General Shinseki Speaks Up Against New Swiftboating Nonsense

I was happy to see Eric Shinseki's statement today. (below) I know many people are disappointed with how slow President Obama has been on many of our core issues. AND I know we've had horrible news on the anti war front and on women's issues. BUT One thing for sure is that this administration has taken seriously the needs of our vets and has done a tremendous amount for them. So as the wife of a vet it burns me up to hear all the stupid lies about how the health care bill will reduce tricare benefits etc. It is just not true, And the Secretary for Veterans Affairs, whom I greatly admire, has come out swinging against the latest crap that is being spun out there.

This is esp. important as the tri care lie has been making it's way through many vet networks that my husband and I are a part of. But the vets really admire Shinseki so this should help A LOT.

***

WASHINGTON - As Secretary of Veterans Affairs, I accepted the solemn responsibility to uphold our sacred trust with our nation’s Veterans. Fears that Veterans health care and TRICARE will be undermined by the health reform legislation are unfounded. I am confident that the legislation being voted on today will provide the protections afforded our nation’s Veterans and the health care they have earned through their service. The President and I stand firm in our commitment to those who serve and have served in our armed forces. We pledge to continue to provide the men and women in uniform and our Veterans the high quality health care they have earned.

President Obama has strongly supported Veterans and their needs, specifically health care needs, on every major issue for these past 14 months – advance appropriations, new GI Bill implementation, new Agent Orange presumptions for three additional diseases, new Gulf War Illness presumptions for nine additional diseases, and a 16% budget increase in 2010 for the Department of Veterans Affairs, that is the largest in over 30 years, and which has been followed by a 2011 VA budget request that increases that record budget by an additional 7.6%.

To give our Veterans further assurance that health reform legislation will not affect their health care systems, the Chairmen of five House committees, including Veterans Affairs Chairman Bob Filner and Armed Services Chairman Ike Skelton, have just issued a joint letter reaffirming that the health reform legislation as written would protect those receiving care through all TRICARE and Department of Veterans Affairs programs.

There's more...

Secretary of Veterans Affairs nominee, General Eric Shinseki

President-elect Obama is mostly nominating people who were RIGHT. And competent.

Exhibit A: Eric Shinseki.

Not saying everyone is going to be this perfect.

Although I sure do love the leak for Secretary of Energy -- Nobel laureate Steven Chu. Dr. Chu received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1997. Currently he is Professor of Physics and Molecular and Cellular Biology of University of California, Berkeley and the director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He is directing research in alternative energy sources and ways to reduce greenhouse emissions. He's a senior scientist with enormous administrative experience at the national level, and (if the leak is correct) is going to be nominated to be Secretary of the Department of Energy.

Wow... what a concept. Let's call this Exhibit B.

Again, the President-elect is nominating people who were RIGHT. And COMPETENT.

A few other things I'll point out, in case you missed them.

The Transition Team is operating with a huge commitment to transparency.

1. They're asking for feedback, having people vote on the feedback so the good stuff filters to the top, and then having senior people answer it, including nominees.

Take a look at Join the Discussion where Healthcare was recently on the table.

2. Open for Questions is a pilot project to see what questions matter to us.

Imagine what will happen when OUR questions filter up to White House press conferences. That is where this is likely heading. For reals. With follow-up asked by White House reporters based on how the press secretary, cabinet officers, or the president answers the question.

3. Our Seat at the Table. We have access to all meetings, documents, schedules, everything the team does publicly. Here's the direct link.

We'll keep monitoring the Transition site for you.

But if you believe government can and should work, the Obama team's performance so far is pretty damn cool.

There's more...

Concerned Voters Vs. The VA: Winning One for the Good Guys

In May, myself and many of my friends who have a deep interest in Veterans care and assistance were outraged that the VA decided to ban all non-partisan, voter registration assistance at all VA Hospitals, Nursing homes, shelters and other care facilities. Their weak and pathetic attempts at covering up voter suppression of our wounded vets was to say that the voter assistance efforts disrupted operations at their facilities and that doctors and nurses were complaining. Subsequent requests for evidence of this were of course ignored and no evidence of disruptive outcomes from voter assistance were ever produced.

The outrage over this, at home and overseas where there are VA hospitals that were offering voter assistance for absentee ballot requests, was huge. Voter groups, Congress people, and Vets joined forces and waged a pitched battle against this attempt to disenfranchise veterans.

But there is good news.

WASHINGTON; NY TIMES — The Department of Veterans Affairs said Monday that it would no longer ban voter registration drives among veterans living at federally run nursing homes, shelters for the homeless and rehabilitation centers across the country.

In May, the department said such drives would violate the prohibition on political activity by federal employees and would be disruptive.

The reversal came after months of pressure from state election officials, voting rights groups and federal lawmakers who said that such drives made it easier for veterans to take part in the political process.

The reasons behind this ban are pretty clear. FEC reports a huge increase in donations to Democratic candidates esp. Barack Obama, from APO boxes and military personale. So someone was, I assume, tasked to discourage these disloyal veterans from exercising their right to vote.

Thankfully we won this one, AND in time to get these men and women registered.

There's more...