It's not as dramatic but it's just as heart-breaking - and as anger-making -- as our government's pitiful performance during Katrina.
I'm talking about employees in our Department of Veterans affairs putting ten of thousands of unopened letters containing benefit claims in desk drawers or in bins awaiting shredding.
I'm talking about the vets or their survivors who call to check on the status of a claim, only to be told that the VA has no record of their claim and that they should resubmit their paperwork.
I'm talking about the woman who claimed she had to submit paperwork to the VA three times to prove she was married and had three children.
I'm talking about vets' survivors who have to wait six to nine months for simple claims to be approved.
I'm talking about workers at a Detroit VA regional office who turned in 16,000 pieces of unprocessed mail during an "amnesty" period.
I'm talking about VA managers who told their staffs to post-date claims to make it appear the claims were being processed faster. A review found that 56 percent of claims had incorrectly recorded the dates when they were received, which in many cases determine the effective date for benefits payments. That raises serious questions about how many past claims have been delayed or denied.
When this news broke, there was the totally predictable outcry from Congress men and women, whose "support our troops and our vets and their families" has become an easy staple on their road to reelection. We're shocked! Shocked!
Rep. Bob Filner of California, chairman of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, has said he "has made it his priority to ensure that our veterans receive the honor and dedicated care that their courage and bravery demand." He has said he has directed his Committee to improve the health care and benefits for our veterans. He claims that he continues to fight to ensure that Congress keeps the promises that have been made to our veterans, not only the new generation of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan but also the generations from past conflicts.
Similar sentiments have been expressed by Sen. Daniel Akaka of Hawaii - a World War Two vet -- who is chairman of the Veterans Affairs Committee in the Senate. Sen. Akaka says he is "determined to honor this nation's veterans by ensuring they receive the care and benefits they have earned through selfless service."
So where was the Congressional oversight that's supposed to prevent this kind of outrage?
A.W.O.L.
But if this latest outrage came as a surprise to Congress and to most of the American people, to others, it was an old story -- albeit not the type that gets page one treatment or lots of time on cable news, like the unforgivable deficiencies exposed at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
Kathryn Witt of Gold Star Wives of America said survivors trying to receive VA benefits have long complained about problems getting accurate information and missing claims.
And Kerry Baker of the Disabled American Veterans said, "A large section of the veterans community and representatives of the community have long felt that the Veterans Benefits Administration operates in such a way that stalls the claims process until frustrated claimants either give up or die."
"Give up or die." Think about it. You're back from active duty in Iraq or Afghanistan and you've been injured. Or your spouse, or your son or daughter, won't ever be coming back, and you're trying to get the government to pay the debt they keep saying is so well earned.
Just filling out the paperwork would be tough enough under these circumstances. But can you imagine the unspeakable frustration you would feel after you file your claim and then - silence. You hear from no one, or you're told your claim was never received. Can you think of anything more likely to push a vet or a vet's family over the edge?
Why has this kind of stuff been happening for so many years? The main reason is that the VA is grossly under-staffed. And the reason it's so under-staffed is that it's operating with quill pens. Most of its so-called information technology is like something out of the 19th century, which means that claimants' records are on un-digitized paper.
Paper that piles up in people's desk drawers or in shredding bins.
When he appointed retired general Eric Shinseki to head the VA, President Obama said, "We owe it to all our veterans to honor them as we honored our greatest generation, not just with words, but with deeds." Obama said Shinseki was the right person to cut red tape, boost funding, and bring benefits to veterans.
"Not just with words, but with deeds."
Eric Shinseki is a smart guy. A guy who really cares about veterans and their families. But the task he confronts, just in this small corner of the VA, is Herculean.
Let's hope he's the kind of "bring-it-on" guy who's really ready to "cut red tape, boost funding, and bring benefits to veterans."
But he shouldn't have to do it all alone. We can help him by writing our representatives in Congress.
Rep. Filner can be reached at (202) 225-8045. Sen. Akaka can be reached at 202) 224-9126.
Source:
http://www.opednews.com/populum/print_friendly.php?ok=y&p=Heck-of-a-job-VA-by-William-Fisher-090306-936.html
Here’s a great idea to spread the holiday spirit! When doing your Holiday/Christmas cards this year, take one card and send it to the following address.
A Recovering American Soldier
c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center
6900 Georgia Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20307-5001
If we pass this on and everyone sends one card, think of how many cards these wonderful, special people who have sacrificed so much would get.
Fourteen years ago “It’s the economy, stupid!” reverberated in the consciousness and pocketbooks of millions of Americans as they went to the polls. In these few days before this historic election, I believe all of the rhetoric, lies and half-lies can be clarified through the lens of a slight variation of that slogan: This time around, “It’s for the CHILDREN, Stupid,” We hear so often that “children are our future.” For many, this is a mere platitude, but to me and millions of parents, teachers, school counselors and others whose lives revolve around children, we DO think of the future in terms of how well-prepared all of them must be to continue the dream and promise of America. And so to anyone still not sure whether to vote for Senator Obama, we would say: Please review the news of the past few weeks and months, or just open a comprehensive national newspaper today, and ask yourself: Does this describe the country you want for your children, or must we vote for change? Don’t automatically take my words for truth or lies--cross-check my statements against unbiased sources.
In today’s America:·
1. We spend Billions of dollars every month in the Iraq War Senator McCain supports, while our schools, bridges and highways here are crumbling. Working people put off important medical procedures because they have no insurance or can’t afford the co-pays. ·
2. When the Republican Majority and then Bush took office, the cost of a gallon of gas was $1.40. Major businesses in our towns are now closing. Retirement funds have dwindled because of unregulated risky stock market transactions and unethical, immoral mortgage practices targeting primarily middle and lower-income people. We who are “working class” know too many people who have lost their homes, been evicted, and are searching for help with food, car, medical payments and other basic needs. As a school counselor, I see this every day among our school population—including students, school staff and administrators. ·
3. Because of President Bush’s NCLB “reforms”, our students spend at least 7 weeks of every school year in preparation for and taking standardized tests. Right-wingers constantly insult us teachers and Teacher Union Members, but we are fighting to bring back our children’s freedom to learn.·
4. Senator McCain voted with President Bush to provide tax incentives to multi-billion dollar companies who move their operations OUT OF THE U.S., thus taking away the jobs of our middle-class. Why did even V.P. Cheney’s company, Halliburton move their headquarters to Dubai?
5. Most support jobs in our Military are managed by private companies. The shameful conditions for our wounded troops at Walter Reed were due to little or no oversight of private companies hired with our tax dollars to supposedly take care of them, and Blackwater and others in Iraq have created many of the controversial situations our Military personnel have had to deal with and for which they’ve had to pay a steep price.·
6. Do you remember the devastation of New Orleans because of the ineptness of what SHOULD have been massive, immediate Federal intervention before and after Hurricane Katrina? Do you remember the PDB memo read to President Bush on August 6, 2001 entitled “Bin Laden Determined to Attack inside the United States” and reports as far back as 1998 and ’99 about the possibility of using airplanes as weapons? Compare these glaring, tragic INACTIONS to the MASSIVE Republican Congressional and Presidential efforts to force continued care of the brain-dead Terri Schiavo. ·
7. Even though he has been in Congress for the 7 years since 9-11, 5 of which were completely under Republican control--Senator McCain did not sponsor nor pass any bills to make sure our docks, trains, and cargo are checked to avoid attack. Non-partisan safety experts have sounded the warning that it is largely due to good luck that we have not had further domestic terrorist attacks, but Bush and McCain, although they’ve had total Legislative control, have made no efforts to change this.·
8. Many religious Americans have sifted down all of Christ’s teachings to two areas: being anti-abortion and anti-gay rights. They believe that these are the only two issues that should determine who is a good Christian and for whom they should vote. I won’t press the usual arguments we’ve heard thousands of times that the decision to terminate a pregnancy is NOT an easy choice, and that being gay is NOT a choice at all. I’ll just ask that you realize this: NEVER in his 26-year career did Senator McCain nor any other Republican for that matter, despite, again remember, having complete Legislative control, NEVER DID ANYONE pass federal anti-abortion and anti-gay laws. President Bush NEVER presented such legislation; his party NEVER presented it. Why didn’t they, when they had every opportunity to do so?? I believe they would rather have this as an issue to DIVIDE US than to actually pass these laws. Isn’t it time that we look back to the real intent of our Gods as to what is important about our religions? ·
9. There are hundreds of other dire issues I could raise, time and space allowing, but the final point I will make has to do with the mind- and heart-numbing topic that for some reason we’ve heard very little of for several months: More than 4,000 of our children, parents, sisters and brothers have been killed in a war that has accomplished…WHAT? Really, WHAT? An estimated 100,000 have returned to Walter Reed, Bethesda, and other military hospitals, therapy centers and nursing homes—broken, battered, brain injured, and suffering from intense PTSD from the hell they lived. For WHAT?
I know many right-wing newscasters and talk show hosts regularly berate those of us who consider these statistics tragic. They call us unpatriotic; they call us un-American. But they did not hold my daughter as she wept at her husband’s bedside at Walter Reed for 4 months. They did not accompany us as we visited these broken men and women in the other intensive care units and V.A. nursing homes for 2 years. They did not help us wipe the saliva that dripped from their frozen faces; did not suction their breathing tubes as they choked; did not massage and move their paralyzed limbs. My children’s and thousands of others’ lives are forever damaged. The pain caused directly and indirectly by Bush’s and McCain’s policies is overwhelming; it is one of the biggest reasons why I could never vote for McCain-Palin: under them, the Bush preemptive-war philosophy would not only be continued, but would increase. I cannot bear the thought of my beautiful students, nephews or niece having to participate in future illegal, unnecessary wars.
Is this the world we want for our children?
Senator McCain would have us believe that HE and his perplexing VP choice are the change agents we need. He--the Republican Senator of 26 years, who by his own admission has “voted with President Bush at least 90% of the time” has tried to co-opt the message of the real, obvious symbol of United States’ Political Change—Barack Obama. To believe that McCain would suddenly do all the things he could have easily done in the last 26 years is to not be grounded in reality. McCain as Change-Agent is Delusion.
Barack Obama in every aspect of his personality, experience, and being is the personification of change. The Hope he offers is real. The good judgment and intelligence surrounding every move of his long campaign and career foreshadow the care and prudence that will be invaluable in the process of trying to reclaim the greatness of America that our children have the right to experience. Please vote for Obama-Biden. It’s for the children, stupid! --Bernice García Baca is with the Santa Fe Public Schools and has been a Teacher, Counselor and Child Advocate for 32-years.
With this blog post, the campaign in Ohio formally launches the group OHIO VETERANS FOR OBAMA. Click this link, or the corresponding button on the sidebar of the page, to join Ohio Veterans for Obama today.
Although the group is new, numerous Ohio veterans have been supporting Barack since the primary. Since then, the campaign has had veteran-to-veteran phone banks, and just last week Retired Brigadier General James Smith held a series of veteran roundtables across Ohio. The following video made during the Convention highlights Barack's expansive support among veterans:
On the OHIO VETERANS FOR OBAMA sign-up page, you can also watch a short video about Bill, a veteran for Obama from Marengo, Ohio.
Barack derives his wide support among veterans from his strength on the issues, which is laid out on the veterans issues page:
As a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs, Obama passed legislation to improve care and slash red tape for our wounded warriors recovering at places like Walter Reed. He passed laws to help homeless veterans and offered an innovative solution to prevent at-risk veterans from falling into homelessness. Obama led a bipartisan effort in the Senate to try to halt the military's unfair practice of discharging service members for having a service-connected psychological injury. He fought for fair treatment of Illinois veterans' claims and forced the VA to conduct an unprecedented outreach campaign to disabled veterans with lower than-average benefits. Obama passed legislation to stop a VA review of closed PTSD cases that could have led to a reduction in veterans' benefits. He passed an amendment to ensure that all service members returning from Iraq are properly screened for traumatic brain injuries. He introduced legislation to direct the VA and Pentagon to fix disjointed records systems and improve outreach to members of the National Guard and Reserves.
And that's just what he's done already. His platform proposals for veterans include:
YOU KNOW, I THINK OTHERS ARE READING MY BLOGS AND ARE HACKING MY COMPUTER. I WROTE SEN OBAMA MANY POINTS I'M INTERESTED IN AS AN AMERICAN, AND STRANGLY ENOUGH, MY BLOG JUST DISAPPEARED, AND IT WAS LOGGED OUT!!! MAKES A PERSON GO HMMMMM!
I'M NOT FRUSTRATED. WHAT'S IN MY HEAD IS IN MY HEAD, AND I WILL BRING IT OUT AGAIN.
THANKS SEN. OBAMA FOR NOT APOLOGIZING. USE THE SAME SLOGAN AGAIN, AND CHANGE IT TO SOMETHING LIKE: NEW WIGS ON OLD PIGS; STICK TO THE ISSUES, AND ONLY ADDRESS THE DISTRACTIONS AS AN AFTERTHOUGHT, IF AT ALL.
BEFORE MY BLOG WAS WIPED OUT, I LISTED ISSUES THAT ARE IMPORTANT TO ME. THANKS TO MY BLOG BEING WIPED OUT, I NOW HAVE A CHANCE TO CONSOLIDATE MY THOUGHTS MORE CLEARLY AND SUCCINTLY.
ALASKA IS A LARGE LARGE STATE THAT BORDERS RUSSIA; HOW SECURE ARE THOSE BORDERS? MANY FISHERMEN LIVE IN ALASKA, SO WHAT AFFECT WILL OIL DRILLING HAVE ON THEM? REMEMBER THE EXXON VALDEZ CALAMITY? PROBABLY BEFORE YOUR TIME, YOU DON'T REMEMBER HOW JUST ABOUT EVERY DAY A NEWSPAPER REPORTED ON OIL SPILLS. DRILLING CAUSES SPILLING WHEN THE OIL PEOPLE WANT TO CONTROL GASOLINE PRICES. SPEAK ON THAT PLEASE.
We need clean water, places to fish, oil drilling will spoil that. Remember the whales, spoiled waters, dead fish, birds, and waterlife? Oil companies don't care about anything but money, and more money. Drilling will only help the rich get richer, and give the regular folks about a few pennies cheaper gas.
Afghanastan and Georgia. Hey, how secure is that Alaskan border?
ALSO, I WAS AFFECTED BY WHAT YOU SAID ABOUT YOUR MOTHER'S FIGHT WITH HER INSURANCE COMPANY ON HEALTHCARE ISSUES. I KNOW LOTS OF FOLKS IN SIMILAR CONDITIONS. SPEAK TO THAT AGAIN, PLEASE.
SPEAK ABOUT THE DEPLORABLE CONDITION OF THE WALTER REED HOSPITAL THAT WAS EXPOSED ON A TELEVISION NEWS REPORT LAST YEAR. PLEASE SPEAK ON WHY YOUR OPPONENT SPENT SO MUCH OF THE LEGISLATURE'S TIME TRYING TO GET RID OF BARRY BONDS AND SAMMY SOSA WHILE THIS COUNTRY WAS IN THE MIDST OF WAR, AND SOLDIERS WERE DYING DAILY AND COMING HOME WITH HEAD INJURIES, AND NO HEALTH CARE.
THE VA HOSPITALS NEED TO BE IMPROVED SO THAT ALL VETERANS CAN HAVE THE BEST CARE, AND NOT HAVE TO SIT AND WAIT AROUND FOR MONTHS. MY FATHER-IN-LAW IS A SEASONED (SENIOR) VET, AND HE HAS BEEN WAITING FOR 6 MONTHS TO GET ONE TEST COMPLETED. HE FINALLY GOT THE TEST DONE RECENTLY, AND IS STILL AWAITING THE TEST RESULTS. THE VA IN THE SMALL TOWN HE LIVES IN, SENDS HIM TO THE LARGE CITY VA. HE HAS BEEN BACK AND FORTH FOR SIX MONTHS. THE VA HOSPITALS DON'T COMMUNICATE WITH EACH OTHER. THE RIGHT HAND DOES NOT KNOW WHAT THE LEFT ONE IS DOING. TECHNOLOGY CAN FIX THAT. A LARGE MAIN FRAME COMPUTER SYSTEM CAN FIX THAT PROBLEM AND CUT DOWN ON THE WAIT TIME.
PLEASE SPEAK TO THE IMMIGRATION ISSUE, REMEMBERING THAT ALL OF US ARE CHILDREN OF EITHER WILLING OR UNWILLING IMMIGRANTS, EXCEPT THE NATIVE AMERICAN INDIANS AND THE HAWAIIANS. REMIND AMERICANS HOW BADLY THE HAWAIIANS AND NATIVE AMERICANS WERE TREATED WHEN OUR COUNTRYMEN WERE CONQUERING AND TAKING. SO IMMIGRATION LAWS SHOULD BE IMPROVED TO LIVE UP TO THE PHRASE ON THE STATUTE OF LIBERTY. AND DON'T LET ANYONE FORGET THAT THE UNWILLING IMMIGRANTS -- THE BLACK SLAVES -- BUILT THIS COUNTRY, AND THAT'S WHY THE SLAVERY WAS THE BACKBONE OF THIS COUNTRY. PEOPLE IN THEIR 60'S ARE JUST 4 GENERATIONS OF FREEDMEN.
ADOPT SOME OF T.B. PICKENS IDEAS ABOUT NATURAL GAS -- I GUESS MANY CITY BUSES RUN ON NATURAL GAS AND AMERICA IS THE MIDDLE EAST OF NATURAL GAS. DISCUSS THAT IDEA. AND ALSO EXPLAIN HOW WIND ENERGY CAN HELP THIS COUNTRY.
WE PUT TWO KIDS THROUGH COLLEGE AND ARE STILL PAYING FOR IT. THEY PAID FOR THEIR POST-SECONDARY EDUCATION AND WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO PAY FOR IT DURING THEIR LIFETIME. I KNOW MANY DOCTORS, LAWYERS, ENGINEERS AND OTHERS SAYING THE SAME THINGS. WHEN I GRADUATED COLLEGE, I WAS PAID UP. THAT WAS IN THE 70'S. MY NEXT FOCUS WAS TO GET A JOB, A HOME, AND A FAMILY. WE HAVE CHEATED OUR CHILDREN BY MAKING EDUCATION TOO EXPENSIVE. THERE ARE COLLEGE PROFESSORS GETTING PAID FOR NOT TEACHING -- THEY HAVE AIDS WHO INSTRUCT, WHILE THE PROFESSORS WRITE BOOKS. SOMETHING NEEDS TO BE DONE. THE FOCUS IS ON PAYING FOR BIG UNIVERSITY BUILDINGS AND THE ATHLETIC DIRECORS (WHO MAKE MORE THAN THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNIVERSITY AND OF THE UNITED STATES).
OUR KIDS NEED TO GET THE BEST EDUCATION POSSIBLE TO KEEP UP WITH KOREA, CHINA, RUSSIA, GERMANY, INDIA, ETC.
SPEAKING OF CHINA -- WHY DO AMERICAN PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES OUTSOURCE OUR MEDICINE NEEDS. REMEMBER THAT EXPOSE' ABOUT CHINA PUTTING CARDBOARD IN THE MEDICINE, AND IN THE BEEF AND SENDING IT TO US! WHY CAN'T THAT BE STOPPED AND ALLOW AMMERICANS TO HANDLE DELICATE NEEDS LIKE FOOD AND MEDICINE -- ESPEICALLY STOP OUTSOURCING TO FOLKS WHO DON'T REALLY LIKE US. THE TOYS AND COMPUTER PRODUCTS OUR CHILDREN HANDLE ARE DEADLY -- LOTS OF LEAD. PLEASE FOCUS ON THAT.
SEN. OBAMA MAKE YOUR OPPOSITION THE AFTERTHOUGHT, AND THE ISSUES THE FORETHOUGHT.
THEY ARE TOO RICH AND TOO DUMB TO CARE ABOUT THE ISSUES. DON'T LET THEM GET INTO YOUR HEAD. GO BACK TO YOUR STRATEGY. GET SOME GOOD SEASONSED (WISE) PEOPLE TO ADVISE YOU, BUT FOLLOW YOUR MIND -- BECAUSE IT IS A GREAT MIND. YOU ARE CREATED FOR GREATNESS. MAKE THEM AN AFTERTHOUGHT.
TELL THE PEOPLE WHAT YOU ARE EXPERIENCED AT. YOU ARE EXPERIENCED AT STAYING FOCUSED ON WHAT PEOPLE NEED. YOU KNOW HOW TO RELATE TO PEOPLE. YOU ARE EXPERIENCED AT LIVING THE STRUGGLE YOUR OPPONENTS DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW TO TALK ABOUT, BUT THAT MOST AMERICANS ARE LIVING. IF THE MIDDLE CLASS GOES, THEN WE WILL GO LIKE THE ROMANS OF OLD WENT. YOU HAVE THE EXPERIENCE AMERICAN NEED. YOUR INTELLECT AND GREAT ADVISORS WILL HELP YOU ADMINISTRATE. GREAT LEADERS KNOW HOW TO DELEGATE AS WELL AS PICK UP A PEN AND VETO.
WHY ARE REPUBLICANS SO PROTECTIVE OF THE VP NOMINEE. WOMEN HAVE BEEN IN IMPORTANT POSITIONS IN THIS AND OTHER COUNTRIES FOR CENTURIES. IF THEY COULD NOT TAKE THE HEAT THEY SHOULD GET OFF THE PLATFORM. PLEASE TRY TO USE THE PIG SLOGAN AGAIN. YOUR OPPONENTS DON'T OWN IT.
THANK YOU.
Once upon a time in America, reasonable people agreed on the facts and disagreed on the solutions.
Yet now, and especially over the last six years, our political discourse has grown ever more shrill, especially on the Republican side, with name-calling, demonizing and attacking the messenger, personal insults – anything to draw attention from the truth.
What are the Bush/Cheney administration and their Republican apologists afraid of? What is the dirty and terrible secret they are apparently frantic to protect?
What is the primary common thread behind this administration’s hideous legacy, which includes:
1) Their failure to detect and prevent 9/11
2) The squandered golden opportunity to bring America and the world together in the aftermath of 9/11
3) Their failed invasion of Afghanistan
4) Their failure to capture Osama Bin Laden
5) Lying America into war with an unthreatening sovereign country
6) Fabricating, falsifying and exaggerating intelligence information, then blaming the messenger
7) Failure to provide body armor for our sons & daughters who risk their lives and limbs to protect us
8) Failure to properly armor the vehicles driven by our sons & daughters who risk their lives and limbs to protect us
9) Their failed occupation and reconstruction of Iraq
10) Looting, chaos and civil war in Iraq with no end in sight
11) Repudiation of the international Geneva Conventions governing prisoners of war
12) Shamelessly blaming our fighting men and women for their arrogant MISSION ACCOMPLISHED publicity stunt
13) Billions of our tax dollars lost off the back of pickup trucks and crooked middlemen
14) Continuing year after year to squander American lives and money on their Iraq folly with no achievable goals other than avoiding admitting or taking responsibility for their tragic mistakes by passing the problem onto their successors in 2009
15) Creating a vast new generation of international terrorists who hate America
16) Craven war profiteering and cronyism
17) No-bid privatization of government functions and departments
18) Pervasive secrecy and dishonesty at the highest levels
19) Repeated, blatant violations of the Hatch Act barring partisan politicking on government property
20) Abu Ghraib
21) Katrina
22) Walter Reed
23) Alberto Gonzales
24) The Pat Tillman propaganda cover-up
25) The Valerie Plame treason affair
26) The destruction of America’s international reputation
27) Torture, rendition, unlimited detention (of both US citizens and foreigners) without charges or trial
28) Unconstitutional and illegal spying & surveillance
29) The biggest budget deficits in American history
30) Corruption, bribery and pork-barrel spending at an all-time high
31) Building of secret standing armies not subject to our laws or Constitution
32) Unconstitutional power-grabbing via illegal executive orders and assertion of executive privilege
33) Breaking down the Constitutional separation of powers
34) The firing of US Attorneys scandal
35) Their unconstitutional use of hundreds of signing statements to undermine the enforcement of laws passed by Congress and signed by the President
36) The decisive 2006 electoral defeat of the Republican Party
37) Their despicable hiding behind the apron strings of decent and honorable members of our armed forces, commandeering the reputations of men like General Colin Powell and General David Petraeus to sell their lies and Enron-style accounting to the American public
The Bush/Cheney administration has betrayed and done great damage to the Republican Party. Leading, thoughtful conservatives, such as Pat Buchanan, John McLaughlin, Alan Greenspan, Brent Scowcroft, William F. Buckley, Jr., Ron Paul, Bruce Fein, and John McCain have already hinted at the sickening truth: The Bush/Cheney administration is probably the most recklessly incompetent in American history. Its negligence in, and distain for governing is breathtaking.
Many of us are no strangers to public service, and have many friends and colleagues from both parties who likewise serve or have served. When appointing people to positions of public trust and responsibility, first and foremost, they must be qualified and experienced to competently discharge the responsibilities of that position. One compiles a list of suitably qualified candidates, and then and only then, elected officials may choose those from the list who share their politics and loyalties. But the Bush/Cheney administration appointed people to key positions throughout the government solely and strictly on ideology and/or loyalty without the slightest regard to competence, experience or fitness. Conversely, they specifically excluded anyone who didn’t pass their narrow litmus tests. If you spoke fluent Arabic but you were in favor of Roe v Wade, you were rejected. “Heck of a job, Brownie!” was the rule, not the exception. That, for example, is how we got a 22-year-old in charge of establishing a stock exchange in Baghdad – incidentally a pet project of rather dubious priority in the chaos of Iraq.
Their reckless incompetence is a direct result of this policy, and all the killings, chaos, mismanagement, theft, cover-ups, law-breaking, tyranny and failures of this Administration can be traced back to this primary cardinal sin of governing. (OK, perhaps let’s add a sprinkling of greed and hubris, too.)
Whether or not one was in favor of the invasion of Iraq, the incompetent execution of the occupation and reconstruction was and remains criminal. How can our leaders claim to not to have known better? Even thousands of years ago, when the Roman Empire invaded a country, the military phase was immediately followed by a corps of experienced and competent administrators (who in this instance would have spoken fluent Arabic and been well-versed in Iraqi culture) ready to take over the key reins of government and infrastructure, in cooperation with suitable locals. And why were our “lessons-learned” in Vietnam and the tragic mistakes we made there largely ignored and repeated? This whole mission could have been competently and successfully concluded within a few months or never should have been undertaken at all, and none of the terrible aftermath would have ensued. But now Iraq is as broken as Humpty Dumpty – and all the king’s horses and all the king’s men and all the false bluster and chickenhawk rhetoric in the world can’t put back together again our questionable imperial goals in the Middle East.
The truth is that our military performed brilliantly and courageously, as always. No-one disputes that, and we all support our troops. But they have been betrayed and strained to breaking by this Administration’s incompetence, and to attempt to cover up its failures by accusing its critics of “not supporting the troops” and “aiding the enemy” is the worst kind of craven and shameful propaganda.
CANDIDATES TAKE NOTE: The American public is eager to rally around leaders who are strong in character and integrity, not strong in chest-thumping, false promises, wedge politics, and empty platitudes.
Meanwhile, the cynical Democratic Congress is playing shell-games with their base expecting further electoral success in 2008 by doing nothing while America hemorrhages. The Democratic presidential candidates are all promising strong leadership if they take office in 2009. But if the Republican Party continues their “lemming-like” policy of calling critics bad names and rationalizing this Administration’s incompetence and corruption, their 2006 election debacle will look like a “cakewalk” in 2008.
But there’s good news!
Now that the underlying truth is revealed, reversing the damage begins with 3 simple, albeit painful steps:
True patriots of the Republican Party must put aside partisanship, and for the good of the country we all love, as well as for the salvation of the Party:
1) Disavow, repudiate and reject the gross and malignant incompetence of the Bush/Cheney administration as a matter of both Party policy and principle
2) Hold them legally and Constitutionally accountable
3) Ask the American public, and the rest of the world for forgiveness for having facilitated and promoted this mess in the name of misplaced party loyalty.
And then we can all come back together again to agree on the facts and disagree on the solutions.
Obama has a strong opinion that America needs to take better care of her veterans. On a related note, the Washington Post recently reported:
Seizing on an investigative report by The Washington Post's Dana Priest and Anne Hull, Sens. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) will introduce legislation next week to require more frequent inspections of hospitals providing treatment to active-duty military personnel.
This is another reason I want Obama as our next president. Because our current president is allowing the situation at Walter Reed to get worse than what has already been reported. Soldiers recovering there are being silenced, and even punished, because of the news of deplorable conditions at the facility.
