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Getbig Main Boards => Politics and Political Issues Board => Topic started by: Soul Crusher on July 28, 2011, 06:15:48 AM
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Veterans Summoned to White House, Told to Brace for Cuts
WVNSTV ^ | 7/27/11 | Anne Moore
Veterans Summoned to White House, Told to Brace for Cuts
Updated Wednesday, July 27, 2011; 07:21 PM
By Anne Moore
BECKLEY -- Leaders of veterans groups met with administration officials Tuesday to discuss what is at stake if Congress cannot come to a consensus.
President Obama has said that if a default occurs, the administration will be forced to prioritize who gets paid.
That means those receiving veterans benefits, social security, unemployment insurance, tuition grants, food stamps, and child care subsidies may be forced to compete for coverage.
“If that happens, and we default, we would not have enough money to pay all of our bills –bills that include monthly Social Security checks, veterans’ benefits, and the government contracts we’ve signed with thousands of businesses,” said the President.
Each day without a deal, veterans at the Raleigh County Commission on Aging worry whether their check will come in the mail next month.
“The fact that the President comes out and threatens to take away our social security checks and not pay the veterans is despicable,” said David Hern, a veteran fought in Korea.
(Excerpt) Read more at wvnstv.com ...
________________________ ________________________ _____
Despicable is right. Obama is a communist traitor who hates this country. Fuck him and fuck you whoever still supports this outlaw junta.
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BILLIONS FOR JIHAD!
Obama’s 2009 Supplemental Appropriations for Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Pandemic Flu was revised and “passed by the full committee.”
It gives billions http://creepingsharia.wordpress.com/2009/05/13/obamas-supplemental-bill-passes-gives-billions-to-enemies/ of U.S. taxpayer dollars to countries and entities that support Sharia law and/or harbor, hide and support those who want to destroy the U.S. and our allies.
Read the summary from David Obey’s office that was quietly released last week with nary a word from any media.
• $3.6 billion, matching the request, to expand and improve capabilities of the Afghan security forces
• $400 million, as requested, to build the counterinsurgency capabilities of the Pakistani security forces
• Afghanistan: $1.52 billion, $86 million above the request
• West Bank and Gaza: $665 million in bilateral economic, humanitarian, and security assistance for the West Bank and Gaza
• Jordan: $250 million, $250 million above the request, including $100 million for economic and $150 million for security assistance
• Egypt: $360 million, $310 million above the request, including $50 million for economic assistance, $50 million for border security, and $260 million for security assistance
• Pakistan: $1.9 billion, $591 million above the request
• Iraq: $968 million, $336 million above the request
• Oversight: $20 million, $13 million above the request, to expand oversight capacity of the State Department, USAID, and the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan to review programs in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq
• Lebanon: $74 million
• International Food Assistance: $500 million, $200 million above the request, for PL 480 international food assistance to alleviate suffering during the global economic crisis
• Refugee Assistance: $343 million, $50 million above the request, …including humanitarian assistance for Gaza. Funding for the UN Relief and Works Agency programs in the West Bank and Gaza is limited to $119 million (Note: Gaza = Hamas)
• Disaster Assistance: $200 million to avert famines and provide life-saving assistance during natural disasters and for internally displaced people around the world, including Somalia, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, the Middle East and South Asia
•Peacekeeping: $837 million for United Nations
peacekeeping operations, including an expanded mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and a new mission in Chad and the Central African Republic
• Department of Justice: $17 million, matching the request, for counter-terrorism activities and to provide training and assistance for the Iraqi criminal justice system
The mainstream media remains silent on this but the International News has now picked up the story http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=22164
— and then there is Obama’s $108 billion IMF bailout scheme http://michellemalkin.com/2009/05/13/obamas-100-billion-imf-bailout-scheme/
in addition to the Supplemental.
And THIS is what Obama is doing to American taxpayers:
THE BIGGEST TAX HIKE IN AMERICAN HISTORY:
http://www.atr.org/days-thebr-largest-tax-hikes-history-a5370
PDF Version:
http://www.atr.org/files/files/090310pr-jan2011taxes.pdf
Obama gives your tax dollars to rebuild Muslim mosques around the world
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/26990#
ACCORDING TO THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION WILL GIVE AWAY NEARLY $6 MILLION OF AMERICAN TAX DOLLARS TO RESTORE 63 HISTORIC AND CULTURAL SITES, INCLUDING ISLAMIC MOSQUES AND MINARETS, IN 55 NATIONS. See the State Department document here.
http://exchanges.state.gov/media/pdfs/office-of-policy-and-evaluations/ambassadors-fund/afcp2010list.pdf
THIS IS THE COMMUNIST TRAITOR YOU ASSHOLES VOTED FOR. THANKS GUYS.
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The guy has got to go. Simple as that.
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If there was any one instance in which I was in support of a government-run healthcare plan/socialized medicine, it would be for our troops. They shouldn't have to pay for it themselves. Obama and the Repubs need to keep their hands off of it.
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The guy has got to go. Simple as that.
He is lying and he know it. To do this to veterans is beyond vile.
He needs to be impeached and sent back wherever the hell he came from. Same for those who voted for him.
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It gets worse..they want to raise the rates on our heathcare...actually its not a rate raise its a complete change to the plans with which we signed up for. Gates wanted to raise retired rates 50 buck...big deal. Coburn whined that nobody in government gets free or low rate heathcare for life....because some fat cube dweller shelping welfare checks for Obama is the same as a guy who spent 20 years as a grunt. The Dems are all shitbags.
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I really don't know what else is left to say about obama that I have not already.
Communist, disgusting, racist, anti-american, traitor, vile, despicable, ignorant, illiterate, incompetent, etc. are too nice for him.
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I can't hate him and the libs anymore then I do now.
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I really don't know what else is left to say about obama that I have not already.
Communist, disgusting, racist, anti-american, traitor, vile, despicable, ignorant, illiterate, incompetent, etc. are too nice for him.
lol, he is a harvard trained lawyer, eons more intelligent then you. What you posted is propaganda, DROP DEAD VETERANS, lmao.
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Laugh my ass off. Harvard trained lawyer? Fucking please.
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Laugh my ass off. Harvard trained lawyer? Fucking please.
you are sounding like the teabaggers, just lying and denying truth
"In late 1988, Obama entered Harvard Law School. He was selected as an editor of the Harvard Law Review at the end of his first year,[31] and president of the journal in his second year.[27][32] During his summers, he returned to Chicago, where he worked as a summer associate at the law firms of Sidley Austin in 1989 and Hopkins & Sutter in 1990.[33] After graduating with a Juris Doctor magna cum laude[34] from Harvard in 1991, he returned to Chicago.[31] Obama's election as the first black president of the Harvard Law Review gained national media attention"
magna cum laude meatpie. with high honor, meaning very high marks in harvard law school
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Show me one article, treastise, one case note, one reported decision, one case, file, amicus brief, or anything whatsoever he has ever done or accomplished as a lawyer.
Just one will do.
And please dont make me laugh any harder about law review. That is a popularity contest and he didnt do a damn thing on that either.
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lol, he is a harvard trained lawyer, eons more intelligent then you. What you posted is propaganda, DROP DEAD VETERANS, lmao.
And how has diploma helped him in his presidency?
I will give you the answer because you will just babble your stupidity. IT HASN'T HELPED HIM ONE IOTA. It only took him almost 3 years to prove that he is BY FAR the worst president of all time. EVERY SINGLE LEGISLATION that he has supported has had the opposite result of what he promised. It feels as if Bush is still in office. Wasn't he supposed to change the status quo and prevent a 3rd Bush term?
HEHEHEHHEH!!!! Obama should take his Harvard diploma and wipe his black ass with it.
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Show me one article, treastise, one case note, one reported decision, one case, file, amicus brief, or anything whatsoever he has ever done or accomplished as a lawyer.
Just one will do.
And please dont make me laugh any harder about law review. That is a popularity contest and he didnt do a damn thing on that either.
you said he was illiterate and incompetent, im saying his accomplishments speak for themselves, he is highly intelligent, the degree proves this. Why did you not answer my questions? i would appreciate it if you did so i can gauge your ability to think rationally and logically.
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Why do you not blame the republicans as well?
They are also to blame... This is definitely not just about obama.
And since we are at it... If we are saying that Veterans are getting shafted... Who SHOULD get paid?
Thats utter horseshit TU.
He brought them there to fearmonger and lie.
how about he cuts obamacare first? How about the EPA? how about his war in lybia? How about the billions to pakistan and egypt?
How about HUD? How about all the other stupid agencies pissing away money? How about the remaibning stim bill money?
Its called priorities. We are broke. We borrow .43 on the dollar and shit needs to get cut. There is plenty to cut before screwing over vets and the communist traitor Typhoid Barry knows it.
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Why do you not blame the republicans as well?
They are also to blame... This is definitely not just about obama.
And since we are at it... If we are saying that Veterans are getting shafted... Who SHOULD get paid?
Are you that stupid? Do you know how to read, nitwit? 3333 and most of us have stated that Reps had their part in their disaster. The problem here, just like Obama, you want to ONLY BLAME BUSH AND THE REPUBLICANS. When you start blaming Obama for making it worst the last 3 years, then you will be living what you just preached on the above post.
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And how has diploma helped him in his presidency?
I will give you the answer because you will just babble your stupidity. IT HASN'T HELPED HIM ONE IOTA. It only took him almost 3 years to prove that he is BY FAR the worst president of all time. EVERY SINGLE LEGISLATION that he has supported has had the opposite result of what he promised. It feels as if Bush is still in office. Wasn't he supposed to change the status quo and prevent a 3rd Bush term?
HEHEHEHHEH!!!! Obama should take his Harvard diploma and wipe his black ass with it.
didn't say it did, i was just pointing out he is a smart man. Just like i am smarter then you since you want to call me stupid. Every legislation has had the opposite affect? you either have no idea what you are talking about or are lying. You can dislike him but don't make everything so hyperbole.
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you said he was illiterate and incompetent, im saying his accomplishments speak for themselves, he is highly intelligent, the degree proves this. Why did you not answer my questions? i would appreciate it if you did so i can gauge your ability to think rationally and logically.
The degree proves that he went to school, did he every actually have a job?
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you said he was illiterate and incompetent, im saying his accomplishments speak for themselves, he is highly intelligent, the degree proves this. Why did you not answer my questions? i would appreciate it if you did so i can gauge your ability to think rationally and logically.
LMFAO!
So as long as Harvard prints someones' name on a diploma and hands it to them that proves they are highly intelligent?
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Are you that stupid? Do you know how to read, nitwit? 3333 and most of us have stated that Reps had their part in their disaster. The problem here, just like Obama, you want to ONLY BLAME BUSH AND THE REPUBLICANS. When you start blaming Obama for making it worst the last 3 years, then you will be living what you just preached on the above post.
Wha? you must not realize how bad it was near the end of bush's presidency then and what the possible implications where.
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didn't say it did, i was just pointing out he is a smart man. Just like i am smarter then you since you want to call me stupid. Every legislation has had the opposite affect? you either have no idea what you are talking about or are lying. You can dislike him but don't make everything so hyperbole.
LMFAO! Keep it up. Please please please.
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Wha? you must not realize how bad it was near the end of bush's presidency then and what the possible implications where.
I believe Barack Obama was a Senator we he not? Then claiming ignorance of what the situation was, highly intelligent ::)
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Wha? you must not realize how bad it was near the end of bush's presidency then and what the possible implications where.
Yawn - and three years later things are still getting drastically worse by nearly every single economic indicator.
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LMFAO!
So as long as Harvard prints someones' name on a diploma and hands it to them that proves they are highly intelligent?
you are blinded by hatred, you think they gave him a magna cum laude in 1988 for fun? why because they could tell the future and that he would be a president 20 years later? you are a fear mongering reality denier. Harvard as perhaps the standout institution in the states for academia doesn't hand out free diplomas nor high honors, are you suggesting he did not earn it? if so you are a conspiracy theory nut.
Oh and refusing to answer my question proves my point, you do believe in magic and 600 year old men and deny facts. I dont see the point in responding to any of your posts again, you are closed minded, nothing can sway you, you are always right no matter what because facts dont matter.
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Since all his records are sealed, no one really know what is academic prowess is
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you are blinded by hatred, you think they gave him a magna cum laude in 1988 for fun? why because they could tell the future and that he would be a president 20 years later? you are a fear mongering reality denier. Harvard as perhaps the standout institution in the states for academia doesn't hand out free diplomas nor high honors, are you suggesting he did not earn it? if so you are a conspiracy theory nut.
Oh and refusing to answer my question proves my point, you do believe in magic and 600 year old men and deny facts. I dont see the point in responding to any of your posts again, you are closed minded, nothing can sway you, you are always right no matter what because facts dont matter.
Do you consider George W. Bush highly intelligent?
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Do you consider George W. Bush highly intelligent?
That's different ;D
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Since all his records are sealed, no one really know what is academic prowess is
I have dealt with traffic ticket lawyers in brooklyn smarter than obama.
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I have dealt with traffic ticket lawyers in brooklyn smarter than obama.
Obama has never held an actual job in his life, this is what you get when the person running the show has no real world experience. Everything they know is from academia and not the real world.
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Obama has never held an actual job in his life, this is what you get when the person running the show has no real world experience. Everything they know is from academia and not the real world.
I like it. :) Dangerfield was terrific.
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The EPA is another rougue agency out of control.
Be that as it may that was one example.
Again, we are borrowing .43 on the dollar spent. That is bullshit.
Yes entitlements need to be cut, but that has nothing to do with this current immeduiate debt ceiling issue. Obama is mixing the two intentionally to scare people and continue his crack addiction to spending tax dollars we dont have.
Why not cut food stamps and medicaid to able bodied people?
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Obama would have to make the call where the money goes. He needs to be put on the hot seat and make some tough decisions. I know it's not as much fun as campaigning, but it's the job he signed up for.
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You and I both know that 75% of the entire US budget is in defense, SS, and Medicare.
Doubt it. Probably closer to 60%, but if you've got numbers, I'll be glad to check it out.
Across the board is probably the most fair way to go, but I don't like the idea of cutting off people's heat, not providing food, etc. So I think there has to be some judgements made.
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Obama would have to make the call where the money goes. He needs to be put on the hot seat and make some tough decisions. I know it's not as much fun as campaigning, but it's the job he signed up for.
Again - he campaigned on cutting the deficit in half by the end of his first term.
Its far easier for him to lie like he does and keep spending our money than it is for him to make tough decisions.
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Again - he campaigned on cutting the deficit in half by the end of his first term.
Its far easier for him to lie like he does and keep spending our money than it is for him to make tough decisions.
Far easier to blame Bush. :D
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Doubt it. Probably closer to 60%, but if you've got numbers, I'll be glad to check it out.
Across the board is probably the most fair way to go, but I don't like the idea of cutting off people's heat, not providing food, etc. So I think there has to be some judgements made.
Why dont we start with all the ball washing programs?
How about congressional travel?
How about all the staff the congresss and wh have?
How about cutting car usage by employees?
How about taking the CEO of IBM up on his offer to trim 90 billion a year of fraud in medicare for free?
If obama were remotely serious about cutting waste fraud and abuse, we would not be having this discussion.
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Why dont we start with all the ball washing programs?
How about congressional travel?
How about all the staff the congresss and wh have?
How about cutting car usage by employees?
How about taking the CEO of IBM up on his offer to trim 90 billion a year of fraud in medicare for free?
If obama were remotely serious about cutting waste fraud and abuse, we would not be having this discussion.
No argument from me. I'd also eliminate most foreign aid.
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If he won't I will..he got it because he was a minority. He didn't do a thing while at law school. A year before he became head of the law review somebody whined that there wasn't enough minorities heading or part of the review...a year later ol barry gets the job. Sorta like how he became president. I would'nt piss on him if he was on fire.
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If he won't I will..he got it because he was a minority. He didn't do a thing while at law school. A year before he became head of the law review somebody whined that there wasn't enough minorities heading or part of the review...a year later ol barry gets the job. Sorta like how he became president. I would'nt piss on him if he was on fire.
Like I said he is Typhoid Barry - worse than a bubonic plaque.
I look at him no different than a raging flash mob out of control.
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The EPA is another rougue agency out of control.
Be that as it may that was one example.
Again, we are borrowing .43 on the dollar spent. That is bullshit.
Yes entitlements need to be cut, but that has nothing to do with this current immeduiate debt ceiling issue. Obama is mixing the two intentionally to scare people and continue his crack addiction to spending tax dollars we dont have.
Why not cut food stamps and medicaid to able bodied people?
Anybody notice the new EPA ads on TV? Has anybody ever seen an EPA ad before this admin.....oh yeah in other news the guy who made up the dead polarbear BS was suspended by NASA...who also are reversing course on climate change. Ol barry shouldn't have cut their budget.
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I dont' know, but if you take the "interest" on the debt out of the equation (which is another huge piece), it's close to 75 I think.
(http://thefalconpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/Budget-Pie-Chart.jpg)
Most of the Pentagon's spending is off the books and they refuse to be audited. Who knows much money they really spend?
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Are you that stupid? Do you know how to read, nitwit? 3333 and most of us have stated that Reps had their part in their disaster. The problem here, just like Obama, you want to ONLY BLAME BUSH AND THE REPUBLICANS. When you start blaming Obama for making it worst the last 3 years, then you will be living what you just preached on the above post.
But fucko only blames obama for everything. You might say Repubs have had their part to blame.. But 33333 says obama is the reason he had the runs this morning
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Again - he campaigned on cutting the deficit in half by the end of his first term.
Its far easier for him to lie like he does and keep spending our money than it is for him to make tough decisions.
Are you retarded. All Politicians make campaign promises. But if obama does it he is satan.. lol.. Weak
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I dont' know, but if you take the "interest" on the debt out of the equation (which is another huge piece), it's close to 75 I think.
(http://thefalconpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/Budget-Pie-Chart.jpg)
If I'm reading your graph right - 18+20+18 = 56%
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Most of the Pentagon's spending is off the books and they refuse to be audited. Who knows much money they really spend?
Most, if not all, is on the books and the Pentagon is audited. Supplemental emergency appropriations does not necessarily mean off budget.
BTW, a good chunk of Social Security is off budget. You obviously don't even know what that means - moron.
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It does, but if you leave out 10% of the debt of interest, then that changes the entire model to closer to 75%.
I don't include the interest because we don't get anything for it.
We don't get anything for African ball washing either, but it's still an expenditure. Not sure why it wouldn't count.
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Most, if not all, is on the books and the Pentagon is audited. Supplemental emergency appropriations does not necessarily mean off budget.
BTW, a good chunk of Social Security is off budget. You obviously don't even know what that means - moron.
Does that audit include the billions or trillions that go to corporate welfare in the form of contracts and financing to the military industrial complex?
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Does that audit include the billions or trillions that go to corporate welfare in the form of contracts and financing to the military industrial complex?
Something stopping you from reading the audits?
As far as the money goes, I suppose it's both good and bad - not sure what the net effect really is. Those contracts give people jobs, benefits, etc. But there is definitely fraud, waste, abuse, etc.
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Are you retarded. All Politicians make campaign promises. But if obama does it he is satan.. lol.. Weak
So it's OK for him to spend this country into insolvency because all politicians lie? That should be reassuring to the tens of millions of Americans out of work or underemployed right now.
"Everybody does it so let's give him a free pass." Come on, man. He's the fucking President. He ASKED to be given the reins of this country and its economy. Time he took responsibility for the profligate spending he and his cronies Piglosi and Dingy Reid have unleashed on this country.
We provide some good or aid with that... Interest is not a good or a service in my mind. I do agree it is an expenditure, but none the less... The budget didn't include the wars at this time either... there's a few more billions or is it trillions you have to put on the pie chart now.
It's definitely more than 60% at this point in those three... So which of those do we cut?
All of them.
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Every single promise Obama made he has lied about. Whether it's the mandate in obamacare, being fiscally responsible, the wars, transparency, etc, has all been a bogus lie.
Hey mal, if you knew that every single Obama promise was a lie and a scam would you still have voted for him?
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Every single promise Obama made he has lied about. Whether it's the mandate in obamacare, being fiscally responsible, the wars, transparency, etc, has all been a bogus lie.
Hey mal, if you knew that every single Obama promise was a lie and a scam would you still have voted for him?
To be fair, he did repeal DADT. That might be the lone accomplishment of his administration. :-\
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We provide some good or aid with that... Interest is not a good or a service in my mind. I do agree it is an expenditure, but none the less... The budget didn't include the wars at this time either... there's a few more billions or is it trillions you have to put on the pie chart now.
It's definitely more than 60% at this point in those three... So which of those do we cut?
? You don't have to put anything else on the chart. In fact, it's from 2009 so they would have already done so.
Supplemental emergency appropriations are still counted as expenditures.
As for what to cut, like I said across the board is probably the most fair, but I don't like the idea of somebody going without heat, electricity, food, etc. Some value judgements will have to be made (or perhaps should be made) - IMHO.
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So it's OK for him to spend this country into insolvency because all politicians lie? That should be reassuring to the tens of millions of Americans out of work or underemployed right now.
"Everybody does it so let's give him a free pass." Come on, man. He's the fucking President. He ASKED to be given the reins of this country and its economy. Time he took responsibility for the profligate spending he and his cronies Piglosi and Dingy Reid have unleashed on this country.
lol
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No... The wars didn't go on the "budget" in 2009. So there is more in the "budget" now than there was in 2009.
Dude, the wars don't have to be on the budget.
Supplemental emergency appropriations are still counted as expenditures.
I can't make it any simpler. Do you know what off budget means? Do you realize that a huge chunk of Social Security is off budget? Taking your argument, you'd have to almost double the size of the social security in your little graph.
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If that's what's SPENT, then yes, double it... my point is that the 3 biggest SPENDS in the government are MORE than the budget has allocated in it.
I guess that's what I should have said originally, but none the less, if that is the case, then the big 3 are even MORE than 75 percent of the federal "spend" as it were.
That doesn't make sense. The graph is fine and if you look at 2010, it will be right along the same lines.
Of course we spend more, but the unified budget accounts for that by the sale of securities and borrowing from the SSTF, etc. In your expenditure chart the "interest", which you dismiss, is what's owed from that borrowing.
Your chart is not a comparative analysis of what we take in versus what we spend. It's only showing how the 4 Trillion that we spent was allocated. The government took in less revenue, hence we incurred debt/deficit.
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Yawn - and three years later things are still getting drastically worse by nearly every single economic indicator.
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LOL. That chart is beyond ludicrous.
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I didn't make it... I just found it... Is it inaccurate?
Where is it wrong?
Stim Bill was 865 Billion, that does not include Lybia, does not include the escalation in Aghanistan, does not include the other bs. Does not incvlude the payroll tax extension he wants, does not include the financial bailouts.
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Well, to be honest, you're using "Things he wants" and you can't do that... You have to use what he actually did.
I believe TARP was the financial bailouts right? That's under the Bush column.
What am I missing here?
Chart looks accurate to me.
Obama was in favor of TARP and appointed the architect of TARP as Treasury Sec remember?
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I do, but that's neither here nor there... a lot of people were in favor of TARP.
Everyone was told without TARP the economy would collapse... Was it true? I have no idea... no one does, but TARP happened anyway.
I was against TARP from Day 1. But please - Obama supported TARP and flew in to DC and appointed the architect of TARP as Tres Sec, re-appointed Bernake, etc.
He is every much as responsible for TARP as anyone else.
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Obama’s and Bush’s real effects on the deficit in one graph
http://dailycaller.com/ ^ | July 30 2011 | By Steve McMillin
Ezra Klein recently posted a New York Times graphic supporting his view that the deficit is primarily the fault of former President Bush and his predecessors, rather than President Obama. Interestingly, he makes no attempt to claim that Obama’s policies have reduced the deficit, just that Obama’s deficit increases were smaller than Bush’s.
Leave aside for a moment the fact that Bush’s entire eight-year record is being compared to policies enacted during Obama’s first two and a half years. The fundamental flaw in the New York Times graphic is that it assumes that a president’s fiscal policy is confined to “new” policies enacted under his watch. Every year, the president proposes a budget that contains a mix of new policies and old policies. The result is a comprehensive vision of what federal tax and spending policy ought to be. A president who simply continues the fiscal policy he inherits must bear his share of responsibility for its consequences.
A prime example of this is the “Bush tax cuts,” which the New York Times graphic charges solely to President Bush, conveniently ignoring the fact that President Obama supports making most of the cuts permanent and signed into law a two-year extension of all of them. President Bush also signed a new Medicare drug benefit into law. But President Obama didn’t repeal this new spending, he expanded it.
Below is a graphic that focuses on the results of fiscal policy, not simply on adjustments made on the margins of fiscal policy. If anything, the analysis is overly generous to President Obama because: (1) it assigns full responsibility for Fiscal Year 2009 to President Bush, despite the enactment by Obama of the stimulus, higher domestic appropriations and an expansion of TARP spending during that year; and (2) it gives Obama credit for the policies he intends to enact for the rest of his presidency, since we cannot judge his actual future record. The graphic compares the records of these two presidents based on the deficits, revenues and spending incurred by the federal government on their watch, expressed as a percentage of GDP.
The results show one surprise — thanks in part to the recession and tax stimulus measures which have temporarily lowered federal revenues, Bush and Obama tax policies yield virtually the same amount of revenues on average. But the real story is the comparison of spending. Obama’s policies result in historically high spending as a share of the economy, which in turn results in historically high deficits.
To President Obama’s credit, he has begun to embrace the need for a change in direction, though he was dragged there kicking and screaming by Republicans and continues to insist that significant spending cuts be linked to higher taxes. In contrast, Bush’s initiatives were opposed at every turn by congressional Democrats, who insisted on even higher spending.
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If there was any one instance in which I was in support of a government-run healthcare plan/socialized medicine, it would be for our troops. They shouldn't have to pay for it themselves. Obama and the Repubs need to keep their hands off of it.
Why? America has shown over many years, that it does not “care about our troops.” Why pretend to care now? ???
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If there was any one instance in which I was in support of a government-run healthcare plan/socialized medicine, it would be for our troops. They shouldn't have to pay for it themselves. Obama and the Repubs need to keep their hands off of it.
So Socialism is okay as long as its in our military?
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Veterans Often Wait Over A Year For Benefits, Some Wait Up To 642 Days As VA Struggles To Handle Claims
The Huffington Post | By Nick Wing Posted: 03/14/2013 11:29 am EDT | Updated: 03/14/2013 1:12 pm EDT
The Department of Veterans Affairs is failing to keep up with a torrent of benefits claims, and the backlog leaves many service members high and dry for well over a year after first filing their forms, a new report from the Center for Investigative Reporting finds.
From the CIR report:
The agency tracks and widely reports the average wait time: 273 days. But the internal data indicates that veterans filing their first claim, including those who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, wait nearly two months longer, between 316 and 327 days. Those filing for the first time in America’s major population centers wait up to twice as long -- 642 days in New York, 619 days in Los Angeles and 542 days in Chicago.
The ranks of veterans waiting more than a year for their benefits grew from 11,000 in 2009, the first year of Obama’s presidency, to 245,000 in December -- an increase of more than 2,000 percent.
And the VA is predicting that the situation will get worse, as the number of veterans waiting on the department to process their claims is expected to surge past the current 900,000 and toward a million by the end of March. A spokesman for the VA told the CIR that the department is being inundated by a nearly 50-percent increase in the number of filed claims. He said the growth was due to a combination of increasing numbers of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans returning home, broadening claims for PTSD and Gulf War illness, and new guidelines allowing Vietnam vets to request compensation for complications due to exposure to Agent Orange.
The department is also being crushed, quite literally, under claims filed on paper. The CIR reports that 97 percent of all veterans’ claims are submitted on paper, a trend that recently led the VA to warn that the weight of the files and cabinets had compromised the structural integrity of one of its office buildings in North Carolina.
(Click over to the Center for Investigative Reporting for the entire report, as well as a picture of a VA office flooded with paperwork.)
Veterans groups have called on President Barack Obama, who has frequently touted his record on veterans issues, to address the failure of the VA under his watch.
“If this report is true, it reveals a total betrayal of trust for America’s veterans. IAVA calls on the president to respond to this report immediately. Enough is enough," Iraq & Afghanistan Veterans Association CEO and Founder Paul Rieckhoff said in a statement. "Disabled Iraq and Afghanistan veterans should not have to wait until 2015 to receive the financial and health support they depend on. We call on the president to establish a presidential commission to end the VA backlog now. This backlog is a national embarrassment -- it’s time to end it once and for all.”
The VA acknowledged that its performance was lagging in a recent hearing before the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs.
"Too many veterans still have to wait too long to get the compensation benefits they earn, and that is unacceptable to us," VA Undersecretary for Benefits Allison Hickey said, according to CNN.
But others are calling for more immediate action. In a column in Time Magazine, Joe Klein argued that it was time for VA Secretary Eric Shinseki to "step down."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/14/veterans-benefits_n_2875637.html
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But Obama is the one who hates veterans ::)
3333 youre so full of shit
AP/ September 20, 2012, 3:48 PM
Senate GOP blocks veterans jobs bill
Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla. / CBS
47Comments
/ 4KShares / 282Tweets / Stumble / Email More + inShare.3..(AP) WASHINGTON - Senate Republicans blocked legislation Wednesday that would have established a $1 billion jobs program putting veterans back to work tending to the country's federal lands and bolstering local police and fire departments.
Republicans said the spending authorized in the bill violated limits that Congress agreed to last year. Democrats fell two votes shy of the 60-vote majority needed to waive the objection, forcing the legislation back to committee.
Supporters loosely modeled their proposal after the President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Civilian Conservation Corps used during the Great Depression to put people to work planting trees, building parks and constructing dams. They said the latest monthly jobs report, showing a nearly 11 percent unemployment rate for veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, merited action from Congress.
Democratic lawmakers turned to the legislation shortly before they'll adjourn for the finals weeks of this year's election campaigns. The bill had little chance of passing the House this Congress, but it still allowed senators to appeal to a key voting bloc.
"(With) a need so great as unemployed veterans, this is not the time to draw a technical line on the budget," said Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida, the bill's lead sponsor, who faces a competitive re-election battle.
Republicans said the effort to help veterans was noble, but the bill was flawed nevertheless.
For National Guard, civilian jobs hard to come by
After war, vets fight for jobs at home
Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma said the federal government already has six job-training programs for veterans and there is no way to know how well they are working. He argued that making progress on the country's debt was the best way to help veterans in the long-term.
"We ought to do nothing now that makes the problem worse for our kids and grandkids," Coburn said.
Democratic officials did not have an estimate for how many veterans would be hired as a result of the legislation. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said much would depend upon the number of applicants. She noted that more than 720,000 veterans are unemployed across the nation, including 220,000 veterans who have served since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. She said putting veterans back to work was the cost of war.
"Instead of meeting us halfway, we have been met with resistance. Instead of saying yes to the nearly 1 million unemployed veterans, it seems some on the other side have spent the last week and a half seeking any way to say no," Murray said.
The advocacy group Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America denounced the vote.
"This bill was smart bipartisan policy that would put veterans back into service for their communities as policemen, firefighters and first responders," the group's founder and chief executive, Paul Rieckhoff, said in statement. "The result of today's vote creates tremendous doubt that this Congress will be able to pass any additional veterans legislation in 2012. Iraq and Afghanistan veterans should not have to wait until 2013 for critical support from Congress."
A handful of Republicans joined with Democrats in voting to waive the objection to the bill: Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts, Dean Heller of Nevada, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Maine's Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe. Brown and Heller are also in tough re-election contests.
Heller said he was proud to support the bill.
"After everything our veterans have done for us, the least we can do is make sure they are afforded every opportunity to thrive here at home," Heller said.
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^^ bitch slap.
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The ranks of veterans waiting more than a year for their benefits grew from 11,000 in 2009, the first year of Obama’s presidency, to 245,000 in December -- an increase of more than 2,000 percent.
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/14/veterans-benefits_n_2875637.html
Even the obamabots are slamming him over this failure
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/14/veterans-benefits_n_2875637.html
Even the obamabots are slamming him over this failure
SOOOOOOOOOOO....Nothing on that Jobs Bill huh?
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SOOOOOOOOOOO....Nothing on that Jobs Bill huh?
Injured people should be a higher priority than another Stim Bill 2.0 that wont ever do shit.
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Injured people should be a higher priority than another Stim Bill 2.0 that wont ever do shit.
Soooooo youre saying they dont deserve jobs?
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Soooooo youre saying they dont deserve jobs?
Exactly - let em starve - thats exactly what im saying. Funny - obama's economy is fucking disastrous to the point where we have to discuss jobs bills and spending more $$$$ we dont have to employ able bodied men.
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Exactly - let em starve - thats exactly what im saying. Funny - obama's economy is fucking disastrous to the point where we have to discuss jobs bills and spending more $$$$ we dont have to employ able bodied men.
'
lol...
hey do you still believe in the tooth fairy
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The Easter Bunny is real though.
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'
lol...
hey do you still believe in the tooth fairy
W's fault for ever.
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W's fault for ever.
Obama's fault forever seems to be your motto. Maybe you should tattoo that on your forehead? ;D ...just a thought.
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________________________ ________________________ _____
Despicable is right. Obama is a communist traitor who hates this country. Fuck him and fuck you whoever still supports this outlaw junta.
You are in desperate need of Psychotherapy.
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You are in desperate need of Psychotherapy.
We are in desperate need a real President who gives a shit about this country.
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Meltdown still continues.
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Meltdown still continues.
True - Obama is jacking Tricare co pays and premiums, cutting college assistance, etc to the military.
Obama hates this country, hates the military, hates the vets, and only exists to choom, do blow, drink, party, and let that ho bag wife of his go on lavish vacations to aspen, marthas vineyard and spend millions on her own grift.
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http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/tunes_out_marine_band_7wYuLNiHDKlKiazxtSFYZN?utm_medium=rss&utm_content=National
Skip to comments.
O tunes out Marine band
NY Post ^ | 3/18/13 | S.A. MILLER
Posted on March 18, 2013 6:16:06 PM EDT by Nachum
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration hit a sour note by canceling a traditional Marine Corps Band performance yesterday at the St. Patrick’s Day parade in Rocky Point, NY, blaming “sequestration” budget cuts.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
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http://redflagnews.com/headlines/veterans-are-fighting-back-a-follow-up-to-disarming-americas-heroes-by-constitutional-attorney-michael-connelly
Obama being the communit thug 3rd world marxist tyrant he is
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Jon Stewart Hammers Obama On VA Benefits Delays: 'That Is F*cking Criminal' (VIDEO)
Posted: 03/28/2013 9:08 am EDT | Updated: 03/28/2013 9:18 am EDT
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/28/jon-stewart-obama-on-va-benefits_n_2970741.html
Jon Stewart gave the Obama administration a hammering on Wednesday, accusing the president of failing wounded veterans. And on this one issue, he explained, there are no more fingers to point at Republicans.
Revealing that the number of veterans waiting over a year for benefits has grown a mind-blowing 2000% during Obama's tenure, Stewart pulled no punches: "That is fucking criminal." He went on to show that the failure isn't a result of obstruction or funding, but of organization and oversight.
Central to the problem seems to be that the VA still keeps track of most patient records on paper, due to the the Department of Defense using a different – incompatible – spreadsheet program. "I swear this is true," Jon interjected while laying out that almost unbelievable fact.
He then pointedly argued that this is one area where the president could simply make a decision, lead and have a positive impact on the treatment of wounded veterans.
"If you're making a case that government has a meaningful role to play in improving people's lives, then when you're not obstructed from doing what you want, you better f*cking bring it."
Watch the clip above.
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http://www.businessinsider.com/jon-stewart-obama-va-backlog-republicans-daily-show-march-27-2013-3
Obama = BUSTED
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As VA Backlog Grows, ‘Baffled’ Veteran Allies Begin to Turn On President
by Jamie RenoApr 8, 2013 4:45 AM EDT
As the benefits system for veterans has bogged down on Obama’s watch, in spite of his promises to fix it, advocates who had been allies are running out of patience with the president, reports Jamie Reno.
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America’s 23 million veterans are facing an unprecedented crisis as the backlog of disability claims at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has grown to nearly 1 million—more than double what it was when President Obama took office.
People stand in line to speak with representatives from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs about U.S. military veterans benefits in Washington, D.C., on January 18, 2012. (Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty)
The situation has reached a tipping point. Newspaper editorial boards and magazines call it a “national disgrace” and insist VA Secretary Eric Shinseki should resign. Rep. Jeff Miller (R-FL), chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, is calling for the resignation of Allison Hickey, the VA’s head of benefits.
Given the breadth of the crisis, this widespread outrage isn’t surprising. But perhaps what is surprising is that for the first time, several prominent veteran advocates who’ve been staunch supporters of Obama are now joining the chorus of critics who say the president has badly mishandled the VA.
“I supported President Obama in both elections, but what is happening right now at VA is inexcusable,” says Thomas Bandzul, a well-known advocate for veterans who is legislative counsel for Veterans and Military Families for Progress and past associate counsel for Veterans for Common Sense.
Bandzul, who in 2007 worked closely with then-Senator Obama on the Lane Evans Veterans Health and Benefits Improvement Act, said he is “baffled” by why the problems at the agency just keep getting worse and why Obama isn’t doing more to fix it.
“I know Shinseki on a personal level,” he says. “I know Allison Hickey on a personal level. They’re two of the greatest people in the world. But it’s time the president takes full responsibility for this failure, and takes action. This is happening on his watch.”
Bandzul and other veteran advocates who support Obama who were interviewed for this story are quick to point out that some things are better for veterans than they were before he took office. For example, according to a December 2012 report from Housing and Urban Development, veteran homelessness in the U.S. has dropped 7 percent since January 2011.
Also, more veterans are working. A Bureau of Labor Statistics report released on Friday showed that unemployment for post-9/11 veterans dropped to 9.2 percent in March, compared to more than ten percent a year ago. First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden’s Joining Forces initiative, too, has been effective in calling attention to various issues important to veterans and their families.
Department of Veterans Affairs building in Madison, Wisconsin, August 2010. (Ryan J. Foley/AP)
“This is outrageous. The president needs to do more… What about all those promises he made to end the backlog and end homelessness? Where is the leadership?”
But the backlog disaster has many advocates seething—even those who’ve been outspoken allies of the president. Waiting for disability benefits can be devastating for veterans and their families. Nearly 20,000 veterans died last year waiting to hear about their claims, and the suicide rate among veterans rose to an alarming 22 per day in 2010, according to a recent VA report.
Obama, who first promised to end the backlog during his 2008 presidential campaign, has substantially increased the VA budget, hired more staff, and implemented new computer systems. But as the Center for Investigative Reporting recently noted, these efforts have collectively failed to reduce the number of outstanding veteran disability claims.
The Veterans Management Benefits System (VMBS), the electronic system the agency is phasing in at its regional offices in an effort to fix the broken claims system, has itself been plagued with problems that have instead lengthened delays.
Obama appointee Shinseki, a Vietnam veteran and retired four-star general, and Hickey, a retired brigadier general, both have said in recent weeks that VA can still keep its promise to eliminate the backlog by the end of 2015 and complete initial veteran claims within 125 days with 98 percent accuracy.
But Jack Lyon, an Obama supporter and veteran advocate who founded Veterans Village of San Diego, a nationally recognized nonprofit that offers a wide variety of services for veterans, says that goal is now unattainable.
“Veterans are dying waiting for their claims, others are waiting 600 days or even longer, and it’s only going to get worse as more waves of troops leave active duty,” says Lyon. “This is outrageous. The president needs to do more. Whatever it takes. He needs to make better use of his bully pulpit by really explaining this crisis to the American people. What about all those promises he made to end the backlog and end homelessness? Where is the leadership?”
Tess Banko, an Obama supporter and veteran advocate who was a lance corporal in the Marines, thinks an executive order is the best way to fix the backlog. Banko, a Mission Continues Fellow at the Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund, was injured on the rifle range during her Marine training, suffered a herniated disk in her back that impinged a nerve, and lost control of her right leg.
Veterans from all eras gather on November 10, 2011, at the Humboldt Park Armory in Chicago for an event sponsored by the Veterans Affairs on the eve of Veterans Day. (Robert Ray/AP)
Last summer, she filed a disability claim and the VA returned a disability rating that was lower than she felt she deserves. Now awaiting a decision on her appeal, Banko says filing the claim has opened her eyes to what veterans across the nation are really dealing with.
“I’ve been a supporter of the president, so is it tough for me to criticize him? Yes,” she says. “But could he do more for veterans, especially when they file a disability claim? Yes.”
Banko believes an Executive Order would be “politically dicey, but widely supported. The situation for veterans is dire. I personally think the VA should first approve the backlog claims and then audit the claims for accuracy. The IRS does it, why not the VA?”
Bandzul , who agrees that an executive order should be Obama’s next move, notes that Obama issued one last year to improve mental health conditions and suicide prevention efforts for veterans.
“He did it for veterans and suicide, why can’t he do it to fix the disability backlog?” Bandzul asks. “In VA land, you should be able to walk in the door with your information from a competent medical authority, whether it’s mental health issue or a physical illness, verify you are disabled, and have plausible evidence that it is service connected. And then you should be paid within 30 days, end of discussion. Obama could order this. He’s done other precedent-setting things, like the Wall Street bailout. He helped out those billionaires and millionaires, why won’t he bail out our veterans?”
The idea of adopting the IRS model at VA—paying out claims and giving veterans the benefit of the doubt that these claims are not fraudulent—is not a new one. Four years ago, the House Appropriations Committee said VA could model its claims system on more user-friendly electronic tax filing systems. But nothing came of it.
The White House seems aware of the concerns, with the budget proposal it's releasing this week reportedly including a $2.5 billion infusion for the VA. But advocates, including ones who are usually lothe to criticize the administration, are skeptical that simply throwing money at the problem will work. It hasn't so far, they say.
Bob Walsh, an Obama supporter, veteran advocate and attorney who represents veterans with disability cases, has been fighting for 20 years with VA in Detroit, one of the worst offices in the country in terms of waiting times and errors on claims. A recent Office of the Inspector General review of the Detroit office said staff did not accurately process 31 of 60 disability claims reviewed.
A female veteran sits in a wheelchair as veterans from all eras gathered November 10, 2011, at the Humboldt Park Armory in Chicago. (Robert Ray/AP)
Walsh says it’s time for Obama and Shinseki to “get rid of the career bureaucrats and deadwood at VA who are resistant to change. It’s time the president started worrying about veterans as much as he worries about guns or hurricanes in New Jersey.”
Walsh suggests there are people at VA who have a “vested interest” in the system not working who are not interested in fixing the broken backlog. The VA has repeatedly denied that any such culture exists within VA.
But, says Walsh, “There are workers at VA who don’t want to lose their jobs, and obstructionists who’ve always worked at VA who think veterans are deadbeats. There are good people at VA, but that culture does still exist. I see it all the time. Obama faces an uphill battle, but to really improve things at VA, that’s the kind of thing the president has to address. Or things will never change.”
Like The Daily Beast on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for updates all day long.
Jamie Reno, an award-winning correspondent for Newsweek for 17 years, has also written for The New York Times, Sports Illustrated, Rolling Stone, People, Men’s Journal, ESPN, Los Angeles Times, TV Guide, MSNBC, Newsmax, Entertainment Weekly, and USA Today. Reno, who’s won more than 85 writing awards, was the lead reporter on a Newsweek series on the 9/11 terrorist attacks that earned him and his colleagues the National Magazine Award for General Excellence, the highest award in magazine journalism. Reno, who’s also an acclaimed author, singer-songwriter, and 15-year cancer survivor, lives in San Diego with his wife, Gabriela, and their daughter, Mandy.
For inquiries, please contact The Daily Beast at editorial@thedailybeast.com.
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http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/04/08/as-va-backlog-grows-baffled-veteran-allies-begin-to-turn-on-president.html
And ObamaCare is going to end up any different?
LOL - This shitfaced creep could not manage a hot dog stand properly.
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As I was once asked... When has government ever managed ANYTHING right in the past 50 years?
Don't worry - ObamaCare will be different, he promised.
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http://dailycaller.com/2013/10/22/obama-administrations-department-of-veterans-affairs-leaves-more-than-400000-claims-backlogged/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
>:(
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http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2014/05/16/the_vas_deadly_bureaucratic_drones_122653.html
Remember when he promised to fix this?
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http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2014/05/15/va-veterans-affairs-secretary-eric-shinseki-editorials-debates/9147509
Obama not firing this guy speaks volumes
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http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/328546c0-dd10-11e3-8546-00144feabdc0.html
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http://washingtonexaminer.com/veterans-affairs-official-resigns-as-white-house-says-theres-just-a-suggestion-of-scandal/article/2548546
More scandal
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Yet all you fag libs care about is me calling hitlery an old sickley hag.
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Yet all you fag libs care about is me calling hitlery an old sickley hag.
You're sexist! :o
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/veterans-affairs-secretary-eric-shinseki-should-go/2014/05/16/fb2a0948-dd02-11e3-bda1-9b46b2066796_allComments.html
>:(
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jesus, you postedl like ten times in a row.
go put your helmet on and run around or something.
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jesus, you postedl like ten times in a row.
go put your helmet on and run around or something.
Hey fagget - this scandal is still unfolding.
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http://hotair.com/archives/2014/05/16/seventh-va-office-finds-secret-wait-list-with-over-200-veterans-on-it
>:(
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Oh - poor baby is mad - GMAFB
This is all on this worthless Kenyan street maggot - no one else
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_VETERANS_HEALTH_CARE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-05-18-10-59-27
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http://www.nationalreview.com/article/378233/lessons-va-scandal-john-fund
ThugCare gonna be so much better ::)
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http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/may/18/obama-warned-about-va-wait-time-problems-during-20
We need investigations and hearings on this ;)
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http://www.military.com/daily-news/2014/05/17/vets-using-phoenix-va-are-angry-sick-and-scared.html?ESRC=todayinmil.sm
>:(
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http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/05/19/more-va-whistleblowers-coming-forward-campaign-says
>:(
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http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/05/19/more-va-whistleblowers-coming-forward-campaign-says
>:(
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http://www.nationalreview.com/campaign-spot/378322/obama-2007-time-end-deplorable-conditions-some-va-hospitals-jim-geraghty
Typical Obama the treasonous fucking punk
Attacked W in 2007 over this.
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2633103/White-House-says-Obama-learned-VA-wait-list-scandal-TV-just-like-IRS-Fast-Furious-reporter-snooping-scandals.html
Incredible. What a worthless asshole
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White House says Obama only learned of VA wait-list scandal on TV (just like the IRS, Fast and Furious and reporter snooping scandals)
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said the president didn't know about explosive Veterans Administration scandal until he saw news reports
Earlier in the day a report emerged showing the VA itself warned Obama's transition team about it after the 2008 election
Obama and his surrogates have claimed he learned of several other scandals from broadcast or print news stories
They include Operation Fast and Furious, the IRS's targeting of tea parties and a DOJ seizure of two months of Associated Press phone records
VA medical centers stand accused of keeping secret off-the-books waiting lists in order to cook the books and boost performance stats
As many as 40 veterans died in Phoenix when they were denied critical care because their names didn't appear on official waiting lists
By David Martosko, U.s. Political Editor
Published: 16:35 EST, 19 May 2014 | Updated: 16:48 EST, 19 May 2014
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comments
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney wound up with egg on his face Monday as he told reporters that President Barack Obama first learned from a TV news report that his Veterans Administration was denying medical care to vets with secret off-the-books-waiting lists.
But new evidence emerged this morning that his transition team was notified five years ago about how VA medical centers' official wait-list times bore little resemblance to reality and risked denying military heroes critical health care.
The Washington Times reported Monday that waiting times at veterans' medical facilities were known to be wildly inaccurate at the end of the George W. Bush administration. By the time Obama's transition team got a post-election briefing from the VA at the end of 2008, scheduling failures were already reaching a critical point.
The newspaper received a copy of that briefing through a Freedom Of Information Act request.
Obama has come under fire before for saying he was made aware of scandal-worthy shortcomings in his own administration by watching television, including the IRS tea party-targeting scandal that rocked Washington 12 months ago and the Operation Fast and Furious saga that has tainted his Justice Department for years.
SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Monday that the White House 'learned about' the growing VA scandal 'through the reports' in the news
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White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Monday that the White House 'learned about' the growing VA scandal 'through the reports' in the news
First of many flashbacks: Facing revelations that his IRS had played political favorites and intentionally hamstrung tea party groups, Obama said that he 'first learned about it from the same news reports that I think most people learned about this'
+9
First of many flashbacks: Facing revelations that his IRS had played political favorites and intentionally hamstrung tea party groups, Obama said that he 'first learned about it from the same news reports that I think most people learned about this'
The American Legion and other veterans advocacy groups are hopping mad about an under-the-table waiting list scandal that appears to have cost dozens of lives in just one Phoenix medical center
+9
The American Legion and other veterans advocacy groups are hopping mad about an under-the-table waiting list scandal that appears to have cost dozens of lives in just one Phoenix medical center
Suicides: Psychiatrist Margaret Moxness told Fox News on Monday that she believes a West Virginia VA hospital?s appointment system was so dysfunctional that at least two veterans took their own lives
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Suicides: Psychiatrist Margaret Moxness told Fox News on Monday that she believes a West Virginia VA hospital?s appointment system was so dysfunctional that at least two veterans took their own lives
A CNN reporter asked Carney on Monday when the president was 'first made aware ... of these fraudulent lists that were being kept to hide the wait times' at VA medical centers.
'You mean the specific allegations,' Carney asked, 'that I think were reported first by your news network out of Phoenix, I believe?'
'We learned about them through the reports. I will double check if that is not the case. But that is when we learned about them and that is when I understand Secretary Shinseki learned about them, and he immediately took the action that he has taken.'
After the Operation Fast and Furious scandal broke, Obama responded to national outrage in an interview broadcast by CNN's John King on October 12, 2011, similarly saying he was out of the loop until he turned on his television.
'There have been problems, you know,' the president said then. 'I heard on the news about this story that – Fast and Furious, where allegedly guns were being run into Mexico, and ATF knew about it, but didn't apprehend those who had sent [the guns].'
A few months into his presidency, Obama's White House approved an unannounced New York City flyover by Air Force One, with a fighter jet following closely, in order to capture a photograph of the iconic plane over the Statue of Liberty.
Some buildings were evacuated and emergency phone lines were jammed as panicked New Yorkers feared a terror attack was imminent.
More...
'Madder than hell': Obama furious over treatment delays at VA hospitals blamed for 40 deaths as health official is forced to resign
Veterans Affairs Undersecretary Robert Petzl didn't resign, but was FORCED OUT by Obama administration amid deadly health care scandal blamed for 40 deaths
High-level resignation rocks Veterans Affairs Department amid deadly health care scandal, but lawmakers still smell blood
'Mad as hell': Veterans Affairs chief tells Senators he's just as upset as they are over allegations 40 patients died in secret waiting list scandal
DOJ won't investigate deaths of veterans placed on VA hospital's secret waiting list 'at this time'
'It was a mistake,' the president said on April 28, 2009, the day after the flight. 'It was something we found out about along with all of you. And it will not happen again.'
Last year on May 14, Carney told reporters that Obama had learned about his Department of Justice seizing two months' worth of Associated Press journalists' phone records 'from news reports yesterday, on the road.'
'We don't have any independent knowledge of that,' Carney insisted.
That punt came just one day after Obama himself told the Washington press corps during a joint press conference with UK Prime Minister David Cameron that he was in the dark – until it hit news reports – that the Internal Revenue Service had targeted conservative nonprofit groups for special inquisitions when they applied for tax-exempt status.
'I first learned about it from the same news reports that I think most people learned about this,' he said in the East Room of the White House on May 13, 2013. 'I think it was on Friday. And this is pretty straightforward.'
'I've got no patience with it,' Obama said moments later. 'I will not tolerate it. And we will make sure that we find out exactly what happened on this.'
Human face: This month Army veteran Kryn Miner was buried in Essex, Vt. His widow Amy Miner, third from left, believes the Veterans Affairs health system should have done more to help him as he struggled with PTSD. He was shot to death by one of their children in April after he threatened to kill the entire family
+9
Human face: This month Army veteran Kryn Miner was buried in Essex, Vt. His widow Amy Miner, third from left, believes the Veterans Affairs health system should have done more to help him as he struggled with PTSD. He was shot to death by one of their children in April after he threatened to kill the entire family
In 2011 Obama told CNN that he first 'heard on the news about & Operation Fast and Furious, where allegedly guns were being run into Mexico, and ATF knew about it'
+9
In 2011 Obama told CNN that he first 'heard on the news about & Operation Fast and Furious, where allegedly guns were being run into Mexico, and ATF knew about it'
The president told reporters in 2009 that he found out along with reporters that his administration has approved an unannounced Air Force One flyover in NYC that spooked commuters and lit up 911 phone lines with terror-attack fears
VA Secretary vows to act over secret waiting list scandal
White House adviser Dan Pfeiffer told Sunday morning talk show audiences the following weekend that Obama was first informed 'when it came out in the news.'
A year later, accused IRS targeting instigator Lois Lerner has been held in contempt of Congress and her fate rests with Attorney General Eric Holder. A criminal investigation in the Department of Justice, which has issued no findings, is being managed by an attorney who donated thousands of dollars to Obama's political campaigns.
Obama's reputation for using the news media as his own coal-mine canary reached comic proportions that week when 'The Daily Show' host Jon Stewart carped that 'I wouldn’t be surprised if President Obama learned Osama bin Laden had been killed when he saw himself announce it on television.'
Some Republicans are fearing déjà vu as the VA medical scandal gathers steam.
'This is becoming a pattern,' a senior Republican Senate aide told MailOnline on Monday. 'The president supposedly learns about it while channel-surfing, tells us how outraged he is, and then what? Buries it?'
Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki is under fire as his agency's health system seems to be coming apart at the seams and the White House claims it didn't know
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Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki is under fire as his agency's health system seems to be coming apart at the seams and the White House claims it didn't know
'That might wash with the tea party, but not with veterans. No one around here is inclined to let that happen.'
The Veterans Affairs Department briefing given to Obama's transition team after his first presidential election victory warned specifically that its own medical appointment scheduling practices were putting lives in danger.
'This is not only a data integrity issue in which [Veterans Health Administration] reports unreliable performance data,' the transition report read; 'it affects quality of care by delaying – and potentially denying — deserving veterans timely care.'
It also recommended a series of tests that would compare doctor appointments in veterans' official medical records with appointment times recorded in the VA's computer system.
As the VA scandal gathers momentum, doctors are beginning to put a human face on the tragedy.
Dr. Margaret Moxness, a whistle-blowing psychiatrist, told the Fox News Channel on Monday that she believes a West Virginia VA hospital where she once worked had an appointment system so dysfunctional that at least two veterans took their own lives.
Bureaucrats, she said, 'don't really experience what the doctors and nurses are experiencing, which is the suffering and the pain and the death.'
Moxness explained that her patients often had to wait months for follow-up appointments after she prescribed antidepressant medications that require check-ups after 10 days.
Some couldn't wait out their psychological pain and committed suicide.
VA Undersecretary for Health Robert Petzel resigned on Friday a day after telling a congressional committee that he was aware of a 2010 memo warning about the problems, which materialized in a Phoenix, Arizona VA medical center when as many as 40 veterans died while awaiting critical care. Computer records indicated that the vets were not on a waiting list at all.
Carney hinted Monday that Obama is likely to address the new scandal.
'I'm sure you'll hear from him at some point on this issue soon,' he said.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2633103/White-House-says-Obama-learned-VA-wait-list-scandal-TV-just-like-IRS-Fast-Furious-reporter-snooping-scandals.html#ixzz32G37vY8F
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Obama Administration Health Agencies Accused Of Ethical Misconduct
Posted: 05/20/2014 12:13 am EDT Updated: 05/20/2014 12:59 am EDT
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ROSA DELAURO AND OBAMA
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Obama Ethics, Francis Collins, Public Citizen, Support Study Ethics, Support Study Conflicts of Interest, Support Study Emails, Obama Ethical Misconduct, Support Study Public Citizen, Rosa DeLauro, Hhs, Nih, Health and Human Services, Obama Health Agencies, National Institutes of Health, Nih Ethics
WASHINGTON -- High-level government officials at the top federal health agencies placed inappropriate pressure on their own watchdog agency, a new report alleges.
The report by the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, released Tuesday, accuses the Department of Health and Human Services and the National Institutes of Health of breaching ethical boundaries by working too closely with their oversight group, the Office for Human Research Protections. In doing so, Public Citizen alleges, officials at the two agencies helped soften the watchdog's critical assessment of the conduct of NIH-funded researchers studying the optimal oxygen levels for prematurely born infants. The first version of the watchdog's report criticized researchers for failing to adequately inform the babies' parents of study risks.
Public Citizen's findings, based on internal government emails obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, were serious enough that at least one member of Congress -- a major NIH supporter -- is calling for a formal investigation "to prevent such improper and unethical interference" from reoccurring.
"What appears to have happened here is that NIH, despite substantial conflicts of interest, was allowed to interfere and, in my view, improperly influence the investigation," said Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) in an interview.
At the heart of the allegations are the often gray lines of research ethics, specifically to what extent and in what fashion an agency can plead its case to its own watchdog committee. In a statement hours before the Public Citizen report was officially released, Tait Sye, an HHS spokesperson, argued that the NIH merely worked to correct incomplete information in the first report issued by Office for Human Research Protections, or OHRP, and that such communication was not uncommon.
"OHRP regularly works with entities such as NIH, [Institutional Review Boards] and others to ensure the protection of human subjects in research," said Sye.
The case dates to 2004, when NIH started funding a $20 million-plus study to look into how much oxygen a prematurely born baby should be given during the early stages of life.
The study, called SUPPORT, involved tests on more than 1,300 infants. The research ended in 2009, with findings showing "that babies who got supplementary oxygen in the higher end of the acceptable range had no more blindness, but greater survival, than babies that got slightly less oxygen," according to The Washington Post.
The SUPPORT study, however, was clouded by criticism over the conduct of those doing the investigation. In March 2013, OHRP -- part of HHS -- said 23 research sites had not given parents of infants in the trial a proper warning about the risks of the study, which included blindness, brain damage, even death. In addition, OHRP, told the University of Alabama at Birmingham -– the main institution conducting the research -- that it would begin screening university consent forms for compliance with HHS regulations. A class-action lawsuit has since been filed against University of Alabama at Birmingham providers over the Support study.
The study's authors and members of the scientific research community, meanwhile spoke out against the OHRP ruling. There was no basis to predict that infants in one group or the other would be more at risk of death from participating in the trial, they argued, adding that all levels of oxygen given to the infants fell within the standard range, just at different ends of the spectrum. They also warned the compliance actions demanded of future research could have a chilling effect.
Two months later, OHRP produced a second letter on the SUPPORT study, maintaining that more warnings about experimental risk should have been offered. But it also acknowledged the general guidelines for researchers in the field needed more clarification and pledged to hold a public meeting to discuss the issue further. In a reversal, OHRP also said it was dropping its compliance enforcement against University of Alabama at Birmingham for the time being, and that it wouldn't enforce disciplinary action against other studies until clearer guidance was finalized.
"The OHRP has said, 'You're guilty, but we're not going to do anything about it," Alice Dreger, a professor of clinical medical humanities and bioethics at Northwestern University, said at the time.
Seeking an explanation for the reversal, Public Citizen filed a Freedom of Information Act request for communications between OHRP and the NIH, as well as officials in the HHS Office of the Secretary, from March 2013 to early June. The records that were produced, Public Citizen argues, show an unprecedented amount of coordination between the agencies to sand down the rough parts of the first report.
According to the 439 pages of emails, during the period between the two reports, officials at the NIH reached out to senior HHS officials to "chat about" the SUPPORT study. On May 1, 2013, the director of the NIH, Dr. Francis Collins, wrote to Bill Corr, the deputy secretary at HHS, explaining that his staff had been working with top HHS officials "to develop a consensus set of statements that OHRP could put forward to clarify the situation with the SUPPORT study."
Subsequent emails show continued discussions between HHS, NIH and OHRP. In mid-May, Jerry Menikoff, the director of OHRP, exchanged correspondence with NIH officials in which they appeared to be going over potential edits to the second letter. The day after that second letter was issued, a group of bioethicists published a piece in the New England Journal of Medicine defending the SUPPORT study. That same say, Collins co-authored a piece in the same publication titled "In Support of SUPPORT –- A View from the NIH." In it, he wrote that OHRP had put its compliance actions on hold.
Dr. Michael Carome, director of Public Citizen’s Health Research Group, said he found the timing more than suspicious, though emails in the FOIA tranche show the Collins' piece had been in the works well before the OHRP letter was released.
Concerns over OHRP's independence date back many years. In 2000, agency was moved from NIH to HHS after outcries about conflicts of interest and inappropriate pressure being placed on its oversight officials. With respect to SUPPORT, the documents uncovered by Public Citizens do not show instances of overt pressure being applied by NIH officials to get OHRP to amend initial conclusions. Rather, the emails suggest a collaborative process in which the two groups managed to find a middle ground.
"In the wake of extensive scientific and public discussions since OHRP’s March 2013 determination letter related to the SUPPORT study, OHRP became aware of different understandings of what is meant by 'standard of care' and risks that must be disclosed to potential subjects in the research context," said Sye.
Because some of the emails are heavily redacted, the view of what was actually said between NIH and OHRP is incomplete. And even then, the question being raised by DeLauro and Public Citizen is why that wall of demarcation between watchdog and agency was breached in the first place.
"This type of interference is simply unprecedented and simply disturbing," said Carome. "This is like the Department of Justice preparing an indictment against some criminal and allowing the criminal to view the indictment and edit it before it moves forward. ... It is like the FDA investigating a drug trial and the FDA commissioner allowing a draft warning letter to be shared with the drug company before it was issued and lettering them review and suggest edits to the letter."
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http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/05/19/west-virginia-doctor-says-patients-suicide
The Death Panel
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http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/05/20/the-scandal-at-the-va-is-real-and-obama-is-ducking-it.html
Remember - Sleezebama attacked W in 2007 over the VA
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/as-outrage-over-va-allegatons-grows-obama-and-aides-scramble-to-respond/2014/05/19/2b01ed3c-df71-11e3-810f-764fe508b82d_story.html
F him
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http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/21/us/obama-faces-new-test-in-mismanagement-at-veterans-hospitals.html?_r=0
Scandal growing - time for impeachment
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http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2014/05/20/when-a-president-learns-everything-on-tv-va-scandal
True story - Obama is too busy chooming
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The administration’s problem here is not just that the VA scandal is far more serious than even Carney is currently willing to admit and that any action it is currently taking to address the plague of mismanagement and corruption that may have cost the lives of at least 40 veterans while they awaited treatment is too little and too late. As I noted last week, having an absentee president is bad for both the health of veterans and the nation. The president may have gotten away with treating the IRS scandal as no big deal and questions about Benghazi as merely a Republican witch hunt. But the spectacle of widespread corruption at the heart of a government health-care system that led to the deaths of veterans is not one you can pass off as a product of the fevered imaginations of his opponents. That’s especially true when you consider that Rep. Jeff Miller, the chair of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, wrote specifically to the president a year ago to bring to his attention what was already believed to be a widespread problem involving inefficiency and deceptive practices.
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/21/obama-veterans-affairs_n_5365411.html#comments
Otwink under fire
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/21/obama-veterans-affairs_n_5365411.html#comments
Otwink under fire
How come he hasn't fired shinseki? Given the "fact" that he is madder than hell.
It was easy for the idiot in the white house to criticize the VA during Bush's presidency, yet when the shoe is on the other foot, the moron doesn't know what to do.
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How come he hasn't fired shinseki? Given the "fact" that he is madder than hell.
It was easy for the idiot in the white house to criticize the VA during Bush's presidency, yet when the shoe is on the other foot, the moron doesn't know what to do.
Obama is a like a baby wo the binky - all he knows how to do is scream and complain
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http://miami.cbslocal.com/2014/05/20/miami-va-whistleblower-exposes-drug-dealing-theft-abuse
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http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/22/us/politics/veterans-hospitals.html?hp&_r=1
LMFAO!!!! Otwink promising to fix it
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VA Hospital Director Where 40 Died Received Bonus Last Month
VA claims bonus was result of 'administrative error'
The Phoenix VA Health Care Center / AP
BY: Washington Free Beacon Staff
May 21, 2014 3:49 pm
The director of the Phoenix VA hospital received an $8,500 pay bonus last month even as allegations of 40 deaths resulting from excessive wait times for care were being investigated, according to the Weekly Standard.
VA Secretary Eric Shinseki is reportedly responsible for signing off on performance ratings and rewards, but the department’s chairman Jeff Miller said the bonus was the result of “an administrative error.”
The Weekly Standard reports:
Sharon Helman, the director of the Phoenix Veterans Affairs Health Care System, ”got an $8,500 bonus last month while there was an open [inspector general] investigation into Phoenix,” Chairman Miller told CNN’s Jake Tapper in an interview Wednesday.
It had been previously reported that Helman received more than $9,000 in bonus pay in 2013 on top of her annual salary of $169,900. The VA office of inspector general began investigating the Phoenix VA for wrongdoing in December 2013, months before Helman received the additional $8,500 bonus.
This entry was posted in Issues and tagged Obama Administration, Veterans Affairs. Bookmark the permalink.
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http://newsbusters.org/blogs/geoffrey-dickens/2014/05/21/actress-stacey-dash-demolishes-obama-va-scandal?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Marketing&utm_term=Facebook&utm_content=Facebook&utm_campaign=Dash-VAScandal
Awesome - slammed tp the mat.
F Obama
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http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/obama-lets-vets-article-1.1801281
Obama has not only failed the Vets - he failed everyone.
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http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/may/21/obama-transition-team-told-about-3-audits-showing-
Time for impeachment
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http://washingtonexaminer.com/why-obamas-veterans-affairs-problems-just-got-worse/article/2548745
Obama knew and did nothing and said nothing.
Impeach and jail this Kenyan pos
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http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-va-scandal-eric-shinseki-statement-2014-5
LMFAO - Obama is such a worthless assface
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http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/378574/fournier-va-scandal-one-lowest-points-obamas-presidency-andrew-johnson
>:(
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Still talking to yourself?
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Still talking to yourself?
Hey homo - 40 people died due to Obama admns lies and scandals
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Well that is more than the number of brain cells you have left.
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Well that is more than the number of brain cells you have left.
Funny - even the creepy Obama stalker you are - cant defend your messiah in this scandal and disaster.
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No need to defend to a little crybaby like you. Not even to mention the Repubs blocking the funding to the VA just three months ago.
Is there any physical pain associated with having a life that sucks as much as yours?
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No need to defend to a little crybaby like you. Not even to mention the Repubs blocking the funding to the VA just three months ago.
Is there any physical pain associated with having a life that sucks as much as yours?
Funding has nothing to do w the scandal assface.
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No need to defend to a little crybaby like you. Not even to mention the Repubs blocking the funding to the VA just three months ago.
Is there any physical pain associated with having a life that sucks as much as yours?
Serious question here.
Answer!
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Serious question here.
Answer!
LOL - im doing fine and having a ball laughing at the meltdown that is the Obama circus and clown show. But on this issue - he need to go to Kenya , jail, or wherever the fuck.
he is a criminal for fucks sake and you defend him why?
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Doing fine? Obama melting down? But it isn't Obama that is on a message board talking to himself, crying and whining nonstop every single day. It's you. Is that your definition of "doing fine"?
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Doing fine? Obama melting down? But it isn't Obama that is on a message board talking to himself, crying and whining nonstop every single day. It's you. Is that your definition of "doing fine"?
Yup - im doing a lot better than you. That's for sure. Fuck you and straw don't even work out and on a BB site? And how are those whack ass T shots going ? LMFAO!!! Not even 30y/o need T shots. Hilarious.
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"Need"? I've asked you before where you got that from and you run away instead of answering.
Nice self loathing projections you got going on there. Is that what is required to cope with being a closet case mudshark?
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"Need"? I've asked you before where you got that from and you run away instead of answering.
Nice self loathing projections you got going on there. Is that what is required to cope with being a closet case mudshark?
WTF would any guy/gal need T shots not even 30 yo?
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Using steroids on a BBing board? Wow, unheard of. Let's hear more where this "need" comes from.
Again, is there any physical pain that comes from being so stupid and having a life that sucks so bad?
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http://www.cbsnews.com/news/women-say-their-husbands-died-waiting-for-cancer-care-from-va
Obama lied people died
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http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/contradiction-presidents-claim-va-admitted-23-veteran-deaths-linked-delays-care_793459.html
Obama lied people died
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http://freebeacon.com/blog/senate-democrats-just-blocked-a-bill-to-increase-accountability-at-scandal-plagued-veterans-affairs-department
>:(
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Forced medication or the death panel? Which will Obamacare choose for you?
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No need to defend to a little crybaby like you. Not even to mention the Repubs blocking the funding to the VA just three months ago.
Is there any physical pain associated with having a life that sucks as much as yours?
This didn't start just 3 months ago even IF it was about funding. Do you really think that every scandal, coverup, incompetency, etc is a result of those Republican bastards not allowing the Dems to throw enough money at the issue?
They were told that they needed to keep an eye on this going in over 5 years ago. Obama even campaigned on this in '07.
Do you also think Obama can walk on water?
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Obama cultists will never blzme the messiah
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http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials/052214-701921-obama-to-wait-for-ig-report.htm
Obama lies - Vets die
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Why the VA Scandal Sticks
By Michael Gerson - May 23, 2014
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WASHINGTON -- Why do some political scandals stick while others fade? The level of media obsession seems to rise and fall as mysteriously as the stock market. On Benghazi, sell. Hold on the IRS audits. On the Veterans Affairs scandal, buy, buy, buy.
In the broader scandal market, fraud or criminality helps. Political intrigue is a plus. Sexual content increases attention but may eventually seem pathetically human and excusable. Conservatives are convinced that the liberal media are harder on Republicans. There is a natural human tendency to attribute good motives to people with whom you agree -- and corrupt motives to people with whom you don't. This is also not unknown in the conservative media.
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But I'd contend that the stickiest scandals are the ones that confirm pre-existing suspicions -- that draw neon outlines on an existing portrait. The Iran-contra affair confirmed a public impression that Ronald Reagan was disengaged. Bill Clinton's infidelity was further evidence of indiscipline. More recently, the image of Chris Christie as a bully was reinforced by a staff that engaged in malicious bullying.
This is precisely why President Obama's Veterans Affairs scandal is the most serious and damaging of his presidency. It is the Obama administration in sum and in miniature: incompetent management of a health system defended by crude media manipulation.
Each of these elements deserves some unpacking. The incompetence comes in the aftermath of HealthCare.gov -- the Technicolor failure of technocratic liberalism. Once again, the White House is shocked, saddened and angered by the management fiasco of a manager under its direct control. In both cases, a presidential priority was badly mishandled over a period of years, and the president seems to have learned about it on cable news. Obama has defended himself by assuming the role of an outraged bystander -- which, when it comes to leadership, is more of a self-indictment than a defense.
Modern liberalism involves centralized, bureaucratic authority and therefore presupposes administrative competence. But the caliber of technocrats chosen by Obama -- including former Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and VA Secretary Eric Shinseki -- throws the entire enterprise into question. Are the best and brightest really this dull?
The more immediate problem for Obama is that the VA scandal comes in the context of a broader health care debate. The VA health system is unapologetically socialized medicine, in a way that Obamacare (for all its faults) is not. But for the administration, the scandal is an inconvenient public reminder that the centralization of government power in health care has inherent dangers.
The VA scandal is not only the result of weak leadership; it is typical of government-managed systems, which often ration care with waiting lists and lines. The demands on the VA have been increasing (with large numbers of returning veterans, some with complicated injuries, receiving recently expanded benefits). At the same time, the Obama administration has pledged to reduce waiting lists. The results? Alleged double-booking of appointments. Overburdened staff. And the gaming of lists to hide waiting times.
Some liberal economists once referred to the VA system as a model for national health reform. It can't help the cause of liberalism when the results of rationing, inherent in all government-managed care, are dramatically demonstrated.
In addition, the VA scandal has revealed the naked essence of the White House media management strategy, stripped of adornments such as credibility and sincerity. In a savage fit of accountability, the administration let go a VA health official -- who was already scheduled to retire in less than a month. This, presumably, also saved the cost of the cake at his going-away party.
Then White House press secretary Jay Carney insisted, nine times, that the American Legion was pleased with this housecleaning. The American Legion, however, had actually pronounced it "business as usual" and called for the immediate replacement of Shinseki. What could possess Carney to make a claim that could be immediately and completely disproved? It indicates a strategy that has dispensed with persuasion: Pick a minor scapegoat, institute an inconsequential reform, claim broad support, then insist, tomorrow, that the whole matter is old news.
But this approach implies a certain amount of contempt for the journalists who are expected to carry the message. Even the most pliant among them wants some scraps of credibility mixed in their feed.
In a presidency defined by health care ambitions and debates, the VA scandal is likely to stick -- as a summary and a parody.
Read more: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2014/05/23/why_the_va_scandal_sticks_122721.html#ixzz32XYnbSCc
Follow us: @RCP_Articles on Twitter
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Guantanamo
Al Qaeda terrorists at Guantanamo treated better than our vets
By J.D. Gordon
·Published May 22, 2014
·FoxNews.com
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Next
President Obama finally addressed the nation Wednesday about the growing scandal at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. After meeting with VA Secretary Eric Shinseki he pledged to hold folks accountable.
Thanks, Mr. President.
By now most American have heard about the VA’s infamous patient “secret wait lists” which reportedly contributed to the deaths of up to 40 veterans in the Phoenix area alone. Those patriots were American heroes who served our country proudly. Yet they were left to die waiting to see a doctor.
While the Gitmo ratio is 1.5 to 1, for America’s 9 million veterans receiving VA health care and 267,930 VA employees, the ratio is 35 to 1.
Here’s another secret the White House doesn’t want you to know about the VA. Al Qaeda detainees get better medical treatment than our veterans.
Say what?
Yes, it’s true. I know because I served as a Pentagon spokesman from 2005-2009 and visited Guantanamo Bay Naval Base over 30 times during those years.
Despite the fact that Al Qaeda terrorists carried out the Sept. 11 terror attacks, killing 3,000 people in America, the admitted co-conspirators and their roughly 150 fellow jihadists at Gitmo have approximately 100 doctors, nurses and health care personnel assigned to them.
Doctors and medical personnel are at their beck and call. Got a cold, a fever, a toothache, a tumor, chest or back pain, mental health issues, PTSD? No problem, come right on in. Military doctors are waiting to see you.
The VA and Gitmo eligible patient-to-health care provider ratios speak volumes.
While the Gitmo ratio is 1.5 to 1, for America’s 9 million veterans receiving VA health care and 267,930 VA employees, the ratio is 35 to 1.
But beyond the Gitmo numbers, the situation at the VA is also a bright, shining example of misguided priorities and terrible mismanagement.
In late 2008, when Obama was president-elect, he and his staff were warned not to trust the wait times reported by VA health care facilities. But instead of fixing the problem, their focus was closing Guantanamo and improving the comfort of detainees. Even though they already lived under some of the best prison conditions ever seen.
While some who see “2008” may reflexively say, “blame Bush, not Obama” the fact is that the VA’s health system has been fatally flawed for years, regardless of who has been the president.
The VA is a classic example of big government gone wild. It is America’s second largest cabinet agency after the Defense Department. Since civil service promotions are traditionally based more on seniority than performance, and it’s near impossible to fire anyone, there’s a punch-the-clock mentality that’s pervasive. Not surprisingly, there's little to no sense of urgency. So to instill incentives, the VA shells out high salaries and bonuses, deserved or not.
According to a Fox News report, Phoenix VA hospital paid staff up to $357,000 for doctor executives and $147,000 for nursing staff. On average, doctors and nurses in Phoenix make just over half those figures.
Meanwhile, the gardening budget at Phoenix VA hospital was over $180,000 in 2013. The facility also spent $211,000 on interior design over the past three years.
If any government entity ever needed a complete overhaul, it’s the VA. If it were in the private sector, it would have been shuttered long ago.
Today’s VA has near zero accountability, while labor unions fight to protect employees who aren't doing their jobs. Shinseki and his senior staff should be the first to go.
President Obama needs to refocus his priorities. There must be less time, effort and energy caring for Al Qaeda and Taliban detainees at Gitmo and much more attention put on caring for America's veterans.
Our veterans have served the nation proudly. In many cases they were gravely wounded during their service and now will require a lifetime of medical support. Every one of them deserves better.
J.D. Gordon is a retired Navy Commander who served as a Pentagon spokesman in the Office of the Secretary of Defense from 2005-09. He serves as senior adviser to several Washington-based think tanks.
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The Government Health-Care Model
The Veterans scandal shows where ObamaCare ends up.
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May 22, 2014 7:29 p.m. ET
President Obama addressed the Veterans Affairs scandal on Wednesday, saying he's waiting for an Inspector General "audit" of what went wrong. And the press corps is debating whether VA Secretary Eric Shinseki should be fired. These are sideshows. The real story of the VA scandal is the failure of what liberals have long hailed as the model of government health care.
Don't take our word for it. As recently as November 2011, Paul Krugman praised the VA as a triumph of "socialized medicine," as he put it: "What's behind this success? Crucially, the V.H.A. is an integrated system, which provides health care as well as paying for it. So it's free from the perverse incentives created when doctors and hospitals profit from expensive tests and procedures, whether or not those procedures actually make medical sense."
Ah, yes, the VA lacks the evil profit motive. What the egalitarians ignore, however, is that a government system contains its own "perverse incentives," such as rationing that leads to treatment delays and preventable deaths, which the bureaucracy then tries to cover up. This isn't an accident or one-time error. It is inherent in a system that allocates resources by political force rather than individual consumer choices. The VA is ObamaCare's ultimate destination.
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The VA operates on a "global budget" that Congress sets each year to provide veterans a guaranteed level of benefits. All veterans are entitled to free preventative screenings, immunizations, lab services and EKGs. Most are required to pay little to nothing out of pocket for medical appointments, hospital care and drugs.
All of this creates an ever-growing demand for more services, but in a world of inevitably limited resources. As in every government-run system, the only way the VA can provide universal, low-cost health care is by rationing. At the VA, this means long waiting lists to see doctors and get the "free" treatment veterans are entitled to.
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cat
So it's no surprise that allegations are spilling out that VA facilities keep secret waiting lists to hide queues that exceed the government's targets. A retired doctor at a veterans hospital in Phoenix last month charged that staff concealed months-long delays for as many as 1,600 veterans, allegedly resulting in 40 preventable deaths. Excessive wait-times have also been reported in Fort Collins, Durham, Cheyenne, Austin and Chicago, among others.
A new Inspector General report is all but certain to reaffirm the conclusions from its 2005, 2007 and 2012 reports. To wit, VA centers fudge their data. The VA has consistently boasted in its performance reviews that more than 90% of patients receive appointments within 14 days of their "desired date." Yet according to the IG's 2012 report, the measures "had no real value" because the VA "does not have a reliable and accurate method of determining whether they are providing patients timely access" to care.
VA officials claim backlogs are due to difficulty hiring and retaining staff, but that's another problem endemic to government health care. Compensation is often too low to attract doctors, particularly in high-demand specialties like physical therapy and gastroenterology. While VA medical centers can refer patients for private consultations to reduce backlogs, they rarely do.
Last year the IG reported that the VA had given $1.02 million in September 2011 to a medical center in Columbia, South Carolina, for private colonoscopies to address a backlog of 2,500 patients. But in January 2012—by then the wait list had grown to more than 3,800—the Columbia VA's business office instructed staff not to "send out anymore non-VA care GI requests for endoscopy until further notice" since they were "attempting to internalize" procedures.
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U.S. secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki Bloomberg
The Columbia VA referred only 100 patients between January and March 2012 to outside physicians and spent just $275,000 of the $1.02 million on private colonoscopies. Yet in-house colonoscopies decreased. As a result, the IG found that 52 patients who were later diagnosed with GI malignancies received delayed treatment.
Call it another "perverse incentive." Maintaining long backlogs can help VA centers procure more funding. Like other government institutions, VA centers have a financial incentive to keep services in-house.
The inevitable liberal defense—it's coming, we guarantee it—will be that Congress isn't spending enough money. Yet as the nearby charts show, funding soared by 106% to $57.3 billion in 2013 from $27.7 billion in 2003. Yet over the same period the number of VA patients has increased by only 30%. Congress rubber-stamps the VA's requests for more funding, and Mr. Obama's budget this year requests $2 billion more.
Yet throwing more money at the VA hasn't improved accountability, and neither have Congressional attempts at reform dating to the 1980s. In 2009, President Obama signed legislation that he promised would ensure "better access to the doctors and nurses" and "promote accountability." Yet according to the Center for Investigative Reporting, the VA has settled more than $200 million in wrongful death claims since 9/11. The Cox Media Group calculates the VA's malpractice tab at $845 million over the last decade.
House Republicans on Wednesday passed legislation to streamline dismissal for malfeasant VA staff and are calling for Mr. Shinseki's head. Yet rearranging the deck chairs won't fix the VA's core problem, which is that a government-run system inevitably leads to wait lists and reduced access to quality care.
The modern VA is a vestige of the flood of veterans coming out of World Wars I and II, but it is as unnecessary as a health-care system dedicated solely to police or firefighters. The best solution is to privatize the system. At the very least veterans ought to receive vouchers that allow them to seek subsidized care from private providers that removes the VA as the choke point. Why are politicians punishing veterans with inferior government health care?
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Epic cut and paste conversation with yourself.
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Epic cut and paste conversation with yourself.
Mr. Low T - please focus on the topic at hand. 40 vets died and all you care about is the GOP not pandering to gays and blacks? Fuck off moron
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http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/05/20/Chicago-VA-Spent-3-X-More-on-Painters-Than-Quality-Assurance
:(
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The VA scandal will stick with the Obama administration
By Michael Gerson, Published: May 22 E-mail the writer
Why do some political scandals stick while others fade? The level of media obsession seems to rise and fall as mysteriously as the stock market. On Benghazi, sell. Hold on the IRS audits. On the Department of Veterans Affairs scandal, buy, buy, buy.
In the broader scandal market, fraud or criminality helps. Political intrigue is a plus. Sexual content increases attention but may eventually seem pathetically human and excusable. Conservatives are convinced that the liberal media are harder on Republicans. There is a natural human tendency to attribute good motives to people with whom you agree — and corrupt motives to people with whom you don’t. This is also not unknown in the conservative media.
Michael Gerson
Gerson writes about politics, religion, foreign policy and global health and development in a twice-a-week column and on the PostPartisan blog.
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But I’d contend that the stickiest scandals are the ones that confirm preexisting suspicions — that draw neon outlines on an existing portrait. The Iran-contra affair confirmed a public impression that Ronald Reagan was disengaged. Bill Clinton’s infidelity was further evidence of indiscipline. More recent, the image of Chris Christie as a bully was reinforced by a staff that engaged in malicious bullying.
This is precisely why President Obama’s VA scandal is the most serious and damaging of his presidency. It is the Obama administration in sum and in miniature: incompetent management of a health system, defended by crude media manipulation.
Each of these elements deserves some unpacking. The incompetence comes in the aftermath of HealthCare.gov — the Technicolor failure of technocratic liberalism. Again, the White House is shocked, saddened and angered by the management fiasco of a manager under its direct control. In both cases, a presidential priority was badly mishandled over a period of years, and the president seems to have learned about it on cable news. Obama has defended himself by assuming the role of an outraged bystander — which, when it comes to leadership, is more of a self-indictment than a defense.
Modern liberalism involves centralized, bureaucratic authority and therefore presupposes administrative competence. But the caliber of technocrats chosen by Obama — including former health and human services secretary Kathleen Sebelius and VA Secretary Eric K. Shinseki — throws the entire enterprise into question. Are the best and brightest really this dull?
The more immediate problem for Obama is that the VA scandal comes in the context of a broader health-care debate. The VA health system is unapologetically socialized medicine, in a way that Obamacare (for all its faults) is not. But for the administration, the scandal is an inconvenient public reminder that the centralization of government power in health care has inherent dangers.
The VA scandal is not only the result of weak leadership; it is typical of government-managed systems, which often ration care with waiting lists and lines. The demands on the VA have been increasing, with large numbers of returning veterans, some with complicated injuries, receiving recently expanded benefits. At the same time, the Obama administration has pledged to reduce waiting lists. The results? Alleged double-booking of appointments. Overburdened staff. And the gaming of lists to hide waiting times.
Some liberal economists once referred to the VA system as a model for national health reform. It can’t help the cause of liberalism when the results of rationing, inherent in all government-managed care, are dramatically demonstrated.
In addition, the VA scandal has revealed the naked essence of the White House media management strategy, stripped of adornments such as credibility and sincerity. In a savage fit of accountability, the administration let go a VA health official — who was already scheduled to retire in less than a month. This, presumably, also saved the cost of the cake at his going-away party.
Then White House press secretary Jay Carney insisted, nine times, that the American Legion was pleased with this housecleaning. The American Legion, however, had actually pronounced it “business as usual” and called for the immediate replacement of Shinseki. What could possess Carney to make a claim that could be immediately and completely disproved? It indicates a strategy that has dispensed with persuasion: Pick a minor scapegoat, institute an inconsequential reform, claim broad support, then insist, tomorrow, that the whole matter is old news.
But this approach implies a certain amount of contempt for the journalists who are expected to carry the message. Even the most pliant among them wants some scraps of credibility mixed in their feed.
In a presidency defined by health-care ambitions and debates, the VA scandal is likely to stick — as a summary and a parody.
Read more from Michael Gerson’s archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook .
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Miami VA Whistleblower Exposes Drug Dealing, Theft, Abuse
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – When asked why he would risk his job and speak publicly, Detective Thomas Fiore considered the question carefully before answering.
“People are dying,” he finally said, “and there are so many things that are going on there that people need to know about.”
Fiore, a criminal investigator for the VA police department in South Florida, contacted CBS4 News hoping to shed light on what he considers a culture of cover-ups and bureaucratic neglect. Among his charges: Drug dealing on the hospital grounds is a daily occurrence.
“Anything from your standard prescription drugs like OxyContin, Vicodin, Percocet, and of course marijuana, cocaine, heroin, I’ve come across them all,” he explained.
Even inside the hospital, he says he was stopped from doing his job – investigating reports of missing drugs from the VA pharmacy. When the amount of a particular drug inside the pharmacy doesn’t match the amount that the pharmacy is supposed to have, a report, known as a “discrepancy report” is generated. Normally it was his job to investigate the reports to determine if they were the result of harmless mistakes or criminal activity. But all that changed, he said, about two years ago.
“I was instructed that I was to stop conducting investigations pertaining to controlled substance discrepancies,” he recalled.
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http://cnsnews.com/video/cnsnews/sarah-palin-tees-va-issue-and-lazy-obama?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Marketing&utm_term=Facebook&utm_content=Facebook&utm_campaign=B-PalinObama
Palin calls Obama lazy incompetent and useless
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Palin is a dog whistle for retarded idiots. I see why you responded to her.
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Palin calls Obama lazy incompetent and useless
oh brother... back to palin? DUDE she was a fcking liberal that suddenly decided she was a tea partier, when that became convenient. She blamed MAN for global warming. She supported Amnesty Cities in her own damn state. And don't even talk about economy - Unemployment was 20% higher under Palin - all while big oil had record profits in alaska. And morally, I don't want to hear her preach about how people should be acting/sex/etc, given her own penchant for fcking NBA ballers she just met.
Stop citing this liberal that suddenly winked and pretended to be a conservative. There are FAR more qualified people, actual conservatives, criticizing obama, that you should be quoting.
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http://thehill.com/policy/defense/207041-senate-dems-close-ranks-on-va
Amazing these leftist commies in the senate still supporting o-fag over this
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Obama 2008: VA will be 'leader of health care reform'
N.Y. Times columnist cited 'huge success story' of 'socialized medicine'
Published: 18 hours ago
author-image Garth Kant About | Email | Archive
Garth Kant is WND Washington news editor. Previously, he spent five years writing, copy-editing and producing at "CNN Headline News," three years writing, copy-editing and training writers at MSNBC, and also served several local TV newsrooms as producer, executive producer and assistant news director. He is the author of the McGraw-Hill textbook, "How to Write Television News."
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President Obama takes 2 questions from the press on the VA scandal after making statement on Thursday
WASHINGTON — It’s one of those promises the president would probably like to forget.
In vowing to make the Veterans Administration the model of national health-care reform back in 2008, the outlook for scandal-plagued Obamacare suddenly seems even worse.
WND has discovered that during his transition into the White House in 2008-09, President Obama proposed in his “Obama-Biden” plan to “make the VA a leader of national health care reform so that veterans get the best care possible.”
However, instead of fixing the VA, the administration has had to defend its role in the death of veterans by neglect.
Meanwhile, WND is reporting that eight years earlier, in a failed run for Congress, Obama unveiled a sweeping health-care plan that modeled aspects of the Veterans Administration’s medical system.
The VA problems became a national sensation April 14 when CNN reported that at least 40 U.S. veterans died waiting for appointments at the Phoenix VA, many of whom were placed on a secret waiting list.
The discovery of the Obama-Biden VA plan fits a pattern that has come to light this week in which Obama repeatedly warned, or was warned, of serious problems at the VA but apparently did little in response.
In the document labeled the Obama-Biden Plan from the Office of the President Elect, Obama makes a series of promises to veterans, including:
•Fix the Benefits Bureaucracy: Hire additional claims workers, and improve training and accountability so that VA benefit decisions are rated fairly and consistently. Transform the paper benefit claims process to an electronic one to reduce errors and improve timeliness.
•Strengthen VA Care: Make the VA a leader of national health care reform so that veterans get the best care possible. Improve care for polytrauma vision impairment, prosthetics, spinal cord injury, aging, and women’s health.
•Fully Fund VA Medical Care: Fully fund the VA so it has all the resources it needs to serve the veterans who need it, when they need it. Establish a world-class VA Planning Division to avoid future budget shortfalls.
The Obama-Biden plan seems to have fallen so far short of its promise to “Fix the Benefits Bureaucracy” that the VA itself has admitted 23 vets have died waiting for care, and investigations of possible death-by-neglect have spread to 26 VA facilities around the country.
As WND has reported, Obama was warned about severe problems at the VA repeatedly over the years, even before he became president.
•WND discovered that Obama was briefed on problems at the VA as far back as 2005, when he was a senator and a member of the Veterans Affairs committee.
•In a 2007 speech, Sen. Obama said, “Keeping faith with those who serve must always be a core American value and a cornerstone of American patriotism. Because America’s commitment to its servicemen and women begins at enlistment, and it must never end.”
•The Washington Times reported Monday that the Obama administration received notice more than five years ago that VA medical facilities were reporting inaccurate waiting times and experiencing scheduling failures that threatened to deny veterans timely health care.
•VA officials reportedly warned the Obama-Biden transition team in the weeks after the 2008 presidential election that the wait times the facilities were reporting were not trustworthy.
•More recently, House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Jeff Miller, R-Fla., wrote a letter to Obama on May 21, 2013, that warned: “an alarming pattern of serious and significant patient care issues at the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Centers (VAMCs) across the country … (including) failures, deceptions, and lack of accountability permeating VA’s healthcare system … I believe your direct involvement and leadership is required.”
•And, WND reported last week that Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., reminded VA Secretary Eric Shinseki that Congress had been informed two years ago that gaming the system at the VA was so widespread, employees would look to get around regulations as soon as the rules were implemented.
Democrats have been quick to say the problems were caused by an increase in veterans in the system due to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and that the solution is to increase spending on the VA.
Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said, “If the VA does not have enough doctors to see these patients, then these problems are a result of a lack of funding.”
On Sunday’s “Meet the Press,” NBC News chief Pentagon reporter Jim Miklaszewski claimed, “You have a VA that is overwhelmed and under-resourced,” adding, “There’s just not enough money right now in the federal government to fix it.”
However, John Merline at Investor’s Business Daily crunched the numbers and found that just wasn’t true.
On the contrary, he found the VA’s budget has been exploding, even as the number of veterans steadily declines.
VA spending nearly tripled from 2000 to 2013, while the population of veterans declined by 4.3 million.
Even more telling, wounded warriors coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan are not increasing treatment costs.
Those vets are actually far cheaper to treat than aging vets.
A Congressional Budget Office report found that they cost $4,800, on average, in 2010 compared with $8,800 for other veterans who used the system.
It also found, while these Iraq and Afghan vets account for 7 percent of those treated, they were responsible for only 4 percent of its health costs.
Iraq and Afghan vets, the report found, “are typically younger and healthier than the average VHA patient and as a result are less expensive to treat.”
Still, the VA scandal keeps exploding, with no signs of slowing down. VA Secretary Shinseki had testified before the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee last week that he was not aware of problems similar to those in Phoenix at other VA facilities, except in isolated cases. But emboldened whistleblowers have now identified 26 VA facilities around the country experiencing similar problems.
Just Thursday, an attorney claimed her client died of neglect by the Seattle Veterans Affairs hospital.
The attorney said Donald Douglass had a small spot on his forehead confirmed as cancerous when he went to the Seattle VA hospital in 2011, but it was four months before the hospital scheduled an appointment for him to have it removed — and by then, it had spread, wrapping around a facial nerve and eventually getting into his blood.
According to attorney Jessica Holman, “Had he had his surgery timely, he’d be alive today.”
In Miami, a criminal investigator for the VA police department in South Florida went to a local television station because, he said, the VA told him to stop investigating drug deals on hospital grounds.
“People are dying,” Detective Thomas Fiore said, “and there are so many things that are going on there that people need to know about.”
Fiore claimed illegal drug deals area occur daily at the hospital, involving, “Anything from your standard prescription drugs like OxyContin, Vicodin, Percocet, and of course marijuana, cocaine, heroin, I’ve come across them all.”
He says he was even stopped from investigating reports of missing drugs from the VA pharmacy by the official in charge.
“I was instructed that I was to stop conducting investigations pertaining to controlled substance discrepancies,” by the hospital’s chief of staff, Dr. Vincent DeGennaro, said Fiore.
The growing scandal could affect upcoming elections, because if the VA problems offer a preview of government-run health insurance, then Republicans may be rapidly acquiring explosive new ammunition in their efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare.
Former AP Washington Bureau Chief Ron Fournier, now with National Journal, said Obama’s poor handling of the mismanagement at the Department of Veterans Affairs could plague his presidency as an all-time low point.
“The president has known the VA has been a mess for a long time, and hasn’t done anything to get it fixed,” he said. “It’s gotten worse recently — at least for the last two years, we’ve known we’ve had these problems and nothing’s been done,” said Fournier.
However, leading liberals have long touted the VA as an efficient model of government-run health care.
New York times columnist Paul Krugman called the VA a “huge success story” in 2011, saying “t’s free from the perverse incentives created when doctors and hospitals profit from expensive tests and procedures, whether or not those procedures actually make medical sense.”
Krugman added, “Yes, this is ‘socialized medicine’ … But it works, and suggests what it will take to solve the troubles of US health care more broadly.”
In 2009, his fellow New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, wrote, “Take the hospital system run by the Department of Veterans Affairs, the largest integrated health system in the United States. It is fully government run, much more ‘socialized medicine’ than is Canadian health care with its private doctors and hospitals. And the system for veterans is by all accounts one of the best-performing and most-cost-effective elements in the American medical establishment.”
Follow Garth Kant on Twitter @DCgarth
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2014/05/obama-2008-va-will-become-a-leader-of-health-care-reform/#j0W00B90PKiPuQJf.99
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http://miami.cbslocal.com/2014/05/22/new-allegation-of-patient-deaths-at-miami-va
More deaths
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http://www.bizpacreview.com/2014/05/23/sick-marine-cant-find-a-doctor-under-obamacare-plan-told-to-cancel-coverage-120584
Obama fault and is to blame
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oh brother... back to palin? DUDE she was a fcking liberal that suddenly decided she was a tea partier, when that became convenient. She blamed MAN for global warming. She supported Amnesty Cities in her own damn state. And don't even talk about economy - Unemployment was 20% higher under Palin - all while big oil had record profits in alaska. And morally, I don't want to hear her preach about how people should be acting/sex/etc, given her own penchant for fcking NBA ballers she just met.
Stop citing this liberal that suddenly winked and pretended to be a conservative. There are FAR more qualified people, actual conservatives, criticizing obama, that you should be quoting.
Sounds like many Americans - they're liberal when they're young, ignorant, and idealistic. When they grow up they realize liberalism doesn't work in the real world.
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http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2014/05/23/bodies-of-28-veterans-at-la-county-morgue-will-finally-receive-proper-burial
:(
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/kathleen-parker-va-scandal-shows-obama-is-out-of-the-loop--again/2014/05/23/a62bc28a-e2b4-11e3-8dcc-d6b7fede081a_story.html
;)
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http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/05/26/veterans-appeals-leaves-wwii-vietnam-vets-without-benefits-for-decades/9448265
:(
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/behind-many-government-problems-is-a-civil-service-system-stuck-in-the-40s/2014/05/26/56fab8ae-e2c0-11e3-9743-bb9b59cde7b9_story.html
Truth - the entire Federal Govt is like the VA
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http://dailycaller.com/2014/05/27/family-alleges-va-police-killed-vet
Just wow
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http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/05/27/exclusive-texas-va-run-like-a-crime-syndicate-whistleblower-says.html
>:(
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BREAKING NEWS Wednesday, May 28, 2014 2:08 PM EDT
V.A. Watchdog Finds Failures in Care at Phoenix Hospital
The inspector general for the Department of Veterans Affairs reported on Wednesday that at least 1,700 veterans at the agency’s medical center in Phoenix were not registered on the proper waiting list to see doctors, creating a serious condition that means veterans “continue to be at risk of being forgotten or lost” in the convoluted scheduling process.
All the while, the hospital falsely reported waiting times that suggested delays were minimal, the report said.
“While our work is not complete, we have substantiated that significant delays in access to care negatively impacted the quality of care at this medical facility,” Richard J. Griffin, the acting inspector general for the department, said in an interim report on his investigation into the Phoenix medical center.
READ MORE »
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/29/us/va-report-confirms-improper-waiting-lists-at-phoenix-center.html?emc=edit_na_20140528
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http://www.mediaite.com/tv/montel-williams-goes-on-fiery-rant-over-va-why-didnt-obama-apologize
Good one
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http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/29/us/va-report-confirms-improper-waiting-lists-at-phoenix-center.html?ref=todayspaper
>:(
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http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2014/05/29/chris_matthews_obama_has_been_diddling_for_a_week_on_va_scandal.html
;)
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http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2014/05/28/nancy_pelosi_not_sure_if_va_scandal_is_actually_a_scandal.html
Unreal
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http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/opinion/editorials/2014/05/editorial_va_from_bad_to_worse
>:(
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http://www.progressivestoday.com/exclusive-filth-feces-urine-and-trash-veterans-abused-at-st-louis-va-pictures
:(
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VA head says 18 veterans left off wait list have died (Phoenix, Arizona)
The Long Beach Press-Telegram / The Associated Press ^ | June 6, 2014
Posted on June 6, 2014 at 1:47:15 PM EDT by 2ndDivisionVet
PHOENIX — In a new revelation in the growing Veterans Affairs’ scandal, the organization’s acting head says that an additional 18 veterans whose names were kept off an official electronic VA appointment list have died.
Acting VA Secretary Sloan Gibson said he would ask the inspector general to see if there is any indication those deaths were related to long wait times. If so, they would reach out to those veterans’ families.
“I will come personally and apologize to the survivors,” Gibson said Thursday....
(Excerpt) Read more at presstelegram.com ...
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http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/09/politics/va-audit/index.html?hpt=hp_t3
120k vets got fucked.
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WASHINGTON (AP) — A top Veterans Affairs Department official is acknowledging "an integrity issue here among some of our leaders" as the embattled agency reels from mounting evidence that workers fabricated data on veterans' waits for medical appointments in an effort to mask frequent, long delays.
"It is irresponsible," Philip Matkovsky, a top VA official who helps oversee its administrative operations, told the House Veterans Affairs Committee at an unusual Monday evening hearing. "It is indefensible, and it is unacceptable. I apologize to our veterans, their families and their loved ones."
Matkovsky's apology, rendered hours after his agency released fresh revelations about slow-moving care, echoed acting VA Secretary Sloan Gibson's contrition shortly after he replaced Eric Shinseki atop the agency. President Barack Obama accepted Shinseki's resignation on May 30, but that has not stopped the uproar over veteran's care from becoming an embarrassment for the Obama administration and a potential political liability for congressional Democrats seeking re-election in November.
Matkovsky did not specify which VA officials had questionable integrity. The agency has started removing top officials at its medical facility in Phoenix, a focal point of the department's problems, and investigators have found indications of long waits and falsified records of patients' appointments at hundreds of facilities.
Asked by Veterans Affairs panel Chairman Jeff Miller, R-Fla., whether officials at the agency's main office had ordered manipulation of patients' data, Matkovsky said he was not aware of that, adding, "I certainly hope they have not."
Richard Griffin, acting VA inspector general, told lawmakers his investigators were probing for wrong-doing at 69 agency medical facilities, up from 42 two weeks ago. He said he has discussed evidence of manipulated data with the Justice Department, which he said was still considering whether crimes occurred.
"Once somebody loses his job or gets criminally charged, it will no longer be a game and that will be the shot heard around the system," Griffin said.
Monday's hearing came as Congress moved toward addressing the problem, which drew intensified public attention two months ago with reports of patients dying while awaiting VA care and cover-ups at the Phoenix center. The VA, the country's largest health care provider, serves almost 9 million veterans.
Late Monday, lawmakers on both sides of the Capitol said they had finished writing similar bipartisan bills. Both would allow veterans facing long waits for care or living more than 40 miles from an agency medical facility to get VA-paid treatment from local, non-VA health care providers over the next two years.
The Senate measure would make it easier for the VA to fire top officials — much as a separate House-approved bill would do. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said the House would vote on its new legislation this week, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said his chamber would vote "as soon as it is ready."
Monday night, lawmakers on the House veterans committee expressed impatience and a wariness of VA pledges to improve care. The agency's inspector general has been issuing reports about patient scheduling problems since at least 2005.
"We're going to get to the bottom of this," Rep. Mike Michaud of Maine, top Democrat on the panel, told reporters. "If that means criminal prosecutions, that means criminal prosecutions."
Rep. Dan Benishek, R-Mich., noted that a VA document misplaced an agency medical facility in his state in Wisconsin instead and told Matkovsky, "You can't place a facility in the right state, so I don't know how we can trust you with the big stuff."
"We are committed" to improvements, Matkovsky responded. "This is the start, not the end."
At the same hearing, an official from the Government Accountability Office — Congress' investigative arm — said that of 150 patients seeking special outpatient care, most were treated slower than agency guidelines suggest and almost half did not get requested care. One patient died before getting needed surgery the agency had approved from an outside provider, Debra Draper, GAO's director for health care, said.
Hours earlier, the VA released an internal audit showing more than 57,000 new patients had to wait at least three months for initial appointments. It also found that over the past decade, nearly 64,000 newly enrolled veterans requesting appointments never got one, though it was unclear how many still wanted VA care.
The audit covered 731 VA medical facilities. It said 13 percent of scheduling employees said they'd been instructed to enter falsified appointment dates, and 8 percent used unofficial appointment lists, both practices aimed at improving agency statistics on patient wait times.
As a result, the agency said it was ordering further investigations at 112 locations where interviews revealed indications of fabricated scheduling data or of supervisors ordering falsified lists.
Gibson, the acting VA secretary, directed several steps to address Monday's audit, including a short-term boost in medical services at overburdened facilities, including using mobile units.
The agency has contacted 50,000 veterans awaiting appointments and plans to reach 40,000 others to accelerate care, letting them choose VA treatment or local non-VA health-care providers.
The VA believes it will need $300 million over the next three months to accelerate medical care, money that will come from the agency's existing budget. That will include expanding clinics' hours and paying for some veterans to see outside providers.
___
Associated Press writer Matthew Daly contributed to this report.
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http://dailycaller.com/2014/06/12/obama-administration-knew-about-vas-secret-wait-lists-for-years
>:(
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A Fed-Up Veteran Blasts VA's "Lie, Delay, Deny" Abyss
Townhall.com ^ | June 18, 2014 | Michelle, Malkin
Posted on 6/18/2014 7:13:54 AM by Kaslin
They don't care."
As Obama administration officials pivot like haywire jewelry-box ballerinas to divert attention away from the nationwide Veterans Affairs disgrace, a reader who has been fighting the system urged me to urge Capitol Hill and the American public to stay focused.
This former Special Forces soldier and medic served his country for 25 years. He worked in the health care field managing military field medical clinics. "I know how health care is supposed to run, even in austere or low-budget environments," he says. And in his nightmarish, ongoing experience, the VA is an epic, deadly, monstrous failure. He minces no words: "They're getting billions of dollars, and they treat veterans like s-t. There's no accountability, no buy-in, among civilian unionized employees. We mean nothing to them. It's like going to the DMV for your health care."
Over the past four years, the veteran tells me, he has been under direct VA care for two major line-of-duty-related injuries, including one combat-related injury. One of the medical centers that treated him -- or rather mistreated him and maltreated him -- is the Coatesville, Pa., VA. It's the same facility where four vets died due to medical malpractice, leading to nearly $1.4 million in settlements to vets' families, according to The Center for Investigative Reporting.
The harrowing cases included two fatal failures to monitor patients, improper management of a psychiatric patient, and wrongful diagnosis or misdiagnosis of a patient.
These details are all too familiar to my reader. "I have been misdiagnosed, had a missed diagnosis, and had delays of care lasting months," he says. "My records have been lost, changed, split and mismanaged." He has experienced firsthand the same "slow-walking" of care that millions of other VA patients have encountered and scores have died from -- a systemic modus operandi of "lie, delay, deny."
The vet gets a catch in his voice as he relates a horrible anecdote. After refusing to return to the Coatesville facility and seeking treatment at another VA clinic one day, he became nauseous. Instead of allowing him to lie down on a gurney, a nurse made him vomit outside so he wouldn't soil the bed. He believes the office was open not to treat patients, but as a front for nurses to pick up extra shifts. He has encountered similar degrading and condescending treatment across the VA system.
When he appealed for help and advocacy within the system, the veteran was met with a stone wall of "Not My Job"-ism. Through denials of care, contraindicated medications, repeated mistakes and delays of pharmacy items, he endured callousness, humiliation and stigmatization. "When I get angry, they call me 'crazy.'" Classic blame-the-victim tactics from the VA abusers.
Big Government politicians want to throw more funding at the VA, as usual. The veteran offers a scathing reality check: "There is ample money to address the needs of American veterans," he says. "The problem is far deeper and more dangerous than just secret waiting lists. The VA almost killed me; my health is worse now than it was when I entered care; my quality of life and living conditions have been nothing short of horrific as I have waited years for adjudication of my benefits case, which in the end was botched."
Again, the vet refuses to candy-coat the roots of the festering VA scandal: "The problem is not just waiting lists. It is utter fraudulent expenditure of enormous budgets, not on veterans, but on overpaid lazy, surly civilian employees that often make it clear that a) they do not like veterans and b) that the veteran is actually a nuisance. The problem is endemic, at every level, in the VA. The unfortunate fact of the matter is this: Veterans have become incidental to the process at the VA."
The system is "an enormous cash cow, warehousing tens of thousands of overpaid employees" who "keep the gravy-train rolling." The vet has a plea on behalf of all of his brothers and sisters who are drowning in the VA's "lie, delay, deny" abyss:
"Please, don't let this die."
CORRECTION: In last week's column, I erroneously stated that ProgressNow was responsible for an attack ad against Colorado GOP gubernatorial candidate Tom Tancredo. The ad was sponsored by Protect Colorado Values, a separate Democrat-linked outfit.
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http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jun/19/editorial-strange-priorities-at-the-va
:(
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Veterans and Zombies
The Hype Behind the Health Care Scandal
You’ve surely heard about the scandal at the Department of Veterans Affairs. A number of veterans found themselves waiting a long time for care, some of them died before they were seen, and some of the agency’s employees falsified records to cover up the extent of the problem. It’s a real scandal; some heads have already rolled, but there’s surely more to clean up.
But the goings-on at Veterans Affairs shouldn’t cause us to lose sight of a much bigger scandal: the almost surreal inefficiency and injustice of the American health care system as a whole. And it’s important to understand that the Veterans Affairs scandal, while real, is being hyped out of proportion by people whose real goal is to block reform of the larger system.
The essential, undeniable fact about American health care is how incredibly expensive it is — twice as costly per capita as the French system, two-and-a-half times as expensive as the British system. You might expect all that money to buy results, but the United States actually ranks low on basic measures of performance; we have low life expectancy and high infant mortality, and despite all that spending many people can’t get health care when they need it. What’s more, Americans seem to realize that they’re getting a bad deal: Surveys show a much smaller percentage of the population satisfied with the health system in America than in other countries.
And, in America, medical costs often cause financial distress to an extent that doesn’t happen in any other advanced nation.
How and why does health care in the United States manage to perform so badly?
...
More here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/20/opinion/the-hype-behind-the-health-care-scandal.html?ref=opinion&_r=0 (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/20/opinion/the-hype-behind-the-health-care-scandal.html?ref=opinion&_r=0)
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But the goings-on at Veterans Affairs shouldn’t cause us to lose sight of a much bigger scandal: the almost surreal inefficiency and injustice of the American health care system as a whole. And it’s important to understand that the Veterans Affairs scandal, while real, is being hyped out of proportion by people whose real goal is to block reform of the larger system.
________________________ _______
LMFAO!!!!!
GMAFB!!!
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But the goings-on at Veterans Affairs shouldn’t cause us to lose sight of a much bigger scandal: the almost surreal inefficiency and injustice of the American health care system as a whole. And it’s important to understand that the Veterans Affairs scandal, while real, is being hyped out of proportion by people whose real goal is to block reform of the larger system.
________________________ _______
LMFAO!!!!!
GMAFB!!!
Really, SC?
You don't think it's reasonable to suspect that some are hyping the scandal because they want to use it to argue that gov't can't do anything right and therefore government-led healthcare reform is doomed to failure?
(Good luck with this tactic, btw -- Ya don't hear so many right-wingers complaining about ACA anymore and that's got to be, at least partially, because more and more folks are happy with it.)
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Really, SC?
You don't think it's reasonable to suspect that some are hyping the scandal because they want to use it to argue that gov't can't do anything right and therefore government-led healthcare reform is doomed to failure?
(Good luck with this tactic, btw -- Ya don't hear so many right-wingers complaining about ACA anymore and that's got to be, at least partially, because more and more folks are happy with it.)
THE ACA is only but one of the other 100 scandals around this admn
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THE ACA is only but one of the other 100 scandals around this admn
The VA scandal is obvious proof that big govt healthcare won't work. And the ACA is doomed to fail when you charge someone $80 a month for a $400 a month policy and expect the younger and healthier people (who often don't have the $ anyway) to make it up. Which means big brother will be expected to make it up and add even more burden to the taxpayers and to its own crushing debt.
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CNN: Whistleblower: VA Changed Records To Make Dead Patients Appear To Be Alive
Youtube ^ | 6/24/14 | CNN
Posted on June 24, 2014 at 8:49:09 PM EDT by Nachum
CNN: Whistleblower: VA Changed Records To Make Dead Patients Appear To Be Alive (June 24, 2014)
(Excerpt) Read more at youtube.com ...
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http://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jun/24/poor-care-va-hospitals-cost-1000-veterans-their-li
Wow
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http://boston.cbslocal.com/2014/06/30/iteam-acton-vet-finally-gets-va-doctors-appointment-2-years-after-he-died
>:(
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http://washingtonexaminer.com/millions-of-dollars-in-sordid-bonuses-paid-to-top-veterans-affairs-admin/article/2550582
sickening
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/10/va-overpaid-workers_n_5564766.html
WTF!!!! >:(
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/23/robert-mcdonald-special-forces_n_6739184.html