Kimberly Willingham (202) 225-3035
Jonna Fitzgerald (903) 561-6349
Gohmert’s Statement on the Tragedy in Colorado
July 20, 2012
Washington
Rep. Louie Gohmert (TX-01) released the following statement today regarding the senseless shooting in Aurora, Colorado last night:
“My thoughts and prayers go out to those who lost their loved ones because of senseless violence last night in Aurora, Colorado. This tragedy is not only heartbreaking –it is incomprehensible. We should unite together as compassionate Americans to comfort those who are mourning. It is my prayer that we will cling tightly as ‘one nation under God’ and lift each other up in ongoing prayer, as well as, bringing physical comfort and support during this heartbreaking time.”
Below is a transcript of my discussion with former Congressman Ernest Istook on his show, Istook Live. Some of my comments in this interview have been taken out of context. Below is the full transcript in context:
ISTOOK: As promised we have a member of congress that is a former judge. Congressman Louie Gohmert represents the first district of Texas. We are happy to have him with us because everybody is concerned about what has happened with this shooting. Let me see if we have him here. Louie?
ISTOOK: That’s a huge figure. But that’s theirs. That’s about 68 hundred times a day which means that the number of times that they defend people is far greater than the times that they are used to take a life. Ah, but again, there are so many unknowns; I don’t want to get too far afield on this, this Colorado shooting. But, but what was your experience as a Judge, when you were on the bench? This is Congressman Louie Gohmert. When you were on the bench, what was your experience with people who had mental health issues that were involved in crimes of violence?
GOHMERT: Well, it’s always a problem and there are some people that require medication, and when they are on their medication they are not a problem whatsoever. But you can’t require them, you know, to keep taking their medication, and because you can’t follow them around. You can commit them to mental health facilities, but then they put them on their medications and they do fine and then they release them, then you, you know. We had an engineer who was just a wonderful guy, but when he got off his medication – ya know, it came in –our friend was out at a major intersection – eight lanes both ways –he’s running naked between the cars. When he was on his medication, he was a great functioning member of society. But, ya know, I might mention something else that had not been public yet, most of us that follow the military know we have had an extraordinary increase in suicide in the military –and it’s just heartbreaking. And, I’ve sat with families around their kitchen tables and they are going ‘we never saw this coming – ya know, we didn’t know.” And there was a study commissioned…
ISTOOK: And, Louie, we’re gonna have to finish...
GOHMERT: Well, let me say this very quickly – but its six thousand personality index profiles. And, what they found, and I don’t know if they will make it public – one of the participants told me ‘ the results may not go public’; but, all of the people who committed suicide, within their thousands of people studied, were part of the 2-percent most atheistic members of the military . We’ve lost our faith.
ISTOOK: Thank you, Louie Gohmert – Congressman from the First District of Texas.
Congressman Louie Gohmert is the Vice Chair of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security. Prior to being elected to serve in Congress, Louie was elected to three terms as District Judge in Smith County, Texas. He also served as Chief Justice of Texas'12th Court of Appeals.
*****This is from his own site*****
http://gohmert.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=303954
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Congressman Louie Gohmert (R-TX) military suicides are "atheists"
Looks like his thought bubble just burst. How dare this man try to blame military suicides on "atheists",,,has he ever talked to them or their families? Does he believe they deserve to die if they are atheist? I was sent a link to Rock Beyond Belief and didn't trust the site so I went looking for where it came from. It was on Gohmert's congressional page as if he's proud of it.
Sailor held in alleged hatchet attack on shipmate at Sasebo
Sailor held in alleged hatchet attack on shipmate at Sasebo
By MATTHEW M. BURKE
Stars and Stripes
Published: July 20, 2012
SASEBO NAVAL BASE, Japan – A sailor from the amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard is being detained after he allegedly attacked and injured a fellow sailor, Navy officials said.
People who witnessed the July 6 incident, which took place in front of the Chili’s restaurant at Sasebo Naval Base, said the sailor struck his victim with what looked like a hatchet.
read more here
By MATTHEW M. BURKE
Stars and Stripes
Published: July 20, 2012
SASEBO NAVAL BASE, Japan – A sailor from the amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard is being detained after he allegedly attacked and injured a fellow sailor, Navy officials said.
People who witnessed the July 6 incident, which took place in front of the Chili’s restaurant at Sasebo Naval Base, said the sailor struck his victim with what looked like a hatchet.
read more here
Quadruple amputee Sgt. John Peck gets help from groups
Groups team up to build home for wounded Marine in Virginia
By JEFF BRANSCOME
The Free Lance-Star
Fredericksburg, Va.
Published: July 20, 2012
An explosion sent him flying, and he was in excruciating pain. He recalls saying that he didn't want to die.
"I could see four guys working on me, so I knew something was pretty messed up," Peck said.
He blacked out and was on a stretcher near a helicopter when he woke up. A helicopter medic told Peck he was going to be OK, but that he'd be asleep for a little bit.
He woke up about two months later at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington.
Peck, 26, who is in the U.S. Marine Corps, lost his arms and legs after stepping on an improvised explosive devise while serving in Afghanistan in 2010.
He's being rewarded for his sacrifice with a new $500,000 home in Spotsylvania County's Estates of Chancellorsville. He and some 50 supporters attended a contract-signing ceremony Thursday at the vacant lot where his house will be built. The land is not far from where the Civil War raged in 1863.
Building for America's Bravest — a partnership with the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation and the Gary Sinise Foundation — made the project possible.read more here
By JEFF BRANSCOME
The Free Lance-Star
Fredericksburg, Va.
Published: July 20, 2012
Sgt. John Peck
BUILDING FOR AMERICA'S BRAVEST
Sgt. John Peck says he remembers everything.
An explosion sent him flying, and he was in excruciating pain. He recalls saying that he didn't want to die.
"I could see four guys working on me, so I knew something was pretty messed up," Peck said.
He blacked out and was on a stretcher near a helicopter when he woke up. A helicopter medic told Peck he was going to be OK, but that he'd be asleep for a little bit.
He woke up about two months later at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington.
Peck, 26, who is in the U.S. Marine Corps, lost his arms and legs after stepping on an improvised explosive devise while serving in Afghanistan in 2010.
He's being rewarded for his sacrifice with a new $500,000 home in Spotsylvania County's Estates of Chancellorsville. He and some 50 supporters attended a contract-signing ceremony Thursday at the vacant lot where his house will be built. The land is not far from where the Civil War raged in 1863.
Building for America's Bravest — a partnership with the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation and the Gary Sinise Foundation — made the project possible.read more here
Sailor among the dead at Colorado theater shooting
UPDATE
From CNN
Navy Vet, 2 Troops Killed in Movie MassacreOriginal report
Jul 23, 2012
Associated Press
AURORA, Colo. -- Navy officials say one of the people killed in a Colorado movie theater shooting was a Navy veteran.
Navy spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Chris Servello says 26-year-old Jonathan T. Blunk of Aurora, Colo., served three tours of duty between 2004 and 2009.
Military officials have also identified two active servicemembers, 27-year-old Navy sailor John Larimer of Crystal Lake, Ill. and 29-year-old Air Force reservist Jesse Childress Thornton, Colo., as two the 12 victims.
Sailor confirmed as ‘Batman’ shooting victim
By Jeff Schogol and Mark D. Faram
Staff writers
Posted : Saturday Jul 21, 2012
Relatives of a Navy sailor missing after a theater shooting in Aurora, Colo., confirmed Saturday that he was one of 12 people killed, The Associated Press reported.
The parents of John Larimer, 27, released a statement that Navy officials notified them about midnight that their son was one of those killed. The family said Larimer’s brother Noel is working with the Navy to bring his body home to Crystal Lake, Ill.
Another sailor was among the 59 injured in the shooting at the Century 16 theater complex shortly after midnight Friday. The injured sailor was treated at the scene and released; the nature of the sailor’s injuries is unknown. Three other sailors escaped unharmed.
read more here
From CNN
Jesse Childress
Air Force Staff Sgt. Jesse Childress was a reservist on active duty with 310 Force Support Squadron.
John Thomas Larimer
Larimer came from a military family; both his father and grandfather served in the U.S. Navy. Larimer himself was a Navy petty officer, third class, officials said.
Bill will aid wounded soldiers
Bill will aid wounded soldiers
The Monterey County Herald
Posted: 07/20/2012
We were pleased to see the U.S. House, once again, approve an amendment to a bill that would expedite innovative treatments for military veterans and active-duty soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injuries. Now it is time for the Senate to do the same.
The action would allow those suffering from serious brain maladies to obtain new treatment techniques from private sources when such treatments are not offered by the Department of Veterans Affairs.
North Bay Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, has been one of the prime forces behind this amendment. Thompson, who was wounded during a combat tour in Vietnam, is co-chairman of the bipartisan Military Veterans Caucus. He teamed with Republican colleague Rep. Pete Sessions of Texas to shepherd the amendment through a successful House vote twice.
Back in May, the amendment was successfully attached to the National Defense Authorization Act, but the Senate failed to act on it, so last week Thompson and Sessions managed to get the treatment-expansion initiative tacked on to the Department of Defense Appropriations Act.
As Thompson explained to us, the premise behind the amendment is that brain-injured soldiers deserve the best treatment possible, but sometimes that treatment lies outside the federal system.
His legislation could make that treatment available to those soldiers who desperately need it.
The incredible stress of fighting two wars for nearly 10 years has dramatically increased the number of soldiers who need such treatment. In the past 11 years, more than 230,000 service members have been diagnosed with TBI and up to 18 percent of U.S. military personnel returning from deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan have PTSD symptoms.
read more here
Glad they're happy,,,,,
Congress wasting more money on troops and failures
The Monterey County Herald
Posted: 07/20/2012
We were pleased to see the U.S. House, once again, approve an amendment to a bill that would expedite innovative treatments for military veterans and active-duty soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injuries. Now it is time for the Senate to do the same.
The action would allow those suffering from serious brain maladies to obtain new treatment techniques from private sources when such treatments are not offered by the Department of Veterans Affairs.
North Bay Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, has been one of the prime forces behind this amendment. Thompson, who was wounded during a combat tour in Vietnam, is co-chairman of the bipartisan Military Veterans Caucus. He teamed with Republican colleague Rep. Pete Sessions of Texas to shepherd the amendment through a successful House vote twice.
Back in May, the amendment was successfully attached to the National Defense Authorization Act, but the Senate failed to act on it, so last week Thompson and Sessions managed to get the treatment-expansion initiative tacked on to the Department of Defense Appropriations Act.
As Thompson explained to us, the premise behind the amendment is that brain-injured soldiers deserve the best treatment possible, but sometimes that treatment lies outside the federal system.
His legislation could make that treatment available to those soldiers who desperately need it.
The incredible stress of fighting two wars for nearly 10 years has dramatically increased the number of soldiers who need such treatment. In the past 11 years, more than 230,000 service members have been diagnosed with TBI and up to 18 percent of U.S. military personnel returning from deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan have PTSD symptoms.
read more here
Glad they're happy,,,,,
Congress wasting more money on troops and failures
Parents of slain soldier 'don't feel he died in vain'
It is easy for some to say our troops die in vain when they do not agree with the mission they are on at the time. It is easy and wrong. Wrong to dismiss their deaths with "they shouldn't have been there in the first place" because then, then they don't have to think beyond that. They can just move on with their lives. The families of the fallen will live with the hole in their hearts for the rest of their lives and grieve for other families the next time a coffin is covered with a flag.
Eisenhower was the president when troops died in Vietnam in 1959. They kept dying with Kennedy as president. They died under Johnson, Nixon and Ford. People tend to forget the Vietnam Wall begins with the date 1959 and ends with 1975.
Some enlisted, some were drafted but every single one of them were not risking their lives for the president at the time, for the reason, for the money, or for any other reason than for each other.
With Afghanistan and Iraq, just as with the Gulf War, they were serving this country but in the end, they were willing to die for the soldier next to them. So if you want to say they died in vain or their lives were wasted, maybe you should go and talk to the guy they saved and made it back home.
Parents of slain soldier 'don't feel he died in vain'
By ORLAN LOVE
CASCADE — The parents of fallen soldier Michael Ristau said Friday that freedom is not free and they accept the cost.
“We don’t feel he died in vain. We have it very good here because of people like him,” the soldier’s father, Randy Ristau, said during a news conference at City Hall.
It helps knowing “he died doing something he loved very much,” his mother, Suzanne Ristau, said.
Army Sgt. Ristau, 25, was killed July 13 in Afghanistan’s Qalat Zabul province when a roadside bomb impacted the vehicle in which he was riding, the Department of Defense said.
Suzanne Ristau said her family had been notified that two other soldiers were injured in the blast, one seriously.
She said her son got to spend only two weeks with his infant son, Hyle, before deploying in late December to Afghanistan with his unit, Company B, 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team.
Ristau, who joined the Army in July 2004, shortly after he graduated from Lincoln’s Challenge Academy in Rantoul, Ill., had served with the same unit in Iraq in 2006 and 2007.
The family is putting together a video with photographs of Michael Ristau to help his young son understand more about his father, she said. He is also survived by his wife Elizabeth of Tacoma, Wash., and another son, Bradley, 5, from an earlier marriage.
The Ristaus, who traveled to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware for the solemn and dignified transfer of their son’s remains, said they were grateful for the outpouring of support from family, friends, neighbors and total strangers.
read more here
Eisenhower was the president when troops died in Vietnam in 1959. They kept dying with Kennedy as president. They died under Johnson, Nixon and Ford. People tend to forget the Vietnam Wall begins with the date 1959 and ends with 1975.
Some enlisted, some were drafted but every single one of them were not risking their lives for the president at the time, for the reason, for the money, or for any other reason than for each other.
With Afghanistan and Iraq, just as with the Gulf War, they were serving this country but in the end, they were willing to die for the soldier next to them. So if you want to say they died in vain or their lives were wasted, maybe you should go and talk to the guy they saved and made it back home.
Friday, July 20, 2012
Sailor missing, feared dead in Colo. shooting
Sailor missing, feared dead in Colo. shooting
2 airmen injured in movie premiere chaos
By Jeff Schogol and Mark D. Faram
Staff writers
Army Times
Posted : Friday Jul 20, 2012
One sailor is still missing in the wake of a tragic theater shooting in Aurora, Colo., that has left 12 dead and 59 wounded after a man opened fire during the premiere showing of the newest Batman film.
According to the Navy, five sailors were known to be in the Century 16 theater complex shortly after midnight Friday, when the shooting occurred.
Of those, four are accounted for. Three sailors escaped unharmed, and one injured sailor was treated at the scene and released. The nature of the sailor’s injuries is unknown.
But one male sailor known to be in the theater remained unaccounted for as of 5 p.m. Eastern time, and officials are worried he could be one of the dead, though there’s been no official confirmation, according to the Navy.
Two airmen were injured in the incident, according to a Defense Department statement.
read more here
Military casualties in Colorado theater
2 airmen injured in movie premiere chaos
By Jeff Schogol and Mark D. Faram
Staff writers
Army Times
Posted : Friday Jul 20, 2012
One sailor is still missing in the wake of a tragic theater shooting in Aurora, Colo., that has left 12 dead and 59 wounded after a man opened fire during the premiere showing of the newest Batman film.
According to the Navy, five sailors were known to be in the Century 16 theater complex shortly after midnight Friday, when the shooting occurred.
Of those, four are accounted for. Three sailors escaped unharmed, and one injured sailor was treated at the scene and released. The nature of the sailor’s injuries is unknown.
But one male sailor known to be in the theater remained unaccounted for as of 5 p.m. Eastern time, and officials are worried he could be one of the dead, though there’s been no official confirmation, according to the Navy.
Two airmen were injured in the incident, according to a Defense Department statement.
read more here
Military casualties in Colorado theater
"We create the conditions that compel traumatized veterans to remain silent"
“We Refuse To Accept Their Story”
BY Staff
New Haven Independent
JUL 19, 2012
Armed with the story of two women who were raped while in the military, the leader of a local veterans advocacy group urged U.S. Congress to make it easier for victims of sexual assault to get cleared for disability compensation.
Margaret Middleton (pictured), executive director and co-founder of the Connecticut Veterans Legal Center, addressed the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs Wednesday afternoon.
Current regulations are so restrictive that only a third of veterans who suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder related to a military sexual trauma see their claims granted by the Veterans’ Administration, Middleton said in a press release. By contrast, the VA approves over half of combat-related PTSD claims, she said.
“We create the conditions that compel traumatized veterans to remain silent, and then we punish them for that silence by refusing to accept their story when they come forward to tell it. We know that this is grossly unfair, and we know how to fix it,” Middleton said.
read more here
BY Staff
New Haven Independent
JUL 19, 2012
Armed with the story of two women who were raped while in the military, the leader of a local veterans advocacy group urged U.S. Congress to make it easier for victims of sexual assault to get cleared for disability compensation.
Margaret Middleton (pictured), executive director and co-founder of the Connecticut Veterans Legal Center, addressed the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs Wednesday afternoon.
Current regulations are so restrictive that only a third of veterans who suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder related to a military sexual trauma see their claims granted by the Veterans’ Administration, Middleton said in a press release. By contrast, the VA approves over half of combat-related PTSD claims, she said.
“We create the conditions that compel traumatized veterans to remain silent, and then we punish them for that silence by refusing to accept their story when they come forward to tell it. We know that this is grossly unfair, and we know how to fix it,” Middleton said.
read more here
Troops get OK to march in gay parade in uniform
Troops get OK to march in gay parade _ in uniform
Published: July 19, 2012
By JULIE WATSON
Associated Press
CAMP PENDLETON, CALIF. — About 200 active-duty troops participated in last year's San Diego gay pride parade, but they wore T-shirts with their branch's name, not military dress.
This year for the first time ever, U.S. service members will be able to march in a gay pride event decked out in uniform.
In a memorandum sent to all its branches, the Defense Department said it was making the allowance for the San Diego parade on Saturday - even though its policy generally bars troops from marching in uniform in parades.
read more here
Published: July 19, 2012
By JULIE WATSON
Associated Press
CAMP PENDLETON, CALIF. — About 200 active-duty troops participated in last year's San Diego gay pride parade, but they wore T-shirts with their branch's name, not military dress.
This year for the first time ever, U.S. service members will be able to march in a gay pride event decked out in uniform.
In a memorandum sent to all its branches, the Defense Department said it was making the allowance for the San Diego parade on Saturday - even though its policy generally bars troops from marching in uniform in parades.
read more here
Texas to create 'strike force team' to reduce VA benefit claims backlog
Texas to create 'strike force team' to reduce VA benefit claims backlog
By Jeremy Schwartz
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Three days after officials detailed massive backlogs of disability claims for Texas veterans, state leaders on Thursday authorized the creation of a special team of counselors to help the Department of Veteran Affairs reduce the number of pending claims.
It wasn't immediately clear how much money officials would put toward the "State Strike Force Team," but a spokeswoman with the Texas Veterans Commission said the team would probably be similar to one created in 2009 that reduced pending claims by about 17,000.
That $400,000 effort utilized about a dozen counselors over several months.
On Monday, veterans commission officials revealed that the number of pending claims in Texas had doubled since 2010 and now sits at 107,279 claims.
More than 75 percent of those claims in Texas have been idling for more than 125 days, a higher rate than the national average of 66 percent.
read more here
$2.5 million in Texas Lottery proceeds to benefit veterans
All states do not treat this nation's veterans the same
By Jeremy Schwartz
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Three days after officials detailed massive backlogs of disability claims for Texas veterans, state leaders on Thursday authorized the creation of a special team of counselors to help the Department of Veteran Affairs reduce the number of pending claims.
It wasn't immediately clear how much money officials would put toward the "State Strike Force Team," but a spokeswoman with the Texas Veterans Commission said the team would probably be similar to one created in 2009 that reduced pending claims by about 17,000.
That $400,000 effort utilized about a dozen counselors over several months.
On Monday, veterans commission officials revealed that the number of pending claims in Texas had doubled since 2010 and now sits at 107,279 claims.
More than 75 percent of those claims in Texas have been idling for more than 125 days, a higher rate than the national average of 66 percent.
read more here
$2.5 million in Texas Lottery proceeds to benefit veterans
All states do not treat this nation's veterans the same
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