Koscadia Meet-up Sunday

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Saturday September 27, 2014 · 4:02 PM PDT

2014/09/27 · 16:02

I've lost track of those who have confirmed they are coming. Thanks to everyone who sent their e-mails to Sara R, and if you haven't yet please do it now. Thankyouverymuch.

Next Meet-up for Koscadia

Roughly 12:30 PM to 3:00 PM
at a La Cart food truck pod
SE 50th, just south of Division

llbear

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Tuesday July 22, 2014 · 1:44 PM PDT

2014/07/22 · 13:44

Following my Welcoming Letter to Robert McDonald I've had various people send me Rob Nabors report to the President about the Veterans Administration. For better or worse, Nabors report will be the blueprint for the next Secretary of Veterans Affairs.

Following the jump is the report in its' entirety. In the comments please share with Secretary-designate McDonald your analysis. To spare you the cut-and-paste of Nabor's report, I've numbered each paragraph.

llbear

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Thursday July 10, 2014 · 3:10 PM PDT

2014/07/10 · 15:10

OK, let's just get this out of the way right now. You are either nuts or have an enormous amount of guts. You've been called by President Obama to become the next Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs. As my least favorite ~~corporate shill~~ business reporter, Neil Cavuto sums up your background:

Seasoned CEO, West Point graduate, former U.S. Army captain. You name it, it seems 61-year-old Robert McDonald has done it. It doesn’t hurt that the company he ran, Procter & Gamble (PG), is all about consumer products and all about keeping consumers happy. What better assets to bring to the Department of Veterans Affairs, assuming McDonald becomes its next chief?

What Cavuto really likes about you is that you have donated lots of your personal money to Republicans - including John Boehner. What I can tolerate about you is that you are not a political hack. Unsolicited piece of advice #1: Don't ever become one.

Congressman Jeff Miller and I agree. Period. Full Stop.

Rep. Jeff Miller, Republican Chairman, House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs

“If confirmed by the Senate, Robert McDonald will inherit a Department of Veterans Affairs under a specter of corruption that may very well surpass anything in the history of American government. In order to pave the way for serious and substantive reforms that will help VA to effectively deliver the care and benefits our veterans have earned, he’ll need to root out the culture of dishonesty and fraud that has taken hold within the department and is contributing to all of its most pressing challenges. Quite simply, those who created the VA scandal will need to be purged from the system. Personnel changes, however, won’t be enough.
The only way McDonald can set the department up for long term success is to take the opposite approach of some other VA senior leaders. That means focusing on solving problems instead of downplaying or hiding them, holding employees accountable for mismanagement and negligence that harms veterans, and understanding that taxpayer funded organizations such as VA have a responsibility to provide information to Congress and the public rather than stonewalling them.”
emphasis added

Miller is mostly correct. When he suggests taking the opposite approach of some other VA senior leaders he sort of goes off the rails a bit. Did you notice that he doesn't indicate whose head needs to chopped? Unsolicited piece of advice #2: I say be fair. Replace all of them.

Read More

UPDATED wherein Meteor Blades corrects me, but the White House and the VA are still off.

llbear

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Tuesday June 17, 2014 · 4:23 PM PDT

2014/06/17 · 16:23

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki addresses reporters after testifying before a Senate Veterans Affairs Committee hearing on VA health care, on Capitol Hill in Washington May 15, 2014. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst  (UNITED STATES - Tag

I'm really not being a smart-ass - this time. A week ago Monday, MB wrote "Audit finds more than 57,000 veterans still waiting for VA appointment 90 days after requesting one". Understandably, MB's source was the White House and the VA. Well, all three sources are wrong. I've been chasing this down since early March. Here's the error and why it was made:

With the enactment of the ACA and the requirement that people either have health insurance or pay a fine came one little, teeny, tiny caveat: signing up with the VA satisfies the requirement for health insurance. It says so right here. "4. Enrollment in VA health care meets health care law requirements; you don't need any other coverage." And it's free [most know it's not - they earned it].

The unexpected side effect of Obamacare is that Veterans who left their branch of service decades ago are now signing up and they are doing it by the thousands. So, too, are those who served in Afghanistan and Iraq. Here's the secret that the VA has overlooked: A whole lot of these folks in every age range don't like doctors or mainstream medicine.

llbear

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Friday May 30, 2014 · 8:28 AM PDT

2014/05/30 · 08:28

Yesterday I was at the Portland, Oregon VA. I had a procedure that took about 30 minutes. However, I was there for over 5 hours taking the pulse of patients, their caregivers, doctors, nurses, technical support people, and clerks. Collectively there is one word that describes our attitude about what's wrong at the Veterans Administration.

WE ARE PISSED ! ! !
and what we are pissed about is that senior VA mangers are setting Shinseki up to take the blame for their own back-stabbing, incompetency and bullsh*t

Here's what these senior management people do to back-stab anyone who thinks they are going to change THEIR VA: For years these slimy characters have worked closely with and become friends of Congressional staff and members of Congress on both sides of the aisle. Any Congressional staff person will tell you that more constituent requests come from Veterans and their families than from any other group. It doesn't matter which party you are talking about. Friends do favors for friends. BUT if you, as a senior manager in Veterans Affairs who is helping Senator X, have a little problem with the boss, your friend in Senator X's office will have the Senator put in a good word for you.

llbear

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Thursday May 29, 2014 · 12:45 PM PDT

2014/05/29 · 12:45

This is short and sweet. Answer this question, please:

Since January 2011
have constituent complaints about VA healthcare
increased or decreased?

If you think asking Shinseki to resign will be supported by Veterans in your district, you are mistaken. We knew then and know now just how bad the VA used to be. We understand the VA healthcare management culture is where the rot exists. Shinseki has been moving in on that rot and they know it.

If you listen to the pundits, you are making a very big mistake. Have your staff call 25 veterans in your district. Ask them what they think. If you need to revise your current position do it at the request of the people who actually know what kind of care the VA is providing. If you have mistakenly called for his resignation, own it. When you know better, do better. If, on the other hand a majority of the veterans you call agree that he should step down, then feel free to make that call. In either case make your decision based on what the veterans in your district tell you.

Sec. (General) Eric Shinseki - I Am Confident We Need Him To Stay

llbear

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Wednesday May 21, 2014 · 11:32 AM PDT

2014/05/21 · 11:32

Everyone who knows anything about The United States Department of Veterans Affairs gets it when you talk about the old VA compared to the new VA. The Old VA is a still-dying bureaucracy rife with political hacks, third-rate cronies, pals of politicians, and some very frustrated healthcare providers. Contracts went to the most politically-connected suppliers, and those charged with issuing contracts usually were able to live beyond their Veterans Affairs salaries. It didn't matter which party controlled the White House because there were plenty of jobs, money, and off-the-record benefits to go around.

That was THEN - THIS is now:

From the time Secretary General Shinseki was nominated, he has had a target on his back. Shinseki earned that target this way:

Shinseki remained on as army chief of staff during the administration of Pres. George W. Bush, but his tenure was marked by increasing tension with civilian leaders in the Pentagon. Shinseki subscribed to Secretary of State Colin Powell’s doctrine that military force, if used, should be overwhelming in size, speed, and power. This conflicted with the “small footprint” strategy espoused by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and his assistant, Paul Wolfowitz, who believed that advanced battlefield technology and precision weapons made large bodies of traditional infantry obsolete. In the days leading up to the Iraq War, this doctrinal clash became public, when Shinseki testified before Congress in 2003 that an invasion of Iraq would require “several hundred thousand soldiers” and that a post-war occupation could awaken “ethnic tensions that could lead to other problems.” These statements were immediately refuted by Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, and Shinseki retired a few months later. In 2008 Obama nominated Shinseki to serve as secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, the second largest agency in the federal government. He was approved by the Senate in January 2009.
The Encylopedia Britannica on line

llbear

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Wednesday May 14, 2014 · 11:53 AM PDT

2014/05/14 · 11:53

From time to time I have snooped into the cupboards of The Sisters Reed - Sara R and winglion here on Daily Kos. Why? Well, they tend to live on the financial edge far too often. Sara has been disabled by health issues and Ann works at a big box pet store under the usual - these days - restraints: No more than 28 hours at minimum wage doing an assistant store manager's job. On the plus side: Obamacare has provided both of these women with healthcare insurance. On the minus side: both of them need to take action to increase their income and they realize it.

This morning Sara had a biopsy done on her mouth. She should be in bed. Ann is off long enough to take Sara in and bring her home. When they don't work, they can't eat. That's where things are right now.

Normally I have to snoop to find out where they are financially. It's none of my business, I know. Nevertheless . . . Last night Sara called me in a panic. They are about $800 short of paying all their monthly bills and some remaining pre-Obamacare bills. She had planned to post a diary but didn't want to compete with another. I agreed to post this request to help them out. So, if you can, thank you so much.

Sara's Paypal Link: hairbraider33 (at) yahoo (dot) com

llbear

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Sunday May 04, 2014 · 9:16 AM PDT

2014/05/04 · 09:16

Our weather today is like the Congress - stalled, making things less than perfect. Our afternoon high will be as warm as 62, as cold as 57, with gusts of wind mixed with a soupçon of rain.

I plan to show up at Belmont & 43rd at 1:30 and try to hang out there until 2:30.

Hope you can join me. If not, I understand.

Dick Pierce [ llbear ]

503 624 6072

llbear

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Wednesday April 23, 2014 · 6:04 PM PDT

2014/04/23 · 18:04

Spring haz sprung
and so haz I
Time to reconnect
with Koscadian Kossacks
Before I forget why.

llbear

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Tuesday March 11, 2014 · 2:06 PM PDT

2014/03/11 · 14:06

a plea from Gordon Soderberg

This is for a free booth at Net Roots Nation where LARGE MARG* will be available for free rides:

Please vote for United Peace Relief and the Veterans Green Bus Sustainable Disaster Relief Booth and Share this link: and scroll down to United Peace Relief.
The voting has been very active the last couple of hours. We were in first place yesterday. With just a few hours left, I'm posting this in an attempt to keep from losing our chance to a booth in Detroit.

llbear

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Monday November 11, 2013 · 2:13 PM PST

2013/11/11 · 14:13

Roger Waters w/ Tim Donnelley and the Wounded Warriors Band

Do you know anyone who served in the military since Sept. 11, 2001? Do you know anyone who does? You don't even have to read this diary. Just direct your Veteran to this link, and tell them while it might not apply to them, it will to any combat Veteran with a GENERAL (vs. Honorable) discharge, or to any combat Veteran with a disability rating of 20% or less. It's a big deal.

On combat patrol several years ago, a U.S. soldier suffered two attacks from improvised explosive devices in a 24-hour-period. The first one rattled him and killed his buddy. The second one blew him out of his vehicle and knocked him unconscious. The Army would medically separate this soldier with a 10-percent disability rating, even though his medical records showed symptoms of traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder.
This case, and many like it, occurred before Congress in 2008 ordered military branches to clean up their disability evaluation systems and end practices that had underrated medical conditions of ill and injured members.

Congress did something else too, to correct past wrongs. It directed the Department of Defense to establish the Physical Disability Review Board (PDRB) with authority to reexamine the files and, if appropriate, raise disability ratings of up to 77,000 veterans -- those medically separated with ratings less than 30 percent between Sept. 11, 2001, and Dec. 31, 2009.

written for the Stars & Stripes, Published: January 19, 2012
by Tom Philpott

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Koscadia Meet-up Sunday

The VA Report to the President from Rob Nabors

Dear Robert McDonald, Welcome to the Department of Veterans Affairs

UPDATED wherein Meteor Blades corrects me, but the White House and the VA are still off.

Shinseki - Renaming the Portland, OR, VA Hospital in his honor

To Democratic Senators & Congressmen (and your staff)

Sec. (General) Eric Shinseki - I Am Confident We Need Him To Stay

Rescue Sara R and Winglion

Portland Meet-up this PM is on

Spring haz sprung & so haz I - can u Koscadia?

The Veterans Green Bus needs your vote now!

With just a click you can help a Veteran / no money involved