Hu-Rah
10 April 2009 12:05 am by Taylor Marsh
A computerized medical system the streamlines veteran medical records, which will aid vets in getting treated more quickly and efficiently. That’s just the beginning, though it will take great effort to manifest. President Obama announced it yesterday. It’s long overdue.
[...] The announcements are part of a larger effort to improve services for veterans. Mr. Obama’s budget for 2010 increases spending for veterans by $25 billion and funnels more money into programs for those who suffer mental health problems and traumatic brain injury.
Veterans’ advocacy groups called Thursday’s announcement an important step in smoothing the tangle of bureaucracy that frequently overburdens the veterans’ health care system. …
Secretary Shinseki and Robert Gates were there with Obama, as was Tammy Duckworth, after Republican Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina crawled down from his high horse to finally stop stonewalling her appointment as assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Paul Rieckhoff, executive director for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, said it right on Rachel’s show last night when he said Burr is going to pay a price for blocking Duckworth. I hope so.
It’s the same type of behavior we see from other Republicans, like Sen. Inhofe, who on foreign soil, standing at a base in Afghanistan, called the President out for “gutting our military.” Such unpatriotic, un-American drivel from a man who has the nerve to call out the commander in chief on foreign soil, but at a U.S. military base no less.
Rush Limbaugh did the same thing recently on the radio. When a veteran, who announced himself as such, railed at Rush for being pro torture. The call begins civilly, but it didn’t take long for Rush to unleash his putrid vile at this veteran, treating him disrespectfully, before coming completely unglued. Via Media Matters:
CALLER: I served in the Marine Corps and the Army.
LIMBAUGH: Charles, Barack Obama is president of the United States today because of stupid, ignorant people who think like you do. You pose — you and your ignorance are the most expensive commodity this country has. You think you know everything. You don’t know diddly-squat.
As is the case with many Republicans who find themselves faced with soldiers with whom they disagree, or when they find themselves at a loss in an argument they cannot win, Rush attacked this soldier with such vehemence that the “support the troops” mantra he poses was revealed as being something reserved only for those vets who fall in line. Remember what the GOP did to Max Cleland, then John Kerry.
It’s not a small thing that after an Administration that talked a lot about veterans and “supporting the troops,” but instead served nothing but stop-loss and unending tours, leaving our armed forces stretched and worn, that Bush-Cheney ignored what continued to build at the V.A. on their watch. At any moment they could have taken action.
But it was President Barack Obama who put forth a new policy instituting Vets e-Records, which will be tough to implement, but gives all veterans hope that they won’t be lost in the system, finally getting the basic tools they have earned from a grateful nation who owes them so much.
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