Nicholson explains: Serving country is "something conservative," "battlefields in Iraq" prepared him for Main Street America?

I never fully understood why "veterans" were the exclusive property of the Republican Party.

This is part of a debate I've had for years when I did talk radio. Some did not agree with my point of view.

Were veterans Republicans because they carried firearms or came across as extremely patriotic? And why do people always thank them for their service, but don't thank those truly hard-working Americans supporting our economy and raising families? The military is simply a career choice like anything else. It doesn't immediately make someone a hero. 

The Conservative Veteran Myth...Explodes: Let's give a big thank you to absolutist thinker and Senate candidate Kevin Nicholson for exposing the ugly thinking behind "veterans are always great Republicans." It continues the theme that Democrats are terrorists, enemies working within the country that must be stopped, whether you like GOP policies or not:

JS: Nicholson has made his U.S. Marine service a centerpiece in his (campaign) ... during a Steve Scaffidi of WTMJ-AM (620) radio interview Nicholson took a shot at military veterans who are Democrats, questioning their "cognitive thought process." Nicholson said...

"And just because some people that don't call themselves conservatives and don't always act conservative do something conservative, like, let's talk about John Kerry — and signed up to serve this country. That doesn't mean that that's not a conservative thing to fundamentally protect and defend the Constitution.

Because I'll tell you, the Democrat Party has wholesale rejected the Constitution and the values that it was founded upon. So I'll tell you what: Those veterans that are out there in the Democrat party, I question their, their cognitive thought process. Because the bottom line is, they're signing up to defend the Constitution that their party is continually dragging through the mud."

The blowback was immediate. Even Nicholson's slogan, "Send in the Marine" suggests it's time for military-like action to take back the country, stop those Democrats. Arrogance like this does have its plus side. But Republicans, believe it or not, have even politicized the backlash, proving they really don't mean it:

A defiant Republican U.S. Senate candidate in Wisconsin who is a former Marine refused to apologize Thursday amid a growing bipartisan backlash...Nine Republican veterans, all of whom support (his opponant) Vukmir, called on Kevin Nicholson to apologize ...

The Vukmir-supporting veterans ... said not even Democratic Sen. John Kerry, of Massachusetts, “used his military experience as an excuse for far-left positions on abortion, taxes, and immigration.”

Nicholson is now enjoying the backlash and free publicity:

  “I’ll never apologize for saying that, ever,” Nicholson said.

Yet Nicholson thinks his experiences "on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan" has readied him for battlefields in...Wisconsin?

Swing-and-a-miss response from Dumb Ron Johnson: The media decided to toss a softball question to Johnson over Nicholson's bizarre statements. Wow, hate to endanger a Senate seat:

Johnson said, “I’ll let the voters make their own judgment.”

Democratic Veterans Respond:

Crystal Banse, a Democrat, and attorney who served six years in the Wisconsin U.S. Army National Guard, including three years of active duty and rose to captain. said she was offended by Nicholson's remarks. 

"To me, the Constitution does not have a partisan slant. The military is a microcosm of our society. I served next to people of all genders, races, sexual orientations, conservatives, liberals, independents. Your role in the military is to defend people's ability to have different political views. It's all about freedom of speech and protecting our Constitution. Politics has no place in that."

Tom Palzewicz, a U.S. Navy veteran and Democrat from Brookfield seeking to challenge U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner in the fall, took issue with Nicholson's comment. 

"It’s simply un-American to suggest that patriotism is partisan. For almost every member of the Armed Forces, for veterans, for military families, country comes before party, but apparently not for Kevin Nicholson. He should be ashamed."

Trump cuts Homeless Vets Funding!!! Where are the "real" Americans?

Well, this is a not-so-new wrinkle for Republicans; the abandonment of veteran support for the sacrifice they made to their country, in particular, vet homelessness. 

The car magnet myth pushed by Republicans for military families votes has now been exposed as a complete and cruel lie...but will they notice? Probably not:

WISN: A letter from the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs released Friday announced that federal funding for Cottage 16, which houses 28 homeless veterans in Union Grove, has been eliminated and that it will close in 2018.

"As part of an ongoing evolution of federal housing programs, federal funding has been eliminated for our Veteran Housing and Recovery Programs (VHRPs) at King and Union Grove," the letter reads. "

Veteran Kelly Manderfield completed three tours Iraq with the Wisconsin Army National Guard. He's coping with post-traumatic stress disorder and has been living at Cottage 16 for the past three months. He said he's working to get back on his feet and Cottage 16 is helping him do just that. 

"It’s kind of devastating because there is talk about ending homelessness for vets and now they are closing down these programs. I don't know beyond Wisconsin how far the cuts are going but it's not good."

President Obama desperately tried to support new housing and health alternatives for homeless veterans, but now it looks like Trump cut that too:

Prevent and End Chronic Homelessness in 2017: President Obama’s 2016 Budget demonstrates his deep commitment to ending homelessness. The Budget makes investments needed to end chronic homelessness in 2017, make significant progress toward ending homelessness among families, children and youth in 2020,

The Budget calls for the investments needed to end chronic homelessness in 2017. As part of an overall investment of $2.5 billion in HUD’s Continuum of Care (CoC) and Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) Programs, the Budget calls for the resources to create 25,500 new units of permanent supportive housing—the proven, cost-effective solution to chronic homelessness. Shortfalls in the most recent budget passed by Congress have forced us to move the national goal to end chronic homelessness from 2015 to 2017.

Veterans Home in King quality Rating Drops Again, thank you Scott Walker.

Remember my look at Scott Walker's miserable record on veterans in a Dec. 1st blog post:

The military voted 2 to 1 for Trump. Odder still is the support Trump and Republicans get from veterans ... And don't forget Scott Walker’s deplorable history of screwing veterans. It’s mind boggling.

 The list of horror stories is a long one, as you can see here.

As I was clearing out a whole bunch of unedited video clips, I ran across this story from WKOW, November 29 on the veterans home in King, Wisconsin:



Now, apparently again, King received another downgrade. But don't worry, this is all just a political hit job, according to the once fired Veterans Secretary John Scocos:

WSJ: Federal quality ratings of the Wisconsin Veterans Home at King and the Veterans Home at Union Grove have dropped again, prompting one Republican state lawmaker to call for the veterans agency to “totally clean house.” 

The ratings changes come after annual inspections and complaint investigations were conducted there in September. The agency uses a five-star ratings system to score nursing homes and rank health care, staffing and quality of life for its residents. 

Olson Hall, one of four nursing home halls on King's campus, is now rated two stars out of five overall … MacArthur Hall, also on King's campus, was previously given five stars both overall and for its health care ratings, dropped to four stars in both categories; residents being given the wrong medication, incorrect dosages or never receiving needed medicine … Boland Hall, the residence hall at the Wisconsin Veterans Home at Union Grove, dropped from four stars to three stars in its overall rating, and from three stars to two stars for a "below average" rating for health quality.  

As I mentioned, Sec. Scocose denies everything, as is typical in our now "post-fact" world. First a little Scocos history:

Nearly two years after John Scocos, a Republican and U.S. Army Reserve colonel was

fired as state veterans secretary, Gov. Scott Walker has reappointed him to his old job. He demonstrated no ability to administer, manage or lead. DAV received reports that he did not coordinate the activities of his department managers in a positive manner, but instead his poor management style pitted them against one another. Scocos wasted valuable time attacking perceived enemies. Some DAV officials, when making suggestions to better the lives of veterans, felt his wrath instead of his gratitude.

Nothing to see here, in our Post-Fact World: Today's news isn't good. But who are you going to believe....

WDVA Sec. John Scocos, who announced his resignation last month, has dismissed concerns about the home's quality and staffing levels. He has said that news reports about issues there are politically motivated and inaccurate. 

Scocos has maintained that the home offers the highest quality of care available for the state's aging and sick veterans. 

"We are still the very best in the country ... we are pretty solid on what we believe is the care for our veterans.”

Nothing to see here, in our Post-Fact World Part 2: Walker's failure...isn't a failure at all: 

Gov. Scott Walker and the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs, which operates the nursing homes, have consistently touted the King home's CMS ratings, which have historically been above average. Walker spokesman Tom Evenson said in an email.

"Governor Walker's top concern is the care of our veterans. The governor has made significant investments to help the department improve staffing and operations of the homes," 

Ryan rescues Walker's VA mismanaged with Big Government Bureaucracy out of Washington.

Thanks to Scott Walker's decision to rehire the former FIRED State VA Secretary John Scocos, the veterans system statewide has suffered immeasurably. See my story here:

Nearly two years after John Scocos, a Republican and U.S. Army Reserve colonel was fired as state veterans secretary, Gov. Scott Walker has reappointed him to his old job. Scocos took an organization that performed admirably under his predecessor, Secretary Ray Boland, and planted the seeds of dysfunction and acrimony. He demonstrated no ability to administer, manage or lead.  DAV received reports that he did not coordinate the activities of his department managers in a positive manner, but instead his poor management style pitted them against one another. Scocos wasted valuable time attacking perceived enemies.  Some DAV officials, when making suggestions to better the lives of veterans, felt his wrath instead of his gratitude.

Paul Ryan to Scott Walker's Rescue: Unlike Walker's mismanagement of the states juvenile detention system and our crumbling highways, Paul Ryan can rescue Walker from his horrific treatment of veterans, with burdensome big government one size fits all Washington bureaucracy.

Suddenly, Walker no longer has to be accountable locally for managing his own states veterans secretary, who was so bad he was fired the first time. From WPR's Central Time (audio):

  

Ryan: "They cannot have the kind of discipline and management restructuring that is necessary to get this place whipped into shape. That is why we think we need to have more wholesale reform at the Veterans Administration so they can really actually hold people accountable...changing the law so we can fire people who need to be fired." 

Oh, like the once fired State Veteran's Secretary John Scocos who just resigned?

Walker's record on Veterans Deplorable, but still gets their vote.

The military voted 2 to 1 for Trump. Odder still is the support Trump and Republicans get from veterans, despite Trump's consideration of a guy who’s trying to abolish the VA. And don't forget Scott Walker’s deplorable history of screwing veterans. It’s mind boggling.

As County Executive, Scott Walker created “Operation Freedom,” to exploit veterans so fellow Republicans/media talk show hosts could speak and look patriotic. Anti-war veterans were not invited. In a shocking revelation by County Board member John Weishan, it got so bad vendors were being shaken down during Walker's 2006 bid for governor. That led to this...

Tim Russell, a longtime Walker campaign and county staffer, was charged with two felonies and one misdemeanor count of embezzlement … tied to Operation Freedom, an annual military appreciation day held at the zoo. Kevin Kavanaugh, Walker's appointee to the Milwaukee County Veteran Service Commission, was charged with five felonies for theft and fraudulent writings by a corporate officer. He was the treasurer of the Milwaukee Purple Heart chapter at the time of the dispute over the (missing) $11,000 for Operation Freedom.

Veteran support of Republicans continued, even after Walker (like George W. Bush) decided not to promote veteran services to save money.  

More than 25 current and former King employees, residents and family members say residents are not receiving adequate care at King, even as the state brings in millions more each year, transferring the surplus money elsewhere.

And Walker continues to mismanaged the state VA, with this unexplained rehire:

Nearly two years after John Scocos, a Republican and U.S. Army Reserve colonel was fired as state veterans secretary, Gov. Scott Walker has reappointed him to his old job.

Yes, Scocos was fired, but Walker didn’t care about that, or how his record:

Scocos took an organization that performed admirably under his predecessor, Secretary Ray Boland, and planted the seeds of dysfunction and acrimony. He demonstrated no ability to administer, manage or lead.  DAV received reports that he did not coordinate the activities of his department managers in a positive manner, but instead his poor management style pitted them against one another. Scocos wasted valuable time attacking perceived enemies.  Some DAV officials, when making suggestions to better the lives of veterans, felt his wrath instead of his gratitude.

Outrageous stories about substandard VA care and neglected veterans homes isn't enough to change the minds of military families and veterans who love Walker the Republican politicians using them. 

According to one vet, “someone in the audience asked Scocos who talked to a reporter about concerns at King, he said the agency would “eventually find out who did it. They are going to find excuses and innocent people are going to get hurt or fired.” Secretary John Scocos, announced his resignation earlier this month.

(July 12, 2016) Wisconsin continues partnership with Veterans Assistance Foundation, ranked one of worst in nation (Oct 26, 2016) The federal VA Medical Center in Tomah has terminated its lease agreement with the nonprofit that runs a homeless shelter there after a veteran was found dead in one of its dorms.

State human resources manager files federal discrimination complaint against Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs she was potentially discriminated against because of her Native American race, her gender, her age and her efforts to oppose alleged discrimination at the agency against others. She said she was told by a manager that the candidate who got the job “because he was a veteran and expressed in the job interview that he had a ‘passion for veterans.’" She had received a work review in April saying she “exceeds expectations” in both the HR director and manager roles.

Walker Ignores VA problems, while Dumb Ron Johnson schemes to privatize Veterans Health Care.

Let’s get something straight, we haven’t heard squat from Scott Walker about what he’s doing specifically to solve a number of major state disasters under his watch; VA neglect and staffing, road construction funding, and reform of the juvenile prison system?

  

Hate Government, Hate Governing: It’s becoming painfully obvious Republicans can’t and won't govern, and instead wait, study, discuss, debate, wait again, seek advice, pass a tax cut or two, debate, wait again, and then look "more deeply" into the worsening problem.

Where’s Walker? Let's take a look: There have been no “big, bold” moves to quickly reform the juvenile prison problem fraught with sexual abuse, retaliation, excessive force, and child neglect. No rush?

He’s done nothing to fund transportation by suggesting budget cuts that might be used to finish all the current road work. Where are the “big, bold” unintimidated decisions that must be made? Outrageous multiyear delays don’t sound like solutions to me.

And the point of my post: Walker has done nothing "big and bold" to help rescue the troubled Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs. Neglected housing, turning away veterans seeking help, and over prescriptions...seriously, let's wait and see?

Dumb Ron Johnson to the Rescue?: Ron Johnson is in direct competition with Scott Walker for being the most irresponsible big talker of them all. Why are U.S. Senators and Congress people getting involved anyway when this should be Gov. Walker's responsibility?

As usual, Johnson was too busy to attend another "listening session," so me made his staff do the busy work for him:

Officials at the Tomah VA Medical Center provided a briefing Friday to the staff of Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson over the care a U.S. Army veterans at the facility before his apparent suicide. In his statement, Johnson said: 

“I appreciate that the VA provided a briefing to my staff about Brian Rossell’s care at the Tomah VA Medical Center. I remain very concerned about the circumstances surrounding Mr. Rossell’s death, and I will continue to seek information from the VA. As chairman of the chief oversight committee of the Senate, I have worked to hold the VA accountable to honor the promises to the finest among us, our nation’s veterans. America’s and Wisconsin’s veterans deserve no less."

Johnson has worked...toward what? Johnson's real goal and passion has been to privatize health care, and just by coincidence, his party wants to do just that to VA health care services. What Johnson might be doing is gathering health care horror stories to make his case that includes a Republican "commission" to make the VA go private;

The 15-member Commission on Care has just concluded a damning report, finding that "many profound deficiencies" at the troubled agency "require urgent reform. America's veterans deserve a better organized, high-performing health care system" … flawed governance, insufficient staffing, inadequate facilities, antiquated IT systems and inefficient use of employees.

Oddly, this last spring a small group of special interest privateers on the commission…

…met in secret and unilaterally expanded the Commission's mandate, preparing a 20-year comprehensive plan to dismantle the VA. 

The 15 member “Commission of Care” is dominated by private health care industry executives, and veterans themselves have no voice on the commission. Indeed, not even one of the nation's veterans' service organizations is represented. A Koch Brothers lobby group Concerned Veterans "advocates for policies that will preserve the freedom and prosperity. In the name of decreasing the budget deficit, Concerned Veterans also lobbies for tightening restrictions on veteran access to VA benefits and other "cost-cutting" measures. "They have these people out there saying, 'We're giving VA too much.'

The test move to privatize VA services is failing too. Not surprisingly, the "commission" wants to expand on that failure:

In 2015, the Veterans Choice Program was created with the goal of giving veterans greater access to health care in their communities through private care. Since its launch, however, veterans seeking to use the Choice Program have been met with longer wait times, worse service, and harassment from the private medical providers seeking payment ... the Commission is now recommending that the privatization program be expanded. Health care columnist Suzanne Gordon warned in her blog at the American Prospect, "As funding for costly private sector care eats up more of the VHA's annual budget, there will be hospital and clinic closings, along with VHA staff layoffs."

The terminology:

The terms "community service provider" and "community choice" may sound welcoming, but the terms are often "a cover for private for-profit health care companies to take over services ... "the dollars follow the patients," is just a euphemism for vouchers. So who cares what veterans want?

The veterans' groups March statement opposing privatization cited an independent assessment that concluded that "VA performed significantly better on almost all 16 outpatient measures when compared with commercial, Medicare and Medicaid HMO's.
"Eighty percent did not want private vouchers to replace fully-covered health care. "What is most unsettling ... is the utter lack of consideration that veterans would want to improve and expand the VA health care system,"

One more thing:

The privatization proposal could also have a devastating impact on the 113,000 veterans who work in the VA, who make up one third of its workforce. The VA's work force is made up of 59 percent women and 40 percent minorities

Veterans Services gets Walker defunding.

Veterans love Republicans, and I have no idea why.

My dad, a Marine Corps veteran, called me during the Bush administration to tell me he found out they decided not to tell veterans about their benefits. It was a way Republicans could save money. A true story. My dad wasn't much for doctors, and never really used VA health services, but this really affected him.

If he were alive today I know just what he'd say about the states Republican betrayal of our returning vets. Not only will veteran service officers and their offices eventually stop getting paid through state grants, but veterans will not know or have easy access to the services they were promised. Money saved folks. WPR:

County veterans service offices provide everything from counseling to making vets aware of benefits available at the state and federal level. They used to get block grants from the state, but now, they have to apply for reimbursement under a change made in the last (2015-17) state budget.

And in another sign of really bad Republican bill writing:

Kevin Johnson, the county veterans service officer for Ozaukee County, said, "The biggest frustration for us is there's no clear guidance on what the criteria for reimbursement are or, more importantly, how to document the expenses."

This example of big government Republican bureaucracy should break the myth of getting government out of the way forever:

"The way it's now structured, we have to apply two times a year and it's becoming so onerous, the documentation requirement is so onerous that it's just cost prohibitive for us even to request the funds" Critics say state money should support veterans directly, not administrative costs. The state budget change will eventually phase out salaries for the offices.

No salaries, no administrative cost. That would mean no service officers, no veteran direction, no use of benefits, and money saved for the state.

And what about the state Department of Veterans Affairs, I assume they're rushing in to help?

The Department of Veterans Affairs didn't return a request for comment. A sampling of 30 counties showed 10 veteran office grant requests were denied entirely. Fourteen were denied in part.

Denied his vote, senior Iwo Jima Veteran should have done his research first, says GOP mouthpiece Media Trackers.

Media Tracker’s Brian Sikma is a real piece of work. Many years ago I had a friend who used his fake cluelessness as an excuse to get away with saying the dumbest things. Sikma reminds me of him.

Sikma couldn’t resist taking a shot a veteran turned away when he tried to vote.

Liberal Justice’s should Shut Up: Because Justice Ann Walsh Bradley came out against the voter ID law, she’s using her position to attack poor Scott Walker. JS:  

A veteran who fought at Iwo Jima in 1945 and who, for the first time, was denied his right to vote thanks to the state’s voter ID law being in effect … was brought to light because his niece, Justice Ann Walsh Bradley of the state Supreme Court, wrote a letter to Gov. Scott Walker outlining her displeasure over the situation and her opposition to the law. Bradley was among the minority of justices who dissented from the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the law. Leo Olson of Reedsburg, tried to use his veterans ID card ... but that form of identification can’t be used under the state’s voter ID law.

Who would have though a veterans ID card wouldn't be enough: Sikma is quick to blame a veteran for not getting another ID:

Oddly, (JS's) Patrick Marley never ... (got an) explanation about why the veteran never obtained a free state ID card which meets current voter ID requirements.

Of course Sikma skipped blaming Republicans for purposely excluding the veterans ID card in the first place, while acknowledging the legislatures sudden plan to reinstate it, now that the shit hit the fan:

Marley did point out that state law could be changing soon to allow veteran ID cards to suffice for voter ID purposes. 

Oh, and don't fund the elections board to pay for an ad campaign to explain the new law. Anyone see billboards, newspaper ads and television PSA's detailing the process? Nope, so Sikma decided to lie:

While the story of a veteran not being able to vote tugs at heart strings, it is hardly the fault of the law. The Government Accountability Board has spent a significant amount of time and money on a public awareness campaign emphasizing a valid ID.

Biting the (Vets) Hand that feeds them (votes): What the heck is wrong with veterans in their 80's, not doing their research, scouring every page of information, and jumping through a few "minor" hoops so they can vote? Why didn't Leo Olson think to check out...

...the GAB’s website “BringIt.Wisconsin.gov” 

Marley noted that the veteran’s wife was upset because her husband’s Veterans Administration card didn’t work for voter ID purposes ... the VA itself emphasizes on its website that VA cards function as enrollment and identification cards for VA services and may sometimes be used as ID cards for travel. However, the VA carefully notes the card is not a substitute for other forms of identification.

And why couldn't Olson just go through the process all over again to get an ID requiring the same documentation he used the first time applied for his veterans ID? Common sense-like...

Fascinatingly, the VA requires veterans to undergo a rigid process to prove their identity before getting a VA card. In fact, if you can get a VA identification card you have what it takes to get a free Wisconsin voter ID card. The required documents to obtain a VA card are listed here, the required documents to get a Wisconsin voter ID card are here. The lists closely parallel one another.

Sikma is one sick dude. This reminds me of the Republican Medicare plan to force seniors into shopping every year for the best deal on health insurance, as if the problems with mobility and declining mental alertness simply don't exist for the aged.

Like I've said before, someone should require a recordable ID process and signature for all gun purchases. Let's see how long that small inconvenience would last. 

Republicans Backtrack on Cuts to Veterans Services in Wisconsin...ya think?

While Trump is oddly bragging about raising money for veterans through a phony right wing group with the ridiculous name, "Veterans for a Strong America," the Republican Party he represents is doing everything they can to punish, economically squeeze and ignore the quality of veteran services.

George W. Bush asked the veterans administration to not tell vets about their promised benefits so the nation could save money. True. Veterans in Republican states were also forgotten until something horrible happened, even after whistle-blowers were trying to get their attention.

So I wasn't surprised when Republican State Sen. Van Wanggaard put out a bill to save money on the backs of veterans. Blow back was immediate. WISC:

Sen. Van Wanggaard, R-Racine, said a portion of a bill circulated for co-sponsorship last week related to county veterans service officers will be re-drafted.

Currently, every county in the state is required to employ a county veterans service officer. The bill changed language in state statutes saying counties "shall" have a CVSO to that they "may" have one. It also repealed language requiring counties to provide space for the veteran's office. 

Wanggaard isn't done with veterans, and he isn't done trying to attack their services, because he's proposing another one of those phony task forces that won't really listen to anyone. It just delays the inevitable. 

Wanggaard said after concerns from veteran's advocates, he said they're going back to the drawing board and create a task force to study it further with all the participants," Wanggaard said. The initial goal of the bill, Wanggaard said was to allow consolidation among counties with smaller veteran populations in order to save money and distribute resources more efficiently.

But Wanggaard left out one important fact; consolidation failed:

Bill Rosenau, CVSO for Waushara County and president of the County Veterans Service Officers Association, said only two counties have explored consolidation. Buffalo and Pepin counties had been combining services for the last year, until last week when it was decided the workload was too great to continue.

Two Walker/GOP Myths Busted: Support for Returning Veterans and Support for Treating Mental Illness.

Let's destroy two intolerable Republican myths in one fell swoop.

Myth #1: Republicans support returning veterans. Goes without saying, they've got their backs.

Myth #2: Republicans support treating mental illness, the biggest reason they say for gun violence in the country. Like Scott Walker recently said after the last mass shooting spree:

"It's unfortunate that all too often we've seen from people like Hillary Clinton a political reaction to something that's much more sophisticated and challenging than that. The common thread we see in many of these cases is a failure in the system to help someone who is suffering from mental illness."

Myth Busting: Republicans have refused to support a bill that supports veterans that treats mental illness...:

This is how disconnected "Stand with Walker" voters are from reality

WKOW: Democratic state legislators are looking for Republican support on a bill that would authorize the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs (WDVA) to provide health care aid to military veterans for mental illness or substance abuse counseling.

Democratic Sen. Jon Erpenbach is amazed he can't muster interest from our flag waving veteran supporting Republicans:

"I don't know why the Republicans wouldn't support this," said Sen. Erpenbach. "I don't know why the (Senate) majority leader wouldn't schedule this as soon as we possibly could after it had a hearing and was voted out of committee."

The money is there as a stop gap for veterans until the VA processing is complete:

The idea is to give those who need mental health services a voucher so they can go get em, until the VA finds some time to schedule them on their own" ... according to a report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office released October 29, veterans are still waiting an average of 26 days to get an appointment for treatment or counseling through the U.S Department of Veterans Affairs.

While Republicans try to humiliate food stamp recipients with photo IDs and cut the jobless off of their unemployment benefits (big business doesn't like paying into the fund), it appears veterans just aren't a priority...this session:

Due to its recent introduction it won't be possible to get it passed during the fall session.
"We dealt with this on the (Joint) Finance Committee back in April where the Republicans said - 'for the most part it looks like a good idea, but we need more time to review.' Well, here we are, the beginning of November," said Sen. Erpenbach.

Here's WKOW's Greg Neumann:



Oh, and how can Republicans explain away this jaw dropping list of non-support:

Republicans loyal to Banks, ditch Veterans.

I remember when the Bush administration sent out orders to keep veterans from accessing their benefits by simply not telling them what they needed. Nice thing to do to our returning soldiers.

Republicans even want to privatize veterans health care, putting them at the mercy of insurers hoping to make a profit. And still veterans are overwhelmingly conservative.

Well, let's see how these 2 actions will go over with our vets:

1. House Republicans are pushing legislation to block predatory lending protections for American soldiers, under pressure from the banking lobby.

GOP lawmakers tucked the deregulation item into the National Defense Authorization Act -- a major bill setting the military's funding ... If the banking item is enacted, it would impose a one-year delay on new Department of Defense rules meant to shield military families from abusive terms on payday loans and other forms of high-interest credit. The military has been struggling with the financial impact of predatory lending on service members for years. 

A 2014 report issued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau documents a host of abuses targeting troops.

Big bank Republicans know exactly what's going on too:

Big banks have had an ugly relationship with American soldiers lately. Wells Fargo, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup pursued hundreds of illegal foreclosures against active-duty members of the military, ultimately reaching multiple settlements with the Department of Justice over such practices. As a result, they have embarked on extensive public relations campaigns to repair their image.

Despite efforts by the Democrats, veterans still don't know who's really on there side:

Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), an Iraq War veteran, will introduce an amendment to the NDAA bill that would strip out the Republican language delaying predatory lending protections. Duckworth told HuffPost the GOP bill would "waste resources undertaking redundant studies and postpone the implementation of valuable protections," adding, "Further delay will put more service members and their families in harm’s way."

GOP opposes Job Training, college tuition, fertility help, benefits to spouses of deceased vets: Republican efforts to require job training in exchange for food stamps, Medicaid and unemployment benefits ring hollow after they turned down a chance to job train veterans:

A divided Senate on Thursday derailed Democratic legislation that would have provided $21 billion for medical, education, and job-training benefits for the nation's veterans. The bill fell victim to election-year disputes over spending and fresh penalties against Iran.

"I personally have a hard time understanding how anyone could vote for tax breaks for billionaires, for millionaires, for large corporations, and then say we don't have the resources to protect our veterans," said Senator Sanders

The problem for the GOP? Too many veterans would get help:

Republicans said there would be no retribution from voters because the Democratic bill would have harmed veterans' services by flooding them with too many people. Republicans criticized (the) bill for using … unspent money from the withdrawal in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Sanders' legislation would have provided these GOP opposed services:

1. Making more veterans eligible for in-state college tuition to providing fertility or adoption services for some wounded troops left unable to conceive.

2. The VA would have been given more tools to eat into its backlog of 390,000 benefit claims that have been awaiting action for more than 125 days.
3. Bolstered programs for veterans who suffered sexual abuse, and would have increased dental care and provided more alternative medicine, such as yoga for stress.

4. Benefits for some spouses of deceased veterans would have improved, and aid to relatives caring for a wounded veteran would have been expanded to include those who served before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Patriotic Texas Republicans now say "price tag" is too high for promised free college education for veteran's kids.

It felt so good at the time.

I remember when Republicans here decided to give veterans a free college education – even to their kids – so they could look like real heroes too. But instead of showing their patriotism with a little cash, they skipped the check and told the UW to absorb the cost. I’m still shaking my head over that one.

Well, check out what Texas Republicans are doing to honor their vets...the same thing:

Lawmakers: Funding education for Texas veterans is too high:  For decades, veterans went to public universities and colleges under the Hazlewood Exemption, which kicks in after federal benefits under the G.I. Bill are exhausted. But the price tag has increased seven fold since 2009, when legislators in Texas — which has the country's second-highest veteran population, 1.7 million — allowed the benefit to be passed on to veterans' children under a legacy provision.

They’re crying alligator tears…

"Everybody's heart was in the right place when we added all the other beneficiaries," said Republican Sen. Kel Seliger, chair of the Senate's higher education committee. But, he added, "it just got too high of a price tag."

Just like Social Security and Medicare, we apparently over promised our veterans benefits too.

Republicans targeting VA for privatization and profit.

The right wing joke leveled at liberals is this; Koch, Bush, Koch, Bush, Koch, Koch, Koch...

For some odd reason, conservatives like jabbing liberals about how often they bring up the Koch brothers. The fact is the Koch's have multiple front groups pushing privatization, and joking about it doesn't change reality. Like this corny named group; "Concerned Veterans for America." Of course they're concerned.

It'll be interesting to see veterans react to their own party's move to offer them up to the wolves lurking in the free market health care system, where profits and bottom lines take precedent over actual care.

What goes around comes around...

Where's Media apology for hyped untrue "Vets are dying on waiting lists" story.

The Republican narrative on just about every topic of public interest is proving to be not just dangerous to the credibility of the media pushing it, but is souring people on their own governments ability to safe guard their interests. Awareness is one thing, but lying to get attention is another.

The discovery of the Vets waiting list cover-up and falsification of records is without a doubt horrific, but to say veterans died while waiting for treatment, and then running with that story for weeks is unforgivable. In any health care system world wide, you'll always be able to find a number of stories where patients waiting for care got lost in the system and died. But what was done to the veterans department was a politically calculated attack by Republicans to tear away at the Obama administration.

WSJ: The Veterans Affairs Department says investigators have found no proof that delays in care caused any deaths at a VA hospital in Phoenix, deflating an explosive allegation that helped expose a troubled health care system in which veterans waited months for appointments while employees falsified records to cover up the delays. VA Secretary Robert A. McDonald said, "It is important to note that while OIG's case reviews in the report document substantial delays in care, and quality-of-care concerns, OIG was unable to conclusively assert that the absence of timely quality care caused the death of these veterans."

In an interview with The Associated Press, Deputy VA Secretary Sloan Gibson stressed that veterans are still waiting too long for care, an issue the agency is working to fix.

Walker's now seeing Veterans Trust Fund Deficit looming ahead!

Remember when Republicans gave Wisconsin veterans and their families a free UW college education, but refused to pay for it? They said the university could easily absorb the costs.

Well, that’s the kind of veterans support we’re getting from Republicans; glowing praise but no financial backing whatsoever.

And with no apparent ability to raise fees or taxes, all the while cutting taxes, Republicans are unable to offer solutions to state and veterans funding problems.

Democratic State Sen. Jennifer Shilling said as much in the following press release that got little or no media coverage:

$46.1 million budget deficit projected for Veterans Trust Fund: Services for veterans face uncertain future amid growing budget concerns. Neither the current administration nor DVA Sec. Scoccos have identified a long-term solution to balance the Veterans Trust Fund budget or address the projected structural deficit.

In addition to the deficit in the Veterans Trust Fund, Wisconsin is facing a projected deficit of over $800 million in the General Fund, Transportation Fund and Medical Assistance budget (BadgerCare shortfall).

The Veterans Trust Fund deficit news comes as veterans have grown increasingly critical of Republicans in Madison … particularly concerned with recent legislation making it more difficult for veterans to seek justice for employment discrimination claims and compensation for injuries caused by asbestos exposure.

Veterans thought Republicans had their backs. Like tea party conservatives who are now turning on business, state veterans services are next. They've already cut funding for veterans nationally, resulting in waiting lists and possible deaths. 

Understanding and Fixing the VA problem not the point of GOP criticism.

Republicans are always looking for the next hammer to pummel the administration with. So the recently reported VA deaths was a ripe area to exploit. While many are quick to blame Obama for everything, isn't it better to wait for the facts, and then decide what might be done to reform the system. We might even be able to rightfully blame someone.

That may seem like a stall, but it isn't really once you think about many of the reasons why this could have happened; VA's overwhelmed with patients, fewer doctors available, hiding actual wait times to impress the brass, and lack of funding due to Republican insistence that it be offset in the budget.

It's even more ironic for many Republicans, who want to turn VA care into a privatized voucher system, which would basically make it resemble ObamaCare. Didn't that supposedly failed?

Here's Chris Hayes and Bernie Sanders raising a few of these points in this edited segment:

Digby said it this way:

“I was forced to watch Fox for a while yesterday and realized that the burgeoning VA scandal is really about Obamacare, which seems odd, but makes sense when you remember they lie constantly about everything. The argument rested on the idea that the VA is a government program and so is Obamacare, and that automatically makes them useless. Now, when it was pointed out that they were very different programs and that Obamacare is basically just a bunch of vouchers to buy healthcare rather than a real government program like say Medicare…”

But as Jonathan Cohn points out:

It’s worth remembering that some of the problems veterans are having right now have very little to do with the VA and a whole lot to do with American health care. As Phil Longman, author of Best Care Anywhere, noted in his own congressional testimony last week, long waits for services are actually pretty common in the U.S.—even for people with serious medical conditions—because the demand for services exceeds the supply of physicians. (“It took me two-and-a-half years to find a primary care physician in Northwest Washington who was still taking patients,” he noted.) The difference is that the VA actually set guidelines for waiting times and monitors compliance, however poorly. That doesn’t happen in the private sector. The victims of those waits suffer, too. They just don’t get the same attention.

Backward Wisconsin House Representatives Deny Medical Marijuana to Veterans with PTSD.

Despite the successful treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder with medical marijuana, our house Republicans are still trying to get over the shock of old Cheech and Chong movies:

VETERANS’ USE OF MEDICAL MARIJUANA: House Republicans refused to allow the Veterans Health Administration to counsel patients on using medical marijuana for ailments such as chronic pain and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Twenty-one states and the District of Columbia have legalized medical marijuana, and nine allow it to be prescribed for treating PTSD. A yes vote was to allow VHA doctors to counsel patients on medical marijuana.-Roll Call

Sorry, that’s a BIG NO from Paul Ryan, James Sensenbrenner, Tom Petri, Sean Duffy, Reid Ribble.

Wisconsin GOP Ugly #3: Tantrum over Presidential Powers and Regulation, Republicans Flip-Flop, Passing Bureaucratic Red Tape affecting Veterans and Seniors.

Wisconsin’s congressional Representatives continue to move forward and beyond their racially motivated attacks on Obama by knocking him down a peg, stripping him of his constitutionally granted powers as president.

How can it be anything else, when there’s overwhelming evidence that contradicts GOP claims Obama is acting like an imperial president? The graph isn't ambiguous about executive orders. 

Or how about the Republican outrage over the simple day-to-day rule making abilities of government agencies? Petty and vindictive, this is governing?

The Roll Call feature is a dark look into a GOP led dystopian world where even the Executive Branch isn’t safe from their lust for power and control.

You’ll notice that suddenly, in a shocking reversal, our Republican representatives are abandoning their principles. That was easy. Let's have a costly massive amount of bureaucratic red tape:

NEW HURDLES FOR REGULATORS: The House passed a GOP bill (HR 2804) to impose additional paperwork and public-reporting obligations on federal agencies as they go about drafting and implementing rules to carry out laws passed by Congress. Agencies would be required to file monthly reports on the content, status and legal basis of rules they are developing. The Office of Management and Budget unit that receives these filings would have to post them on the Internet and then publish detailed annual reports on all aspects of federal rulemaking, including projected costs on the economy. The executive branch implements 3,000 to 4,000 regulations each year, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Showing our president whose boss, Ryan, Sensenbrenner, Petri, Duffy, and Ribble voted for more taxpayer draining bureaucracies.

Democrats tried to prevent the bottleneck of bureaucratic delays from hurting veterans, seniors, children and consumers, but our congressmen just laughed:

RULES TO HELP VETERANS, SENIORS, WOMEN: The House defeated a Democratic bid to prevent HR 2804 (above) from interfering with regulations that expedite veterans’ benefits; protect the health and safety of seniors, children and consumers; ensure pay equity for women; provide refunds and rebates to taxpayers; aid small businesses; prevent discrimination; safeguard drinking water and protect food supplies from food-borne diseases.

Just to be clear, Ryan, Sensenbrenner, Petri, Duffy, Ribble made it harder to help small businesses (a big donor) and make sure veterans get their benefits (voter base).

Maybe if people only knew how their Republican representatives were actually voting, they might change their minds. But they'll never see this.

Wisconsin GOP Ugly #2: Ryan, Petri, Ribble, Duffy and Sensenbrenner Abandon Consumer Protection and Veterans for Big Business.

Republicans aren't just pushing free markets, they’re boisterously cheering on the old saying, “A fool and his money are soon parted,” hoping that means you.  

The Truth: Wisconsin House representatives oppose regulations protecting Americans from the predatory practices by big business. I still can’t wrap my mind around how the GOP can oppose the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau without voter outrage and blowback. And these big flag waving supporters of war veterans everywhere would rather see vets get ripped off than support one regulation.  

   

In each instance below, Wisconsin Democratic Representatives tried to add an amendment that retained a few basic protections, but they were soundly defeated.

The Roll Call feature is a dark look into a GOP led dystopian world where government oversight is considered a market distortion:  

CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU: the House passed a Republican bill (HR 3193) to reduce the(ir) authority ... The bill enables the Financial Stability Oversight Council in the Treasury Department to veto the bureau’s proposed regulations by simple majority vote rather than the two-thirds majority now required. The bill also would replace the bureau’s director with a five-person governing body and subject its budget to the congressional appropriations process.

That's smaller government? Voting to politicize and trash the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: Paul Ryan, James Sensenbrenner, Tom Petri, Sean Duffy, and Reid Ribble. But it gets worse:

PAYDAY LENDERS TO THE MILITARY: the House defeated a Democratic motion to prevent HR 3193 (above) from impeding Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) oversight of payday lenders located on or near military bases, its efforts to help consumers deal with compromised credit cards or its policing of fraud in fees charged for student loans or ATM withdrawals.

Can Republican voters really be against something like this? We'll see. Voting no were Ryan, Sensenbrenner, Petri, Duffy, and Ribble.