July 4, 2005
Every
veteran’s organization in the country has been disseminating information for
the past 4 years about the V.A. being under funded (actually more than that, but
since BushCo
it has gotten substantially worse).
Since the
megalomaniacal "Mayberry Machiavellis" in the White House and Congress
kicked off their little "war of aggression" in Iraq, the V.A. has been
overwhelmed with new veterans back from Iraq with myriad physical, mental and
emotional problems—over
103,000 so far. However, the BushCo
cabal has not seen fit to even remotely come close to the proper funding of the
V.A., and the veterans from this latest war of deception in
Iraq are now joining with the rest of us from wars gone by in the fight for
veterans’ fair and just treatment. Or should I just say treatment—as that is
what is lacking across the board.
"With
nearly 240,000 employees, the VA is larger than all other federal departments
except the Pentagon. But even before the "war on terrorism" began, it
had to scramble in dealing with
the needs of 7.5 million enrolled vets, including a large number of homeless -
33 percent of homeless men in the US are veterans."
To make
matters worse, if that’s possible, the BushCo appointment of the former
chairman of the Republican National Committee, Jim Nicholson, as the head of the
V.A. pretty much sealed the fate of veterans needing health care at the V.A.
Nicholson is nothing more than a BushCo ideologue who is promoting the
ideological position of BushCo. In fact Nicholson stated, when he appeared in
front of congress that, "health care for our veterans is not being affected by
the V.A. shortfall." How to lie with a straight face—that is what he did,
lie with a straight face.
Nicholson
knew in April of this year that the V.A. had run out of budgeted money yet he
wrote Kay Hutchinson in congress telling her and the Veterans Committee that the
V.A. was fine and did not need any supplemental money. To hell with fact and
truth—follow the ideology; Which today is calling payments to veterans a
"threat to our national security" as stated by David Chu at the
Pentagon—so much for supporting the troops; so much for supporting anything
but the current ideology of "profits over people" and "perpetual war for
perpetual peace."
"Funding
for programs like veterans’ education and job training, health care, pensions,
VA housing and the like are "hurtful" to national security, Pentagon
official David Chu said. Chu
was defending a new round of cuts during a recent interview with the Wall Street
Journal."
VA
funding was shifted from the subcommittee that includes housing and NASA
programs to the subcommittee on military quality of life and VA related
agencies, which forces the VA to compete for limited funds with such programs as
Defense Department health care, military cemeteries and military construction.
BushCo
administration policies and votes in the House and Senate suggest that the GOP
(and the Democratic Party) does not view the care of veterans as "a
continuing cost of war. Both parties have over the years been "asleep at
the wheel" when it comes to properly funding the V.A. so that veterans that
come back from the messes they are sent into.
For
the next few weeks the House and the Senate, will fight over whether to give
emergency funding of the
V.A. of $975 million as says the House, or $1.5 billion as says the Senate.
When the truth of the matter is that the V.A. needs right at $3.2 billion to do
what it is set up to do—care for this nations veterans. The House and the
Senate will put on a show of care and concern; they will go home over the
congressional recess and tell everyone how much they care and what they are
doing to resolve the V.A. shortfall. In the end, the V.A. will still lack the
funding it needs to properly take care of the veterans of this nation who
continue to pay the "cost of war" for the rest of their lives.
There
will be many parades and many speeches about the sacrifices of veterans and how
the nation must honor veterans; Special days so people can feel good, and for
the veteran, the day after the parades and speeches, nothing changes.
Year
by year more veterans seek help for mind and body at Veterans Administration
Health Care facilities only to be turned away in increasing numbers—V.A.
has no money, no room at the Inn.
But,
every year on "Veterans Day" on "Memorial Day" on the "4th
of July--Independence Day," there are parades and speeches extolling the
sacrifices of those that went to war—and the day after the speeches, for the
veteran, nothing changes. Bodies are still broken; minds are still tormented and
haunted by nameless faces in the night.
A
young man returns form Iraq missing both legs. After discharge from the Army he
ends up having to live in his car—where is the "honor our veterans" for
this young man?
Stu,
25 year old Marine is in an auto accident within 24 hours of his discharge but
has to go to a civilian hospital for treatment and surgery. Why? The V.A. told
his family he did not qualify for V.A. care.
Josh,
another 25 year old Marine goes nuts while still in Iraq ; Instead of the Marine
Corps trying to treat his multi-symptomatic PTSD they put him in jail for 5
years.
How
does any of this show honor to those that have given their all? It would be easy
to dismiss these three as imaginary people, but they are real and their stories
are real. The worst of it is the simple fact these three are not atypical.
One
generation of veterans after another have been asking this nation to live up to
the agreement, the promise, it made to veterans; simply to provide the mental
and physical healthcare in an timely manner by qualified medical personnel. To
provide disability compensation for those that are unable to work due to their
disability; And to stop pitting one group of veterans against another in a fight
for decreasing funds in the V.A.
If
this nation really cared about "honoring" those that have borne the cost of
battle it would make the V.A. budget a mandatory budget line item instead of
what we have today. Today not only is the amount of money for the V.A. up for
grabs from year to year and voted on, but if there will even be a budget for the
V.A.
Where
is the "honor for those that given their all?" Keep the parades; keep all
the fine speeches. If this nation was really serious about honoring this nations
veterans it would provide decent, qualified and timely healthcare for veterans
and no veteran would ever be told there is no room at the Inn or that did "do
not qualify."
In
short, properly fund the V.A. and that would be a first step at living up to the
promises made to those, by this country, that would experience the inhumanity
and brutality that is war.
According
to Veterans
for Justice: "As the cost of
the Iraq War blunder continues, costing America's Tax Payers billions, and
billions, of dollars every couple of months to set up a puppet government in
Iraq, our own government is in danger of following in the path of the Soviet
Union and falling due to the massive debt, and out of control spending by the
Bush Administration….Unpatriotic President Bush, and the extremely unpatriotic
Republican Party has schemed and set up a Veterans
Disability Benefits Commission
with the goal of finding ways to get our disability checks.
One of
their schemes is to take claims already decided and review them. This means that
some poor Veteran that already fought 30 years for his disability may have it
arbitrarily taken and have to start fighting all over again. Keep in mind that
even though it is President Bush, and the Republican Party mainly behind this
present scheme AGAINST
America's Veterans that the Democrats have not been much better when they had
power."
This
lack of across the board care and concern past just lip service from congress over
the health care needs of this nation’s veterans has got to end! The cost of
war does not end for those who went to war when they come "home," it goes on
and on and on and on.
Take
Action VA Budget Shortfall, Please Contact Your Senators Today!
It is from the DAV
Click on this URL to take action now
http://capwiz.com/dav/issues
/alert/?alertid=7780736
If your email program does not recognize
the URL as a link,
copy the entire URL and paste it into your Web browser.
Sources,
references and additional information:
Snapshot of
How VA Budget Shortfall is Hurting Veterans' Access to Safe and
Timely Care across the Nation:
http://www.angelfire.com/il2
/VeteranIssues/
(Col Dan’s web site)
………………………………………………………………………………
……….
Funding
for programs like veterans’ education and job training, health care,
pensions, VA housing and the like are "hurtful" to national security,
Pentagon official David Chu said. Chu was defending a new round of cuts during a
recent interview with the Wall Street Journal.
http://pww.org/article/view
/6506/1//
VA
Confirms 103,000 Iraq and Afghan Veterans Seek Healthcare: Senate Plans
$1.5 Billion Spending Boost for Veterans
http://www.veteransforcommonsen
se.org/index.cfm?Page=Article
&id=3777&NoMenu=1
……………………………………………………………………………….
With
nearly 240,000 employees, the VA is larger than all other federal departments
except the Pentagon. But even before the "war on terrorism" began, it
had to scramble in dealing with the needs of 7.5 million enrolled vets,
including a large number of homeless - 33 percent of homeless men in the US are
veterans.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005
/0701/p03s01-usmi.html
………………………………………………………………………………
…………..
The war
against veterans
PRESIDENT
Bush gives plenty of lip service to men and women in uniform. Now it’s time
for the President to put his money where his mouth is and fully fund veterans’
benefits.
An official of the Department of Veterans Affairs admitted last week that it is
short $1 billion for the current fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30, but giving
short shrift to those who have served their country is nothing new for this
administration.
