In the spring, as the scandal at Walter Reed Army Medical Center dominated the headlines, the President promised to fix the problems facing returning veterans. Congress proposed the best veterans' budget we've ever seen, including the biggest increase in funding for vets' health care in 77 years.
But more than six months later, little action has been taken. A new GAO report confirms that the problems at Walter Reed aren't solved. Furthermore, the VA budget is officially late, so veterans' hospitals are making do with temporary funding at last year's low levels.
That's why Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America launched a gripping new TV ad today, called "Demand Action."
You can check out the ad here:
It features the powerful testimony of two people who experienced the nightmares at Walter Reed first hand: Annette McLeod, whose husband, Specialist Wendell McLeod, sustained a multiple life-threatening injuries while he was serving in Iraq, and Staff Sergeant John Daniel Shannon, who lost his left eye and suffered a traumatic brain injury from a rifle shot to the head.
Apparently, Congress is too busy fighting about Rush Limbaugh's comments or MoveOn's latest ad to solve the problems facing veterans. When there's real work to be done, they'd rather take a stand against name-calling. Lately, they've been like the Miss Manners of legislative assemblies.
We hope you'll watch the ad, and join us in reminding Congress that the troops still have real problems to worry about. The politicians need to put aside the partisan game-playing and provide some real solutions.
Follow Paul Rieckhoff on Twitter: www.twitter.com/PaulRieckhoff
Support our troops: Bring the home!
least partially suspect, as far as I'm concerned, then again I'm pretty suspicious
of the entire military-industrial sunshine
story these days. The Pentagon, or Penta$cam,
has a 1/2 trillion-dollar budget. Half a TRILLION dollars. 500 BILLION Bucks. You're
telling me that out of a sum of, let's count
it together, $500,000,000,000.00 PLUS the
200 billion that Bushererer wants to tack on
to it, that they can't manage to take care
of their hospital stuff? I'm sorry, I declare
'horsecrap'. Take care of the troops, manage
the monies given, or declare the War On Terror
to be just as big a tragicomical farce as the
War On Drugs has been, pull the plug on it,
reduce the budget, and cover the medical
treatment costs out of a more modest military
budget. Someone somewhere's gettin' a bargain,
they already had one news story about some
army major that stuffed 10 million in his pockets, or tried and got busted for it,
something stinks, I'll bet if the Penta$cam
had to face an external public audit, you'd
come up with the money to take care of wounded
veterans, easy, probably just the change in their sofa...
That's why I heart ya brother, quite eloquent, profound and poignant. I took great notice of the Ms. Manners part, spot-on indeed!
I would like to take this opportunity to point out these medical issues are also important humanitarian issues not only are they pressing for our brave Women and Men serving our beloved Country, but they are important to Humanity, there is much to be learned, and much healing to be done for many, this can be an excellent scientific learning opportunity for human kind.
Yet, first things first, I'm with you, let us give our Women and Men that have served with distinction all our support. Good on ya Paul! Agape.
Bush the decider has united we Americans into two classes and they both hate one another.
Divide and conquer. Fascism at its best.
Hitler only got 37% of the German vote and look what he was able to get the Germans to do.
Bet the Germans called their patriotic army heroes for their killing sprees.
That sir, is an outstading comment. You obviously have suffered both personally and empathetically through several conflicts. I would like to thank you for telling the unvarnished truth about out leaders abuse of the brave who have given life, limb, heart and soul in the service of their country. And those who have sacrificed for whatever reason they saw fit, deserve at the least our support and protection from fraud, and at best our undieing honor and respect. As for those who would use these Americans lives for some twisted egomaniacal legacy, or conquest without reason, or control of regions around the world for money and power, I hope they die horrible deaths that are so devoid of honor or sacrifice that they live on in infamy through generations of an educated and informed citizenry.
And then I remembered: "Oh, yeah! Those five years in the US Army were good for something."
If this is "creeping socialism," then give me more.
http://www.osborneink.com
VA hospitals end sharing data on cancer patients
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20071010/news_1n10va.html
The National Cancer Institute and the Center for Disease Control have been gathering cancer data from veterans hospitals since 1972. Is this really a privacy issue?
You actually belive ALL THE NAMES OF VETERAN were put on a LAP TOP HARD DRIVE? The one that was "LOST" by a V.A. Employee.
That was a TRANFER OF NAMES AND SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS OF VETERANS TO THE INSURANCE CLEARING HOUSE so they can limit of denie for pre-existing conditions.
The VA system has been used for years to do human studies.
I am NOT saying this is wrong, just that it is used and you ALL benefit. Know these things. Do the research.
Ummm,, OK.
Borrow a volume of the Physicians Desk Reference. (I think) Go there and look up the source studies for all the drugs, especially mood altering and physiological deficit/control drugs. Even down to this new stop-smoking drug.
There you will see, time after tine, VA Hospital Bethesda. VA Hospital Loma Linda. VA Hospital Sepulveda.
Please, please,,, do NOT think of me as complaining. I am not.
To a researcher, the relatively stable population of recovering Veterans is an ideal test population. We are well documented, record wise, most are in some ways dependent the system. We seldom relocate, needing family nearby for support.
The risk however, is we are never told what we are taking. We are never informed. Even if these medications are proven test effective, they should at least let us know what we are being given.
THEY DO NOT!
The result often times, is a high risk of UNKNOWN drug interactions. Multiple physicians, treating multiple conditions with little or no oversight.
The frustrations of dealing with the VA system is sometimes enough to drive a person to total distraction, add these other difficulties of over, under or conflicting drug effects and the situation can become lethal.
Either with the Vet getting worse, or heaven forbid, loosing it all together and turning violent.
My View. If they are going to use Vets for these studies, we should be told in advance. It just seems fair.
I think if the VA would ask, and properly inform the Vets, they would have volunteers galore. These are the finest and most giving people America has. They have proven that by their service to America already.
See?
JMO
All the best
Knute (Neo-LIB)
But I also KNOW there seems to be little difference in the behavior of either side of the isle in ACTUALLY supporting OUR soldiers, many that have given ultimate sacrifices of themselves for OUR country.
My internal assessment says that if the dems showed they could control ANY 'part' of OUR country's budget despite the wishes of republicants, and ACTUALLY helped soldiers and the VA, voters might then understand that CONgress 'CAN' affect Iraq funding and just CHOOSES NOT TO!
Also, OUR Military men and women should figure out the 'republicants' like THEIR MERCENARIES better enough to have more of them in Iraq and be paying them each 3 times as much,
...ACTUALLY.
America failed the vets of WWI when the Congress failed to pay a "war bonus" to millions of the vets of that war-and they came in their thousands to set up a camp in the nation's captial only to have the ARMY raid the camp, bust heads and level it--even with the promises to pay the debt--most of those vets got the shaft because they never got their money.
WWII vets did get a big boost thanks to a generous "GI Bill"--something that should have been done for the vets of subsquent US military actions---
The Korean Vets basically got forgotten and of course the Vietnam vets exposed to the defoliant "Agent Orange" fought for years to initially get recognition of their plight, then several more years to get the care they needed.
Gulf War I vets had their own issues with "The Gulf War Syndrome" that so many suffered from---and it took time for them to get help.
Now we have the crap going on today with the Iraq/Afghanistan vets---
When are we gonna stop being chumps and stop fighting these "wars" for a crowd that doesn't give a rat's ass for us--and while they might use us as props for campaign messages like "Mission Accomplished" and the like---they tell us we are in their hearts but yet if you were a fly on their wall--you would find that they laugh at how stupid we are for still continuing to buy the snake oil they sell --
It is time to end this war and for this country to keep the faith with those who have answered the nation's call to arms yet again!!!
If any need health care, they should be REQUIRED to obtain it at Walter Reed.
(No paying cash to their private physicians.)