All I want for Christmas is for reporters to know what they are reporting on!

I am sure you're tired of reading about the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention Bill being blocked. As tired as you are consider that I'm reading a lot more than I post about. It is frustrating as hell! Are there no more reporters out there that actually understand what they are reporting on? How many times does it take before one of them steps up, looks up how many other bills were not only passed but funded at the same time they produced more suicides?

All I want for Christmas is for reporters to know what they are reporting on or stop doing it! How about instead of reporting on this bill they do something that may actually make a difference?

How about maybe paying attention to what came out of the Dallas Morning News joint reporting with NBC out of Texas on what has actually been happening? The Army just had to issue orders to stop abusing PTSD soldiers in Warrior Transition Units because of a 6 month investigation they did.

Instead of that, we get more of the same reporters doing what is easy instead of what is right! No amount of bills out of Congress can fix what the DOD has been doing in the first place.

Nicholas Cook: Fund effort to reduce veteran suicides
Battle Creek Enquirer
Nicholas Cook
December 21, 2014

As we close the 113th Congress and prepare for the 114th Congress, I would like to explain that Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Tipton, and Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing, and their colleagues missed the boat when it came to the Clay Hunt SAV Act of 2014.

Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America in February spoke with both the senator and congressman when IAVA stormed Capitol Hill. Yet they did not sign on as a co-sponsors of the bi-partisan bill.

After the bill passed the House, Sen. Tom Coburn, an Oklahoma Republican, felt it was his duty to personally block this bill that had almost unanimous support in the Senate.

Fortunately for veterans, Sen. Coburn is retiring, but now our legislators in Michigan need to lead the charge as the elected officials of the 11th largest veterans community in the country.

There are 22 veterans a day dying by suicide a rate of almost 8,000 a year. It takes a veteran in the Battle Creek catchment area five weeks to see a Veterans Affairs psychologist/ psychiatrist or licensed social worker. Five weeks of waiting may be too long for those veterans desperate for help.

This is not just a Battle Creek VA Medical Center issue, nor is it an issue of caring. This is a lack of funding.

This bill asks for accountability of best practices, repayment of college loans to encourage psychologists and psychiatrists to work in the VA, and provides outreach to National Guard and Reserve units that have been some of the hardest hit by suicide.
read more here

Sorry but this bill is more of the same we've seen come out all along!