Knowledge is power

[eliminatedsprinter]

Esprinter you are now seeing "the cat out of the bag If Robert Dole had been been elected I believe a lot of the countries problems of today wouldn't be, such as the sad state of Veteran Affairs and the VA Hospitals.
Of this there can be no doubt. The Clinton Administration gave VP Gore the task of "Reinventing the V.A." The distruction reaped upon the VA during those years was incredible. In fact, as bad as it is now, it is actually better than it was at the time they left office. The problems our VA hospitals and ambulatory care centers are now enduring are 99.9999999% the result of their "reinventing" the VA into a big underfunded HMO. These problems are the result of their chickens coming home to roost. But fear not Democrats. President Bush will be blamed, even though he has givin the VA record buget increases and weeded out some of the hatchet men, as it is part of the nature of politics that leaders tend to get the blame for the results of the bad decissions made by those who came before them.

[Moneypitt]

Of this there can be no doubt. The Clinton Administration gave VP Gore the task of "Reinventing the V.A." The distruction reaped upon the VA during those years was incredible. In fact, as bad as it is now, it is actually better than it was at the time they left office. The problems our VA hospitals and ambulatory care centers are now enduring are 99.9999999% the result of their "reinventing" the VA into a big underfunded HMO. These problems are the result of their chickens coming home to roost. But fear not Democrats. President Bush will be blamed, even though he has givin the VA record buget increases and weeded out some of the hatchet men, as it is part of the nature of politics that leaders tend to get the blame for the results of the bad decissions made by those who came before them.
The VA's problems can be directly related to the employees working there. I was at Sawtelle not long ago and was astonished at the number of lazy do nothings working there. It is a wonder anyone survives that place.....I'm not refering to the actual medical staff, but more of the support workers that don't.........MP

[eliminatedsprinter]

The VA's problems can be directly related to the employees working there. I was at Sawtelle not long ago and was astonished at the number of lazy do nothings working there. It is a wonder anyone survives that place.....I'm not refering to the actual medical staff, but more of the support workers that don't.........MP
West LA (formerly Sawtelle and Waddsworth VAs) no doubt has problems with it's support staff. It is a unique environment. Perhaps I shouldn't say this, but in the last customer (patient) satisfaction surveys, before all of the LA area VAs were merged into "The Greater Los Angeles System of Clinics" (GLA), WLA recieved the lowest rating in it's area (VISN 22) and the second lowest in the nation for VAs. Sepulveda is the only campus in VISN 22 that has recieved consistantly high (pre 1994) or decent (post 1994) ratings over the years. I have had problems myself with rude clerks at WLA that are unlike any I have ever encounterd at any other VA. I know some great MDs and Therapists over there, but I have also seen some very strange behavior from staff at WLA, while attending meetings etc, the likes of which I have never seen at any other VA. In short, do not use them as a model for evaluating what is wrong with the VA, they are very atypical.
In the past (prior to 1994) you would have had the option of going to Sepulveda (a very popular choice) for most of the services you now have to go to WLA to get.
Believe me, I could go on and on and on about the negitive changes the last administration forced upon the VA. Some of those changes have cost lives. A few years ago Harvard did a study of the nation's cardiac care and found that the post MI life expectancy of VA patients was approx 25% lower than the national avg for private and community hospitals. The only factors the study could find that may have caused or been involved in that, were that they found, on average, VA cardiac patients had to travel twice as far and wait over twice as long to get treatment from the VA as those in private or community hospitals. Al Gore's "reinvention" is directly responsible for that. In 1993 over 70% of all VAs were full service medical centers. In 2000 over 90% of all VAs were outpaitiant ambulatory care centers. That shift (that was initially called "Al Gore's 7 year plan for reinventing the VA") represented an enormous reduction in services for our nation's veterans since 1993...No health care system could possibly endure such cuts without seeing a significant drop in the level of care they provide.

[Poster X]

Ironic how everyone that's been extolling the virtues of Dubya the last few years suddenly voted for Dole. I won't waste my time with a search, but I'm sure most of you were stupid enough to brag at some point of how proud you were of your patriotic vote for Dubya (dipshit) Bush. What was it you called it? Oh yeah.. the lesser of two evils.

[eliminatedsprinter]

Ironic how everyone that's been extolling the virtues of Dubya the last few years suddenly voted for Dole. I won't waste my time with a search, but I'm sure most of you were stupid enough to brag at some point of how proud you were of your patriotic vote for Dubya (dipshit) Bush. What was it you called it? Oh yeah.. the lesser of two evils.
What do you mean suddenly voted for Dole??? That was back in 96 why would we be talking about him now, if not for the fact that you brought him up.
It's far from a brag, however, in the last 2 elections he has been exactly that. The lesser of 2 evils. I said it at the time and I stand by it now. Sen John Kerry was a terrible alterrnative to President Bush and VP Gore is, in my eyes, the worst candidate to get a major party nomination in my lifetime.

[Poster X]

So Dole is old news but Clinton bashing is relevant in lieu of the realities of the current administration? Hmm.. makes sense in a unibrow, embarrassed of loyalties, anything but dealing with reality kinda way. Again, you only prove the danger and unsinkable blind faith of the modern neocon.

[eliminatedsprinter]

So Dole is old news but Clinton bashing is relevant in lieu of the realities of the current administration? Hmm.. makes sense in a unibrow, embarrassed of loyalties, anything but dealing with reality kinda way. Again, you only prove the danger and unsinkable blind faith of the modern neocon.
Who and what are you referring to??? And why do keep with the non stop cheezy insults? I was takling specifically about the changes that were made to the VA by the last administration, that have directly led to where the VA is now. It is more than relevant it is causational. There have been 3 major shifts in the VA's history and Al Gore's "reinventing" was the last one and it will take decades to correct, as it involved a total shift to the HMO model of care and the distruction and construction of more than dozens of major facilities. I realize it is something you know nothing about, so cut with the phony Clinton bashing claims and the cheezy unibrow comments. If you are going to be one of the few leftists on this board why don't you grow up and try to be a class example of your ideology, rather than proof of the left's lack of class. I have never once called you anything other than what you openly claim to be. You say you are an advocate of Utopian Socialism. That puts you squarly in the heart of the political left. It is not an insult. If you call me an anti leftist or even a right winger (which by definition is any non communist or non socialist) that would not be an insult to me. But rather a very broad statement of where I stand. But unibrow etc??? I've never referred to you in such a insolent fashion.
What have you ever done to help with the above issues?? I have spent over 24 hears helping our nation's vetran's and I currently run one of the most popular veterans programs in our area. In the process of keeping the above program going, over the years, I have personally met repetedly with 4 members of congress and countless congressional aids etc. I have also personally met 3 Secretaries of Veterans Affairs. If I approached those people with the same lack of respect and sophistication you display here, I would be working in a different field, and the Vets I serve would have lost their program and, at best, I would have learned a painful lesson at the expense of myself and many others well being.
P.S. Perhaps if you tried to present your views here in a consistantly dignified mannor you might get some respect around here and you could even lose that rediculous bag, and put your profession, and the community you post from in your profile/avitar like a credible person would......
I'm sorry if this post seems harsh, but I will not allow myself to get into a personal insult battle with you or anyone else on this forum.
I come on ***boat for my pleasure to post with my friends and to make new friends to enjoy boating hobby with. I come on this political retoric section for a friendly exchange of political ideas. Not to be called stupid or unibrow etc. Come on Poster, here is your challenge. I've made 2 post here re the VA. Punch a hole in one of my points, correct my history, tell me how the Bush adminstration could have come up with the tens of billions of dollars it would have cost for him to restore the services the Clinton administration took away??Tell me how he could have replaced all the facililities and equipment, that took 8 years to discard, in just 6 years. Even if there was the money, where is the will in congress?? The last two members of Congress who were really stuanch, consistant, fighters for our nations Vets were Sen Alan Cranston, and Rep Sonny Mongomery and they are long gone. Even vets like Murtha, Kerry, and McCain etc don't fight in the house for Veterans, they just give big time lip service to the press on the subject or step in and give some specific help, when some VA related problem in their districts is noted by the press and used to embarrass them.