The Surreal World of Tom Coburn

This is beyond bizarre. Okie from Muskogee and fringe-firing gun-nut Senator Tom Coburn (R-NRA) is blocking a measure that passed unanimously in the House and was sent to the Senate that would mandate suicide screening for all returning vets.

Today's combat veterans have a suicide rate that is double what it is for their peers who stayed home, and everyone agrees that they need help and they need it now.

Everyone except Tom Coburn. And wait till you hear his reason:

He's afraid that the returning vets will be unable to purchase ... handguns!

It boggles the mind. Even if it were true -- which is far from obvious -- don't you think that a person who is prone to committing suicide might benefit from a reduced ability to get his or her hands on a pistol?

Even the fucking NRA -- who has backed Coburn with campaign contributions, naturally -- ought to back off on this one. All it would take would be a phone call to their lackey in the Senate and he'd back down.

What makes this even more disgusting, if that's possible, is that Coburn is a fucking doctor! A doctor who apparently has forgotten the Hippocratic Oath that he swore to when he became a doctor: "I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures that are required ... I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure." And don't forget the Primum non nocere, a precept that is also taught in all medical schools: First do no harm.

Doesn't really sound to me like Old Doctor Tom is on the same page with his colleagues, does it. Except for that notorious expert in video diagnosis, Bill Frist (R-Asshole). At least he's gone from the senate and unable to inflict his medical malpractice long distance on poor victims like Terry Schiavo. Doctor Tom is still around and making trouble.

Here's hoping that his fellow senators will call him into the cloakroom for some percussive persuasion and change his mind about this travesty.