Thomas Insel is worried. He’s the nation’s top mental health official and he believes “the suicides and psychiatric mortality of this war could trump the combat deaths.'’ In other words, in the coming years, more soldiers could die from mental health problems at home than died in combat.

According to a report by the RAND corporation, 300 thousand of the 1.5 million troops – one out of five – who served in Afghanistan and Iraq suffer from depression or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Veterans with PTSD have a hard time sleeping, feel disconnected from reality and their loved ones, and can have terrifying flashbacks. For some, it leads to breakdowns and even suicide.

While PTSD can be treated, experts warn not enough veterans are being treated. Some government officials and veteran advocacy groups warn that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) does not have enough resources – money, doctors, and hospitals – to take on this growing mental health crisis. A lawsuit filed against the VA by attorney Arturo Gonzalez on behalf of two veterans’ rights groups alleges that the military is aware of the problem and attempted to hide it. Internal VA e-mails revealed that an estimated 1,000 veterans (including WWII and Vietnam) attempt suicide every month.

The VA counters it has increased its mental health budget (from $3.2 to $3.5 billion) and recently hired nearly four thousand specialists to deal with PTSD and related illnesses. Senior military official Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff acknowledged the severity of PTSD: “It’s way past time, some seven years into this war, that we recognize the toll it’s taking inside our minds, as well as outside our bodies.”

(image by stu_spivack via flickr)

• Tortilla prices in México will rise by 18 percent next month, according to The National Chamber for the Tortilla and Dough Industry.
• The California Supreme Court has overturned the state’s ban on gay marriage: “[A]n individual’s capacity to establish a loving and long-term committed relationship … does not depend upon the individual’s sexual orientation.” Massachusetts and California are the only two states in the U.S. where gay marriage is legal.
• The Polar bear was placed under protection of the Endangered Species Act, but the ruling still allows exploration and development by oil and gas companies in areas where the bears live. (via Metafilter)
• David Archuleta will take on rocker David Cook in the finale of “American Idol.”
• Three Mexican police chiefs are seeking asylum in the U.S. due to increased attacks on law enforcement by drug cartels, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials.
• Pharrell rocks the club in a new video, “Everybody Nose,” by N.E.R.D.
• Teenagers who consider themselves “popular” in school – even’t if they really aren’t – are just as likely to become socially successful as adults, according to a study published in Child Development magazine.

While Flex pwns pop radio with “Te Quiero,” another romantic Panamanian is waiting in the wings.

Reggae singer-rapper Ivan Vladimir Bautista, El Roockie, made his debut nearly a decade ago with Revelations and has followed with almost an album a year since: Máquina De Lírica (2001), Fórmula Cruda (2002), En Tus Manos (2003) and Humanidad (2005). Popular in his native Panamá, the self-described “máquina de lírica” (lyrical machine) extended his reach to Puerto Rico, where he caught the eye of reggaetón icon Vico C, who has touted El Roockie has having “the most potential of any of his peers.” Producing duo Luny Tunes agree. They signed El Roockie to their Más Flow Inc. imprint and let him showcase his flow on “No Te Quiere,” an El General-meets-reggaetón joint from Los Benjamins.

El Roockie’s latest solo release, Semblante Urbano, is produced by Luny Tunes, Predicador, Tainy and Sensei and has spawned three singles. Parece Sincera is a dancehall ditty with synth zaps and healthy chunks of acoustic guitar. Martes De Galería, featuring De La Ghetto, flips the bassline from Barrington Levy’s Black Roses and adds dramatic strings while Sigue Bailando is a romantic reggae track similar to, well, something you’d hear from Flex.

Prompted by the success of fellow Panamanians Eddy Lover and Flex, El Roockie argues his countrymen should unite and conquer: “I think to become successful, we have to repeat the formula that was used in Puerto Rico – producers working together and helping out the artists, making some good music.”

See: myspace.com/theroockie

(image by swanksalot via flickr)

• Mostly because of obesity, over half of all insured Americans in the U.S. are on prescription medication for chronic ailments, according to a study by Medco Health Solutions. Dr. Robert Epstein: “We’ve become a couch potato culture.”
• In anticipation of hurricane season in Texas, Border Patrol officials from the Rio Grande Valley have stated that residents will be screened for citizenship before being allowed to evacuate. (via Latina Lista)
• Former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards has endorsed former rival Barack Obama: “We are here tonight because the Democratic voters have made their choice, and so have I.”
• Nuns on skateboards. It’s all you need to know about the new video for “Pijamas” by Babasónicos. (via Somos Fans)
• A team of Internet spammers has been fined $230 million for sending an estimated 700,000 spam messages to MySpace users.
• Atlanta rapper Killer Mike: Hip hop is wack right now because the best players (OutKast, Eminem, Q-Tip) aren’t on the court. We’re lookin’ at the “B” team. Who the f*@# wants to watch the ‘B’ team?” (via Rezidue)
• Weezy and Yeezy team up once again: listen to a remix of Lil Wayne’s “Lollipop” featuring Kanye West.

• The Latino-themed Broadway musical In The Heights earned the most Tony Award nominations this year with 13 nods, including Best Musical.
• Is Beyonce pregnant? The New York Post claims she may be eating for two.
• Miguel Tejada, Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmeiro are three out of 30 players named to Sports Illustrated’s Baseball All-Scandal team.
• Terror Squad rapper Remy Ma was sentenced to eight years in prison for assault, weapons possession and attempted coercion.
• “Sightseeing in Liberty City” is a flickr photoset that compares landmarks in Grand Theft Auto IV with their real-life counterparts in New York City. (via Boing Boing)
• A police officer and four drug cartel associates were charged in the murder of top-ranking Mexico City police officer Edgar Millán Gómez.
• Explore outer space with Microsoft’s World Wide Telescope. (via Metafilter)

• Tired of the original? Listen to a new remix of Flex’s “Te Quiero,” featuring Arcángel.
• Bolivian President Evo Morales announced a “vote of confidence” on his government that will either end his historic term or strengthen his hand. Two weeks ago, Morales promised he would take over the nation’s energy firms and its largest telecommunications company. Four of Bolivia’s wealthy, eastern states are threatening to break away and one has already held a referendum on autonomy.
• Check out pics of “good friends” Rihanna and Chris Brown partying together at a club in Washington D.C.
• Jeff Archuleta, the father of “American Idol” finalist David Archuleta, was reportedly banned from show rehearsals by “Idol” producers. According to New York magazine, Jeff Archuleta is a “crazy overbearing stage dad!”
• The United States was finally allowed to deliver aid to cyclone victims in Myanmar despite some resistance from the country’s military rulers. Richard Horsey of the United Nations: “The authorities of the country need to open up to an international relief effort. There aren’t enough boats, trucks, helicopters in the country to run the relief effort of the scale we need.”
• California’s Libreria Martinez Books and Art Gallery, one of the largest Latino-themed bookstores in the U.S., may be forced to shut down after sales dropped by 50 percent in the last year. Owner Rueben Martinez: “I knew I was never going to get rich selling books. But the crowds are not what they used to be.”
• Listen to “Pijamas” by Babasónicos, the first single from their new album, Mucho.
• In an attempt to show that Chile has a “poor level of data protection,” a hacker leaked the addresses, ID card numbers and telephone numbers of an estimated six million Chileans over the Internet.

José Darey Castro of Los Dareyes de la Sierra is confident a band isn’t defined by its name.

The vocalist-accordionist from Navojoa, Sonora started his Norteño career a decade ago, when he founded Los Llegadores de Sonora. The band later changed its name to Los Alteños de la Sierra and built a following in México with tracks like La Más Bonita de Todas and “El Tamarindo.” Then tragedy struck.

In 2004, the band’s tour bus was ambushed by unknown gunmen. Castro survived multiple gunshot wounds, but guitarist Daniel Gracia Zayas did not make it. The event was immortalized in two songs, La Tragedia de los Alteños and El Corrido de la Tragedia de Los Alteños de la Sierra:

Dos Cheyennes del año pararon al camión del grupo Los Alteños, preguntando por el vocalista y a todos les quitaron el sueño, los desviaron de la carretera y no identificaron al dueño.

Las noticias dicen que fue asalto, lástima que mataron a varios, Daniel Gracia fue uno de ellos, guitarrista del grupo Norteño. Le siguieron el Chino y el Chivo, y el Gordito no escapó de aquello.

A year later, the founding members of Los Alteños – Castro, José Miguel Enríquez (bass) and Alberto Verdugo Leyva (guitar) – splintered off from the group to form Los Dareyes de la Sierra. A resulting feud with the current incarnation of Los Alteños and the loss of a bandmate has done little to slow the momentum built by Castro over the last 10 years. Hasta El Día De Hoy, the lead single from their most recent release, Dareyes de la Sierra: Con Banda, is currently number one on Billboard’s Regional Mexican chart.

• Colombian rocker Juanes has revealed he prefers Obama over Hillary Clinton.
• Mexican futbolero Rafa Márquez almost shows off some nipple on the cover of México’s Rolling Stone magazine.
• R. Kelly’s child pornography trial has begun after a six-year delay. The R&B star is charged with 14 counts of videotaping, producing or soliciting child pornography.
• Check out pics of a giant, working Nintendo NES controller that doubles as a coffee table and storage bin. (via Boing Boing)
• Listen to “Ten Paciencia,” a new single by Thalía. (via Somos Fans)
• A toxicology report released by the Bellaire police department in Texas has confirmed that Tejano singer Emilio Navaira was driving with a blood-alcohol level twice the legal limit before his tour bus crashed, injuring Navaira and five passengers.
• Wisin y Yandel have announced they will be collaborating with rap star 50 Cent.
• A second high-ranking Mexican police officer, Esteban Robles, was gunned down last week, one day after national anti-narcotics officer Edgar Millán Gómez was shot dead. Robles was in charge of the anti-kidnapping unit of the Mexico City police department.