Video- President Obama signs bill expanding health services for veterans

VIDEO: Employment Non-Discrimination Act Will Allow VA To Molest Disabled Veterans

By GottaLaff

Andrea Lafferty and Matt Barber during a break out session at the Freedom Federation's "Awakening" conference:



Turn up the volume on your computer, the sound is very low. First, however, grab some Pepto and/or a receptacle.

These people are sick, wildly ignorant, and riddled by fear. They clearly need validation, or they wouldn't feel the need to push their utterly abhorrent message to anyone who will listen.

I don't know whether to cry, bang my head against the wall, or gag:

The Friday afternoon session of the Freedom Federation's "Awakening" conference has been dedicated to dozens of different breakout sessions, including one on "The LGBT Agenda" featuring Rena Lindevaldsen and Matt Barber of Liberty Counsel/Liberty University and Andrea Lafferty of the Traditional Values Coalition. [...]

The clip begin as Lafferty is discussing her claim that the Employment Non-Discrimination Act would "normalize the Dirty 30" - TVC's list of 30+ things like pedophilia, prostitution, bestiality, and cross-dressing that the group claims would be protected if ENDA passes.

Transcript here. It includes golden oldies like:

"You can be aroused by stumps of amputees."

And who can forget...

"Fecal matter. Their involvement with fecal matter. Or urine. Transvestism. The list goes on, I'm not naming all of them. Children. Animals. And so we really need to draw a line in the sand."

...and everyone's all-time fave:

"We're not saying "you're a deviant." We're saying "your sexual behavior is deviant."

Who doesn't remember that one?

To order your copy of "Homophobes' Greatest Hits", dial 1-800-BIGOT. Be one of the first 100 to call in and you'll receive the brand new bonus CD featuring Rena Lindevaldsen and Matt Barber singing their soon-to-be classic duet, "Porn in the U.S.A.".

Call now!

Sanders Amendment to help seniors, vets, disabled fails

By GottaLaff

Watching CSPAN2 now. I missed a lot of who voted aye or nay, seems I came in on the L's. They're voting on:

Bernie Sanders (I-VT) Amendment to the Tax Extenders Bill: Provides over 55 million seniors, veterans and disabled with a one time $250 emergency relief payment.

Levin just voted no, as did Lieberman, Landrieu, Shaheen.

The amendment just failed, 47-50.

IAVA Veterans 'storm' Capitol Hill in blizzard

Our guys over at IAVA are on point, fighting for Vets rights. Go Team Bravo!

Washington (CNN) -- The blizzard that hit Washington couldn't have come at a worse time for a leading veterans group -- but the name for its legislative push this week is certainly fitting.

Despite the monster snowstorm, the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America organization is taking its Storm the Hill campaign directly to members of Congress and administration officials to push for veterans' rights.

Because of a fresh round of snowfall Tuesday night -- and the federal government being closed much of this week -- many of their meetings have been canceled or postponed.

Group founder and Executive Director Paul Rieckhoff, an Army veteran, said that despite "snowmageddon," they've been cracking away at the meetings that are still on.

He added that members are beyond determined to show up.

Vets wrongly charged for free care, IG finds

By GottaLaff

Unacceptable:

Veterans seeking treatment for sexual trauma suffered in the military may have been improperly charged co-payments by the Veterans Affairs Department, according to a new report from the VA inspector general.

The report, issued Thursday, has resulted in a change in billing practices and a promise that anyone charged for mental health counseling or treatment for physical health conditions could get his or her money back. [...]

A review found that of 250 veterans treated for sexual trauma, 86 were billed for services.

While investigators looked only at the Texas clinic, the problems could have happened elsewhere, the report says.

“I am concerned that some veterans may still be charged for care they should receive for free, unnecessarily adding complications to the recovery process,” Akaka said in a statement. “However, I am pleased that VA’s leadership is ordering changes system-wide as the Inspector General recommended. I will continue to monitor this issue.”

Kudos for changing the system, but these veterans should not have had their recovery "complicated". Their trauma should not have been compounded by "problems that could have happened elsewhere." They've been through enough.

H/t: IanDavidB, TexBetsy

Veteran groups resist 'don't ask' repeal

The average age (as of '09) of the VFW is 55-60, for the American Legion it's 70. I'd be interested in finding out if that is dues paying members or just members on the rolls because the numbers just don't seem right. Funny how the commanders were the last word on this subject a couple years ago but now not so much.

The nation's two most prominent veterans groups have come out in opposition to President Obama's plan to end the military's long-standing ban on open homosexuals in the ranks.

The opposition from the American Legion, the largest American veterans group, and the Veterans of Foreign Wars, comes as the White House has begun a push in Congress to repeal the law this year.

Pro-gay groups received a significant boost Tuesday when the U.S.'s highest-ranking military officials, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, the Joint Chiefs chairman, told the Senate Armed Services Committee they support ending the gay ban, known as "don't ask, don't tell."

Stiff opposition is expected, and spokesmen for the VFW and the Legion told The Washington Times on Wednesday their groups do not want to see military readiness disrupted while the armed forces are fighting two wars. The two groups have more than 4 million members combined.

Senate approves budget for veterans programs

By GottaLaff

True bipartisanship:

The Senate on Tuesday adopted the latest in a continuing series of major budget increases to provide medical care for veterans.

The move came as the Senate passed, by a rare 100-0 vote, a $134 billion spending bill for veterans programs and military construction projects. Even the most ardent spending hawks and foes of the congressional practice of earmarking pet projects to lawmakers' districts and states voted for the legislation. [...]

The Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that 419,000 veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan will be covered by VA health care by next year — a 61 percent increase over 2008 levels — at a cost of $2.1 billion.

And a bonus:

Also Tuesday, the Senate killed an amendment by Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., that would have barred the Obama administration from either building in the U.S. a new prison to hold detainees from the controversial Guantanamo Bay prison or upgrading an existing facility to hold them.

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., who's advocating bringing Guantanamo detainees to a largely vacant state prison in rural Illinois, rallied colleagues against the amendment and said it made no sense to bring prisoners from Guantanamo to the U.S. but not be able to spend money to make U.S. facilities safer.

Once in a blue moon, they get it right.

A Teen's Reaction to the Fort Hood Memorial Service

By GottaLaff

Image via Fort Hood Sentinel

I've previously posted the observations of a remarkable high school student regarding the Ft. Hood shootings. Her insights were unique and poignant. Please read them here and here.

She just IMed me the link to her own blog post on the same subject, and I strongly recommend going over here to read it. Just to tantalize you, here is an excerpt or three:

The United States has been at war in Afghanistan since the fall of my second grade year, and in Iraq for half of the years I have been in school. [...]

My brother wears the same uniform as the grieving soldiers, and he has served at Fort Hood. I lived with him at Fort Hood during one of his trainings for his career as an army truck mechanic. The buildings in the background of the live shots were familiar to me, and I imagined that afternoon what it would be like to attend a memorial for my own brother. [...]

We have not seen military funerals for any of the 5000 military service members killed in combat in Iraq or Afghanistan since I learned to write my name in cursive. Our morning announcements don’t indicate the number of those forever wounded in body or soul in that time. And we have certainly seen no mention of Afghan or Iraqi civilians killed by our military since my adult teeth started coming in.

Remember, the author just turned 18. The "professional" punditiots could take lessons.

Fellow Soldiers, family and guests take a moment of silence during a memorial service for 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division Soldiers: Spcs. Jake Velloza, Jeremiah McCleery, and Shawn Sykes, June 18, at Fort Hood’s 1st Cavalry Division Memorial Chapel. Sgt. Karl Williams, 3rd BCT, 1st Cav. Div. Public Affairs

"Why didn’t my school show ... memorials for... the 100+ Ft. Hood soldiers that ... committed suicide this year?"

By GottaLaff

Yesterday I posted something I hope you already read, or will read. It was about a Texas school district that thought President Obama's education speech should be off limits, but didn't blink when kids watched him talk about mass murder. I described the point of view of one of the students.

That teen and her brother recently called Fort Hood home, and now the 25-year-old brother is in the Army, stationed in Afghanistan.

I have now been given permission to link you to the 18-year-old's blog site. She goes by the name freckles cassie and, she shows up here too.

Here's a comment she left on one of the blog posts that was well worth quoting:

Why didn’t my school show us the memorials for all if the 100+ Fort Hood soldiers that have committed suicide this year? Or all of the homeless vets who die from lack of VA health care? Or even all of the memorials for all of the soldiers & marines killed in Iraq & Afghanistan?

From the Department of Sad Irony: Freckles Cassie, a teenager who writes blog entries and comments, is already heads and shoulders better at analysis and is more astute than anyone on ClusterFox and most punditiots in general.

Go get 'em, Freckles Cassie.

Obama signs vets employment order

Under the radar again, while everyone else is griping about stupid stuff.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 9 (UPI) -- The White House Monday announced the implementation of an initiative designed to transform the federal government into a model employer of U.S. veterans.

The initiative, outlined in an executive order signed Monday by President Barack Obama, aims to increase employment of vets within the executive branch and helps recently hired vets adjust to a civilian workplace, the White House said.

(snip)

The executive action creates an interagency Council on Veterans Employment to advise the president and the Office of Personnel Management director on the veterans' employment initiative. The panel will be co-chaired by Labor Secretary Hilda Solis and Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki. OPM Director John Berry will be the council's vice chair and chief operating officer.

The order sets up a Veterans Employment Program office within most federal agencies. Among other things, the offices will be responsible for helping veterans find employment opportunities within the participating federal agencies and helping recently employed veterans adjust to civilian live and a different workplace culture.

Tom Coburn places hold on veterans benefits bill

By GottaLaff

Nothing says Support the Troops/Vets like obstruction:

It turns out [Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK)] has been the senator who has placed holds on several veterans benefits bills because he wanted to divert money from unspent ARRA funds them:

Thirteen major military and veterans groups have joined forces to try to force one senator — Republican Tom Coburn of Oklahoma — to release a hold that he has placed on a major veterans benefits bill.

Coburn has been identified by Senate aides as the lawmaker preventing consideration of S 1963, the Veterans’ Caregiver and Omnibus Health Benefits Act of 2009, by using an informal but legal practice of putting a hold on a bill. [...]

In a letter sent Monday night to the Senate majority leader, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., the 13 military and veterans groups ask the Senate to get on with it.

“It is essential that Congress act on this comprehensive measure without further delay,” the letter reads. “Thousands of disabled veterans with serious medical conditions and the family members who care for them are counting on this additional support.”

I'm sure the military/vets will find a way to thank him.

President Obama doing what Bush wouldn't

By GottaLaff

Let's compare and contrast. Here's what President Obama is doing today:

Expand the Veterans Administration's number of "centers of excellence" in specialty care:

The Obama administration's proposed 2010 budget outlines a plan to increase funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs by $25 billion over the next five years, starting with an 11 percent increase in discretionary funding next year.

According to a fact sheet prepared by the White House Office of Management and Budget, the president's Veterans Affairs budget "enables VA to create Centers of Excellence and provides additional veteran-oriented specialty care in areas including prosthetics, vision and spinal cord injury, aging, and women’s health."

Of course the Rushpublics will rant about socialism and government takeovers. They're such Compassionate Carls and Carols.

Here's something else they can scream about. Their bffs are now only going to make a measly $200K-plus a year. Waaah!

U.S. to Order Steep Pay Cuts at Firms That Got Most Aid:

Responding to the growing furor over the paychecks of executives at companies that received billions of dollars in federal bailouts, the Obama administration will order the companies that received the most aid to deeply slash the compensation to their highest paid executives, an official involved in the decision said on Wednesday.

Under the plan, which will be announced in the next few days by the Treasury Department, the seven companies that received the most assistance will have to cut the cash payouts to their 25 best-paid executives by an average of about 90 percent from last year. For many of the executives, the cash they would have received will be replaced by stock that they will be restricted from selling immediately.

And for the 25 best-paid executives, the total compensation, which includes bonuses, will drop, on average, by about 50 percent.

The companies are Citigroup, Bank of America, the American International Group, General Motors, Chrysler and the financing arms of the two automakers.

Obama: The UnBush. Suh-weet!

H/t: DAKGirl

Video- Jonah Goldberg Compares VA Pamphlet to Nazi Eugenics

"Too melancholy"? TOO FREAKING MELANCHOLY??? Guess they got upset that they didn't get any good traction with their plain old senior citizen death panels, they had to ramp up the USA! factor and make them Veteran Death Panels. Goldberg is such a fracking tool.

Video- FOX News Interviews VA's Tammy Duckworth About "Death Book For Veterans"

They just can't help themselves.

Laffy UPDATE: Media Matters responds.

Complete Video- President Obama Speaks to the Veterans of Foreign Wars

Video- President Obama Launches Post-9/11 GI Bill

House boosts funding for veterans programs

By GottaLaff

Bipartisan support? Wtf? I thought that was ever so passe:

Veterans health care programs would receive another big boost under a $132.4 billion measure passed by the House on Friday.

The 12 percent increase for the veterans medical services account is but the latest in a recent string of generous increases. Funding for veterans has long had strong bipartisan support.

The bill passed by a 415-3 vote, making it the most bipartisan of the seven appropriations bills to have passed so far. The 12 annual spending bills will total $1.2 trillion for agency operating budgets passed each year by Congress — known in Capitol Hill argot as the "discretionary" portion of the $3.6 trillion federal budget.

The veterans funding measure contains sweeping increases for most of the programs it covers. It would pay to hire about 1,200 additional claims processors to relieve backlogs, provide money to cover more veterans whose health problems are not related to their service, and raise the reimbursement rate that veterans get for their drives to receive care to 41.5 cents per mile.

Video- IAVA: Stronger Together

From FOB IAVA.

Photo-O'-The-Day: Mobbing Vets on D-Day edition

By GottaLaff

Via CNN's Ed Henry on Twitter:

re-posting a favorite #DDay pic from earlier. kids were mobbing vets for autographs. vets were beaming

Awesome. On. A. Stick.

PhotObama: D-Day edition, the sequel

By GottaLaff

Canadian Normandy campaign veteran Okill Stuart (top, 3rd L) and an unidentified U.S. veteran (top R) gesture to U.S. President Barack Obama after he finished his speech during a D-Day commemoration at the U.S. military cemetery in Collville-sur-Mer June 6

H/t: Dr. President