We often go down this drug road trying to prove our HCV was caused by the jetguns. VA is often just as adamant that it is drug-related. The decision here at least puts both risk factors on an equal footing and encourages benefit of the doubt-as it should. If everyone who lost their HCV claim used drugs/alcohol to the extent VA claims, we’d have had a grossly impaired fighting force-something I certainly never witnessed.
http://www.va.gov/vetapp16/Files3/1623406.txt
I love the C
ourt of Appeals for Veterans Claims (CAVC) method for Extraordinary Writs of Mandamus. Just like those fabled Chinese dry cleaners’ claims of ‘In by ten, you come get when little hand on three.’, my Ex. Writ was ‘in’ June 13th and out August 25th. In 73 days I have accomplished more behind-the- scenes fact finding than I ever hoped to. In the process, the Writ precipitated the need for a quick Office of General Counsel (OGC 027) answer with virtually no time or opportunity to stage the crime scene.
As we all know, helter skelter adjudications at VAROs across our amber-waves-of -grain Nation are frighteningly similar, devoid of logic and all denials seem to be eerily similar. With the introduction of the Fully Developed Claim (FDC) and the Disability Benefits Questionnaires (DBQ), everything sped up at the VAROs. What never changed was the 85% denial rate. Instead of the duty to assist you, your claim submission, replete with all your legwork, relieved the VA of the responsibility. They oblige us by cranking out denials in half the time.
Having the ‘foreknowledge’ of what is coming, and the new electronic world of blogs on the subject, far more Veterans are now involved in pursuing their claims pro se. Ex Writ folks like me who know about it, have discovered you can go even further and ‘buy’ instant justice. For $50.00 and mass quantities of USPS postage stamps, you-Joe Average Vet- can wreak havoc on the VA and usually, in the process, get your claims promptly adjudicated or sped up dramatically.
My filing for the Extraordinary Writ was designed to bushwhack the VR&E Poohbahs before they finally got around to dealing with me. It was axiomatic that they were going to try the bait-and-switch and offer a Visqueen® igloo with two doors and an electric space heater. Often times in the judicial arena, much like a chess game, it pays to pre-position your weapons (knights, rooks etc.). In my case, it was a careful ballet to make sure Judge Bartley would get to see VA’s true colors in real time. In that respect, the VR&E pukes more than complied by lying -on the record, no less.
The decision is well written and Saint Meg admirably summarized the VA’s shortcomings. She gave them what few of her fellow Judges would. That is, a gentle summary of all their faux pas’ and a wise piece of advice in hoping this did not grace the Court’s dockets ever again in the future.
Our legally challenged VR&E bosses in Seattle also inadvertently revealed that all the denials, NODs, Form 9s, SOCs and SSOCs were the substitute for “repeated consultations with Mr. Graham”. No meetings, no conference calls, nada, nothing. This, too, is vintage VA chutzpah.
Here’s a recent abstract of emails on this “repeated consultations” subject.
… My desire for the Veterans Benefits Manual is the same as the need for my computer-to help other Veterans attain their rightful benefits. This has always been the focus of my Veterans advocacy along with my website asknod.org. It is a volunteer effort and fits in nicely with my original request for an ILP computer program which you closed out in 2014.
If the VBM request is not feasible under the current plan or incompatible with a new IL Program request, please go ahead and transmit it to Mr. Boyd so he can perform the appropriate “administrative review”. According to VR&E Services, if you are indeed the case manager as it declares on my file, then you have to transmit it to him for his “review”. If Mr. Boyd finds it is not required to achieve “independence”, please instruct Mr. Boyd to write it up as a denial and forward it to VR&E Services for their Administrative Review.
As Mr. Boyd does not answer my emails, this task appears to fall to you as my case manager of record.
Regards Gordon A. Graham
———————————————
HOLLAWAY, KRIS, VBASEAT <kris.hollaway@va.gov>
Aug 12 at 8:42 AM
Yes, case manager, Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor (VRC) is the same terminology. I am assigned to your case as the case manager. In your reference below, at that particular time and event, I did not have access to your file but I was still your case manager. As an example: If your file went to CO headquarters for 3 months or at the Board of Appeal for 6 months, I would not have access to your file but I would still be assigned as your case manager. A decision could be made in your case and I may not know of the decision but I would still be assigned as your case manager. I hope that helps. Have a great weekend!
G.Alexander Graham <gaegraham@yahoo.com>
Aug 12 at 11:15 AM
Dear Kris,
I guess my next question would be inevitable. If you were and are currently my case manager, would it not seem odd that we have yet to meet and sit down and formulate an IILP as stipulated in 38 USC 3107(a) and 38 CFR 21.92(a,b,c,d). You are familiar with the requirement that you, as the Counseling psychologist and/or the VRC, are primarily responsible for creating an ILP jointly with the Veteran (me)? When, exactly, did that occur since the BVA decision September 4th, 2015- or should I ask, when is it slated to occur, if ever?
38 U.S. Code § 3107 – Individualized vocational rehabilitation plan
(a) The Secretary shall formulate an individualized written plan of vocational rehabilitation for a veteran described in section 3106(b) of this title. Such plan shall be developed with such veteran and shall include, but not be limited to (1) a statement of long-range rehabilitation goals for such veteran and intermediate rehabilitation objectives related to achieving such goals,
(2) a statement of the specific services (which shall include counseling in all cases) and assistance to be provided under this chapter, (3) the projected date for the initiation and the anticipated duration of each such service, and (4) objective criteria and an evaluation procedure and schedule for determining whether such objectives and goals are being achieved.
(a) General. The plan will be jointly developed by Department of Veterans Affairs staff and the veteran.
(b) Approval of the plan. The terms and conditions of the plan must be approved and agreed to by the Counseling Psychologist (CP) or Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor (VRC), the vocational rehabilitation specialist, and the veteran.
(c) Implementation of the plan. The vocational rehabilitation specialist or CP or VRC designated as case manager has the primary role in carrying out Department of Veterans Affairs responsibility for implementation of the plan.
(d) Responsible staff. The CP or VRC has the primary responsibility for the preparation of plans.
(Authority: 38 U.S.C. 3107(a)) [49 FR 40814, Oct. 18, 1984, as amended at 81 FR 26131, May 2, 2016]
Please also supply me with the dates of the alleged “repeated consultations” Mr. Boyd referred to in Item II.#6 of his July 7th, 2016 Declaration Under Penalty of Perjury regarding the joint formulation of my IILP as I seem to have misplaced my records of their occurrence. As my Case manager and VRC, I presume you should be able to supply me those records. If not, please be so kind as to ask Mr. Boyd for a copy of them.
respectfully,/s/Gordon A. Graham
———
HOLLAWAY, KRIS, VBASEAT <kris.hollaway@va.gov>
Aug 16 at 3:13 PM
The IILP was derived from the Statement of the Case, your appeal documents, VBA recommendations, Rehabilitation goals and identified needs as it relates to being able to perform; as in your case, “access” a greenhouse activity, heated and ADA standards. You had made proposals such as Hydro-phonics [sic], computer monitoring, minimal door way access requirements, ADA accommodations, and year-round access; thus an IILP was developed. The IILP was sent to you ahead of our appointment, as you requested to review. I agree that all the requests that you proposed for development of the IILP was not what you wanted but it was developed upon the above standards and guidance, and what your needs are from a justifiable and rehabilitation manner. In the IILP goals and objectives that was presented, it would accomplished the I.L. needs and goals of rehabilitation, which is to be independent from others in performing an activity of daily living.
Mr. Boyed[sic] now has your CER folder and is preparing a statement to you regarding my Case manager’s decision; which is the next step in the NOD. Even though he has the case, I am still your case manager, just to clarify.
——
G.Alexander Graham <gaegraham@yahoo.com>
Aug 16 at 5:15 PM
Thank you for the explanation. I guess we will have to differ on what Miriam Webster defines as “jointly develop”.
Please note for your records, I am not filing a Notice Of Disagreement (NOD) with anything so far. I have asked only for a review under 38 USC 3107(c)(1,2). A Veteran cannot file a NOD after he has “won”. I provided Mr. Boyd a signed copy asking for a review of the IILP as required by statute and regulation during his visit on July 13th, 2016. That is far different than filing a Form 21-0958 Notice of Disagreement. In any case, a NOD is not a judicial tool available to me. VA has already granted me a greenhouse. Judge Bartley will make a decision on whether to grant my request for Mandamus and for VA to comply with the BVA decision. Mr. Boyd should just be addressing what will go inside the structure as contemplated in 38 USC 3107(a),(2) concerning a statement of specific services. If you remember, that was lacking in the April 12th IILP that I ask for a two year ILP on. If certain requests were ignored or not included, it behooved the Case manager to define the parameters early on rather than present it as a done deal ready for signing on the 13th of July. I stated as much in my email of July 7th, 2016 before you and Mr. Boyd came over This is the whole concept of a stakeholder enterprise.
Merriam Webster, the preferred dictionary of the VA, defines stakeholder thusly:
Full Definition of stakeholder
1: a person entrusted with the stakes of bettors
2: one that has a stake in an enterprise
3: one who is involved in or affected by a course of action
Please be kind enough to inform me of the progress of the Veterans Benefits Manual denial and the Administrative Review after VR&E Services have weighed in with their Administrative Review. Since Mr. Boyd doesn’t answer my emails, I rely on you, as always, to be the eventual messenger.
I am told my file is now sitting on Under Secretary for Benefits Thomas Murphy’s desk currently. He may be the one who decides this. I don’t have any way of knowing what the ultimate decision will be with regards to hydroponics or lighting. From Mr. Boyd’s declaration provided to the Court on penalty of perjury. the IILP was developed by February 24th, 2016. Your and Mr. Boyd’s emails to me indicate you were still in the final stages of hammering out a PWS in May 2016. In fact, if you recall, you told me at our April 12th meeting that you still did not have any specifics on size. This all seems to contradict what Mr. Boyd has sworn to as fact. The March 25th, 2016 Form 28-8872 had no specifics on what was being awarded as required by 38 USC 3107(a)(2). It seems almost an impossibility for you to write up a IILP with no access to my case file or any idea of what was proposed as you claimed at the April 12th 2016 meeting.
Hopefully, we’ll get this ironed out to everyone’s satisfaction.
Regards,
Gordon A. Graham
——————————
To date, Mr. Boyd and Mr. Holloway have not answered my email.
Surprise, surprise surprise Sgt. Carter.
Bye bye estates? Bye bye kids’ inheritances? Long term care is another complicated VA benefit topic worth looking into because many of us were not able to purchase long term care insurance policies during the years we were raising children and paying for higher education. We dread the possibility that we could end up in a nursing home, our spouses left in abject poverty after a lifetime of hard work, paid or unpaid. 
The VA makes grants (matching funds) for new construction and renovation projects (LINK) each year. This post provides some links to information about veterans’ state homes. Some states are building attractive modern facilities, such as the one in Silver Bay, MN above (LINK). Vermont’s long term veterans’ home boasts a five star rating, a trout pond and deer park. Veterans who are 70% disabled do not have to pay for services, a situation that may apply in all state homes.
The”… Veterans Benefits, Health Care, and Information Technology Act of 2006 (Pub. L. 109-461),…currently provides “No Cost” Nursing Home Care at any State Veterans Home to veterans who are 70% or more service connected disabled. (Source LINK)
State homes also take private payments, Medicare and Medicaid. In some cases, spouses can receive care. Every state has different residency requirements and beds available. Some offer dementia care, adult day care, respite care and many other services. (VT LINK). A list of veterans’ state homes can be found here: (LINK) or (LINK).
Long term care provided at VHA facilities may have very different requirements as VHA-10-10EC form indicates. Congress has provided resource protections for spouses who are living in the community when their mates are in long term care (for Medicare and VA). We’ll take a look at them in a different post and try to compare them with Medicaid which kicks in when Medicare benefits are exhausted.
Please note that these provisions are constantly changing. It’s best to call local social workers and administrations for up-to-date information. Learning about state veterans’ homes are a good starting place especially if they employ an on-site PCP, as in Ohio (LINK). And they are inspected by state health agencies and the VA. State pride in care giving for vets will vary.
We need more modern facilities in every state–closer to where vets’ families live.
What could be more appropriate than to have dinner at one of the most famous restaurants relating to the boundary dispute in Vietnam? Day one of the Gilead Sciences begins this morning. I feel honored to be here with Randy.
Topic:
AP37 – Proposed Rule – Removing Net Worth Requirement From Health Care Enrollment (LINK and LINK)
Docket ID: VA-2015-VHA-0024
Agency: Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
We know that not every person who has served in the military is actually eligible for health care based on income and assets–in addition to their non-service connected health status and/or rating. One reform in the works is the elimination of the net worth assets rule that has been used to deny care. (Annual “Means” income reporting, formerly done on paper, is now being done by computer matching with the IRS and Social Security. LINK)
The asset part of this process is/was particularly cruel. Veterans had to list the value their homes, cars, land, retirement accounts etc…What the heck should ownership of a motorcycle have to do with veterans’ rights to access healthcare, we collectively fumed? As one frustrated commenter on the whole asset-based concept lashed out on Regulations.gov:
I think this is bullsh*t! No one was worried about the net worth of these individuals when they volunteered to enlist in the service. Just because they served their time/retired & went on to a Higher paying career, does not mean they don’t deserve equal benefits. All veterans served their time, spent countless number of Months (even years) away from family, the same thing was expected from all of them. What they did or how they handled things when they got home, should have nothing to do with the benefits the deserve!
The VA admitted that “the burden on veterans to supply asset information to VA on an annual basis was considerable” and that about 135,000 ineligible veterans will be able to enroll based on the change.
Priority rates determine co-pays for medications, in-patient and out-patient care and extended care. See the 2016 Co-pay Fact sheet here: (LINK) Medication co-pays are listed here (LINK). This meds flyer lists co-pay exemptions and important billing information if you have private insurance as well (LINK). The income threshold limits for free care, even geographically adjusted by region, are ungenerous (LINK or LINK). Because only a small percentage of veterans actually get rated with a service-connected condition (13-15% if I recall correctly), it’s important to eliminate all income and asset tests because they are unrealistic and discriminatory. Facing dangers in-service, distinctions based on money or possessions are irrelevant–and so it should be post-service. VA healthcare was never meant to be a charity and operating it as such has led to widespread abuses. Enough already.
Because veterans are more likely to need long term VA care, and some of the new extended care facilities look very nice, we’ll have to take a look at how the VA looks at a veterans assets, his/her estate, and how survivors are protected–if they are–another time.
Cupcake has graciously offered to drive me to San Francisco for the Gilead Sciences Conference. We’re taking Silvia’s jetguns (plural) to Foster City. I have been invited as fellow HCVet Randy Nesbitt’s guest. Finding air travel less than desirable in late summer and feeling the call of the road, we are off to break bread with fellow Vietnam Veteran and good friend Brad Golding. After, we will see my oldest cousin Denise in Sacramento and then on to another good friend and Vietnam Veteran in Salinas for a joyous celebration of not being on the Vietnam Wall.
Sunday, Monday and Tuesday will be devoted to praising and singing the virtues of Gilead Sciences. Some may feel disgruntled that the treatment costs seem high. Remember the first hand-held calculator from Texas Instruments for $1150? Everyone said that about Ross Perot, too. This isn’t Gilead’s fault. Blame Pharmasett who wanted a cool $11 Billion for the NS5A cookie recipe. Gilead simply made the winning bid. What the hey? All that negative animosity could have just as easily fallen on Bristol Meyers or Sandoz Labs. They cured me after 44 years and not a moment too soon. The cirrhotic swan dive into an ammonia-soaked brain is no fun for you or your family. It makes Alzheimer’s look like a spectator sport. For granting me life, I will sing all four verses of The Hokey Pokey at high noon at the intersection of their choosing. If I never get Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) I will even do free commercials. It’s akin to beating terminal cancer five minutes before the priest arrives to administer Extreme Unction.
6th Life of 9 -March 2010
Getting a pass on inevitable early death is very exhilarating. They had my bingo date as early as 2018. It makes you feel like the cat’s pajamas with nine lives. After what happened to me in 2009-2010 at the Seattle VAMC, the analogy is even more appropriate. I think I’ve used up about eight now and am coming to believe I am not so bulletproof as I would like to be.
The teaching moment is obvious. Those folks at Gilead Sciences deserve to see what caused their windfall bonanza. Trust the lazy Government to cut corners and try to save money on disposable syringes. Idiot’s delight. It has now come around in spades and bit them upon their buttocks. The more power to Gilead. Win or Die, right?
Road Trips! Love them.
Four Gilead successes-Win or Die.
Again, Thank you Gilead Sciences for commuting my death sentence to time served.
What a crazy, crazy summer: nutty politics, all-manner of leaks, evil violence, zika and more. Time to think about HCV again, a topic and problem that now seems easier to deal with despite all the misinformation/avoidance/denial that the government puts out. Frank sends us this news from JAMA:
VA Extends New Hepatitis C Drugs to All Veterans in Its Health System (LINK). The article is free to read.
The government agency is now beginning hepatitis C antiviral therapy for 1100 patients a week—double the figure from a year ago—and hopes to increase that number to 2000 patients a week by the end of this year, said David Ross, MD, director of the VA’s HIV, hepatitis, and public health pathogens programs. At the same time, the VA is trying to screen all veterans born between 1945 and 1965, who account for more than 75% of hepatitis C infections.
The article links to a CDC press release, “Hepatitis C Kills More Americans than Any Other Infectious Disease” which states that there were 19,659 (known) HCV deaths in 2014.
JAMA notes that HCV is “the nation’s deadliest infectious disease, which kills more people in the United States than HIV, tuberculosis, pneumoccocal disease, and dozens of other infectious conditions combined.”
I didn’t know that.
Better late than never? Of course. Yet for thousands of deceased vets and their families, it is too late. For tens of thousands of “cured” veterans, there are on-going side effects–physical, economic, emotional and social–to deal with.
When we drove back east every time from here in The Other Washington, we took I-90 through to Maine or dropped down to Virginia depending on where we were heading. The first time we took the I-94 side route over to see Gen. George Custer’s tactical error in northern Montana. In the summer, take a shorter-barreled 12 gauge with #4s for the rattlers. Just a head’s up if you want to go off the trail for some super photos of all those headstones. It sounds like a gazillion cicadas up there in July. A razor blade and a tourniquet isn’t such a bad idea either.
In our travels, we always ended up in Madison, Wisconsin about 1830 on the second day. Cheeseworld. The house of Cheese. Cheesaholics Anonymous. Yessir. They have cheese there. They must sell a ton of Miralax, too. The next day we drove through Janesville on I-90 heading to Chicago. I remember it was a pretty small burg.What I could never comprehend was why they chose Janesville as the Evidence Intake Center for all the VA correspondence. The problem has been solved.
The 59th VARO
I was watching the CBS news and they announced Representative ( and House Speaker) Paul Ryan was done campaigning for The Donster and was heading home to the wife and kids in his home town of … wait for it… Janesville. Seems if the VA wanted to get Congress on board for more dinero, they were going to have to set up shop in his congressional district. That’s a shit ton of jobs, Jose.
I just thought all of you might want to know that. It’s how they work. You scratch my back and get my folks jobs in Janesville and we’ll make sure you get some down yonder in Newnan, Georgia, Congressman Westmoreland. Roger that? Too bad the guys in Newnan got busted for piling it all in the back room. The shredders would have been next.
As Roseanne Rosannadanna used to say. “It always goes to show it’s something!”
I got a letter here from Alex in Gig Harbor and he wants to know why the VA put their collection center at the ass end of the world in Janesville, Wisconsin. Well, Alex. This is how it works…
2014 corn forest
Over the last several years I have remarked about how my corn reached 12’6″ and mostly threw three ears per stalk. I had to use a step ladder to reach the highest ones (two Pinocchios). Beets got so large we had to transport them singly in a wheelbarrow to the wheelchair lift to get them into the kitchen (three). We didn’t have knives large enough to cut them so I brought in Cupcake’s “baby” electric chainsaw with the 12″ bar (four).
Seriously, everything is early this year and physically large. Two years ago the strawberries showed up in early May instead of June 1st. The raspberries followed suit and showed up on June 3rd instead of their traditional 4th of July entrance. Several days ago I went out and noticed more flowers in the strawberry patch. Yep. More strawberries. Seems the raspberries are trying to follow suit as well. It must be Bush’s fault.
In all this there were several constants that seemed inviolate. Apples, pears, plums and peaches appeared to be immune to this accelerated life cycle- until this year. Suddenly, my Gravensteins are the size of 
softballs a month early and the peaches are emulating them. Some might say I’m blessed but I’m busy in the garden right now. Everything has a schedule and when something ripens prematurely in the orchard, it sets off a domino-like effect leaving other gardening tasks on hold. A good example is the zucchini got away from me and I now have Louieville sluggers. The folks down at the food bank are not impressed. Hell, I’m not even picking the apples and peaches. I’m just picking them up as fast as I can to avoid bunny damage. I have a gaggle of wascally wabbits lined up at the edge of the 
forest with knives and forks wearing cute little neck bibs. If I had my druthers they’d be in the freezer waiting for a good stew but Cupcake has given them names like Flopsy and Mopsy. I have been forbidden to harvest any animals with names at LZ Grambo. That cost me every one of my prepubescent red pears last year to deer while I was in San Francisco at the NOVA 
convention. The repair order was deceptively simple. Shoot first and ask names later. Then put an old dog collar on them when you bring them in and say. “Relax Punkin. It was just some rogue interloper named Stanislaus. See? Look at the nametag on his collar, honey. He just looks a lot like Prancer and Dancer.” Women don’t dial on that collar thing. What the hey? Every animal in the forest has a collar with a name tag in case they get lost. Right?
Cupcake bought this for Christmas in 2006 just for me.
In order to keep up with the changing schedule Mother Nature has handed us and avoid waste, we decided to manufacture more apple juice as we did last year during Hugfest. I had a bushel or more piled up at the Buckwheat-designated Servant Entrance with about as many peaches next to them and the yellow jackets were beginning to set up a manufacturing line. Trust Cupcake to find the repair order. Apple cider and peach jam. The downside was she got me up at 0500 to begin production this morning. Where, pray tell, is the law that says apple or peach anything must be produced before 0700 on a Sunday? Show me in writing. I want to see it.
Peach juice
I have two more apple trees which, thankfully, are not following suit like the Gravensteins (yet). The plums are still out a fortnight with any luck. Having an orchard is like a controlled explosion of fruit. Plant the wrong combination and you’ll spend every waking moment out there after July 4th. One thing that will be saving my bacon is that the deer went to the other end of the orchard and ate all the Bartlett pears this year. So I have that going for me.
I always used to enjoy living like the homeless and go deer hunting every fall. Having an orchard and little time to do that anymore solved the problem. One-shot shopping in the front yard- and you can haul it up to hang in the shop with the tractor. That’s civilization for you. Reckon I’ll have to bring a mating pair of elk back and turn them loose around here now. Cupcake thinks the quail and grouse are Cornish hens from the store and I don’t have the heart to tell her differently. Besides, ignorance is bliss. I do have to use my metal detector on them to get that pesky #7 birdshot shot out before cooking though. That would be hard to explain.
Peach problems
All humor aside, I am blessed. Deb’s dad had the foresight to plant all these trees back in 2004 when we bought the property. I only wish he could have lived to see the outcome.
I’m also guessing we should be hearing from our young Judge Meg Bartley soon on the subject of tardy greenhouses. I’ll keep you in the loop on that. Boy howdy will I ever. I’m like a kid the week before Christmas.
P.S. To Grammar Policeman Denny: We thought long and hard on this. We consulted the Oxford English Dictionary. Proper Tense Always! by Hortense Shrouder (1868) and finally arrived at three choices.
So yes. It was thought out.
I was sent this link this morning and I sensed one of those mental bowel movements coming on. My battles are very narrow. Dying on the hill of Political Incorrectness is one of them. As for politics? Until this year, I’d never known the freedom of being able to cast a vote for a loud-mouthed, uncouth chucklehead who wasn’t a born politician. There’s a significant difference this year. One has a PhD. in Poly Sci and the other has a real Wharton degree in Business 401.
Riding single-file into Medicine Tail Coulee is not on my list of things to do in politics. I’m the epitome of apolitical. Either party, in most cases, is equally capable of turning law into gibberish and trying to remodel the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. I guess it’s a minor miracle so much actually gets done. So let’s see how I can say this.
I find it intriguing to watch each political party, like Sumo wrestlers circling one another sizing up their opponent, approach this latest contretemps over a dead, Muslim-oriented (religiously) soldier. I’m old school. On the battlefield, you’re only talked to and talked about when you’re alive. It really doesn’t make any difference unless you got a CMOH for being incredibly stupid or brave. Once you get shot down, shot dead or plumb blown to Kingdom Come, talking about you a lot after you’re planted is downright depressing where I come from. I don’t even care if you a Churcher of England like me. God sends the Right. We don’t mope around and cry about those who served and died. There’s also a difference in being proud and confusing wearing their glory for your own-purposefully or accidentally.
In this case, it appears Mr. Khizr Kahn, the father of the fallen soldier (one of millions in the pantheon of our proud servicemen over 240 years) is donning the mantle of sacrifice personally. Thus his diatribe about Muslims, as a race and/or religion, being singled out for exclusion (potentially by Trump) begins to smell of a political nature and no longer a racial violation. Remember, too, President Jimmy Carter declared Muslims persona non grata without so much as a whimper from his own party or the other Gross Obese People. America seems to have a selective memory dysfunction along about election time.
Whatever the case, I always become uncomfortable when politicians take Veterans for granted or use them for political gain. On Wednesday, November 9th, 2016, the moment we’re no longer needed as a cohesive voting bloc, whoever wins is going to huck us like an empty, no-deposit Bud Lite can right out the window. I’d like to think the Republicans might keep their promises as the prospective FNG is not a politician, but I’m a realist too. That one’s going off at 6/1 at my Sports Book desk.
Regardless, hedge-hopping from VFW to DAV conventions in cushy jets drinking single-malt and collecting ‘political contributions’ for future favors has nothing to do with us. They’ll hire a few more relatives and give them meaningless jobs at the DVA. Nothing will change for you and me. But…. I’m sorry your son died, Mr. Khan. You didn’t nor did your wife. He died twelve years ago. Get over it. Mr. Trump may be a lot of unsavory things. He may shoot verbally from the hip and later “retweet it”. Unlike bullets, you can call words back. So what? I lost lots of friends in my war and I don’t invoke their name every time I get in front of a microphone and talk about my sacrifice. And I don’t blame LBJ for killing them. Or Nixon. Or Bush whom we all know screwed everything up . Most of those I “lost” did what I had always thought aerodynamically or mathematically impossible to pull off until I did it myself-to fly into a bullet at 120 knots or a DShk. Or the big banana like a 37mm. Shit happened 40% of the time back then to us. It isn’t nearly that bad now. Listen to what that Marine has to say in his letter, Mr. Khan. Suck it up.
If I had my druthers, I’d sit this one out. As it is, I think I’ll take a flyer on Trump because we really haven’t ever had a true non-politician in the position since the Bull Moose Party. I guess I get the biggest bang hearing our current President saying Donnie isn’t fit or equipped to be President. He also said that in 2008 about the lady who currently aspires to the office. Who is? My thoughts are that the President has enough on his plate already and shouldn’t be worrying too awful much about who’s going to be next. He has his pension in the bag. When you’re a golf club, everything should look like a ball.
To both candidates, please. Leave us out of this. Let the dead stay dead. Spare us the empty promises we’ve heard a million times. Seems I remember about fifty years ago some one was shouting “If you vote for Goldwater, we’ll be at war with North Vietnam within a year!” Gol’ Dang Boy howdy was that ol’ boy ever right and I ended up right in the middle of it for two years. It makes a fellow take a long gander at his ballot after something like that. Be careful where you have that pointed when you pull the trigger, hear?
So, I say to all of you who didn’t die, who might know someone who did, or know a friend of a friend of a cousin who’s feeling that “sacrifice” thing, let’s leave religion and dead people out of this. We know who the bad guys are. Hell, they dress up in black to make it easier to spot them. Their flag is even black. Vote against them. Whoever that guy or gal is who is against the Men in Black-vote for them. You figure it out. You don’t need Mr. Khan or Donny Dufus to talk about their ‘sacrifice’. Hey. I sold my 67 GTO (Hurst 4-speed) in San Francisco before I left the world for $2,000 bucks in 70 to a used car guy in Oakland and still made payments for another year on it. Don’t talk to me about sacrifice. You look that one up in the dictionary and you’ll see a picture of me in there.
P.S. I got an email from anonymous that wants to know why we always see the gal who is running wearing a blue dress. Seems like blue dresses got somebody into a heap of trouble back when. You don’t reckon it’s that one, do you? Shoo doggies. That one’s got to be in the Smithsonian by now, I’d expect.
And lastly, a democarrot. It has something for everyone. And you can put it on a stick before the horse donkey.
asknod
Bethanie Spangenberg
kcraveiro
robinhoodesqvetsatty
Wesley McCauley
Veterans Claims Help 