Knee Jerk Liberal

Barack is making noises of outrage over the suicide rate our combat troops are experiencing. He expressed his desire for swift information from the Pentagon in a letter, that Thomas Sowell points out, was rich with arrogance.

"What changes will you make to provide our soldiers in theater with real access to mental health care?"

"What training has the Pentagon provided our medical professionals in theater to recognize who might be at risk of committing suicide?"

"What assistance are you providing families here at home to recognize the risk factors for suicide, so that they may help our service members get the assistance they need?"

"What programs has the Pentagon implemented to help reduce the stigma attached to mental health concerns so that service members are more likely to seek appropriate care?"

There's lots that Barack wants to know, but according to Sowell, the big thing he doesn't know is that the suicide rate is lower for our fighting men and women.

No one needs to be reminded that suicide is a serious matter, whether among soldiers or civilians. But the media have managed to create the impression that it is military service overseas which is the cause of suicides among American troops, when civilians of the same ages and other demographic characteristics are committing suicide at an even higher rate at home.

This fact doesn't fit the liberal storyline, however, of Republicans being the leading cause of everything bad.

The New York Times led the way in making homicides committed by returning military veterans a front page story, blaming this on "combat trauma and the stress of deployment." Yet the New York Post showed that the homicide rate among returning veterans is a fraction of the homicide rate among demographically comparable civilians.

Ah, the Times. All the news that's fit to slant.