Where Did Those Veterans Come From?

[Howey]

(Since the right has politicized the VA tragedy, this is going in Politics)

Isn't it funny how the republicans who are screaming the loudest over the VA problem are the same people who created it?

For starters, there is the matter of funding. If there’s been one side pushing for greater resources for the Veterans Administration in the age of austerity these past five years, it hasn’t been the Republicans. It was the much-maligned economic stimulus package of 2009 that included $1 billion for the V.A. While the V.A. itself was protected from the budget sequestration that Republican fought to keep in place last year, many other veterans programs—providing mental health services and housing, among other things—were hit hard by the sequestration cuts. And when the Senate was poised to pass a $24 billion bill for federal healthcare an education programs for veterans three months ago, Senate Republicans, led by McConnell, blocked it in a filibuster, saying the bill would bust the budget and complaining that Senate Democrats had refused to allow an amendment on Iran sanctions to be attached to the bill.

But that's not all...

But there is a whole other level of context to consider here as well. There is a pretty basic reason for backlogs at V.A. facilities and in the disability claims process, the other ongoing V.A. mess. Put simply: when you go to war, you get more wounded veterans, and in a country without a universal health care system,

Just think...if we had Obamacare in 2004 or 2005, this wouldn't be such a problem today, would it? No.

Because Bush still refused to increase VA funding to handle the increased workload the VA was stuck with.

Nearly one-half of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan have filed claims for permanent disability compensation. These claims need to be assessed for their validity, just as we attempt to do with claims for other programs, such as Social Security disability, unless we want to simply throw open the doors on a compensation program that is already expected to cost close to a trillion dollars for Iraq and Afghanistan vets. Making the assessment all the more challenging is the nature of the disability claims being made.

Finally, there's the undeniable truth within the crisis.

Something, it appears, happened around 2003 that caused the rate of traumatic brain injuries in the U.S. military to spike. Now what could that have been? Whatever it was, it happened while Barack Obama was in the Illinois state Senate, giving an obscure speech against invading Iraq. He is now having to reckon with the fallout from that event, as is his responsibility to do as commander in chief. But you’d think that those who had actually played a part in bringing about that event would have enough self-awareness to resist scoring political points off of the years-later fallout. Apparently, though, even that is too much to ask.

 

[OKTexas]

Why so many out of context quotes, decision wait times under Bush were cut in half, now under the mulatto messiah they have more than doubled from the 130 day average the Bush administration reached.

 

[The Rabbi]

I hear a lot of those veterans came from Texas. Some also from California.
Why is this a question?

 

[bedowin62]

(Since the right has politicized the VA tragedy, this is going in Politics)

Isn't it funny how the republicans who are screaming the loudest over the VA problem are the same people who created it?

For starters, there is the matter of funding. If there’s been one side pushing for greater resources for the Veterans Administration in the age of austerity these past five years, it hasn’t been the Republicans. It was the much-maligned economic stimulus package of 2009 that included $1 billion for the V.A. While the V.A. itself was protected from the budget sequestration that Republican fought to keep in place last year, many other veterans programs—providing mental health services and housing, among other things—were hit hard by the sequestration cuts. And when the Senate was poised to pass a $24 billion bill for federal healthcare an education programs for veterans three months ago, Senate Republicans, led by McConnell, blocked it in a filibuster, saying the bill would bust the budget and complaining that Senate Democrats had refused to allow an amendment on Iran sanctions to be attached to the bill.

But that's not all...

But there is a whole other level of context to consider here as well. There is a pretty basic reason for backlogs at V.A. facilities and in the disability claims process, the other ongoing V.A. mess. Put simply: when you go to war, you get more wounded veterans, and in a country without a universal health care system,

Just think...if we had Obamacare in 2004 or 2005, this wouldn't be such a problem today, would it? No.

Because Bush still refused to increase VA funding to handle the increased workload the VA was stuck with.

Nearly one-half of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan have filed claims for permanent disability compensation. These claims need to be assessed for their validity, just as we attempt to do with claims for other programs, such as Social Security disability, unless we want to simply throw open the doors on a compensation program that is already expected to cost close to a trillion dollars for Iraq and Afghanistan vets. Making the assessment all the more challenging is the nature of the disability claims being made.

Finally, there's the undeniable truth within the crisis.

Something, it appears, happened around 2003 that caused the rate of traumatic brain injuries in the U.S. military to spike. Now what could that have been? Whatever it was, it happened while Barack Obama was in the Illinois state Senate, giving an obscure speech against invading Iraq. He is now having to reckon with the fallout from that event, as is his responsibility to do as commander in chief. But you’d think that those who had actually played a part in bringing about that event would have enough self-awareness to resist scoring political points off of the years-later fallout. Apparently, though, even that is too much to ask.

libs are pathetic losers who refuse to accept their failures.
bush isnt president; obama is
republicans arent in power; this is the 8th straight year of Progressive majority government
Dems voted fo fund and carry out both wars for over a decade
bush warned obama 6 years ago about the problem



libs are just pathetic losers deep in denial

 

[deltex1]

Yo Howey...when you don't lead, shit piles up on your head...is that why no one can find you?

 

[healthmyths]

(Since the right has politicized the VA tragedy, this is going in Politics)

Isn't it funny how the republicans who are screaming the loudest over the VA problem are the same people who created it?

For starters, there is the matter of funding. If there’s been one side pushing for greater resources for the Veterans Administration in the age of austerity these past five years, it hasn’t been the Republicans. It was the much-maligned economic stimulus package of 2009 that included $1 billion for the V.A. While the V.A. itself was protected from the budget sequestration that Republican fought to keep in place last year, many other veterans programs—providing mental health services and housing, among other things—were hit hard by the sequestration cuts. And when the Senate was poised to pass a $24 billion bill for federal healthcare an education programs for veterans three months ago, Senate Republicans, led by McConnell, blocked it in a filibuster, saying the bill would bust the budget and complaining that Senate Democrats had refused to allow an amendment on Iran sanctions to be attached to the bill.

But that's not all...

But there is a whole other level of context to consider here as well. There is a pretty basic reason for backlogs at V.A. facilities and in the disability claims process, the other ongoing V.A. mess. Put simply: when you go to war, you get more wounded veterans, and in a country without a universal health care system,

Just think...if we had Obamacare in 2004 or 2005, this wouldn't be such a problem today, would it? No.

Because Bush still refused to increase VA funding to handle the increased workload the VA was stuck with.

Nearly one-half of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan have filed claims for permanent disability compensation. These claims need to be assessed for their validity, just as we attempt to do with claims for other programs, such as Social Security disability, unless we want to simply throw open the doors on a compensation program that is already expected to cost close to a trillion dollars for Iraq and Afghanistan vets. Making the assessment all the more challenging is the nature of the disability claims being made.

Finally, there's the undeniable truth within the crisis.

Something, it appears, happened around 2003 that caused the rate of traumatic brain injuries in the U.S. military to spike. Now what could that have been? Whatever it was, it happened while Barack Obama was in the Illinois state Senate, giving an obscure speech against invading Iraq. He is now having to reckon with the fallout from that event, as is his responsibility to do as commander in chief. But you’d think that those who had actually played a part in bringing about that event would have enough self-awareness to resist scoring political points off of the years-later fallout. Apparently, though, even that is too much to ask.

Here is the reason why there were more brain injuries...

Senator Obama said "troops are air-raiding villages and killing civilians,"

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid(D) "The war is lost, the surge is not accomplishing anything "

U.S. Rep. John Murtha(D) "Our troops killed innocent civilians in cold blood,”

Senator Kerry (D) "American soldiers going into the homes of Iraqis in the dead of night, terrorizing kids and children."

Durbin (D) "must have been done by Nazis, Soviets"--action of Americans in the treatment of their prisoners.

The principle these people crushed was you don't give the enemy ammunition.
Each one of the above statements was used by the enemy. Yes it might have been made out of context but the enemy didn't care!
Proof that this contributed to 4,000 more deaths in Iraq?

This Harvard study found here THE "EMBOLDENMENT EFFECT"

asked: "Are insurgents in Iraq emboldened by voices in the news media expressing dissent or calling for troop withdrawals from Iraq?

The short answer is YES!!! according to Radha Iyengar, a Robert Wood Johnson Scholar in health policy
research at Harvard and Jonathan Monten of the Belfer Center at the university's Kennedy School of Government.

STUDY ABSTRACT
Are insurgents affected by information on US casualty sensitivity? Using data on attacks and variation in access to international news across Iraqi provinces, we identify an “emboldenment” effect by comparing the rate of insurgent attacks in areas with higher and lower access to information about U.S news after public statements critical of the war. (wouldn't you conclude the next president accusing the US military of methodically and systematically air raiding villages killing civilians.. dissent???) We find in periods after a spike in war-critical statements, insurgent attacks increases by 5-10 percent.

So you terrorist lovers and traitors don't seem to comprehend YOU caused those additional 6,516 deaths ARE AT YOUR FEET and traitors
like you that WANTED TO SEE Americans killed.. when you agree with the above statements!

 

[TemplarKormac]

A classic tu quoque argument.

Let me know when you become outraged about the deaths being caused during the Obama administration. You know, in the present day.

 

[BluesMistress]

Even Obamacare is not working out so well for vets. Before you libs start tooting the obamacare horn we need to see that it's actually working for real people. I have my doubts when I read stuff like this.....

Former Marine Can?t Find a Doctor for His Obamacare Insurance Plan ? So He Says the Company Actually Suggested He Just Do This | Video | TheBlaze.com

 

[Steven_R]

Government run healthcare is going to be awesome! Just ask the vets.

 

[tinydancer]

(Since the right has politicized the VA tragedy, this is going in Politics)

Isn't it funny how the republicans who are screaming the loudest over the VA problem are the same people who created it?

For starters, there is the matter of funding. If there’s been one side pushing for greater resources for the Veterans Administration in the age of austerity these past five years, it hasn’t been the Republicans. It was the much-maligned economic stimulus package of 2009 that included $1 billion for the V.A. While the V.A. itself was protected from the budget sequestration that Republican fought to keep in place last year, many other veterans programs—providing mental health services and housing, among other things—were hit hard by the sequestration cuts. And when the Senate was poised to pass a $24 billion bill for federal healthcare an education programs for veterans three months ago, Senate Republicans, led by McConnell, blocked it in a filibuster, saying the bill would bust the budget and complaining that Senate Democrats had refused to allow an amendment on Iran sanctions to be attached to the bill.

But that's not all...

But there is a whole other level of context to consider here as well. There is a pretty basic reason for backlogs at V.A. facilities and in the disability claims process, the other ongoing V.A. mess. Put simply: when you go to war, you get more wounded veterans, and in a country without a universal health care system,

Just think...if we had Obamacare in 2004 or 2005, this wouldn't be such a problem today, would it? No.

Because Bush still refused to increase VA funding to handle the increased workload the VA was stuck with.

Nearly one-half of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan have filed claims for permanent disability compensation. These claims need to be assessed for their validity, just as we attempt to do with claims for other programs, such as Social Security disability, unless we want to simply throw open the doors on a compensation program that is already expected to cost close to a trillion dollars for Iraq and Afghanistan vets. Making the assessment all the more challenging is the nature of the disability claims being made.

Finally, there's the undeniable truth within the crisis.

Something, it appears, happened around 2003 that caused the rate of traumatic brain injuries in the U.S. military to spike. Now what could that have been? Whatever it was, it happened while Barack Obama was in the Illinois state Senate, giving an obscure speech against invading Iraq. He is now having to reckon with the fallout from that event, as is his responsibility to do as commander in chief. But you’d think that those who had actually played a part in bringing about that event would have enough self-awareness to resist scoring political points off of the years-later fallout. Apparently, though, even that is too much to ask.

GOP Budget and the President's Budget: A Comparison

Total Veterans Spending FY 2013 FY 2013-FY 2022

GOP Budget* $134.635 B** $1,510.938 B

President’s Budget* $135.651 $1,494.309 B

FY 2013 Budget: The Facts for Veterans | House Committee on Veterans' Affairs[/QUOTE]

 

[tinydancer]

More truth on funding.


FY 2013 Budget: The Facts for Veterans
Issues: Veterans

Several media outlets are reporting that the GOP Budget cuts funding for veterans. These same outlets charge that the GOP budget doesn’t even mention the word “veterans.” Both charges are wrong.

These reports stem from a misreading of the GOP Budget and by comparing the CBO scoring of the GOP Budget and the President’s Budget, with that of OMB’s score of the President’s Budget. Using CBO scoring for both budgets, the GOP Budget exceeds the funding levels for veterans over the next 10 year as compared to the President’s budget (see chart below).

The Facts

FACT: The GOP Budget Keeps Discretionary Spending for Veterans Exactly the Same as Proposed By President Obama: $61.342 Billion. Using CBO numbers (which, by law, every Congressional budget resolution must use), the GOP budget assumes discretionary spending (i.e., VA medical care, construction, claims processing and national cemetery administration, etc.) on veterans in FY 2013 at exactly the amount requested in the President’s Budget.

In both budgets, this translates to a 4.3% increase above the FY 2012 funding level for VA, as recommended in the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs’ bipartisan Views and Estimates letter.

FACT: The GOP Budget Fully Funds VA Entitlement Programs in FY 2013 and Beyond.

Again, using CBO numbers, the GOP budget fully funds VA entitlement programs (i.e., disability compensation, pension, GI Bill, etc.) this year and beyond. The only difference between the GOP Budget and the President’s Budget under mandatory spending is the exclusion of the President’s $1 billion Veterans Jobs Corps proposal, on which the Administration has yet to produce any details.

The exclusion of the Veterans Jobs Corps in FY 2013 spending is supported by all 11 House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs’ Democrats and Senator Patty Murray of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs (see SVAC V&E letter).

FACT: The Word “Veterans” Appears 41 Times in the GOP Budget. FY 2014 advanced appropriations for veterans’ medical care is dictated by Section 501(c) of the GOP budget resolution, which permits advance appropriation not exceeding $54.462 Billion “for the following programs in the Department of Veterans Affairs – (A) Medical Services; (B) Medical Support and Compliance; and (C) Medical Facilities accounts of the Veterans Health Administration.” The word “veterans” clearly appears in the GOP Budget.

FY 2013 Budget: The Facts for Veterans | House Committee on Veterans' Affairs

 

[TemplarKormac]

Breaking News:

Senate Democrats have blocked a bill that would have held VA officials accountable for their roles in long wait times and deaths resulting from them. The bill passed The House in a decisive bipartisan vote, 390-33 yesterday.

Senate Democrats Just Blocked a Bill to Increase Accountability at Scandal-Plagued Veterans Affairs Department | Washington Free Beacon

 

[tinydancer]

And more funding truth....

OMB historical data on budget outlays by department are easily available at the White House website, and the spreadsheet tells a very interesting story.

Since 9/11, the VA budget has increased by 235%, from FY2001′s $45 billion annual budget to FY2014′s $150.7 billion.

On a percentage basis, the only Cabinet agencies that had larger budget increases over that arc have been State (271%) and Homeland Security (245%), the latter of which barely existed at the start of that period. In the Bush era, comparing the final budget with his signature (FY08) to the final Clinton budget (FY01), VA spending rose 88.3% to $84.7 billion.

Defense spending rose 104% in the same period.

Barack Obama ran in 2007-8 on failures at the VA, promising more resources and better management. In comparison to that final Bush budget — don’t forget that Obama signed the FY2009 budget in March 2009 with the omnibus spending bill after a Democrat-controlled Congress refused to deal with Bush — VA spending has risen dramatically as well.

The annual budget rose 78% in six budget cycles, with double-digit increases in four of the six years — while Defense spending was flat. No other Cabinet agency had a larger budget increase by percentage during Obama’s tenure.

The closest was Agriculture (64%), followed by State (59%, which tends to discredit the canard about the Benghazi failure being caused by a lack of resources).

Only HHS had a larger annual budget increase in terms of dollars spent, but it amounts to a 37% increase in spending from the FY2008 baseline. The amount of increase in the VA’s budget in the Obama era, $65.9 billion, exceeds the entire VA budget in the FY2004 budget.

Is the VA scandal a funding issue, or a leadership failure? « Hot Air

 

[koshergrl]

Why is Howey so hateful towards veterans?

 

[The T]

Why is Howey so hateful towards veterans?

He was probably rejected by the Military. Probably very low IQ.

 

[koshergrl]

Most of these loons ae straight up criminals and cons.

 

[Rozman]

The Obama defenders snap to it...
Deflect criticism from their magnificent leader and blame anything else to get the heat off Obama.

It's never fair to get on this President for anything.

 

[Sunni Man]

Obama has been the president for almost 6 long years.

And yet liberal fudge packers like Howey still want to blame Bush for Obama's failures.

Hey libs.....ain't it about time to acknowledge Obama's actions......or should I say non-actions?? ...

 

[TemplarKormac]

 

[Samson]

(Since the right has politicized the VA tragedy, this is going in Politics)

Isn't it funny how the republicans who are screaming the loudest over the VA problem are the same people who created it?

"Funny?"

I think it pales in amusemet value to the fact that Obama ran on a "Hope and Change" ticket and has not changed the VA. More hilarious is if he hasn't been able to do something as fundamental as running his own departments, its no wonder that he has failed to work with congress, his foreign policy is a joke, and his fiscal policy is barely effectual.