Sen. Tom Coburn [R-OK] opposed Veteran Suicide Prevention

US Uncut

Republican Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, who voted yes on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, just blocked the Senate from passing a veterans’ suicide prevention bill "because it actually throws money away." Veterans deserve more than to be discarded when they return home with mental illness. Senator Coburn's decision is especially cruel considering Oklahoma is the second highest state for military recruitment per capita. Share to spread his SHAME! Like our page US Uncut!

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Military recruitment by state: http://bit.ly/1GJYoNf

Privatizing Veterans' Care? Carefull What You Wish For!

The GOP has long pushed to 'PRIVATIZE' Veterans' Care.

Before endorsing a GOP Sock Puppet, make sure you're protected.

Much of the care our Wounded Warriers receive is specialized and expensive.

Will private care short-change them?

New VA Secretary Nominee Not a Health Care Expert

By MATTHEW DALY

Associated Press

July 2, 2014

 

 

WASHINGTON (AP) — A onetime Army Ranger and former CEO of a Fortune 500 consumer products company, Robert McDonald may face his toughest challenge yet in fixing the huge, scandal-plagued Veterans Affairs Department.

 

Veterans groups worry that the longtime corporate executive, nominated by President Barack Obama to lead the VA, may have trouble adjusting to a far-flung bureaucracy of more than 300,000 employees, where hundreds of hospital directors and other career executives wield great power far from the agency’s Washington headquarters.

 

‘‘Procter & Gamble is going to feel like a Ferrari compared to the VA,’’ said Paul Rieckhoff, CEO of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.

 

A year after he was forced out as P&G’s CEO, McDonald, 61, was tapped by Obama this week to overhaul an agency reeling from revelations of widespread treatment delays and falsified records to cover up months-long waits for appointments.

 

The White House released a scathing report last week, saying the VA was battling a ‘‘corrosive culture’’ of distrust, lacks resources and was ill-prepared to deal with an influx of new and older veterans with a range of medical and mental health needs. The agency serves nearly 9 million veterans with an annual budget of $154 billion, one of the largest in the federal government.

 

‘‘The VA is a large and troubled organization,’’ said Robert Bies, a management professor at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business. ‘‘What’s really missing is management of the culture. You have to have someone who can manage complex organizations, and (McDonald) has a track record of doing that.’’

 

Some veterans groups question McDonald’s selection, saying they were not consulted about the choice and were not familiar with McDonald, a West Point graduate who has been out of the military for more than 30 years. More importantly, the groups say, McDonald has no direct health care experience — a crucial deficiency as he takes over an agency that treats veterans suffering from a multitude of war-related physical and mental injuries and illnesses.

 

McDonald starts with another disadvantage in that Obama’s term ends in January 2017. He ‘‘is going to have to be a very quick study if he is going to make an impact in just 2½ years,’’ Rieckhoff said.

 

Just how McDonald got the job remains somewhat of a mystery. Aides say the president was looking for someone who had led a large organization and was familiar with military culture, although it is not clear how McDonald, who supported Republican Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential election, first came to Obama’s attention.

 

‘‘McDonald’s name just kept coming up, at the intersection of having managed a large corporation well and being a vet,’’ said a senior administration official who asked not to be identified to discuss internal White House deliberations. ‘‘There was a strong preference for someone who has served.’’

 

The VA’s acting secretary, Sloan Gibson, attended West Point with McDonald and has been a close friend for 40 years. Gibson, who is expected to return to his role as deputy secretary if McDonald is confirmed, called his old friend ‘‘an exceptional person — a great leader, a skilled manager, an extraordinarily talented executive and a man with the strongest moral compass.’’

 

McDonald is friendly with House Speaker John Boehner and Sen. Rob Portman — both Republicans from his home state of Ohio — but a spokesman for Boehner said the speaker did not recommend McDonald to the president. A spokesman for Portman said only that McDonald is a friend of the senator and that Portman plans to support his nomination.

 

McDonald has donated $3,400 to Portman over the past few years, federal election records show. He also has contributed at least $3,500 to Boehner, and gave $5,000 to Romney.

 

‘‘I'm glad to see the president reach out to someone with a wealth of experience managing a complex organization who has also had a distinguished military record,’’ Portman said in a statement.

 

‘‘Bob McDonald is a good man, a veteran and a strong leader with decades of experience in the private sector,’’ said Boehner, whose district is just outside Cincinnati, where Procter & Gamble is based.

 

Boehner, a harsh critic of the VA, said McDonald can succeed only ‘‘if his boss, the president, first commits to doing whatever it takes to give our veterans the world-class health care system they deserve by articulating a vision for sweeping reform.’’

 

Daniel Dellinger, national commander of the American Legion, the nation’s largest veterans group and the first to call for the ouster of former VA Secretary Eric Shinseki., said he has never met McDonald and had not heard him of until Sunday, a few hours before his selection became public.

 

Still, Dellinger said he was rooting for McDonald to succeed: ‘‘Being an infantry officer myself, I think he’s a good man for the job.’’

 

 

Like Boehner, Dellinger and other veterans leaders said McDonald’s success or failure will depend in large part on whether Obama backs the new nominee to make the changes that are needed.

 

‘‘If the president doesn’t make VA a priority, Superman can’t do this job,’’ Rieckhoff said.

 

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who chairs the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, said he was reserving judgment until he hears firsthand McDonald’s plans to fix the VA. Sanders said he wanted to know whether McDonald supports temporarily contracting out services to private medical providers to reduce waiting times.

 

Even so, McDonald appears headed for easy Senate confirmation. Both parties have urged Obama to fill the vacancy quickly so the agency overhaul can begin in earnest. McDonald’s nomination drew rare bipartisan praise.

 

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., applauded McDonald’s ‘‘successful management and leadership track record’’ and his commitment to the military.

 

Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, said McDonald’s management skills ‘‘are just what the VA needs right now, given the fact it’s been plagued by chronic mismanagement for a number of years.’’ Nothing he has seen in McDonald’s background would preclude his confirmation, Miller added.

___

Follow Matthew Daly on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MatthewDalyWDC

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.boston.com/business/news/2014/07/02/new-secretary-nominee-not-health-care-expert/6B9VWjB0qJKHd8AmWVMejN/story.html

 

 

Please stand with Veterans against Tea Bagger Attack!

Republicans have slashed Veterans' benefits, slashed food stamps and abandoned Veterans.

The Republican goal is to privatize Veterans' health care by eliminating the VA.

Veterans will be denied the specialty care and respect they deserve.

We sent them to war, now we need to provide the level of care we promised.

Please add your name!

We've long fought against the right's underreported attempts to undermine veterans care in this country. Usually, while they talk about honoring veterans, they vote against funding for veterans, like the recent vote to kill Senator Bernie Sanders' $21 billion dollar package to improve veterans services.

Now, the right has decided it's time to make veterans the enemy.

Tea Party darling Senator Richard Burr used Memorial Day to launch an attack at Veterans Service Organizations (VSO) who are refusing to call for VA Secretary Eric Shinseki's resignation. Senator Burr smeared them as not caring about the veterans they represent.

Never mind that Burr left a committee hearing about VA care, before the VSOs testimony, and has long voted against veterans care. Apparently, the right fringe believes veterans are now the enemy when they don't join in a political witch-hunt to get an Obama Administration official fired.

He needs to hear from veterans, military families, and their supporters about this cheap shot.

Sign our letter calling on Senator Burr to apologize to veterans and VSOs for his disgusting remarks - we'll deliver it to his office.

In their response to the senator, the Paralyzed Veterans of America - one of the groups attacked by Senator Burr - wrote to Burr, "You clearly represent the worst politics in this country."

We agree, and we're joining them in their outrage. We need to speak up now, before public attacks on veterans from the far-right become more commonplace.

Jon Soltz
Iraq War Veteran and Chairman
VoteVets.org

P.S. Next week, we'll release our first ad of the 2014 cycle. Be on the lookout for it in your inbox.

Tell Senator McConnell: Stop blocking funding for veterans' healthcare.

Please add your name and speak up for Veterans!

Tell Senator McConnell: Stop blocking funding for veterans' healthcare.

It is outrageous that veterans are reportedly being denied timely medical care at some Department of Veteran’s Affairs facilities -- and the problem needs to be addressed without delay.   But the bigger scandal is that Republicans in Congress -- led by Senate Minority Leader McConnell -- have blocked funding for VA programs and facilities. They are robbing our veterans of the medical services they need, earned, and deserve.   This is personal for me. After I came back from Afghanistan, I bought my first home using a VA loan. VA GI Bill benefits paid for my undergraduate degree, and are paying for my masters at Johns Hopkins University right now. For years, my only access to health care was through VA. As a disabled veteran, it pains me to watch Mitch McConnell block funding that my fellow veterans are depending on. That's why I started my own campaign on CREDOMobilize.com, which allows activists to start their own petitions. My petition, which is to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, says the following: Denying health care and education funding to veterans is unconscionable. Stop blocking those who bravely served our country from receiving the care they deserve. Sign the petition: Tell Senator McConnell to stop blocking funding for veterans' healthcare. In February, Senator McConnell blocked the Omnibus Veterans Spending bill from receiving an up-or-down vote in the U.S. Senate, preventing veterans from receiving expanded healthcare benefits, educational opportunities and access to job training programs. His excuse for blocking the bill was that it didn’t include unnecessary sanctions on Iran, which are totally unrelated to veterans’ benefits. Providing adequate health care to our veterans shouldn’t be dependent on Republicans’ ability to insert unrelated saber-rattling provisions into spending bills – but with Senator McConnell in charge of Republicans’ strategy, this type of obstruction is all too common. On Fox News last week, Senator McConnell attacked President Obama over the problems at the Department of Veterans affairs, saying he needs to “step up to the plate” and take responsibility. But he didn’t take any responsibility for his own role in blocking funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs and denying healthcare to our veterans. The veterans’ spending bill Senator McConnell blocked in February would have improved health and dental care services and allowed the Department of Veterans Affairs to open 27 new clinics and medical facilities. Let’s make sure Senator McConnell knows that blocking veterans from receiving the health care services they deserve is unacceptable. Will you join me and add your name to my petition urging Senator McConnell to stop blocking funding for veterans' health care? Thank you for your support. Richard Allen Smith

RSN: A Grateful Nation or Just BOHICA?

It's Live on the HomePage Now:
Reader Supported News

ONE POSITIVE MESSAGE AND THE DONATIONS STOPPED: We sent out a positive fundraising message this morning titled, “Yes There is a Bright Spot, Monthly Signups!” That was the end of the signups. This is what we are up against. Readership is good. Donations really still very bad overall. Looking forward to the day when positive messages work again. / Marc Ash, Founder Reader Supported News

Okay, I'll make a donation.

---

FOCUS: John Cory | A Grateful Nation or Just BOHICA?

John Cory, Reader Supported News
Cory writes: "The great media punditry and political pontificators are all aflutter over the VA fiasco from Phoenix and elsewhere. John McCain can’t run to the microphone fast enough to offer up his two cents while FOX, CNN and MSNBC are in full competitive outrage mode, each seeking to outdo the other with flashing chyrons of righteous fury. The circus is loud and shrill and full of sparkly shiny hollow indignation."
READ MORE

Republicans Abandoned Veterans! Please speak out!

Please add your name to the petition below:






George Washington once said that, "The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive the veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their nation."

I was reminded of that quote last week after the filibuster of legislation to provide veterans more access to health care and tuition assistance, while restoring the cost of living adjustment for military retirees.

Senator McConnell and his Republican caucus halted the bill because of an increasingly partisan disagreement over diplomacy vs. sanctions in Iran: no sanctions, no increased care for our veterans from their perspective.

I think this is the wrong approach. The same Congress that approved our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has a responsibility to recognize that the costs of those wars continues long after the troops return home.

Join me and over 400,000 veterans, military family members, and VoteVets.org supporters and send your Senators a message that you expect them to pass the Comprehensive Veterans Health and Benefits and Military Retirement Pay Restoration Act.

Whether it's Syria, Iran, or the shocking crisis unfolding in Ukraine, Republicans have developed a horrible habit of reflexively using national security in a completely partisan attempt to score political points.

It's terribly disappointing, and it's one of the reasons I am happy to partner with VoteVets.org on this important issue. It seems that all too often, the voices of those who bear the disproportionate burden of keeping our country safe are forgotten once their service is complete.

That's not right.

Join me and write a letter to your Senators telling them to pass the Comprehensive Veterans Health and Benefits and Military Retirement Pay and Restoration Act.

http://action.votevets.org/veteran-benefits

The American Legion believes this legislation should pass cleanly and the American public agrees. Let's put partisanship aside and provide for the veterans who risk so much for the country we all love.

I'll be in touch,

Chris Murphy
Senator, Connecticut

With just 41 votes, Republican senators block veterans benefits bill, Republican lobbyist drafts bill barring 'self-declared homosexual football players' from NFL teams et al

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Stunning new report on USS Reagan radiation Harvey Wasserman, Common Dreams . . . A stunning new report indicates the U.S. Navy knew that sailors from the nuclear-powered USS Ronald Reagan took major radiation hits from the Fukushima atomic power plant after its meltdowns and explosions nearly three years ago. Many of the sailors are already suffering devastating health impacts, but are being stonewalled by Tepco and the Navy. The $4.3 billion carrier is now docked in San Diego. Critics question whether it belongs there at all. Attempts to decontaminate U.S. ships irradiated during the Pacific nuclear bombs tests from 1946-1963 proved fruitless. Still radioactive? (stock photo) Stars and Stripes . . . When the March 11, 2011 disaster struck, the Reagan was on its way to Korea, according to Reagan sailors who participated in Operation Tomodachi. They turned around and immediately made their way for the Japanese mainland, passing through a sea of debris. Sailors told Stars and Stripes that they believe they were as close as five miles off the coast of the stricken plant that spewed radiation into the air and sea. Sailors who were onboard the Reagan have claimed that they were drinking contaminated desalinated seawater and bathing in it until the ship’s leadership came over the public address system and told them to stop because it was contaminated. They claim the ventilation system was also contaminated. Furthermore, some claim they were pressured into signing forms confirming they had been given iodine pills when none had been provided. The ship's ventilation system might have been contaminated? 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Tepco and the Navy contend the Reagan did not receive a high enough dose to warrant serious concern. But Japan, South Korea and Guam deemed the carrier too radioactive to enter their ports. Tepco and the Navy are insisting that all is well.Yeah. Thanks for looking into this, keep up the good work! Watch heckler inside Supreme Court shout 'money is not speech' The long, sordid history of discrimination against Christians in America O'Reilly: 'There's gotta be some downside to having a woman president' Republican lobbyist drafts bill barring 'self-declared homosexual football players' from NFL teams About the Koch brothers and cancer victims David Koch The most egregious of the Koch brothers anti-Obamacare ads has been the one featuring Julie Boonstra, a leukemia patient who made a lot of vague and easily disproved assertions about how Obamacare was hurting her. The response from the Koch brothers' astroturf group, Americans for Prosperity, to anyone pointing out that Boonstra's claims were not believable has been basically "how can you be so mean to a cancer victim?" Well, since the Kochs want to play the cancer victim card, let's do it. Let's start back in 2010. A prominent philanthropist, cancer survivor, and American businessman, David Koch, has given millions to the cause of cancer research, while his company—Koch Industries—has lobbied against formal recognition of formaldehyde as a carcinogen, The New Yorker reported in a piece published today. [...]The National Cancer Institute published a study in 2009 concluding that formaldehyde causes cancer in humans. [...] [P]rior to the May 2009 study, the National Cancer Institute had also performed a preliminary study that linked formaldehyde to leukemia, but members of Congress including Sens. James Inhofe, R-Okla., and David Vitter, R-La., managed to delay the EPA from officially designating the chemical as a “known carcinogen.” [...] In a letter to federal health authorities sent last December, the company’s vice-president of environmental affairs wrote that “the company ‘strongly disagrees’ with the N.I.H. panel’s conclusion that formaldehyde should be treated as a known human carcinogen,” reported The New Yorker. Koch Industries bought Georgia-Pacific, one of the world’s largest plywood manufacturers—a process that uses and produces a great deal of formaldehyde—in 2005. But David Koch cares deeply about cancer victims. Not so much about preventing people from getting cancer by keeping carcinogens out of the atmosphere, but once they've got it, he's there. You know what else besides formaldehyde are carcinogens? Butadiene and benzene. About that, August, 2013: Flint Hills Resources reported a benzene and butadiene leak late Tuesday at its olefins plant in Port Arthur, Texas, the company said in a filing with the National Response Center.According to the filing, 325 pounds of butadiene and 268 pounds of benzene was released into the atmosphere. The report also stated there was an equipment failure that caused the leak and that it has been secured. You know what happens next: "Flint Hills Resources is an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of Koch Industries, Inc." And guess who ranks #14 in the top 100 of Political Economy Research Institute's Toxic 100 Air Polluters? "The Toxic 100 Air Polluters ranks corporations based on the chronic human health risk from all of their U.S. polluting facilities." "Chronic human health risk." Yep, and the fact-checkers are the bad guys when it comes to a cancer victim. Watch: The surrender of America's liberals Christiegate: Christie refuses to release Sandy fund integrity reports Christie aides joked about causing 'traffic problems' at rabbi's home Michigan Democrat taking Koch brothers head-on over Obamacare With just 41 votes, Republican senators block veterans benefits bill Cartoon: Billy the Kitty goes to the click farm for Facebook likes Make change happen. Log in or sign up for Daily Kos, the nation's largest progressive community. Thanks for all you do, The Daily Kos team

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