John Kerry urges move to prevent military suicides

[Mass]

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/us_politics/view.bg?articleid=1061181624&format=comments#CommentsArea

John Kerry urges move to prevent military suicides

By Associated Press
BOSTON -- Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry and Georgia Rep. Hank Johnson, both Democrats, have sent a bipartisan letter signed by nearly three dozen other members of Congress urging a proposal meant to help prevent military suicides.

The letter urges leaders of the Senate and House Armed Services committees to back a House amendment to the defense authorization bill. It would allow military commanders and mental health professionals to talk with service men and women about the personal firearms they own and encourage them to store them safely in a military facility or using a gunlock.

Kerry said military suicides as of June were up 18 percent over the same period the previous year. He said that’s "a wakeup call" that some need more help with "invisible wounds."


Johnson said the proposal isn’t an attempt to limit gun rights, but just "common sense

[NYC_SKP]

1. On average, US veterans commit 18 suicides per day. Successful suicides. Per DAY!

`
An unbelievable number and a horrible thing.

[midnight]

2. I'm wonder about the lack of health care available to our military members.

For over a decade our military personnel have had to have their own families provide what the military/congress should of provided... and talking about firearms is sidestepping the real problem.. Time for our elected officials with financial winnings from these decades long war to pay back our service members with real support... No more of this demoralizing bullshit-let's talk about gun safety...

[blm]

4. Kerry talked about this back in 2002, noting the Bush administration was ignoring the required

psychological testing of troops before they were sent overseas.

The corporate media was so "Rah Rah" Bush and war that they completely ignored the criminal negligence of Bush's WH and DoD.

Expect corpmedia to ignore this issue and refuse to admit their role in it.

[midnight]

5. In 2002 Kerry talked about psychologically testing troops for an illegal war that congress never

signed off on-I think he should of been calling out the legality of this war back in 2002.

[karynnj]

6. What do you think "not a war of last resort" means?

Kerry used that phrase thousands of times in 2003 and 2004. He also used it in his "Do not rush to war" speech at Georgetown University, where I assume the vast majority of the students knew that it meant it would not be a just or moral war. (You might remember the first debate where Kerry answered a question on going to war with a "global test" , which was an attempt to secularize the St Augustinian definition of a just war. (At a speech in 2006 at Pepperdine University, when speaking of how his religion informed his political values he was clear that the similarity was not a coincidence.)

Moral or just goes beyond "legal". Not to mention, when they voted one promise was that Bush would go to the UN - which he did. He, Blair and the Spanish leader then opted to NOT return to the UN for a further declaration. At that point, Kerry was among the few who spoke out - as he said he would if Bush deviated from his promises. The simple fact is that Congress really can not prevent a President from going to war and once war is entered, will not second guess the President.

[Mass]

7. Probably an NRA card carrying member.

They are the only ones who have an issue with this letter and what it asks for. Everybody else understands it is a measure that could help, not a solution in itself.

If the point had been to say it is also important to work on the why, I would agree with the poster, but clearly, it is not the goal here.

[midnight]

10. I was not aware who supports this letter, or not, but I think it doesn't address the crisis by a

long shot....

[Mass]

11. And nobody says it does...

Certainly not Kerry nor the other people signing the letter.

[midnight]

13. And that is the problem, for me at least.... When I'm moving around my town and see the homeless

vets in my community... I bring them food...They are tired of being treated like inmates... They want jobs, they want food, and they want health care... They need more than this talking. It is a band aid measure... If this country wants to preserve the health of our service members-end their homelessness, their hunger, and find them jobs....

[Mass]

14. My guess is that the people who signed this letter would agree with you and

fight for this (I do not have the list of people who signed, so there may be some who do not). This is ONE thing. There are others.

[midnight]

12. Did Congress declare war?

[karynnj]

17. No they did not

[midnight]

18. Thanks for the verification.

[blm]

8. He did - Kerry sided with weapon inspectors and stood against Bush's decision to use force

when the intel coming out of Iraq via the weapon inspections was proving that force was not needed.

Please don't rewrite history to comport with the corpmedia's preferred narrative.

[midnight]

16. blm I applaud Kerry for siding with the weapons inspector... But we are a decade later and our troop

need more than a bill tied to NDAA... That's all I'm saying...

[Trillo]

3. I've never understood the laws (or customs) against suicide.

It's one of those seeming exceptions to the personal responsibility culture we seem to have.

[Mass]

9. Sen. John Kerry's effort to prevent military suicides hailed by Lucey family of Belchertown

http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2012/12/kerrys_effort_to_prevent_milit.html

Sen. John Kerry's effort to prevent military suicides hailed by Lucey family of Belchertown

Interesting view from a family who has lived through this terrible ordeal.

[midnight]

15. Thanks for the link... it's tied into the National Defense Authorization act....