VA Authorities Confiscate Tape of Journalist Reporting on Bad Treatment of Veterans

Subject: H.J. Res. 5: Proposing Amendment to Constitution to Repeal the 22nd Amendment Removing Term Limits
Date: Friday, April 10, 2009, 3:54 AM
Keep your eyes on this one folks.
H.J. Res.5: Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to repeal the twenty-second article of amendment, thereby removing the limitation on the number of terms an individual may serve as President.
This crap could go on forever!
Save a veteran..save our government.

Those VA guys still think that Bush is their boss.

“H.J. Res. 5: Proposing Amendment to Constitution to Repeal the 22nd Amendment Removing Term Limits”
Intro’d by Rep Serrano (D-NY).
He has intro’d this same resolution 6 times previously.

“Gloria Hairston, a VA communications specialist, along with two other employees and four armed security guards, stopped Schultz and wouldn’t let him leave until he handed over his equipment.”
This is bs.
This woman should be fired.

To anyone who tries to make this a political thing, it doesn’t matter if the president is Bush or Obama, the VA has never been able to adequately provide the decent health care veterans so desperately need. Wait for “routine” surgery may be a year or more. Clinics are packed waiting for treatment. Hearing aids and other medical devices are made by the lowest bidder. Cleanliness is an issue with unsanitized equipment leading recently to possible HIV and hepatitis infection. Veterans are mad as hell and we’re demanding action, not words from the political whores of Washington.

It’s WTOP-FM, not AM.

“Wait for “routine” surgery may be a year or more. Clinics are packed waiting for treatment. Hearing aids and other medical devices are made by the lowest bidder.”
Welcome to government health care. These stories are identical to those you get from the UK and Canada.

What the hell is that about? That is not America. The VA should do a better job.

I spent over 2 tours i the Nam for this type of Communist actions ? I sure as hell hope not . But on the other hand . I know the VA all to well since my discharge in 1972. Seem then as now . Die off , don’t bother us is the attitude . The late great USA = Lies & Shadows

“Are you proposing we privatize veteran’s healthcare?”
No, I’m proposing that we don’t displace existing private health care with a government system like the VA. For my part, I do not avail myself of VA health care; they provide me with aid for my son’s education and monthly cash benefits for myself.

Ryan, the Post didn’t allege that any of its attempts to document unsatisfactory conditions during the Bush administration led to unconstitutional confiscation of a journalist’s records, as has happened under the secretive leftist Obama administration. Mr Hyena did not claim that the VA was perfect under the prior administration, he said that he was happy with his own benefits, and suggested that the abuse described here would not have occurred under Bush. Since abuse of the kind described here in fact never occurred under Bush, it seems to me he’s on pretty sure ground.

More secrets from Obama.

This Vietnam Era vet with a service-connected disability has gotten nothing but uniformly excellent care across a variety of health issues for many years from the VA. My only gripe is that I can’t get my non-vet wife into the system. If this is the future of medicine, I say bring it on and soon.

“Since abuse of the kind described here in fact never occurred under Bush, it seems to me he’s on pretty sure ground.”
I was making a point about care.
And to claim that this would never happen under Bush and only happened under Obama is ridiculous.
A quick google search reveals these incidents.
The Pentagon returned a videotape that military police confiscated Tuesday from a Fox News Channel cameraman, who was detained and handcuffed after he was discovered documenting a traffic stop of an Iranian man along the highway that runs outside the building.
Yesterday the AP reported that U.S. troops in Iraq confiscated an AP cameraman’s videotape of the aftermath of a Baghdad bombing. A military spokesman, Lt. Colonel Scott Bleichwehl, explained that the troops were enforcing an Iraqi law prohibiting the photographing or videotaping the aftermath of acts of violence. That seemed strange — U.S. troops enforcing Iraqi law?

The poor treatment of V.A. patients is very well documented.. if it’s worse than the South Florida incident.. whew!

To Paratrooper: It was a public event. When reporters are invited to on-post public events, it is understood that they will report. In addition, there was no justification for taking the material (as you noted). The two could have been asked to hold their interview off-premises instead of being detained. As well, Shultz was working as a reporter for an NPR station, which makes him a journalist, not a “journalist.”

“wouldn’t let him leave until he handed over his equipment.”
So … have Hairston et al. been arrested? And what the heck kind of “communications specialist” is empowered to seize the property of others?
Nah … National Propaganda Radio keeps previously-public radio soooo sedate, now … as in “sedative”.

The VA has been my care giver for 5 years I find very little to complain about. In fact an authority of my facility said that under this administation we may get back some of the benifits we lost under the previous administation. Actualy it’s the best health insurance I,ve ever had.

Funny that there are Liberals out there that complain about the VA’s poor track record, and yet are clamoring for the same government to control national health care.
An odd propensity for supporting things that have never worked, because ideology trumps what does work and common sense.

His editor should have told him to hold his ground, not to surrender his images, and to wait for the lawyer his editor was dispatching to the scene. Instead, the reporter’s objective was to not get arrested; to not raise a ruckus on behalf of constitutional rights. Both the reporter and editor need to watch a video of John Chancellor being hauled away from the Democratic National Convention in Chicago by Mayor Daley’s blue uniformed thugs. Chancellor never gave in. His final words, as he was bum-rushed out of camera view, were “This is John Chancellor, reporting from somewhere in custody.” Better to be remembered for that than for “Oh, well, I gave up my images, even though I wasn’t legally obliged to, just to avoid trouble.”

HOPE THIS REPORTER HAD COPIES. . .

No surprise here with the VA’s thug tactics.
Back in 1997 I was the head of a national veterans organization, going to VA HQ in Washington, DC for a meeting with the acting VA Secretary, Herschel Gober. A local TV station wanted an interview before and after the meeting. Unbeknown to me, the reporter had called the VA to see if they could film me walking into the building. When I got to the HQ, I was thoroughly frisked, patted down, searched, etc., and my briefcase ransacked. I couldn’t believe what VA’s security were doing.
I found out after my meeting with Gober what the TV crew had done, which explained why they searched. They were looking for any hidden recording devices.
This meeting had happened shortly after a veteran in Idaho had a medical appointment, in which the VA had allowed the local media to be in on with the veteran agreeing. During this veterans medical appointment, the doctor reviewed information with the veteran about a terminal illness he had, but had never been told of by the VA.
Another time, at a local VA, there was an event open to the public, with Congressional representatives in attendance, and local media wanted to report on it. It was amazing how quickly the media relations people of this VA met them at the front door, and how snotty they were about the media being at a public event.

“We have had nothing but problems giving our ‘hospitals’ and our ‘health care’ over to private “FOR PROFIT” organizations.”
The hospitals weren’t “given” to anyone. They were always private, and they’ve always been the best in the world.
“At least we can fix the government problems easier”
This absurd statement is based upon what?
” – and the prices will stay lower”
That’s what I look for when my life is on the line — a bargain. Not the best quality.
“- as long as these programs are fully funded;”
Good luck with that.
“more-so than the act of PRIVATISING.”
You can’t “privatize” what was always private.
” . .which keeps prices HIGH ”
Yes, that’s exactly what keeps prices high – competition. I think there’s a place on Obama’s financial team for you.
“and seems to promote more unbridled pervasive dishonesty.”
You’re referring to the Obama administration here, right? They seem to be leading through lies.

>We have had nothing but problems >giving our ‘hospitals’ and our ‘health >care’ over to private “FOR PROFIT” >organizations.
>At least we can fix the government >problems easier – and the prices will >stay lower – as long as these programs >are fully funded; more-so than the act >of PRIVATISING. . .which keeps prices >HIGH and seems to promote more >unbridled pervasive dishonesty.
Puhleeze…
Naieve Much?
Just like we have fixed the other programs the government runs?
Social Security, Medicare, Education, those all are just models of efficiency.NOPE. If you want ‘unbridled pervasive dishonesty’ then take a look at Medicare.
We will all recieve the lowest common denominator of healthcare for the highest price we will bear and the graft and influence peddeling will be enormous; because to suceed in this business you will need a friendly politician.

Two comments about Canada that I must respond to and refute:
“Let me ask you Libs a question; if the government nationalizes health care (which the VA is a mini version of) don’t you think this will be the rule as opposed to the exception for all health care stories? In Canada for example it against the law to keep certain statistics on the health care system. At least the private health care system is accountable to the consumer. Can you imagine the government being accountable to the consumer? Yeah right!”
In reponse, there are no laws here in Canada regarding keeping “certain statistis on the health care sysytem.” NONE!
And . . .
“Wait for “routine” surgery may be a year or more. Clinics are packed waiting for treatment. Hearing aids and other medical devices are made by the lowest bidder.”
Welcome to government health care. These stories are identical to those you get from the UK and Canada.”
Response: Again, this comment is really a stretch about wait-times. Routine surgeries do not have wait-times of a year or more. Just not true. The comment about hearing aids and other “medical devices” is a complete fabrication.

“Do those of you saying this story shows how bad government systems are realize that these are still Bush appointees running them and causing the problems we just read about?”
The people doing this were career civil servants, not political appointees. They were wrong, but let’s not play the “Blame Bush” game on this one.