What’s interesting in the news today?
1. Did ObamaCare make matters worse at the VA and contribute to the backlog in processing VA claims? Sure sounds like it.
From TruthRevolt “A Veterans Affairs whistleblower from Atlanta will testify before Congress next Tuesday about widespread destruction of applications, retaliation against whistleblowers, and people being shifted from processing VA applications last summer to working on Obamacare enrollment.
Scott Davis is a program specialist at the VA’s national Health Eligibility Center in DeKalb County, Georgia. His story was published in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution this past Sunday and appeared on the Neil Cavuto program on Fox News Wednesday. As opposed to previous whistleblower reports, which focus VA hospitals and getting to see doctors, Davis’ revelations are about the processing of applications by VA offices.
Davis told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that health benefit applications for more than 10,000 veterans may have been improperly purged from the Health Eligibility Center’s national data system. He began filing complaints in January 2014, revealing that managers were focused more on meeting goals linked to the Affordable Care Act to meet their bonus targets than processing VA applications.
We don’t discuss veterans. We do not work for veterans. That is something that I learned after working there. Our customer is the VA central office, the White House and the Congress. The veterans are not our priority. So whatever the initiatives are or the big ticket items, that is what we focus on.”
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2. And as always, the Obama admin has retaliated against the whistleblower. That’s easier than fixing the problems they’re pointing out.
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3. Don’t you just love bi-partisan acts by Congress? It’s so nice when the parties both agree……
to quietly change the rules for reporting freebies they receive from lobbyists. 🙄
From IJReview “A member of Congress used to have to specifically report the details if they traveled on someone else’s dime. As of last week, that rule was lifted with no public announcement. National Journal reports:
The move, made behind closed doors and without a public announcement by the House Ethics Committee, reverses more than three decades of precedent. Gifts of free travel to lawmakers have appeared on the yearly financial form dating back its creation in the late 1970s, after the Watergate scandal. National Journal uncovered the deleted disclosure requirement when analyzing the most recent batch of yearly filings.
For a group of officials that considers an adjustment to their burrito order worthy of a press release and a television appearance, that this change was made literally behind closed doors tells us everything we need to know about it. Members of both parties reached across the aisle and kept their mouths shut about it.
These trips still must be reported to the Office of the Clerk and disclosed there, but the decades-old requirement for individual members to also disclose their particular activities on their annual financial forms is now gone.”
They still report it, but now it’s in an area where no one would look. Now that’s transparency.
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4. The Obama EPA continues to expand it’s illegal power grabs. Control the water, you control the people. Just ask California.
Also From TheIJReview “The Environmental Protection Agency is planning to expand its jurisdiction over the nation’s waterways under the Clean Water Act to include ditches, small streams, ponds, and other purely local waterways.
Nearly 204,000 comments have been received since the rule was proposed on April 21, 2014, mostly from Americans opposed to it. Ten U.S. senators also sent a letter to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy expressing their concerns about the proposed rule changes.
Among the examples of potential overreach the senators cite are attempts by environmentalists to ban fireworks at Lake Tahoe along the border of California and Nevada. The senators fear the expanded EPA jurisdiction could led to similar lawsuits in other places.”
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5. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before….
Less people working, plus a lowering unemployment number, equals fuzzy math. Again.
From CNSNews “The number of Americans 16 and older who did not participate in the labor force climbed to a record high of 92,120,000 in June, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
This means that there were 92,120,000 Americans 16 and older who not only did not have a job, but did not actively seek one in the last four weeks.
That is up 111,000 from the 92,009,000 Americans who were not participating in the labor force in April.”
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Wandering Views 
That number, of course, now includes our recent college grad who is waiting, waiting and waiting to hear back from a job she applied for three months ago that starts next month.
Has since moved on to other applications.
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1. A right wing friend once told me he was tired of hearing teachers say we work for the kids. In fact, he said, teachers work for the school board and the ministry of education. He was right. I work for the school board and my work is with students. The VA employee has the same misunderstanding — he works for the VA (they sign the check) and his job is with veterans. Sometimes who you work for and the job you do conflicts which it has for this gentleman and for countless teachers like myself. Thus you do what you need to do to satisfy your employers and at the same time help your clients, veterans, students, etc. Its unfortunate reality ( he who signs your check has control over your work) but it is a reality people in social services (education, health care etc) know all to well.
3. the Canadian gov’t created a do not call list to limit telemarketing and passed an anti-spam law. In both cases they exempted political parties.
4. In the Netherlands every single molecule of running water is controlled by a gov’t bureaucracy. Even your backyard gardening requires approval. Of course, its either that or the nation drowns. In 1998 I watched the World Cup with my cousins in the Netherlands, and the gov’t was able to track what percentage of toilets were flushed during half time (roughly 90%) and advised the people the system couldn’t handle a nation-wide flush and ask people to wait until later to flush. Now thats gov’t monitoring. And yet the Dutch are still free.
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The VA employee doesn’t have any misunderstanding of what his job is who who pays him. That’s kind of a misunderstanding of his point. He’s saying he has firsthand experience seeing veterans getting short shrift due to misguided political priorities.
Yeah, yeah. Right-wingers do stuff like this, too. We’ve heard that already.
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this has nothing to do with politics. People in the social services are under the mistaken the impression they work for the people they help; they don’t they work for the people who pay them. Sometimes their paymasters and their clients have conflicting needs. No need to blame a political master.
HL — it seems to be the nature of internet discussions that we focus on differences not similarities. Here I’m only questioning HL’s sincerity based on how simple it would’ve been to find different mutual funds. Although I admire any business that closes on Sunday, if we stay focused one issue; abortion, its hard to imagine HL wouldn’t be quick to move on their mutual funds if the companies invested were ones who manufactured products that they believe caused abortions.
Bob — pretty much my point, the US armed forces is probably the best at technological expertise and in fact its a great vehicle for subsidizing higher education and corporations involved in high tech allowing the US to be a leader in that field. I would argue that Congress could skip the middleman (the Defense Dept) and invest directly in schools and corporations but that’s a different discussion. However, the vast numbers of US army personnel are essentially a workfare program and if the US defense dept choose to slim down to a more manageable professional force, the US wold have to expand and/or create a social welfare state. A fellow grad student, who spent time in the French Foreign Legion, could never reconcile the image of inept front line troops and the professionalism of the officer class and the technological prowess of the staff.
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I’m sure this guy knows the veterans don’t write his checks. How dumb do you think he is? It’s merely a convention–just as teachers can *rightly* say “we work for the kids.” It’s merely a figure of speech.
HL did plenty of other things beyond closing on Sunday. But never mind. You’re the one stuck on one issue, and one interpretation based on that issue alone.
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hwesselius,
“. However, the vast numbers of US army personnel are essentially a workfare program …”
And which other “workfare program” offers the chance to die? The former frontline troops I know don’t seem like anything but first rate people. I am very proud to be counted among their number even though I never saw combat like they did. Uncle Sam knew best and I am sure my parents were glad I was sent to Germany instead of Viet Nam. (Me too.No mosquitos in Heidelberg.)
Did you serve?
” A fellow grad student, who spent time in the French Foreign Legion, could never reconcile the image of inept front line troops and the professionalism of the officer class and the technological prowess of the staff.”
I am not sure just who you are speaking of, American front line troops or the French Foreign Legion front line troops? Was this at the beginning of a conflict or the end of a conflict? Regular Army or Reserve? National Guard? Marines or Army?
Did this fellow French Foreign Legion grad student serve in more than one Army? How does he know to compare?
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hwesselius,
By the way, all the former soldiers I know were grunts, except 2 tank drivers and 1 heavy equipment operator.
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