Posted on 01/29/2011 9:06:02 AM PST by Recovering_Democrat
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) broke unexpected ground this week, presenting a budget plan that included freezing Veterans Affairs health care spending and cutting veterans' disability benefits considerably.
To put it mildly, the Bachmann proposal has not gone over well among groups representing the needs and interests of veterans.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonmonthly.com ...
Yet somehow Barney Frank is still in office. And Al Franken. And a bunch of other not-so-pretty people. Maybe Bachmann was sabotaged. Can’t have the people choosing their own leaders - they will be chosen for us.
Please note that the cuts proposed are as follows: Department of Veteran's Affairs health care spending (which might just cut inefficiency and waste in the system, ideally not cutting actual benefits to veterans), and an end to the SSDI/VA disability double-dip.
I'm not sure how I feel about the latter. In some cases, both should apply, in some, as others here have outlined, neither, but I am not in favor of cutting medical benefits to our service people.
Amen to that! Years ago ‘69 I reported to a CPA at a major corporation that was drawing 80% disability from the Navy while working full time, middle management, $60k in the early ‘70s. He drove a typewriter onboard ship while in the navy. No outward sign of disability! Recently a neighbor dropped by bragging that he had qualified for 80% disability from the Navy. He drove landing craft during Vietnam war, bringing supplies onshore and was able to produce a picture of himself with one foot in the landing craft and one foot onshore, Vietnam. He claimed that if you were ever in Vietnam and could prove it you would qualify for “paraquat” disability. He draws nearly $1,300 per month and was awarded a lump sum for back months from the date he first applied in the neighborhood of $70k! There is nothing wrong with him either other than he’s a thief that makes his living by gaming the system. By the way, I also served 4 years, 4 mos. in the USMC, Vietnam veteran and have never darkened the door of a Vet. Hospital.
I too think most ailments can be taken care of at traditional facilities, with assistance when needed by circumstances, but with some special facilities for those wounded in combat or on active duty and in need of rehabilitation.
Enough of the scam artist gaming the system!
I second the nomination!
Keep reading the thread.
The “somehow” is incumbency bias in the case of Barney and flat out vote stuffing in the case of Al Franken. These are phenomena that exist in the “marketplace”, in the environment, that are knowable and in some, perhaps many cases overcomable.
If I wanted to convince you that Joe Speedster was the greatest race car driver in history and then showed you footage of Joe in a formula 1 car on the starting line with flat tires, you would think “WTF?
If I wanted to convince you that another guy was the fastest runner on earth and showed you a race where he tripped on his untied shoelaces, same result.
Bachmann is new material, she is *not* what voters are used to. She has to be sold, or sell herself to some extent. That is not a complex realization. When you see an “expert” slip up over an amateurish mistake or misstep, you and I may know better and may overlook it; or we may not. But no sale is going to be made to the unconverted. Even if I were the biggest 0bama supporter ever I would be dreadfully embarassed by Robert Gibbs. I know lots of liberals who like Nancy Pelosi and think she’s grand but think her delivery needs polish. That’s all I’m saying.
The Duplicate Payments solution was also part of Obama’s Debt Commission Report, but you’ll notice that all the leftists forget to mention that?
I know of a WWII vet who is in need of help, but because he made a paperwork error, he was denied a medical assistant benefit. Did the VA offer to go through the paerwork to explain the “proper way” to fill out the form? NO these forms are 14 pages of boxes and instructions, a single mistake is easy. So what is wrong with the picture of the VA help to the VET? They don’t always do the help they live on rules...this is the problem with the entire government system.
You say “let’s tread carefully” but characterize Rep. Bachmann as “the right-wing congresswoman” and refer to her comments as “her proposal to undermine veterans’ needs”.
I suspect that your recovery from being a Democrat is less full than you might suppose.
Well, yes and no. There's plenty of fraudulent claims going around by Vets. I'm not saying that it reaches the level of fraud that is comitted by the welfare class, but there are people that are gaming the system in order to gain disability income and status when they are not, in fact, disabled, or their "disability" did not result from military duty.
I work with one such fraudster.
Our veterans sacrificed too much to be thrown away at the expense of paying for a useless person's welfare check.
The only way that we will save our Republic is by being intelligent and wise.
This post of yours is neither.
All spending on education cut to zero?
Try again, starting from the beginning.
Cutting benefits is not a good idea, cutting COST and delivering EFFECTIVE benefits is a winner. Let’s hope she is aiming at the latter.
I work with one - his disability - "sleep Apthnea". Never mind that he works rotating shifts, and that sleep apthnea is common among shift workers. Never mind that he's 100+ pounds overweight, which also goes hand-in-hand with sleep apthnea. Nope, he's a disabled vet and he's using that status for all that it's worth. He told me last week that they can't fire him for sleeping on the job because he's a "disabled" vet. I told him he's full of snot.
If you are predicting that evil leftists will demagogue Rep. Bachmann over these statements then I agree with you.
If you are saying that you plan to join them then I urge you not to be stupid and evil.
She just destroyed her presidential potential.!.!.!
Too bad she is near the top of my list.
She also seriously damaged the Tea Party movement.
Totally removed BACHMANN from my list.
Are you saying that there is no corruption or inefficiency whatsoever in the Department of Veterans Affairs?
Are you saying that the people who run the USDVA are not "government leaders"?
This moment in American history is the time for grassroots conservatives to step up and do well by our forebears and for our progeny. We all need to raise our game. Rep. Bachmann is raising an important issue. If you respond stupidly then you have let your country down.
There is nothing wrong with cutting out the double dipping. I support semi annual reviews on all ssi payments and making people that get it for their kids account of every dime.
Please take this opportunity to step up and help convince your fellow conservatives that we must not worship sacred cows nor succumb to demagoguery but rather band together to rationally and honorably solve the budget issue.
Am I wrong in thinking that veterans as a group are more likely to vote for a Republican candidate? If I were a Republican politician, I don't think that these are the voters I would choose to alienate. Our military has enough to bear as it is these days.
Now if I look at your prior posts what kind of BS will I turn up???
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