Constantly during his two terms, President George W. Bush was accused of ignoring our returning Veterans, not providing them with the adequate care they needed through the Veterans Administration, even accused of only giving “grossly substandard and unsanitary medical care” to our Wounded Warriors at Walter Reed Hospital in 2007.
That none of it was true mattered little, the Democrats were in constant full campaign mode, seeking to seize full control over the country, using our Veterans and returning Heroes as props. They succeeded in seizing full control in the 2008 election that installed Barack Obama, hailed as the best thing since sliced bread and the messiah to many.
Our Troops and Veterans did not fare any better and the willing accomplices in the media ceased their exposes’ of dismal treatment of Veterans as they claimed was all that Bush and Republicans were doing.
The Troops were used as props and photo-ops to get control of the country, as is often the case when Democrats are in power. Nothing is sacred to them and no lie is too small or too big to tell to keep that power.
But the truth has a habit of leaking out and bypassing the lamestream national media as they continue in their efforts to suppress it.
Such is the case as we read from the San Francisco Chronicle, Court dismisses vets' suit on mental health care.
Some Veterans Groups, tired of long waits to receive mental healthcare through the VA Hospitals for PTSD and more filed a lawsuit in Federal Court against the VA, winning a 2 to 1 ruling against the VA, that cited, “Department of Veterans Affairs documents showed that the system took an average of 4.4 years to review veterans' health care claims, that more than 1,400 veterans who had been denied coverage died in one six-month period while their appeals were pending, and that 18 veterans per day were committing suicide, much higher than the rate among the general population”
Ruling that that vets groups could ask a federal judge to order changes in the system, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declared, “the VA’s unchecked incompetence has gone on long enough.”
Not content with the ruling, the Obama Administration interceded, asking that ruling to be vacated and heard before the full appeals court who has now ruled, “As much as we may wish for expeditious improvement in the way the VA handles mental health care and service-related disability compensation, such responsibilities are left to Congress and the executive,” as stated by Judge Jay Bybee in the 10-1 decision.
In her lone dissent, Judge Mary Schroeder said, “the court’s refusal to consider claims of system-wide delays leaves millions of veterans - past, present and future - without any available redress.”
How much, if any pressure was placed on the panel by the Obama Administration is unknown, but it is apparent that a ruling to benefit Veterans receiving care did not set well with him.
Where is the cry of “keeping faith with those who wore the uniform of our country” that we heard back when Kerry was campaigning for the highest office in the land?
Where is the outrage from other Democrats who lambasted President Bush so frequently?
Where are the calls from former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and many others who demanded congressional investigations in 2007 of the “deplorable” conditions at Walter Reed Hospital? Why are they all so silent today?
Where is Washington State Senator Patty Murray, who was boasting in 2005 of blocking the VA’s efforts to review PTSD claims that sought to weed out phony claims to the undeserving and that would have freed up resources to the deserving?
But her silence in allowing the Obama Administration to “throw down another barrier” in front of Veterans is deafening.
In 2009, after her party seized total control of the government, Murray was quoted, “Before, and for a long time, I’ve been fighting many times over for VA not to discourage people from saying they have PTSD. We’ve have many cases where veterans were told it’s all in your head” in response to Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki claim, “We will change the culture. I will assure you of that” in regards to the long backlogs for healthcare.
As we now can see, the “assurance” from the Obama Administration is to fight Veterans in court, kicking the can down the road and back to those who have long given Veterans little more than lip service.
In the meantime, our Heroes will continue suffering and dying, waiting for a little help from the country that praised their service, then forgot about them.
In an email to me concerning this, my friend Rees Lloyd said,
“Gordon P. Erspamer of Morrison & Foerster, LLP, attorneys for plaintiff veterans organizations, said review would be sought in the Supreme Court,” and “While that litigative effort is made, I respectively suggest that if any veteran or other patriot needed evidence that more veterans are needed in Congress and the Executive Branch -- or that the Combat Veterans For Congress and its endorsed veterans for Congress deserve strong support -- this decision should be it: Congress and the White House must act. (www.CombatVeteransForCongress.org).--Rees Lloyd (Facebook/Rees Lloyd Law)”Then too, maybe if the Obama’s curtailed some of their extravagant vacations, those Millions of Dollars of funds could be directed towards our veterans so they receive the much needed and long overdue care they need and deserve.
It’s up to us this election year and we can make a difference by electing real change and install people who will act on the sacred pact we have with our defenders.
They protected us then, we need to care for them now.
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