have shared passwords, and not a single one has not regretted it,” said Mr. Biddle in an interview, adding that the practice includes the unspoken notion of mutually assured destruction if somebody misbehaves. “It’s the kind of symbolism that always goes awry.”
Students say there are reasons, beyond a show of trust, to swap online keys. For instance, several college students said they regularly shared Facebook passwords — not to snoop on or monitor each other, but to force themselves to study for finals. A student would give her password to a friend to change it — and not disclose the new password — thereby temporarily locking out the Facebook account holder and taking away a big distraction to studying.
Alexandra Radford, 20, a junior at San Francisco State University, said she had done this for friends several times during exams. One friend wanted to know the new password before finals ended, but Ms. Radford held firm.
“Once finals were over, I gave it to her,” she said. “She was, like, ‘Oh, my gosh, thank you.’ She knew I was good about not giving her the password back.”
As European Union Beckons, Allure Fades for Wary Croatia
As European Union Beckons, Allure Fades for Wary Croatia
HARMICA, Croatia — Zoran Sluga has a small family farm here on the border with Slovenia, his 300-year-old barn filled with thousands of squawking chickens.
But if Croatians vote to join the European Union next Sunday, Mr. Sluga’s simple business will become a lot more complicated. The cages he keeps his hens in will not meet the group’s rules, requiring expensive upgrades. Italian egg producers, given access to Croatian markets, are likely to undercut his prices. Mr. Sluga believes that his very way of life is a stake. And for what? he asks.
“See what happened to Greece,” he said. “They got billions from the E.U. and it did not work out.”
Much has changed in the decade since Croatia first applied to join the European Union. What was once seen as a rich man’s club — which Croatia was eager to join — no longer looks like such a clear ticket to prosperity. Today’s European Union is mired in a crippling debt crisis, which has pushed some of its members to the brink of bankruptcy and threatened its very essence.
Recent polls show that Croats are still likely to vote yes. Then, the 27 European Union countries are expected to ratify their membership and Croatia will become part of the group on July 1 — in all likelihood, the last new member for many years.
Srdjan Dumicic, the director of Ipsos Puls, a company that has conducted several polls on the subject in recent years, said that support had been dwindling in the past few weeks and could narrow, according to the latest poll that has not yet been published. Some Croatians joke, he said, that joining now is like arriving at the party at 2 a.m. Half the revelers are drunk. Half have gone home.
“It’s not the party it was at midnight,” Mr. Dumicic said.
Even the recently elected prime minister, Zoran Milanovic, talks about the prospect of European Union membership without much fervor.
Mr. Milanovic, a social democrat, says the pluses outweigh the minuses. He emphasizes the benefits of full access to a market of 500 million consumers and of gaining about $2 billion a year in development aid in the next couple of years, though future assistance is less certain.
And he sees progress in the overhaul of Croatia’s legal system, which the European Union insisted on.
But he also says that the events of recent years have proved that membership does not guarantee success and that Croatians need to be ready to work hard in a highly competitive environment.
“The working title could be ‘Curb That Enthusiasm,’ ” Mr. Milanovic said in an interview, slightly mangling the title of Larry David’s HBO series.
Critics go much further. They say that recent events have proved that Germany and France make the big decisions and that a country the size of Croatia, with a population of just 4.5 million, will have little say.
They worry also about joining just in time to pay the bill for Greece and other debt-laden countries. And they worry that Croatia, with a long Adriatic coastline, will find itself confronting a flood of immigrants, as Spain, Italy and Greece have.
“In the European Parliament, we would be 12 members out of more than 740; in the Council of Ministers, 7 votes out of more than 350,” said Marjan Bosnjak, secretary of the Council for Croatia, an association opposing European Union membership. “We will be a statistical error. Who will give a damn about what Croatians think?”
To get this far, Croatia, which could not escape the vicious fighting that broke out in the 1990s after the dissolution of Yugoslavia, had to subject itself to a European Union-style makeover. Once deeply corrupt, the government was forced to pass 350 new laws. No one knows how many documents were exchanged because the Croatians stopped counting after 150,000 pages. About 3,000 Croatians worked on the project, from diplomats to translators.
The reach of the European Union is often underestimated, as it tries to create an even playing field among its members. Take the egg business. No detail seems overlooked. The union’s rules say that the chicken cages must allow at least 750 square centimeters per hen and contain a nest, litter, perch and “clawing board.” These requirements are amusing to Mr. Sluga, the farmer. “The chickens have more rights than humans in the E.U.,” he joked.
HARMICA, Croatia — Zoran Sluga has a small family farm here on the border with Slovenia, his 300-year-old barn filled with thousands of squawking chickens.
But if Croatians vote to join the European Union next Sunday, Mr. Sluga’s simple business will become a lot more complicated. The cages he keeps his hens in will not meet the group’s rules, requiring expensive upgrades. Italian egg producers, given access to Croatian markets, are likely to undercut his prices. Mr. Sluga believes that his very way of life is a stake. And for what? he asks.
“See what happened to Greece,” he said. “They got billions from the E.U. and it did not work out.”
Much has changed in the decade since Croatia first applied to join the European Union. What was once seen as a rich man’s club — which Croatia was eager to join — no longer looks like such a clear ticket to prosperity. Today’s European Union is mired in a crippling debt crisis, which has pushed some of its members to the brink of bankruptcy and threatened its very essence.
Recent polls show that Croats are still likely to vote yes. Then, the 27 European Union countries are expected to ratify their membership and Croatia will become part of the group on July 1 — in all likelihood, the last new member for many years.
Srdjan Dumicic, the director of Ipsos Puls, a company that has conducted several polls on the subject in recent years, said that support had been dwindling in the past few weeks and could narrow, according to the latest poll that has not yet been published. Some Croatians joke, he said, that joining now is like arriving at the party at 2 a.m. Half the revelers are drunk. Half have gone home.
“It’s not the party it was at midnight,” Mr. Dumicic said.
Even the recently elected prime minister, Zoran Milanovic, talks about the prospect of European Union membership without much fervor.
Mr. Milanovic, a social democrat, says the pluses outweigh the minuses. He emphasizes the benefits of full access to a market of 500 million consumers and of gaining about $2 billion a year in development aid in the next couple of years, though future assistance is less certain.
And he sees progress in the overhaul of Croatia’s legal system, which the European Union insisted on.
But he also says that the events of recent years have proved that membership does not guarantee success and that Croatians need to be ready to work hard in a highly competitive environment.
“The working title could be ‘Curb That Enthusiasm,’ ” Mr. Milanovic said in an interview, slightly mangling the title of Larry David’s HBO series.
Critics go much further. They say that recent events have proved that Germany and France make the big decisions and that a country the size of Croatia, with a population of just 4.5 million, will have little say.
They worry also about joining just in time to pay the bill for Greece and other debt-laden countries. And they worry that Croatia, with a long Adriatic coastline, will find itself confronting a flood of immigrants, as Spain, Italy and Greece have.
“In the European Parliament, we would be 12 members out of more than 740; in the Council of Ministers, 7 votes out of more than 350,” said Marjan Bosnjak, secretary of the Council for Croatia, an association opposing European Union membership. “We will be a statistical error. Who will give a damn about what Croatians think?”
To get this far, Croatia, which could not escape the vicious fighting that broke out in the 1990s after the dissolution of Yugoslavia, had to subject itself to a European Union-style makeover. Once deeply corrupt, the government was forced to pass 350 new laws. No one knows how many documents were exchanged because the Croatians stopped counting after 150,000 pages. About 3,000 Croatians worked on the project, from diplomats to translators.
The reach of the European Union is often underestimated, as it tries to create an even playing field among its members. Take the egg business. No detail seems overlooked. The union’s rules say that the chicken cages must allow at least 750 square centimeters per hen and contain a nest, litter, perch and “clawing board.” These requirements are amusing to Mr. Sluga, the farmer. “The chickens have more rights than humans in the E.U.,” he joked.
Monday, January 16, 2012
Nadal Mends Fences With Federer and Overcomes Knee Problem to Win
Nadal Mends Fences With Federer and Overcomes Knee Problem to Win
MELBOURNE, Australia — Perhaps Roger Federer had a point about the benefits of keeping negative thoughts out of the public domain. Only a day after Rafael Nadal deviated from a long-established pattern and ripped his friendly rival Federer at a news conference, Nadal sheepishly said that he regretted the outburst, still valued their connection and should have made his comments to Federer in private.
“These things can stay — must stay — in the locker room,” Nadal said Monday. “I always had fantastic relationship with Roger. I still have fantastic relationship with Roger. That’s what should be, in my opinion. Don’t create crazy histories about what I said yesterday, please.”
Mending fences with Federer was hardly Nadal’s only concern on opening day at the Australian Open.
Nadal, seeded second, won his first-round match over the American qualifier Alex Kuznetsov, 6-4, 6-1, 6-1, but did so with his right knee tightly strapped after what he said was “the strangest” experience of his 25-year-old life.
On Sunday, Nadal said he was sitting in a chair in his Melbourne hotel when he heard a crack in the knee. He got up, manipulated the joint and said he felt a jolt of “unbelievable pain” as his knee locked.
“You can have an injury playing an aggressive movement, but sitting on a chair you cannot have injury,” said Nadal, who has had plenty of midtournament aches and problems, but never one quite like this.
“I have a hard afternoon,” he said. “I did all the tests, came here for ultrasound, went to hospital for M.R.I.”
Nadal said that although he was relieved when the M.R.I. revealed no structural damage, he had still been uncertain if he could play on Monday against Kuznetsov.
“We did a lot of work during the evening, at the end of the night, with a lot of pain,” he said. “But I finally really had the full movement of the knee.”
After extensive physiotherapy and anti-inflammatory treatments on Monday, he earned a second-round date with Tommy Haas, the German veteran who knows plenty about playing in pain as he continues his latest comeback at 33.
Federer, now 30, has had his issues lately, too. The chronic back pain that has nagged at him throughout his career returned this month during the tournament in Doha, and he retired before the semifinals. But after resuming full practice sessions last week in Melbourne, Federer did not appear constrained as he defeated the Russian qualifier Alexander Kudryavtsev, 7-5, 6-2, 6-2, in Monday’s night session.
“Honestly, I wasn’t afraid,” he said. “I felt I could serve at full strength. I didn’t feel I held back or played differently than usual.”
As for Nadal’s unusual outburst, Federer did not lash out in return. The kerfuffle began when Nadal was informed that Federer had said in a recent interview that he felt players sometimes hurt the tour by speaking negatively about the sport instead of keeping the complaints in house and working behind the scenes for change. Federer did not name Nadal directly, but Nadal took umbrage, nonetheless, and criticized Federer for playing the “gentleman” and staying safely above the fray while others “burned” themselves by speaking out and trying to raise awareness of the need for changes to the tour.
Federer attributed Nadal’s comment to pent-up frustration at the political tussles in the ATP in recent months as the organization searched for a new chief executive and debated changes to the ranking system. Federer, the president of the ATP player council, and Nadal, the vice president, have disagreed at times, with Federer often prevailing. But Federer said they had had three one-on-one discussions in the past two months in an attempt to bridge the divide.
“We can’t always agree on everything,” Federer said. “So far it’s always been no problem, really. Back in the day, he used to say, ‘Whatever Roger decides, I’m fine with.’ Today he’s much more grown up. He has a strong opinion himself, which I think is great.
“It’s what we need, especially on the council. It’s been nice working with him. That he has a strong opinion also creates sometimes good arguments about where you want to move the sport forward to.”
There is much to debate, with renewed tension between the men’s tour and the four Grand Slam tournaments over distribution of revenue. It is an old complaint, but the players are arguing with increasing vehemence that they deserve a much bigger cut than the 11 to 13 percent that they estimate they are receiving now in prize money.
Federer, who supports an increase, said that he generally preferred to keep his arguments out of the public domain but that did not mean he was not working for change for the players. Though his relationship with Nadal is clearly facing new pressures, Federer said that Nadal “was a friend like before and for me nothing has changed.”
“I would have dinner with him tomorrow if he calls me or I call him,” he said.
In first-round matches Tuesday, Novak Djokovic started his defense of the men’s title with a 6-2, 6-0, 6-0 win over Paolo Lorenzi of Italy. Djokovic, 24, who won three of the four Grand Slam titles last year, is the top seed. The No. 5 seed, David Ferrer of Spain, beat Rui Machado of Portugal, 6-1, 6-4, 6-2.
The women’s No. 2 seed, Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic, and Maria Sharapova, No. 4, both advanced.
MELBOURNE, Australia — Perhaps Roger Federer had a point about the benefits of keeping negative thoughts out of the public domain. Only a day after Rafael Nadal deviated from a long-established pattern and ripped his friendly rival Federer at a news conference, Nadal sheepishly said that he regretted the outburst, still valued their connection and should have made his comments to Federer in private.
“These things can stay — must stay — in the locker room,” Nadal said Monday. “I always had fantastic relationship with Roger. I still have fantastic relationship with Roger. That’s what should be, in my opinion. Don’t create crazy histories about what I said yesterday, please.”
Mending fences with Federer was hardly Nadal’s only concern on opening day at the Australian Open.
Nadal, seeded second, won his first-round match over the American qualifier Alex Kuznetsov, 6-4, 6-1, 6-1, but did so with his right knee tightly strapped after what he said was “the strangest” experience of his 25-year-old life.
On Sunday, Nadal said he was sitting in a chair in his Melbourne hotel when he heard a crack in the knee. He got up, manipulated the joint and said he felt a jolt of “unbelievable pain” as his knee locked.
“You can have an injury playing an aggressive movement, but sitting on a chair you cannot have injury,” said Nadal, who has had plenty of midtournament aches and problems, but never one quite like this.
“I have a hard afternoon,” he said. “I did all the tests, came here for ultrasound, went to hospital for M.R.I.”
Nadal said that although he was relieved when the M.R.I. revealed no structural damage, he had still been uncertain if he could play on Monday against Kuznetsov.
“We did a lot of work during the evening, at the end of the night, with a lot of pain,” he said. “But I finally really had the full movement of the knee.”
After extensive physiotherapy and anti-inflammatory treatments on Monday, he earned a second-round date with Tommy Haas, the German veteran who knows plenty about playing in pain as he continues his latest comeback at 33.
Federer, now 30, has had his issues lately, too. The chronic back pain that has nagged at him throughout his career returned this month during the tournament in Doha, and he retired before the semifinals. But after resuming full practice sessions last week in Melbourne, Federer did not appear constrained as he defeated the Russian qualifier Alexander Kudryavtsev, 7-5, 6-2, 6-2, in Monday’s night session.
“Honestly, I wasn’t afraid,” he said. “I felt I could serve at full strength. I didn’t feel I held back or played differently than usual.”
As for Nadal’s unusual outburst, Federer did not lash out in return. The kerfuffle began when Nadal was informed that Federer had said in a recent interview that he felt players sometimes hurt the tour by speaking negatively about the sport instead of keeping the complaints in house and working behind the scenes for change. Federer did not name Nadal directly, but Nadal took umbrage, nonetheless, and criticized Federer for playing the “gentleman” and staying safely above the fray while others “burned” themselves by speaking out and trying to raise awareness of the need for changes to the tour.
Federer attributed Nadal’s comment to pent-up frustration at the political tussles in the ATP in recent months as the organization searched for a new chief executive and debated changes to the ranking system. Federer, the president of the ATP player council, and Nadal, the vice president, have disagreed at times, with Federer often prevailing. But Federer said they had had three one-on-one discussions in the past two months in an attempt to bridge the divide.
“We can’t always agree on everything,” Federer said. “So far it’s always been no problem, really. Back in the day, he used to say, ‘Whatever Roger decides, I’m fine with.’ Today he’s much more grown up. He has a strong opinion himself, which I think is great.
“It’s what we need, especially on the council. It’s been nice working with him. That he has a strong opinion also creates sometimes good arguments about where you want to move the sport forward to.”
There is much to debate, with renewed tension between the men’s tour and the four Grand Slam tournaments over distribution of revenue. It is an old complaint, but the players are arguing with increasing vehemence that they deserve a much bigger cut than the 11 to 13 percent that they estimate they are receiving now in prize money.
Federer, who supports an increase, said that he generally preferred to keep his arguments out of the public domain but that did not mean he was not working for change for the players. Though his relationship with Nadal is clearly facing new pressures, Federer said that Nadal “was a friend like before and for me nothing has changed.”
“I would have dinner with him tomorrow if he calls me or I call him,” he said.
In first-round matches Tuesday, Novak Djokovic started his defense of the men’s title with a 6-2, 6-0, 6-0 win over Paolo Lorenzi of Italy. Djokovic, 24, who won three of the four Grand Slam titles last year, is the top seed. The No. 5 seed, David Ferrer of Spain, beat Rui Machado of Portugal, 6-1, 6-4, 6-2.
The women’s No. 2 seed, Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic, and Maria Sharapova, No. 4, both advanced.
Young U.S. Citizens in Mexico Brave Risks for American Schools
Young U.S. Citizens in Mexico Brave Risks for American Schools
TIJUANA, Mexico — Weekday mornings at 5, when the lights on distant hillsides across the border still twinkle in the blackness, Martha, a high school senior, begins her arduous three-hour commute to school. She groggily unlocks the security gate guarded by the family Doberman and waits in the glare of the Pemex filling station for the bus to the border. Her fellow passengers, grown men with their arms folded, jostle her in their sleep.
Martha’s destination, along with dozens of young friends — United States citizens all living in “TJ,” as they affectionately call their city — is a public high school eight miles away in Chula Vista, Calif., where they were born and where they still claim to live.
California teenagers start their mornings with crossing guards and school buses. Martha and her friends stand for hours in a human chain of 16,000 at the world’s busiest international land border. Cellphones in one hand and notebooks in the other, they wait again to cross on foot, fearing delays that could force them to miss a social studies final, oblivious to hawkers selling breakfast burritos or weary parents holding toddlers in pajamas.
In San Ysidro, the port of entry, they board a red trolley to another bus that takes them to school. They are sweating the clock — the bell rings at 8 a.m. sharp.
“Most of the time I am really, really tired,” said Martha, whose parents moved back to Tijuana because the cost of living was cheaper here than in southern California.
“I try to do my best,” she added. “But sometimes, I just can’t.”
In the raging debate over immigration, almost all sides have come to agree on tougher enforcement at the border. But nearly unnoticed, frustration is focusing locally on border-crossers who are not illegal immigrants but young American citizens, whose families have returned to Mexico yet want their children to attend American schools.
Called “transfronterizos,” these students migrate between two cultures, two languages and two nations every day, straining the resources of public school districts and sparking debate among educators and sociologists over whether it is in American interests that they be taught in the United States. Although some Mexican families pay the steep tuition required of out-of-district students, most do not, and many that pay taxes out of their paychecks do not pay the property taxes that support public services.
Some of the students’ parents are American citizens and some are Mexican.
Students like Martha fly under the radar in some school districts, while other districts assign truancy officers to find who they are. They live with the anxiety of potentially having to lie about their residency and the very real possibility that the prize they are after — a decent education — will be taken from them. Though their exact numbers are unknown, their presence reflects the daily complexities of border life — among them, economic and educational disparities between the United States and Mexico and families splintered by deportation and unemployment.
Transfronterizos can be found from Calexico, Calif., to El Paso, where violence in neighboring Cuidad Juárez, Mexico, has led to the creation of a designated lane for 800 to 1,400 students daily, including American citizens who attend El Paso schools.
In Tijuana, Martha and a half-dozen high school seniors let a reporter accompany them on their daily commute and discussed their identity conflicts and criticisms by their American counterparts. Students, their parents and some teachers spoke on the condition of anonymity so as not to jeopardize their enrollment.
Martha’s mother, a seamstress, never got beyond ninth grade. Several days a week, she rises at 2 a.m. to claim a place for her daughter in line — a border mom, instead of a soccer or a tiger mom. Martha’s family pitches in on the mortgage for a Chula Vista house, where members of the extended family live, and pays utilities to establish residency.
TIJUANA, Mexico — Weekday mornings at 5, when the lights on distant hillsides across the border still twinkle in the blackness, Martha, a high school senior, begins her arduous three-hour commute to school. She groggily unlocks the security gate guarded by the family Doberman and waits in the glare of the Pemex filling station for the bus to the border. Her fellow passengers, grown men with their arms folded, jostle her in their sleep.
Martha’s destination, along with dozens of young friends — United States citizens all living in “TJ,” as they affectionately call their city — is a public high school eight miles away in Chula Vista, Calif., where they were born and where they still claim to live.
California teenagers start their mornings with crossing guards and school buses. Martha and her friends stand for hours in a human chain of 16,000 at the world’s busiest international land border. Cellphones in one hand and notebooks in the other, they wait again to cross on foot, fearing delays that could force them to miss a social studies final, oblivious to hawkers selling breakfast burritos or weary parents holding toddlers in pajamas.
In San Ysidro, the port of entry, they board a red trolley to another bus that takes them to school. They are sweating the clock — the bell rings at 8 a.m. sharp.
“Most of the time I am really, really tired,” said Martha, whose parents moved back to Tijuana because the cost of living was cheaper here than in southern California.
“I try to do my best,” she added. “But sometimes, I just can’t.”
In the raging debate over immigration, almost all sides have come to agree on tougher enforcement at the border. But nearly unnoticed, frustration is focusing locally on border-crossers who are not illegal immigrants but young American citizens, whose families have returned to Mexico yet want their children to attend American schools.
Called “transfronterizos,” these students migrate between two cultures, two languages and two nations every day, straining the resources of public school districts and sparking debate among educators and sociologists over whether it is in American interests that they be taught in the United States. Although some Mexican families pay the steep tuition required of out-of-district students, most do not, and many that pay taxes out of their paychecks do not pay the property taxes that support public services.
Some of the students’ parents are American citizens and some are Mexican.
Students like Martha fly under the radar in some school districts, while other districts assign truancy officers to find who they are. They live with the anxiety of potentially having to lie about their residency and the very real possibility that the prize they are after — a decent education — will be taken from them. Though their exact numbers are unknown, their presence reflects the daily complexities of border life — among them, economic and educational disparities between the United States and Mexico and families splintered by deportation and unemployment.
Transfronterizos can be found from Calexico, Calif., to El Paso, where violence in neighboring Cuidad Juárez, Mexico, has led to the creation of a designated lane for 800 to 1,400 students daily, including American citizens who attend El Paso schools.
In Tijuana, Martha and a half-dozen high school seniors let a reporter accompany them on their daily commute and discussed their identity conflicts and criticisms by their American counterparts. Students, their parents and some teachers spoke on the condition of anonymity so as not to jeopardize their enrollment.
Martha’s mother, a seamstress, never got beyond ninth grade. Several days a week, she rises at 2 a.m. to claim a place for her daughter in line — a border mom, instead of a soccer or a tiger mom. Martha’s family pitches in on the mortgage for a Chula Vista house, where members of the extended family live, and pays utilities to establish residency.
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