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Sometimes I wonder if there’s a department of the US government which still does more than go through the motions of doing its job. Case in point, the VA: [Army News]
Department of Veterans Affairs regional offices have been ordered to immediately stop shredding documents after an investigation found some benefits claims and supporting documents among piles of papers waiting to be destroyed.
Worst part of it? "Supporting documents" included things like birth certificates which are difficult to replace. Not only wouldn’t your claim be approved, you wouldn’t be able to apply again, or vote, or get a driver’s license, and so on.
Now my original reaction may seem overkill to you, but really: The Department of Homeland Security sends huge amounts of money to rural areas and ignores New York because New York isn’t a good place to spend pork and get votes. The FDA flat out refuses to approve politically inconvenient drugs and then turns around and approves unsafe drugs. The Environmental Protection Agency might as well be the polluters protection agency these days, and the Department of Defense has managed to lose two wars against enemies whose budgets aren’t even rounding errors. (Spare me arguments about the Surge. Where I grew up if you’re paying protection money to your ex-enemies to not attack you, you lost the war and they won.)
Government doesn’t work under Republicans because Republicans are bound and determined to prove government won’t work. So, congratulations to Secretary Peake for doing the right thing. Maybe once a Democrat is in charge his department will be given the necessary budget and guidance to do its job properly. We can hope.
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Dispicable.
This is why you want people running the government who care about the governed. Why this is so hard to communicate I have no idea. I can’t imagine voting for people who claim to hate the government,it’s pretty much asking for trouble. Any politican who hates the government needs another job. I sure wouldn’t want medical treatment from a doctor who hated practicing medicine. And I sure as hell wouldn’t want my auto mechanic to detest his job.
Where’s John “I support veterans” McCain? Shouldn’t he be out there telling the crowds of voters that the VA shouldn’t be trying to destroy applications?
Oh, yeah….
None of the applicants were John McCain and spent 5 years in the Hanoi Hilton.
This is exactly what happens when you get Republican appointees who can get their friends into key offices.
Just as they think that affirmative action means “picking the least qualified” (hence their selection of Clarence Thomas to fill Thurgood Marshall’s mighty shoes on the SCOTUS), they see government as something to be pillaged, not as a sacred trust.
EPA couldn’t find any problems with NY’s air after 9/11.
Wonder where they placed their test equipment…Central Park perhaps?
They believe government is filled with the least qualified so they go out of their way to assure that it is true by hiring the least qualified but most well connected
I guess the Rethugs consider the shredding of documents as an approved way of dealing with the backlog of claims.
Where did you see this report, Ian?
Yes! Absolutely correct, Ian. This has been the core of Republican philosophy since 1981. I coined a name for it:
Malignant Reaganoma
The Detroit news has this about the VA
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pb…../810160403
Also let us not forget about the Dept of Labor mine Safety that runs to the background and allows the Utah mine owner sieze center stage and spew misinformation. Or an FAA that threatens inspectors jobs if they insist that inspections be done according to written requirements.
my motto;
“never elect to government a person who does not like government”
Someone should make a list of these things!
Someone…anyone…?
LOL!
Not sure that the message should be totally obscured. I believe that a dialectic can yeild positive results and avoid unintended consequences. I think that congress should have voices like Ron Paul even if I am a Bernie Sanders fan.
Thanks Ian.
digg
LOL!!
Hugh, in all seriousness, your list is the most comprehensive, exhaustive compilation of the fuckery of the last eight years that I’ve seen anywhere….and I think you have the makings of a fine book, perhaps even a definitive one. I hope you’ll consider writing it.
LMAO.
Seconded.
There were at least 39 sites monitoring air quality after the 9-11 attacks.
There was plenty of evidence of very toxic air quality. This was concealed by the White House. This endangered all residents of lower Manhattan and the first responders working at the rubble of the Twin Towers.
Don’t get mad, get even.
The VA has a very interesting bureaucratic mindset. I can absolutely see them looking at paper backlogs and deciding that shredders were the the way to go.
Naturally it would be sold as an efficiency measure, going paperless or deciding that files of a certain age or which were designated inactive should be shredded, you know for security reasons, but it would occur to no one (certainly no one promulgating this policy) before hand to actually go and look at what the paper files contained.
Sen. Cardin is upstairs. New post!
What Bush govt. agency hasn’t shredded their agency documents? Answer..all of the Bush administration depts have shredded their documents. Rule no. 1 of the criminals code ‘no paper trail’.
Yep. Never write down or photograph anything you do not wish to defend in court. Good advice, and not just for criminals.
OK I have an issue with the assumption that if they shredded birth certificates then the person would not be able to “wouldn’t be able to apply again, or vote, or get a driver’s license, and so on.”
First of all the birth certificates reside in the various state vital stats department. When I adopted my kids I was able to obtain certified copies of marriage, divorce and birth certificates. Now if you are taking about VA separation paper work that might be another story.
But if you loose your birth certificate you apply to the state of your births vital statistics department, many times it can be obtained online. This is especially helpful for passport applications. You can vote and drive, the original is part of the public record and they only provide COPIES.
A voice like ron paul’s is fine, a delegate like him is not.
ron paul is an anarchist, the only laws he likes are those that are good for his profit model
a government can really never elect a “libertarian” to office, that libertarian will DEFINATELY undermine “the commons” and whatever government service they believe should be earning profit for industry
Re-opening the markets I believe was first on their minds.
Thousands of willing volunteers helped them make their decision.
As far as the air quality goes, responders had to know something was seriously amiss. The only way to describe it was that it had an acrid metallic smell.
Thanks for the links. You a NYer Frank?
No I am a Kansan. But I heart nyc. I have researched this issue for a couple years. The more I discover, the more it stinks, and not just the air quality.
Ian another relevant post. Thanks.
After reading I called my local county veterans office. I thanked them for there excellent pleasant and professional service. And asked them about their efforts on behalf of homeless veterans. They meet with Adult Serviced Policy Conference monthly at the Board of Supervisors. The 10 year HUD Plan to end chronic Homelessness is being processed here and is in the draft stages. HomeBase a Bay Area non profit was hired to design the plan. There are 350 in cities and counties in the USA. The Coalition for Low Income Housing is pressing for progress on obtaining some of the Counties many potential sites. Path to a Home
On the other hand the Federal VA is unpleasant inefficient and is hard to work with. They traumatized me with medications that is found to exacerbate the symptoms they were treating. The system is badly in need of overhaul. Any homeless efforts are reserved for high density urban areas by en large.
One approach might be to shift budget and work load to local agencies.
A strategic move
They couldn’t have the VA in particular work properly because a functional VA is a threat, not just to soem theoretical notion of government that works, but to the very concrete health care insurance industry.
After an extensive reform under Clinton, the VA had largely reversed its prior spotty to poor reputation, and was held up as a role model for the economic delivery of quality health care. CAN’T HAVE THAT! The VA, you see, isn’t just single payer, a national health insurance like Medicare, it’s an out and out national health service! Right now we’re hearing the cry of “Medicare for all”. A high-functioning VA would have people clamoring, “Medicare for all, and the VA for everyone who wants it!” This would kill off the health insurance industry deader than the dodo.
Kinda hard bein’ an anarchist and a libertarian at the same time.
Totally incompetent. Can’t even shred the evidence in time.
Did I miss it, or are we missing a link to the story?
It’s called being a Nihilist.
Try explaining Rule of law to a Nihilist.
Repaired, and thanks for the heads up. Good teamwork here!
inside job
Ian forgot to mention Paulson, who seems to be trying to Japonfiy the watered down UK Swedish plan, and Treasury, which seems to have become a government sponsored financial industry lobby. New US moto: “No rich grifter left behind”.
Exactly right. Republican intent is to PROVE that government programs fail.
It is NOT incompetence. It is intentional.