Use of 911 Tribute Video at RNC HORRIFIC use of Fear Mongering

Republican National Convention Made Me Angry

by Amy Branham, Gold Star Mother

Admittedly, I have not watched as much of the RNC as I did the DNC last week. But I have given an hour here and there out of my week to see what's been going on there. I watched Sarah Palin's speech Wednesday night. I had every intention of watching John McCain last night.

But I lost all intention when they did that tribute/memorial to the victims of 9/11. Sorry, folks, that just downright pissed me off.

When are the Republicans going to stop using 9/11 as a call to arms? When are they going to quit using our deepest, most base fears to manipulate our emotions? I couldn't watch much beyond that point. I felt nauseated and angry.

What really pissed me off the most? The Republican party is using this attack on our country -- one that their President was warned about and could have prevented but chose to ignore -- to try to gain votes. Sorry, folks. 9/11 happened on your watch, it could have been prevented, but you turned your heads and let it happen.

1. POW/MIA Flag To Be Flown At VA Medical Facilities Later This Month. 
2. US Said To Need More Vet Centers.  
3. US Army Says Another Suicide Record Could Be Set.  
4. Government's Computer Security Problems Said To Be Related To Poor Spending.  
5. Former Pro Baseball Umpire Visits Roseburg VAMC 
6. Interim Clinic To Open In South Carolina.  
7. Ceiling Lifts Being Installed At Memphis VAMC.  
8. New Garage Open At North Chicago VAMC.  
9. Clinic In North Carolina To Add Another Physician.  
10. Minnesota Veteran Wins Medals At Golden Age Games.

THE "NEW VA" MAY ACTUALLY BE WORSE THAN THE "OLD VA"

THE WAR ON DISABLED VETS CONTINUES UNABATED AND THE VETS ARE STILL LOSING

By Gordon Duff STAFF WRITER

I am a disabled vet and have been counseling diabled vets for pushing 20 years.  Only having survived "the system" qualifies you to understand the system.  I hear myself saying this but "understanding" and "surviving" are not the same thing.  With veteran suicides at record levels and with new wars looming around the corner, all the big talk at the VA, and they do talk big, seems to be just that.

The new "public relations" friendly VA is spending billions on programs to help vets.  They tell us that every day, over and over but some of us are not believers.  I am not talking about medical care.  I get VA medical care and think I have the best doctors in the world.  I am talking about the "system" that handles disability compensation.

I have to call it a "system."  I can't talk about any individual or group of individuals as using the term "monster" and "blood sucking freak" in such a public forum in reference to individuals who are not public figures is both tasteless and unacceptable, no matter how correct it might be.

I am angry.  I am working with a decorated Vietnam combat vet who has, AGAIN, refiled his compensation claim.  I had him send it via CERTIFIED MAIL, RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED AND THE VA LOST IT.  THEY THEN ASKED HIM TO FAX IT AND THEY LOST THAT TOO.  I CAN THINK OF NO METHOD OF GETTING A DOCUMENT TO THE VA, BE IT COURIER, REGISTERED MAIL OR PERSONAL DELIVERY THAT WILL KEEP THEM FROM THROWING IT IN THE TRASH CAN.

1. Peake To Speak At Wounded Warriors Forum.
2. VA Clinics In Louisiana To Reopen.  
3. Facility For Women Veterans Opens At Dayton VAMC.  
4. Son Of WWII Vet Upset With VA Over Benefits Delay.  
5. Man Enters Guilty Plea In Veterans Service Fraud Case.  
6. College Student Raises Money For Veterans.  
7. Veterans Can Find Much To Do This Weekend In Marion, Illinois  
8. State, County Officials In New York Team Up For Veterans.  
9. Wyoming Gets A New Veterans Advocate.  
10. Panel To Discuss Future Of Georgia War Veterans Home.

BUSH SYSTEM TO PROTECT US FROM DIRTY BOMBS MAY BE SCRAPPED

GAO ANNOUNCES TESTING FALSIFIED ON 3.8 BILLION PROJECT

By Gordon Duff, STAFF WRITER

Today, the General Accounting Office released its report on the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office's program to protect our borders from nuclear smuggling.  After massive cost overruns, this "keystone" project to defend our borders was discovered to be virtually useless in the field and to have been pushed forward based on falsified testing data.

Our existing system for radiation protection has a history of problems and the new system had been touted as key to Homeland Security efforts to protect America from covert nuclear attack.  Senator Joseph Lieberman (I) Conn. announced that he will hold investigatory hearings on the GAO report indicating that this is "a mission where failure is not an option."  Lieberman thanked the GAO for its "realistic and tough minded" evaluation of this failed technology and dangerously ineffective program meant to secure America.

A question I can't help but ponder is how could a vital defense technology like this be subject to such fraud without a public outcry?....

1. Gustav Leads VA To Close Clinics.
2. VA's Research On Hearing Problems Noted.  
3. Columnist Says VA Should Not Outsource Administration Of New GI Bill Benefits.  
4. VA Urged To Leave Politics Out Of Benefits Advisory Committee.  
5. Organizations Spread Word About VA Suicide Prevention Programs.  
6. Clinic Opens In Virginia.  
7. Budget, Construction Time Increase For Nevada Medical Center.  
8. Iron Mountain VAMC Temporarily Downgrades Facility.  
9. VA Palo Alto Reaching Out To Women Veterans.  
10. VA New Jersey Collaborates On Camp For Veterans And Their Families.

Military update Tricare to see 25 percent drop in retail drug costs

By Tom Philpott,

The government’s cost of providing brand-name drugs to military beneficiaries through TRICARE’s vast retail pharmacy network is falling by 25 percent as new law forces drug manufacturers to expand price discounts.The change won’t affect co-payments charged military family members and retirees who have 60 million prescriptions a year filled in retail drug outlets.

But Department of Defense pharmacy costs will be cut by more than $700 million next year and by higher amounts in following years.The cost savings flow from a provision in the fiscal 2008 defense authorization act that requires drug makers to extend federal pricing discounts to brand-name medicines dispensed to military beneficiaries through drug stores, supermarkets and other commercial outlets.

For years, pharmaceutical companies have been required to grant federal discounts only for drugs dispensed on base, or through TRICARE’s mail order option or through Department of Veterans Affairs’ pharmacies.Defense officials tried administratively to get the same discounts for the retail pharmacy network but that effort was blocked in 2006 through a successful industry lawsuit. 

VA Awards $2.2 Million to Georgia Veterans Home

Peake: Grants Honor VA’s Commitment to Veterans

WASHINGTON – To make sure the state veterans home in Augusta remains a comfortable and safe residence for veterans, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is awarding a grant worth $2.2 million for improvements at the Georgia state facility.

“These grants honor our commitment to care for the men and women of Georgia who have served in uniform,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Dr. James B. Peake.  “Our federal-state partnership helps to provide comfortable and safe housing for Georgia veterans in a caring community.”

VA’s grants will cover 65 percent of the total cost of the projects.  Total cost for the life patient and safety upgrades to the Georgia War Veterans Nursing Home in Augusta are expected to total nearly $3.5 million.