This Week in Suicide

Suicide is in the news:

1. Bill Haas, a St. Louis School Board member who is currently running for mayor, announced on his blog he might kill himself:

Haas writes that his online diary, called a blog, is "a little bit of a cry for help, and a lot just coming to peace with my passing, and sort of a last note." The blog entry - which covers two and half printed pages - provides extensive details about Haas' life, his bouts with depression and his money troubles. It says his "last day" may come sometime this spring or early summer after he euthanizes his three-legged cat and other pets.

"So what's this about?" he writes. "In a nutshell, I'm 60 years old, still all alone. ... Unless something breaks professionally in the next couple of months, I'm going to be out of money and then I'm going to put the animals to sleep and take my life."

2. In LA, a guy parked his car on the commuter train rails in a suicide attempt, but apparently changed his mind, left his car, and then watched as two trains derailed and collided into each other and a parked car after hitting the guy's car, still parked on the rails, killing at least 10 people.

As if the actual news wasn't disturbing enough: you know how they have "Ads by Google" now on news sites that correspond with the content of the article? The first ad on the Bill Haas story says, "Suicide Thoughts? Take this quick test to find answers: www.GodTest.com." The first ad on the train crash story? "DefensiveDriving.com: Accepted by all courts in Texas. www.DefensiveDriving.com." Apparently, this will allow you to drive defensively well enough to dodge derailed commuter rail trains...even in Texas.