Rachel Maddow Clueless As to Why Clay Hunt Suicide Bill Should be Blocked

THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 12/15/14
Coburn obstinate in blocking veterans suicide prevention bill

Ms. Maddow said that "nobody  else has an objection at all" without a clue as to why so many people are in fact against it. She is wrong because she cannot remember how many other bills, how many years, we have failed veterans.

We watched them die after floor speeches delivered by other politicians. We heard all the speeches by groups getting the national attention saying they are doing this and they are doing that but we count the caskets.

People are not against the Clay Hunt Suicide bill because they don't care or it will cost too much money. We are not against it for any other reason other than we've heard it all before. None of the others worked no matter how much money was spent. None of them worked because Congress still doesn't understand what the problem is and remain clueless.

They have in family members to tell heartbreaking stories of what failed, then come up with bills named after those we failed. This makes sense to them. This makes no sense to those of us paying attention.

We know the number of veteran suicides are higher than the "22" but no one is paying attention to the fact those numbers went up after Congress decided to do something to prevent them. We know members of the military are being failed and more of them committed suicide than died in combat after the Congress and the DOD failed them by "doing something" that made the stigma worse.

We've settled for better than nothing for far too long and those who took their own lives were saying thanks for nothing left to hope for. We took away their hope of healing PTSD.

If you supported this bill then please do all of us a favor. Suck up your pride and actually pay attention because we're tired of excuses. Tired of speeches from politicians when we end up having to write eulogy speeches for veterans making it back from combat.

The last memorial I went to was in Bradenton Florida. Donald "Donnie" Wendt was a Bradenton Firefighter failed by the VA and the DOD. Why? Because he was a decorated Army veteran who risked his life pulling bodies out of burning Humvee so that even if he couldn't save their lives, their families would be able to bury them. Don was killed by a bullet from a member of a SWAT Team.

Don was losing everything but he was used to hardships and sucking it up. That night he wanted to die after a neighbor called police to report he was holding guns and threatened his sister. It was the moment the last shred of hope vanished.

Last night I was on the phone for over an hour with his Mom.

Donnie lost hope even after being decorated as a firefighter for risking his life over and over again to save lives no matter what price he'd have to pay. He tried to hang onto hope and went to the VA but reluctant to talk to others about what was going on. He didn't want to be thought of as weak.

You can read all the news reports you want but unless you live this everyday you'll be willing to settle for them to respond to your cries to "do something" even though that something is not the right thing. You can pretend all you want that the only veterans suffering are young ones but you'd be ignoring the fact the majority of the veterans committing suicide are over 50 years years old, failed for many more years than the younger ones.

You can pretend all you want that the congress is paying attention but then you'd have to explain to the rest of us how all of this has been happening after over 7 years of congress passing bills and the bullshit of "doing something" so you didn't notice how very wrong it all was.

Tom Coburn Blocks Bill On Veterans' Suicide Prevention
AP
By By MATTHEW DALY
Posted: 12/15/2014 7:32 pm EST Updated: 4 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — Veterans groups blasted Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn Monday for blocking a bill intended to reduce a suicide epidemic that claims the lives of 22 military veterans every day.

"This is why people hate Washington," said Paul Rieckhoff, CEO and founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, an advocacy group.

Rieckhoff accused Coburn of single-handedly blocking a bill that could save the lives of thousands of veterans.

Coburn, a Republican, is retiring after 10 years in the Senate. In a floor speech Monday night, he defended his actions, saying the bill would not accomplish its stated goal and duplicates programs that already exist.

Instead of passing the $22 million bill, Coburn said lawmakers should hold the Department of Veterans Affairs accountable for frequently failing to serve veterans.

"I don't think this bill would do the first thing to change what's happening" in terms of veterans' suicides, Coburn said.
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