"In unorthodox move, Obama picks executive to oversee VA; Ex-CEO attended West Point and served in Army" by Juliet Eilperin and Greg Jaffe | Washington Post June 30, 2014
WASHINGTON — President Obama on Monday will nominate Bob McDonald, a West Point graduate who served as the chief executive of Procter & Gamble, to take over as head of the troubled Department of Veterans Affairs, according to White House officials.
The unorthodox pick of a retired corporate executive whose former company produces household products such as Tide detergent and Charmin toilet paper — rather than a former military general — underscores the serious management problems facing the agency charged with serving more than 8 million veterans a year.
Corporations can fix everything.
On Friday, White House deputy chief of staff Rob Nabors submitted a report to the president finding ‘‘significant and chronic system failures’’ and a ‘‘corrosive culture’’ at the Veterans Health Administration, which has come under fire for skewed record-keeping in an effort to cover up the long waits it has imposed on former soldiers seeking medical care.
In recent years, the job of VA secretary has been filled by retired generals, medical professionals, or politicians. McDonald’s background is a significant departure, though he and his wife have deep family ties to the military.
McDonald graduated in the top 2 percent of his class at the US Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., and served in the Army for five years, achieving the rank of captain in the 82d Airborne Division before taking an entry-level job at P&G.
A native of Indiana, he is the son of an Army veteran of World War II, and his wife’s father was shot down over Europe and survived harsh treatment as a prisoner of war.
‘‘The choice suggests a real focus on customer satisfaction, as opposed to what you might get from a retired general or medical leader,’’ said Phillip Carter, who follows veterans issues for the Center for a New American Security, a Washington think tank. ‘‘It is probably a wise choice given the concerns right now of veterans. McDonald is right in the sweet spot of the current four-stars in the Pentagon. He’s got that social connective tissue with them. The VA is more like a big business than a military organization, so his background probably makes him more qualified to run the VA than a retired general officer.’’
You are a customer not a patient, and it's a business not healing. What more do you really need to know? That is the mindset of the people supposed to be caring for us all.
In a statement, House Speaker John Boehner, Republican of Ohio, hailed McDonald’s experience as a veteran and as a leader in the private sector, calling him the ‘‘kind of person who is capable of implementing the kind of dramatic systemic change that is badly needed and long overdue at the VA. But the next VA secretary can only succeed in implementing that type of change if his boss, the president, first commits to doing whatever it takes to give our veterans the world-class health care system they deserve.’’
Pure political bullshit.
So what were you doing for oversight, asshole? From which Washington D.C. bar?
The VA operates the largest combined health care system in the country, with about 300,000 full-time employees and nearly 9 million veterans enrolled to receive care.
How McDonald relates to the younger population of veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan — smaller in numbers compared with the overall group of veterans but powerful politically — will be critical.
????? Are they?
McDonald has maintained his Army ties over the years as a major supporter of the US Military Academy and as a life member of the US Army Ranger Association and the 75th Ranger Regiment Association.
Jim McNerney, chairman of Boeing, said in a statement Sunday McDonald was ‘‘an outstanding choice for this critically important position.’’
Who could doubt that recommendation?
‘‘He navigated Procter & Gamble through the difficult post-financial-crisis years, where he expanded business in developing markets and made substantial progress improving the efficiency of the company’s internal operations,’’ said McNerney, who served on P&G’s board.
McDonald stepped down from his post at P&G in May 2013 amid some controversy. Analysts reported at the time that large investors and some employees were losing confidence in his ability to expand the company in the face of increasing global competition. The Wall Street Journal also reported that McDonald had come under fire over the time he spent serving on an array of corporate boards.
Oh no!
Still, he has won plaudits from many fellow corporate executives and has experience running a global consumer products firm with more than 120,000 employees and sales in more than 180 countries....
And that qualifies him to run the biggest medical operation in the country because.... ???
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Related: Can a corporate CEO improve the embattled VA?
VA Appointment
Still waiting for an appointment.
"Veteran dies 500 yards from VA hospital emergency room" by Russell Contreras | Associated Press July 04, 2014
ALBUQUERQUE — A veteran who collapsed in an Albuquerque Veterans Affairs hospital cafeteria — 500 yards from the emergency room — died after waiting 30 minutes for an ambulance, officials confirmed Thursday.
It took half an hour for the ambulance to be dispatched and take the man from one building to the other, which is about a five-minute walk, officials at the hospital said.
Are you flipping kidding?!!!
They WANTED THIS GUY to DIE like they want all the other vets to die!
Kirtland Air Force Medical Group personnel performed CPR until the ambulance arrived, VA spokeswoman Sonja Brown said.
Staff followed policy in calling 911 when the man collapsed Monday, she said. ‘‘Our policy is under expedited review,’’ Brown said. That policy is a local one, she said.
The veteran’s name has not been released. News of his death spread Thursday at the Raymond G. Murphy VA Medical Center among veterans who were to get treatment.
Lorenzo Calbert, 65, a US Army veteran of the Vietnam War, said it was sad a fellow veteran died so close to where he could have received help.
It's not sad. It's OUTRAGEOUS!
‘‘There’s no reason for it,’’ he said. ‘‘They have so many workers. They could have put him on the gurney and run faster than that ambulance.’’
The death comes as the Department of Veterans Affairs faces scrutiny for reports of long delays for treatment, medical appointments, and of veterans dying while on waiting lists.
A review last week cited ‘‘significant and chronic system failures’’ in the nation’s health system for veterans. The review portrayed the agency as one battling a corrosive culture of distrust, lacking in resources and ill-prepared to deal with an influx of new and older veterans with a range of medical and mental health care needs.
That is how they uphold the promise they made to these guys and gals, huh?
The scathing report by Rob Nabors, deputy White House chief of staff, said the Veterans Health Administration, the VA sub agency that provides health care to about 8.8 million veterans a year, must be fundamentally restructured.
Marc Landy, a Boston College political science professor, said the Department of Veterans Affairs is a large bureaucracy with various local policies like the one in Albuquerque.
Although the agency needs to undergo reform, Landy said it is unfair to attack the VA too harshly on the recent Albuquerque death because it appears to be so unusual.
‘‘I think we have to be careful,’’ he said. ‘‘Let’s not beat up too much on the VA while they are already facing criticism.’’
(Blog editor is nearly apoplectic at the statements)
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At least Massachusetts is a model. I know so because I heard a disgusting public service announcement on the radio from the VA in Massachusetts claiming they give better care than the wonderful cluster of private hospitals we have in this state.
The level of disingenuousness by this government is astonishing.
"More Mass. veterans in college; Campuses work to increase help as numbers rise" by Matt Rocheleau | Globe Correspondent July 05, 2014
The number of military veterans enrolling in colleges across Massachusetts has increased over the last three years, and the schools are preparing for more as troop withdrawals in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere return tens of thousands of military personnel to civilian life.
Local campuses are stepping up their support of veterans, setting up resource centers to assist with paperwork, fostering student veteran organizations, and boosting mental health counseling.
Let's hope some vet doesn't flip and start shooting up the campus.
“In no time since the end of World War II are colleges going to experience the type of interest from veterans and ex-service members that we’re seeing now,” said Michael Barretti, a marketing professor at Suffolk University and a Marine veteran who cochairs the school’s commission on students who are veterans and active service members....
Too bad there are no jobs for them once they get out.
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Also see:
"One of the bloodiest attacks in the Pacific during World War II is being remembered this week by the dwindling number of American veterans who survived the Japanese onslaught, launched before dawn on July 7, 1944, on the island of Saipan 70 years ago."
Family, friends mourn fallen N.H. Marine, 19
Gone away for good, and I think that might do it for me today.
NEXT DAY UPDATES:
Family of World War I veteran from Vt. gets father’s Purple Heart
"Pa. men over age 100 get draft letters" Associated Press July 11, 2014
The Selective Service System mistakenly sent notices to more than 14,000 Pennsylvania men born between 1893 and 1897, ordering them to register for the nation’s military draft and warning that failure to do so is ‘‘punishable by a fine and imprisonment.’’
Is it just a mistake, or an attempt to manipulate and condition the mind in preparedness for what is coming?
The agency realized the error when it began receiving calls from bewildered relatives last week.
The glitch originated with the state Department of Transportation during a transfer of nearly 400,000 records to the Selective Service. A clerk failed to select the century, producing records for males born between 1993 and 1997 — and for those born a century earlier, spokeswoman Jan McKnight said Thursday.
Yeah, sure, and if so, is there no government computer program that is not loaded with glitches, etc? WTF are taxpayers paying for?
Families of those men who received the notices can simply ignore them, officials said.
Uh-huh.
This nation so desperate to keep the war agenda rolling it is resorting to this oopsie and trying to drag soldiers out of the grave like Baghdadis (no report whatsoever regarding him the last two days, and nothing about Iraq in today's paper).
I told you ISIS would soon melt. That's what mirages of propaganda do. The oil is still flowing and "the fighting now seems unlikely to spread to Iraq’s oil fields," huh?)
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You kids ready for an officially declared World War?
What you can look forward to if you survive it:
"Mayor Walsh seeks more housing for veterans" by Oliver Ortega | Globe correspondent July 10, 2014
Jamie Maddocks knew he had to get back on his feet.
The US Navy veteran was homeless and alone after a difficult divorce.
You can ignore them.
He faced medical bills for leg injuries sustained decades back during training exercises and more bills from treatment for prostate cancer that required two surgeries. A 2012 car accident sent him to the hospital, an accident, a doctor told him, that most people would not have survived.
Hoping to get help, Maddocks traveled from North Carolina to the New England Center for Homeless Veterans in Boston, the city he lived in after his discharge in the late 1970s.
A new initiative by the city aims to help retired members of the military like Maddocks, who is 59, to obtain resources they need to lead stable lives.
At a press conference Wednesday in the downtown veterans center, Mayor Martin J. Walsh announced the launch of a website that real estate owners can use to post rental listings and that employers can use to place job ads. The effort is part of an initiative to end homelessness among an estimated 400 veterans in Boston.
“It’s our obligation to do it,” Walsh said. “We have veterans that are homeless. We have a problem with homelessness in the city of Boston and this country. We’re really not addressing it the way we need to.”
As long as the glittery towers and nice sections of Bo$ton are thriving, I don't care. The nation is too far gone on the road to destruction, and turning to the same institutions and the same people that put it their for solutions is futile -- much like the bullhorn of the propaganda pre$$ that I pick up each day.
For now, the city will not offer subsidies to get landlords to participate, Walsh said, though money may be forthcoming from the federal or state governments, and the city might eventually set aside some money for the initiative. The federal government already subsidizes housing for veterans through a voucher program.
Yeah, the federal government is doing a great job using up and discarding veterans, but as long as administrative executives got their promotions and bonuses I'm happy.
I don't think you understand my blog anymore. The attitude now is give the mass-murdering, money-addicted, war-criminal looters it all. Give it to 'em. Make 'em choke on it. Shove it up and down every orifice. Don't forget the gravy!
So far this year, the city has found housing for about 300 homeless veterans, said Elizabeth Doyle of the city’s Department of Neighborhood Development. Finding cheaper housing and vacancies is especially difficult in Boston, she said.
Maddocks is among those who have found their own place. After living at the center's shelter for a year, he got an apartment in Jamaica Plain with the help of case workers. He also works at the center.
“It feels good having a home, coming to work, taking the train,” he said.
The city maintains a registry of homeless veterans, and most live in shelters, not on the streets, said Andy McCawley, the center’s president.
Some stuff they know and keep records, other stuff.... ???
Sick of the sales job from all quarters after eight years of typing the same things over and over and reading the same things over and over.
Walsh and other officials at the press conference, including Vince Kane, director of the National Center on Homelessness Among Veterans, and Coleman Nee, secretary of the state’s Department of Veterans’ Services, emphasized the need for a multipronged approach that addresses substance abuse and health care in addition to housing and employment.
“Who are these men and women on the streets?” Kane said. “Do we know them by name? Do they need health care, housing?”
Related: Who Remembers Timothy Finch?
Anyone?
Walsh said that just as certain businesses make it a point to hire veterans, landlords could be persuaded to open housing to military veterans.
I agree they should be taken care of, but not at the expense of the rest of us, though I recognize military takes priority just as it did in Germany in the mid 1940s. Hail 'bummer!
“In some neighborhoods, landlords are getting top dollar for their apartments,” Walsh said. “And I'm asking them if they have the ability to allow veterans to move into some of their units.”
Like the $1 million dollar condo crowd? I don't want to go find the links, folks. Boston is fourth in the nation on the wealth inequality gap. That's the city Walsh has taken over, and the gap gets wider every single day.
Not complaining. Just spouting from my soapbox in the sticks.
The Boston effort is part of a push to end homelessness in US cities announced by Michelle Obama early last month. The US Department of Housing and Urban Development estimates there are about 57,800 homeless veterans nationwide.
I don't want to get into her, either.
Sorry I'm no longer into imagery, illusion, narrative, and me$$age of the $cum $ervants that front for their $tring-pulling money ma$ters.
For Steve Scully, a resident at the center’s shelter, getting his own place and a steady job are priorities.
No offense, but for who are they not?
The Boston native and Army veteran said he has suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder since coming under sniper fire on military missions, an experience that led him to take up heavy drinking in civilian life.
A few years ago, he lost his license after driving drunk and was fired from his job as a truck driver. He began living out of his car in New Jersey and spent time in jail for drunken driving.
Since coming to the center in Boston, Scully said, he has been sober while undergoing treatment for PTSD. With the center’s help, he hopes to get a job as a motorcycle mechanic and find his own place in the next few months.
“I’m just trying to lead a normal life,” he said.
Hail 'bummer.
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Bo$ton is a haven, isn't it?
