“Kyle, members of Chosen Company, you did your duty, and now it's time for America to do ours: After more than a decade of war, to welcome you home with the support and the benefits and opportunities that you've earned. You make us proud, and you motivate all of us to be the best we can be as Americans, as a nation; to uphold our sacred obligations to your generation and all who have faced that ‘measure of danger’ and ‘the willingness to incur it.’"
Today, Secretary of Veterans
Affairs, Ret. Gen. Eric Shinseki testified before the Senate Veterans' Affairs
Committee about our veterans languishing and dying on secret waiting lists.
Last month, the shocking story of
the secret waiting lists came to light that centered on the Phoenix VA. Once Dr. Sam Foote, a physician at the
Phoenix VA for 24 years blew the whistle of the VA’s problems other
whistleblowers came forward across the country.
During today’s testimony,
Shinseki rather bloodlessly said, "Any allegation, any adverse incident
like this makes me mad as hell," urging the legislators to wait for the
investigation's finding before trying to resolve a complex set of problems.
His assurance that "we will
act" on any substantiated allegation angered senators from both parties
who insisted the problems are real and need immediate action.
Some pointed to a policy
implemented by Shinseki that set a 14-day limit to provide care for veterans
applying for the first time, saying a deadline they labeled as unworkable
resulted in VA administrators devising ways to cover up months-long delays. Months-long delays that resulted in the
unconscionable deaths of 40 Americans who served their country with honor.
CNN’s Jake Tapper took White House
Chief of Staff Denis McDonough to task as he showed him a letter from
Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Jeff Miller who warned over a year ago that
there existed “serious and significant patient care issues.” [emphasis mine]
The pull quote from the video:
“How many stories like this, how many letters like this, how many dead veterans do you need before somebody asks the question within the White House: Maybe this guy isn’t the best steward of these veterans?”
Dead Americans do not live long
in the conscience of this Administration.
Case in point:
On Wednesday, May 14, 2014,
National Security Advisor Susan Rice appeared Wednesday morning at the Women’s
Foreign Policy Group in Washington, D.C.
According to reports, Rice had earlier made a joke alluding to the harm the Benghazi scandal caused to her career, prompting PBS journalist Judy Woodruff to ask about Republicans’ new allegations.
According to reports, Rice had earlier made a joke alluding to the harm the Benghazi scandal caused to her career, prompting PBS journalist Judy Woodruff to ask about Republicans’ new allegations.
“You’re too smart for that!” Rice
laughed. “Come on!”
But Woodruff pressed on, asking
her what the American people can expect to be revealed as part of the House
select committee on Benghazi. “What more is there that the administration has
done or said that we’re not aware of?” she asked.
“Dang if I know,” Rice
boldly declared.
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